Encouragement

Matthew 13 (Verses 24-58: “The Wheat and the Tares” and Other Parables)

Adam Maarschalk 1 Comment

The previous post featured notes and commentary on Matthew 13:1-23 (The Parable of the Sower and the Seed). This post covers the rest of Matthew 13 (verses 24-58), and this study also took place in June 2011.

Verses 24-30: The Parable of the Weeds

This parable is explained by Jesus in verses 36-43, so we will only give a brief overview here. Jesus compares the kingdom of heaven to a man who sowed good seed in his own field. He apparently assigned his servants to do this sowing, because while they were sleeping, an enemy came and intentionally sabotaged the harvest by sowing weeds among the wheat before going away. The damage was done, and when the grain appeared, so did the weeds. The servants offered to pluck up the weeds, but they were told not to do so lest they mistakenly pull up the wheat along with it. The weeds would be pulled first later on at harvest time by the reapers, and bound in bundles to be burned, but the wheat would be gathered into the man’s barn.

In farmer’s terms, there was a weed known as “bearded darnel” which resembled wheat when the plants were young. Only when they reached maturity would it be clear which was which.

Q: Do we view all of Jesus’ parables as general anecdotes about how we should live? Or do we view some of them as specific declarations to a 1st century audience of coming judgment and change?

Verses 31-33: The Mustard Seed and the Leaven

Verses 31-32: Jesus next compared the kingdom of heaven to a grain of mustard seed sowed in a man’s field. The mustard seed was the smallest seed known to the Jewish community, and elsewhere Jesus referred to this seed in His statement about mountain-moving faith (Matt. 17:20). What grows from this seed, however, is a tree that is larger than all garden plants and becomes a host to many birds and their nests. Christ’s kingdom would be small at the time of its beginning, but over time it would greatly expand as many came to faith from all nations. Another implication is that His kingdom would be far greater than any earthly kingdom.

Verse 33: The parable of the leaven spoke of how the kingdom of heaven was to come to fruition. Does this illustrate the time period between the announcements of John the Baptist and Jesus that the kingdom was at hand until it was to come in power – while some of Jesus’ disciples were still alive (Matthew 16:27-28)? In other words, was this leavening process to take one generation, the generation which saw the Old Covenant age pass in 70 AD with the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple? Or might this parable speak of how the kingdom of heaven works itself out in the hearts of God’s people and/or how it was to pervade the whole world as the message of the gospel went forth to the nations?

Verses 34-35: Prophecy and Parables

At this point in Jesus’ ministry, He only spoke to the crowds by means of parables. Matthew said this fulfilled a prophecy by Asaph in Psalm 78:2.

“Asaph wrote that he would explain to his readers aspects of Israel’s history that had been previously unknown. He then proceeded to use Israel’s history to teach the Israelites how consistently rebellious they had been toward God and how just and merciful God had been with them. He taught these lessons by using ‘parables,’ by comparing various things. By comparing various incidents in Israel’s history He revealed things previously unclear. Stephen used the same technique in Acts 7” (Dr. Thomas Constable). 

Jesus was casting new light onto the teachings of the kingdom that had been given by the prophets.

Verses 36-43: The Parable of the Weeds Explained

Verse 36: This explanation of the parable of the weeds, and the parables that follow, are spoken only in the presence of Jesus’ disciples. They went back into the same house that they were in earlier (Matt. 12:46, 13:1). It was the disciples who asked to hear the explanation of the parable of the weeds.

Verse 37-39: Jesus identifies the cast of characters in this parable: [1] Jesus is the sower of the good seed [2] The good seed is those who belong to the kingdom [3] The field is the entire world [4] The weeds are those who do not belong to the kingdom [5] The sower of the weeds is the devil [6] The reapers are angels.

Verse 39: Jesus identifies the time of the harvest as “the close of the age.” It’s popularly taught today that this means the end of world history. However, whereas the phrase “time of the end” appears in Scripture numerous times, the phrase “end of time” does not. In Matthew 24:3, the disciples asked Jesus about “the end of the age,” and this was parallel to their question about the pending destruction of the temple (Mark 13:1-4, Luke 21:5-7), which we know from history took place in 70 AD. Furthermore, the reply that Jesus gave them also tied the end of the age to their own generation (Matt. 24:34). In other words, they spoke of the end of the Old Covenant age. For further proof of this, see Hebrews 9:26 (Jesus appeared at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself), I Corinthians 2:6-8 (the rulers of Paul’s age had crucified the Lord, and they were doomed to pass away), and I Cor. 10:11 (the ends of the ages had come upon Paul’s first century readers). According to William Barclay’s “New Testament Words,” the word used for “age” here in verse 39 means “generation or epoch.”

The reapers are angels, Jesus also says. The judgments we see in the book of Revelation all involve angels. In Revelation 14:14-20 we also see a two-part harvest. An angel announces that “the hour to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is fully ripe” (verse 15). A different angel then shouts out a command to “gather the clusters from the vine of the earth, for its grapes are ripe” (verse 18). This second reaping results in those who are gathered being cast into “the great winepress of the wrath of God” where much blood flowed “outside the city” (verses 19-20). In Matthew 16:27-28, we also see that Jesus is to come within the lifetime of some of His disciples in judgment and “with His holy angels.” Both passages appear to mirror what we see here in this parable. Joel McDurmon comments (SOURCE):

…The separation of wheat and tares, then, pertained to the destruction of Jerusalem and the separation of God’s true fruit-bearing people from the weeds, the unbelieving Jews of that time. Ironically, this interpretation gets to the heart of the picture in the parable.

A “tare” was not simply any old weed, but a particular weed called a “darnel” or zizania in Greek. It looked almost exactly like wheat in early stages of growth and required close examination to tell the difference. In later stages, the difference grows clear, but then it is too late to remove the darnel without damaging the wheat (as the parable says). Worse yet, the darnel kernels are poisonous, causing dizziness, sickness, and possibly even death when eaten. In short, they could look like the real thing, but they were poison; and after a while, their true colors showed. This was exactly the story with the rebellious Jews. They looked like God’s people, but they were really the children of the enemy—they even killed God’s prophets (Matt. 23:30–39). And the longer history went on, the more their true nature as the children of wrath was revealed.

