Knowing God in the wilderness, the womb, 2nd trimester
The second trimester is about renewing the mind that we are the head and not the tail in Christ. We must not be conformed to the world we left behind but transformed by the renewal of our minds. God intended Israel to renew their mind in the wilderness before inheriting the promised land. At the last moment, even Moses conformed to the flesh in striking the rock rather than speaking to the rock.
In the wilderness, the second trimester of the new birth, we learn what it means to have Jesus as Lord and Savior for real and not just a confession we made once after walking down an aisle. Jesus is the Manna from heaven. Have our appetites changed? Do we hunger for every word from the mouth of God more than the bread that molds with the passing of time
Jesus is the living water that turns bitter water into drinking water. What do we thirst for when things are bitter in our life? Do we thirst for righteousness? Or do we complain about drinking from the cup of the word? Sweet in our mouth but bitter in our stomach. But after following Jesus, the bitterness is drinkable. Can you drink from the cup of bitterness of the Lord?
In the wilderness, Israel was given work to do. They were to carry the Ark of Covenant everywhere they went. And we, as Christians, are as well. Inside the Ark were God's commands now written on our hearts. The Manna from heaven was also in the Ark and the Christian's heart. And so is the rod of authority. Who is our authority? Who do we belong to? Who is our owner? If the answer is, Jesus is my Lord and my God. Then, we are under the correct authority, which shows when we speak to the mountain to be moved to the sea. The rod of authority is in our mouths when we obey Christ Jesus.
Don't miscarry your salvation by neglecting the love of God shed abroad in our hearts to fulfill the law. And don't abort your salvation over who the Lord is in your life and who has authority over you. Jesus is Lord, and all authority has been given to him.
As Christians, we carry the Ark of the New Covenant with all the articles of faith. And on our shoulders, we carry the presence of God. Head and shoulders first, not the tail.
Not many in Israel made it into the promised land. Most died in the wilderness. And I don't think many Christians make it into the promised land, this side of eternity, the Kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. The promised land is a promise of no internal oppression. But most Christians live their whole life in the wilderness, fighting internal oppression and never experiencing lasting righteousness, peace, or joy.
When we abort the word of the Lord, we will not enter the kingdom of God. If we miscarry the Word of the Lord, we won't experience righteousness, peace, and joy in this lifetime. We will have moments but live as exiles until we are made perfect.
Thy kingdom come; thy will be done doesn't happen in this lifetime because we miscarried the presence of the Lord. Some of us even try to stabilize the presence of the Lord on a manmade structure. The traditions of man nullify the power of God. Like Israel telling Moses to be the go-between God and them, so are we today. We don't want a personal relationship with God because it will kill our flesh, so we turn to the traditions of the denomination.
Most Christians don't make it through the entire forty weeks of pregnancy any more than most of Israel didn't make it through the 40 years in the wilderness.
No one was born again because they forced it. When Israel was found lacking in faith, they tempted God and tried to go into the promised land but were quickly defeated. Salvation is a gift and election of God. It happens more than we think because God is gracious. In the wilderness, we have a say as to whether we follow. We can abort the born-again experience and go back to Egypt in greater oppression than before. Or we can rest in the Lord as He pushes us through the rest of the pregnancy headfirst.
The Promise Land, 3rd trimester
There are no giants or enemies in heaven. Heaven is not our promised land. Heaven will one day be restored here on earth. The kingdom of God is our promise and inheritance. The disciples were not looking to go to heaven. They were looking for Jesus to set up the kingdom of God and overthrow the oppressors of Caesar and Rome. They were disappointed when they found out first things first. Clean the inside of the cup, and then the outside will also be clean. The need to cast out the oppression of their heart and flesh comes first. Then, the world will be cleansed by fire and oppression thrown out.
Before a Christian enters the third trimester of being Born-again, there must be a circumcision of the heart. We received a new heart and Spirit when we were born again. But if you remember right, there was still a lot of flesh going on. On the eighth day, an Israelite newborn was circumcised. Are you in your eighth year of becoming a Christian and still have not been circumcised in heart? The flesh cannot inherit the Kingdom of God.
You probably confessed you were a sinner before you were born-again. But did you know how much of a sinner you were? I think many people think of Jesus as an overdraft account. I'm pretty good on my own, with an occasional bad check. When you think of falling short of God's glory, do you think of a race where you missed breaking the ribbon as the winner?
