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Voice of the Kingfisher speaks out  …from a different perspective

                                                          by Elinor Montgomery

From Planned Extinction to the Passover
(Exodus – Chapters One To Twelve)

Chapter Three (part one)

September 2-4, 2005

The bride is the mirror image of her Beloved. There are times in Exodus when the role of Moses blends into that of the bride who, like Moses and Jesus before her, must play her role of leadership in leading the people out of captivity. The captivity is always to the world, a captivity that began in the Garden of creation with sin and the fall of man. The seven-day program is basic to every aspect of creation, turning into a seven-millennial program for mankind; for a day with the Lord is as a thousand years.

Moses was very much a man of the second day. He was a man of the day of the dividing of the waters when God separated the waters from above from the waters beneath (see Genesis 1:6-8). And when he went out the second day, behold, two Hebrew men were fighting, and he said to the one who did the wrong, “Why are you striking your companion?” (Exodus 2:13). In a sense, the dividing of the waters, which allowed Israel to cross over on dry land, was a picture of the redemption of God. There was no other way to return His ruler-ship over man except by His mercy and His divine intervention in their affairs. In so far as Moses was given the role of leading the nation Israel out of her captivity to Egypt under God’s guiding hand, Jesus became the Redeemer, as God dwelling on earth with man. The bride, again like Moses, will be called to lead the church out of its captivity to religion, under the guiding hand of her Redeemer. Her rightful role is in submission to and partnership with her Husband, that she might bear good fruit for her Lord and King, her God, Who rules over creation. The waters of this world must be separated in the lives of the believer from the water from above in order to cross over into the kingdom.

Now, Moses, the shepherd, led his flock to the mountain of God. Being located at the back of the desert is prophetic of a wilderness experience having been left behind, though the flock is still in the wilderness at a time just before entering the kingdom. The Angel of the Lord, as the pre-incarnate Jesus, appeared to Moses in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush, which was not consumed. The sight caused Moses to look. At the very sight of it, he was forced to turn away in wonderment. He was being shown the first of several supernatural acts, which God would perform in Moses’ life so that there would be no room for doubt. He was only to move faithfully in obedience to God’s leading. It was necessary that he first learn to depend on the Lord’s power over the natural state of things, before teaching Israel to do the same. The fire in the bush speaks of the judgment that does not consume. It was the first message to Moses that judgment lay ahead, and though taken into the midst of God’s fire judgment, God’s own people Israel would not be consumed by it.

In fact, there is another prophecy inherent in it as well. God allows His chastising judgment to come upon His own people by using the very people He will one day judge. But there is a point of no return when time runs out and God closes the door on redemption, just as the door of grace closed when He shut and sealed the door of Noah’s ark, and the rains began to come down upon the wicked mass of mankind surrounding him. Inherent in this bush is the message of God trying to catch our attention regarding judgment, that it is at our door, and what we can make right in His eyes today, should not be put off until tomorrow. Time could be very short, indeed, before the door closes on each one of our lives. When the signs are with us in the natural, God wants us to take control over our own lives as to whether or not there are things we need to have burned away so that we will not be consumed. Moses was called as God’s chosen vessel to lead the way in one of His greatest moves that this world will ever see. It was about to witness the judgment that would fall on Egypt at the same time God’s chosen nation of Israel would be delivered from the control of Egypt.

There are two factors present in this bush that we, today, need to recognize and act upon very quickly if we want to continue to hear the voice of God speaking to us. God spoke to Moses saying that he was blessed to be on holy ground, or in the very presence of the living God. God has given you a call to receive His unveiled understanding of the prophetic Word, received in His very presence. It is a blessing that comes with a commandment. To enter into His presence requires the taking off of our sandals, which means the giving up of our own walks, for we are going to be required to walk with Him. Any agenda of our own is an affront to the holiness of God. This is a time of decision when God wants our full attention. Where will we put God in our busy schedules? Will He be at the top of the list, or will we simply work Him somewhere into our lives? Will we take off our sandals, or merely loosen the laces, which could keep us from being ready to run?

Why has God chosen to first meet with Moses at the burning bush? Judgment was at the very door. If the bride, now being represented by Moses under the leadership of Jesus, does not have her priorities straight, she will not have the protection that only His people Israel are going to receive while coming out of captivity to the world. This incident is pointing to the real Passover of Israel into the kingdom, and to a bride who must remove her sandals or agendas in order to be in the perfect will of God. We must always bear in mind that it is the flesh of the Lamb of God, or the truth, which we must eat and not the entrails, representing religion, which serves the world and not the purposes of God.

The burning bush is like a wake-up call for purity and the requirement of absolute holiness if we are to go into the presence of a Holy God. He is as that burning fire, which will consume us if we try to enter into His presence in any other way than that of purity. How willing are we to take off our sandals, in order to enter into His presence in perfect obedience? Just how much of our time are we going to give to God and how willing are we to let go of the world? Joshua was one of only two adult men of Israel who entered into the Land. Note how Joshua lingered in the background, hanging around Moses long after all the others had departed, so that he might be near him when he was communicating with God. ‘Hanging around’ can manifest itself in various ways, but it will be evident to God who is lingering close to Him in order to hear His voice.

God identifies Himself as, first, the Angel of the Lord, and only Jesus is Lord of lords. Then He next identifies Himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Of course, the pre-incarnate Jesus was the same Lord to them as He is to us today, for God never changes. Does this allow us to simply disregard the Old Testament Scriptures as being meaningless? Absolutely not! The whole purpose of the Scriptures is His testimony to the truth in the spirit of prophecy, which gives us the answer as to why God allowed violence and wars, with deaths resulting on both sides. On one side of the coin, war kept Israel captive to the world of idolatry in which she loved to worship, instead of worshiping her true God. On the other side of the coin, she was called to be the aggressor, killing her enemy so that sin and religion would be purged from the camp. This was to prevent a drop of leaven from filling the entire loaf.

Israel was never obedient to God, in so far as she failed to keep His commandments. It is for this very reason that the Palestinians, today, are moving into the Land to occupy that same parcel of land, which belonged to the Philistines of old. The disobedience of the spies to God’s command to go in and possess the Land is coming back to haunt the nation, as religions of all sorts now rule over the land of Israel. The door was left wide open for Satan to enter in and for his evil spirits to fill the nation. Not only did the Lord lead, but He also wanted it to be made known from the start, before Israel was delivered from Egypt, that He is the God of the crossover blessing. He did not describe Himself as the God of Ishmael and Esau, the two firstborn sons to whom the blessings of their fathers rightfully belonged. For God hated Esau who did not care one whit about the father’s blessing. “Give me a good old bowl of religious stew any day, for which I will willingly bargain away my inheritance,” were the words he effectively spoke.

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