From the cross to glory (2)

The Christian walk as shown through the patriarchs of the Old Testament.

Hoseah Wu

Noah and the life hidden in God

Noah is a type of a man who not only walked with God, but had a hidden walk with God. The outward manifestation of our walk depends on that hidden life within, because what is within is real, and God is looking at the heart. God is intensely interested in your inward condition. Noah speaks to us of a hidden life with God. When Noah and his family entered the ark, God closed the door - God intended for Noah to make that ark his permanent home.

God did not intend for Noah to enter the ark just for a short time. When God shuts them in, He shuts them in for good. If God shuts you in then there is no way out. It was a great ark, a true floating home. You are there to stay and for that reason Noah speaks to us of a hidden life. It’s when we have a hidden life, that God can reveal the secrets of His heart to us.

I am sure that you know brothers and sisters whom, when you speak to them, you find that they know such deep things about the Lord and you try to investigate how they live their life and you find that they live a hidden life. In their hidden life, God reveals the secrets of His heart to them. God is looking for those to whom he can entrust His secrets today, because they will be used as vessels for the recovery of His testimony.

We must be delivered from external appearances and we need to cultivate a very strong inner life in the spirit. Because Noah had such a life with the Lord, God could speak freely with him. We are going to read some passages to see how God spoke freely with Noah:

 “The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence because of them; and behold I am about to destroy them with the earth” (Gn. 6:13). Thus, God spoke first to Noah of the judgment. Then, He revealed to Noah his way to rescue those who were under judgement: “Make yourself an ark…” (v. 14). The judgment is coming; nevertheless, there is a way: making an ark. And God gave Noah specific instructions as to how it should be built: “this is how you shall make it” (v. 15). He included all the minute details in His instructions. And verse 22 says: “Thus Noah did; according to all that God had commanded him, so he did”.

The ark was constructed during about one hundred twenty years, and when it was ready, God said: “This is for you, your wife, your three sons and their wives”. But He added something else: “Take with you seven pairs of clean animals, and two pairs of all the other animals. I want you to put these lives into the ark, so that they are preserved with your life”.

Recently, in our conference in New Jersey, a brother gave a very good explanation to us of how those animals were brought into the ark. God said: “Take all these animals into the ark with you”.  Do you know how Noah did that? Did he go out and look for all those animals? There is a very important principle in this account: when Noah entered the ark, then the animals also went into the ark.

On the outside, there was death and judgment, but the life of all those animals within the ark was preserved. If those animals could speak, they would say: “I thank God for speaking to Noah about the ark, and I thank God for Noah and his obedience when constructing the ark. My life has been preserved because God spoke to Noah, and Noah was obedient”.

Recently, I had an unusual experience. During a youth conference in Toronto (Canada), we used to have a morning prayer time, and on one occasion a brother prayed saying: “Lord Jesus, I thank you for your obedience; if it were not for your obedience, I would not be here”. Brothers and sisters, we are in the ark, safe and sound, and it’s because of the obedience of our Lord Jesus. How can we ever thank Him enough.

Our obedience is often the saving grace of those who are around us. Every local assembly that the Lord has sovereignly raised up, has been possible because there are few that are willing to obey the will of God. Many have been brought into the good of their obedience. That speaks to us of the life of Noah.

Also in our families, the spiritual recovery of the children depends on the obedience of the father or the mother to God’s will. Because of Noah’s obedience, many lives were preserved. Because of the obedience of Christ, we are what we are today. Thank God for the obedience of Jesus Christ, the obedience that led Him to death, even death on the cross.

We know that there are two types of death. There is a type of death that is caused by sin, which is a just death. If we sin and we die because of it, that is justice. But there is another type of death that is completely different. Paul, in his second letter to the Corinthians said: “Death operates in me so that life can operate in you”. It is not death because of sin, but dying to give life to others.

Thus, Noah was willing to obey, and he suffered ridicule; but, he was true to God’s word, and not only did he bring salvation to himself, but also to his family and the whole of creation. And it is no wonder that in Romans 8 it says that the whole creation groans for the adoption of sons, that is to say, the whole of creation is waiting to be delivered from the curse. When we reach the maturity that God wishes, then all of creation will be restored.

Abraham and the altars

As we know, God appeared and spoke to Abraham at least six or seven times. And Abraham built four altars. I want to look at the significance of those altars. An altar speaks to us of the cross. On the one hand, an altar speaks to us of worship, communion with God. But it is also the place where God speaks to you. God speaks to us when we worship Him.

We have the wrong idea that when we worship Him, God is passive. He’s just waiting there to hear all the nice things that we’re going to say to Him. But this is a mistaken understanding of who God is. I will give an example: God called Moses to go up mount Sinai at least twice, for periods of forty days and forty nights. On both occasions, Moses approached God to worship Him. It is not possible to approach God without worshipping him. But God is always more willing to give to us than He is to receive worship from us. When we worship Him, we give God an opportunity to give us more of Himself.

