THE WILDERNESS TESTING
Revelation 5:10 | And have made us kings and priests to our God; and we shall reign on the earth.”
Genesis 28:14 | Also your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth; you shall spread abroad to the west and the east, to the north and the south; and in you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.
Most of us understand that the purpose of taking a test is to make sure that we know the material we have been taught and that our skills are adequate for the job in front of us. Are YOU qualified to be a leader? That is certainly part of our future in His kingdom. But what does this have to do with the Tribulation Exodus? The tribulation is a day of reckoning followed by Yeshua/Jesus directly ruling on the Earth. The Tribulation Exodus is the training ground for the people who will be with Yeshua in His Kingdom. We will be taught and tested - prepared- for the role of leadership in His Kingdom. The story of the First Exodus is a story about a generation of a people who were so obsessed with ”self” that they could not be trained. Instead of believing and embracing the deliverance and freedom that God’s way of life would teach them, they whined and complained and tested God with their attitudes.
Training and testing is about the self discipline necessary to reach the goal. If you enlist in the military you are required to attend boot camp. This experience is not comfortable! But the adversity of boot camp teaches self discipline, focus and endurance. Your perspective changes from self oriented to a group, team, or family perspective. You learn that a corporate identity is at times far more important than an individual identity. But the first lesson we must learn when we face any difficulty is how to make an intentional choice to be teachable. Choose to be taught - to learn! Choosing to be tested with a willing spirit is essential to benefit from the training. The first step in making a choice to be teachable is very simply deciding NOT to complain. Read closely the story of the First Exodus. Examine it from the perspective of Boot Camp. As you do this you will see so many times that the Israelites chose to loudly voice their complaints about their comforts and desires over obedience to the Lord and corporate good.
Change is coming. How do we survive the adversity of a rapidly changing world? We must choose. The people who left Egypt had a great deal of difficulty believing the miracles of deliverance. They let difficult circumstances turn them away from a relationship with God. Instead they focused on their own feelings and emotions. They did not choose to know Him! Our Messiah has chosen us for His Kingdom. He is training us to be in that Kingdom. Living through the tribulation and the circumstances we will face is about more than survival. It is about our future and especially about our children’s future. Our families will be with us. Our children will walk through the tribulation with us. They will see our behavior. Learn to see God’s purpose in the midst of either natural, coincidental or supernatural events. Trust in the power of His love to deliver us. Choose to be taught and prepared for His will. How we respond to adverse circumstances will determine the course of our eternal life as well as profoundly affecting our children’s’ future. Look at the example set for us in the first Exodus.
1 Corinthians 10:1-11 | Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ. But with most of them God was not well pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness. Now these things became our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted. And do not become idolaters as were some of them. As it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.” Nor let us commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and in one day twenty-three thousand fell; nor let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed by serpents; nor complain, as some of them also complained, and were destroyed by the destroyer. Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.
They had no relationship with the God who led them out of slavery. There was no place in their hearts for gratitude. So they did what comes naturally to every one of us. They complained loudly and then they comforted themselves with familiar but destructive behavior. Through out the entire Exodus journey we can see one glaring aspect of their behavior - THEY NEVER LEFT EGYPT!!!! Time after time they chose in their hearts and their thoughts to return to the familiar even if it brought hardship upon them!!!
Numbers 14:21-23 | …but truly, as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord because all these men who have seen My glory and the signs which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have put Me to the test now these ten times, and have not heeded My voice, they certainly shall not see the land of which I swore to their fathers, nor shall any of those who rejected Me see it.
When they reached the end of the Exodus only two of all the adult people who left Egypt made it into the Promised Land. Their story is recorded as an example for us. It is an admonition that we must learn to choose righteously not only on a personal level but especially for the sake of our children. A large part of making right choices is found in our ability to exercise self control. Self control is where you decide what is more important - what you feel OR what you believe. We have the example of the first Exodus to study to be able to pass the end time testing. We can see the consequences of their choices and we can choose differently. God’s great mercy is that none should perish.
