| E-MAIL SERVICE | Sign me up to receive the daily Word of Righteousness free via my E-mail address! ( ONLY AVAILABLE IN ENGLISH ) | |
| ARCHIVES | I want to check out the daily Words of Righteousness for any of the last fourteen days or from previous weeks. ( ENGLISH ONLY ) | |
| FEEDBACK | I have a question or comment about today's Word of Righteousness. ( ENGLISH AND SPANISH ONLY ) | |
| BOOK LIST | I would like to see the complete book list of the Words of Righteousness author Robert B. Thompson. (SOME SPANISH TITLES AVAILABLE ) |
The Daily Word of Righteousness
Where Are We?, #7
Then the Tent of Meeting and the camp of the Levites will set out in the middle of the camps. They will set out in the same order as they encamp, each in his own place under his standard. (Numbers 2:17—NIV)
Being in Bible school in 1948, I can remember how excited we were over the newly emphasized truth concerning the gifts of the Spirit and the temple of God. Also, at that time God gave me a sense of spiritual warfare. Since that time there has been an increasing emphasis on the Body of Christ (the counterpart of the Tabernacle of the Congregation), and within the last few years there has been an expanding of our concept of spiritual warfare. We notice this in the new war-choruses that are coming forth in various places.
The Israelites were not disciplined as an army when they left Egypt. It was not until after the Law was given on Mount Sinai that the various tribes were appointed their place in the line of march.
As we said, the Tabernacle of the Congregation was constructed as a repository for the Ark of the Covenant, which was located in the Most Holy Place of the Tabernacle.
When Israel was on the march, the Ark of the Covenant was carried in the middle of the troops, protected on the front, the right, the left, and the rear.
The significance of the movement of the army of Israel was that the Ark was being carried with them. Within the Ark was the Law of God, the covenant God made with the Jews.
There was no remarkable Divine significance in the fact that the Israelites left Egypt, marched across the desert, and then invaded the land of Canaan. The significance resided in the fact that the Ten Commandments invaded the land of Canaan.
In the time of Abraham, four hundred years previously, the Canaanite tribes, except for the communities of Sodom and Gomorrah, were not sinful enough to justify their destruction. But when Israel was camped on the plains of Moab, ready to invade Canaan, the Canaanites were worshiper of demons.
God now was ready for the Ten Commandments, the Divine judgment on Satan, to enter Canaan. The vehicle God used to bring His holy Law into Canaan was the Israelite army.
Two thousand years ago the sins of the world had not reached a maturity that would warrant the outpouring of the vials of wrath and the invasion of the earth by the Lord and His army. In our day the moral horrors are increasing. Before the Lord returns, sin will be even more mature than it is now.
The Church today, as represented by the warlike remnant that are being called by the Lord, is beginning to enter the discipline required of each soldier in the army of the Lord.
At the same time, emphasis is being place on the operation of the gifts and ministries of the Spirit. The purpose of the operation of the gifts and ministries is that the Body of Christ (the Tabernacle of the Congregation) might be built to the stature of the fullness of Christ.
To be continued.