BASIC WORD GOD'S NEED AND GOD'S GOAL

                                                        GOD’S NEED AND GOD’S GOAL

                           EVERY DAY, MONTH, AND YEAR BEING A NEW BEGINNING

In our spiritual life we have spiritual days, months, and years. In the Old Testament God charged the children of Israel to keep the passover before leaving Egypt. This was a great beginning. He wanted them to consider the month of Abib, the first month, to be the beginning of months, the first of the months of the year (Exo. 12:1-2 ; 34:18). The Israelites kept the passover as a new beginning; it was not a small beginning but a great beginning. Because of this beginning, they were able to serve God according to an order of worship in the tabernacle. The book of Numbers also speaks of “the beginnings of your months,” which refers to times set according to new moons (10:10 ; 28:11). A new moon is a lesser beginning. The beginning of a year is a great beginning, whereas the beginning of a month is a lesser beginning. God also required the Israelites to worship daily in the morning and at night (Lev. 6:9 , 12). The beginning of a day is a small beginning. The days, months, and years of the Israelites were full of spiritual significance. When we are saved, we experience the reality of the passover, which is a great and new beginning. Thereafter, God desires that we have a new beginning every month and even a new beginning every day.

When I was saved by the Lord’s grace, I truly experienced the Feast of the Passover. At that time I had an earnest desire to pursue the Lord, read the Word, preach the gospel, and offer material things. However, as men, we are weak, and even though I had such a desire, I was not successful in practice. Instead, I failed frequently. As I look back at my life during those years, I feel as though I was short in reading the Word, poor in prayer, loose in preaching the gospel, and unfaithful in material offerings. Many times it seemed as if I had reached the end of a month marked by a waning and even a disappearing moon. Yet, amazingly, at these very moments a new spiritual moon would arrive. I was able to let the previous experiences pass and begin again as if it were the first day of a new month. From the first day of this new moon, my reading of the Word was fresh, my prayer was enjoyable, and my zeal for preaching the gospel was stirred up again. I was in the enjoyment of the shining of a new spiritual moon. This shining would last for several weeks, as if my experience, like the moon, were rising to the full. However, a full moon does not last very long; it was not uncommon to lose this sense of fullness in my spiritual pursuit. Consequently, at a certain point and often for no apparent reason, I would not feel like getting out of bed. I also would lose my desire to read the Bible, my strength for prayer, and my interest in preaching the gospel. This was the waning of my spiritual moon. After eight or ten days in this condition, it would seem as if the moon had disappeared completely. Rather than light, I had a sense only of darkness. Even in the midst of this discouragement, however, there would be the coming of a new moon. Then, once again, I would feel like getting up in the morning, reading the Bible, praying, and preaching the gospel. I believe that we all have had such experiences related to a spiritual new moon.In addition to the experience of a new month, we also have experiences of a new day. For example, we may hear a message on the Lord’s Day encouraging us to rise up early in the morning to draw near to the Lord, to read His Word, and to fellowship with Him. After hearing such a message, we may be touched throughout the day and look forward to the coming of the next morning. Consequently, we will rise up early the next day in order to have morning watch and to draw near to the Lord. As a result of this morning watch, we enjoy an overcoming life the whole day without a failure. With such an encouraging experience, we again rise up early the next morning to have fresh prayer and sweet fellowship with the Lord. Even though we may experience no failure in the morning, a little carelessness may cause us to lose our temper in a small way in the afternoon. Because of this little failure, we will be somewhat depressed and discouraged when we return home. Nevertheless, after resting at night, we can have a new beginning when we rise up in the morning. We can pray to the Lord and fellowship with Him so that the brightness of His shining may rise up in us once again. This is the experience of a new day.