Thus the parable describes the then-soon-coming end of that old age and the destruction of its children, and the beginning of the gathering in of the true children of God’s kingdom. It should not be understood as teaching anything beyond this

In what sense were the unbelieving Jews, the Judaizers especially, like poisonous weeds among the children of the kingdom? Paul offers a clue in what he says to the Thessalonians who were under persecution: “…For you suffered the same things from your own countrymen as they did from the Jews, who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove us out, and displease God and oppose all mankind by hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles that they might be saved—so as always to fill up the measure of their sins. But God’s wrath has come upon them at last!”  (I Thess. 2:14-16).

Verses 40-42: At the close of the age (70 AD), Jesus would send His angels to gather “out of His kingdom” the weeds, i.e. those who rejected His kingdom, and they would be thrown “into the fiery furnace” and burned with fire. Jerusalem and the temple were literally burned with fire by the Romans in 70 AD, just as Jesus (Matthew 22:7) and John (Revelation 17:16, 18:8-9, 18) said would happen. Jesus’ words here also appear to be related to what He said in the Parable of the Tenants, when He proclaimed that the kingdom of God would be taken away from the religious leadership of Israel and given to those who would bear its fruit (Matthew 21:43). The following are some thoughts shared by two friends of mine, Mark Church and Kurt Simmons (a published author), in a Facebook conversation, also in June 2011 (Source):

The imagery of being “cast into the lake of fire” is taken from the Old Testament prophets, and describes the defeat of nations and armies. When the angel of the Lord destroyed 185,000 Assyrians, the bodies were buried and burned in Tophet (Valley of Hinnom), which gave rise to the imagery of hell (Gehenna) as a place of fire and maggots (Isaiah 30:31-33). This defeat and cremation of an enemy army seems to be the source of latter imagery. Ezekiel describes the defeat of Egypt in similar language, saying its host would go down to the “pit” (sheol) in defeat (Ezekiel 31:14, 17)… Also in Isaiah 34:8-10 it uses similar language about the lake of fire (stream of fire) in juxtaposition to the destruction of Edom (kingdom just south of Israel). 

Isaiah 34:8-10 “For the LORD has a day of vengeance, a year of retribution, to uphold Zion’s cause. Edom’s streams will be turned into pitch, her dust into burning sulfur; her land will become blazing pitch! It will not be quenched night or day; its smoke will rise forever. From generation to generation it will lie desolate; no one will ever pass through it again.”

IT SAYS THERE THAT THE SMOKE WOULD RISE FOREVER AND EVER. Obviously after the destruction of Edom, we don’t still see the smoke rising from there to this day. It was a metaphorical expression about being completely wiped out. 

It was the same in the book of Revelation chapter 19 when describing the ultimate destruction of Babylon (which we know was JERUSALEM).

Revelation 19:3 “And again they shouted: ‘Hallelujah! The smoke from her goes up for ever and ever.’”

Obviously, to this day we don’t still see Jerusalem smoke rising forever and ever. It was an expression of complete annihilation.

Verse 43: The righteous will shine like the sun. Compare with Daniel 12:3, which also has as its context the completion of the great tribulation and the end of the age (verses 1, 4, 7, 13).

Verse 44: The Parable of the Hidden Treasure

The true disciple loses his affection for the things of this world, as Jesus and His kingdom become the treasure of his heart.

Verses 45-46: The Parable of the Pearl of Great Value

Ditto! In the previous parable, though, the discovery was accidental.

Verses 47-50: The Parable of the Net

This parable is very similar to the parable of the weeds. All things are gathered first, and the sorting occurs later, where again the bad things gathered are thrown away.

Verses 51-52: New and Old Treasures

The disciples affirmed that they understood what Jesus shared with them, in fulfillment of verse 11 (“To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom…”).

Verses 53-58: Jesus Rejected at Nazareth

Jesus returned to His hometown of Nazareth, where the crowds gathered at the synagogue were astonished by His mighty works, and also likely by His teachings. They expressed doubt that, having come from a humble upbringing, He could then do all these things. They chose to be offended by Him, and so He withheld the greater part of His mighty works from them because of their unbelief. This likely indicates that their astonishment had been the result of hearing about His mighty works, and not so much the result of witnessing them firsthand.

Matthew 13 (Verses 1-23: Parable of the Sower and the Seed)

Adam Maarschalk Leave a comment

What follows are notes and brief commentary from a Bible study that took place almost three years ago (June 8, 2011). At the time, 5-7 of us guys met together weekly, and we took turns preparing and leading these studies. I was part of the group from January 2008 – August 2013 (when my wife and I moved to Ohio). Most of the time we worked through one book of the Bible at a time, and at this point we were in Matthew.

Scripture passage for this study: Matthew 13:1-23

Verses 1-9: The Parable of the Sower

Verses 1-2: We’re told that Jesus “went out of the house.” Tracing Matthew’s account backwards, Jesus must have been in a house when the demon-oppressed blind and mute man was brought to him (Matt. 12:22). This makes sense when we see in Matt. 12:46 that at the end of this round of teaching “His mother and His brothers stood outside.” The crowds had apparently grown much larger in size, so Jesus went to the sea instead and got into a boat.

The phrase “That same day” links the parables Jesus is about to tell to the condemnation He had just pronounced upon His own evil generation, along with the affirmation that anyone (regardless of ethnicity) who did His will was part of His spiritual family. So we should look for these parables to be a response to Israel’s rejection of Him.

Verse 3: The word “parable,” according to Strong’s Concordance, means “a comparing, comparison of one thing with another, likeness, similitude.” Jesus used this method often. He tells His audience why just a bit later.

Verses 4-9: These verses contain the Parable of the Sower. We’ll give just a short overview here, since Jesus goes on to explain the meaning of this parable in verses 18-23. Jesus speaks of four different types of reception given to the seed sown by the sower. What was sowed was identical. Therefore, the focus is on the soil, or the recipients: [1] this seed only lay on the surface and was devoured by birds [2] this seed fell on rocky ground with very thin topsoil; there was no root and they were quickly scorched [3] this seed was choked by surrounding thorns [4] this seed fell on good soil and produced fruit, but in different quantities. Not everyone would have “ears to hear,” but it was a good thing to have them.

This first parable seems to be an introduction to the parables which are to follow. Israel was frequently portrayed in the Hebrew Scriptures as a vineyard. See, for example, Isaiah 5:1-7. This is probably just one of the reasons the Pharisees knew Jesus was talking about them in The Parable of the Tenants (Matthew 21:33-45).

