A Table in The Wilderness

A Table in the Wilderness May 19th

Revelation 22:16
I Jesus have sent my angel to testify unto you those things for the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, the bright, the morning star.

Click to expand...

The book of Revelations is the unveiling, the apokalupsis, of Jesus Christ.It draws aside the curtain to reveal Him. Its object is not primarily to enlighten us regarding coming events- the antichrist, the supposed revival of the Roman Empire, the rapture of the saints, the millennial kingdom or the final downfall of Satan.

John's remedy for out ills is not a matter of so many seals and trumpets and vials. It is not in fact designed to satisfy our intellectual curiosity at all, but to meet our spiritual need by revealing Jesus Christ in fullness, that we may know Him.

For Christ is the answer to all of our questions. Get clear first about Him, and we shall know all we need to know about "things to come". He is the risen and victorious King of Kings. All the events that follow are the outcome of His being that.

A Table in the Wilderness May 20th

Romans 6:16
Know ye not that to whom yourselves as servants unto obedience, his servant you are whom you obey.

Click to expand...

The word here rendered "servant" really signifies a bond-servant or slave. The distinction is important to us, for this word is used several times in the second half of Romans 6, where Paul writes of our usefulness to God. What is the difference between a servant and a slave? A servant may serve another, but the ownership does not pass to that other. If he likes the master he can serve him, but if he does not he can give his notice and seek another master. Not so is it with a slave. He is not merely another man's servant, he is his possession.

How did I become the slave of the Lord? On His part He bought me with the price of His life laid down; on my part I presented myself freely and completely to Him. Let us not overlook that second statement. By right of redemption I am God's property, but if I would be useful as His slave, I must willingly give myself to Him for this. He will never compel me.

A Table in the Wilderness May 21st

Eph 3:19
To know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Click to expand...

While He was on earth Jesus was Himself the vessel of divine life. When men touched Him they touched God; when they saw Him they saw God. In Him there dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead. This was the Father's pleasure (Colossians 1:19, 2:9)

Today what do we see? We who believe possess that life. We are said to have received of His fullness. When people meet us do they meet the surpassing love of Christ? When they touch us do they touch something of God?

A Table in the Wilderness May 22nd

2 Corinthians 4:11
For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.

Click to expand...

What does this mean? It simply means that I will act only when leaning on God. I will find no sufficiency in myself. I will take no step just because I have inherited the power to do so. With the forbidden fruit Adam became possessed of an inherent power to act, but a power that played right into satan's hands.
You lose that power when you come to know the Lord. You live now by the life of Another, drawing everything from Him.

Oh, my friends, I think we all know ourselves in measure, but many a time we do not truly at ourselves. We may say in a manner of courtesy to God, " If He does not want it, I cannot do it", but in reality we are pretty sure we can do it quite well ourselves! Too often we have been caused to decide, to act on, to have power apart from Him. The Christ we manifest is too small because in ourselves we have grown too big. May God forgive us.

A Table in the Wilderness May 23rd

Romans 11:33
Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgements, and His ways past tracing out.

Click to expand...

Once and again amid the doctrinal unfolding of God's Word we uncover sudden outbursts of worship from the full hearts of His servants. The apostle Paul displays a happy knack of doing this. In Romans 1 he breaks the flow of his grim exposure of human corruption with a cry of praise to God the Creator, "who is blessed forever" (verse 25) adding to it his own personal "Amen". Again in chapter 9 he interrupts his discourse on Israel's historic advantages with a closely similar cry acclaiming Christ over all, God blessed forever. Amen"
And here at the end of chapter 11 we find the same joyous spontaneity. Speaking of God's mercy to the Gentiles and of what their response will be, he concludes: " God hath shut up all unto disobedience that He might have mercy upon all" (11:32) and logically this is followed by Chap 12:1 "I beseech you therefore brethern, by the mercies of God....".
But once more Paul interrupts himself, and our text occupies the gap. He cannot suppress his feelings: "for of Him, and thru Him, and unto Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever Amen" This kind of interuption creates no problem for God.

A Table in the Wilderness May 24th

Ezra 6:9
That which they have need of....let it be given them day by day without fail.

Click to expand...

If we really trust God, we shall expect to bear unaided the spiritual burden both of our own needs and those of the work. We must not secretly hope from some human source. Our faith is not to be in God plus mankind, but in God alone. If believers show their love, thank God; but if they do not, let us thank Him still.

For God's servants to have one eye on Him and one eye on other people is a shameful thing, unworthy of any Christian. To profess trust in God, yet to turn to other believers for supplies, is to bring only disgrace upon His name.

Our living by faith must be transparently real, and never deteriorate into a living charity. Yes, in all material things we dare to be utterly independent of mankind, because we dare to believe utterly in God. We have cast away all other hope, because we have unbounded hope in Him.

A Table in the Wilderness May 25th

Romans 6:14
Sin shall not have dominion over you; for you are not under the law, but under grace.

Click to expand...

When God's light first shines into my heart my one cry is for forgiveness, for I realize I have committed sins before Him; but when once I have received forgivenessof sins I make a new discovery, namely, that I still have a nature of a sinner.

There is an inward inclination to sin, a power of sin compelling me. When that power breaks out I commit sins. I may seek and receive forgiveness, but then I sin once more.

So life pursues a vicious circle of sinning and being forgiven and sinning again. I appreciate the blessed fact of God's pardon, but I desperately want something more. I rejoice in the forgiveness for what I have done, but I need also deliverance from what I am.
I need the Cross of Christ to strike at the root of my capacity to sin. The blood of Christ has dealt with my sins, but only the power of Christ's death and His resurrection is sufficient to deal with me.

A Table in the Wilderness May 26th

Galations 3:28
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Click to expand...

To us who believe, the Cross of Christ is central; central to all time because central to the whole work of God. We praise God for making this fact clear to our hearts. Moreover, it is central also to our lives. But we must remember that in it's work for the individual sinner the Cross was, and is, a means to an end, never an end in itself. The divine end to which it leads is the man (the new creation) in Christ.

Salvation, personal holiness, victorious living, walking after the Spirit; all these precious fruits of redemption are ours to enjoy, but they are not meant to apply to us merely as so many myriads of seperate units, scattered over this earth for God. Their values are intended to go further than that. Each is ours in terms of the Body of Christ. It may be true that the children of Abraham are as the stars in multitude. Nevertheless as Christians God would have us see ourselves not as men but as a Man. The goal of the divine thought is in fact one heavenly Man (the church/ bride), not a host of little men.