Seeking the King of the Kingdom, chapter two
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Important messages
2. THE
CHRIST WHO SEES
“(Abraham) went in to
Hagar, and she conceived; and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress
was despised in her sight. And Sarai said to Abram, ‘May the wrong done me be
upon you. I gave my maid into your arms, but when she saw that she had
conceived, I was despised in her sight. May the LORD judge between you and me.’
But Abram said to Sarai, ‘Behold, your maid is in your power; do to her what is
good in your sight.’ So Sarai treated her harshly, and she fled from her
presence. Now the angel of the LORD found her by a spring of water in the
wilderness, by the spring on the way to Shur. He said, ‘Hagar, Sarai’s maid,
where have you come from and where are you going?’ And she said, ‘I am fleeing
from the presence of my mistress Sarai.’ Then the angel of the LORD said to
her, ‘Return to your mistress, and submit yourself to her authority.’ Moreover,
the angel of the LORD said to her, ‘I will greatly multiply your descendants so
that they will be too many to count.’ The angel of the LORD said to her
further, ‘Behold, you are with child, and you will bear a son; and you shall
call his name Ishmael (God sees), because the LORD has given heed to your
affliction. He will be a wild donkey of a man, his hand will be against
everyone, and everyone’s hand will be against him; and he will live to the east
of all his brothers.’ Then she called the name of the LORD who spoke to her,
‘You are a God who sees’; for she said, ‘Have I even remained alive here after
seeing Him?’” Genesis 16:4-13
 |
| Taken from this book |
A WOMAN
BY A WELL
One of the most important
themes in the Holy Scriptures concerns the characteristics that exist in the
heart of a human being. The Scripture gives us a clear vision of what is inside
and it is surprising to discover that basically man has not changed at all.
Customs and culture are different from biblical times, but if we are honest, we
will recognize that his faults and features are still the same today.
Four thousand years ago,
a rich and important nomad, named Abram (converted later to Abraham) from
Mesopotamia, wandered in the territory of Canaan. The man had many cattle and
many slaves. His wife, Sarai (later called Sarah), was barren and therefore was
not able to give a descendant to her husband. In the culture of the time and
place where they lived, it presented a grave problem. Sarah desperately sought
a solution and found it in one of the slaves, an Egyptian named Hagar. She
offered her to Abraham, as a substitute for her own barren womb, to give him
the desired son. In this way, although difficult to understand in modern
society, it gave this poor girl an honor and dignity that she had never dreamed
of possessing in the culture of her day.
As is obvious, a slave
belonged to the lowest range of society, not only then, but throughout the
course of history. A slave had no human rights and the only significance that
he could expect, depended on how he was seen in the eyes of his master. He was,
after all, his property, just as were his animals and material goods.
If we could for a moment
imagine ourselves within the customs of those days, so different from ours, we
would see that Hagar, for the first time in her life, enjoyed a dignity, which
gave her life meaning and fulfillment. We would think that she should be happy,
but that was not the case. Upon finding herself pregnant, she began to despise
her mistress. To the measure that she was lifted from her insignificance, to
that degree she began to feel herself superior.
Pride, hidden in the
depths of a human being, is discovered at the first evidence of recognition and
a favorable personal state of being. Do we see this same phenomenon in people
today? Yes sir, and many times! Pick one among these four biblical examples,
give the social position an up-to-date name and apply it to modern situations
and you will see that pride remains fixed in the human heart: “Under these three things the earth quakes,
and under four, it cannot bear up: Under a slave when he becomes king, and a
fool when he is satisfied with food, under an unloved woman when she gets a
husband, and a maidservant when she supplants her mistress” (Prov.
30:21-23). The fourth one is precisely the one that we are examining now.
Although Hagar did not totally supplant her mistress, she got a taste of her
position and it was enough to trouble the earth. Her descendants, to this day,
continue to shake this planet.
How sweet is pride, but
how bitter are the consequences! When she began to experience them, she fled
from the suffering and wandered aimlessly in a wilderness. Sarah’s persecution
brought Hagar into a greater danger and her situation worsened.
Even though Hagar’s
attitude was to blame for the trouble she got into, there was One who was not
happy with her plight. Although she was an unworthy slave and an Egyptian, who
had little or no place in the plan that God was unfolding in Abraham and Sarah,
the great heart of the Lord was moved with compassion and compelled Him to act
on her behalf. The Angel of the Lord found her! Let us see how He dealt with
this case, which is among the earliest Old Testament stories.
He asked her two
questions. The first was: Where have you come from? When I consider the
question, I am reminded of the story of the prodigal son. I have often presented
him as an individual sinner that wandered far from God and came to live a life
of perdition. I think that it is legitimate to do so. However, others see him
as a Christian, who has left the Father’s house and returned to the world.
These two applications do not satisfy completely some factors in the parable.
