When the people came out the Lord didn’t want them
immediately discouraged by battle so He didn’t take them towards the
Philistines but we are told that they left Egypt equipped for battle. There is a difference between being equipped
for something and being prepared for something.
We are equipped for spiritual battle and for service because we have
been given the Holy Spirit, we have the tools for these things but we can lack
the training and experience necessary to use them unless we develop our skills
and gifts. Although the Lord took them
away from dangers they were not prepared to face He soon led them back into an
old danger. He determined to move them back
to Pharaoah’s field of vision where he would come to a wrong conclusion about
their movements. Remorse for his
decision to allow them to leave and now hatred of those who were seemingly
responsible for this disaster that had befallen the Egyptians would drive him
to go after them. The Lord’s goal was to
“get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, and the Egyptians
shall know that I am the Lord.” He was revealing Himself to them that they
might seek after Him.
Resurrection is a concept that is an
affront to human logic and reason. We
understand death, we understand finality, that the body decays and ultimately
becomes earth again don’t we? In our
society though we do all we can to avoid that reality and forestall that
process by embalming the body, placing it in an expensive metal box that is
also comfortable, pillow included, and sealing it in a concrete vault to keep
out the water and whatever else might get in.
We take the body seriously. We
have no analog in this life for resurrection.
Nothing in life is resurrected from the dead so we don’t know what that
looks like. Dormancy isn’t the same as
resurrection. The Sadducees make the
mistake of using this life as the analog for the next and Jesus says, “You have
the wrong category.” They don’t
understand eternal life, they have never seen it. We can’t know what it looks like until we get
there.
Paul points us to the unseen
realities. He acknowledges the
sufferings of the present but bids us to compare them to the “eternal weight of
glory” that awaits us and says in light of that, what we experience today are
light and momentary afflictions. That
perspective helps us not to live “under the circumstances” of this life because
we know that ultimately these will pass away.
We are able to see the unseen through the power of the Spirit in
us. What are our fears? Are they what our eyes see? Let God lift our eyes to the heavens from
which comes our help and our hope to encourage us onward and upward.
But
lo! there breaks a yet more glorious day;
The
saints triumphant rise in bright array;
The
King of glory passes on His way.
Alleluia,
Alleluia!
From
earth’s wide bounds, from ocean’s farthest coast,
Through
gates of pearl streams in the countless host,
And
singing to Father, Son and Holy Ghost:
Alleluia,
Alleluia!
No comments:
Post a Comment