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WILDERNESS: COME HOLY SPIRIT!

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May 31, 2020

Exodus 34:34-38 (NIV)

34 Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. 35 Moses could not enter the tent of meeting because the cloud had settled on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.

36 In all the travels of the Israelites, whenever the cloud lifted from above the tabernacle, they would set out; 37 but if the cloud did not lift, they did not set out—until the day it lifted. 38 So the cloud of the Lord was over the tabernacle by day, and fire was in the cloud by night, in the sight of all the Israelites during all their travels.

CONSIDER THIS

It is the Day of Pentecost! Welcome Holy Spirit! Happy Birthday Church! 

And what a day to wrap up our Wilderness series in Exodus—with the Glory of God filling the Tabernacle—on the Day of Pentecost. I mean, do the serendipities get any better than that?! 

Someday we will come back around to chapters 35-39 and do a “Tabernacle Tour,” as there is so much to see and do there. And that is the thing about the Word of God. It never changes and yet it is always new. There is always more there to discover, to feast on, to be encouraged by and challenged with.

The movemental journey from the land of slavery to the land of promise must pass through seasons of wilderness; at times seemingly endless ones. All the old means and modes of the control matrix of slavery are gone. The outward shackles fall off only to reveal their inner strongholds in our hearts and minds. The wilderness teaches us a whole new order in a completely new and different kind of kingdom, the Kingdom of God. We must learn the gracious intricacies of covenant-keeping rather than the onerous yoke of rule-following. Our relationship is not with the rules but the Ruler himself—following him in cloud by day and fire by night. The wilderness teaches us the trust of daily bread; manna in the morning, quail in the evening. Indeed, the wilderness teaches us when we follow the Ruler, seeking his Kingdom and his righteousness, everything else falls into its place. 

Finally, we come to the end of Exodus, which is really only the beginning. Everything so far has led to this point. From the day the presence of God fled from our forebears in the Garden of Eden, the slow gears of redemption have rolled on, leading us to this encounter in the wilderness: the Tabernacling of God in the midst of his people. The eternal will of the Father in the garden is now being revealed in the untamed wild of the wilderness. 

34 Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. 35 Moses could not enter the tent of meeting because the cloud had settled on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.

In like fashion, in the fullness of time, Jesus Christ, the Word of God, comes into the wilderness of this world. There could be no less profound revelation in the entirety of Scripture than John 1:14.

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)

“Made his dwelling” fails to capture it. The Greek word is skay-no-o (phonetic spelling). It means, quite literally, “He pitched his tent and tabernacled among us.” Jesus is the tabernacle of God—in human flesh, just like you and me. And do you remember his calling to us? “Follow me.” Kind of like this:

36 In all the travels of the Israelites, whenever the cloud lifted from above the tabernacle, they would set out; 37 but if the cloud did not lift, they did not set out—until the day it lifted.

And so we come to the Day of Pentecost, when the glory of the Spirit of God, the one who filled the Tabernacle, the one who filled the Son of God in perfection, now fills the followers of Jesus in fullness. 

Yes, my friends, you are the tabernacle of God—the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit. May the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ awaken you more and more to this reality and lead you into the destiny for which you were made. 

Now it’s your turn.

These days together in the wilderness have been trying as we have navigated the present day wilderness of a global pandemic. It has been, to put it mildly—a test—in one form or another for every one of us. By some mystery, I somehow missed the well-worn cliche until recently: There is no testimony without a test.

To that end, I have an invitation for you today. I want to invite you to share a word of testimony about what God has taught you through this wilderness season. How has your life and faith been tested? How have you grown? What has the pandemic revealed to you about yourself? How has God—Father, Son and Holy Spirit—revealed himself to you? How have you been stretched in your response to the Word of God and the Spirit of God? Was there a particular Daily Text entry through which God engaged you in an impactful way, and if so, how? We want to collect these and share them back with you all. As the Spirit leads, we would like to include some of them in our Global Pandemic Edition of the Wilderness Daily Text book we are making. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO SHARE. 

THE PRAYER

Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Your faithful and kindle in us the fire of Your love. Send forth Your Spirit and we shall be created. And You shall renew the face of the earth. O, God, Who by the light of the Holy Spirit did instruct the hearts of the faithful, grant that by the same Holy Spirit we may be truly wise and ever enjoy Your consolations. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

THE QUESTION

Are you filled with the fullness of the Holy Spirit? Are you ready for even more? What will be your next steps on the journey? How might you move to the edges of your comfort zone? What about a step beyond that? Let me know how I can help. 

This would be a profound next step: Join our Summer Holy Spirit Book Club. We start tomorrow and there’s still time to jump in. We can get you the first few chapters online right away. It is going to be so good. Jump in here

P.S.

DON’T FORGET—Reserve your copy of our Limited Release: Wilderness—Global Pandemic Edition. Ships early fall 2020. 

For the Awakening,
J.D. Walt
Sower-in-Chief
seedbed.com

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WHAT IS THIS? Wake-Up Call is a daily encouragement to shake off the slumber of our busy lives and turn our eyes toward Jesus. Each morning our community gathers around a Scripture, a reflection, a prayer, and a few short questions, inviting us to reorient our lives around the love of Jesus that transforms our hearts, homes, churches, and cities.

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