Our LORD Jesus Christ said, “Many are called, but few are chosen….”  (Matthew 20:16; 22:14).

The few chosen out of the many called, are those who pass the water test, that is, skilled in The Word of Righteousness, having their senses exercised to discern both good and evil,  (Hebrews 5:12-14).

They are The Gideon Warriors of Jesus.  They are brethren who seek and learn both to know and to do The Word of God, “rightly dividing The Word of Truth,”  (2 Timothy 2:15).

The story of Gideon and the people with him going to war with the Midianites is an allegorical Old Testament reference to our Christian walk and warfare.  There were thirty-two thousand people with Gideon initially, but only three hundred  (that’s less than one per cent!) were chosen out of them by The LORD.

Those going to Heaven are very few.  And, by The Grace of God, we must make it our daily aim and pursuit that we remain among them until The Day of Jesus Christ, when The LORD Himself will descend from Heaven, (1 Thessalonians 4:16,17).

One Pastor Park Yong Gyu, from South Korea, who had died and was taken to both Heaven and hell, came back. He estimated that the ratio of people entering Heaven to those going to hell is 1:1000!  (See HKP article “Heaven and Hell”)

One may be ‘greatly astonished’ by this estimate as the disciples of Jesus were when He told them about the difficulty of a rich man entering The Kingdom of Heaven.

They asked with despair: ““Who then can be saved?”  But Jesus looked at them and said to them, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible,”   Matthew 19:25-26.

It is only by The Grace of God that we can make it to Heaven.  We must believe and obey, by always “walking in The Fear of The LORD and in The Comfort [Help] of The Holy Spirit,”  (Acts 9:31).

“Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it.  And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown.  Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty.  Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air.  But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.”   1 Corinthians 9:24-27.

Jesus said:

“Enter by The Narrow Gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it.  Because narrow is The Gate and difficult is The Way which leads to Life, and there are few who find It,”   Matthew 7:13-14.

Hmm… Many are called, but few are chosen.

“Therefore, my beloved… work out your own salvation with fear and trembling;”   Philippians 2:12.

Let’s look at how Gideon’s three hundred warriors were chosen by The LORD Himself.

“And The LORD said to Gideon, “The people who are with you are too many for Me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel claim glory for itself against Me, saying, ‘My own hand has saved me.’ Now therefore, proclaim in the hearing of the people, saying, ‘Whoever is fearful and afraid, let him turn and depart at once from Mount Gilead.’ ”  And twenty-two thousand of the people returned, and ten thousand remained.  But The LORD said to Gideon, “The people are still too many; bring them down to the water, and I will test them for you there.  Then it will be, that of whom I say to you, ‘This one shall go with you,’ the same shall go with you; and of whomever I say to you, ‘This one shall not go with you,’ the same shall not go.”  So he brought the people down to the water.  And The LORD said to Gideon, “Everyone who laps from the water with his tongue, as a dog laps, you shall set apart by himself; likewise everyone who gets down on his knees to drink.”  And the number of those who lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, was three hundred men; but all the rest of the people got down on their knees to drink water.  Then The LORD said to Gideon, “By the three hundred men who lapped I will save you, and deliver the Midianites into your hand.  Let all the other people go, every man to his place.”  So the people took provisions and their trumpets in their hands.  And he sent away all the  rest  of Israel, every man to his tent, and retained those three hundred men…”  Judges 7:2-8.

In the above Scripture account, The LORD said: “lest Israel claim glory for itself against Me, saying, ‘My own hand has saved me.’”

The LORD Jesus disqualifies those who take His Glory.  For He has said, “I Am The LORD, that is My Name; And My Glory I will not give to another, Nor My Praise to carved images.”  (Isaiah 42:8).

And The LORD Jesus Christ disqualifies those who save themselves — by doing their own righteousness, their own will, and not The Righteousness of God, The Will of God.

“For they being ignorant of God’s Righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to The Righteousness of God,”   Romans 10:3.

Jesus said,

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘LORD, LORD,’ shall enter The Kingdom of Heaven, but he who does The Will of My Father in Heaven.”   Matthew 7:21.

Furthermore, the overwhelming majority, twenty-two thousand of the thirty-two thousand, were ‘fearful and afraid’.  They were summarily disqualified.

As The Word says:

“But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”   Revelation 21:8 emphasis added.

The water drinking test in the passage represents The Word of God and Eternal Life — The Water of Life, (Revelation 22:1).

The people who got down on their knees to drink the water and were disqualified, indicate believers bowing their knees to persons (such as men of God — both true and false, employers, business people, etc.) to disobey God; those bowing their knees to situations; those bowing their knees to riches and pleasures of life; those bowing their knees to the things and cares of this world; those who fall away in time of testing and temptation.

The Water of Life is free for everyone, but only those who drink It as prescribed by The LORD are chosen to enter Heaven.

“And He said to me, “It is done! I Am The Alpha and The Omega, The Beginning and The End. I will give of The Fountain of The Water of Life freely to him who thirsts,”   Revelation 21:6.

“…Whoever desires, let him take The Water of Life freely,”   Revelation 22:17.

BUT, “as a good soldier of Jesus Christ” (2 Timothy 2:3), The Water of Life while being taken freely, must be drunk with Jesus-military discipline and obedience — as Gideon’s chosen three hundred did. It is liberty in obedience, not disobedience.

Our freedom in Christ is liberty from sin, not liberty to sin.  As written, “as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God,”  1 Peter 2:16.

“Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage…..
……. For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh…”   Galatians 5:1,13.

Only those who know and do The Word of God will make it in our warfare, like Gideon’s chosen three hundred.

We must always have and do The Word of God, by The Grace of God — “walking in The Fear of The LORD and in The Comfort [Help] of The Holy Spirit…”   (Acts 9:31).

Only those who do The Word of God are the brethren of The LORD Jesus: “…He [Jesus] answered and said to them, “My mother and My brothers are these who hear The Word of God and do It.”   Luke 8:21.

“And it happened, as He spoke these things, that a certain woman from the crowd raised her voice and said to Him [Jesus], “Blessed is the womb that bore You, and the breasts which nursed You!”

But He said, “More than that, blessed are those who hear The Word of God and keep It!”   Luke 11:27-28.

Only those who make it to Heaven are truly blessed.

Disobedient believers, believers practicing sin, cannot enter Heaven.

“For if we sin willfully after we have received The Knowledge of The Truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries,”   Hebrews 10:26-27.

A believer in Jesus Christ is one who “has ceased from sin, that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for The Will of God.

For we have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles [the un-Godly] — when we walked in lewdness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries.”   (1 Peter 4:1-3).

“Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong. Let all that you do be done with love,”   1 Corinthians 16:13-14.

 

“The LORD Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Grace be with you.  Amen.”   2 Timothy 4:22.
“Farewell”   Acts 15:29.
~ Jacob Awagah

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Jacob, an apostle of Jesus Christ by The Will of God, according to The Promise of Life which is in Christ Jesus, (2 Timothy 1:1).  As John was, Jacob is the disciple whom JESUS loves, (John 13:23;19:26; 20:2; 21:7,20).  And like Paul, Jacob is “the prisoner of CHRIST JESUS” (Ephesians 3:1) for His Purpose forever: to obey Him always.

“And having been perfected, He became The Author of Eternal Salvation to all who obey Him,”   Hebrews 5:9.

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