The Daily Word of Righteousness

Making Trees of Life, #7

And I saw what looked like a sea of glass mixed with fire and, standing beside the sea, those who had been victorious over the beast and his image and over the number of his name. They held harps given them by God and sang the song of Moses the servant of God and the song of the Lamb: "Great and marvelous are your deeds, Lord God Almighty. Just and true are your ways, King of the ages." (Revelation 15:2,3—NIV)

Because we no longer are trying to "get" salvation from God, we learn to trust, to lean on the Lord. The life of trust in the Lord is characteristic of the Tabernacles experience.

Fear and dread are a major part of life on the earth. The only complete relief from fear and dread occurs as we become part of God, continually resting in His Presence. It is not easy to get rid of all fear, but is possible as we keep pressing into Him and learn by experience that He always is faithful to keep us when we are trusting in Him.

The Lord becomes our Strength—not just gives us strength, He Himself becomes our Strength. And why not? He has brought us down and raised us up a number of times until we now have no strength of our own. Unless He gives us strength and wisdom we cannot function! What a wonderful place to be, and yet terrible. Wonderful to our spiritual nature. Terrible to our human nature as we realize we have been crucified with Christ and our life now is Christ. Only then can we serve as a tree of life for other people.

The Lord is my Song. We stand with our harp, our song of praise, on the sea of glass mixed with fire. We sing the song both of Moses and of the Lamb, for the plan of redemption is one plan. It is not broken into dispensations. There is a song that can be sung only by those who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. God grant we may be able to sing that song.

God Himself has become our salvation. It is not just that He saves us, He has become our Salvation. This is the end result of pressing forward into Christ all the days of our pilgrimage.

With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. (Isaiah 12:3—NIV)

I feel certain these were the words being chanted when the Lord spoke of living water coming from the inward nature of those who believe in Him. No greater joy will ever be ours than that of serving as a tree of life for those who have been bound with corruption. The wells of salvation are created in us as we are willing to remain in the prison where we are placed and patiently wait for the Lord to deliver us.

In that day you will say: "Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done, and proclaim his name is exalted." (Isaiah 12:4—NIV)

The end result of pressing forward in Christ each day is that our attention is turned away from ourselves and how we are going to benefit, to Christ and how He is going to benefit. We then are prone to be thankful for all our blessings; we find ourselves calling on the Lord throughout the day and night.

To be continued.