ALL
ABOUT YOU: GIDEON, CHAPTER 5
IF
NOW I HAVE FOUND GRACE
11-09-03
REVIEW
(Judg
6:11) And there came an
angel of the LORD, and sat under an oak which was in Ophrah, that
pertained unto Joash the Abiezrite: and his son Gideon threshed wheat by
the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites. (Judg 6:12)
And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him, and said unto him,
The LORD is with thee, thou mighty man of valour. (Judg 6:13)
And Gideon said unto him, Oh
my Lord [adon; one in
authority], if the LORD be with us, why then is all this befallen
us? and where be all his miracles which our fathers told us of, saying,
Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt? but now the LORD hath forsaken
us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites. (Judg 6:14)
And the LORD looked upon him [the Glory
Light, the Great Light suddenly turned on], and said, Go in this thy
might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites: have
not I sent thee? (Judg 6:15)
And he said unto him, Oh my Lord [‘Adonay –
supreme in authority], wherewith shall I save Israel? behold, my
family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house. (Judg
6:16) And the LORD said
unto him, Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the
Midianites as one man. (Judg 6:17) And
he [Gideon] said unto him,
If now I have found grace in thy sight, then show me a sign
[miracle] that thou talkest with me.
1.
When we first meet Gideon, he was unsaved, walking by sight, and
did not believe that the individual that “appeared unto him” in
Judges 6:12 was an angel sent by God; therefore, he did not believe the
message either. Although he repented, reconsidered – to think
differently, in v.13 by inwardly examining the outward vocalization of
his doubts in the light of his present circumstance, received salvation
in v.14, evidenced that salvation in v.15, received the word of prophecy
in v.16, he immediately thereafter expressed more doubt and asked for a
visible sign of confirmation in v.17. Now a saved man, Gideon’s doubt
was an articulation of the preponderance of unbelief that yet remained
in his thoughts, indicative of his lack of faith, i.e. the “old man”
walking by sight, the remaining unconverted part of his soul, the
remaining natural man.
WELL THEN, WAS GIDEON REALLY SAVED? YEP, SURE WAS.
grace
= Heb: graciousness, i.e. subj. (kindness, favor) or objective (beauty)
/// to bend or stoop in kindness to an inferior; to favor, bestow; to
implore (i.e. move to favor by petition): beseech, (be) merciful, have (shew)
mercy (on, upon), have pity upon, pray, make supplication, X very.
1.
(Gen 6:8) But Noah found grace in the eyes of
the LORD.
2.
(Gen 19:19) Behold
now, thy servant [Lot, speaking of
himself to the angel] hath
found grace in thy sight,
and thou hast magnified thy mercy, which thou hast showed unto me
in saving my life [from the
fate of Sodom - the physical is symbolic of the spiritual]; and I
cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil take me, and I die:
3.
(Judg 6:14) And the LORD looked upon
him… If I now have found grace in thy sight
4.
(Isa 9:2) The people
that walked in darkness [misery,
destruction, death, ignorance, sorrow, wickedness] have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon
them hath the light shined.
IF NOW I HAVE
FOUND GRACE…. YES HE HAD, BUT HE HAD DOUBTS, LOTS OF DOUBTS.
Having
just been converted in v.14 “And the LORD looked upon him,” i.e. the
Glory Light, the Great Light had been suddenly turned on, Gideon was now
a new born babe in Christ, imputed for righteousness, a born-again
Christian. His spiritual eyes had been opened and “great light” (Isa
9:2; Mat 4:16; Acts 22:6) had entered into him (Rom 12:1). The
Christ-Seed (Mat 1:17) “was sown in his heart” (Mat 13:19) “which
is the least of all seeds” (Mat 13:32). In Gideon’s case, the
Christ-Seed would take “root” (Mat 13:21), and because “faith
groweth exceedingly” (2 Th 1:3), we shall eventually observe in Judges
chapter seven and then eight that Gideon’s faith would grow into a
great “tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the
branches thereof.” (Mat 13:32).
However,
lest we unjustly judge him for his doubts, please note that at this
present point in his life, Gideon, although truly saved, was actually incapable
of fully believing (to have faith in) the LORD because he had newly
received the “seed” of belief (faith) planted into the soil of his
heart. Gideon was now at the very beginning of his metamorphosis from
worm to butterfly, the very beginning of his transformation (growth)
process (Rom 12:2). He was a new born babe in Christ, not yet possessing
full growth, full maturity, full belief – the fullness of the Spirit.