2 Peter 3:9 | The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not willing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance.
The Wilderness Testing
*The 10 Tests have been adapted from Monte Judah’s teaching on the Greater Exodus and the Ten Tests in the Wilderness. (see link below) The explanations and scriptural references that follows each test may be different from Monte's explanations. Test 1 | Will the Lord save us?*
Exodus 14:10-11 | As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the Lord. Then they said to Moses, “Because there were no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you so dealt with us, to bring us up out of Egypt?
Attitudes: fear, accusation, unbelief, hopelessness.
What did they do? They were terrified. They made accusations against God and Moses. Their fear was combined with unbelief and hopelessness. They could not understand that the changes in their lives would bring them to freedom. We must learn to see that the events of the end time tribulation is our first steps to freedom!!! Their reluctance to change is found in their refusal to see anything but their personal desires. They chose to remain in their emotional prison filled with lack and longing for what they previously had. When things around us start to change we must be willing to accept the miracles and change with the different circumstances. We can see in Moses’ instructions four actions to help us deal with the adversity of great change in our lives.
Exodus 14:-13-14 | And Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever. The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.”
Do not be afraid - We often forget that the Israelites did not really know who God was to them. For most of them the demands of slavery (or the cares of this world) had stolen any relationship they could have had with God. God had Moses introduce Him to the Israelites as the God who is - the ‘I AM THAT I AM’. The One who is fully able to care for us! Their lack of relationship fueled their unwillingness to trust Him. How often do we let adversity distract us from God instead of pushing us deeper into relationship? Knowing, on a personal level, the God who is in charge will help us change our perspective and find a different approach other than fear. He is the God who was, is, and is to come! He will strengthen us! His mercy to us endures for ever!
Isaiah 41:10 | Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’
2 Timothy 1:7 | For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.(NIV)
Stand Still - to be still in the face of adversity is an acquired skill. We must train our hearts and minds to choose stillness in response to chaos. Stillness is not inaction, it is a focus that gives us awareness beyond the fearfulness of tunnel vision. A still, focused mind helps us to see the bigger picture of what is happening and that GOD IS WITH US! But! We must practice! Use every opportunity life presents you to acquire the stillness that focuses you!
1 Samuel 12:7 | Now therefore, stand still, that I may reason with you before the Lord concerning all the righteous acts of the Lord which He did to you and your fathers:
See - Fear and panic are like blinders around our eyes. Fear and panic prevent us from seeing reality. They narrow our sight and limit how much of God’s intervention in our lives we are able to recognize. A narrowed field of vision limits how willing we are to do what He asks. This blindness affects our ability to trust Him with our lives, our families, our hopes. The Israelites could not remember the reality of Egypt. But it is very easy for our own desires to blind us as well. The story of Balaam in the first Exodus shows us a very good example of this. He was greatly motivated by his desires and tried multiple times to get his own way. Balaam eventually was able to comprehend the awesome God who blesses His people. We must choose to SEE His hand in our lives despite our desires! Balaam’s story shows us how quickly our own desire can blind us to reality just as easily as fear and panic.
Numbers 24:3-4 | …“The utterance of Balaam the son of Beor, The utterance of the man whose eyes are opened, The utterance of him who hears the words of God, who sees the vision of the Almighty, who falls down, with eyes wide open:
Hold your peace - Hold is an action. Often an instinctive grasping that we can use to our advantage. Instead of grabbing onto fear - grab strongly onto the presence of God. We hold onto Him by keeping our minds set on GRATITUDE!! Be thankful that in all things He is with us and that His will does prevail in this world. Practicing gratitude, especially in adverse circumstances is essential to holding onto the peace that Yeshua gives us.
Deuteronomy 13:4 | You shall walk after the Lord your God and fear Him, and keep His commandments and obey His voice; you shall serve Him and hold fast to Him.
Answers to the first test - Do not be afraid. Stand still. See. Hold your peace.
Exodus 14:30-31 | So the Lord saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. Thus Israel saw the great work which the Lord had done in Egypt; so the people feared the Lord, and believed the Lord and His servant Moses.
