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Manifest Destiny

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Titus 1:3 And [now] in His own appointed time He has made manifest (made known) His Word and revealed it as His message through the preaching entrusted to me by command of God our Savior;…

When Christianity first began the followers of Jesus were mostly of Jewish descent yet there were those, numbered among them, who were Gentiles. Those Gentiles, or Nations, had no grid of reference for the teachings of Old Testament Scripture; no traditions, or holidays they could fall back on as reference points. When they came together to be taught it wasn’t to gather more information. They came together in order to be instructed in how to practice being a follower of Jesus. The Word of God had multiple meanings to them. The Book was more than just a book. It was a mirror of Jesus – the Living Word of God. It wasn’t simply a gateway to information but was a literal portal into the very worlds the heroes of the faith had experienced. What has happened to Christians that has reduced the Book to a collection of children’s stories?

Revelation 19:10 states: the testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of all prophecy…Prophecy was a world of words manifesting into a living, physical reality. The Testimony of Jesus, and of the Word of God, manifesting – being made a physical reality. When you take the time to consider that if you truly embraced the Testimony of Jesus – by faith, or anyone who had embraced His Testimony – you became a manifestation of that Testimony. You were born-again of the Spirit. Your spirit man came to life and you began to have the capacity for spiritual things. On the day you believed, and trusted, you heard God. I would dare say that on that day your spiritual senses were activated. Things that you thought you might have imagined were actual spiritual realities you slowly learned to dismiss.

In 1845 a newspaper editor by the name of John L. O’Sullivan coined the term manifest destiny describing the collective belief of many Americans. According to historian William Earl Weeks, there were three basic tenets behind the concept: The assumption of the unique moral virtue of the United States. The assertion of its mission to redeem the world by the spread of republican government and more generally the “American way of life”. And lastly, faith in the nation’s divinely ordained destiny to succeed in this mission. This belief led to the westward expansion of the United States into unclaimed territories. O’Sullivan believed that Providence had given the United States a mission to spread republican democracy (“the great experiment of liberty”). No where in the mind of any American was the thought of dedicating schools, teachers, and books to “learn” the meaning of this term. It would have seemed preposterous to any citizen or settler venturing out into the unknown, mysterious, untamed wilderness of anything west of the Appalachians or Alleghenies – to research the etymology of the phrase, or take a course on it in school. Absolutely not! For them it was a term that embodied what they believed and many would give their lives for. It was every individual Americans’ God ordained destiny to push forth into a manifestation of what they believed, and valued.

Followers of Jesus are called, and destined, to push forth into spiritual wildernesses to stake their claim on the land as their inheritance. The Word of God, and the promises of God, become their manifest destiny until it manifests as reality and they are living in and on that land. Once there was a time in the history of Christianity when the belief in Calvinism was so entrenched in the minds of believers that led them to assume some were destined to Heaven and others to Hell. Because of this belief, few if any practiced sharing the Gospel with others, and the taking of that Gospel to other nations was totally unheard of. Yet in the early 1700’s some Moravians became filled with the Spirit and were so moved that they sold themselves into slavery in order to finance their way to the mission field. It took another 100 years for this belief to spread in which Christians began to press forth into their inheritance and manifest destiny. The same could be said of being filled with the Spirit, Worship, the Gifts of the Spirit – tongues, healing, miracles, and discerning of demons. I can remember when raising the dead was unheard of and Bible believing Christians scoffed at the idea. Yet, he we are living in a time where we are encountering those who have not only raised one person from the dead but several. His Living Word pulsates all around you – if you believe that creation came into existence simply through His spoken Word and not a cosmic accident – waiting for someone to access the riches of it’s unimaginable Glory.

New York newspaper editor Horace Greeley once wrote: Washington [D.C.] is not a place to live in. The rents are high, the food is bad, the dust is disgusting and the morals are deplorable. Go West, young man, go West and grow up with the country. Some One greater than Horace Greeley, the Living Word, stated: Therefore GO! Are you a classroom Christian theorist or a Manifest Destiny Explorer and Pioneer? Are you growing up with the Word – into the Manifestation of the Word?