Verses 10-17: The Purpose of Parables

Verses 10-11: The disciples wanted to know why Jesus spoke in parables, and He promptly told them that they had already “been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven,” but that the crowds had not. That’s why Jesus spoke to the crowds in this veiled manner, while expecting His disciples/followers/those whose ears were open to understand and learn what the kingdom of heaven was all about.

Verse 12: There seems to be a warning here about not taking for granted what one has. Consider what Israel had: “…the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God” (Romans 3:2); “They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ who is God over all, blessed forever” (Romans 9:4-5). The church in Ephesus was warned by Jesus that if they didn’t repent and return to their first love, He would come to them and remove their lampstand from its place (Revelation 2:4-5).

Verse 13: Jesus’ Jewish audience (generally speaking) hadn’t accepted basic revelation about Him and who He was, so Jesus would continue to speak to them in a veiled manner so that they wouldn’t pick up on further truth either.

Verses 14-15: Jesus quoted from Isaiah 6:9-10, where Isaiah had given this prophecy a little before 700 BC. Isaiah stated that this condition would last until “cities lie waste without inhabitant, and houses without people, and the land is a desolate waste” (verse 11). This was fulfilled in 586 BC when Babylon destroyed Judah and Jerusalem. Jesus suggested by quoting this passage that it was going to happen again. It did, in 70 AD. This passage from Isaiah is also quoted in John 12:39-40 and Acts 28:25-27, where Paul followed this up by saying, “Therefore let it be known to you that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles; they will listen.”

Verses 16-17: The disciples and those whose ears were opened, however, were greatly blessed, especially because the longed-for Messiah was in their midst.

Verses 18-23: The Parable of the Sower Explained

Verse 19: [1] The seed sown on the path (surface only) is likened to the one who doesn’t understand the message of the kingdom, and what is heard is snatched away by the evil one. The Jews, for the most part, so anticipated a political kingdom marked by Jewish superiority that they rejected Christ’s message of a heavenly, spiritual kingdom for all nations.

Verses 20-21: [2] The seed sown on rocky ground with very little soil is likened to the one who initially shows great enthusiasm for the message of the kingdom, but they are not rooted in the truth and so easily fall away when opposition arises. Observe how many turned away and walked with Jesus no longer (John 6:66) when He gave hard sayings and talked about laying His life down for all peoples.

Verse 22: [3] The seed sown among thorns is likened to the one who proves unfruitful because the cares of this life and the deceitfulness of riches in this life crowd out any affection for eternal life through Jesus.

Verse 23: [4] The seed sown on good soil is likened to those who both hear and understand the message of the kingdom, and who go on to bear fruit to various degrees.

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The next post will feature notes and commentary on Matthew 13:24-58 (“The Wheat and the Tares” and other parables).

Why I Embrace Christian Zionism

Adam Maarschalk 20 Comments

There was a time when I was a stranger to Christian Zionism. I was on the outside, I was in the darkness, and I was very much missing out on the blessings found in Christian Zionism. Then God, in His mercy, added me to the family, and to the number of those who have embraced Christian Zionism for the last 2000 years. I haven’t been the same since!

The author of Hebrews described this great transformation about 1950 years ago to his audience at the time, members of the early church:

“But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel” (Hebrews 12:22-24).

I am a Christian Zionist because I am a Christian who has been brought to the heavenly Mount Zion, the one that is connected to the heavenly Jerusalem, to Jesus as our Mediator, to the body of Christ, and to the new covenant. This Zionism is glorious, and it’s all about the blessings and promises found in Jesus.

At the same time, I’m not a Christian Zionist. It all depends upon the definition, and one’s covenant perspective. I’m not a Christian Zionist if one goes by the following definitions:

[1] Zionists seek to support, facilitate and advance the return of the Jewish people and sovereignty to their native homeland–the land of Israel. Christians who see the regathering of the Jewish people in their land, as well as the establishment of the sovereign nation of Israel in 1948, as the literal fulfillment of biblical prophecy are known as “Christian Zionists”. Christian Zionists see the Jewish people as the “apple of God’s eye”–His Chosen people, and hold firm that God’s promises, established in the Abrahamic Covenant, remain in effect today.

Christian Zionists are “Biblical advocates” for the Jewish people and the state of Israel. Furthermore, they stand in firm, diametrical opposition to land concessions of any sort which involve the forfeiture of the holy land of Israel as it is a sacred manifestation of the promises of God to the people He calls the “apple of His eye”. Christian Zionists also seek to stand with Israel, showing her unconditional support, solidarity and love whilst praying for her spiritual return to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, who “foreknew” her.

Mikael Knighton, Christians Standing With Israel, 2007 (Source)

[2] “Zionism [is] the national movement for the return of the Jewish people to their homeland and the resumption of Jewish sovereignty in the Land of Israel… Jews of all persuasions, left and right, religious and secular, joined to form the Zionist movement and worked together toward these goals. Disagreements led to rifts, but ultimately, the common goal of a Jewish state in its ancient homeland was attained. The term “Zionism” was coined in 1890 by Nathan Birnbaum.” (Jewish Virtual Library).

If Zionism is the belief in the Jewish people’s right to return to their homeland, then a Christian Zionist should simply be defined as a Christian who supports the Jewish people’s right to return to their homeland… The actual theology of Christian Zionism, also known as Biblical Zionism, supports the right of the Jewish people to return to their homeland on scriptural grounds… Christian Zionism is confirmed throughout the Hebrew Scriptures… Christian Zionism differs with Replacement Theology which teaches that the special relationship that Israel had with her God in terms of her national destiny and her national homeland has been lost because of her rejection of Jesus as Messiah, and therefore the Church has become the new Israel.

Rev. Malcolm Hedding, Vice-chairman of the Board, International Christian Embassy Jerusalem, “Christian Zionism 101 – Giving Definition to the Movement.” (Source)

[3] “Christian Zionism is a belief among some Christians that the return of the Jews to the Holy Land, and the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, is in accordance with Biblical prophecy.”

Wikipedia, March 2014 (Source)

John Hagee, the founder of Christians United For Israel (CUFI), is recognized as a well-known leader in this movement known as Christian Zionism. CUFI’s theme verse is Isaiah 62:1. “For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, for Jerusalem’s sake I will not remain quiet, til her righteousness shines out like the dawn, her salvation like a blazing torch.” (Source) It doesn’t take much digging around to understand how Hagee interprets this verse and applies it to the present day. Shhh – don’t tell him that righteousness and salvation have been shining out from Jesus and His church like a blazing torch for the last 2000 years!

