Some Things Only Come Around Once
June 22nd, 2009 | Michael Q. Pink
“But they presumed to go up unto the mountaintop: nevertheless the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and Moses, departed not out of the camp. Then the Amalekites came down, and the Canaanites who dwelt in that hill country, and struck them, and routed them, even unto Hormah.” Numbers 14:44 - 45
Here is an “eth” for you. You can read about it in Numbers 14. Joshua and Caleb returned from spying out the land with a great report. However, there compatriots held a different, fear based view and convinced the children of Israel that despite the fact that the land was indeed good, it was not the “eth” of God. They were after all outnumbered, outgunned and out-trained in matters of war. But you see, as Solomon said in Ecclesiastes 9:11, the battle is not to the strong.
There’s a game changer called “time and chance”, referring to the “eth” of God. That carries more weight than all the skill, all the strength and all the smarts. Just getting in on the “eth” of God, (the timing) will make all the difference. When would you want to go to war? When God was leading the charge or when He was someplace else?
So here’s what happened… the children of Israel decided to pass. They turned down the “eth” of God. Most likely they didn’t see it or just wouldn’t believe it, but they turned it down. They let it pass. So Moses informs them that because of their decision, the men who brought the bad report would die on the spot of a plague and those who believed their report would be denied entrance into the Promised Land and would die in the desert. Pretty sobering words.
And those words had great effect. The children of Israel who refused to enter the land, repented. They had a change of heart and they decided to go ahead and attack the Canaanites and Amelekites who were in the land. After all, it was only a delay of a day. What could have changed? Wouldn’t God be merciful and forgive?
Well, God does forgive when we repent, but that didn’t change the fact that the “eth” had come and gone. They would enter the land in their own strength, without the aid of God. And they got whooped! It wasn’t that God was mean. The “eth” had passed and in their case, there would never be another one for them to enter the Promised Land.
Does this mean that when we miss the “eth” of God, that that’s it? That we’ll never get another chance? Well, as much as I’d like to tell you that there will always be a second chance because God is a God of the second chance, the truth is that some things only come around once. God is gracious and full of mercy and will make a way for you, but it won’t be the same. It could still be something marvelous and better than you could have imagined, but I think it would benefit us all if we took the “eth” of God more seriously. I say that not as a word of judgment, but for our encouragement. We are missing way too many opportunities because we can’t discern the “eth” of God, nor recognize its signs.
June 22nd, 2009 at 5:38 am
My my, what a revelation on the ”eth” of God. This clearly enhances the need to become more in sync with God and His ways/timing.
A Fish Eagle, soar’s over the surface of the water, one admires its beauty and strengh at the same time we admire the water, nature and everything in it. Then suddenly, the Fish Eagle strike and gribs a fish in its claws, something we ere oblivious too until we saw the fish out of the water. We missed the fish swimming all along and so we missed its presence. So we at times, miss the ”eth” of God.
Yahwe, grant us your Grace that we may become aware of your moments of visitation, in Jesus name, Amen.
June 22nd, 2009 at 8:14 am
Miachael,
Thank you for your focus on the book of Ecclesiastes. It has caused me to reevalute this book in the light of the great truth you have revealed that it contains. For 40 years of my adult Christian life I disregarded this book as being less than the word of God because it was the words of one man, King Solomon, the preacher. Frankly, I have never liked or trusted preachers and I did not like the theme of the book that life on earth was vain, striving after the wind. And, moreover, since it was from the Old Testament, I was conditioned by preachers to believe it was obsolete and not applicable to my New Testament Christian life. However, on the other hand, the book of King Solomon’ s Proverbs, I have always regarded to be the word of God and worthy of my study and application to my life. Why was there such a disconnect? From an early age, I have known that Solomon had prayed for wisdom and that this pleased God and he gave him wisdom. But somehow, Satan was able to deceive me into thinking that the book of Ecclesiates did not contain any of the wisdom God had given to Solomon.
