God’s calling of Moses is a pattern to us, and in order for us to be qualified to serve God we need to see certain things and deal with certain things.
First of all, we need to see the vision of the burning thornbush – God is the fire burning in the church as the corporate thornbush, and we are merely men saved by grace having the fire of the divine life in us burning yet not consuming us.
We need to see further who our God is – He is the great I am, the self-existing and ever-existing One, the One who meets all our needs, and this One is the God of resurrection, the resurrecting Triune God.
After we see all these wonderful things, we need to know what is the purpose of God’s calling – He calls us, His people, to deliver us out of the usurpation and tyranny of Satan and the world, and He brings us into the enjoyment of the all-inclusive Christ realized as the all-inclusive Spirit with our spirit – for the church, the Body of Christ (see Exo. 3:8 and Col. 2:6; Gal. 3:14)!
Furthermore, we need to know how to deal with Satan, the flesh, and the world; the principle of God’s work is that we can work with Him only when we know that anything we rely on apart from God is a hiding place for the serpent, our flesh is a leprosy, and the world with its supply is filled with death (see Exo. 4:2-9).
We need to Know the Purpose of Our Calling
Based on the pattern we see in God’s calling of Moses, we need to see what is the purpose of our calling. God calls us, negatively, to deliver us as His chosen people OUT OF the usurpation and tyranny of Satan and the world (Exo. 3:8; Rom. 1:16).
God called Moses to go and deliver His people from under Pharaoh’s usurpation and tyranny – Pharaoh was a type of Satan, and Egypt of the world. Satan is the ruler of this world (John 12:31), and God calls us out of the world to deliver us from Satan’s usurpation and tyranny. This is on the negative side.
On the positive side, the purpose of God’s calling is to bring us into Christ, the all-inclusive One in our spirit, that we may build up the church as God’s kingdom and God’s dwelling place on the earth (Deut. 8:7-9; Rom. 14:17; Eph. 2:20-22; 4:12).
Moses was called by God to bring Israel into the good land of Canaan (a type of the all-inclusive Christ) so that they may enjoy its riches (milk, honey, barley, mountains, hills, valleys, rivers, etc).
God calls us to deliver us out of Satan’s usurpation and tyranny and to bring us into Christ, the all-inclusive One, the good land! Since we have inherited the One who overflows the universe and fills the universe, we need to “be busy inheriting”! Just enjoy Christ, and never graduate from praising Him and enjoying Him!
We need to Know How to Deal with Satan, the Flesh, and the World
Right after God told Moses the purpose of his calling, He gave him three signs: the staff becoming a serpent, the hand put in his bosom becoming leprous, and the water of the Nile becoming blood.
These signs are very significant, since they typify three negative subjective things we need to know how to deal with in order to be qualified to be God’s servant. As persons called by God we need to know how to deal with Satan, the flesh, and the world.
Regarding Satan, we need to not be ignorant of his schemes (2 Cor. 2:11). Regarding the flesh, we need to know that in our flesh nothing good dwells (Rom. 7:18). Regarding the world, it has been crucified to us and we have been crucified to the world (Gal. 6:14).
We need to have a subjective inward knowledge of these three things and how to deal with them in order to be a qualified servant of God.
Dealing with Satan – Everything We Rely on Apart from God is a Serpent
God told Moses to throw the staff on which he supports himself – to the ground, and it became a serpent (Exo. 4:2-4). This shows us that anything that we rely on apart from God is a hiding place for the serpent, Satan (see Luke 10:19).
There may be things that we rely on apart from God, and when God tells us to “cast them to the ground”, we will see: Satan lurks in them, hidden there. To serve God, the hidden serpent needs to be exposed. Hallelujah, God has given us authority to tread upon serpents!
Any natural ability we may have, we need to throw it to the ground and pick it up, after the Lord exposes it as being a serpent, by the tail. We need to handle anything of our natural abilities by the grace of God – it is by His grace that we are what we are, and it’s not us who do this or that, but the grace of God in us (1 Cor. 15:10).