Earthly or Heavenly Zion?

You may have already noticed how incredibly preoccupied the Christian Zionist movement is with earthly Zion (Israel). This movement is heavily invested in political/earthly Israel, political/earthly Jerusalem, and the old covenant. This is essentially where this movement goes off track.

Did you notice the very first word in the passage from Hebrews early in this post? It’s a mere conjunction, but it’s very important. It’s the word “but.”

But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem…”

Through a basic language rule, we know that the author of Hebrews is contrasting something he said earlier. Let’s take a look at the previous few verses:

“For you have not come to the mountain that may be touched and that burned with fire, and to blackness and darkness and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words, so that those who heard it begged that the word should not be spoken to them anymore. For they could not endure what was commanded: “And if so much as a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned or shot with an arrow.” And so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I am exceedingly afraid and trembling” (Hebrews 12:18-21).

What did he describe here? He described the scene at Mount Sinai where the law code and the old covenant was given to the people of Israel through Moses. The following contrast is shown:

Mount Sinai = physical (able to be touched), earthly, old covenant… Mount Zion = spiritual (not able to be touched), heavenly, new covenant…

In light of this passage, how does the Christian Zionist movement align itself? Where does it stand in light of what Paul says in Galatians 4:21-31?

Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons: the one by a bondwoman, the other by a freewoman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and he of the freewoman through promise, which things are symbolic. For these are the two covenants: the one from Mount Sinai which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar— for this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children— but the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all. For it is written: “Rejoice, O barren, you who do not bear! Break forth and shout, you who are not in labor! For the desolate has many more children than she who has a husband.” Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise. But, as he who was born according to the flesh then persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, even so it is now. Nevertheless what does the Scripture say? “Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.” So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman but of the free.

The Christian Zionist movement has hijacked both terms that it carries, “Christian” and “Zionism.” For decades it has tried to tell the world that Christians are obsessed with a certain land, a certain country, a certain city, a certain race of people, and a Zion that is of this world. It has suppressed new covenant truths, such as God not showing favoritism to one race over others (e.g. Romans 10:12), and has promoted and financially supported injustice and ethnic cleansing, all in the name of Christianity and before the eyes of a watching world.

Biblical Zionism, according to Galatians 4 and Hebrews 12, is aligned with heavenly Jerusalem, Jesus as our Mediator, His church, His shed blood, transformed hearts, freedom, God’s promises, and the new covenant.

This is the Christian Zionism that I embrace.

My Wife’s Singing Gift

Adam Maarschalk 4 Comments

One of the many blessings I’m able to enjoy in my marriage (of 15 months and counting) is my wife’s beautiful singing voice. Back in April of this year, she posted five videos of herself singing on YouTube. Perhaps later she’ll add more songs, and even eventually some of the original songs she’s written which have never been shared publicly. With her permission, here are those five songs from seven months ago:

1. “Can’t Give Up Now” by Mary Mary (Cover)

2. “Shackles” by Mary Mary (Cover):

3. “Miss Celie’s Blues” (Cover):

4. “The Lord’s Prayer”:

5. “You Can See With Your Heart”:

For anyone who notices that most of these songs follow a theme of hopes and dreams, it might be good to point out that they were posted at a time when we were forced to give up on St. Paul Cultural Village, the multicultural marketplace and community center we were developing. By April 30th, less than a month after they were posted, we had vacated the building we were renting for that purpose. Once I update the St. Paul Cultural Village website, I plan to share in more detail what happened with that project. For my wife and I, January – April 2013 was a period marked by a lot of pain and shattered dreams, but God kept and sustained us then, and He continues to do so now.

-Adam

As The Deer (IHOP) and Like An Avalanche (Hillsong United)

Adam Maarschalk Leave a comment

Today, as I’ve been enjoying a much-needed day off from work, I’ve been listening to a number of worship songs. I’d like to share a couple of them here.

The first one is “As the Deer,” sung by Matt Gilman at IHOP (International House of Prayer)’s Fascinate Conference in Kansas City, Missouri in July 2011. This version of “As the Deer” is different than the song written by Marty Nystrom in 1981. That version, I’ve learned, was composed and arranged spontaneously by Marty at Christ for the Nations Institute in Dallas, Texas (where I attended their 2-year Associate Degree program and the Third Year School of Missions from 1997-2000). Matt Gilman’s version is sung to an entirely different melody, but is also based on Psalm 42:1-2 in addition to Psalm 84:5-7. This recording is over 14 minutes long:

The second song I’d like to share is “Like An Avalanche” by Hillsong United. This is from a live worship event in Miami, Florida in 2012. I believe that Hayley Law is the lead singer here, and the lyrics are included in the video:

A Shopping Mall Evangelism Testimony

Adam Maarschalk Leave a comment

In the previous post, I shared some testimonies about what God did during my senior year of high school in Alliance, Ohio, including a move of His Spirit during a 3-day marching band trip to Indianapolis. In this post, I’d like to share what God did (unbeknownst to me for a while) on one occasion when a couple of friends joined me in sharing the gospel at a shopping mall in Canton, Ohio. It’s my hope that the reader will be encouraged that God can do the unexpected, and that God often perceives situations at a much higher level than we do.

During my last two years of high school, I did something (multiple times) that I don’t really do anymore. Out of my zeal for the Lord and His gospel, I would grab a friend or two and go to one of the local shopping malls to evangelize people that we would randomly approach. Admittedly, we often stumbled over our introductions, though we usually got straight to the point – we were there to talk to people about Jesus. Sometimes we were given the cold shoulder, sometimes we were cursed at, and sometimes we got people to repeat “the sinner’s prayer” after us (another method I don’t use anymore). We had New Testaments and literature for new disciples to give to people who prayed with us, but in almost every case we never saw any of them again. This is the main reason I now take a more (long-term) relational approach to sharing and living out my faith.

The greatest known testimony resulting from this mall evangelism activity, however, came out of an evening in which we didn’t pray with anyone. In fact, when that evening was over I was so shaken and so discouraged I was ready to never do this again.

