During the recent Winter School of Truth in London, we were all blessed with the fresh speaking of the Lord from the story of Gideon in Judges chapters 6 and 7. When the children of Israel were in a state of utter degradation and the land was filled with idolatry, the Lord did not give up on His people. The surrounding nations of Midian and Amalek rose up against Israel and destroyed the produce of the land leaving no sustenance for the people. But when the people cried out to the Lord, He responded by calling Gideon, a valiant young warrior to deliver the people.
Gideon responded by taking ten men and destroying the idol that belonged to his father, and building an altar to sacrifice to God. Gideon needed companions – not a large army – to defeat Midian and rescue Israel. At first, there were thousands of men of Israel who responded to the call, but since God was the One who was delivering Israel, the ones who were afraid and those who took care of their own needs first were sent away. That left Gideon and 300 valiant men who banded together and sought the Lord and His leading to defeat the Midianites and Amalekites. Gideon led them to divide into three companies and they all received a trumpet, an empty pitcher and a torch. When the time was right, the men blew their trumpets, broke their pitchers and held up their torches. They cried out “A sword for Jehovah and for Gideon!” The entire camp of the Midianites and Amalekites was thrown into confusion and the Israelites won a great victory that day.
What does this mean to us today? How can we apply this story to our experience? We would all agree that the testimony among the church of God, including all of the genuine believers in Christ, is degraded due to division and seeking after other things. There is the need of some young ones to receive the Lord’s call and come together to seek Him. Idols need to be destroyed and a fresh consecration needs to arise within our hearts to give ourselves to the Lord. And we need to be banded together, not a big “army” but a small group of believers who love one another and care for the Lord’s interests.
Midian and Amalek represents our flesh and natural strength which destroy our growth in Christ and render us useless to the Lord for His move to end the age. As believers, the Lord instructed us to deny the self and lose the soul life (Matt. 16:24-26). We, the ones who are of Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and its lusts (Gal. 5:25). The Lord is the real Gideon in our spirit who can defeat these enemies within us!
We today need to blow the trumpet of the gospel to the other young people around us! Our pitchers (our love of ourselves, our “face”) need to be shattered so that we are no longer bound by worrying about what others think about us, but bold to speak in the name of the Lord. Finally, we need to hold up our “torches” which represent our testimony before the ones we speak to. We are luminaries in the world shining out as children of God (Phil. 2:15).
May the Lord raise us up today to be Gideon’s army to defeat the enemies and bring in the kingdom of God! May we be His way to bring the high gospel to all the cities of Europe and throughout the earth, and especially to all of the young people who have never heard these high truths!
