The Closed Door
Gateway to Spiritual Fullness
Gateway to Spiritual Fullness
The Battle is the Lord’s
Gleanings From Deut. 20
(This article was translated into Spanish and printed in the "Aguas Vivas" magazinein, Nov. 2007 issue)
“When you go out to battle against your enemies and see horses and chariots and people more
numerous than you, do not be afraid of them; for the Lord your God who brought you up from
the land of Egypt is with you…for the Lord your God is the One who goes with you to fight for
you against your enemies, to save you.
“The officers shall also speak to the people, saying, ‘Who is the man who has built a new house
and has not dedicated it? Let him depart and return to his house, lest he die in the battle and
another man dedicate it.
‘And who is the man that has planted a vineyard and has not begun to use its fruit? Let him
depart and return to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man begin to use its fruit.
‘And who is the man that is engaged to a woman and has not married her? Let him depart and
return to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man marry her.
“Then the officers shall speak further to the people, and they shall say, ‘Who is the man that is
afraid and faint-hearted? Let him depart and return to his house, so that he might not make his
brothers’ hearts melt like his heart” (Deut. 20:1, 4-8).
Deut. 20 mentions our battle against our enemy.
Verse 1 clearly tells us that our enemy is always more powerful with “horses,
chariots and people more numerous” than us. But fear not, for “the Lord is the
One who goes with us, to fight for us against our enemies, to save us” (v 4).
Comforting words.
Then it gives four scenarios where casualties could possibly take place: 1) the
one who just built a new house, 2) the one who just planted a vineyard, 3) the one
who just got engaged to his sweetheart, and 4) the one who was afraid. The
possible result of the first three scenarios is the same: “lest he die in the battle;”
and the solution for all four cases is also the same: “let him depart and return to
his house” (vv 5-7).
This should present a most interesting paradox to us: on the one hand, the Lord
promises to “go with us, to fight for us and to save us.” On the other hand, the
prospect of us becoming casualties in the heat of battle is very real.
Usually, when the Bible presents a paradox, there is something quite interesting
and profound waiting to be unveiled.
The Lord’s promise to go before, fight and save us represents His grace. The
battle is not ours; it is the Lord’s. We face a cunning and formidable ancient foe
that has “horses, chariots and people more numerous” than us. This cunning and
ruthless ancient foe has taunted and ravaged mankind for centuries. But on the
ultimate battleground on mount Calvary, our Lord Jesus did go before us to fight
for and save us. The enemy was defeated once and for all, and we were all saved
by grace.
The Lord is now doing a deeper and finer work by the same grace to produce the
character of His Son inwardly, so that by His grace we also can now face the
defeated foe and claim our daily victories.
It is not by our own effort, strength or ability, but by the indwelling Spirit in us
through His subjective work of putting to death the deeds of the flesh (Rom. 8:
13b) that we get to claim these daily victories.
In other words, if we do not allow the Lord any elbowroom to do His deeper and
finer work in us, and if we are un-yielding to His dealings, i.e. “kicking against the
goads,” there will be no element of Christ being added into us, and we will face the
prospect of certain casualties in spiritual battles!
I have often recounted an encounter I had shortly after I was born-again in Peru in
1968. My parents took us to visit some friends in Casa Grande, and there we met
Bert Elliot (brother of Jim Elliot) and his wife, Colleen, missionaries to the harsh
and primitive Peruvian jungles. There in the living room of our family friends in
Casa Grande, I saw their faces. I had never seen anything like that nor could I
explain it, but I felt like I saw light beaming forth from that couple’s faces. To this
very day 39 years later that image is still vivid. What was it that I saw, I often
asked myself?
Years later, after I have suffered much of my own casualties in my spiritual battles
with the enemy, I began to slowly understand. Surely it was the Christ that has
been deeply wrought and constituted into their being through much trials,
sufferings and the breaking of alabaster jars that came forth to impact and touch
people’s lives.
