Exodus and The Kingdom of God (9)

Three Benefits of the Wilderness (2)
​‘You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.” (Ex 19:4-6)
 
We’ve been talking about the kingdom of God from the book of Exodus. Two weeks ago, we started to talk about the benefits of living in the wilderness.
 
Because the wilderness was a place where many things were lacking, it was paradoxically the perfect place for God to train His people.
 
Even though it is a place of scarcity with no place to stay and of uncertainty about the future, the wilderness is actually a place of blessing for God's people. In their scarcity, the Israelites could rely more on God, feel His presence more strongly, and see and experience His guidance more closely than ever before.
 
1) True Identity
The wilderness was a place where the Israelites found their true identity in God.
 
They had heard about God before the exodus, but they had not experienced Him directly, nor did they have proper knowledge of Him. Therefore, their identity in Egypt was not as God's people, but as slaves of the Egyptians. They were very much influenced by the culture and environment of Egypt.
 
That’s the reason God had to deliver them out of Egypt and bring them to the wilderness. If they had stayed in Egypt, it would have been very difficult to change their identity, and if God had led them straight into the land of Canaan after the exodus, they would soon have been influenced by the culture of that land.
 
But the wilderness was different. The wilderness was a place of nothing. It was not a place influenced by the culture of the world. That is why the wilderness was the best place to establish their identity as people of God's kingdom.
 
And this is the first thing that God told the Israelites at Mount Sinai. “You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” (Ex 19:4-6)
 
We usually say the most important thing first. If so, this is what God most wanted to say to the Israelites. God seems to be saying, ‘You are no longer slaves. You are no longer worthless expendables. You are my precious people; I rescued you and called you for my great plan to save all nations.’
 
Quoting this passage, the apostle Peter said, “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” (1Pt 2:9)
 
This means that in both the Old and New Testaments the identity that God wants his people to have is the same. Just as God called the Israelites to be His own treasured possession, a kingdom of priests and a holy nation, so God calls all Christians who have been saved by faith in Jesus Christ to be His chosen people, a royal priesthood and a holy nation.
 
Then, this is the identity we’re to try to find in God and live out. We shouldn’t let our identities be influenced by the culture or ways of the world. That’s the reason we should try to spend more time with God.
 
We can't physically live in the wilderness. Sure, we can go to the wilderness and spend some time there, but we can't stay there for long periods of time like the Israelites did. But we can at least be intentional about spending more time with God.
 
The closer we draw to God, the more we will know who He is; and in that knowledge of God, the more we will realize who we have become in Him and who He has called us to be. And the more we find our identity in God and His word, the more we will be able to embody and live out that identity in our lives.
 
That's why spending time with God is so important for Christians. We must not allow our identity to be influenced or governed by the culture or ways of the world. Instead, we must do our best to protect and develop this precious identity that God has given us.
 
2) True Food
The second benefit the Israelites received in the wilderness was that they learned what true food is. The reason God allowed the Israelites to experience hunger and thirst in the wilderness is because He wanted them to know that He is the true source of everything they needed.
 
The reason God allowed the Israelites to live for 40 years in the wilderness, where no one could survive, was so that they could see that it was not the food or water they ate and drank that sustained them, but God, who provided all those things.
 
This is what we also should learn and profess as Christians. Sacrifice is necessary for us to live as God's people, building God's kingdom on earth. We cannot build the kingdom of God without sacrificing our time and finances.
 
Those who love the things of this world, who are attached to them and worry about them, cannot easily give up what is theirs.
 
However, those who love God and are confident that God will always take care of them and provide for their needs don't resent Him when they are in need. They are willing to use their time and finances for God's kingdom, because they believe that the One who created the world and owns it all is their Father.
 
They are not attached to worldly possessions. Where they live, what they eat, and what they drink are not great concerns to them. Their greatest concern is God's will and His kingdom. Jesus once said that His food is to do God’s will and finish His work. This food is different from earthly food because it never spoils but lasts forever.
 
