The Fire, the Water, and the Desert by Dr. Daniel Botkin

When Israel received the Torah at Mount Sinai, the revelation of God's Word was given in the context of fire, water, and the desert. "And Mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because Yahweh descended on it in fire," and "Yahweh spake with you in the mount out of the midst of the fire," Moses said (Ex. 19:18 and Deut. 9:10). Later, in the Song of Moses, the revelation of God's Word is compared to water: "My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distill as the dew as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass" (Deut. 32:2). The same Song of Moses mentions the desert as the place where Israel received instruction. "He [Yahweh] found him [Israel] in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; He led him about. He instructed him, He kept him as the apple of His eye" (Deut. 32:10).

Thus we see that the revelation of God's Word to Israel is connected to these three elements, the fire, the water, and the desert. We need to experience these three elements in a spiritual sense if we want to receive Divine revelation from God's written Word, the Holy Scriptures.

Some people read the Bible as nothing more than literature or history. If that is all you want to get out of reading the Bible, you do not need to experience the fire, the water, and desert for that. The Bible is a great literary masterpiece and a good source of historical information, but the Word of God is meant to be much more than that. It is meant to be a source of revelation to God's people. Paul's prayer for the believers in Ephesus was "that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, The Father of Glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him (Eph. 1:17). If we want to receive the spirit of wisdom and revelation, we need to experience the fire, the water, and the desert. Let's consider each of these three elements.

THE FIRE

The revelation of the Torah was received in the context of fire, and the spirit of wisdom and revelation must also be received in the context of fire. Fire speaks of God's holiness. "For our God is a consuming fire" (Heb. 12:29). The fire of God's holiness burns away the worthless wood, hay, and stubble in our lives, purifying the gold, silver, and precious stones (see 1 Corinthians 3:10-15).

Because of its purging, purifying, cleansing effect, fire speaks of perfecting holiness in the fear of God: "Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God" (2 Cor. 7:1).

Notice from the above verse that the fire of God's holiness affects us both internally and externally. We are to cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh (which speaks of external holiness) and spirit (which speaks of internal holiness).

Some churches emphasize only (or primarily) external holiness—modest dress, abstinence from smoking and drinking and worldly entertainment, etc.—but ignore the importance of inward purity of heart. They shun any and all outward forms of worldliness, but like the hypocrites of Yeshua's time, they are white-washed tombs full of dead men's bones.

Other churches emphasize only (or primarily) internal holiness of heart, but have little or no concern about externals such as dress, bad habits, worldly entertainment, etc. "It's what's in your heart that really matters," they say, implying that the externals are of very little importance.

The biblical view of holiness is not an either/or option. Biblical holiness is a fire that purges both internally and externally. This truth is seen in other verses which refer to both internal and external holiness:

"Who shall ascend into the hill of Yahweh? Or who shall stand in His holy place? He that hath clean hands and a pure heart" (Ps. 24:3f). Clean hands speak of external holiness; a pure heart speaks of internal holiness.
"Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double-minded" (James 4:8). Here again we see external holiness in clean hands and internal holiness in purified hearts.

"For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's" (1 Cor. 6:20). Glorifying God in both the body and spirit speaks of holiness which is both external and internal.

External and internal holiness are both necessary if we want to receive divine revelation when we read the Scriptures. Peter tells us that the Holy Scriptures were written when "holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit" (2 Pet. 1:21). Consider this well: If it took holy men of God moved by the Holy Spirit to pen the Holy Scriptures, then it is reasonable to conclude that it will take holy men of God moved by the Holy Spirit to receive divine revelation from the Holy Scriptures.

According to the Bible, the holy fire of God literally fell from heaven on a few occasions. Sometimes it fell to consume the wicked; sometimes it fell to show God's approval and acceptance of the sacrifice that was laid on the altar. It never fell on an empty altar, though. The fire does not fall unless there is a sacrifice on the altar. "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service," Paul wrote (Rom. 12:1). Paul was not concerned only about external holiness, "your bodies," though. His concern for internal holiness is evident in the very next verse, where he says, "And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind." The renewing of the mind brings us to our next element, water.