Unbeknownst to me, a wide-eyed new-born Christian then, what I saw in their
faces was Christ.
This takes us to the four cases of people who were sent home from the
battlefield: 1) The one who built a new house, 2) The one who planted a vineyard,
3) The one who was engaged to his sweetheart, and 4) The one who was faint-
hearted.
A common characteristic seems to run through all four of these would-be soldiers
who were sent home – they lacked maturity and stability in the Lord and were unfit
for battles.
By these four types of men, the Holy Spirit laid out four important areas that might
make or break our usefulness in the Lord’s hands – house, vineyard, wife and
fears.
House
Before we can do battle with the formidable Foe, we need to experience Christ as
our dwelling place. We have to know the layout, the plan, the rooms, the
furnishing and the landscape of Christ, if I may.
First of all, there is the need of a vision of Him and His eternal purpose (plan and
layout). We need to dwell comfortably in Christ being “rooted and grounded” in
Him and allow Him to “make home in our hearts” (rooms). We need to possess a
good measure of the riches and character of Christ so that we can adequately
display the riches of Christ (furnishing). Finally, we need to be enlarged, through
His dealings, in Christ and produce an abundance of herbs and spices of His
resurrection fragrance in our character (landscape).
All these precious elements consummate in our experiencing Him as the “house.”
Vineyard
Then we need to experience Christ as our “vineyard.” There has to be an
evidence of the grace that so fills our lives that it enables us to toil and labor with
Christ in order that fruit may be produced. Paul told the Corinthians, “I am the
least of all the apostles…but I labor more than they all, yet not I, but the grace of
God with me” (I Cor. 15:9-10). It was the grace of God that enabled Paul to labor
mightily.
The proper experience of grace will always enable us with burden and ability to co-
labor with the Lord; and the resulting ministry is our “vineyard.” Many precious
saints zealously desire to serve the Lord and be useful in His hands, but their
common mistake is to focus on what they can or want to do for the Lord instead
of letting grace do a deeper cultivating of the soils of their heart.
Most of us have hearts full of stones that need to be removed. Daily our heart is
distracted by the traffic of the world that tends to compact the soils of our heart
making it hard and dense. We need the Lord to remove the stones and break
down and turn over the soils so that vines can take root in our hearts. Often
times our heart is parched by our harsh environment, daily grinds and routines of
our jobs and works that we do not have any moisture left to produce life. We are
in great need of grace to moisten and irrigate the parched ground in our heart.
Once the Holy Spirit has cultivated and grace has irrigated the soil for a tender
reception of Christ and His word, the vines in us will take root, blossom and bear
fruit. When we have experienced Christ as our “vineyard,” there is no need to
look for ministries or ask how we may serve Him. Our vineyard will be our
ministry.
In the final chapter of Song of Songs, the fair maiden declared, “Solomon had a
vineyard at Baalhamon; he let out the vineyard to keepers. Everyone was to bring
a thousand pieces of silver for the fruit. My vineyard is mine which is before me.
You, O Solomon, must have a thousand, and those that keep the fruit two
hundred” (S.S. 8:11-12). Here we see a fair maiden that has been fully dealt with
and produced a vineyard full of Christ which becomes her ministry. It not only
pleases God to whom is offered the “one thousand pieces of silver,” but it also
has a surplus of the riches of Christ to share with others – the “two hundred
pieces.”
Many dear saints are too preoccupied with wondering what their “ministry” will be,
but they miss the most important thing – letting Christ cultivate and irrigate them
into a vineyard. It is dangerous to plunge into a ministry without a “vineyard.”
Mary who broke the alabaster jar did not seek a ministry. The fragrance that
emanated from her broken jar was her ministry. And what a powerful ministry it
was! After two thousand years, that fragrance is still lingering in the house today.
Go ahead, take a whiff.
Dorcas didn’t look for a ministry. She made coats and dresses for the widows.
