Encouragement

When Moses the servant of God ascended Mt Nebo in Moab (Deuteronomy chapter 34) to observe the Promised Land before his death , God had him geographically and spiritually pinpointed. God brought him to the exact spot under the precisely correct conditions for him to be able to behold or perceive what he needed to perceive. First,  God brought him to the Abarim mountain range. The name Abarim is from the same root as the word “Hebrew” and means “from regions beyond” or “place of journeying.” Beyond that, God brought him to Mount Nebo. Nebo means “proclaimer”, or “prophet” or “height” according to another source. Once at Nebo God brought Moses to the peak called Pisgah which actually means “peak” or “cut off.”  He would in fact be cut off from what the remainder of the nation of Israel was about to experience.   Moses was closing in on the precise place on what must have been a crystal clear day in order for him to see the panoramic grandness and entirety of what he saw. There is a saying that every seat in the theater commands its own unique view of the stage. Moses would not enter the Promised Land (until he stood there with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration) but few if any would see the entire promised land at once in one fell swoop the way Moses was privileged to see it. As God had that spot narrowed down and pinpointed, so God and only God knows to this day the specific site where He buried Moses after he took in that view of a peoples’ destiny and inheritance.
Similarly,  today he is sending many of us into regions beyond, God is sending us on journeys, giving us spectacularly clear, more expansive views of things that already are and of things to come, and then leading us back among our brethren to “proclaim” it, to give a report and a testimony, like he did with the 12 spies in Numbers chapter 13 when they brought back the giant samples of fruit. But remember,  only Joshua and Caleb brought back a positive and encouraging, empowering report. All were privileged to be among the twelve, but not all took the best advantage of that privilege. Most turned that privilege into an impediment to their own people. May we be among those who will make the most of the privileges we have been given for the highest good of all concerned!

We are like the angels (messengers) going up and down on Jacob’s Ladder (whom Jesus identified as himself in John 1, v.51)  That is, through the fellowship of our respective relationships with Jesus, he is unveiling for us little glimpses of heaven which we are tasked to return and share with those around us.  Through our ascending and later descending in interactions on the  Stairway which is Jesus,  we are bringing back from our assigned excursions little samplings of the heavenly abundance to come.  Some are little samplings and some are bigger samplings,  but, compared to the fullness of the delight to come,  all are mere micro-foretastes of the sumptuous Wedding Feast of the Lamb!  By this and for this the Bride of Christ is making herself ready. (Revelation 19, v.7-10)