It is more correct, I think, to see the elder son as the Jews in the time of
Jesus. He told the story precisely to them (see Luke 15:2-3). The younger son,
it seems to me, represents the pagan, Gentile people of the world that had
strayed far from the Father of all spirits. All that God, the Creator, gave to
mankind in the Garden of Eden they took, in order to spend and waste it all -
their health, strength, mental capacities, emotions, spirituality, and a
perfect environment - on a self-gratifying, egocentric jaunt, with no regard
for the purpose, for which they had been created. In the parable, the younger
provokes the elder (the Jews) to jealousy, and, Paul tells us, that is the
mission of the Gentile believers (Rom. 10:19; 11:11, 14).
Hagar came from a similar
background as the prodigal, an unworthy Egyptian living in an atmosphere
blessed of God. Though she was a slave, her needs were all covered and she had
security and support. Who can say what God might have had in store for her
life? She had been in the right place. The Angel of the Lord wanted her to
think about what she had left behind, a place where only her pride had damaged
her and brought her misery. She knew her place of departure and quickly
answered the first question, but had nothing to say about the second.
The second question was:
Where are you going? He wanted to make her think about her future. Really, what
plan did she have? Few people take time to hear this question and they live in
a routine of activity that does not give time to think. Their most important
goal is to keep moving, without considering where their activity will lead
them. Hagar ambled aimlessly in a desert and the only thing that got her
attention was a well that satisfied her needs for the moment. Whether it be
water, bread, alcohol, drugs, a job, studies, entertainment, or anything else,
the lost soul lives to satisfy his immediate desires and needs. The Angel of
the Lord always deals with that affair, whenever He intends to help any
individual.
He had compassion,
knowing her condition, and showed concern for the dangers that awaited her, but
His love always has conditions. He did not give her options or counsel, but
ordered her to return. Repentance always stands along the pathway to salvation.
There was no remedy for her in the desert, where she found herself. She had to
leave it and return to the situation, where there was a possibility that the
plan of God for her life could develop.
Independence condemns and
offers no hope to any individual. Return to Abraham and Sarah, the people of
God! Leave this rebellion behind! Now it was up to Hagar to react.
His second command was,
“Submit yourself!” She had to subject herself to the wise lordship of the One
who knew exactly what she needed. She had to surrender and be under discipline.
Remember that it was the Angel of the Lord who was acting and speaking, and He
is the same, yesterday, today and forever. There is no way to obtain positive
results without following the same steps.
When He saw that Hagar
demonstrated conformity with His will at that moment, the Angel applied the
perfect answer to her dilemma, according to His desire for the well-being of
this poor slave. The promises of the Lord are “yes” and faith was born in her
heart. After an experience with God like this one, nobody can be the same. It
not only changes direction, but also character.
Now, we come to the
purpose of the story and it is the same principle reason, for which we have the
Bible; it is to reveal to us the Son of God. All the points that we have
examined, the steps and instructions given to Hagar, are incomplete, if we
cannot see Him with the eyes of the spirit. What did she see? Fleeing the place
of blessing and wandering in the desert, no one cared that she was desperate,
lost and alone, but the Angel of the Lord. Having abandoned all that was good,
God had not abandoned her to the curse of walking in her own way. He saw her
and found her. If she had never known Him before, if she had no name, by which
to call Him, she had one now. She saw the One, who saw her and called him Elroi
(the God who sees). It was a transforming reality in her life.
A MAN
UNDER A FIG TREE
Philip was excited. Since
his childhood, he had heard the ancient prophecies in the synagogue and they
were as old as the history of the human race. They centered on a Messiah, who
one day would come to Israel to rescue His people from all their enemies and
reign from a throne in Jerusalem.
Leaving his hometown in the
north, Philip went for a time to the south in Judea to hear, as many others in
Israel, this strange man called John, clothed in camel skin. There, he heard
that Someone, who he did not know, was seeking him (Jn. 1:43), a man named
Jesus from Galilee, the same province where Philip lived. Jesus found him and
said, “Follow me!” He followed. The voice and the character of this man, in
fact, his whole personality demanded attention and could not be ignored. In a
short time, Philip, along with his friends, the brothers Andrew and Simon, were
convinced that this was the Person, of whom Moses and all the prophets spoke.
When he heard that Jesus
was going to Galilee, he was happy. From the first time that he met Him, Philip
thought of his friend, Nathanael, who had been very serious and thoughtful
those days. Probably, he was reacting to the preaching of John the Baptist
concerning repentance. Near Bethsaida, the town of both Nathanael and Philip,
he found him emerging from under the shade of a fig tree with his face drawn
and preoccupied. Philip hurried to tell him, “We have found Him of whom Moses in the Law and also the Prophets
wrote…!”
Nathanael could not
believe what he had just heard. How could it be possible that the most
important prophecies of all history were being fulfilled in those very days?
That really was astounding news! “… We
have found Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph!” All right, this was
obviously a deception among gullible people, who could believe anything. A king
from Nazareth, a village with about 50 houses? That could never be. “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” he
answered Philip. “Come and see,” was
the only challenge that his friend gave him. That answer and the sincerity in
Philip’s demeanor caused him to follow.
