Bravado or heavenly stature

Bravado or heavenly statureBy Lars WiderbergReading: Num 141. Israel at Kadesh-Barnea. On the edge of entering. At the threshold of obtaining. Finally making it. Just send some spies to gather up-to-date information on the situation beyond the border – send them in to see what ordinary men cannot see, send men of stature. Write a report, write positively – we have been walking for long under horrible conditions. Ours is a hope of general blessings according to promises made. Ours is a hope of special favours because they say we are a special people. Israel at Kadesh-Barnea, not knowing where they were, not understanding the spiritual meaning of their position in time and spiritual geography.

2. Kadesh, a location in the wilderness of Paran between Shur and Edom – sometimes called En-mishpat, the fountain of judgment. Kadesh, an indispensable stop along the path of ascent into the fullness of the Lord. Kadesh holds the significance of sanctification; it covers the necessity of thorough preparation for the unconventional. Its meaning and role is something very much more and something altogether different than a long awaited turning point in routines, something far beyond a hopeful response to the all too common altar-call and invitation to get blessed by the guest-speaker of the night. Kadesh-Barnea reappears in the spiritual geography of pilgrimage from time to time as a site at which the people chosen to be vessels for the testimony re-gather and convene to open up for the Lord to have His way with His people. Israel missed the mark at that first gathering. A repetitious behaviour occurs among the people of God even today, when horns are blown and a voice calls out: “Next stop, Kadesh”.

3. Now, the spies were sent. They were all men of stature. They had all visited Kadesh before during their inner walk with the Lord. Two of them proved later on to stand the test amidst the necessary confrontation and pressure at the intersection where spiritual values are brought to bear on physical realities. These men had gone a long way in the preparation which was meant to enable them for leadership, for the role of being helpers of the many men and women who were chosen to live and walk in an ever increasing fullness of Christ. What they went through at their Kadesh was in a sense prophetic as to the development of the kind intention of the Lord which he purposed in Christ with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is a summing up of all things in Christ. Eph 1:9-10. Kadesh signifies a space, a locality in mind, heart and spirit with men as well as in time and geography in which God holds the first, really the only place. Kadesh, when it is allowed its proper role, is a situation in which the Lord thoroughly and totally rules. This is sanctification, to be set aside for the purposes of God, something set aside as a vessel for the administration of the fullness of Christ.

4. Again, these men were set aside for the purpose of an example of stature and for leadership. They had been thoroughly dealt with in the school of Moses. These spies were fully prepared to take on hardship and to overcome any and every obstacle coming in their way in this new realm of operation. They were trained to survive, even more, they were mature men able to stay strong and courageous for the sake of a sound report and for continuity. They were overcomers. These men leave us questions to ponder: What is an overcomer? What is the main object, the first and foremost obstacle as to which this particular frame of mind is set fort as the only possible way of ministration and management?

5. At the point of return these brave men soberly stated that the protection, the covering – literally, the shadow – had been removed from the peoples occupying the land into which the Lord of Hosts intended to take them, Num 14:9. One might say that the power of the cross of Christ already was in operation, Col 2:15. Their shadow had faded, due to the presence of something or someone who had a far greater potential pertaining to protection, provision and peace. No fear needed to take heed to, not even in the valley of the shadow of death. This is in short our position and foundational viewpoint regarding to the matter of overcoming. The enemy, any enemy, once and for all overcome through the power of the blood of Jesus. The enemy is conquered for the sake of the full and unlimited presence and authority of the Father.But, this foundational, high potency fact is reinterpreted with great hurry and efficiency into common categories of ordinary man. Flesh reappears at the center of the scene of revelation, reinforcing its position by means of a strong hand, clever thinking and lots of pumping adrenaline with the sole intention of taking the Kingdom by force. It opens the mind to great prospects, but prospects rooted and embedded in gross misunderstanding publicly announcing easy pain reduction, declaring any problem to be solved by swift cuts by the sword of the Word. What we are left with is an overcoming intensely occupied with the enemy rather than a proper realisation of Kades-Barnea – sanctification in progress, an ever increasing yieldedness, an ever growing occupation whit the One sitting at the Thorne in Heaven.

6. The report of the returning spies triggered a reaction at full blast from the desert mind: “All the congregation lifted up their voices and cried, and the people wept that night. And all the sons of Israel grumbled.” Num 14:1-2. At the point of preparation for the unconventional, even for the unattainable, there was but grumbling. The Father, the Lord of Hosts, had a plan in motion since long with a view to an administration suitable to the purpose of his own, which is to allow Christ to be all in all. For this reason Kadesh-Barnea is a moving sanctuary. It is portable. It takes you everywhere. Without it you will go nowhere. Kadesh is present everywhere – the absolute necessity to give the Lord the first place, even the only place. Kadesh moves with us into every situation, demanding the vindication of the Lord. Kadesh is set fort as the only approach to overcoming in any given situation – the willingness to step down, to yield, to give God the absolute right to judge, instruct and to command.

7. Overcoming is none of your business, except for obeying. Overcoming does not lie within your realm of decision making, except for accepting the will and way of the Lord. An overcomer learns to avoid the many traps and pitfalls projected to stir the flesh and mind to try to be strong without the Lord. The overomer learns to say no to the many additions and pluses to salvation and overcoming which the “shadows” present to tease your senses or impose by heavy pressure. Salvation is by the Lord, not by techniques. Overcoming is not a set of neat principles to follow, it is a full scale giving up of rights and personal prospects for the sake of presenting a heart open to the grace of God.

