(A message by the Holy Spirit)
“Stand still and
see the salvation of the Lord” several times has this phrase been mentioned in
the Bible. The Lord said this verse several times and each time regardless of
the circumstances the Lord had a different intent. Not always did He want to
comfort us. This can be easily understood by focusing on the different
instances from the Biblical history where these verses have been mentioned.
We’ll briefly go
through all those instances (events) but focus on the true reason behind this
sentence - “Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord”.
First
Event: - (Exodus 14:13)
We find that
when the children of Israel lifted their eyes and saw the Egyptians marching
after them, they were afraid and cried to the Lord. They started blaming Moses
for putting them in this situation. They Moses, filled with the Holy Spirit,
spoke and said to them that they should not be afraid. They just need to stand
still and see the salvation of the Lord. And what they saw next was the most
spectacular recorded event, after the Creation itself, in the history of
Mankind.
A strong east
wind blew all night and made the sea into dry land, and the waters were
divided. The children of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground.
Second
Event: - (2 Chronicles 20:17)
This was a
battle scenario where the people of Moab with the people of Ammon and some of
the Meunites, came to battle against Jehoshaphat. And Jehoshaphat feared, and
set himself to seek the Lord, and proclaim a fast throughout all Judah. So
Judah gathered together to ask help from the Lord, and from all the cities of
Judah they came to seek the Lord. They humbled themselves and fasted, and then
Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem, in the House of the
Lord, before the new court and praised the Almighty Father and glorified Him.
He remembered all that He had done for his ancestors and his people and sought
the Almighty Father’s help by humbly admitting that they did not know what to
do but their eyes were upon the Father. Then the Lord said to them that they
need not be afraid because of the great multitude of the army of the enemy
because the battle was not their but the Lord’s. They humbly and obediently
followed what the Lord commended; singing and praising the Lord they won the
battle as the Lord had set an Ambush against the people of Ammon, Moab and
Mount Seir, who had come against Judah and they were defeated. And when
Jehoshaphat and his people came to take away the spoil of them, they found
among them in abundance both riches with the dead bodies, and precious jewels,
which they stripped off for themselves, more than they could carry away: and
they were three days in gathering of the spoil, it was so much.
Third
Event: - (1 Samuel 12:16)
Here what is
written is a part of the sentence “Stand still and see” but mentioning this
instance is of uttermost importance. Just like the Word of the Lord is compared
to a two-edged sword, one side saves and the other side kills, the same way
here too, the other side of the Word has been presented; the one that kills.
Here Samuel is
upset with the Israelites because the Israelites demanded for themselves a king
and thus the Lord gave them Saul. Even though Saul, in appearance, was like the
kings of other nations (tall, strong and handsome) but his heart was not
exactly obedient towards the Lord, although he was the first anointed one.
The Lord was
upset with Saul and the Israelites because they did not completely obey the
Lord’s commandments and also because the Israelites put their trust more on
their king Saul than on their Lord. So what did the Lord do? According to 1
Samuel 12:17-18, when Samuel called upon the Lord for thunder and rain which would
destroy the wheat harvest, to punish the Israelites and install fear in them,
He heard the Prophet and did so.
Fourth
Event: - (Job 37:14)
Here the Lord
said these words “stand still, and consider the wondrous works of God” to
comfort a man in pain and distress. Wounded in body, devastated in spirit but
strong, pure and clean in heart, this man of God, who was God’s pride and
satan’s envy, never let his Lord God down. And as a humble servant is rewarded
for good work, Job was rewarded handsomely too. In Job 42:10 we find that The
Lord restored twice as much as Job had before.
The four events
mentioned above are like the four pillars of a hall on which the remaining
structure or we can say “fifth event” rests. The four events present us with
the four different aspects of the fifth event.
So
what is the fifth event?
Why is
the fifth event so important?
Fifth Event: - (Matthew 27:39 onwards)
The fifth event
here is the Crucifixion, Death and the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the reverberations of which was, is and will be heard through the entire life
span of the universe and beyond.
If we read from
Matthew 27:39 onwards we will find that the Mount of Calvary, although being in
a desolate area, was then populated quite well with haters who had gathered all
around Jesus like vultures around a dying animal in a desert. They were wagging
their heads, blaspheming Him as they passed by. All those who were standing
close to Him, like the chief priests, scribes and elders mocked Him, as they
all wanted to see Him dead. And the ones that loved Jesus were standing at a
distance from Him (John 27:55-56). This picture has wrongly been portrayed in
the movie “The Passion of the Christ” by Mel Gibson where they show the mother
of Jesus and Mary Magdalene standing below the Cross.