Oh, but such a great ministry she had. When she died, the elders in the assembly
had to send for an Apostle to raise her back up! That’s how much they missed
her “ministry”! Look around. See any hidden, little-known and unglamorous folks
like her in today’s churches?
Notice the fair maiden in Song of Songs said, “My vineyard is mine which is before
me.” What set her apart from all others was that she had her own vineyard; the
rest of them were merely “keepers” of vineyard. Also, her vineyard was “before”
her. In other words, whatever environment the Lord places us in, it has the
potential of becoming our vineyard.
Dorcas’ vineyard was whatever that was “before” her – sewing clothes for a group
of needy widows, not preaching on a pulpit somewhere – with all due respect to
preachers. Instead of seeking what our ministry might be, we would do well to ask
ourselves whether we own a “vineyard.” Then look around to see what’s “before”
us.
I don’t think it has anything to do with my old age, though time is definitely a critical
element, these days I am very content with where the Lord has placed us. By His
grace, He is cultivating and irrigating a vineyard in us. With stones being turned
and parched ground being moistened – and eyes fixed on the Gardener – any
resulting ministry is nothing of mine to boast. It’s all Him. It’s all Him. It’s all Him.
Sweetheart
Then how about the one who is engaged to his sweetheart? Intimacy comes to
mind. Don’t we all need to develop intimacy with the Lord? The single most
detrimental and life-withering malady that plagues most Christians is a lack of
intimacy with the Lord. Many Christians parade their gifts, work and zeal, but have
little inner-chamber experiences.
If I may say so, some Christians haven’t got the faintest idea about inner-chamber
experiences! Take any godly characters exemplified in the Bible, you won’t find a
single one who does not have intimate experiences with the Lord. Take any godly
characters in Christian history, there is not one who has not had sweet and
intimate experiences of the Lord. It is not our head knowledge, gifts, or zeal that
make us soldiers; it is our first-hand knowledge and intimate experience that
enable us to face the enemy on the battle field.
The Faint-Hearted
Then we come to the one who is afraid. Fear stems from a weak inner
constitution. In short, this last disqualified soldier is the combination of all three
previous ones, i.e. lack of experiencing Christ as the house, lack of experiencing
Christ as the vineyard, and lack of experiencing Christ in the inner chamber as the
Intimate One.
Lastly, the solution to all four cases of disqualified soldiers is the same: “depart
and go to his house.” When we have not experienced Christ as our “house,” our
“vineyard,” or our “sweetheart,” we will be bound by fear and not able to battle the
enemy. The only solution is to go to our “house.”
Needless to say, we need to individually enter into the spiritual reality of Christ in all
these three areas by letting Him deal deeply with us and take the grace that He
affords in each case. Dealing with the Lord is a very personal and individual
matter. But, there has to be a corporate environment to balance and adjust our
individual experiences. Notice the Lord didn’t say, “depart and go to your ‘new
house,’ your ‘vineyard,’ your ‘bride.”
Go to your “house.” Period.
The house is a type of the church; it is the corporate environment that balances
our individual experiences. Nobody, not even spiritual giants, can know the Lord,
see the Lord, hear the Lord all by himself. Without a corporate body – the house –
to balance and adjust us, we will be doomed to spiritual deception and
uselessness, no matter how gifted or spiritual we are.
It is in the “house” that we learn to submit to one another. It is in the “house” that
we acquire His humility. It is in the “house” our battle-readiness is tested. It is in
the “house” we are equipped for war against the foe.
Many saints have thrust themselves to the battlefield without being properly
prepared. Some have departed from battlefield but only settled for a halfway
house.
In all honesty, none of us are qualified for the battlefield. And the Lord has
graciously sent us to a “house,” not a halfway house, to nurture us. May the
Lord grant us a desire for His House.
It is in this “House” that we finally learn to possess in fuller measure with all the
saints the reality of the “house,” the “vineyard” and the “bride.” Lord help us.
