Gathering

                   Gathering     8/18/94--2000

    Yahweh urged Enoch to come away, and Enoch did not hesitate.  Enoch walked with God, and then Enoch was not, because God took him.

    Yahweh urged Noah to come away.  The righteous man with his wife, and his three sons, and their wives, and two of all kinds, plus their fodder; they all climbed into the ark.  The ark was this:  the labor of a lifetime which received derision and scorn; the object of unbelief, ready now for a moment in time,  to bear away the people of El Shaddai, and all that pertained to their salvation; borne away upon the crests of the waves which buried the deep.

    Yahweh urged Abram to come away.  And why would one leave a life of settled prosperity, settled beliefs, settled future, all certainty, unless there was no hope to justify it?  How could all be erased by a single call unless none of it offered hope?  So the man wandered off with his wife, his flocks, his cattle, his camels, and his servants, and all that pertained to his salvation was wrapped up in the forecast of the hope that God held out.

    Yahweh urged Lot to come away.  Vexed as he was, yet angels came to guarantee his way.  Laughed to scorn and harassed with sin, yet angels came to pull him out.  Go with God,  go with God and forsake him not.  Why should you perish partaking in their folly?

    The God of Jacob urged him to come away.  Jacob urged his wives to come away.  Fourteen years he served their father's house with honest labor, and fourteen years, treated like a hireling.  All that he had gained by God's grace was now gathered, poised for flight, for the time was at hand.  Oh, Laban, while you were sleeping, the God of Abraham covered the sheep.  While you were counting, Laban, the God of Isaac caused the sheep to pass under the rod.  Your gain became unfit, and his became strong.  Now, they are leaving in strength and in peace, and in secret, and what is left to you?  You may run after them, and even bind them by oath to do no harm, but you will never get them back.

    Yahweh urged Moses to come away.  So Moses petitioned Pharaoh,
    "Let my people go."  But Pharaoh hardened his own heart to stone and heaped oppression like rubble on Israel.
    "Come away," urged I AM.
    "Let my people go!" petitioned Moses.
    "Increase their burdens," replied Pharaoh.  Israel groaned. 
    "Then with signs and wonders will I afflict Egypt and rescue thee,"  Yahweh declared.  All of Egypt began to reel under the grinding weight of the hand of God, but in Goshen it is light.  There is peace.  That which devastates Egypt of all her firstborn becomes a point of covenant between the Redeemer and His people.

    Pharaoh still darkens counsel with words of folly.  He runs after them, setting out with cart horses to pursue a people guarded by an Angel. Oh, Pharaoh!  You may run after them to bind them, but you will never get them back.  Pharaoh’s army got drownded, and you, Israel, you walked, dry footed, upon the river floor.  Above or below, water will not drown you.  Can fire then consume you?  Yahweh said "I AM, and where I AM, you too shall be."

    Yahweh urged Daniel to come away.  So Daniel separated himself from the King's table and ate none of the King's food.  Instead he ate for strength in his God.  In Babylon, he sanctified himself in his God.  In exile, his God proved that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.  Even in Babylon's fiery furnace, the saints greet thee, Holy One.  Even in the lion’s den, you will keep our way free of blood-guilt.

    His Father urged Jesus to come away.  You are My Lure, He said.  The way He drew Jesus the adversary can not follow.  He drew Jesus over the surface of the water.  He drew Jesus through Babylon.   He drew Jesus to the nails and the wood, and then into the grave, where no-one brings wife, or sons, or kinds, or fodder.  He trolled Jesus through the grave and to the gloomy dungeons of the dead.  He reeled Jesus from the tomb and up to the skies.  Oh, how you do confound your ancient foe!  His greatest triumph you have turned over to his roundest defeat.  I took God's Lure, and He drew me through!  No, Satan, through the grave you cannot follow me.  Set out with your hordes and try to bind me! Pharaoh’s army got drownded....  Set out with your fires to consume!  Set out with your lions to devour!  My escape hatch is your prison wall.  My release is your retribution!  For though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.  Jesus walked here first.  “Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.”  He will never leave me.

   
God urged the Bride to come away. The Holy One came to fetch a bride for the Lamb.  He raised his lamp to search for the one of God's choosing.  See, how quiet her face?  How trusting her eye?  How lovely, her heart?  Holy One to wash her.  Holy One to clothe her.  Holy One to lead her.  Holy One to comfort her.  She will leave everything to follow you, all for the promise of the Lamb.

                Let my people go!

    But Babylon has not acknowledged her defeat.  Instead, she picked her way through the discounts at the market place.     
    "Ah," she said,  "A gorgeous robe, fit for a Queen.  I must have a robe to rule in."   It was her shroud. 

                Let my people go!

Then she settled herself above the grazing flock and said, "Ah, meat.  I must have meat."  It was her abomination. 

                Let my people go!

Then she scrutinized the Word, and made out for herself liturgies and repetitions, saying,   "Service!  I must have service."  It was her epitaph. 

                Let my people go!

Then she strode up and down the land, spreading her name through her liturgies and repetitions, declaring her sovereignty through her office, and receiving homage to herself because of her accouterments.  It was her tombstone.

            Come out of her, my people!


Oh, Babylon, while you were buttoning your coat,
The Ancient of Days was preparing clean white linen. 
While you were wiping your mouth, He was preparing a table. 
Babylon, while you wrote your epitaph,
The Holy One intoned in sighs too deep for words. 
Messiah stood to intercede.  
While you trod across the land,
Messiah was seated at the right hand of God. 
While you garnered support,
He was crowned with many crowns. 
While you received praise of men,
He received glory, honor, praise, and dominion
From the Almighty God; the Most High; the Eternal. 
While you multiplied your bastard children, Babylon,
The God of Enoch chaperoned the Bride. 
While you slept, Babylon, the God of Abraham covered the sheep.
While you counted your glittering tithes,
The God of Isaac caused the sheep to pass under the rod. 
Now they are flocking to the Good Shepherd in strength,
And in peace, and what an exodus it is! 
In a moment of time,
What you treated as common is spirited away,
Secretly---
The Kingdom of Heaven comes not with observation.
What you regarded in unbelief is lifted up and born away, an ark.
And where they go, you cannot follow! 
The crest of their salvation is the grindstone of your retribution. 
Beware, Babylon, the kings of men.