But now, through what you have been writing, I have come to see that the words of the preacher in Eccleseastes contain the same wisdom of God that is found in Proverbs and throughout the Bible, both New and Old testaments. St. Paul addresses the vanity of life in Romans 8:20 where he writes, “For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope.” With regard to the “eth” of God, I am now able to see from other scriptures that everything that happens in “time” as we humans experience it was conceived and planned in God’ s mind before there was “time”, before the world was created. When St. Paul speaks of the wisdom of God in 1Corinthians 2: 7, he says it is a mystery hidden before the world unto our glory. We even read in Rev. 13:8 that Christ was the Lamb of God slain (crucified) from the foundation of the world. The fact that Christ was crucified “outside the city” is, I think, an analogy that Christ was crucified “outside of time” in the mind of God. With our natural physical eyes we are able to see things as they seem to appear to our physical natural eyes but as our inward spiritual eyes are developed and matured we will then have true “vision” with which we can see from outside of time as God sees things. Then, as St. Paul says in 1 Cor. 2:13, we are able to compare spiritaual things with spirtual and we no loger see, as it were, “through a glass darkly’ We no longer see “unspiritually” as natural men but rather we then see with the mind of Christ! What a great revealtion!
David Thompson
June 22nd, 2009 at 8:40 am
What is the “eth”? Is it from some word in the Bible? I’m sorry I missed the beginning of this. What was the first day so I can re-read. Thanks!
June 22nd, 2009 at 9:17 am
Yeah, what is an “eth”?
June 22nd, 2009 at 10:35 am
To find the start with the definition of ‘eth’, got to the June 11 post.
June 22nd, 2009 at 10:36 am
Michael,
Can you provide us with some praitical ways for us to better see and understand the ‘eht’ of God?
June 22nd, 2009 at 9:51 pm
A well timed word. (no pun intended)
June 22nd, 2009 at 11:34 pm
So enjoying these messages. So often opportunites come - but finances are needed to participate. Is it taking a step of faith by using a credit card - to enter into something that you are sure is of God - but the card is your only way to provide the funding.?Waiting - let’s the opportunity pass by? If it is the “eth” of God - does He make a way?
Sure anxious to read more!
June 22nd, 2009 at 11:40 pm
good point. is it of God to come along only when the money is there? what if something came up to suck the life out of your budget then suddenly the ‘eth’ comes along and you’re there, pickin’ the lint out of your pockets, scrambling for money only to have the opportunity pass you by? What then? Am I screwed? do I shrug my shoulders and pull the favorite rabbit out my hat and say, ‘it must not have been God’s will.
I love that line. one of my all time favs.
(this happened recently is why it’s still fresh in my mind)
Have I then thwarted the plan of God? Is the ripple in the pond the tears streaming down my face, looking at the ship as it sails away without me on board?
For the love of God and all things holy, someone tell me that this will all have a happy ending!!!!!
June 23rd, 2009 at 6:02 am
These questions are very exciting because they indicate a intelligent desire to know the truth of God’ s perefect will that comes as we submit our bodies as living sacrifices as per Roams 12:1-2. There are examples of ignorant lines of questioning in scripture such as the line of questioning of the Sadducees, who asked Jesus a question about the resurrection with regard to which husband would be a woman’ s husband in the resurrection who had five husbands in her pre-resurection life. Jesus responded to them saying, “You do err, not knowing scripture, nor the power of God” Jesus was here saying, your question is born out a lack of knowledge of the scripture that contains God’ s will and plan for the resurrection. Jesus said, “In the resurrection, they neither marry nor are given in marriage for they shall be like the angels.” From this, I understand that in God’ s kingdom plan for earth he has ordained that marriage between a man and a woman is a temporary arrangement that is only for this present world for the purpose of propagating the human race. As a matter of scriptural fact, Galatians 3:28 says that there is no distinction between male and female, Jew or Greek, bond or free, for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. Yet, in this present age, there seems to be a distinction. Genesis 1:27 says mankind was created in the image of God (which is Christ Jesus), male and female created he them. But Genesis 2:21-22 shows that it was AFTER God created Adam that he created Eve from one of Adam’ s ribs. Thus the time or “eth” of Eve’ s creation came AFTER Adam’ s “eth” of creation. But the “eth” of Eve’ s temptation or testing came just before Adam’ s “eth” of temptation. In God’ s plan he ordained that Eve would first directly experience the temptation of God’ s temptor, the devil. Why, I don’ t know. Then Adam would experience the devil’ s temptation through Eve. I think it is very important to understand the sequencing of the times (or eths) of Adam and Eve if we want to understand God’ s perfect will for all mankind today.
