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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