Just as we need to eat physical food for the health of our physical lives, so we need to eat spiritual food for the health of our spiritual lives. The reason spiritual food is more important than physical food is that it relates to our eternal life, whereas physical food only contributes to our temporary life on earth, which is a few decades at most. To let us know the true food we should seek and to give us the true bread that feeds our souls, Jesus Christ came into the world.
 
3) True Purpose
Now, let’s move on to the third benefit of the wilderness, which is that we can learn the true purpose and direction of our lives.
 
When the Israelites were in Egypt, their desire was to escape slavery, and they had no further hope. They lived without purpose. But God saved them and led them into the desert, and He appeared to them on Mount Sinai and told them who they were and what He expected them to do. In other words, God gave them a purpose in life that they didn't have in Egypt.
 
The purpose God gave them was closely linked to the identity He gave them. God called them to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation, which means that He called them to be a channel through which His holiness would be known among all the nations. A priest is a mediator between God and other people. God wanted the Israelites to fulfil that role. That was the new purpose in life God had given them.
 
The wilderness was the perfect place to discover that purpose. When we have one purpose, it's usually not easy to find or focus on another. But the wilderness was a place where the Israelites couldn't find any meaningful purpose other than survival. So it was in the wilderness that they were able to better understand the purpose for which God had saved them.
 
Having a clear purpose in our lives is very important because it makes us more passionate, diligent, and energetic. But what’s more important than having a purpose is the kind of purpose we have because it gives our lives direction.
 
When I say purpose in life, I mean something we want to achieve with our whole lives. We have goals in our lives, big and small, like getting a good job, getting married, and so on, but they can't be our life’s purpose. They're just intermediate steps that we need to take to get to the much bigger purpose. If our purpose in life is to have a certain job, then we lose our purpose in life when we get that job.
 
The sad thing is that many people, even Christians, live without a clear purpose in life. When they do have a purpose, in most cases it's more about following other people than it is about what they really want to do. This is because they don't know where to find their purpose.
 
So then, where we can find our purpose in life? The answer to this question may vary depending on how we view God's creation.
 
Firstly, those who do not acknowledge that they are God's creation, those who believe that they came to exist in the world naturally and randomly, without any particular reason, believe that they are the ones to find their purpose in life.
 
But they will struggle to discover their true purpose in life. If their birth was random and without purpose in the first place, how can they explain the purpose of their lives?
 
But those who believe that God created them are different. They confess that God created them with a definite purpose and reason.
 
Of all the things we see in this place, none of them exist naturally; they were intentionally designed and created by someone, in a particular shape, with particular materials, for a particular purpose.
 
Why is the microphone I'm holding shaped like this? Why are the chairs you're sitting in shaped like that? All of these things have a purpose.
 
Then, who do we go to in order to know what that purpose is? To know the purpose of this microphone and how to use it properly, we should go to the person who made it. That's the most accurate way to find out.
 
So, if we really want to know the purpose of our lives, and if we believe and confess that God created us, then we must go to God who made us in order to find out the purpose of our lives. And thankfully, it’s all written in the Bible.
 
The reason the Bible is so important to us is that through it we can not only know God, but we can know who we are, how and why God created us, and what God's will is for us.
 
The Bible describes God's purpose for creating us in many different ways, but the essence is the same. It is to bring glory to God.
 
The prophet Isaiah said, “The people I formed for myself that they may proclaim my praise.” (Is 43:21)
 
Then the question we’re to ask is, “What does it mean to glorify God and how can we do so?”
 
Giving glory to God means revealing who He truly is. On a small scale, this happens in worship at church. We proclaim who God is through our praise. We remember who God is as we listen to His word. We also confess who He is through prayer. We bring glory to God through all these activities.
 
But God's glory is not confined to the church. God does not want to be glorified in the church alone. God wants His glory to fill the whole world. He deserves it because He is the Creator and thus the Lord of the whole world.
 