While they walked,
Nathanael thought of the hours that he had spent alone day after day;
desperately, he had struggled under the fig tree, trying to contact God. His
sins worried him and he could find no relief. He prayed, but the heavens were
brass and none of his words seemed to be able to penetrate. How well he knew
that God did not hear sinners, especially a dishonest deceiver like him! John
the Baptist had pointed to a Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world.
Whatever the case, how could He be the Nazarene that Philip had mentioned?
Now they approached a
small band of people and among them were some familiar faces like those of
Simon and Andrew. Before them, was a Man, who was unknown to Nathanael. His
physical features revealed nothing outstanding or attractive (Is. 53:2). Before
they met, this Man pointed His finger at Nathanael and, as if He knew him, said
to those around Him, “Behold, an
Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!”
Nathanael was astonished.
What was He saying? It would be more accurate that He should say, “Behold, the
most deceitful person of all”. “How do
you know me?” were the only words that Nathanael could think of in
response. “Before Philip called you,
when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” Nathanael’s eyes
filled with tears and a lump in his throat delayed his answer for several
seconds. Then he said, “Rabbi, You are
the Son of God: You are the King of Israel.”
Forgive me for turning my
imagination loose, dramatizing a little the first encounter between Jesus and
Nathanael. I recognize that it may not have been exactly as I described it. On
the other hand, it just may have been quite like this, because this is the
surprising reception that many a sin-weary and despondent seeker has found. It
is consistent with biblical teaching concerning conversion and new birth
experience, when people come into contact personally with the One who sees
them.
Jesus Christ is the same
yesterday in the Old Testament. The Angel of the Lord saw the slave girl, when
she was alone in the desert, wandering without significance or future. Then,
she saw the One who saw her and her life was transformed. In the same way,
Jesus Christ is the same today in the New Testament: He saw Nathanael seeking
desperately under the fig tree, where no one else saw him and when no one could
give him an answer for his spiritual need. Then, Nathanael saw the One who sees
him and the deceitful man that he had been, changed into an honest man with
integrity. And what can we say about a man in solitary confinement in a
Japanese prison camp?
A
PRISONER IN THE SECOND WORLD WAR
As a young man, Jake
DeShazer abandoned his Christian home and the God that his family worshiped to
start his own business. When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7,
1941, he joined the American Air Force to take vengeance. By chance, he found
himself in the squadron of soon-to-be-famous James Doolittle. Doolittle had
devised a plan that included taking off from an aircraft carrier with B25
bombers, bombing various cities in Japan and landing at an airstrip in China.
Jake DeShazer was the bomber in a crew of five in one of these aircraft.
They took off at night
and the plan developed perfectly up to the time for landing. The pilots could
not find the strip in China, because the Chinese had not turned on the runway
lights. When the fuel ran out, they all parachuted from the planes. The five in
DeShazer’s crew were captured by the Japanese and became prisoners of war.
They were tortured and
one lost his life. As you can well imagine, the hatred that Jake felt towards
the Japanese deepened. For the most part, during those 40 months of
imprisonment, he was in a solitary confinement cell. Far from his homeland, his
childhood and family, in a pagan nation with guards who were cruel and ungodly,
something strange began to move Jake in the inner man. What can someone do in a
small cell with one window so high that he could only see the sky? Day after
day, week after week, month after month, with only four walls, at which to
stare, there was nothing to do, but think. DeShazer began to think about God.
It came as a total
surprise, when one day a guard brought him a Bible! He instructed him to read
it for three weeks and then, he must pass it on to the rest of his crew members,
so they could read it. We have no idea of the background to this part of the
story and the reason why a pagan guard had a Bible to give them. That remains
in the treasure storehouse of the secrets of God. What we do know is that Jake
DeShazer, as he searched the Scripture, came back to the God of his youth.
The Angel of the Lord,
Jesus of Nazareth, the resurrected and glorified Christ, saw him there, where
there was no pastor or preacher, chaplain or Christian. Jake saw the One who
saw Him and his entire being was changed from the inside-out. His hatred was
transformed into love for the Japanese and, when the war ended, he went to
Japan as a missionary. “Where can I go
from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend to
heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there. If I
take the wings of the dawn, if I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, even
there Your hand will lead me, and your right hand will lay hold of me” (Ps.
139:7-10).
“Jesus
Christ is the same yesterday and today and yes forever.” Know
this for an absolute certainty: He must be faithful to His name and to His
nature. Hagar called him, “Elroi, the God who sees”, and still today in the 21st century, He
remains Elroi. He is the same Elroi, who saw Nathanael under the fig tree and
Jake DeShazer in solitary confinement. I assure you that stories like these
continue to the present day.
Where are you? Are you
alone, without a soul who appreciates or understands you? Are you lost in an
impossible situation, feeling miserable and oppressed? Have you called to God
and yet feel unworthy to be heard? You think no one is listening. The One who
saw Hagar, Nathanael and Jake DeShazer sees you. Leave your pride behind, turn
to God and submit yourself before Jesus Christ. He must be true to Himself.
Call out to Him and yes, you will find the surprising reality that He has taken
you into account. He will manifest Himself to you, so that you also will see
Him who sees you.
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