In spiritual matters we all experience new days, new months, and new years. The beginning of the approaching lunar year should not point us only toward a new day or a new month but to the beginning of a new spiritual year. We should have more than a new day or a new month; we should also have the experience of a new year. Regrettably, many Christians celebrate a new calendar year every year, but they never enter into a new spiritual year. Many Christians have been saved five, ten, or even twenty years, and at the end of a year they buy food and new clothes, put their houses in order, and close their business in preparation for the new year. While they celebrate the new year, they do not prepare themselves for a new year spiritually. Thus, there is no proper ending, no new preparation, and hence, no new beginning.

KEEPING A SPIRITUAL NEW YEAR BEFORE GOD

At the end of the year some saints not only enter into a new calendar year but also into a new spiritual beginning. At the end of the year and at the beginning of a new year, they go before God to review and settle their condition before God from the passing year. Just as a businessman settles his account at the end of the year, we should review our spiritual account before God. If we balance only our outward account but not our inward account, we will enter into a new calendar year but not into a new spiritual year.

I hope that from this year forward every saint will have a proper spiritual conclusion to a passing year and a proper beginning of a new spiritual year. Not only should we have a conclusion related to outward matters, such as our career, our education, and our domestic affairs, but even more, we should have a conclusion in regard to spiritual matters. At the end of a year we need to go before God and settle the accounts related to our spiritual condition. We need to consider before the Lord how we have spent our time and the things in which we failed and in which we overcame. We need to consider the areas in which we responded to the Lord’s demands and in which we rejected the Lord’s will. We need to bring our spiritual condition before the Lord in order to settle accounts and have a proper clearance so that we can have a new beginning.

THE CHANGING OF DAYS, MONTHS, AND YEARS DEPENDING ON LIGHT-BEARERS

There are two very important principles concerning days, months, and years. The first principle involves their relationship to light-bearers, and the second principle involves their relationship to death and resurrection. In regard to the first principle, days, months, and years are related to light-bearers, that is, to the sun and the moon. A day consists of the time that it takes for the earth to rotate on its own axis, whereas a year consists of the time that it takes for the earth to revolve around the sun. Every twenty-four hours the earth rotates on its axis, and during this time there is one appearing of the sun. Furthermore, every three hundred sixty-five days the earth revolves around the sun in the solar system. A day involves a small revolution, but a year involves a great revolution. Both the changing of a day and the changing of a year are in relation to the sun. The changing of a month is related to the revolution of the moon around the earth. Both the sun and the moon are light-bearers. Every changing of days, months, and years is related to light-bearers. Because there are light-bearers, there are days, months, and years.

Every change in our spiritual experience involves light, whether it is a great change like a new year, a lesser change like a month, or a small change like a day. Whenever we encounter light, there is a change. When we met God, who is light (1 John 1:5), there was a change. When we met Christ, who is God and who is light (John 8:12 ; 9:5 ; 12:46), there was a change. God in Christ is our light-bearer. Without the sun, there are no days or years, and without the moon, there are no months. Likewise, if a person does not encounter God in Christ, there will be no spiritual change, either great or small. Every change in our spiritual condition depends upon meeting God.

In order to have a new spiritual year, we need to specifically seek God’s face and meet Him. We should bring our condition, past and present, to Him and place it before Him in the light of His face in order to receive His shining. He is facing us, waiting for us, and open to us. We should not think that we are the ones who are seeking God; actually, He is seeking us and waiting for us. Rather than being closed, we should open ourselves to Him. We should not treat our days in a loose manner. When we approach a new calendar year, we should come to God and open ourselves to His light concerning not only the state of our earthly affairs but also the condition of our spiritual life. We need to spend some time in the presence of God, presenting our past and present condition to Him and allowing Him to shine on us. As the Spirit, He will come to us, and with His Spirit there will be light shining on the items that we place before Him. When we encounter God in Christ as the Spirit coming to us as light, we will have a new beginning. When we encounter light, we will also encounter God as the light-bearer. These encounters bring in changes that are like the changes associated with days, months, and years. If we want to have changes, from small changes to great changes, we must meet God.