One Frustrating Night

It was my senior year of high school, and two of my friends, Nick and Nate, had joined me at the Belden Village Mall in Canton, Ohio. After an already frustrating time of engaging people in conversation, we approached three guys who were just sitting around. We introduced ourselves to Steve, Juan, and a third guy whose name I don’t remember. From the very beginning Steve gave us an especially hard time. He mocked us, cursed at us at times, made explicitly sexual remarks about us to females passing by, etc. There were moments, though, when he calmed down and even briefly dialogued (though not agreeably) with us. If it weren’t for those moments, I don’t think we could have stuck around, because overall he was very abusive.

Juan, on the other hand, seemed to have a softer heart. He listened with wide eyes as we shared about Jesus. A tear even trickled down his cheek at one point as he read a passage in John’s gospel with us. Steve felt threatened by that, apparently, and ordered Juan to back down. (We found out later that Steve was a gang leader, and Juan was in his gang.)

Our time with these three guys ended with Steve flying into an obscene rage. The mall was about to close anyway, so we soon left, feeling defeated. As we walked out to the parking lot, I remember saying to myself that if there was anyone so hard-hearted that the Lord couldn’t change them, it was Steve. Juan, though, I believed, was close to giving his life to Christ. I couldn’t have been more wrong.

A Month Later

A month later, Nate came up to me at school on a Thursday morning. “Adam,” he said, “you won’t believe who walked into my youth group last night!” He said it was one of the three guys we talked to at the mall a month before, and so I guessed that it was Juan. “No,” Nate said, “it was Steve!” He went on to relay the story that Steve told him. For about two weeks after our encounter at the mall, Steve could hardly eat or sleep because he was so troubled. The Holy Spirit was convicting His heart. Finally he couldn’t take it anymore, and he fell to his knees and surrendered His life to Christ.

Steve became a regular at Nate’s youth group, and eventually a leader. Down the road he led the youth on a short-term mission trip to India. Meanwhile, he boldly shared the gospel with the tough crowd he used to hang with. Gang members, prostitutes, and others became followers of Christ.

As for Juan? I never did hear that he became a believer. Early on at least, he issued death threats against Steve for leaving the gang.

Concluding Thoughts and Encouragement

God showed me through this situation that He’s a far greater Judge than I am as to whose heart is soft, whose heart is hard, who is close to becoming a follower of His Son, Jesus, and who is not so close. We can proclaim the gospel, but God is the One who changes hearts. That work is in His hands.

It’s a great privilege that Nick, Nate, and I found out about Steve’s transformation. If he hadn’t walked into Nate’s youth group, we probably would have never seen or heard from him again. We would have assumed he was lost and walking in darkness. We may have only found out on the other side of the grave about what God did in his life, and how his transformation impacted others.

If you’ve shared your faith with people around you, but feel disheartened because the results aren’t what you’ve hoped for, take heart that God could be doing far more than you know in their hearts. If you believe that someone you know is hardened and “beyond reach,” take heart from this story that their apparent hardness may be masking a whole lot of fear, and that it’s entirely possible for their resistance to give way to brokenness and then redemption.

Testimonies from My High School Days

Adam Maarschalk 1 Comment

Although these testimonies are nearly 17 years old, this is the first time I’m putting them into writing and making them public. These events took place during my senior year of high school in Alliance, Ohio (near Canton), and especially during a three-day period in November 1996. May God receive all the glory and the honor from these stories.

Background

It was at the very end of my 8th grade year that God broke into my self-serving and miserable life, showed me how lost I was without Him, and moved upon my heart to surrender to Him. Changes came quickly. As much as I enjoyed playing baseball or kickball outside with my brothers, I became driven even more by a hunger to study the Scriptures and spend time in prayer.

During my middle school years and early in high school, I was basically terrified to speak in front of an audience. That also changed quickly about the time that my friend, Dave, who led the after-school Bible Club, suddenly decided halfway through my 10th grade year that he could no longer do it. No one else seemed prepared to lead the group, and I was somehow selected. A year before, my close friend’s older brother (a senior) had told me matter-of-factly that this would happen to me. His words literally sent shivers (of fear) down my spine. However, God poured out much grace, and my fears dissolved, just in time for the Bible Club to double in size.

The First Half of My Senior Year

Throughout my senior year I worked as a closer at McDonalds, coming home most nights around 11 pm. It was my habit at that time to spend 30 – 60 minutes in prayer before going to bed, pacing the floor or lying flat on my face on a carpeted section in the basement. Those were precious times, and God burdened my heart for the people around me who didn’t know Him.

God often placed one particular girl, “T.W.,” on my heart more heavily than anyone else. She was a sophomore. I didn’t know why, and it had nothing to do with being attracted to her. She was into the gothic culture. (These were the days when Marilyn Manson – who happens to be from Canton, Ohio – burst onto the scene.) Twice I was compelled to pray fervently against suicide, knowing that this was regarding T.W., and both times I was told a day or two later by one of her friends that she had attempted to kill herself.

We were both in the high school marching band. One Friday evening the band was on the sideline of our football field waiting to begin the halftime show. I received a sudden urge to pray for T.W. and I obeyed. She was roughly 30 people ahead of me, but in a flash she stepped out of line, spun around, and glared at me fiercely. I was startled, to say the least.

Our high school marching band was quite good. Each November we traveled to Indianapolis to participate in a national competition at the former RCA Dome. Several weeks prior to this trip in 1996 I felt that God was saying He wanted to do some great things there. Little did I know what was in store, but this became a main subject of my late-night prayers.

Three Days in November 1996

The day came for us to travel to Indianapolis, about 300 miles away. We boarded three different buses, and after a while we stopped and took a break at a rest stop. I was walking past a sophomore student, David, when I noticed that he was staring at me. He called me over and said (I’m paraphrasing), “I know that I’m not on my way to heaven, but I want to be. I’m a mess! How can I live forever in heaven? You have to tell me!” I was joyfully stunned, but I shared with him the good news of salvation in Jesus and we prayed together.

In Indianapolis we all stayed in a school gymnasium, the boys sleeping on one side and the girls on the other. During our first free time, David’s girlfriend suddenly ran up to me and threw her arms around me, sobbing and shaking. She told me she didn’t know “what I had done to David,” but whatever it was she needed it too. So I shared the gospel with her and we prayed together as well.