Oliver Peng
Gleanings From Deut. 20
(This article was translated into Spanish and printed in the "Aguas Vivas" magazinein, Nov. 2007 issue)
“When you go out to battle against your enemies and see horses and chariots and people more
numerous than you, do not be afraid of them; for the Lord your God who brought you up from
the land of Egypt is with you…for the Lord your God is the One who goes with you to fight for
you against your enemies, to save you.
“The officers shall also speak to the people, saying, ‘Who is the man who has built a new house
and has not dedicated it? Let him depart and return to his house, lest he die in the battle and
another man dedicate it.
‘And who is the man that has planted a vineyard and has not begun to use its fruit? Let him
depart and return to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man begin to use its fruit.
‘And who is the man that is engaged to a woman and has not married her? Let him depart and
return to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man marry her.
“Then the officers shall speak further to the people, and they shall say, ‘Who is the man that is
afraid and faint-hearted? Let him depart and return to his house, so that he might not make his
brothers’ hearts melt like his heart” (Deut. 20:1, 4-8).
Deut. 20 mentions our battle against our enemy.
Verse 1 clearly tells us that our enemy is always more powerful with “horses,
chariots and people more numerous” than us. But fear not, for “the Lord is the
One who goes with us, to fight for us against our enemies, to save us” (v 4).
Comforting words.
Then it gives four scenarios where casualties could possibly take place: 1) the
one who just built a new house, 2) the one who just planted a vineyard, 3) the one
who just got engaged to his sweetheart, and 4) the one who was afraid. The
possible result of the first three scenarios is the same: “lest he die in the battle;”
and the solution for all four cases is also the same: “let him depart and return to
his house” (vv 5-7).
This should present a most interesting paradox to us: on the one hand, the Lord
promises to “go with us, to fight for us and to save us.” On the other hand, the
prospect of us becoming casualties in the heat of battle is very real.
Usually, when the Bible presents a paradox, there is something quite interesting
and profound waiting to be unveiled.
The Lord’s promise to go before, fight and save us represents His grace. The
battle is not ours; it is the Lord’s. We face a cunning and formidable ancient foe
that has “horses, chariots and people more numerous” than us. This cunning and
ruthless ancient foe has taunted and ravaged mankind for centuries. But on the
ultimate battleground on mount Calvary, our Lord Jesus did go before us to fight
for and save us. The enemy was defeated once and for all, and we were all saved
by grace.
The Lord is now doing a deeper and finer work by the same grace to produce the
character of His Son inwardly, so that by His grace we also can now face the
defeated foe and claim our daily victories.
It is not by our own effort, strength or ability, but by the indwelling Spirit in us
through His subjective work of putting to death the deeds of the flesh (Rom. 8:
13b) that we get to claim these daily victories.
In other words, if we do not allow the Lord any elbowroom to do His deeper and
finer work in us, and if we are un-yielding to His dealings, i.e. “kicking against the
goads,” there will be no element of Christ being added into us, and we will face the
prospect of certain casualties in spiritual battles!
I have often recounted an encounter I had shortly after I was born-again in Peru in
1968. My parents took us to visit some friends in Casa Grande, and there we met
Bert Elliot (brother of Jim Elliot) and his wife, Colleen, missionaries to the harsh
and primitive Peruvian jungles. There in the living room of our family friends in
Casa Grande, I saw their faces. I had never seen anything like that nor could I
explain it, but I felt like I saw light beaming forth from that couple’s faces. To this
very day 39 years later that image is still vivid. What was it that I saw, I often
asked myself?
Years later, after I have suffered much of my own casualties in my spiritual battles
with the enemy, I began to slowly understand. Surely it was the Christ that has
been deeply wrought and constituted into their being through much trials,
sufferings and the breaking of alabaster jars that came forth to impact and touch
people’s lives.
