The Going

"God intended for the times He'd written to come to a point of fulfillment, for a new season and a New Covenant to come into being."

SOME DAYS I am all about the details. I want to know why and how and all the finer points of “how.” Those days, I’m hungry for that moment of revelation where another part of the mystery of Christ unfolds before me. Other days, I don’t want to know how to bake the cake, nor how the flour is milled, nor where chocolate comes from and who produced it. I just want to eat the cake, make a mess with the frosting, and look up and realize there’s more. One day, I’m adding commas. The next, itisallonelongword.

Seasons come and go, both in the natural and in the spirit. We must be in tune with the Spirit to recognize them. On one day, the Jordan River flowed smoothly. The next, John the Baptizer was in it preaching repentance. Those listening couldn’t figure out why. There, amongst them, sat the temple, an edifice created by God, representing God, with the history of their people and the seasons God had taken them through. Yet, Jesus’ words, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand,” were a mystery.

There is nothing wrong with having traditions, but we should never make tradition out of God’s instructions. When what He has asked us to do becomes part of a ho-hum daily existence, we have lost sight of its value. Nothing about serving God is meant to be ho-hum or boring. When He wrote the Law, He intended to fulfill it. No man could follow all those rules without sin except for one—the Son of God. No man could do away with that mishmash of sacrifices, no man could be the peace offering and the meat offering, and the trespass offering, no man could be the High Priest, the altar, the sacrifice, and the temple, except one—Jesus Christ.

God intended for the times He’d written to come to a point of fulfillment, for a new season and a New Covenant to come into being. And He’s still taking us to new heights, still fulfilling our yesterdays and propelling us forward into today and tomorrow. In these, He’s the same. Yet, He’s also intent on our moving from one glory into the next one. One day, we are full of God in one place and the next day, He bids us to come deeper, climb higher, and take on more.

When He created the earth, He took it from without form and void, from a place of darkness and deep waters to one full of light with the sky separated from the land, the waters on the land made into seas and rivers and swamps, all of it teeming with life. He could have done this in a moment in a breath, but He chose to do it one day at a time so that having begun time, having written the seasons, spring-summer-fall-winter, He could wrap them up one day and end them. He started time. He will end time.

And between then and now were a whole lot of seasons. A flood. A world after the flood. Cultures before Abraham. Cultures because of Abraham. Israel in Egypt. Israel delivered from Egypt. A string of prophets. Babylon. The rebuilding of Jerusalem. And one glorious moment when Jesus was born in Bethlehem. What time had passed before Him, all those who had come and gone, were fulfilled in Him. He was the purpose of Abraham, the reason for King David. For Him were Ruth the Moabite married to Boaz, and Rahab the harlot who rescued the spies. To Him, we have Joseph married to Mary, willing to protect her and cherish this Son of God. And believe.

But after Him, we have Peter as the rock of the church. And Paul, a Pharisee converted on the way to Damascus. We have John on Patmos receiving Revelation, which words will be fulfilled in the season God has set for them. We have Romans and Germans. We have the British, the Scottish, the Irish. We have Russians. Europeans. Cultures which have risen in the seasons since then. Countries in Africa, South America. Australia. We have the United States.

There are seasons of awakening with men like George Mueller, who fed thousands of orphans on faith alone. We have Smith Wigglesworth, whose ministry of healing changed the church. And Kenneth E. Hagin. And Billy Graham. The names are innumerable, people who moved in the season they’d been planted in, not tied to tradition, but to the Word of God and the Spirit of God and the place where He had placed them.

We are not tied to a season. It is not perpetually spring, summer, or fall. Winter comes and winter goes. God has them all in His hand. Both in the natural world and in the spiritual one. We do not have to tolerate storms. He promises to protect our land, our jobs, our families, our cities, our states, and our country. He promises that no evil will befall us. We are safe from pestilence, from war and destruction. He is our guide through the affairs of life. But He is our protection from the work of the enemy. Jesus gave us authority over principalities and powers, the rulers of darkness, and spiritual wickedness in high places, so that we could be proactive. Adam had dominion over the earth. He could have used it against the devil.

We need not fear the new time God moves us into. It is always for our good. But we can work against Him, clinging fast to old traditions, and what He wants to do will happen in others but pass us by. The Holy Spirit is our help in all we are asked to do. He confirms God’s Word to us and walks with us each step of the way. We go in faith, knowing where God takes us is always a blessing, both in our life and to others. But we go because THE GOING is His nature, and in it, God is faithful. Everlasting.

“This is the reality: I have come into the world as the light to reveal the truth about God, his character, methods, and principles—the very principles upon which life is based” (John 3:19 Remedy)

“And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:” (Genesis 1:14)

“And he changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings, and setteth up kings: he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding:” (Daniel 2:21)

Photos by Heiko Stein from Pixabay


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Suzanne D. Williams, Author
www.suzannedwilliams.com
www.feelgoodromance.com