Knowing the Purpose of God’s Calling and Dealing with Satan, the Flesh, and the World

Just as Moses was called by God from the burning thornbush so we as believers in Christ are those called by God in the same principle. As persons called by God we must first see the vision of the thornbush, realizing that we are nothing but sinners saved by grace, those having God as the divine fire burning within us and upon us without consuming us.

As those called by God we need to have a revelation of who God is: He is the Angel of Jehovah (the sent One who comes to send us, Christ Himself), the I AM (the reality of all positive things), the God of our father (implying a spiritual history with God), and the God of resurrection (the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob).

After seeing the vision of the thornbush and having a clear revelation of who God is, we need to see the purpose of His calling. God called Moses for a great purpose: negatively, He wanted Moses to deliver God’s people from Egypt, and positively, He wanted Moses to bring His people into a good and spacious land flowing with milk and honey (Exo. 3:8).

The purpose of God’s calling is, negatively, to deliver us from the usurpation and tyranny of Satan and the world (typified by Pharaoh and Egypt), and positively, to bring us into the full enjoyment of the all-inclusive Christ as the life-giving Spirit, the reality of the good land. Hallelujah for the purpose of God’s calling!

After we see the purpose of God’s calling, we need to know how to deal with Satan, the flesh, and the world. God gave Moses three signs: the staff he relied on became a serpent once thrown to the ground, his hand put in the bosom became leprous, and the water of the Nile river became blood.

In our spiritual experience, in order for us to be qualified to be called and sent by God, we need to realize that anything we rely on apart from God is a hiding place for the serpent, and we need to deal with all things and people by the grace of God.

Furthermore, our flesh is a constitution of sin, rottenness, and corruption, and it will never improve. Lastly, we need to realize that the world with all its supply, entertainment, and amusement is filled with death. If we know how to deal with Satan, the flesh, and the world, we will be qualified to be called by God for His purpose.

A Person who is Called by God Must Know the Purpose of God’s Calling

After Moses saw the vision of the burning thornbush and had a clear revelation of who God is, God showed him the purpose of his calling. Moses was called by God for a great purpose: he was to go and deliver the people of Israel from under the tyranny of Pharaoh in Egypt and bring them into the good land of Canaan, a land flowing with milk and honey (see Exo. 3:8).

As those called by God we must know the purpose of His calling. What is the purpose of God’s calling? Negatively, the purpose of God’s calling is to deliver His chosen people out of the usurpation and tyranny of Satan and the world (typified by Pharaoh and Egypt; see Rom. 1:16). God’s purpose in calling us is to deliver us from under the usurpation of the world – He wants to rescue us out of the world so that we may be unto Him to enjoy Him.

Positively, the purpose of God’s calling is to bring God’s chosen people into the all-inclusive Christ realized as the all-inclusive Spirit in our spirit (typified by the land of Canaan flowing with milk and honey). On the negative side, God wants to rescue us from the usurpation of Satan and the world, and on the positive side, He wants us to enjoy the all-inclusive Christ.

Since we have received Christ, Jesus the Lord, we should walk in Him as the reality of the good land (Col. 2:6). The all-inclusive Christ is today realized as the all-inclusive Spirit with our spirit; in our mingled spirit we have the reality of the good land (Gal. 3:14)!

In this good land we have the real milk and honey flowing; both milk and honey are the product of vegetable life and animal life together. Christ is the Lamb of God taking away the sin of the world (John 1:29), and He is the bread of life, the barley loaf for our food; this Christ is now realized in and as the Spirit who is today with our spirit.

The purpose of God’s calling is for us to enter into the enjoyment of the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit and bring others also into this good land!

Thank You Lord for the purpose of Your calling. Thank You for delivering us out of the usurpation and tyranny of Satan and the world. Lord, we praise You for freeing us from Satan’s grip and the world’s usurpation! Now we are free to enter into Christ as the good land, walk in Him, and enjoy Him in our spirit. Lord, praise You for the reality of the good land in our mingled spirit! Keep us enjoying You today as the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit in our spirit, the reality of the good land flowing with milk and honey!

A Person who is Called by God Must Know how to Deal with Satan, the Flesh, and the World

God gave Moses three signs to strengthen his calling: the staff becoming a serpent, the hand put in the bosom becoming leprous, and the water of the Nile river becoming blood. In our spiritual experience in being called by God we need to know how to deal with Satan (the serpent), the flesh (leprosy), and the world (the water of the river Nile).

In 1 John 3:8 we see that the Son of God is versus Satan; in Gal. 5:6 the Spirit is versus the flesh, and in 1 John 2:15 the Father is versus the world. In other words, we need to enjoy and experience the entire Triune God in order to deal with Satan, the flesh, and the world.

