The more I read the Bible, the more I see Jesus standing out.
As I have read Deuteronomy recently, I noticed so many little allusions, foreshadowings, prophecies, glimpses, etc. of Jesus. Any time I see these in scripture it stirs my soul. But, none of these were significant enough, or catch my attention enough, to write a blog post.
Until I got to Deuteronomy 20.
The start of this chapter describes a time when Israel is going out to war with its enemies. The enemies will have all kinds of horses and chariots, and their armies will be much larger than their own. However, Moses tells Israel to not be afraid of them because God is with them. And, Israel has already seen God bring them out of Egypt.
Once the people have gathered for battle, the priest is come before the people and say, “Hear, O Israel, today you are drawing near for battle against your enemies: let not your heart be faint. Do not fear or panic or be in dread of them, for the Lord your God is he who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies, to give you the victory.” (Deuteronomy 20.3-4)
After the priest speaks to the people, then the officers of Israel’s army come before the people gathered for war. The officers give the three people outs from having to go to war – if they have a new house that has not been dedicated, a vineyard they planted but haven’t enjoyed its fruit, and a betrothed wife they have not taken.
“Then the officers shall speak to the people, saying, ‘Is there any man who has built a new house and has not dedicated it? Let him go back to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man dedicate it. And is there any man who has planted a vineyard and has not enjoyed its fruit? Let him go back to this house, lest he die in the battle and another man enjoy its fruit. And is there any man who betrothed a wife and has not taken her? Let him go back to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man take her.’” (Deuteronomy 20.5-7)
All of these exclusions for sending a man to war against his enemies seem perfectly reasonable. In fact, these sorts of exclusions from military service still exist today in many countries.
But, as I read the passage in Deuteronomy my mind jumped to the time someone said to Jesus, “I will follow you wherever you go.” To follow Jesus is to go to war. Not a war with planes and tanks and guns and bombs.
But, it is a war against the principalities and powers. Ephesians 6.11-12 says, “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” Those that follow Jesus do this “so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 3.10)
It is also a war against every thought in our own minds against God. “For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ.” (2 Corinthians 10.3-5)
So, when this individual said to Jesus, “I will follow you wherever you go,” he was saying that he would a combatant in this war until all things were put under Jesus’ feet and all things were summed up in Jesus.
But, unlike Moses who wrote that there were three legitimate excuses for not going to war, Jesus gave three examples of illegitimate excuses. That is, if you want to truly follow Jesus into the battle. In each of three examples, there is either a statement that the individual will follow the Lord anywhere and/or a reason the individual must do something else first. The reasons seem, well, perfectly reasonable. And, the reasons are similar in nature to the exclusions that Moses gave.
“As they were going along the road, someone said to him, ‘I will follow you wherever you go.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.’ To another he said, ‘Follow me.’ But he said, ‘Lord, let me first go and bury my father.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.’ Yet another said, ‘I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.’ Jesus said to him, ‘No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.’” (Luke 9.57-62)
If you want to truly follow Jesus, to go to war against the principalities and powers, to take down our own thoughts and strongholds against God, then there is nothing else that can come first. There are no reasonable exclusions to this military service. It is an all or nothing proposition.