Now coming back
to this article a question arises in mind: How does the attributes of the four
events mentioned earlier help us to understand the fervency of the fifth event.
What
do we learn from the first event and what is its implication here?
From the first
event we learn that those who depended solely on the Lord and not on their
intelligence or strength were the victorious ones in the end.
The
Implication:
Jesus knew that His hour had come and when He had told this news to the
disciples and the followers fear might have struck their hearts. But Our Lord
Jesus had made His mind. He was in no mood retreating or retaliating. The time
of complete surrender had come. And we know the story hence forth, how His
Father, the Almighty Father exalted Him and His name above all names.
What
do we learn from the second event and what is its implication here?
From the second
event we learn that even though Jehoshaphat and his army were in a battle, all
they did was sing praises to the Lord and trust the Word of the Lord that He
said that this was not their battle but the His. Even though such an imminent
danger was at hand, all they did was “Sing and Praise the Lord”.
The
Implication:
Matthew 26:30 clearly mentions that Jesus and His disciples sang a hymn and
went to the Mount of Olives. This verse does not fail in replicating the
scenario as well as the emotions of the people who trusted the Almighty Father.
They were all singing and longing to see HIS Salvation.
What
do we learn from the third event and what is its implication here?
The third event
is like looking at the other side of the coin; the side which opposes the Lord.
Here we learn: there is no greater fear than the
Lord, there is no greater refuge than the Lord. For the ones on His side: there
is no fear. For the ones who oppose Him: there is no refuge.
In 1 Samuel
12:16 what Samuel said does involve a mild sarcasm. He told them to stand still
and see the great work of the Lord that He was about to do that day. It was
later that day that the Israelites realized that how great was the wrath of the
Lord that birthed a day of lament during their harvest season. All their crops
were destroyed. Every grain of wheat died.
The
Implication:
Let’s try to picture the state of mind of the Israelites when the witnessed the
natural as well as the unnatural catastrophes upon the death of Jesus.
Nice comparison
can be presented between the two times: The time of Jesus and the time of Saul.
1a. (In the time
of Saul) – They adamantly chose a king over them ignoring the will of the Lord.
1b. (In the time
of Jesus) – They put a banner over the head of Jesus which wrote “JESUS OF
NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS”.
2a. (In the time
of Saul) – They chose Saul over God.
2b. (In the time
of Jesus) – They chose Barabbas over Jesus.
3a. (In the time
of Saul) – The wrath of God fell and destroyed the wheat crops.
3b. (In the time
of Jesus) – In John 12:24 Jesus had said {Very truly I tell you, unless a
kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed.
But if it dies, it produces many seeds}. It was Jesus, the kernel of wheat,
that died that day.
What
do we learn from the fourth event and what is its implication here?
From the fourth
event we learn that Job was such a man of God who cursed even the day of his
birth but never cursed God and His Doings no matter what. He suffered in his
body, he suffered in his soul, he lost everything but never cursed God. Job was
shattered with anguish but never exploded with anger.
The
Implication: We
clearly see the Lamb of God here. During all incidences after Jesus was caught
till He rose again He hardly spoke; just said a few sentences.
He never cursed
God or the people and was never angry at anyone. He took all the beating and
bore all the pain and instead of any retaliation there was a small prayer “Father, forgive them, for they do not know
what they are doing.”
Coming back to
the fifth event we see but only three people, amidst the rock splitting grave
opening earthquake, standing still. Far from Christ they stood still all the
while, watching all that had happened. Overwhelmed by sorrow, grieved by the
pain but overpowered by Love they couldn’t take their eyes off their “One Loved
One”. They stood there still, till they finally saw the Salvation of the Lord.
One final time before the burial of Jesus, they realized that their Son, their Teacher
and their Loved One was truly the Son of God. But to truly realize the
implication of this verse we need to question ourselves – When did we actually
see Jesus Christ or to be precise we can say – When did we actually see Jesus
as Christ. Neither at His Birth nor at His Death, the glory of the Son of God was
magnified immensely when, victorious from the battle, conquering Sin and Death,
He arose (resurrected) as the Sun of Righteousness. Yes, that was when we saw
Jesus Our Christ, that was when we saw the “Salvation of the Lord”.
The name Jesus
which comes from the name Yeshua means Salvation.
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