Angelic Conflict part 186: Human history (fear) – Num 14:9-24; Phi 2:5-16; 3:14.

Title: Angelic Conflict part : Human history 186 (fear) - NUM 14:9-24; PHI 2:5-16; 3:14.

 

NUM 14:9 Only do not rebel against the Lord; and do not fear the people of the land, for they shall be our prey. Their protection [literally - shadow; common usage in the sultry near east] has been removed from them, and the Lord is with us; do not fear them."

 

Their enemies were already pronounced defeated as are ours. Victory over the flesh, the world, and satan has been accomplished by our Lord.

 

Every believer will live in heaven without any of them. The sentence has been passed and the execution of their judgment is future and certain. We need not fear them nor fear to fight them.

 

NUM 14:10 But all the congregation said to stone them with stones [kill the messenger]. Then the glory of the Lord appeared in the tent of meeting to all the sons of Israel.

 

But the emotional and fearful and unbelieving people resolved to stone them, when Jehovah interposed with His judgment, and His glory appeared in the tabernacle to all the Israelites; that is to say, the majesty of God flashed out before the eyes of the people in a light which suddenly burst forth from the tabernacle and protected Moses, Aaron, Caleb, and Joshua.

 

NUM 14:11 And the Lord said to Moses, "How long will this people spurn Me? And how long will they not believe in Me, despite all the signs which I have performed in their midst?

 

NUM 14:12 "I will smite them with pestilence and dispossess them, and I will make you into a nation greater and mightier than they."

 

God said the same to Moses at Sinai. Moses will again intercede for them.

 

God knows exactly what He is going to do, so again, this is a test for Moses who passes it again with tremendous humility.

 

God knows the complete outcome of your life. He knows exactly what He is going to do. Victory is complete in Christ and the rest is playing out for further glory to God. When viewed from this perspective practically everything in our lives becomes a test of our function in the flesh, the world, arrogance and pride or the Spirit and the word in grace.  

 

“A yieldedness to the will of God is not demonstrated by some one particular issue: it is rather a matter of having taken the will of God as the rule of one’s life. To be in the will of God is simply to be willing to do His will without reference to any particular thing He may choose. It is electing His will to be final, even before we know what He may wish us to do.

 

It is, therefore, not a question of being willing to do some one thing: it is a question of being willing to do anything, when, where and how, it may seem best in His heart of love. It is taking the normal and natural position of childlike trust which has already consented to the wish of the Father even before anything of the outworking of His wish is revealed.” [L.S. Chafer, He That is Spiritual]

 

The scripture is clear that there is no such thing as eradication of the flesh or reaching sinlessness. All are sinners, yet in grace the believer can press on towards maturity despite his failures as he claims the work of Christ concerning his sin and others' sin. The promised land is a picture of spiritual maturity.

 

His will is found in His word so a yieldedness to the will of God is a yieldedness to the word of God.

 

"The continued life of yieldedness to God involves a relationship to the will of God in several aspects. The yielded Christian has an unusual relationship to the Word of God. As its revelation becomes known and its application becomes evident, the issue of being yielded to the truth as made known by the Holy Spirit becomes very real. It is evident that refusal to submit to the Word of God is quenching the Spirit, making the fullness of the Spirit impossible." [John Walvoord, The Holy Spirit]

 

So the same faith in the will of God produces different results in the different dispensations. We are commanded to trust, believe, and enter God's rest as they were, but our application of faith to the word of God results in God the HS influence, filling, and fullness, which they did not have.

 

A brief study of the standards of this age will make this sufficiently clear. We are commanded to love each other as Christ loves us (JOH 13:34; 15:12). Even “every thought” must be brought ‘to the obedience of Christ” (2CO 10:5). We must “be longsuffering toward all,” and “always follow after that which is good” (1TH 5:14-15). We should “Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks” (1TH 5:16-18). Illustrations can be multiplied of similar standards equally impossible to the flesh. What is impossible for man unaided by the Holy Spirit is possible for the one walking by the Spirit. The utter need of the power of the Spirit in the life of every Christian is one of the great realities of both revelation and experience.

 

The supreme illustration of Christ. As many writers have pointed out, Christ Himself is the supreme illustration not only of one in whom the fullness of the Spirit was manifested at all times, but one who was submissive to the whole will of God. The classic passage of Philippians 2:5-11 reveals not only the glory and victory which belongs to our Lord, but His submission to the humiliation of the cross. Christ was willing to be what God chose: “a servant made in the likeness of men.” He was willing to go where God chose, into a sinful world which would reject Him and crucify Him. He was willing to do what God chose: “obedient even unto death, yea, the death of the cross.”

 

Christ was willing to be, do, and go in accordance with the will of His Father and we are commanded to be imitators of Him.

 

PHI 2:5 Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus,

 

PHI 2:6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped,

 

PHI 2:7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.

 

PHI 2:8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

 

PHI 2:9 Therefore also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name,

 

PHI 2:10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those who are in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth,

 

PHI 2:11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

 

The Garden of Gethsemane with its struggle epitomized by the epical words, “Not my will, but thine, be done” (Luke 22:42), has had its lesser counterpart in the lives of all great Christians.

 

The child of God who has “the mind of Christ” is one who is fully yielded to the will of God for his life in every particular as Christ was for the will of God in His life. For the fullness of the Spirit, it is absolutely necessary to be yielded to Him.

 

The word of God bears a powerful testimony to the weakness of the flesh and the dependence of every believer upon the Spirit for victory.

 

The first step in waging warfare is to know the enemy and to know one’s own resources.

 

In spiritual warfare, the many aspects involved are reduced in simple terms to the Scriptural admoni­tions to “quench not the Spirit,” “grieve not the Spirit,” and “walk by the Spirit by willfully yielding to the word of God.”

 

This is not simply a matter of education or of knowledge. The truth must be apprehended and the full will of God must be sought. A believer ever seeking the power of the Spirit must submit himself to the searching of the Word of God in its revelation of God’s will. There must be waiting on God in prayer that we may be made wilting to do His will. The inspiration of fellowship with God’s people and sharing with them the blessings of God is an important source of help.

 

Walking by the Spirit presumes activity; it is not a defensive stand against the enemy, but being active in the will of God and resting in His sufficiency.

 

Walking by the Spirit is a positive approach to the problems of the spiritual life, endeavoring to be active in the will of God as well as resting in faith and trust in His ability and promises.

 

The heart of the matter remains in the continued dependence upon the Spirit and the Word to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves and to be yielded to the Spirit in all His guidance.