Regarding the use of credit cards to take advantage of what may seem to be God’ s opportunity for the moment, I could write volumes from my own experience but I know it is God’ s perfect will that I not do so but rather that every man and woman experience the temptation to use credit cards and the consequences thereof. God has ordained in his great kingdom plan for earth that our own personal experience be our greatest teacher for it is through our experience (what we suffer) that we learn obedience to Father God. When the devil entered Judas to get him to betray Jesus, Jesus did not tell Judas to try to resist the devil, he said only “What ever you do, do it quickly. in other words ,”Get it over with.” Jesus told Peter, Satan wants to sift you like wheat but I have prayed for you and after you are converted, strengthen your brothers. Jesus assures us, “In this world, you will have tribulation but be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world. And we also will overcome the world through the blood of jesus and the word of our testimony. When God spoke to Satan about considering his servant Job, Job was not privy to the conversation. But when we read the whole book of Job we see from God’ s perspective what he was doing with Job and his friends and his family. He was training them to contend with the devil and to overcome him. It is God’ s purpose for all mankind (that he foreknew before the world of time began), that we all eventually will be conformed to the image and stature of Christ Jesus so that, like Jesus, we will all become the overcoming sons and daughters of the living God that all creation is waiting for to be manifested to destroy the works of the devil. It is important to remember that God’ s thoughts toward us are all good. It is his good pleasure to give us all his kingdom free of Satanic influence.
The Holy Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. This was the beginning of the “eth” of Jesus that culminated in the garden of Gethsemene when Jesus sweated as it were drops of blood and finally overcame the intense temptation of the devil telling Father God, “Thy will not mine be done.” Father God saw the travail of his soul and was satisfied. It confirmed his word about Jesus, “This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.”
Father God has ordained that we all experience this same “eth’ of God, that our inward man (which is Christ in us) shall overcome our self (the seed of Satan in us) and deny it and say with Jesus, Father, thy will, not mine be done.” The self of Jesus was not the seed of Satan as it is with us.
The self or operating system of Jesus was always of God but it still had freedom to chose to be submittted to God or to Satan. If this were not so then the temptations of Jesus would have been absurd and of no purpose.
So, if you were to ask Jesus about credit cards whether he would use them, he would most likely say, “Go ahead and use them with whatever wisdom you may feel you have and see what happpens.” The very worst that could happen is that you might learn something about yourself and about God’ s jubilee law of debt forgiveness that is incorporated in our chapter 7 bankruptcy laws.
What ever we may do, it is always God’ s will and purpose that we do it because it is his will that we at least learn from from what we do.
David Thompson
June 23rd, 2009 at 10:10 am
To T. Russell Eavey,
Yes, “all of this will have a happy ending.”
James 1 tells us to “consider it all joy, my borther when you encounter varius trials.” How can you have joy when your whold world falls apart? If our relationship with God is very close and we have joy in that relationship, that joy will overwhelm the trials that we are going through.
Consider what you will think about life, with all of its good times and bad times, when you are in heaven - in the presence of Jesus.
There is joy, both in this temperal life and in our etrnal life.
Do we measure our ‘harships’ by the standard of the lifestyle of the western world? What is ‘normal’ life like on our planet - not just in the USA?