Gideon
continued therefore to walk by sight, following the pattern of his
entire his past life; but now, he also walked with “the earnest” (2
Cor 1:22; 5:5; Eph 1:14) of the Holy Spirit, i.e. a deposit of the Holy
Spirit, a little bit of faith, a little bit of inner Spiritual Light,
“the measure of faith” (Rom 12:3), the Christ-Seed that is sown into
every man at the moment of his salvation. And because Gideon was still
walking almost exclusively by sight, he immediately said “then
show me a sign that thou talkest with me.” He asked for a sign or
miracle that would confirm the LORD’s presence, a sign that he
could visibly “see and believe” (Mark 15:32; John 6:30 & John 20:25), a sign expressed in the
visual language of sight (sign language – Why do people use sign
language?) that his still dominant “old man” (Rom 6:6; Eph 4:22; Col
3:9) could readily perceive and understand; an application of the
present day adage “Seeing is Believing.” Who then was asking for the
sign - his “old man” walking by sight, or his “new man” walking
by faith?
ANOTHER LIVING ILLUSTRATION OF YOUR METAMORPHOSIS
FROM THE OLD MAN: JACOB
(Gen
32:24-32) And Jacob
[heel-catcher (i.e. supplanter)
/// “and thou shalt bruise (overwhelm: cover) his heel” Gen 3:15]
was left alone; and there wrestled a man [“angel”
Hos 12:4] with him until the breaking of the day. And when he [the
angel] saw that he prevailed not against him, he [the
angel] touched the hollow [power]
of his thigh; and the hollow [power]
of Jacob's thigh was out of joint,
as he wrestled with him. And he [the
angel] said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will
not let thee go, except thou
bless me. And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob.
And he said, Thy name shall be called no
more Jacob, but Israel [he
will rule as God]: for as a prince hast thou power with God
and with men, and hast prevailed. (Gen
32:29) And Jacob asked
him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is
it that thou dost ask after my name? And
he blessed him there [i.e.
the first blessing, a type of “the earnest” of the Spirit]. And
Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to
face, and my life is preserved. And as he passed
over Penuel the sun rose upon him, and he halted
[limped /// as if one-sided]
upon his thigh. Therefore the children of Israel eat not of the sinew which shrank [i.e.
decreased], which is upon the hollow [power]
of the thigh, unto this day: because he touched the hollow [power] of Jacob's thigh in the
sinew that shrank [decreased].
/// (Gen 33:1) And
Jacob lifted up his eyes, and looked, and, behold, Esau came,
and with him four hundred men. And he divided the children unto Leah,
and unto Rachel, and unto the two handmaids.
1.
(Hosea 12:2-4) The
LORD hath also a controversy with Judah, and
will punish Jacob
according to his ways; according to his doings will he recompense
him [reward]. He took his
brother by the heel in the womb, and by his strength he had power with
God: Yea, he had power over the
angel, and prevailed: he wept, and made supplication [prayed,
petitioned] unto him: he
found him in Bethel, and there he spake with us;
2.
“out of joint” to sever oneself, to be dislocated; fig. to
abandon; to impale (and thus allow to drop to pieces by rotting): be
alienated, depart, hang (up), be out of joint.
3.
shrank = Heb: in the sense of failure /// to forget.
4.
(John 3:30) He must
increase, but I must decrease.
INTO THE NEW MAN: ISRAEL
(Gen
35:9-21) And God appeared
unto Jacob again, when he came out of Padanaram, and
blessed him [i.e. the
second blessing, a type of the fullness of the Spirit]. And God said
unto him, Thy name is Jacob:
thy name shall not be called any
more Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name: and
he called
his name Israel. And God said unto him, I am God Almighty: be
fruitful and multiply [Gen
1:28; Gen 9:1]; a nation and
a company of nations shall be of thee, and
kings shall come out of thy
loins [Rev 1:6; 5:10]; And
the land which I gave Abraham
and Isaac, to thee I will give it, and to thy seed after thee will I
give the land. And God went
up from him in the place where he talked with him. And Jacob set up a
pillar in the place where he talked with him, even a pillar of stone:
and he poured a drink offering thereon, and he poured oil thereon. And
Jacob called the name of the place where God spake with him, Bethel
[house of God]. And they journeyed from Bethel; and there was but a
little way to come to Ephrath [fruitfulness;
another name for Bethlehem]: and Rachel [a ewe: sheep] travailed, and she had hard labour. And it
came to pass, when she was in hard labour, that the midwife said unto
her, Fear not; thou shalt have this son also. And it came to
pass, as her soul was in departing, (for she died) that she called his
name Benoni [son of my
sorrow]: but his father called him Benjamin
[son of the right hand (i.e. the
Christ Company of Mat 1:17)]. And Rachel died, and was buried in the
way to Ephrath, which is Bethlehem. And Jacob set a pillar upon her
grave: that is the pillar of Rachel's grave unto this day. And
Israel journeyed, and spread his tent beyond the tower of Edar. [The
prayer of Jabez, “bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast” 1 Chr
4:10].
Amen
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