Entering His Rest….Anyways
By David A. DePra
If we compare
the two times that God brought Israel to the point of entry into the Promised
Land we will gain a valuable insight into the Truth that these events represent
in our Christian walk.
The first time
God brought Israel to the Promised Land they refused to enter.
They sent in spies and concluded that the heathen living in that land
were too strong for them. They were
in unbelief. Forty years later, God
brought them to the land for the second time and again they sent in spies.
The heathen were as strong as ever.
But nevertheless, Israel did enter by faith.
What had changed? Why did
they enter the land NOW, when they had refused to enter 40 years prior?
Well, we will
get to what had changed in a moment.
But first, let us realize what was the SAME about these two situations.
Obviously, God had not changed.
He never does. And His
purpose had not changed for Israel.
That is why He brought them back to the land He had chosen for them.
Even if everyone is unfaithful to God, God is faithful to everyone – He
will not abandon His purpose for them.
Secondly, the land had not changed.
It was the same land God had promised to Israel, going all the way back
to Abraham. Thirdly, as noted, the
same heathen tribes were living in the land during the days of Joshua when
Israel did enter the land by faith, as had been living in the land 40 years
prior when Israel had refused to enter.
God had not driven them out.
If anything, they were as strong as ever.
Fourthly, the only way in which Israel could enter the land and begin to
take possession was by FAITH. Faith
in God – this alone would always be the basis upon which they had to enter the
land, and then live in it to God’s glory.
All of those things
were the SAME despite the passing of forty years.
But what had changed? Israel
had changed. Forty years prior they
refused to believe and trust God.
Yet now, forty years later, despite the fact that not a single thing had changed
about the obstacles to God’s purpose for them, they entered into the land by
faith and began to take possession.
Israel had changed from having an evil heart of unbelief, over to that of a
heart of faith – indeed, the entire generation of rebellious unbelievers had
died out in the wilderness. Now
there was faith enough to enter into the inheritance God had given them.
The Purpose
of the Wilderness
The only change
that had occurred in those forty years had occurred in Israel – more
specifically, in their relationship with God.
Everything and everyone else was exactly the same as it was forty years
before. Israel alone had changed.
Unbelief had given way to faith.
That was what God was after.
Now, what do we
suppose changed Israel? Well, ask –
what happened during those forty years?
The WILDERNESS happened.
Their experience in the wilderness made it possible for them to eventually enter
the land God had given them.
So often we
think that God’s judgment upon them was nothing more than a temper tantrum on
His part, or maybe was punitive punishment.
Few of us seem to realize that the purpose of God’s judgment – the
purpose of the forty years in the wilderness – was to do a work in them whereby
their unbelief would be purged and replaced by faith – all done by God so that
He could bring them into the land by faith.
God is a
redemptive God. The wilderness was
redemptive in nature. It was God’s
judgment upon Israel – upon their unbelief -- that made it possible for all of
God’s promises to be brought to pass.
Now, we must be
clear about something here: The
purpose of the wilderness was NOT to make Israel strong and confident so that
they could enter the land and overcome the enemies.
It was not to make them into spiritual
giants who could now qualify and meet God’s standards.
No.
In fact, the purpose was to make them absolutely weak and dependent upon
God. It was to make them as little
children. Then, and only then,
could they, and would they, enter the land by faith.
What is a
wilderness? It is a place void of
resources. When you are in a
wilderness you do not have what you need, and there is no place to get it.
That puts you at God’s mercy.
Thus, the wilderness is the experience wherein we discover the TRUTH – we
are nothing. And there is nothing
we can do to be anything before the Lord.
This will continually face us with a choice:
Do we accuse God and try to fend for ourselves?
Or do we fall upon the mercy and grace of God and realize that this is
all orchestrated to bring us to the end of ourselves so that we might rest
solely upon Him by faith.
We could talk
all day about material resources.
But what about spiritual resources?
Have we yet learned there is NOTHING in us?
That without Christ we are a as barren as a dead wilderness?
Well, it is the wilderness that God uses to show us this Truth.
Now note again:
The wilderness doesn’t make us weak.
It shows us that we have been weak all along – any other idea was a
deception. The wilderness brings
out all the Truth – but unto the redemptive end that we might trust the living
God.
Two
Expressions of Unbelief
There are two
ways in which we betray our lack of faith in God – in which we betray a
disguised faith that is in ourselves.
First, we could walk around thinking we are strong.
Christians by the millions continue to think that they stand before God
on the basis of something about themselves, or on the basis of what they are
doing. That is the more obvious
deception. But secondly, we could
walk around whining about our weakness.
Those of us who do the latter are simply expressing a frustrated faith in
ourselves – we want to be strong in ourselves but are not.
So we say, “Woe is me. I am
unable.”
True faith
doesn’t focus on ourselves at all.
This isn’t about whether I am strong or weak.
It isn’t about ME at all. It
is about whether I believe and depend upon God.
And the fact is, I will not believe and depend upon God until He puts me
through a wilderness – a wilderness wherein I am stripped of all of my fake
strength, and all of my fake weakness, and exposed as being truly weak and
dependent before God. Then I can
believe and depend upon God.