Unbeknownst to me, a wide-eyed new-born Christian then, what I saw in their
faces was Christ.
This takes us to the four cases of people who were sent home from the
battlefield: 1) The one who built a new house, 2) The one who planted a vineyard,
3) The one who was engaged to his sweetheart, and 4) The one who was faint-
hearted.
A common characteristic seems to run through all four of these would-be soldiers
who were sent home – they lacked maturity and stability in the Lord and were unfit
for battles.
By these four types of men, the Holy Spirit laid out four important areas that might
make or break our usefulness in the Lord’s hands – house, vineyard, wife and
fears.
House
Before we can do battle with the formidable Foe, we need to experience Christ as
our dwelling place. We have to know the layout, the plan, the rooms, the
furnishing and the landscape of Christ, if I may.
First of all, there is the need of a vision of Him and His eternal purpose (plan and
layout). We need to dwell comfortably in Christ being “rooted and grounded” in
Him and allow Him to “make home in our hearts” (rooms). We need to possess a
good measure of the riches and character of Christ so that we can adequately
display the riches of Christ (furnishing). Finally, we need to be enlarged, through
His dealings, in Christ and produce an abundance of herbs and spices of His
resurrection fragrance in our character (landscape).
All these precious elements consummate in our experiencing Him as the “house.”
Vineyard
Then we need to experience Christ as our “vineyard.” There has to be an
evidence of the grace that so fills our lives that it enables us to toil and labor with
Christ in order that fruit may be produced. Paul told the Corinthians, “I am the
least of all the apostles…but I labor more than they all, yet not I, but the grace of
God with me” (I Cor. 15:9-10). It was the grace of God that enabled Paul to labor
mightily.
The proper experience of grace will always enable us with burden and ability to co-
labor with the Lord; and the resulting ministry is our “vineyard.” Many precious
saints zealously desire to serve the Lord and be useful in His hands, but their
common mistake is to focus on what they can or want to do for the Lord instead
of letting grace do a deeper cultivating of the soils of their heart.
Most of us have hearts full of stones that need to be removed. Daily our heart is
distracted by the traffic of the world that tends to compact the soils of our heart
making it hard and dense. We need the Lord to remove the stones and break
down and turn over the soils so that vines can take root in our hearts. Often
times our heart is parched by our harsh environment, daily grinds and routines of
our jobs and works that we do not have any moisture left to produce life. We are
in great need of grace to moisten and irrigate the parched ground in our heart.
Once the Holy Spirit has cultivated and grace has irrigated the soil for a tender
reception of Christ and His word, the vines in us will take root, blossom and bear
fruit. When we have experienced Christ as our “vineyard,” there is no need to
look for ministries or ask how we may serve Him. Our vineyard will be our
ministry.
In the final chapter of Song of Songs, the fair maiden declared, “Solomon had a
vineyard at Baalhamon; he let out the vineyard to keepers. Everyone was to bring
a thousand pieces of silver for the fruit. My vineyard is mine which is before me.
You, O Solomon, must have a thousand, and those that keep the fruit two
hundred” (S.S. 8:11-12). Here we see a fair maiden that has been fully dealt with
and produced a vineyard full of Christ which becomes her ministry. It not only
pleases God to whom is offered the “one thousand pieces of silver,” but it also
has a surplus of the riches of Christ to share with others – the “two hundred
pieces.”
Many dear saints are too preoccupied with wondering what their “ministry” will be,
but they miss the most important thing – letting Christ cultivate and irrigate them
into a vineyard. It is dangerous to plunge into a ministry without a “vineyard.”
Mary who broke the alabaster jar did not seek a ministry. The fragrance that
emanated from her broken jar was her ministry. And what a powerful ministry it
was! After two thousand years, that fragrance is still lingering in the house today.
Go ahead, take a whiff.
Dorcas didn’t look for a ministry. She made coats and dresses for the widows.