THE WATER

"Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind," Paul says. Our minds are renewed as they are sanctified and cleansed "with the washing of water by the word" (Eph. 5:26). Just as old leather wineskins were renewed in biblical times by soaking them in water, so our minds are renewed by saturating them in the water of God's Word.

When a man first comes to the Lord, his mind is like an old, dried-up wineskin—stiff, brittle, inflexible. In this carnal condition, the mind can receive very little divine revelation. If very much new wine is poured into an old wineskin, the wineskin will burst. Too much revelation poured into a carnal mind will blow that mind. The mind has to be soaked in the Word of God so it will become pliable. Flexibility is necessary, because the mind must conform to the shape of the new wine of Divine revelation which is being poured in.

A dried-up wineskin has to soak in water for a considerable length of time before it is renewed and ready to receive the new wine. A quick dip won't do the job. In the same way, our mind has to spend a lot of time soaking up the water of the Word of God through prayerful reading and deep, focused meditation on the Scriptures.

Sometimes the Scriptures seem to yield no water. Sometimes the Bible seems dry even to a thirsty soul. Yet we know that the wells of water are found in the Scriptures. How is it that the wells sometimes yield no water?

Isaac had the same problem. His father Abraham had dug several wells. When Isaac brought his flocks and herds to these wells, he discovered that the envious Philistines had filled the wells with earth.

What did Isaac do? He got the rubbish out of the wells and re-dug them and found the water he needed. This is what we have to do. We need to remove the rubbish of our own sins, the rubbish of worldly ways, the rubbish of those man-made traditions and doctrines which block the flow of the Spirit. We need to dig and re-dig in our study of God's Word and remove the "earth" from our theology. We need to quit looking at things from an earthly perspective, and look at things from the heavenly perspective. Otherwise, the waters of revelation will not flow.

Re-digging the old wells of his father Abraham brought strife into Isaac's life. "And the herdmen of Gerar did strive with Isaac's herdmen, saying, 'the water is ours'" (Gen. 26:20).

When we start removing rubbish from old wells that the Enemy long ago filled with earth, it will bring strife into our lives. For example, when we begin to quench our spiritual thirst at the well called Sabbath, well-meaning Christians will warn us that these waters are not for us. Or when we swallow the revelation that our faith in Israel's Messiah makes us a part of the commonwealth of Israel, well-meaning Jewish believers will strive with us, saying, "The title of Israel is ours and ours alone! You can't drink from that well!" Sorry, brothers, but it's too late. We Gentiles—former Gentiles, actually—have already tasted the living waters from the wells of Yeshua, and those waters turned us into full-fledged Israelites. But not to worry—there's plenty of water for all of us, an endless supply! So drink up. You're going to need water where we're going—which brings us to the third element necessary for Divine revelation, the desert.

THE DESERT

Yahweh led Israel deep into the desert before He took them into the Promised Land. He chose to reveal Himself and His Torah in "the waste howling wilderness," far away from the worldly splendor of Egypt. The desert is bare and barren and does not bear the mark of man's meddling. There is a purity in the desert. It is virgin territory, where God's expression of Himself is not filtered through the clutter of human culture and civilization. If you go deep into the desert at night, you will be aware of nothing except the silence of the stars and the Voice of God.
The clearest revelation of the Almighty is given to those who figuratively go into the desert. Our minds are crowded and cluttered with lies, misinformation, and vain thoughts which have seeped into our thinking from the world around us. To think rightly, we have to restore our spiritual sanity by separating ourselves from the culture that surrounds us. We do not need to physically and geographically go into the desert; we just have to spiritually and mentally separate ourselves from the world around us, so that we are in the world but not of the world.

