Chapter Five - The Test

When I caught up to the group, they were sitting next to the path, obviously weary, but talking to each other. I approached slowly, so as not to disturb their discussion. They were sharing their own stories. When I was spotted, they stopped and turned to me. Mary spoke up, asking what they were all wanting to know: “Who is that man?” “He is the Voice,” I responded. “What voice?” Mary continued. “The Voice of the one who cries in the wilderness.” I answered. “Do you mean Elijah?” someone in the group asked. “Yes.” I answered.

There was a long silence as they pondered this. Then Mary continued her inquisition: “You are serious?” “I am serious.” “Will he be back?” someone else asked. “He will never be far from us, while we are in the wilderness. He is here to prepare the way for the Lord. A basic way that he does this is by working with all who travel this path,” I replied, a little surprised that they all believed me so easily.

I continued: “We are on the path to another world, another realm. On this path, we begin to learn to live in two worlds—the spiritual and the natural. This can be hard at first, but these two worlds were made to be connected, to interface in many different ways. Man, who was created to fellowship with God in Spirit, was also created to be the connector of these two worlds. To live in both worlds is therefore, the most natural state for man. The more you can do this, the more you will become who you were created to be. This is not unnatural, but the natural state of man, when we are delivered from the consequences of the fall.”

I looked around at their faces to try to gauge who was having trouble understanding what I was saying. To my surprise, it seemed that this was nothing new to them, so I continued: “The Scriptures will not just come alive to us here, but we will live them. In fact, we must live them to survive. They will be our food. Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. This is present tense, not past tense. We must receive daily bread from above, the Word of God that is living and comes from Him now, in the present. We can no longer merely believe that the things written in The Bible are true, but true faith in The Bible is faith to experience what is written for our present life. There is nothing written in The Bible that we cannot experience today, and we will here. Some of you will likely be used to do even greater miracles than what was done in The Bible. We are now in the times of ‘the greater works’ Jesus spoke of.

“Again, The Bible is not just a history book to believe, it is what we will live and the food that will sustain us every day.

It is the arsenal of weapons, we will use in every battle. Knowing The Bible is not just a good thing to do, but here, it will mean life or death. “This wilderness is beautiful, but deadly. It will try to kill you any way that it can, and it has a lot of ways to do it. If it doesn’t kill you, it will seek to have you turn back. As frightening as this wilderness can be, fear will lead you into its traps, so fear can never become our guide. We must learn not to allow fear to control us or influence our decisions. We must use every fear that comes upon us, as a chance to resist it, and to grow in faith. We will have a chance to do this every day, and every day that we stay the course, we will become stronger in the Lord. We must also use every trial of confusion to grow in wisdom. Every day it will take more faith and wisdom to stay on the right path. Wisdom comes from experience that is viewed with a teachable heart.”

“How many paths are there?” someone asked. “There are many, and they are almost all very tempting and inviting,” I answered. “How can we tell the right one?” someone else asked. “There is no formula. There is no ‘how to’ that we can use. We are to follow a Person, not a formula. However, my experience has been that the right path always seems to look harder, and in fact is harder, at least for a time. It never seems to be the most inviting, which is why we must have faith to see it and follow the Lord, not just our own reasoning. The wrong paths seem to always look easier, and will tempt us to try to escape our difficulties and trials. They may, in fact, be easier for a time, but then they will get much harder than the true path.

They ultimately lead to traps and entanglements, that few ever get free of, if they do not turn back quickly and get back on the right path. “The right path may never actually get easier, but it seems to become easier as we grow stronger and wiser. The right path has one thing no other path has, and it is the greatest thing of all. When you are on the right path you will get continually closer to the Lord, and His living water will always be available. There is no greater peace and joy that we can know than being close to Him. Our closeness to Him, can be so wonderful that we will begin to delight in this wilderness. With Him, the most desolate cave is better than a palace. Without Him, the greatest palace can be worse than a desolate cave. “If you get on a wrong path, it will lead you away from Him. The joy and peace of the Lord will be replaced by confusion and darkness.