As seen in Luke 15, God the Son goes out to find the lost sheep, God the Spirit searches for the lost coin, and God the Father eagerly and lovingly awaits the return of the prodigal son; the Triune God is reaching out to rescue and deliver man and bring man into the enjoyment of God’s full salvation, but Satan, the world, and the flesh keep the fallen sinner away from the Father, the Son, and the Spirit.

Anything that we rely on apart from God is a hiding place for the serpent

Moses relied on his staff for his walk and support, but when he threw it to the ground, it became a serpent trying to bite him (Exo. 4:3-4). Anything and anyone that we rely on apart from God is a hiding place for Satan, the serpent.

Satan is usurping all mankind and he hides behind every person (the parents, the spouse, the children, etc), matter (education, ability), or thing (property, car, phone, bank account). This means that if we rely on these things, sooner or later we will realize that Satan is hiding behind them and will bite us.

This doesn’t mean that we need to throw these things away or isolate ourselves in the wilderness; rather, we should realize that all these things should be “taken by the tail”, that is, taken by the grace of God for Christ and the church.

The world uses education, spouse, children, money, bank account, etc for their own good and profit; we need to realize that, since Satan hides behind anything we rely apart from God, we need to deal with these things by the grace of God and not in a worldly way.

We are married for Christ and the church. Our bank account and our possessions are for Christ and the church. Everything we have and are is for God and His building. In this way, these things become a staff in our hand and a rod of authority for God’s purpose.

Our flesh is a constitution of sin, rottenness, and corruption

God told Moses to put his hand into his bosom, and when he took it out, it was leprous; he may have thought that he will get a diamond or something precious, maybe God would do a miracle, but God revealed to him that his flesh is a constitution of leprosy (see Exo. 4:6-7).

A sign of the called one of God is that he realizes that his flesh is a constitution of sin, rottenness, and corruption, and his flesh is never useful to the Lord and cannot be improved. Our soul is being transformed, but the flesh will never improve. We cannot be used by the Lord unless we realize this subjectively.

Paul realized that in himself, that is, in his flesh, nothing good dwells; rather, his body was the body of this death (see Rom. 7:17-18, 24-25). Isaiah became useful to the Lord and was sent by Him after he saw God and how corrupt his flesh is; God sent a seraphim to purge his lips, and he became useful to God (Isa. 6:5).

Once we see the Lord we will see how rotten and unclean we are. What makes us sendable is realizing that our flesh is a constitution of sin, rottenness, and corruption.

The world with its supply, entertainment, and amusement is filled with the blood of death

The third sign God gave Moses was that the water of the Nile became blood once poured on the earth (see Exo. 4:9). The water of the Nile was supplying the whole Egypt, and it signifies the world with its supply, entertainment, and amusement.

We need to realize that whenever we drink in the entertainment and amusement in the world we drink in death. When we are away from the Lord, we take in the world with its supply, entertainment, and amusement, and we drink in death.

The whole world lies passively in the evil one, remaining in the sphere of his influence, usurpation, and manipulation (1 John 5:19; Gal. 6:14).

We need to see what the world with its supply is, and we need to drink the water of life coming from the Lord as the Spirit. Don’t drink the world: drink the Spirit into which you have been baptized and which was given to us to drink (1 Cor. 12:13).

Lord Jesus, show us a clear view of the way to deal with Satan, the flesh, and the world. May we realize that anything we rely on apart from God is a hiding place for Satan. May we be those who “pick the serpent by the tail”, handling things and people by the grace of God and not in a worldly way. Lord, show us that our flesh cannot improve; may we detest and deal with the flesh by putting it to death. Lord, keep us drinking of You and save us from drinking from the worldly supply, amusement, and entertainment.

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, bro. Ed Marks’ sharing in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Exodus, msgs. 8 and 10, as quoted in, the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Exodus (1), week 2 / msg 2, A Complete View of God’s Calling of Moses as the Standard Model of God’s Servant.
• Hymns on this topic:
  # God’s intention is for Christ / To be wrought into His chosen people / That they may become the sons of God / For His corporate expression. / We need to be rescued / Out of the present evil age / By the revelation of God’s Son in us. / To live the Christian life / Is to live the processed Triune God / As the consummated Spirit. (Song on Being Saved from the World)
  # Our flesh, which is with us the rest of our lives / Needs to be dealt with, exposed, recognized. / It’s only by eating our Christ every day; / A little each morning, oh this is God’s way! (Song on Dealing with the Flesh)
  # I’ve given up the world because / I’ve found something more: / He’s better than anything / I’ve ever found before. / Yes, I have found the Living One, / Oh, how my spirit soars! / I called His name, I’m not the same, / I am for the Lord! (Song on Being for the Lord)