Dealing with the Flesh – In our Flesh Nothing Good Dwells
God told Moses to put his hand in his bosom, and when he took it out, it was completely leprous (Exo. 4:6-7). Our flesh, the totality of our fallen human being, is a constitution of leprosy.
We need to see that in us nothing good dwells, but rather sin dwells in us and sin compels us to do things we don’t want to do (Rom. 7:17-18; 24-25). We are people with unclean lips (Isa. 6:5) and our entire being is unclean. We are not only sinful, but sin itself, and this is why Christ did not just bear our sins on the cross but He was made sin for us (1 Pet. 2:24; 2 Cor. 5:21).
As God’s called ones, we need to have a subjective knowledge that our flesh is a flesh of sin and nothing good dwells in it. Anyone who boasts in his own goodness is not called by God.
But the key to our cleansing is our obedience to the Lord’s word. When we say AMEN to God’s word, we obtain the cleansing of the washing of the water in the Word. And, according to Rom. 8:1, we can be freed from the flesh and sin by the wonderful inner law of the Spirit of life!
Dealing with the World – Anything we Drink of the World Imparts Death to Us
God told Moses to pour out on the ground some water from the Nile river, and it became blood (Exo. 4:9). This shows that the world with its supply, its entertainment, and its amusement is not supplying life to God’s people but it is filled with the blood of death.
The whole world lies in the evil one, in the sphere of his operation, and it is filled with death (1 John 5:19). We live in the world but we are not of this world. We may try to quench our thirst with the things in the world, but nothing in the world satisfies our thirst; rather, the supply in the world imparts death to us!
Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again (John 4:13) and will eventually die, but whoever drinks of Christ as the living water, out of his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water (John 4:14; 7:39).
Brothers and sisters, the world supplies us not with water (as we think it does) but with blood, with death, poisoning us and killing us. But Christ as the life-giving Spirit is with our spirit, and grace is with us! Let’s enjoy the Triune God and not the world!
Thank You Lord for the purpose of Your calling! You are constantly delivering us from Satan’s usurpation and tyranny and You are bringing us into the enjoyment of the all-inclusive Christ! Lord, cause us to be those who know the purpose of Your calling. Even more, Lord, may we know how to deal with Satan, the flesh, and the world. May we see that anything we rely apart from You is a hiding place for Satan. May we see that in us nothing good dwells. Lord, may we realize that the world’s supply and entertainment is deadening us. Lord, may we inwardly and subjectively know how to deal with Satan, the flesh, and the world!
References and Further Reading
- This sharing is inspired from brother Dick Taylor’s speaking in this message and portions in, Life-study of Exodus (msgs. 8, 11), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, ITERO spring 2013 “The Experience, Growth, and Ministry of Life for the Body“, week 5 entitled, Being a Qualified Servant of God by Having the Complete Experience of a Called One.
- Buy this morning revival book online via Living Stream Ministry.
- Further reading: Collected Works of Watchman Nee, vol. 62, ch. 28.
- Hymns on this topic:
# This is now the highest gospel / To those still in Chaldee’s land— / Leave the fallen situation, / You’ve been chosen for God’s plan.
# Our Christ is so enjoyable, / His life is so applicable; / He lives in us to cause the flow / To reach the world, His life to show. / Oh saints, don’t just sit idly by; / Rise up! Your gift do not despise; / Let’s eat and drink of this sweet Christ!
# Oh! it is so sweet to die with Christ, / To the world, and self, and sin; / Oh! it is so sweet to live with Christ, / As He lives and reigns within.
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It's interesting to note that the visions God shows to us correspond to the three things that we deal with here. In dealing with Satan, the serpent, God shows us that He is the I Am. We would not rely on anything other than God, for those are just serpents. Rather, we rely on God Himself. In dealing with the flesh, God shows us the vision of the burning thornbush, that we would not rely on ourselves but rather allow the divine fire to "burn" through us. In dealing with the world, in which is nothing but death, God shows us that He is the God of resurrection.
What is even more wonderful is the sequence. First, God reveals the vision of what He is, and then He shows the negative things. He is simply this wonderful One that can deal with all of these! Praise Him!