Month: June 2023

The Future and the Hope

On By Bp. Justin ElwellIn Applied Theology, InspirationLeave a comment

In Numbers 14:26-35, the children of Israel hear the verdict of the Lord concerning the incident of the spies: one year for every day, 40 years. Now, imagine if you were a nineteen (19) year old who anxiously awaited return of the spies, you heard their testimony, and expected to immediately begin preparations to enter the inheritance promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Yet, tragically, you stand hearing the same news as your parents: forty (40) years. Those twenty (20) years and above, save for Joshua and Caleb, will not enter the Promised Land, but will die in the dessert.

Imagine the despair that overcomes the camp. Despair leading to the ill-conceived attempt to take the Land in Numbers 14:44-45. Now they had to live with the knowledge that their hope was deferred, and for some would never be witnessed. How do we understand this? How do we live in the midst of a judgment that surrounds us?

We will often listen attentively to voices that speak relief in our trying circumstances. In Jeremiah 29:10-14, a false prophet, Hananiah attempts to encourage Jewish exiles in Babylon, by prophesying that the exile would only last two (2) years. Hananiah died for speaking presumptuously. Jeremiah, however, explains rather sharply that the Jewish people will be in exile for seventy (70) years: one year for each of the sabbatical years that Israel did not observe since entering the Promised Land (2 Chron. 36:20-21), a judgment similar to the wilderness generation.

Everything they had known lay in waste: the Temple, the palaces, their homes, etc. They were expecting a quick deliverance, but that is not what was decreed from Heaven. They are told in Jeremiah 29:4-9: build homes, get married, have children and grandchildren, because this is where you will be. Then, inexplicably the Lord says, “Seek the welfare of the city to which I have caused you to go in exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf; for your welfare is bound up in its welfare” (Jer. 29:7). Pray for those holding you captive!? Pray for their blessing!? For now, your well-being is bound up with theirs!?

Nevertheless, the Lord gives hope, just not as we might expect it: “For I know what plans I have in mind for you,’ say the Lord, ‘plans for well-being, not for bad things; so that you can have hope for a future’” (Jer. 29:11).

This verse is often misapplied to mean that the Lord will very quickly deliver us from our trial, our tribulations, and to that hope-filled future promised in this verse. Yet, this verse was spoke at the beginning of the exile. Jeremiah 29:11 is encouraging endurance: in captivity, in tribulation, in poverty, in persecution, and illness.

The people hearing these words 2,500 years ago did not hear “good news,” they heard years of struggle, a lack of freedom, and physical distance from the promises of God. However, the Lord tells us how to endure such circumstances in this verse:

1) The Lord has a purpose, a plan, and a time for release in mind for His people, meaning His promise is still present.

2) These are plans for שָׁלוֹם/shalom, meaning wholeness, completeness, peace, and repair.

3) The plans of God give us תִּקְוָה/tiqvah, meaning a cord and hope, from a root meaning to bind together, wait, and expect. As Isaiah tells us, “But they who wait (קוה) on the Lord shall renew their strength” (Isa. 40:31). Those who קָוָה/qāvâ, “are bound together” with the Lord will renew their strength.

4) This strength and hope propels us to the אַחֲרִית/acharit, the end, last, future, and posterity.

All this is echoed and strengthened in Jeremiah 29:12-14, “When you call to me and pray to me, I will listen to you. When you see me, you will find me, provided you seek for me wholeheartedly; and I will let you find me,’ says the Lord.”

Often, we interpret the “future and hope” to mean immediate relief, but what the Lord is saying is, “I will give you the hope needed to connect to the future destiny.” Adversity, trial, and tribulation are times of building strength and faith endurance in Him, while binding ourselves tighter to Him. The apostle Paul wrote from such a place when in a jail cell in Philippi; and in the midst of that deep, dark, wet jail cell, with a seemingly bleak future, he wrote, “I can do all things through him who strengthens me” (Phil 4:13). The promise: every need fulfilled; every lack taken care of. Why, because of the future and hope.

The author of Hebrews encouraged, “Now even though we speak this way, dear friends, we are confident that you have the better things that come with being delivered. For God is not so unfair as to forget your work and the love you showed for him in your past service to his people – and in your present service too. However, we want each one of you to keep showing the same diligence right up to the end, when your hope will be realized; so that you will not become sluggish, but will be imitators of those who by their trust and patience are receiving what has been promised” (Heb. 6:9-12).

