The wilderness history

It is a great thing to know where you are historically. The wilderness journey is to teach us two things; one is, "that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live" (Deuteronomy 8:3). This is simply dependence upon God. The other is, "that he might do thee good at thy latter end" (Deuteronomy 8:16).

Once you have arrived at the first, you will rest assured of the second. When we are clear out of Egypt, the trials of the wilderness begin. Marah is the first, the natural inability to drink the water of the Red Sea, or death; but when we accept the cross of Christ, this is easy for us; the bitter water becomes sweet; we bear about in the body the dying of Jesus. On this follows historically the manna, and the rock that followed them; the life of Jesus, in the present power of the Spirit.

It is a great thing when you are thus far on the journey; though you have not overcome the adverse power, or Satan, in the wilderness, until Amalek is overthrown; and this, though carried out by Joshua, who sets forth the Spirit of Christ, was really secured by Christ gone on high, as Moses supported by Aaron and Hur.

Now if Aaron had continued true to these experiences, they would have triumphed over the temptations of the wilderness. If you are daily bearing about in your body the dying of Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be made manifest in your body (which relates to yourself), and on the other hand, are in assured victory over Amalek, I believe you are proof to the four great temptations of the wilderness, as set forth in 1 Corinthians 10.

• The first - idolatry - is enjoying oneself here without God; and if the first be not checked, the second ensues,
• which is meretricious union or association with the world.
• On this follows loathing the manna - Christ in humiliation - as insufficient to sustain the heart here. Hence literature, and Jabal and Jubal, and Tubal Cain's fascinations are delighted in;
• and, finally, the pleasant land is despised.

I believe the one over whom Amalek prevails is one who, like Peter (though he truly loved the One he denied), is not walking in the effect of the cross on himself, and therefore without its result - the manifestation of the life of Jesus. Simply, if I am not practically applying the cross in which I am really crucified with Christ, I am not in a state to encounter Amalek.

I have the two forces to overcome; first the one in myself, and then the one outside myself. Peter had not overcome the first, which was his self-confidence in following the Lord; and then, when the enemy desired to sift him as wheat, he found him unprepared, and the ready victim of his malice. His carnal confidence even in his love for his Lord made him an easy prey for the enemy.

May the Lord increase more and more your love to Him; but as sure as you trust yourself, you have not learnt the life of Jesus, through His cross; and so surely will the enemy overcome you where you least expected to be overcome.

Be careful to ensure the victory within; and then you will by the Spirit of Christ, and the effect of His intercession above, overcome Amalek; and then, as by one step, you will join Joshua again at Jordan, to cross over into present heavenly joys with the Lord.

J.B.S.