June 23rd, 2009 at 9:39 pm
replying to:
Would You Know It If You Saw It?
What if we become familiar with the things within the Kingdom of God? Wouldn’t that be an example of the things of God? I don’t know about “finding a pattern” but I do know that there are the “knowings” of God. It is like combining scriptures together because they “fit”. Like “Mat 7:23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity,” and “Joh 5:19 Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. Joh 5:20 For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things that himself doeth: and he will shew him greater works than these, that ye may marvel,” and “Mat 4:23 And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.”
God has used me and others to display these signs and wonders and one example that I can use is: John 4:7-26. Jesus knew the father; the father showed Jesus the things of the woman and then Jesus shared the kingdom of God. Jesus displayed signs and wonders to the people and the disciples. They observed and caught the vision and where trained by actions. This example is the type of encounters that I usually have, through the process of life a destiny occurs. Each encounter is different but the principal has been the same.
How God is going to do things now are different that than what it used to be. Someone said, “To overcome, you may need to do something you have never done before. You may need to say what you have been hesitant to say. You may need to change the way you think. You may need to enlarge your vision. You may need to do something that makes you uncomfortable. Go ahead. Do something you have never done before! Be the overcomer you were created to be!”
Why not?
Mario Kozinczak
June 24th, 2009 at 10:31 am
Praise God - we are all seeking, all reading, all asking - which means we are responsive to change - BUT change through His Word and the Spirit of Truth - Who dwells within.
I enjoy the Prayer of Jabez -and when I say “enlarge my territory,” I often
feel like that includes my brain. I want to see through His eyes and His understanding.
If we truly believe God is alive and hears and answers prayer, then when “we acknowledge Him in all our ways, He WILL direct our path.”
It is the “fleshly” way of thinking that pulls me back into keeping God in a box - I need to remember that His ways are not my ways and is thoughts are not my thoughts!! Praise God.
Each day I thank Him that He does put me in the right place at the right time and He alone makes rich and adds no sorrow to it!! Amen
I believe all the knowledge we have is finally coming together - and ALL of scripture is a total “package deal.” It ALL works together.
I want to know, be and do so much more for Him and His Glory.
Be blessed!
June 24th, 2009 at 11:17 am
Mario,
Your thinking about becoming familiar with the things of God’ s kingdom is right on. It has been my expereince with the Church that many scriptures the Church has combined together do not “fit”, especially those that contain the things of God’ s kingdom.
Jesus said that we should not be thinking about the things we may want and think we need as the Pagans do but rather we should “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, then all our true needs will be added unto us.” In many ways, through, stories, parables, analogies and metaphors, Jesus told us what God’ s kingdom looked like and how it operated so we would know how and what to seek. All his teaching was about God’ s kingdom being purified and restored on earth. In essence, in his teaching, He said God’ s kingdom had sufffered violence and corruption on earth and that the violent take it by force. The vision of Jesus with regard to his Church and God’ s kingdom being restored is that the Church would invade the gates of hell here on earth and regain and replace the territory occupied by hell with God’ s kingdom. And he prophesised that the gates of hell would not prevail against his invading church army. But unfortunately the Church has either lost or distorted this vision. Erroneous Church teaching says this vision of God’ s kingdom is for the after life, not for this present life on earth. In his parable of the wheat and tares, Jesus elaborates on what will happen on EARTH as God carries out his will and plan is to restore his kingdom on EARTH. Jesus interpreted for his apostles that the field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom but the tares are the children of the wicked one; the enemy that sowed the tares is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels. As therefore the tares (like weeds) are gathered and burned in the fire, so shall it be in the end of the world. The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; and shall cast them into a furnace of fire; there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear. (As you know, this means spiritual ears to hear spiritual things)
As you can see and hear, the reapers are the angels, not men (evangelists). Jesus told his apostles that men cannot be trusted to root out the tares lest they pull up the wheat also (See Matthew 13:29)
Also, it shoud be noted that the good seed are the children of God while the tares are the children of devil. How should we interpret this so we can apply it to the endtime reality in which we now live? In this parable, the good seed are the righteous who will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father here on earth. St. John discusses the difference between the seed of God and the seed of the devil saying in 1John 3:8-10. “He that commiteth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning, for this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. In this the children of God are manifest and the children of the devil; whosoever doeth NOT righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother. I think the only way to make sense of these scriptures is to interpret them from a genetic or spiritual standpoint. Genetically/spiritually speaking “a seed” is not a human being anymore than an acorn is an oak tree. A “seed” contains the DNA programming for what God intended the seed to grow into. But if the DNA is altered through radiation, viral infection or a powerful drug like thalidomide, then babies may be born with underdeveloped arms and legs and other genetic defects. Thus, when the Bible says all human beings are created in the image of God, I believe the “image” of God represents the DNA programming of God which is Christ, who is said in Colossians 1:15 to be the image of the invisible God. Using this interpretation makes Roams 8:29 much easier to understand, “For whom he did foreknow, he did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the first born among many brethren.”