For that purpose, God has been establishing His kingdom on earth through His people. And in due time, Jesus Christ will return to earth with the completed Kingdom of God. On that day, all the nations of the world will fall, and only the kingdom of God and His sovereignty will prevail.
 
As the prophet Isaiah said, “They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his resting place will be glorious.” (Is 11:9-10)
 
That’s the day Christians should look forward to. That day will come as promised, but until then we must work to extend the kingdom of God here on earth. That was the purpose God gave to the Israelites in the wilderness, and I believe that’s the mission He gives to the church now.
 
Wherever we are and whatever we do, we should be working to expand His kingdom and bring Him glory. We can do this on a small scale by serving on the worship team or as a teacher in the church.
 
But again, glorifying God shouldn't just happen in church; it should happen in every area of our lives, through the words we speak, the looks we give people, the words of encouragement we offer, and through our obedience. So how are we glorifying God now? That’s the question we’re to always ask and remind ourselves of.
 
So, we just talked about three benefits of the Israelites being in the wilderness. The Israelites could find their true identity, along with their purpose in life. They also found what true food was. And knowing these things played a very important role when they actually entered the promised land and conquered it.
 
Then, we must also make an effort to find these things. And this is possible when we spend time with God by reading His word and praying to Him. We need to take time to be disciplined in our own wilderness.
 
The first thing the apostle Paul did right after encountering Jesus and hearing His voice is this.
 
Paul said in Galatians 1:15-17, “But when God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, my immediate response was not to consult any human being. I did not go up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before I was, but I went into Arabia. Later I returned to Damascus.” (Gl 1:15-17)
 
Paul said that his immediate response to God’s calling to preach Him among the Gentiles was to go into Arabia. Even though we don’t know where exactly Arabia was, we find a hint from what the word means. It means desert or barren. Right after Paul met Jesus, he went to the desert and spent time with God for about three years.
 
Paul's encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus transformed his life and values, but it would take him many years to systematize the revelation he had been given. In the wilderness, separated from worldly things and without the influence of other people, Paul had a period of personal communion with God in which he discovered the special revelation that had been given to him and prepared himself for his ministry.
 
I think all Christians must take that kind of time because all of us are called to the same purpose of proclaiming the gospel and building God’s kingdom on earth.
 
Even though we can’t physically live in the wilderness like the Israelites and Paul did, we can at least set aside time to spend with God, listen to Him, and learn from Him. Then, we’ll also discover what our true identity is, what true food is, and what our true purpose in life is. That’s the most important preparation we should all have to truly live as God’s people in the world.
 
So, to give up spending time with God and listening to Him by reading and meditating on His word is to give up following His will. We shouldn’t deceive ourselves into thinking that we can live for the glory of God for which we were created without spending time with God in our own wilderness and being trained by Him.
 
We're just around the corner from 2025, and my exhortation to you at this point is to stay close to God more than anything else. It's also something I say to myself.
 
May you be a person who draws near to God. I want you to know who God is, to find your true identity and purpose in Him, and to live authentically for His glory.
 
Let’s pray.
 
[Prayer]
Dear Lord, thank You for letting us know who You are, who we are in You, and the purpose for which You’ve called us.
 
Lord, we want to live according to Your purpose. We want to live lives that bring glory to You through every thought, word, and deed.
 
Lead us into Your truth by the Holy Spirit so that we may know You more deeply, and give us the strength and courage to discover who we are in the knowledge of You and to live out that identity.
 
Give us hearts that desire Your presence and minds that cherish the time we spend with You so that our hearts are always turned to You. As we approach You in Your word and in prayer, speak to us and guide us in Your good ways.
 
Thank You for always being with us and guiding us.
Thank You for creating us, for saving us, and for using us for Your kingdom.
 
May Your name alone be glorified.
We pray in Jesus’ precious name, Amen.
 
[Reflection Questions]
1) Do you have a purpose in life? If so, what is it, and how did you find it?
 
2) For Christians, time alone with God is crucial. How are you spending time with God these days? What is God saying to you most these days?