Don’t Pass Me By

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A man recounts a time when he had to enter the military while the draft was still in place: I didn’t enlist in the Army — I was drafted. So I wasn’t going to make life easy for anyone. During my physical, the doctor asked softly, “Can you read the letters on the wall?” “What letters?” I answered slyly. “Good,” said the doctor. “You passed the hearing test.”

In the last meditation, The Call of the Wilderness, we discovered the call to seek God through prayer and fasting is a call to seek to join Jesus in the wilderness. This call turns into a series of tests similar to Jesus’ temptations in the wilderness. We see this “testing” taking place throughout Scripture. In Marks Gospel it states: And having seen that they were troubled and tormented in [their] rowing, for the wind was against them, about the fourth watch of the night [between 3:00-6:00 a.m.] He came to them, walking [directly] on the sea. And He acted as if He meant to pass by them,…(Mark 6:48) In the Gospel of Luke another account is given of Jesus passing by: As He came near to Jericho, it occurred that a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. And hearing a crowd going by, he asked what it meant. They told him, Jesus of Nazareth is passing by. (Luke 18: 35-37) Another passage in Luke reveals a similar theme: Then beginning with Moses and [throughout] all the Prophets, He went on explaining and interpreting to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning and referring to Himself. Then they drew near the village to which they were going, and He acted as if He would go further. But they urged and insisted, saying to Him, Remain with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is now far spent. So He went in to stay with them. (Luke 24:27-29)

When we are seeking God through prayer, fasting, or simply trying to draw nearer to Him, it appears that Jesus has passed us by. Even more painful than this is the news of someone He hasn’t passed by. The news that he has healed them, come near to them, or performed some outrageous miracle – while you sit alone with no answer. Jesus has passed you by – or so it seems.

Truth, we know is more than a concept, but a Person – Jesus, the Christ. And Truth lies hidden in these moments in which it appears Jesus has passed us by. Truth lies hidden in the Gospel accounts that apply to all of us who may feel neglected, or hidden in the wilderness. In the passage of Jesus walking on the water there’s an overlooked detail. Jesus had sent His disciples to go ahead of Him in their boat to the other side so that He could pray. While praying a storm broke out. This storm was no ordinary storm. Many scholars believe it was demonic in origin. It is a known fact that the location of the Sea of Galilee, which is 686 feet below sea level, and surrounded by mountains (Mt. Hermon rises to the altitude of 9,232 feet), that unusual and violent storms break out on its waters. Waves have reached levels of 70 feet or more. While encountering this storm, seasoned fishermen assumed they were going to die. Just hours before they had watched as Jesus miraculously fed 5000 men (not counting the numbers of women and children) fish and bread. Now all of that seemed a distant memory as their small, sailing boat was tossed by the winds in the middle of the sea. Mark’s account suggests that, since they were sailing against the wind, they were “straining at rowing,” a word which conveys the sense of torture, or distress. They had endured this nautical torment for “three or four miles” (Jn. 6.18), and were still no closer to their ultimate destination. Both Matthew and Mark indicate that the disciples were still enduring this hardship “in the fourth watch of the night” — somewhere between three and six in the morning (Mt. 14.25; Mk. 6.48)! Yet, while they were at the end of their strength, Jesus appears, walking on the water. To make matters worse, it appears, He is going to pass them by. But take notice: they were at the end of their strength. When it appeared that the blind beggar was going to be passed by he cried out for the Lord to have mercy on him. The crowds attempted to silence his enthusiasm but this only encouraged him to cry louder. The disciples on the road to Emmaus were kept from recognizing Jesus and when it appeared that He was going to keep walking, they urged and insisted that He remain. They all passed the test. They didn’t give up in their seeking, and they didn’t give in to feelings of rejection and self-pity. A demonic storm, darkness, physical blindness, pressure from crowds to be silent, and the crucifixion, and death of Messianic salvation were not enough to prevent them from seeking.

In the silence of the wilderness what will you do? Will you keep rowing, crying out, and urging and insisting that Jesus stay with you? Our wilderness is not made for our soul, or carnal man. It is designed to cause our spirit man to rise up and be strong. Are you rising up to meet with Jesus? Are you passing the tests?