How did Moses receive the pattern for the tabernacle?  How did he receive that sacred tent by which God would dwell in the midst of His people? Through drawing near to God, and worshipping in His presence. We think that we worship God to satisfy Him; but actually when we worship Him, He satisfies us more. Who satisfied Moses during the forty days and forty nights that he was on the mount without eating or drinking? God satisfied Moses.

When God satisfies you, you do not need anything else. These are some of the things that we must learn together.

More, in Shechem

So we come to the first altar of Abraham: “Abram passed through the land as far as the site of Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. Now the Canaanite was then in the land. The Lord appeared to Abram and said, ‘To your descendants I will give this land.’ So he built an altar there to the Lord who had appeared to him.” (Gen. 12:6-7).

When we come onto God’s ground, then He can really teach us. God could not teach Abraham while he was in Mesopotamia in the land of the Chaldeans. Nor could He teach him anything as long as he remained in Haran. It was only when Abraham arrived at the place that God had commanded him, that  God could begin to teach him.

This is a very important principle. There are people who are being taught by God all the time; however, some Christians are not being taught at all. Some are learning more of Christ but others are not learning anything more about Him. To learn Him, we must be on His ground; then He can teach us.

What is the first lesson that He is teaching us? `More' means teachable, or to be taught; `Shechem' means shoulder. That is, if God is going to teach us, we need to be prepared to respond Him. When we come onto God’s ground, He can teach us such a lesson. It is on His ground that He enables us to fulfill our responsibilities, because everything that He demands of us, He first of all supplies.

God is very fair. Before He demands, He always provides. Therefore when we come onto God’s ground, His provision will be there, and He can teach us and we will be able to respond. That is very important for those who are serving the Lord and desire to see the testimony of the Lord Jesus fully recovered: We have to stand with Him on His ground, listen to His word, and respond to it. And the reason why He teaches us is because He Himself has already given us the capacity to respond.

Bethel

The second altar is Bethel. On one side there was Bethel, and on the other side was Ai. Abraham built an altar there, and the scripture says that he built that altar for one reason: to call upon the Lord. Now, that is another lesson that Abraham had to learn. When we want to respond to God, we discover that there is still flesh in us. Abraham built that second altar to call upon the name of the Lord, because he discovered that in himself there was no hope. He wanted to respond, but he discovered that his flesh was stopping him. It is on God’s ground that we discover our true flesh, and in that place He has a way to deal with the flesh.

We shared yesterday with some of the young people that if we don’t see the terribleness of sin, we will never ask for deliverance from sin. The same thing happens with the flesh. If we do not see how ugly the flesh is in God’s sight, we will never cry out for deliverance. It is on God’s ground, that is, in Christ, that all of this is exposed, not to condemn us, but to deliver us. Abraham perceived that there was flesh in him, and therefore he called upon the name of the Lord for help. One brother has said that one of the reasons why we call upon the name of the Lord is because we recognize our helplessness. If we do not know how helpless we are, we will never cry out for God’s help.

So God was teaching Abraham that there was flesh in him which needed to be dealt with. So God caused a famine in the land, and Abraham began to consider how he could preserve his own life, how he could satisfy his hunger. The promised land did not have food; but there was food in Egypt.  In Christ, the promised land, there was no food; but there was food in the world!

The flesh is weak. When Abraham went to Egypt, he discovered how terrible his flesh was. He brought shame on himself and his family, and was despised and disgraced. Finally, he went back to Canaan and the first place which he went back to was the altar in Bethel. So that altar is the altar of restoration, the altar of saving our flesh, where we cry out to God to be delivered from the flesh.

Mamre

Let’s have a look at the third altar, at the end of chapter 13. We know the story, it was after his separation from Lot. The third altar was in the place called Mamre, which means vigour, strength, riches. So when we’re willing to learn and also to allow our flesh to be dealt with, that is the only way that we can come to the riches of Christ. It is when the flesh has been dealt with, that God can entrust us with His riches. That is a very important principle.

You remember the quarrel between the slaves of Abraham and the slaves of Lot. Abraham said: “This is not a good testimony in front of the Canaanites; we are brothers and we shouldn’t quarrel”. Abraham was very generous. The land had been promised him. But he said to his nephew Lot: “Take what you want; if you go to the right, I will go to the left; if you go to the left, I will go to the right”. This went against the traditions of the eastern way of life, because the custom was to respect the oldest, and they had the right to choose what they wanted. But Abraham was willing to give up his rights.

