Wrestling with Darkness

 Last night I spent a few hours wrestling with sleeplessness, partly due to escalating concerns about what is going on in the world and how it may affect our lives. Of course, there is very little I can do about these concerns except to cast them on the Lord Jesus and ask for divine intervention. Needless to say, after a night like that I'm somewhat spent physically.

If you have ever dealt with someone with psychosis, a personality disorder or addiction issues, you might understand what it means to wrestle with the forces of darkness. There are many stories in the Bible about Jesus wrestling with demons, and last Sunday our fellowship group studied one of these accounts in the gospel of Luke.

While the sun was setting, all those who had any who were sick with various diseases brought them to Him; and laying His hands on each one of them, He was healing them. Demons also were coming out of many, shouting, “You are the Son of God!” But rebuking them, He would not allow them to speak, because they knew Him to be the Christ. When day came, Jesus left and went to a secluded place; and the crowds were searching for Him, and came to Him and tried to keep Him from going away from them. But He said to them, “I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, for I was sent for this purpose.” Luke 4:40-43

Matthew adds this note to the account:

This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet: “He Himself took our infirmities and carried away our diseases.” Matthew 8:17

A couple of years ago I looked up that reference in Isaiah and received this message from the Lord: Jesus spent his entire ministry on earth bearing our pain and weakness. By His scourging we are healed. He continues this ministry through us, so that our suffering in His name is never in vain.

The quote from Isaiah 53 is part of a "Suffering Servant prophecy", a chapter which foretells in great detail the suffering and sacrificial death of the Messiah, written hundreds of years before the birth of Jesus. What I never realized when studying Isaiah was that this suffering was not only on the cross. Each time Jesus wrestled with diseases and demonic forces He was fulfilling His calling to bear our burdens and carry away our infirmities.

In the passage from Luke and Matthew above, Jesus wrestled with these demons all night, leaving just as the morning light approached to find respite from the crowds of desperate people. These times were mentally and physically exhausting, and many times Jesus could only find respite before dawn in secluded places like the hills of Galilee.

The body of Christ continues this ministry of suffering. As Paul said:

Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of His body, which is the church, in filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions. Colossians 1:24

 Or as Peter says:

but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation. 1 Peter 4:13

So to the degree that we are reviled, mistreated or simply wrestle with the unseen enemy, these times call for rejoicing and expectation of glory that is to come. We do not suffer and struggle alone; we suffer with Christ who bears our pain and understands our needs.

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. Romans 8:18

 And finally there is an incomparable reward for all suffering of the innocents and those made righteous by His blood, so that like Christ we can endure it for the joy set before us.

Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

2 Corinthians 4:16-18

The River That Flows From God's Throne

I was reading the Gospel of John the last few days and came across something that made me seek a little more understanding.

Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink.  He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, 'From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.'" But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

Some of the people therefore, when they heard these words, were saying, “This certainly is the Prophet.” Others were saying, “This is the Christ.”
John 7:37-41

If you're just reading along, you might miss the context.  This is Hoshana Rabbah, a most joyous day of the year in Israel.  The people have just celebrated the Feast of Tabernacles, which is a week-long praise service to remember their wandering in the wilderness, and God's provision of food and water for the children of Israel.

Jesus stands up and cries in a loud voice that HE is the source of the life-giving water that comes from the throne of God.  And He prophesies that believers in Him will be conduits of this life-giving water (the Holy Spirit) for the world's refreshment.  He relates Old Testament prophecy (Isaiah 55, Ezekiel 47) to the New Testament church that is yet to be born.

When the people hear this prophecy, their reaction is startling.  Some become convinced Jesus is the greatest prophet; others that He is indeed their Messiah.  Those few brief words are so exquisitely spoken and timed, they strike a resonant chord in the heart of the faithful.  But some are infuriated that Jesus would bind Himself to the words of Isaiah in such a setting, and they seek to kill Him.

This inspired me to learn more about this river of life, and what I learned was truly wonderful.  Let me start with Ezekiel.

Then he brought me back to the door of the house; and behold, water was flowing from under the threshold of the house toward the east, for the house faced east. And the water was flowing down from under, from the right side of the house, from south of the altar. He brought me out by way of the north gate and led me around on the outside to the outer gate by way of the gate that faces east. And behold, water was trickling from the south side.
      When the man went out toward the east with a line in his hand, he measured a thousand cubits, and he led me through the water, water reaching the ankles. Again he measured a thousand and led me through the water, water reaching the knees. Again he measured a thousand and led me through the water, water reaching the loins. Again he measured a thousand; and it was a river that I could not ford, for the water had risen, enough water to swim in, a river that could not be forded. He said to me, “Son of man, have you seen this?” Then he brought me back to the bank of the river.
Ezekiel 47:1-6

The water that was trickling from the east side of the Temple soon became an ankle-deep stream, and less than a mile downstream the life-giving water became a mighty river.  What would cause the waters to grow from a trickle to a mighty river?  What causes the Spirit of God to enter a person as a drink, and to leave a person as a river of life?  It is as if the faith of the believer greatly magnifies the flow of the Spirit.  The picture in my mind is the throne of God, established in the heart of every believer, that causes him or her to become a tributary of the river of life.

Not only does the river of living water nourish the body, but it satisfies the soul and gives eternal life.

Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
John 4:13-14

God Himself calls us to come to the river and drink freely.  (You might want to listen to this beautiful John Foley song sung by Matt Maher while you read the rest of this...)

“Ho! Every one who thirsts, come to the waters;
And you who have no money come, buy and eat.
Come, buy wine and milk
Without money and without cost.
Isaiah 55:1


What does the river of life look like?  It starts at the foot of the cross where the blood of the Lamb was spilled.  It pours over the apostles in the upper room.  It bubbles from their tongues and spreads like wildfire over the believers of the early church.  It is fed by the blood, sweat and tears of martyrs  under persecution from their Jewish and Roman rulers.  It sweeps through the dark ages of post-Roman Europe and bubbles out of the Protestant reformers and Methodist revivalists at the dawn of the industrial revolution.  It bursts forth new branches in home churches throughout Africa, underground churches in Asia, and newly awakened churches in the West.  If you can hear it, it probably sounds like a mighty rushing wind.  If you listen closely you may hear the prayers and worship of the saints.

Every believer adds testimony, tears and travails to this vast and unending river of life that continues to flow from the throne of God.  In a manner of speaking, every believer becomes a tree of life planted by the river, each bearing fruit in its time.

“By the river on its bank, on one side and on the other, will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither and their fruit will not fail. They will bear every month because their water flows from the sanctuary, and their fruit will be for food and their leaves for healing.”
Ezekiel 47:12

 On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
Revelation 22:2

Oh that I might drink anew from that beautiful stream, that I might be immersed in its flow and refreshed in my innermost being!  That I might plant my life firmly by its banks and bring forth everlasting fruit!  Lord Jesus, every day I will come to the river.  I will bow down and water the seeds that I have sewn with tears, and soon I will return with joyful shouting bringing bountiful fruit and healing leaves!

So let it be Lord, so let it be.