I think we can all agree this is a season to really follow after God with all of our hearts (Yeshua’s 1st summary commandment and the Shema). It seems like the attitude of “waiting out the storm” is prevailing with little deference to seeing the Kingdom of God advancing in the church today. Many Christian polls show that the thinking on Covid is that we have braved it and it’s over, and it is time to get back to “normal.” I hope this is not the case.
When replacement takes place in our hearts by the work of redemption by and relationship with Jesus, we see a picture of 2 Corinthians 5:16-19 – “Therefore from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.
Here we see that at the point of belief, the point of decision – we do not recognize people according to the natural man, we do not think about Yeshua in the natural way, WE become NEW CREATIONS, and we conduct the same ministry of seeing people reconciled to the Father through Messiah – as He did with the world. Many replacements take place in this passage. Old Nature for new creation/ Not knowing Christ in name only but by relationship/ Not looking at people through the eyes of the natural man/ and conducting our lives to see people reconciled to God. Four types of replacement are displayed. There is POWER in those replacements which the Father has performed in us.
I would say we as the Body of Messiah have gone back – in many ways – to our old way of doing things, not considering the climate we are in to see the Glory of the Son revealed. Yes there are a few trickles and small outpourings of revival in the nation, but most believers, as I and many I talk to see, are looking to go back to the life they once lived. This is not that day any longer. We do not need to allow our desires to relace the Father’s will in us to see His power and glory come to this nation. There are changes percolating for us as a society, coming soon, and we must NOT be in fear and walk in the promise of that NEW CREATION.
Moses, in Exodus 32, leaves the camp and goes up to the mountain to get instruction from Adonai. He had led the Children of Israel OUT of Egypt, replaced their Egyptian gods with the demonstration of the power of the Lord before them – plagues, Red Sea… Now he has been gone for a little over a month and here is what happens: the people assembled about Aaron and said to him, “Come, make us a god who will go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” Aaron said to them, “Tear off the gold rings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” Then all the people tore off the gold rings which were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. He took this from their hands and fashioned it with a graving tool and made it into a molten calf; and they said, “This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.” Now when Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord.” So, the next day they rose early and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink and rose up to play. – Exodus 32:1-6
When Aaron said – This is your God who led you out of Egypt… He used the title Elohim – Lord/God Plural – Godhead…as a title for the golden calf representing Apis, the Egyptian god of sacrifice and rebirth – and served as an intermediary between the people and deities. It was the hand of the Son of God who led the Children out of Egypt, now Aaron is pointing them back to an Egyptian god and declaring it was it which did this – see the similarities (sacrifice/rebirth – intermediary) – It is Messiah Yeshua who sacrificed himself and is the first fruits of those resurrected (1 Corinthians 15) and who is ever interceding for us (Romans 8:33-34) – see the parallel here – see the REPLACEMENT BY AARON???
The power of replacement is astounding – it can be a tool, a weapon – and whenever it is wielded – change for either good or bad can happen. Let us not replace the calling of this season we are in with the old ways – let us see the replacement of the old ways of last year and before, REPLACED with a different heart, a different passion, a different spirit than we walked in previously. Before King Saul went apostate – when he was called – 1 Samuel records that he was “changed into another man…” when he went into his kingship. Can we begin to search the heart of God for that kind of change in the times in which we live?