Test 2 | Will the Lord provide water?*
Exodus 15:22-24 | So Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea; then they went out into the Wilderness of Shur. And they went three days in the wilderness and found no water. Now when they came to Marah, they could not drink the waters of Marah, for they were bitter. Therefore the name of it was called Marah. And the people complained against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?”
Attitudes: complaining, doubt, bitterness. Their attitude was as bitter as the water!
They were just fresh from the parting of the Red Sea and the Pillar and Cloud hovered over them day and night. They had just experienced corporate worship as Miriam led them in the Song of Moses that recounted the Red Sea miracle. They had feared Him, believed Him and the work that He had done to bring them out of slavery. So, ask yourself -”What is behind their complaining this time?” Three days! That is all it took for them to forget the miracle of freedom. Three days of hot, dusty travel. Only. Three. Days.
Exodus 15:25-27 | So he (Moses) cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree. When he cast it into the waters, the waters were made sweet. There He (God) made a statute and an ordinance for them, and there He tested them, and said, “If you diligently heed the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I am the Lord who heals you.” Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve wells of water and seventy palm trees; so they camped there by the waters.
God gave them sweet water. He tested them. Then He made a promise to them based on the condition that they would listen and do what He asked. The three days of hot dusty travel was to test their willingness to endure and trust God. Trust requires remembering - to recall to your mind the miracles and to trust regardless of circumstances. Do you practice remembering what He has done for you or do you only remember the circumstances you have endured? Do you listen to His instructions or do you argue about what He says? Are you willing to be tested? Or would you rather complain? Complaining is often just another way to argue about it. In order to pass the wilderness test we must be willing to let go of complaining and arguing with God. We must be trained in the ‘how to’ of not arguing! Obeying the God who delivers us keeps us aware of His presence and His blessings for us. Obeying leads us to more of His presence and His blessings and His healing!
Answers to second test - Remember, Trust, Obey. Do Not Argue! God provides so much more when we are willing to believe and obey Him!
Test 3 | Will the Lord provide food?*
Exodus 16:2 | Then the whole congregation of the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. And the children of Israel said to them, “Oh, that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat and when we ate bread to the full! For you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”
Attitudes: Self pity (oh, that we had died). Selective memory(when we sat, when we ate.(funny? they could not remember the pain of slavery)). Accusation.(…you brought us out…to kill us). (Note to self: to KILL us? - He delivered and protected us just to kill us??!!)
When the edge of the cliff is in front of us or when we have ran out of our prepper food stores, what are we going to do? The ancient Israelites dived headlong into whining and self pity! Their eyes were narrowed with suspicion and distrust that led to an insane accusation that God intended to kill them. God didn’t have to take them to the wilderness to kill them! They certainly didn’t want to remember that Pharaoh not only enslaved them but he did kill them - even their baby sons!
Exodus 16:4 | Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you. And the people shall go out and gather a certain quota every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in My law or not.
God gave them bread but He also gave them simple instructions to follow when they gathered it. The whole experience was about God testing them to change their behavior. Gathering manna was not only about God providing food for them but to test their obedience as well. The experience also set the stage for re-introducing them to the fullness of the Sabbath. Keeping the Sabbath is about our relationship with the God who saves us. The Sabbath is a time set aside to build our relationship with our Savior by focusing on the One who provides instead of the work we need to do. God’s commands concerning the Sabbath to this day are still a test of relationship with Him.
Exodus 16:6-8 | Then Moses and Aaron said to all the children of Israel,“At evening you shall know that the Lord has brought you out of the land of Egypt. And in the morning you shall see the glory of the Lord; for He hears your complaints against the Lord. But what are we, that you complain against us?” Also Moses said, “This shall be seen when the Lord gives you meat to eat in the evening, and in the morning bread to the full; for the Lord hears your complaints which you make against Him. And what are we? Your complaints are not against us but against the Lord.”