‘Scriputre says that The path of the righteous is like the light of the dawn that shines brighter and brighter until the full day.’ The path of the righteous is the right path. The right path gets brighter and brighter, until we are walking in the fullness of the light. The wrong path gets darker and leads to increasing confusion. Confusion leads to depression and ultimately to despair and death. As your fellowship has already grown beyond what you enjoyed on the ship, it will grow much deeper here. Fighting through hardships will knit you together like few things can. And, there is something else that you will experience here, that will create an even greater bond—you will experience the glory of the Lord together. To experience His glory and presence together is the greatest bond of all.”

As I talked, I saw Elijah nearby, listening to all that I was saying. This was a bit disconcerting, as well as comforting. It was disconcerting because I felt foolish talking about the wilderness with the master of the wilderness listening. It was comforting to know that he was watching over us so closely. He motioned for me to continue:

“You are all here because you were called. You were known before the world began. You have been given the opportunity to run the race for the highest prize there has ever been or ever will be. This is the path to the high calling of God, that the apostles wrote about. Just by beginning, you have already joined the greatest souls to ever walk the earth. It took great faith to begin, and it will take greater faith every day to continue. It was not intended to be easy, but to be the foundry of the great ones who will reign with Christ in His kingdom.”

“What about those still on the ship?” a young girl asked. “My parents are on the ship. Won’t they rule with Christ also?” “If anyone calls on the name of the Lord they will be saved, they have eternal life and a glorious eternity before them,” I responded. “But this path, is for those who would run the race, that the Apostle Paul spoke of, near the end of his life. He spoke of a better resurrection that he did not feel he had yet attained to, but that he was pressing on toward the mark of the high calling. He was not speaking of salvation, or eternal life. These he had the day he trusted the Savior for his salvation. There is a high calling, that not many see and not many pursue. This is the path to ‘the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.’”

“I thought we were all going to be the same in heaven,” another chimed in. “Where did you get that from?” I asked. “I’m not sure. I think I heard it, but I may have just assumed it. I’ve never before heard what you’re talking about. Are you sure this is in the Scriptures?” she continued. “Yes, this is in the Scriptures, and you are right to question this. There is much in Scripture about the high calling, and those will be illuminated and fortified in you on this journey. You need to see the high calling to walk this path, just as the Savior endured the cross for the glory that was set before Him. If He needed to see the reward how much more do we need to see it to endure the life of the cross that we have been called to?

“It is right to have this discussion here,” I continued. “All of His created beings have been created for a specific purpose and place in His creation. He has given an opportunity for some from fallen mankind, to become His very own family, sons and daughters of the King of kings, and to take on His divine nature. All of creation marvels at this ‘new creation’ that is being raised up from fallen mankind. As they witness the resolve, the sacrifice, and the character of those who walk this path, and endure against such opposition and hardship, all for the sake of their King, even the angels acknowledge that these are worthy to be their judges.”

“But if it is all by grace, then how is it that people have different rewards, or positions, in heaven?” The young girl blurted out, obviously agitated. “That is a good question,” I tried to encourage her. “It is true that all that we are and all that we become is by the grace of God. It is by the grace of God that you were called and that you heard the call. We are also told to ‘make our calling and election sure.’ This is why the Holy Spirit is called ‘the Helper,’ not ‘the Doer.’ We have a part to do also. We must accept His grace and then walk in it. ‘Many are called, but few are chosen,’ or few respond to the call to make their calling and election sure.

“There is a mentality, that has crept into much of the world, that we are all the same, and all deserve the same, regardless of effort or accomplishments. That is not a biblical concept. In fact, it is contrary to justice, one of the two foundations of the throne of God, which is the kingdom of God. The promises, given to the churches in Revelation, were to the ‘overcomers’ in those churches. Something other was promised to those who did not care enough to live what was revealed to them. “Like it or not, understand it or not, God chooses who to give opportunities to, and then they must choose to take those opportunities. This is why it says, ‘Moses chose to suffer the afflictions with the people of God, esteeming the reproach of Christ as greater riches than all of the treasures of Egypt.’ You too have made a similar choice, when you chose to follow this path.”