Jesus said that
if we want to come after Him that we need to pick up our cross daily and LOSE
our lives into His hands – only then will we find true life in Him.
The core of this is that we must lose self-ownership.
But self-ownership often manifests just here:
In our continual attempts to be good enough for God.
We may not think it is self-ownership, but it is exactly that.
We are taking ourselves in hand and trying to make ourselves be, not what
He wants, but what WE want. No.
To lose yourself into the hands of Jesus means that because I believe Him
I leave myself alone. What else do
we think the word LOSE means? You
take your hands off of yourself and abandon yourself to Christ.
Examine why
Israel would not enter the land.
It was because they believed the enemies in that land were too much for
them to overcome. And you know,
they were right! Weren’t they?
Sure. Israel did not stand a
chance of driving out those tribes.
But notice: They used their
weakness as an occasion for unbelief – saying that God was unfair for putting
them into this impossible situation.
What did God say
to them? Was He unaware of their
weakness and sin? Is He unaware of
our weakness and sin today? Of our
utter unworthiness to enter into the fullness of Christ and to abide in Him?
Hardly. He is the One
who has showed it to us. What God
says to us is this: Enter into the
fullness of Christ ANYWAYS.
That is grace –
it is grace based on the finished work of Christ.
Jesus Christ is the source of all redemption, forgiveness, and life.
You cannot even so much as get started in freedom from your problems
until you enter and abide in Him.
That being the case, what folly it is to think that you must somehow fix
yourself up FIRST in order to enter into His fullness.
In effect, we
must abide in Christ by faith DESPITE our sins and weaknesses – solely on the
basis of HIM – if there is to be any freedom from those same sins and
weaknesses. Abide FIRST in Christ –
enter in ANYWAYS – and His life and His Truth will come into your experience.
Can we now see
why we must leave ourselves alone and enter into Christ ANYWAYS?
What do we think we are going to do about ourselves that will make us
worthy to enter into Christ? No.
God offers all things freely in His Son – despite all of our faults.
The real sin is that of UNBELIEF – we won’t enter because we think we
aren’t good enough. As noted – this
is nothing more than disguised faith in self.
It is a self-righteousness that exalts ourselves above the Christ who
died for us.
Do you want to
be guided into all Truth? Well,
here is the Truth: There is nothing
in you. Nothing.
Only in Christ is their strength – His strength.
But while it is easy to agree with this in principle, to be guided INTO
all Truth means we have to experience it to the point where it is our life in
Christ. The Christian walk is one
of absolutely weakness in ourselves, but continual faith in Christ for
everything.
We think
God wants to make of us spiritual giants.
Instead, He wants little children.
Thus, God will put us into a wilderness to expose the Truth about us – we
are weak, have nothing, and can do nothing.
But if we learn the Truth, this will not produce misery over ourselves.
It will produce rejoicing.
We will rejoice in our weakness because along with it will come a inward
realization of Jesus Christ as our strength, and as the sole object of our
faith.
Absolutely
nothing changed about the land during those forty years that Israel was in the
wilderness. God didn’t’ change a
thing. But Israel was changed –
from a people who sought strength in themselves -- and yet were in unbelief
towards God -- over to those who were gladly weak in themselves -- yet strong in
faith towards God. In effect, Israel
then entered into the land ANYWAYS – despite the million reasons they could give
for being unable.
Truth for Us
Can we see the
application for us? It really is
quite encouraging. We could give any
number of reasons why entering into and taking possession of what God has for us
in Christ seems absurd. Satan,
circumstances, and certainly our own flesh are all formidable – these will
contradict all that God has promised. But
does God change our circumstances before we can enter by faith?
No. Does He come down and
eradicate all of our sins, bad habits, and inability to overcome BEFORE He tells
us to enter by faith? No.
Does He bind Satan?
No. Rather, despite the
many reasons we might give as to why we cannot enter into the fullness of Christ
– our inability and our failings – God says, “Enter by faith ANYWAYS.
That is why Christ died.
Christ is the victory.”
The Promised
Land in the OT is a type and shadow of our inheritance in the NT – which is,
“Christ in you, the hope of glory.”
(Col. 1:27) Jesus Christ is our
inheritance – and then because of Christ, our inheritance includes all that is
IN CHRIST. God has given us
ALL THINGS FREELY in His Son. (see
Rom.8:32) This not only means that
ALL that God has for us is given in the Person of His Son, but it also means
that there is NOTHING God has for us that is outside of Christ.
Sure. We are complete in Him
– and in Him dwells the fullness of Deity.
(Col. 2:8-10)
So what all of
this really teaches us is that there is no valid excuse for not moving forward
with Christ into His purposes. He
will deal with any problems that need to be dealt with – not before we believe
and enter – but because we believe and enter.
Again – God knows how weak and unable we are.
Yet He says, “I know all about your failings.
Enter on the basis of Christ ANYWAYS.”
God
inspired Hebrews to exhort:
Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left
us of entering into his rest,
any of you would distrust it. For unto us was the gospel
preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not
being mixed with faith in them that heard
it. For we
which have believed do enter into rest.
(Heb. 4:1-3)