1st April 2020
Following on from the first part of the wilderness being a place of abundance, I want us to look at Isaiah 43:18-21.
Isaiah 43:18-21 “Do not call to mind the former things, or ponder things of the past. “Behold, I will do something new, now it will spring forth; Will you not be aware of it? I will even make a roadway in the wilderness, rivers in the desert. “The beasts of the field will glorify Me, the jackals and the ostriches, Because I have given waters in the wilderness and rivers in the desert, to give drink to My chosen people. “The people whom I formed for Myself Will declare My praise.
Isaiah teaches the Israelites not to call to mind the former things of the past or to ponder the things of the past. Why is this the case? Because of what God is about to do. God has been doing, is doing and is about to do a new thing, in the hearts and minds of all His followers today, IF we will let go of the former things of our past.
Luke said to receive the NEW WINE one must stop drinking the old wine which is good enough. The things of the past have got us this far, but they are not enough to take us beyond our current reality. The old wineskin which contains the old wine, is out of date for the new work God is doing today. We need a brand new wineskin to receive the new wine.
This new work which produces this new wine is just this - NEW. We don’t have a reference point for it yet. We don’t have a revelation of it yet. This is a brand new dimension in Christ that is concealed from us, but for us and it is discovered in the wilderness, the unseen but seen dimension.
“Behold, I will do something new, now it will spring forth; Will you not be aware of it? I will even make a roadway in the wilderness, rivers in the desert.”
A mistake that I have seen consistently made in the body of Christ, is to judge and discern this new wine through the reference for the things of the past, the former things. When we try to fit the NEW wine which we are hearing into our old wineskin, we will find ourselves rejecting, denying, deflecting, ignoring or walking away from what we are hearing, because the spirit of pride within us, can not understand what we are hearing, so we say to ourselves, this isn’t of God.
The new wine comes from a place we don’t expect. The new wine also comes forth from a person or a people we don’t expect.
“I will even make a roadway in the wilderness, rivers in the desert.”
Q. Why do the beasts, the jackals and the ostriches of the field glorify Him?
A. Because I have given waters in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.
Waters in the wilderness and rivers in the desert!!!!
Only the Father can produce this reality and dimension. Out of nothing comes something. Out of what is not, comes what is.
God gives this water in the wilderness and rivers in the desert, to supply His chosen people with living water to drink. From receiving this living water that comes forth from the wilderness, the desert, as His chosen people we will declare His praise. This incredible living water is only found in the One and the place called the “Wilderness”.