It's okay to be thankful that we are American citizens living in 21st century America, but we must not let 21st-century American culture affect how we view the Scriptures. To receive divine revelation from the Scriptures, we must approach them without our 21st-century American eyeglasses, because those eyeglasses will distort our spiritual vision. If we want divine revelation from the Bible, we must forget our own time, our own nationality, our own culture, and even our own family. None of these things should dictate our view of the Scriptures. If we want divine revelation, we need to look at the naked truth of God's Word apart from the influence of our times, our nationality, our culture, and our family.

"Forget also thine own people, and thy father's house" (Ps. 45:10). These are the instructions to the Bride of Messiah in Psalm 45. The Book of Hebrews tells us that Psalm 45 speaks of the Messiah. (See Hebrews 1:8f.) Psalm 45 presents the Messiah as a Warrior King going to battle against the Enemy. The Messiah King's victory is followed by a description of His Bride. To fully appreciate the words spoken to the Bride in this Psalm, we need to consider Deuteronomy 21:10-13. These verses give instructions concerning captives taken in war. If a man sees a woman among the captives and wants to marry her, the woman must do five things. She must go to the man's house, shave her head, pare her nails, take off the raiment of her captivity, and mourn her father and mother a full month. After that, she can be the man's bride.

These Torah instructions to a captive bride have a deep spiritual application to the Bride of Messiah. Like the captive Gentile bride who had to shave her head, pare her nails, and take off the raiment of her captivity, we have to strip away our old identity. We have to forget our former Gentile identity, because we are now being joined to Israel through our union with our Israelite Bridegroom, the Messiah. We have to forget our 21 st-century American identity, because we are entering an eternal kingdom which includes people from every nation, kindred, tongue, and people. We even have to forget our family ties if they interfere with our relationship with the King, because He has said, "He that loveth father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me" (Matt. 10:37).

The instructions to the Bride to forget her own people and her father's house are introduced by attention-getting words: "Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear; forget also thine own people, and thy father's house" (Ps. 45:10). Notice those words: Hearken. Consider. Incline thine ear. The Holy Spirit wants to be sure that these instructions are heard, considered, and obeyed. The result of hearing, considering, and obeying is expressed in the next verse: "So shall the king greatly desire thy beauty: for He is thy Lord; and worship thou Him."

If we want to be the Bride whose beauty the King greatly desires, we have to go to the desert. We have to separate ourselves from the world system in which we live, and live a life apart. We are called to live as a holy nation in the midst of a harlot nation, a wilderness people in the midst of a worldly people.

John Owens, a Puritan preacher of long ago, told the church people of his day that some of them were following another Jesus, not the real Jesus. "You have an imaginary Christ," he said, "and if you are satisfied with an imaginary Christ, you must be satisfied with imaginary salvation."

Yeshua, the real Christ, warned that there would be false messiahs. Counterfeit messiahs are not just men who say, "I am the Messiah." Counterfeit messiahs are also the distorted versions of Jesus that are preached from the pulpits of many churches. Paul warned the Corinthians about false religious leaders who were preaching "another Jesus, whom we have not preached" (2 Cor. 11:4). Paul's warning is still relevant today.

We need to be sure that the Jesus we follow is the true Jesus, and not another Jesus we heard about from preachers who don't even know Him. Yeshua of Nazareth is not a Jesus who wants only lip service in the form of a "sinner's prayer." The real Jesus expects a genuine commitment which is expressed by acts of obedience and a life of holiness. The real Jesus expects His people to experience the fire, the water, and the desert. He doesn't expect us to go through these things alone, though. He has promised to go with us: When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee:
When thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. For I am Yahweh they God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour" (Isa. 43:2). ?

Reprinted from "Gates of Eden," March-April 2005, p. 12. "Gates of Eden " is a bimonthly newsletter produced by Gates of Eden, a messianic Jewish ministry. Write to Gates of Eden, P.O. Box 2257, East Peoria, IL, 61611-0257.

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May - June 2005 The Sabbath Sentinel