When we read further we see that it was not only manna that God provided but also quail. He gave them bread in the morning and meat in the evening but still they complained.
Answers to the third test: Stop the self pity! STOP complaining!!!! Get your head out of your backside(your past)!
Test 4 | Will the Lord be present with us?*
Exodus 17:1, 7 | All the congregation of the people of Israel moved on from the wilderness of Sin by stages, according to the commandment of the Lord, and camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink…. :7So he called the name of the place Massah[tempted] and [contention]Meribah, because of the contention of the children of Israel, and because they [tested]tempted the Lord, saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”
Attitudes: tempting (belittling - is He here or not?), contention
What say ye? Do you challenge the Lord every time a crisis arises? Do you contend with Him when He doesn’t do “it” your way or in your time? Do you expect the worst? Every time you enter the desert do you question IF He is present with you?
Answers to the fourth test: Trust, Believe, Accept that He is with you!
Test 5 | Is the Lord the one true God?*
Exodus 32:1 | When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, “Up, make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.”
Attitudes: questioning that God is leading, looking elsewhere for help, idolatry.
When there is a delay do you still trust Him? Are you willing to wait on the Lord or do you try to find some one else or some other way? Do you question that He is God and that He is able? Impatience is very damaging to our faith. Gratitude - count your blessings - while you are waiting can help you overcome impatience. Examining the whole story enables us to see that again it was wanting what they had before their deliverance that motivated them to turn back to and serve the gods of Egypt. They wanted the familiar to the point that they were looking for anyone but God. They did not even give God credit for delivering them from Egypt.
Answers to the fifth test: Patience and loyalty
Test 6 | Will we reject the bread from heaven?*
Numbers 11:4-6 | Now the mixed multitude who were among them yielded to intense craving; so the children of Israel also wept again and said: “Who will give us meat to eat? We remember the fish which we ate freely in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic; but now our whole being is dried up; there is nothing at all except this manna before our eyes!”
Psalms 78:18 | They tested God in their heart by demanding the food they craved.
attitudes: going along with the crowd, self gratification, self pity, rejecting His provision, demanding your own will.
Negative influence is hard to fight off, especially in difficult circumstances. But when we allow ourselves to be influenced by what other people want or feel we block the influence of the Holy Spirit. We loose our perspective and become wrapped up in a party spirit that goes along with the crowd. We become so blind to God’s provision that we not only reject His provision but we diminish the miracle that it is! (Think about this for a minute: how many cucumbers and melons did the locust leave behind?)
Answers to sixth test: Think for yourself. Reject bad influence. Stop the self pity. Don’t follow the crowd. Don’t diminish and reject God’s provision by demanding what you want.
Test 7 | Will we trouble the Holy Spirit?*
Numbers 11:14-17 | I am not able to bear all these people alone, because the burden is too heavy for me. If You treat me like this, please kill me here and now—if I have found favor in Your sight—and do not let me see my wretchedness!” So the Lord said to Moses: “Gather to Me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people and officers over them; bring them to the tabernacle of meeting, that they may stand there with you. Then I will come down and talk with you there. I will take of the Spirit that is upon you and will put the same upon them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with you, that you may not bear it yourself alone.
Attitudes: constant contention, bickering and strife (Moses couldn’t bear it)
Numbers 11:11-13 | So Moses said to the Lord, “Why have You afflicted Your servant? And why have I not found favor in Your sight, that You have laid the burden of all these people on me? Did I conceive all these people? Did I beget them, that You should say to me, ‘Carry them in your bosom, as a guardian carries a nursing child,’ to the land which You swore to their fathers? Where am I to get meat to give to all these people? For they weep all over me, saying, ‘Give us meat, that we may eat.’
Answers to the seventh test: Seek peace and pursue it earnestly. Don’t complain about your brethren and certainly DO NOT weep all over our leaders!
