Galatians

Surrender of Body

“And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed to the Lord and wept in anguish” (1 Samuel 1:10)

Hannah was not unique in Israel in being childless but the depth of her sorrow may well have been unique. How did she come to be in such bitterness of soul and weep in such anguish? There is no way she could have artificially produced this. The factors that would have brought her to this place in her life are varied but are all under the direction of just One.

In her family she was the more loved of two wives (v 5). The other wife had many children (v 4) and taunted Hannah with regard to her childless state (v 6). This was aided by the need for sons to retain the inheritance of land under the Law. Also, she was a married woman who had a desire to be a mother.

In addition to these more personal provocations was the state of her nation. Along with her husband she was faithful in presenting offerings to the Lord in God’s house. However, this was not the case for the majority. We ought not to forget that at that time the Lord still presenced Himself in the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle.

Year by year as Elkanah and Hannah brought their sacrifice to the Lord they could not help but notice the abuse of position exercised by Eli’s sons who did not know the Lord (2:12ff). Eli was the appointed Levitical priest and his sons served under his authority. Eli was complicit in his sons’ actions (2:29) and this would bring about the eventual end of the Levitical priesthood. The priesthood would, from a future time, be led by a “Faithful Priest,” (2:35) namely, Jesus Christ. The state of Israel added its weight of sorrow to Hannah’s heart.

None of these factors arose artificially in Hannah. Bringing them all together is the providential hand of God. Hannah’s part was to surrender her own body to the Lord for His service. In this she is a kind of fore-runner to Mary who also wholly surrendered her body to the Lord for His service and to bring into the world the Son of God. Hannah was granted her heart’s desire because she was wholly surrendered to the Lord. Lack of surrender is evidence of lack of faith in Jesus Christ – and we know that without faith it is impossible to please the Lord (Hebrews 11:6).

We cannot artificially produce the bitterness of soul and anguish of heart that Hannah experienced. If we surrender our whole being, including our bodies (Romans 12:1), Jesus will allow His desires for other Christians and for a world helplessly lost in sin and under the power of darkness to flow from within our own hearts. It will only be then that we will pray a prayer of the kind that Hannah has done. That we don’t anguish over Christians who fail to follow Jesus Christ to the cross and grieve a lost world so that we pray and labour in ministry is evidence that we are not surrendered to Jesus.

We fail to pray and grieve because we have not wholly surrendered ourselves to the Lord. It means that we are not experiencing the reality of “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for Me” (Galatians 2:20).

“Right on Time”

“When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.” (Galatians 4:4-5)

At just the right time Jesus came into the world to take away the sin of all people. The prophetic passages in the Old Testament gave warning to anyone who was listening when Messiah would come. The men from the east knew the timing and came to see the young child, Jesus. He came just at the right time, the time of God’s appointment.

As we come to Christmas we may reflect on that much more but there are some other considerations that should encourage us and bring joy to our hearts.

Since Jesus’ first coming was at just the right time, should we expect that His second coming will be any different? Of course not! His second coming will come at just the right time and that time will be in accord with the prophetic passages of the Bible. His second coming will be just as His first in this respect – at just the right time.

There are plenty of passages in the Bible that give information concerning the timing of Jesus’ second coming. In brief, Jesus said that we may know the season but not the date.

Since “God sent forth His Son” at just the right time, is it too big a leap for us to believe that He also brought us into the world at just the right time?

My wife sometimes fantasises that she should have lived in the mansions of Europe a couple of hundred years ago until she realises that she might not have been the daughter of a wealthy landowner but maybe the scullery maid in that mansion. We may fantasise these things with some enjoyment but in reality we know that God brought us into the world at just the right time for His glory and purpose.

Since God is the God of the Bible this seems quite reasonable but then that leads us to take it another step. Since we are in the world now by God’s appointment, the circumstances in which we find ourselves today are also God’s appointment for us. They are meant firstly for His glory and secondly for our good. They will always reveal His glory but whether we receive the benefit God intended will depend on our reception and response to the circumstances.

Mordecai knew the reality of this when he said to Esther, “Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14). This reality was the motivation that Esther needed to risk her life for her people.

There have been many occasions when we know that we have had a “divine appointment”; but the reality is is that there have been countless more that we have not recognised. Indeed the very timing of our lives on earth is just the right time appointed by God. Accepting this must surely have an impact on our attitude and manner of life.

Jesus came for a purpose at His first coming and He will come for a purpose at His second coming. Both occasions are just at the right time. God has also placed each of us in the world at just the right time for His glory and purpose. The prime purpose is that we “may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death” (Philippians 3:10). Like Esther, we will only see the specifics as we come to them but that in no way diminishes the fact that God has brought us into the world at just the right time – His right time.

Egyptians Against Egyptians

“I will set Egyptians against Egyptians.” Isaiah 19:2

Written well over two thousand years ago this chapter in Isaiah reads partly like current day news. The parts not yet being fulfilled seem entirely possible in the near future. What was a long time in the future for Isaiah appears to be at our door. Almost every day the media reports unrest in Egypt as well as in other Middle East countries.

Another key event mentioned in this chapter is the fact of the river Nile drying up from its mouth (v 5). Rivers usually dry up from their source under natural conditions but that can change when a river is dammed. In Australia we have seen the effects of that with the River Murray and in Egypt the Nile is suffering the same consequences from being dammed.