I could tell that the young girl, was still having trouble with this concept, but no one else seemed to. Even so, this was making her so uncomfortable that she was obviously not going to ask any more questions. I had learned the lesson that when someone has such a veil over their minds, concerning a clear and basic biblical truth, no argument can remove that veil, but only the Holy Spirit. So I told them we would talk more about these things later, and that we needed to get moving again. As we began walking, the young girl pulled up beside me.

“I do not mean to be impertinent,” she began, “but if this is true, I want to understand it. Can I ask you more questions as we walk?” “Of course,” I replied. “You can ask me anything, if you will allow me to say ‘I don’t know’ when I don’t know the answer.” “Fair enough,” she began. “I’m one of those who has always had trouble, when I think about all of the people who never had a chance to even hear the gospel. So it is hard for me to hear about some who get to run the race for this glorious high calling, when others don’t even get salvation.”

“That is a fair question,” I responded, “and I think it is one, that every thinking person, who really cares about justice, must ask. It took me many years to find an answer that satisfied me, but it is not a simple issue.” “Will you share what you learned with me?” she asked.

“I’ve never shared all that I learned about this, with anyone, because it would take so long to do it right. But I’m willing to share as much as I can with you, while we are together on this journey. First, in anything we accept as doctrine, as a truth, it must be confirmed in the Scriptures. No opinion of man, or even angels, can carry the weight of the written Word of God. It took me years to come to my understanding of these issues, and to establish them in the Scriptures. To convey this in a short time is not likely, but I can help you begin down the right path to searching out the truth. “So, why don’t we start this now: let’s take your questions one at a time, and I will share with you my conclusions, and as much as I can about how I came to them. If my conclusions don’t satisfy you, then ask for more, and I’ll try to show you how I came to them.”

“I would appreciate any help,” she replied. “What I did find through all of my searching absolutely convinced me of the righteousness and justice of the Lord, and how He even went far beyond that, to add grace and mercy,” I said. “yes, I would like to have these things settled in my heart,” the young girl continued. “Okay, but I want to tell you up front that my main purpose in sharing these things with you is to give you something that could be even better than my conclusions,” I said. “What is that?” “The path that I took to find my answers. Sometimes it is not just the answers that are important, but how you come to the answers.

“Answers that come too cheaply are not as valuable. But, when you work to obtain them, they become treasures of wisdom and knowledge, that you will value enough to take care of,” I replied. “Well, it seems that we may be together on this journey for awhile, so I’m open. What was the

path that you took to find the answer to this?” “Well First, what is your name?” “I’m Mary.” “Fitting,” I replied, “and that’s a compliment. So we have two Mary’s on this journey, and you seem very much alike. Your parents must have been prophetic. Like the Mary who was Martha’s sister in the gospels, you are called to have a special relationship to Jesus.”

“I hardly feel that close to the Lord. I feel that my questions may be an insult to Him. I don’t mean for them to be, and I know my concern for the people I love, can eclipse my devotion to the Lord at times, but I cannot shake these questions, and they are hurting my ability to trust the Lord.”

The other Mary pulled closer, and spoke up, “We do share many of the same questions. I’ve been listening to your conversation. If that is the real Elijah, then surely he knows the answers. Can you get him to come back and talk to us?” “Believe me, I would like to have him answer all of your questions, and I would like to hear his answers too, but I’m afraid that is not going to happen.” “Why not?” the older Mary asked. “He told me about your questions and said that I would have to answer them. He did not know what the questions were, but he said that they were important for the entire group, and that I would have the answers,” I replied.

“That’s weird, that he knew about our questions, but it also sounds like God is not angry at us for having them,” the younger Mary remarked. “Of course, He’s not angry. I don’t think the Lord ever minds sincere questions. In fact, He has made it very clear that yours are very important,” I said.