We didn't just fall short; we fell a long way away. We didn't even qualify for entrance to the race of life. It is not until we mature and find the presence of God that we realize, like Isaiah, that we live among sinful people and our lips are unclean as well. The closer we get to God, the more of a sinner we see that we are. And the more we need to be circumcised of heart. Before Paul finished his race, he called himself the chief of all sinners.
Like a mother's labor pains, the kingdom of God comes with violence, and the violent take it by force. The kingdom of God is inside the Christian and cannot be seen by anyone in the flesh. It is an invisible overlay of this world that every eye will see one day. But for now, only the born-again can see, and only the circumcised can enter. The last of the circumcision of the heart happens upon death when the flesh is entirely cut off.
Our inheritance of the kingdom of God is at hand. But it must be taken by violence because of the giants that don't want us to hold on to the righteousness of God. These giants don't want us to have peace beyond understanding. They want us to be anxious and worried. These giants don't want us to experience the joy of the Lord, or they will lose their oppressive grip on us. But if we allow God to deliver us from inside oppression in the wilderness, then, like Joshua and Caleb, indeed, we can take the promised land by the hand of God.
Even in the promised land in our third trimester, those who make it can experience a troubled pregnancy. We can squander our inheritance far away from God in debauchery. Like the son who asked for his inheritance early, the father willingly and joyfully gave it. Early inheritance wasn't the problem. But when the son thought he could live far away from the father and maintain victory, that was the problem.
Israel did this as well when they inherited the promised land. Before they knew it, they were far from obeying God, His fellowship, and living independently. Inheritance was squandered, and Israel exiled, but with a promise of bringing them back in generations to come.
I know many Christians who were once fruitful for the kingdom of God but squandered their life over the years, and now they are exiled. God hasn't exiled them. They are self-exiled. Righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit torment the flesh. So, they run. And some have run so far away that they won't return even when God has made a way. Many Jews have not returned to Jerusalem after God has restored it to them. And many Christians have not reclaimed their righteousness, peace, and joy because they are self-condemned. And some who have been exiled from the kingdom of God are okay with living far from the Father. This group has aborted their salvation.
If you are a prodigal and have experienced the kingdom of God, return now. All you must do is repent, which means returning to God and repenting your sins. Don't be like Esaul. He did not value his inheritance, and he lost it. Later, Esaul wanted his inheritance. He cried a river but did not take time to repent. How often have you cried before the Lord only to return to the same sin the next day? Crying over the consequences of sin but not repenting is not finding a place to repent like Esaul. There is a Godly sorrow that leads to repentance and a worldly sorrow that leads to death.
Now that we are coming to the fullness of our time, the 40-week pregnancy. We have run our race, ready to hand the baton to the next generation. The bitterness has given way to the sweetness of the Lord. I have one more picture to paint for you.
Do you remember when God put Adam asleep, opened his side, created a helpmate from his rib, sowed up his side, and then awakened him to his new bride?
God, the Father, put His only begotten Son asleep on the cross. He had a Roman soldier pierce his side where blood and water poured out like a new birth. Ever since, God has taken new life out of Jesus's side. That is how we were born-again—brought from the side of the last Adam, Jesus. When God has perfected Jesus' Bride, His side will be sealed, and awaking will occur in the garden, called the millennial reign of Christ.
Here is a second closing for those who may be rattled.
A miscarriage is not an alarm of missing eternal life. There will be eternal losses, but not your soul. But I don't want you to suffer loss either. Jesus said that if our eye offends, pluck it out. If our hand offends, cut it off because it is better to go into eternal life maimed than go to Hell with all the body intact.
An abortion or a breach birth, which is living in the flesh and not the Spirit, is of great concern. We are saved by grace through faith and not by ourselves. We can't help God out. Our position in the womb must be correct. We are to rest and believe that God knows what he is doing even as He upends our world so that we can be born again, the head and not the tail.
Eternal life is knowing the Father and the Son He sent. Salvation is about knowing God and allowing God to know us through His correction and encouragement. I didn't know God when I was first born-again, any more than I knew my mother when she gave birth to me. But over the years, I came to know and love her as I have come to know and love God. As we age, we must choose to get to know and love Him. It wasn't by our will that we became born again, but it is our choice to remain in the family by getting to know God.
If we die knowing and wanting to know God, we are saved no matter when or where we die, coming out of Egypt, the wilderness, or in the promised land. But if we die not wanting to know God, and that has been our practice for some time as an exile, don't expect God to save you when it is not your will to be saved by Christ. Our will does not save us. But if we are not willing to be saved, we won't be.