Oh, but such a great ministry she had. When she died, the elders in the assembly
had to send for an Apostle to raise her back up! That’s how much they missed
her “ministry”! Look around. See any hidden, little-known and unglamorous folks
like her in today’s churches?
Notice the fair maiden in Song of Songs said, “My vineyard is mine which is before
me.” What set her apart from all others was that she had her own vineyard; the
rest of them were merely “keepers” of vineyard. Also, her vineyard was “before”
her. In other words, whatever environment the Lord places us in, it has the
potential of becoming our vineyard.
Dorcas’ vineyard was whatever that was “before” her – sewing clothes for a group
of needy widows, not preaching on a pulpit somewhere – with all due respect to
preachers. Instead of seeking what our ministry might be, we would do well to ask
ourselves whether we own a “vineyard.” Then look around to see what’s “before”
us.
I don’t think it has anything to do with my old age, though time is definitely a critical
element, these days I am very content with where the Lord has placed us. By His
grace, He is cultivating and irrigating a vineyard in us. With stones being turned
and parched ground being moistened – and eyes fixed on the Gardener – any
resulting ministry is nothing of mine to boast. It’s all Him. It’s all Him. It’s all Him.
Sweetheart
Then how about the one who is engaged to his sweetheart? Intimacy comes to
mind. Don’t we all need to develop intimacy with the Lord? The single most
detrimental and life-withering malady that plagues most Christians is a lack of
intimacy with the Lord. Many Christians parade their gifts, work and zeal, but have
little inner-chamber experiences.
If I may say so, some Christians haven’t got the faintest idea about inner-chamber
experiences! Take any godly characters exemplified in the Bible, you won’t find a
single one who does not have intimate experiences with the Lord. Take any godly
characters in Christian history, there is not one who has not had sweet and
intimate experiences of the Lord. It is not our head knowledge, gifts, or zeal that
make us soldiers; it is our first-hand knowledge and intimate experience that
enable us to face the enemy on the battle field.
The Faint-Hearted
Then we come to the one who is afraid. Fear stems from a weak inner
constitution. In short, this last disqualified soldier is the combination of all three
previous ones, i.e. lack of experiencing Christ as the house, lack of experiencing
Christ as the vineyard, and lack of experiencing Christ in the inner chamber as the
Intimate One.
Lastly, the solution to all four cases of disqualified soldiers is the same: “depart
and go to his house.” When we have not experienced Christ as our “house,” our
“vineyard,” or our “sweetheart,” we will be bound by fear and not able to battle the
enemy. The only solution is to go to our “house.”
Needless to say, we need to individually enter into the spiritual reality of Christ in all
these three areas by letting Him deal deeply with us and take the grace that He
affords in each case. Dealing with the Lord is a very personal and individual
matter. But, there has to be a corporate environment to balance and adjust our
individual experiences. Notice the Lord didn’t say, “depart and go to your ‘new
house,’ your ‘vineyard,’ your ‘bride.”
Go to your “house.” Period.
The house is a type of the church; it is the corporate environment that balances
our individual experiences. Nobody, not even spiritual giants, can know the Lord,
see the Lord, hear the Lord all by himself. Without a corporate body – the house –
to balance and adjust us, we will be doomed to spiritual deception and
uselessness, no matter how gifted or spiritual we are.
It is in the “house” that we learn to submit to one another. It is in the “house” that
we acquire His humility. It is in the “house” our battle-readiness is tested. It is in
the “house” we are equipped for war against the foe.
Many saints have thrust themselves to the battlefield without being properly
prepared. Some have departed from battlefield but only settled for a halfway
house.
In all honesty, none of us are qualified for the battlefield. And the Lord has
graciously sent us to a “house,” not a halfway house, to nurture us. May the
Lord grant us a desire for His House.
It is in this “House” that we finally learn to possess in fuller measure with all the
saints the reality of the “house,” the “vineyard” and the “bride.” Lord help us.
Oliver Peng
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