During another free time I happened to be near a guy named Jason, and he was listening to music on his CD Walkman. I asked him what he was listening to, and he showed me the CD cover to Marilyn Manson’s “Antichrist Superstar” album. I just looked at it, but didn’t say anything. Jason pulled off his headphones and said (I’m paraphrasing again), “I need to get right with God, and I need to get rid of this CD.” Without anyone being close enough to hear us, he suggested that we go to the far end of the school and smash the CD in the bathroom. So we did exactly that. When we were almost back to the gym, T.W. came around the corner with a couple of her friends and was chanting repeatedly that I needed to be sacrificed on the altar to Satan because we smashed that CD.

During yet another free time, five or six of us gathered for an impromptu Bible study. We couldn’t go as long as we wanted to, so we agreed to gather again during the next free time. When that time came, one of the participants approached me and said that “people were waiting” for me to lead them in a study. I followed that person, opened the door to the large room (off to the side of the gymnasium), and was shocked to see that about 40 people were sitting on the floor! They had been waiting expectantly, but we never really got started, because the band director came in almost right away and told us that he wouldn’t allow it. Still, it was clear that God was really doing something.

The band competition concluded on Saturday evening, and we were scheduled to depart mid-morning on Sunday. Every year, despite the fact that we were a public school, they held a ceremony that somewhat resembled a church service. For example, the previous year the Assistant Band Director had read the Parable of the Talents, and he applied it by telling us we shouldn’t sit on the talents given to us by “a higher power.” This was followed by the song, “Friends Are Friends Forever” by Michael W. Smith. This year (1996) I had asked the band director about two weeks in advance if anyone had already planned to lead this closing ceremony. He said there was no plan, and agreed to let me lead it as long as I didn’t mention Jesus. (I didn’t make any such promise, though.)

The day before the ceremony (Saturday) I had asked several people to be in a skit based (loosely) on the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant in Matthew 18:21-35, and I briefly described what each person would do. We planned to practice it, but never got a chance to do it even once. On Sunday morning, the ceremony was suddenly moved up earlier than scheduled. I asked the performers to go ahead and run the skit, trusting God that it would come together, and it did! It was flawless. There were about 120 band members. For the believers in the room, I followed up on the skit by sharing about the importance of forgiving and showing mercy, even as God has poured out so much mercy on us. For the unbelievers in the room, I shared passionately about what Jesus did on the cross, sacrificing Himself and taking on the debt of sin that He didn’t owe.

A short while later we loaded the buses. We hadn’t yet taken off when someone in the back of the bus called out for me to join them. I went to the back, and students sat on the laps of others as they begged to hear more about the gospel. Seven students prayed and offered up their lives in surrender to Jesus that morning.

The Second Half of My Senior Year

T.W. had a good friend, “P,” who was also in the band. “P” was often targeted for punishment by the band director because he saw her as loud, wild, and rebellious. Unlike T.W., “P” was willing to talk to me. I would even say we were friends. One Monday morning in early spring 2007, “P” ran up to me in the hallway as I was walking toward my homeroom. “I have to tell you what happened to me this weekend!” she said. “P” went on to tell me that she had somehow stumbled into a youth worship event. In the midst of seeing everyone worshipping God, His love was revealed to her and she poured out her eyes and her heart to God, committing to follow Him. As “P” was telling me these things, we happened to pass T.W. in the hallway. Whether naturally or supernaturally, T.W. apparently knew what had taken place, because she glared at both of us with the most intense, bone-chilling look of hatred I had ever seen.

“P” was noticeably different in the following weeks, and T.W. stopped talking to her. I spent some time discipling her in her new faith, and also looked for at least one female believer willing to come alongside her. (This was challenging, as several of them treated her the way the disciples reacted to Paul, not believing he was really a disciple – Acts 9:26-27). Eventually T.W. and “P” began to communicate again, and a month before the school year ended something happened which caused me to never see either one of them again. They were both expelled for the rest of the school year when they were caught possessing marijuana during a school field trip. This left me very disappointed.

Shortly before this happened, though, one more situation occurred between T.W. and I. For a long time I had desired to talk to her, but it never happened. Finally I decided to write her a one-page letter, expressing my heart and sharing God’s love, believing that the Lord was leading me this way. I almost always passed her in the hallway between my lunch period and my History class. So, with the letter in hand, I stepped in her path and, as quickly as possible, handed it to her and asked her to read it. She gave me another piercing glare, but didn’t say a word.

Less than five minutes later there was a fire drill, and everyone gathered outside in our designated areas. When school was out for the day, my cousin approached me and asked if I had given a letter to T.W. I admitted it, and she told me what had happened. T.W., in a loud and mocking voice that didn’t seem to be her own, read the entire letter for everyone around her to hear. According to my cousin, there were about 200 people on that side of the building, and they all grew silent and just stared at T.W. as she did this. It’s not the way I would have chosen for 200 young people to hear about God’s love, but only He knows how T.W.’s audience was impacted that day.

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I hope these testimonies will be an encouragement to any of God’s people who read them. Have faith that God can do, and wants to do, remarkable things through you in different public arenas, whether that would be a school, a workplace, or a neighborhood.

In the next post, I plan to share another testimony from this same time period in my life, this time at a shopping mall.

God’s People Bring the Leaves of Healing to Detroit

Adam Maarschalk 1 Comment

Last month I reflected on the incredible needs and opportunities in our cities here in the US. We focused a lot on how God is intentionally bringing the nations to our doorstep, and we heard Ray Bakke’s challenge for God’s people to respond accordingly. This post will highlight some significant efforts by a growing number of people in Detroit to do just that.

Now those who know me fairly well are aware that I’ve joyfully abandoned my dispensationalist upbringing, a futurist eschatology which featured [1] an escapist mentality (i.e. “we’re going to be raptured out of here at any moment”) and [2] the idea that the crumbling of the world around us is a good and/or necessary thing because it means Jesus is about to return.

I now believe that we live in the everlasting new covenant age and that God’s kingdom was fully established in the first century. As “the light of the world” and “a city built on a hill” (Matthew 5:15-16), and as a people who have been camped at Mount Zion/God’s city/the heavenly Jerusalem for centuries (Hebrews 12:22), I am convinced that we possess the leaves of the tree of life that are for the healing of the nations (Revelation 22:1-2). It’s our mandate and our calling to seek healing for all nations, including our own. (Yes, I do believe that warped eschatology is one key factor that has too often kept the church from living out this calling.) This calling is not at all divorced from our calling to proclaim the message of the cross and the gospel.