Isaiah foretells other events in Egypt in this passage that have not yet begun to be fulfilled. That is because what we are seeing today is not the actual fulfilment of his prophecy. However, it is quite possible that we are seeing the final preparations for that fulfilment.

In isolation it may appear that we could be making too much of the prophecy in regard to current events but the events in Egypt are not the only ones that have a strong resemblance to prophecies concerning the days leading up to the Lord’s return. The Old Testament prophets refer to it as “The Day of the Lord.” The troubles in other Middle East countries, especially in their relation to Israel, also bear a strong resemblance to Biblical prophecy. Add to this the other troubles in and between many nations of the world that appear to conform to what the Bible describes in the last days and it doesn’t seem at all far fetched to believe the Lord’s coming may not be too far off.

As with His first advent, Jesus will return at God’s appointed time. Of necessity we need to be flexible in our plans and programs but not so with the Lord. Paul wrote, “When the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son …” (Galatians 4:4). The context makes it clear that this is a reference to the birth of Christ but just as Christ’s first advent was on God’s appointed day, and in His appointed way, so shall His second advent.

He will return on the God appointed day and will not be hurried or impeded. Not men or Satan and all his hoards could prevent His coming then (they all tried) and neither will they even slightly impede His coming again.

The farmer knows the signs of the coming season change because he has gained certain knowledge relating to seasons. People who know and believe what God has written in the Bible will also recognise the “signs” or “seasons” that reveal that we may well be in the preparation period leading up to the events prophesied for Israel, Egypt, the Middle East and the whole world as revealed in the Bible.

“‘Surely I am coming quickly [suddenly].’ Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus!” (Revelation 22:20)

Regarding the Times

“He who observes the wind will not sow, and he who regards the clouds will not reap” (Ecclesiastes 11:4)

The apostle Paul wrote concerning the return of the Lord on several occasions and his second letter to the church in Thessalonica parallels this statement in Ecclesiastes. In view of the imminent return of the Lord Jesus Christ to establish His earthly kingdom some of the Christians in Thessalonica had ceased to work (2 Thessalonians 3:11) and become idle in waiting for the great day of the Lord.

Being imminent does not mean it is immediate. We still live in the “last days” in which the Lord’s return is imminent but we have no biblical reason to assume that this means immediate.

The farmer knows the seasons and must do his work in faith accordingly. The first rains may be imminent but he will not know the exact time they will come or cease.

At the time of sowing he must sow even if there is a threat of wind that might blow the seed away and at the time of harvest he must harvest even if there is the threat of rain. If he procrastinates because of what might happen he will neither sow nor reap and he and his family will go hungry.

The analogy of a farmer sowing and reaping is used a number of times in the Bible. We live in a day when the wickedness of the world and the pervading spirit of antichrist suggest that the Lord’s return may be soon but that is no reason or excuse to cease sowing in faith. And if we sow in faith it must be with the expectancy of reaping. Both require activity on our part.

Some of the Christians in Thessalonica had given up working to await the return of the Lord. They refused to sow the Word of God and they had no expectation of reaping souls for the Kingdom of God. If we regard the times in which we live we may be inclined to follow their example but that would be contrary to the will of Jesus expressed in the Bible.

Yes, the return of the Lord may be today but equally it may not be for some years. He has not told us when. We know we are in the “last days” (2 Timothy 3:1-5; 2 Peter 3:3-4; Hebrews 1:1-4; 1 John 2:18) but the Lord has not revealed the exact day when He will call out His church.

If we regard the conditions around us we will be like the farmer who always waits for perfect weather and will not sow or reap. Paul commanded Timothy to proclaim Jesus Christ regardless of circumstances; “in season and out of season” (2 Timothy 4:2) and that command extends to all Christians. Paul affirms all the preceding in one verse, “And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart” (Galatians 6:9; cf. 2 Thessalonians 3:13).

Not so Common

“Without faith it is impossible to please Him” Hebrews 11:6

How often do we hear that something is ‘just commonsense’? The fact that we hear it so often shows that it isn’t so common. We often hear the term in relation to the Christian life as well and we find that, with the 57 varieties of ‘Christian,’ what we think should be common Christian thinking isn’t so common either.

The fact is that commonsense is not faith and faith is not commonsense. We read in Numbers 21 that the Israelites, bitten by poisonous snakes, could be cured by simply looking at a pole with a brass serpent attached to one end. That was not commonsense but it was an act of faith. “Commonsense and faith stand in the relation of the natural and the spiritual; of impulse and inspiration” (Oswald Chambers).

We must be careful not to apply what seems to be commonsense in the world to our spiritual life in Jesus Christ without taking God into account. From time to time God will ask us to do that which defies worldly commonsense to test our faith in Him (as He did with Abraham) but also to accomplish His purpose.

The just shall live by faith we are told and faith and commonsense run directly against each other.

Faith puts Jesus Christ and His Word first. Commonsense puts my knowledge and ability to reason first which disregards the first commandment. If we live according to commonsense we do not live by faith in God but by faith in ourselves.

God will bring us into circumstances requiring actions of faith in order to educate our faith and destroy our reliance on worldly commonsense that springs from the fallen nature. In the test He provides will we respond in commonsense or in faith in His Word?

Faith is the whole person rightly related to God by the power of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. Faith is taking God at His word and living according to it even when we don’t see the outcome as being beneficial or in accord with so called commonsense.