Test 8 | Will we reject the Lord's salvation?*
Numbers 11:18-20 | Then you shall say to the people, ‘Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, and you shall eat meat; for you have wept in the hearing of the Lord, saying, “Who will give us meat to eat? For it was well with us in Egypt.”Therefore the Lord will give you meat, and you shall eat. You shall eat, not one day, nor two days, nor five days, nor ten days, nor twenty days, but a whole month, until it comes out at your nostrils and becomes loathsome to you, because you have rejected the Lord who is among you and have wept before him, saying, “Why did we come out of Egypt?””
Attitudes: dissatisfied, demanding, rejecting and questioning God’s deliverance
He chose to tabernacle with them. He fed them and gave them water. He gave them light, shade and heat. Their clothes did not wear out(Deu.8:4). There were no sick among them. The tabernacle of His presence, the Pillar and the Cloud was all around them and yet they still chose to weep about leaving Egypt. Even the Lord is put out with them!
Answer to the eighth test: CHOOSE! Be saved God’s way OR just go back to Egypt.
(Just a thought: what was left in Egypt after the plagues?)
Test 9 | Will we reject the Lord's Anointed?*
Numbers 12:1-2 | Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married, for he had married a Cushite woman. And they said, “Has the Lord indeed spoken only through Moses? Has he not spoken through us also?” And the Lord heard it.
Numbers 16:28-30 | and Moses said: “By this you shall know that the Lord has sent me to do all these works, for I have not done them of my own will. If these men die naturally like all men, or if they are visited by the common fate of all men, then the Lord has not sent me. But if the Lord creates a new thing, and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them up with all that belongs to them, and they go down alive into the pit, then you will understand that these men have rejected the Lord.”
Attitudes: criticizing and rejecting leadership
Leadership in the Tribulation Exodus may look a bit different than the First Exodus. We have much to consider concerning the anointed and marked 144,000 who follow the Messiah. We will also still have the elders and captains of our camps even as we have elders and teachers in our congregations and above all remember the outpouring of the Holy Spirit will be upon on us. Hopefully we can take to heart the example set before us in the First Exodus and not repeat their behaviors or mistakes.
Answers to the ninth test: Trust the Messiah! He will bring us into His Kingdom
1 Thessalonians 2:12 | so that you would walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory.
Test 10 | Will we reject the Lord's kingdom?*
Numbers 13:30 | Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, “Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it.”But the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we.”And they gave the children of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying,“The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants…. 14:1-4 So all the congregation lifted up their voices and cried, and the people wept that night. And all the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron, and the whole congregation said to them, “If only we had died in the land of Egypt! Or if only we had died in this wilderness! Why has the Lord brought us to this land to fall by the sword, that our wives and children should become victims? Would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?” So they said to one another, “Let us select a leader and return to Egypt.”
Attitudes: fear for their families, doubt, unbelief, accusation and again ”Let’s go back to Egypt!
They rejected the promised land and still wanted Egypt! They did not believe in God’s deliverance! Is it any wonder to you why they wandered in the wilderness for forty years? Do you believe the Messiah is able to deliver us? Or will you reject His deliverance and His Kingdom? (Note to self: what Egypt??? It was destroyed!)
Answers to the tenth test: Throw yourself wholeheartedly on the mercies of God and accept His kingdom!
Colossians 1:13 | For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son,
When we are overwhelmed by the circumstances we are being tested by, it is easy to gravitate toward fear and doubt. However it is the accusations and the denial of God’s presence that does great damage to our hearts as well as our relationship with God. It also damages our children. Take to heart the examples in the First Exodus. By the time they reached the promised land the first time, they had hardened their hearts against God and rejected His deliverance to seek their own way. They listened to evil words that were spoken in fear and unbelief despite the evidence before them. When God turned them around and led them away from the Promised land, the older generation died. Did God intend for them to spend that 40 years wandering around? They could no longer receive anything good or believe in God because of their hardened hearts. We must learn from their example. God does not start something with the intention for it to fail or be destructive! He has given us salvation! He will continue to save us! REMEMBER - the first steps into the Tribulation Exodus is the beginning of our journey into the freedom of His Kingdom! For more on this see the ”What will the Tribulation Exodus look like?”