That’s why I’m thrilled to learn about what is happening in the city of Detroit, Michigan. In 2010 it was ranked the 18th most populous city in the US, with over 700,000 people. About 82% of the city’s population is African-American, and thousands of Iraqi and Hmong refugees have also made their home there. Less than 10 miles away is another key city, Dearborn, with a population of about 100,000 that is 33% Arab. The greater metro area including and surrounding Detroit features about 5.2 million people.

As reported by the Northville Patch (Northville is located about 28 miles northwest of downtown Detroit), a community-impacting initiative that began in the spring of 2011 now includes representatives from more than 560 different churches and para-church organizations, and it’s bringing new life to a crippled city:

For the second year, Southeast Michigan residents are coming together from hundreds of churches and organizations to share their faith and offer free medical and dental services, food, housing construction and renovations to tens of thousands of residents in need. It’s a continuation of the EACH (Everyone a Chance to Hear) movement that launched last spring.

EACH is guided by a steering committee with church leaders from both city and suburbs. The EACH effort started in 2011 and focused on a 40-day period starting Easter Sunday, but the hope that the impact and continued effort to help the community would continue into the future came to fruition. Most of the local church-based projects and actions will be determined by individual congregations and Christian organizations.

Thousands of individuals from approximately 560 churches and para-church organizations from all over the city of Detroit and suburbs have become active members of EACH in the last year. The movement kicked off again on Easter Sunday.

“EACH was designed to be a one-year initiative, but something special happened,” said Pastor Bob Shirock, senior pastor of Oak Pointe Church in Novi. “We went from being a group of individual churches to really being one church with one purpose…to share and show the love of Jesus to our communities through prayer, Good News and good deeds. We decided to keep doing it, while finding more ways to share and show Christ’s love to people in our communities.”

The Detroit Prayer Walk, which last year attracted about 25,000 followers of Jesus to downtown Detroit, will be the first event where all churches will gather together. This year it will be on Saturday, April 28 at Comerica Park. New for this year, the walk will also include no-cost community medical assistance at a neighboring church. The Detroit Prayer Walk will feature the theme, “1 Church Coming Together for One Purpose.”

Since April 2011, the EACH movement has provided thousands of free meals and 3,500 hours of medical and dental service and repaired or refurbished more than 100 houses in the Detroit area.

The EACH movement will significantly increase community assistance in 2012 through expanded deployment of mobile medical and dental trailers that provide no cost services to uninsured or underinsured people. They will also be expanding the housing construction and renovation effort and creating a community resource event called Lovin’ The D on Saturday, May 19 in midtown Detroit on the Wayne State University campus.

“The impact that we have had on this region as believers of Jesus has been incredible when you look at all the people in need we have helped,” said Pastor Christopher Brooks of Evangel Ministries in Detroit. “We’re talking about thousands of people in need who have been helped by their neighbors, co-workers, friends and family. It’s a very powerful message.”

The coalition will continue to use the 2WordStory social media and personal testimony campaign that was launched as part of the movement in 2011 to show examples of changed lives.

“There is Good News all around us – here in the Detroit area because people have experienced the life changing love of Jesus and have made this a great place to live and work,” said Pastor Doug Schmidt, senior pastor for Woodside Bible Church. “As a community we are listening to Jesus’ words and sharing His message with those around us. And there is no better way to share such a message of love than living it out.”

Other programs that started from the EACH movement in the past year include Handyman Ministries, a faith-based non-profit community revitalization organization dedicated to helping low-income individuals and families by providing free maintenance and repair services, energy audits and other upgrades; and Life Remodeled, a non-profit organization that builds houses and provides other resources to transform lives in troubled communities.

A 2009 CNN Money article shows that some Detroit-area churches were already at that time “taking a hands-on approach to saving their neighborhoods, plowing millions into buying and redeveloping local housing and businesses.” The author noted that Detroit was known for “its ever-increasing pockets of barren land and abandoned housing,” and that it “may be the most financially devastated city in the country.” To read more of this article, see here.

In the midst of such ruin, it’s exciting and encouraging to see God’s people rise up with the power of God’s kingdom that is in our midst and within us (Luke 17:20-21), and work together to see large-scale transformation take place throughout a city, and in many hearts and lives. Pastor Bob Shirock, the founder of the EACH initiative, says “he got the idea to mobilize churches after traveling overseas and witnessing Christians uniting to serve the disadvantaged. Shirock yearned to replicate the outreach coalition in Detroit.” May it be that God’s people living in other cities soon have even greater stories to tell.

“You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:14-15).

“But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel” (Hebrews 12:22-24).

“Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations” (Revelation 22:1-2).

Formula for Frustration and the work of International Village (Twin Cities)

Adam Maarschalk 1 Comment

Since November 2011, my schedule has allowed me to gather with a group of believers in Saint Paul, Minnesota on Saturday evenings. This assembly, International Village Church, is led by a good friend of mine. It’s been a great blessing to continue growing spiritually with these brothers and sisters. We meet in a storefront, drop-in center where, throughout the week, refugees and immigrants are receiving practical assistance (ESL instruction, job search assistance, etc.) and being ministered to with the love of Christ. This center also opened in early November, and it’s already meeting needs in the community, with even greater things yet to come.

On February 4th, my friend, John, led us in a great discussion based on Genesis 29-30, which two days later he turned into a blog post titled “Formula for Frustration.”  I’d like to share that post here (which is no longer available at his former site). Ultimately, this message is about maintaining hope by cherishing, holding onto, and focusing on the tremendous spiritual blessings we have in Christ:

On Saturday at church, we attempted to plow through the story of Jacob, Rachel, and Leah in Genesis 29-30.  What a messed up, real, yet hopeful story of God’s blessing in the midst of chaos.  My thoughts centered on the reality that God continued to bless Rachel and Leah in the midst of their longing for other things.  Rachel was given love from her husband, and Leah blessed with many children.  Both were said to be blessings from the Lord.  We find these two ladies continually crying out for something they couldn’t have.

Contentment is a nasty ordeal, isn’t it?  Perhaps one of the easiest ways for us to lose focus on the blessing of God over our lives is to think about what we don’t have.  What we’ve lost.  What we wish could be.  If I was just in that place, that job, married to that person . . . and on and on the ride goes.  We’ve all been here.  Perhaps some of us live here.  And it is certainly a formula for frustration.  A sure way to stay miserable – just ignore the blessings of God poured out over our lives.