7. Overcoming is none of your business, except for obeying. Overcoming does not lie within your realm of decision making, except for accepting the will and way of the Lord. An overcomer learns to avoid the many traps and pitfalls projected to stir the flesh and mind to try to be strong without the Lord. The overomer learns to say no to the many additions and pluses to salvation and overcoming which the “shadows” present to tease your senses or impose by heavy pressure. Salvation is by the Lord, not by techniques. Overcoming is not a set of neat principles to follow, it is a full scale giving up of rights and personal prospects for the sake of presenting a heart open to the grace of God.

8. After a full night of crying and grumbling in the camp of Israel, Kadesh turned into En-mishpat, the fountain of judgment. And the judgment was harsh and drastic. This people of Israel, under the shadow of the Lord, flip from a state of thick darkness to the practical opposite. “We are going to take the kingdom by force and that at this very moment”. Was this change in line with spiritual reality, in accordance to true concepts of overcoming? This was a people which did not want to obey when the Lord gave instructions. This was a people who tried to overrule the judgments of the Lord, claiming covering and applying promises in a situation in which the Lord did not take part.

9. This is the heart of the false overcoming. This is spiritual bravado. Man taking the right to apply promises according to his own mind. Man taking the right to claim covering, moving in into areas of spiritual confrontation on his own. “But they went heedlessly.” This was a people wavering between the prospect of eating themselves to death at the tables in Egypt, even contemplating suicide in the wilderness right in front of the Tabernacle and taking the new land, the promised land in a spirit of bravado – a vaunted display of courage and self-reliance. They were swaggering, blinded to the true nature of overcoming. Modern categorising would soon find these poor fellows to have been contracting a charismatic neurosis finding them to being tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine, stirred to temporary action by fanciful projects laid before them by men without stature. Men of stature follow hard after the Lord in a pursuit to serve with a view to an administration suitable to fullness and stature in the fullness of the times perfectly according to the purpose of God.

10. What was the country like which they had been tied to for so long? It was a desert country, dry and tardy. It did not produce much excitement. Prospects of produce and prosperity were low indeed. Its original dwellers were the Amorites. For some unknown reason they carried this awkward name. It denoted persons prone to be talkative; the old reliable Hebrew dictionary called them praters. This label pointed out the abuse of words, a talking idly and at length depriving words and concepts of their true value. Paul mentions a cleverness of speech used to empty the cross of Christ of its saving power, 1 Cor 1:17. This is the shadow projected into the hearts and minds of the people of the Lord, producing the wavering between depression unto suicide decreed by unwillingness to hear and obey and a fatal spiritual bravado rooted in the exactly the same position and attitude.

11. There were only two men who did no bow to the common desert mentality, a negligible entity within the whole, a remnant if you like. But, this minority of minorities carried the vital substance of spirituality – a different spirit, Num 14:24 – which the Lord counted as the only thing worth carrying over into the future. How utterly sad, a whole generation lost at Kadesh-Barnea simply because they could not identify and hold on to what was of real value, exchanging genuine overcoming for presumption and bravado. This is spiritual warfare in the name of the Lord but under the shadow of powers which reinstate flesh on the throne. There is no successful – what a word to use in relation to what we are considering here – no successful prayer warfare without a thorough work of the Holy Spirit at a constantly reappearing Kadesh-Barnea.

12. The glory of God is for real. The glory of the Lord is something tangible, something substantial. It cannot be replaced with a counterfeit. A nation of priests is to carry it through the wilderness of out time. The presence of the Father, the majesty of God, the stature and dignity of the Shadow of the Almighty will not allow presumption, pretension or falsehood. Who dares to come up with concepts of worship, things aimed at pleasing the Lord, things aiming at giving room for his glory which at the same time does not project the purposes of Heaven? The Amorite does. The one who do not care for the cross does. The one who do not care for the well of judgment ever present along the path of pilgrimage dares to do so. The one who do not care for the administration suitable to the fullness of Christ dares to talk and walk as if God is not interested in the vindication of His Name. This is what true overcoming is all about.

13. The greatest moment of defeat is introduced to the church when it decides to redefine the concept of overcoming. The overthrow of the church is complete when it gives itself to an overcoming intended to save from the full impact of Kadesh. The Babylonian overcoming never intends to cut off the evil at its root. It never moves all the way in allowing God the full rights to life and belongings. The “I” is always left untouched on the throne to decide what God can have and what He may do. The overcoming which is stained by the Amorite touch leaves the cross behind. It is seen as an escape route bringing pressure to lowest impact level and taking pleasure to its maximum. Kadesh-Barnea is first and foremost a spiritual necessity in the realm of the shadow of the Amorites, among those who lay hold of the promises for the sake of spiritual indolence. Kadesh-Barnea takes its people to a place of maturity and it takes hard work to get there. Kadesh brings in a spiritual state of stature resulting in practical priestly ministry. It leaves its trade mark wherever greater measure fullness is needed.

The overcomer is a person who is willing to learn to step aside. It takes effort to allow oneself to be removed from the center of events, to be reduced in importance. The overcomer turns his rights over to the Lord – he never claims or demands. He shuns the ways and principles of the world – overcoming will never be achieved through means of psychology or the manipulative twists and turns held in high esteem in the market place. It has nothing to do with the improvement of what is, but it is totally dedicated to an apprehending of a full measure of what the cross holds in store.

15. The overcomer tilts the balance of power – his own bowel emptied for the sake of a full measure of the presence of the Lord. The overcomer is fully pleased with this order of things – the presence of a Kadesh-Barnea, a total impact of the Holy Spirit unto emptying for the sake of the fullness of Christ; a full and carefully undertaken work of the Holy Spirit unto heavenly stature and maturity.Blessed are those who take the right decision at Kadesh-Barnea, theirs will be a walk toward fullness in Christ. Blessed are these overcomers, the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven. END