This was written to Jewish disciples who were on the verge of giving up faith in Messiah to avoid persecution; but did you see it, the author references Jeremiah, “the same diligence right up to the end, when your hope will be realized.”

In Rev. 21:6, and 22:13, Messiah is called the “beginning and the End.” Who is the end? Messiah. In 1 Timothy 1:1, the apostle Paul writes of Yeshua that He is “our hope.” Who is our hope? Jesus. Who is the “future and hope” that will carry us through the difficult exile, tribulation and trial? Yeshua/Jesus the Messiah.

In Him: He is our future, and He is our Hope. Now קָוָה/qāvâ, wrap yourself up in Him.

Be well. Shalom.

Caleb, Joshua, and the Holy Spirit

On By Bp. Justin ElwellIn Applied Theology, InspirationLeave a comment

‎וַיְדַבֵּר יְהוָה, אֶל-מֹשֶׁה לֵּאמֹר
‎שְׁלַח-לְךָ אֲנָשִׁים, וְיָתֻרוּ אֶת-אֶרֶץ כְּנַעַן, אֲשֶׁר-אֲנִי נֹתֵן, לִבְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל: אִישׁ אֶחָד אִישׁ אֶחָד לְמַטֵּה אֲבֹתָיו, תִּשְׁלָחוּ–כֹּל, נָשִׂיא בָהֶם

“The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the people of Israel. From each tribe of their fathers you shall send a man, every one a chief among them” (Num. 13:1-2).

I am my own worst critic. Not unusual. I do, however, remember when the view of myself changed dramatically. I was publicly humiliated by a person in authority, with language that echoed in my heart and mind for years. I maintained my stoic demeanor outwardly, but inwardly I was crushed. I had been out late pursuing my dream of music, and fell asleep in first period study hall. A sin of the highest order, apparently.

For many years after, the inner landscape of my life looked dismal. Fears became insurmountable mountains. Dreams and ambitions a wasteland; and “we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight” (Num. 13:33). Not only did I see the limitations of my life, everyone else, in my estimation, did as well. The power of words.

The Lord directs Moses to send men of authority into the Promised Land to see what manner of men dwelled there, how the land was, and what the settlements were like (Num. 13:17-20). The men, 40 days later, bring a report and fruit of the land as evidence (Num. 13:25-27). They started with words affirming the goodness of the land and God’s Promise, but ended with discouraging words doubting Israel’s ability to overcome the inhabitants and to settle. The bad news was more immediate than the good news.

The response was immediate. The words of 10 of the 12 spies were persuasive enough for the exodus generation to doubt, and in doubt fall into mournful rebellion. The landscape of God’s promise became a dismal horizon.

The spies went beyond their purpose. Rather than seeing the land with hope, they examined it critically. Failing to remember that God would bless them, and the Promised Land, they saw only impossibility before them. Ten voices setting doubt over promise, shattered the lens through which they received God’s Word. As impassioned as Joshua and Caleb were in their rebuttal, the deep impact of fear, criticism and doubt triumphed over their words of faith.

The inspectors saw only the difficulty, and as a result, a generation was subject to a forty year day trip. Again, in their assessment they left God, His Promise and His Presence out. God was excluded.

In our own lives, we need Caleb’s and Joshua’s around us. People who will contend with those voices speaking in doubt to us, forgetting that it is God Who goes before us. Yes, there is difficulty ahead, but God … it is for Him to sort it and settle it.

I am thankful that in my life, even as painful as those words spoken 30 years ago were, that God had the last word. I often see only the dismal horizon in myself; but God has provided, not just two, but too numerous to recount, voices of affirmation of His Promise. Yes, the horizon I see is hard, it’s filled with rocks, roots, hazards of all sorts, but God. Not only do Caleb’s and Joshua’s surround me, but the Holy Spirit ministers the life of Messiah to me. Hallelujah!

What did Messiah say? “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world” (Jn. 16:33). His Promises the Holy Spirit ministers. The Word that holds all life together.

Dear reader, you are far more than your worst day, even your worst moment, and the worst thing you have ever done, because of Him. You are a fertile field of God’s Promise.

Be well. Shalom.