At times I have thought that American culture is completely backwards when it comes to being content in our current situation.  Craving for money, power, and success truly does rule our lives at times.  I’ve often idolized pieces of African, Asian, and Latino culture because of the strong relational focus they bring.  While these traits are wonderful gifts from the Lord, discontentment knocks on all of our doors.  It pounds and pounds to the point where we either deal with it or continue to ignore it.  Every culture, every family, every person deals with this gnawing feeling to try to escape and not deal with what is before them.

What then would this mean in challenging the most vulnerable to embrace the blessings God has given them?  While the refugee highway may be paved with pain, loss, and tears, it is also a place where God continues to lavish his rich blessings.  God gives many who are stranded on this highway the ability to keep going, keep moving, and stay hopeful.  What a gift.  That hope can come from no one other than the Sustainer of all things who continues to bless.  I don’t know if I have what it takes to survive on such a highway, but I do know what it feels like to lose things, people, and abilities that are precious to me.  My dear friend Paul taken by a logging accident in college.  My eyesight taken away day by day.  Seeing dear friends and colleagues struggle deeply through horrible train wrecks in their marriages and careers.  It isn’t exactly a refugee highway, but it sure has the markings of hell that roll over many parts of the globe.

Into this we all have to learn how to speak of, sing out, and perhaps scream aloud the rich, wonderful, extravagant blessings of God.  He is the Source.  He holds it all together.  We can’t afford to live in frustration by ignoring His strong hand in all things.

International Village Church is “a new church north of downtown St. Paul, with a heart to serve the diverse ethnic groups in our city.” In addition to the already-established Hmong population in this area, the surrounding neighborhoods feature a growing number of refugees from Somalia, Myanmar (the Karen people), and Bhutan. John and his wife have been living in this community for about three years. John says this about the work and focus of International Village:

International Village is a community-focused, drop-in friendship center and church planting ministry in St. Paul.  We strive to see people empowered vocationally, educationally, and spiritually while remaining a launch pad for various ethnic ministries throughout our area.

We are a new ministry project of the Minnesota Assemblies of God and International Teams MSP [Minneapolis/Saint Paul] that reaches out in practical ways to our new neighbors all around us.  Over the past three years we’ve met new refugees at the airport, provided basic necessities when they first arrive, taught them to ride the bus, helped in learning English, as well as a variety of other practical needs.  These needs have primarily been met through meeting people at their apartments and helping them navigate through the gauntlet of choices that we have in this great country.

Now, with the opening of International Village, we will strive to be a place where many of these needs can be accessed more quickly and in a more concentrated way.  We will function as a neighborhood resource center and faith community.  The goal is to be a center that continues to demonstrate the social service needs that we’ve been addressing thus far, while adding to it concentrated Bible studies, ministry development, and the training of ethnic ministry leaders.

God has sovereignly arranged for an increasing population from amongst the unreached people groups around the world to relocate and spring up here in the US, especially in urban centers. Here they will have far greater access to the gospel than in the lands from which they came, and more so as the Church recognizes what God is doing and what great opportunities are before us. It’s encouraging to see God raising up efforts like International Village to meet this challenge.

A Good Word By David Wilkerson On Enduring Faith

Adam Maarschalk 3 Comments

David Wilkerson was the founder of Teen Challenge, author of multiple books including “The Cross and the Switchblade,” and the pastor of Times Square Church in New York City. He passed away almost 10 months ago in a car accident while traveling in Texas, leaving behind an admirable legacy of decades of contribution to the kingdom of God. I don’t agree with every one of his teachings and prophecies, but there is much in the way of his teachings and ministry (especially to outcasts, gang members, etc.) that I deeply appreciate and that has had an impact on me. He often wrote and spoke with great passion and a deep care for those whom God had entrusted to him to lead and influence.

One of his sermons, titled “The Limitations of the Miraculous,” was re-posted on the World Challenge website on January 17, 2012 (SOURCE). What he said is very thought-provoking to me, and contains much truth. I believe it’s worth re-posting here as well. I hope that other readers will also be challenged by this message on having faith that endures and perseveres:

Nobody had ever seen as many supernatural works as Israel. God provided miracle after miracle for them—and yet each work left the people as faithless and unbelieving as before! You would think that the ten plagues on Egypt would have produced faith in the Israelites. When Egypt was afflicted with flies, none were found in Israel’s camp. When Egypt fell under total darkness, there was no darkness in Israel. Yet none of these plagues produced faith of any kind!

Even after God opened the Red Sea, Israel’s faith lasted only three days. Scripture says: “They did not remember the multitude of Your mercies, but rebelled by the sea—the Red Sea” (Psalm 106:7).

The psalmist is saying here: “They even doubted God at the Red Sea—the place where He performed His greatest miracle!”

We are so like Israel. We want God to speak a word, grant us a miraculous deliverance, quickly meet our needs, remove all our pain and suffering. In fact, you may be saying right now, “If God would just get me out of this mess—if He’d give me this one miracle—I would never doubt Him again!” Yet, what about all the miracles He has performed for you? They haven’t produced in you any faith to help you in your present trouble!

Two precious men of God from the Zulu tribe in Africa visited Times Square Church. An incredible revival was taking place among the eight million Zulus, and God was doing miraculous things among them.

Yet that is not what these men wanted to talk about. Rather, what impressed them most about the revival were the “overcomer Zulus”—those who stood for Christ, burning witchcraft books and witnessing boldly, even though they were being tested and tried severely. These people were once evil, with murderous spirits, and they were being transformed into the image of Jesus!

I believe the greatest sign or wonder to the world in these last days is not a person who has been raised from the dead. No, what truly makes an impact on the mind and spirit of the ungodly is the Christian who endures all trials, storms, pain and suffering with a confident faith. Such a believer emerges from his troubles stronger in character, stronger in faith, stronger in Christ.

My one exception to this sermon is that I don’t believe we are currently living in “the last days,” as I have written elsewhere. That point aside, though, I believe this is an excellent study. As the apostle Paul said in I Corinthians 10:11, what happened to Israel is meant to be an example to God’s people living under the New Covenant. May we not be quick to forget what God has done for us, and easily fall victim to doubt, worry, fear, or stress. May we also allow any difficult circumstances in our lives to shape us, refine us as gold is purified in the fire (I Peter 1:6-7), and help to produce in us (constantly and increasingly) a faith in God that endures and perseveres. May the joy of the Lord be our strength (Nehemiah 8:10) even when, in the natural, it doesn’t seem likely.

“I have said these things to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”

(Jesus, in John 16:33)