I then said to the whole group, who I could see was watching us, and would like to be included in the conversation, “Let’s go over to the bank, by the living water, and take some time to discuss some of the questions you have.” I waited for all to drink and be settle about on the rocks and ground near the stream. I then asked for volunteers to post watchmen back on the path. Then I began:

“A friend once told me that almost every heresy, is the result of trying to carry to logical conclusions, that which God has only revealed in part. I think this is true. At the same time, we are told that we only know in part and see in part. None of us has the whole picture, or the whole understanding. So to have the whole truth, we must put what we have together with what others have. There are some things that, if we pooled all of our knowledge together, we would still only have part of the understanding, because that is all God has revealed to man at this time. That which God has only revealed in part, we must not add to, by trying to carry it to what we think are logical conclusions.

He has His reasons for not giving us more at this time. We will have eternity to get our questions answered, so some of them need to wait. We honor Him, and prove our trust for Him, by accepting this. That must be acceptable to us, for the walk of faith.”

“Okay. I know I may not learn all there is about this matter, but some of the questions I have, make it harder for me to go forward, with the trust that I need,” the older Mary confided, while the younger Mary nodded her agreement.

“I understand. However, there are some things that God did not hide from us, but He hid them for us. What makes something a treasure, is that it is either rare, or hard to get to. Some of the greatest treasures of knowledge and understanding, will only come with great perseverance. Anything that happens too fast, or too easily, is usually insignificant. I think some of your questions are important, and I will not presume to be able to answer them easily or quickly, but I will share with you what I have found in my own search.

“To keep from falling into another heresy, what seems partial or incomplete to us, we must leave that way, until He gives a clear revelation, that we can confirm in the Scriptures. If we cannot verify a revelation in the Scriptures, then we cannot accept it as doctrine. Prophecy or revelations are never given to establish doctrine, but only the Scriptures can do that. If you examine the roots of many cults and sects, you will almost always find a ‘revelation’ that cannot be verified by Scripture. If Jesus, who was the Word, would take His stand on ‘it is written,’ how much more do we need to do this?”

“Is your understanding of these issues established in the Scriptures?” Mary asked. “Yes, but that does not mean you will see it. There is something else more basic required to understand the Scriptures.” “What is that?” “You have to be willing to accept the conclusion and obey it, regardless of whether you like it or not. Jesus said, ‘If any man is willing to do His will, he shall know of the teaching, whether it is of God, or whether I speak from Myself.’ So to be able to understand the truth we must be willing to obey it.

“There was a dispute between Aquinas and Abelard, about whether we need to understand, in order to believe, or do we need to believe in order to understand. According to what Jesus said, we must not only believe, but be willing to obey Him, in order to know whether His teachings were from God.” “That can be a challenge,” the young Mary said. “It is meant to be a challenge,” I responded. “We have to see the Lord’s glory with an unveiled face, to be changed into His image. Our own prejudices, our good or bad experiences, can be veils that cause us to distort His teachings. Before we are trusted with the ultimate truth, we must settle in our hearts, that He is God, He is the Creator, and has the right to do what He wants with His creation.

That is basic, but to trust Him, we must also establish that He is just and will never do anything unjust.” “So you don’t think He would condemn to eternal damnation those who never had a chance to hear and respond to the gospel?” the young Mary said quite loudly.

“I know that our God would never do anything unjust. Neither do I think we have to distort our concept of justice, to make it fit what He does. Everything He does, and everything that He will allow in His kingdom will be both righteous and just because ‘Righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne’ or His authority. You can count on this,” I offered.

“You can also count on His love for all men.”

That is when I saw Elijah again, standing nearby. I was obviously facing the questions he had warned me about. I looked around at the group. I knew that some might not make it past this point, if they were not satisfied with the answers to some of these questions. Some would only make it past this point because of what I was about to say to them. I do not remember ever feeling this kind of pressure while feeling this inadequate. I prayed earnestly in my heart for the help of the Holy Spirit.

“Amen,” I heard Elijah say. As I looked up, I was surprised to see him walking toward us. That, is when a loud noise, came from the direction of the path. Two of the watchmen came running into the open, breathing hard while trying to yell: “There’s a lion after us!” Elijah turned and swiftly grabbed both of the watchmen, saying, “Why are you running? There’s a much bigger lion in you!” Then he entered the woods walking, but resolutely moving toward the lion. The questions were no longer the most important issue for anyone. “Let’s go,” I said, and we entered the path behind Elijah.