Thus, if every human being was created in the image of God (Christ) and were predestinated to be conformed to the image of Christ, then where did the seed (children) of the devil come from and where is the seed of the devil dwelling and what is it effect upon mankind? A spiritual understanding of what happened in the garden of Eden answers these questions. When Eve’ s mind was deceived by the serpent, the devil was somehow able to implant his seed of selfishness into her mind. When this happened she became carnally minded and she died. This “fits’ with what St. Paul writes in Romans 8:6, “To be carnally minded is death but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.” Eve could not have died spiritually as many Christians have been erroneously taught because her spirit was of God and was therefore immortal. Moreover, because she was born of God and God’ s spirit remained in her, she could not have sinned. Yet she did have sin. In what way? In the way that the devil’ s sinful selfish seed had been implanted into her mind. But it was the devil who sinned through Eve, not the spirit of God that was also in Eve from the day she was created from Adam’ s rib. In God’ s curse on the serpent and on Adam and Eve, they were all cast out of the Garden of Eden which represents heaven on earth. Eve’ s seed would have enmity with the serpents seed. his seed would bruise the heel of Eve’ s seed (which is Christ) and her seed (Christ) would bruise the sepent’ s head. The bruising of the serpent’ s head happened on the cross of Calvary.
What I am saying this this: For the sake of application of the wheat and tares parable to our present situation in the world, in this parable the “world” is best interpreted as the “consiousness” of mankind. In our consciousness exists the influence and direction of God’ s spirit which is God’ s seed or child in us that causes us to do righteousness. But also, the devil was able to implant his selfish thinking and influence (the tares) into our consciousness so that we do unrighteousness. Satan’ s seed acts like a virus in a computer that cause the computer to malfunction or sin.
What Jesus is teaching us is that in God’ s kingdom plan for earth, he will send angels to remove the tares so that we will no longer be influenced by the devil to do unrighteousness. Then our righteous seed of God will shine forth as the sun in God’ s kingdom. I know the Church teaches otherwise but I know its teaching is in error.
Now that we know this truth, we should recognize that God’ s kingdom is already on earth and it is in the process of being restored as Jesus and his overcoming saints destroy the works of the devil and cast him out into the bottomless pit. This has been an ongoing process for that past 2000 years. Much of this work has already been initiated and completed. The destruction of the devil’s works in diseases such as polio, small pox bubonic plague, yellow fever, maria etc. have been exposed and destroyed in most places on earth. Corruption in all the seven mountains of influence on earth, government, business/economics, religion, education, family, the arts, and media is being exposed and eradicated.
For me, as I see these things happening in the spiritual realm that is hidden from the eyes of natural, carnal man, I get exicited and want to shout Halleluyah, Marantha! Behold he comes riding on the clouds shining like the sun. Its Jubilee time! Let the captives go free! Out of Zion’ s Hill Salvation comes.
David Thompson