Here we have another very important principle: to discover God’s riches, we must be willing to give up our rights, we must refuse to grasp things for ourselves. The apostle James says that all good things come from above, from God. Through this act, Abraham says to us: “My riches are with God. I am not going to fight; I will leave everything in God’s hands”. And when he did that, he found true riches in his God, and he was so blessed and so satisfied, that he did not want anything else.

A person who is truly satisfied with God is not someone who is always grasping things for themselves. Here’s the test. At the beginning of chapter 14, we have the story of the war between the kings, and how Abraham and his slaves went and rescued Lot. When they returned victoriously, the king of Salem came and blessed Abraham. He came only to confirm God’s blessing on the life of Abraham. God already had blessed him, and this was confirmation of that blessing. So when the king of Sodom wanted to give Abraham some of the spoils of battle, Abraham rejected them:

 “And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; now he was a priest of God Most High. He blessed him and said, “Blessed be Abram of God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth; and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand.” Abram gave him a tenth of all. The King of Sodom said to Abram, “Give the people to me and take the goods for yourself.” Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I have sworn to the Lord God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth, that I will not take a thread or a sandal thong or anything that is yours, for fear you would say, “I have made Abram rich”.” (Gen. 14:18 - 23).

We are already richly blessed, because God has given everything to us.  What more could we ask for? I often meet other brothers and sisters, such as now coming to Chile, and when I see the brothers smiling, I think that they are already so blessed.  What more can I say? So, what we are doing is discovering our true riches together. This is another occasion in which we can discover the riches that are already ours in Christ Jesus.

When we are blessed, we no longer want anything from the world. This world cannot satisfy us, the religious world cannot satisfy us. But thank God, because He has already satisfied us fully, and all we do is simply discover what has already been given. There is no need for asking, but only discovering what we have already received.

Moriah

And, finally, the last altar. This is the most significant. This is the crisis in the life of Abraham. This is the real test of the genuine faith that Abraham had in his God, a test of the love that Abraham had in his heart towards God. When God appeared to Abraham on this occasion, no promises were given, but only a demand. Love is demanding.

Brother Stephen Kaung says that when Abraham offered up Isaac, it was the moment at which Abraham was most like God. When Abraham offered up his son, he testified as to what God is like, and God was so pleased with Abraham, and he reaffirmed His convenant with him. And from this offering of Isaac, Rebecca was brought into the picture. Out of his resurrection, Isaac gained a bride for himself.

I want you to consider the diligence, the determination of Abraham to obey God’s demands, without hesitation. Normally, when somebody makes an unreasonable demand of you, you hesitate. But Abraham never questioned God. We have seen how Abraham acted in a willing and determined way. He knew that God was not unreasonable. Because God’s promise was that through his seed the family of the earth would be blessed, and God cannot go against His word. Abraham thought that if he sacrificed his son it was God’s responsibility to raise him up again. God cannot fail.

 “Now it came about after these things, that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!”and he said “Here I am.” ” (Gen. 22:1). See how he responded to God immediately. Then, in verse 2, God made the demand, and in verse 3, Abraham again responded immediately. “And Abraham rose early in the morning, and saddled his donkey, and took two servants, and Isaac his son; he cut firewood for the burnt offering, and went to the place that God said” Straightaway he went into action mode. This passage is full of action, as Abraham seeks to obey God’s commandment. Then comes a verse which has deeply touched my heart.

 “On the third day Abraham raised his eyes, and saw the place afar off. Then Abraham said to his young men: You wait here with the donkey, and I and the boy will go over there; and we will worship and return to you” (v. 4-5). Notice “we will return to you”. Brothers and sisters, God is not a God of death, He is a God of life. Even in the midst of death, He gives life; that is the power of the resurrection, that is the power of God.

In the midst of the impossible, God says: “It is possible”. In the midst of death, there is life. Our testimony is that, in the midst of death, there is life. In the midst of apparent defeat, there is great victory. That is how we look at things. And thank God, because he is preserving His testimony, that passes through many cycles of death and resurrection. That is God’s way: life out of death.

In the testimony of the church there is a death side, and also a resurrection side. Without death, there is no resurrection. Abraham knew that, even though death lay ahead of him, God was the God of the resurrection.

In concluding, I want to encourage you brothers and sisters. In China, after the communists took power, many concluded that Christianity was going to disappear, because communism is basically anti-christian. After the communists came into government, all the missionaries were expelled from the country and many of the Lord’s people were put into prison, and many died there. So we thought that that was it. But in the midst of death, there was resurrection, there was life.

Many can testify that today China is one of the few places where you can find pure testimonies of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Christians in China thank God for communism and thank God for persecution. They say that communism and persecution purified them and made them one in Christ. The testimony of the power of Christ is that, in the midst of death, there is life; in the midst of defeat, there is victory, and that is for God’s glory.

Summary of a message shared in 2nd Conference International, September 2005.

Copyright © AGUAS VIVAS | CHILE 2007