Revival's Golden Key (19 page)

In the case of the one hundred and fifty-three fish, the net could be dragged, and the weight neither sank the boat nor caused the net to break. Therefore it’s safe to assume that Luke’s “great number” of fish was more than one hundred and fifty-three. If Scripture is merely informing us of the number to impress the reader (a fisherman’s story), it would make sense to inform us of the
larger
number of fish caught in this net-breaking, boat-sinking incident. But in this case, no number is mentioned. Jesus then linked the incident to evangelism by telling Peter, “Do not be afraid. From now on you will catch men” (Luke 5:10).

Because of this, it is reasonable to wonder why we are told that there were
one hundred and fifty-three
fish. However, there is no mention of the number one hundred and fifty-three in any other portion of Scripture to give us a clue.
Unless the number is hidden... for some reason.
It is.

CHAPTER 17

THE MYSTERY SOLVED

I
n the previous chapter, we looked at leaven, Peter, his connection with the number three, and the mystery number one hundred and fifty-three. Let’s turn our attention to 2 Kings
chapter
1:

Then the king sent to him a captain of fifty with his fifty men. So he went up to him; and there he was, sitting on the top of a hill. And he spoke to him: “Man of God, the king has said, ‘
Come
down!”’

So Elijah answered and said to the captain of fifty,

“If I am a man of God, then let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men.” And fire came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty.

Then he sent to him another captain of fifty with his fifty men. And he answered and said to him: “Man of
God,
thus has the king said, ‘Come down quickly!”
’
So Elijah answered and said to them, “If I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men.” And the fire of God came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty.

Again, he sent a third captain of fifty with his fifty men. And the third captain of fifty went up, and came and fell on his knees before Elijah, and pleaded with him, and said to him: “Man of
God,
please let my life and the life of these fifty servants of yours be precious in your sight. Look, fire has come down from heaven and burned up the first two captains of fifties with their fifties. But let my life now be precious in your sight” (2 Kings 1:9-14).

We are told that fifty men and their captain were sent to arrest Elijah. They were devoured by fire from heaven. Another fifty were commissioned, led by their captain. They too were devoured by fire from heaven. Another fifty men were sent out with their captain. This time the captain “fell on his knees,” interceded on their behalf, and saved them from heaven’s fire.

Three groups of fifty-one men were sent out. (There again is the number three.) Three times fifty-one is one hundred and fifty-three.
There
is our hidden number. Two-thirds perished by fire. One-third
were
saved be-cause of the captain’s intercession.

There are striking parallels between the Elijah incident and the Church. Those who are saved from Him who is coming “in flaming fire” (2 Thessalonians 1:8) are saved because of the ministry of the Captain of our salvation (Hebrews 2:10). He always lives to make intercession for us (Hebrews 7:25).

Do we have here an indication that two-thirds of those who have professed to be in the Body of Christ down through the ages will hear those terrifying words, “I never knew you; depart from
Me
, you who practice lawlessness”? Is this an indication that only
one-third
of the professing Church will be saved? One thing I do know is that a great mass of the contemporary Body of Christ is lukewarm toward the lost, toward prayer, toward God’s Word. Jesus warned that the lukewarm would be spewed out of His mouth (Revelation 3:16).

God only knows how many will be saved, but after Jesus likened the kingdom of God to leaven, “which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal,”
¹⁰
the disciples asked
how many
would be saved. He answered by saying that many will seek to enter in but will not be able (Luke 13:23-27). Then He puts His finger on why.
They were “workers of iniquity"
(v. 27). They were
lawless,
transgressors of the Moral Law.

They obviously didn’t fear God enough to obey Him.

Again, in light of the one-third saved, two-thirds lost, look at the context of these verses:

“Strike the Shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered; then I will turn
My
hand against the little ones. And it shall come to pass in all the land,” says the Lord, “that two-thirds in it shall be cut off and die, but one-third shall be left in it: I will bring the one-third through the fire, will refine them as silver is refined, and test them as gold is tested. They will call on my Name, and I will answer them.

I will say, “This is
My
people”; and each one will say, “The Lord is my God” (Zechariah 13:7-9).

There is no question that the Shepherd who is struck is a reference to Jesus (Mark 14:27). It is also clear that these verses can easily be applied to God’s dealings with the Church in refining it in fire as gold is tested (1 Peter 1:7). The Church is made up of those who have called upon the name of the Lord (Romans 10:13). God can say of the Church, “This is
My
people.” We were once not a people, but we “are now the people of God” (1 Peter 2:10).

We have a vast multitude waiting within the gospel net, thinking that they are saved, when they don’t have the “things that accompany salvation” (Hebrews 6:9). According to Dr. D. James Kennedy, “The vast majority of people who are members of churches in America today are not Christians. I say that without the slightest fear of contradiction. I base it on empirical evidence of twenty-four years of examining thousands of people.” Thanks in large part to the methods of modern evangelism, they have named the name of Christ, but have never departed from iniquity (lawlessness). They call Jesus Lord, but do not do the things He tells them. They profess to know Him, but to them He will say, “I
never knew you;
depart from
Me
, you who practice lawlessness!” (Matthew 7:23, emphasis added). He will come “in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power” (2 Thessalonians 1:8
,9
). Then they will finally know the fear of God.

Stay with me, because we are now going to look at how we can identify these false professions. They seem to have one thing in common...

CHAPTER 18

A BURDEN FOR THE LOST

I
n the blackness of
Adullam’s
cave, David longed for a drink of the cool water of Bethlehem’s well. Saul hounded him like a mad dog. Dare David risk being seen venturing outside the cave? Yet, his thirst would not subside. He remembered the hot days of his childhood, when his thirst drove him to draw fresh water from the deep well. The more he thought upon it, the more his desire grew, until he broke the silence and whispered, “Oh, that someone would give me a drink of the water from the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate!” (2 Samuel 23:15).

The Scriptures then tell us: “So the three mighty men broke through the camp of the Philistines, and drew water from the well of Bethlehem that was by the gate, and took it and brought it to David. Nevertheless he would not drink it, but poured it out to the Lord. And he said, ‘Far be it from me, O Lord, that I should do this! Is this not the blood of the men who went in jeopardy of their lives? Therefore he would not drink it.

These things were done by the three mighty men” (2 Samuel 23:16
,17
).

The mighty three had a love for David that was more than lip service, expressed by the fact that they risked their lives merely to get a drink of water for their be-loved leader. Yet, David’s reaction to their display of love was to pour the water out on the ground as a drink offering to the Lord.

Some may be tempted to say, “Surely, if those men went to such effort to get the water, at least David could have drunk it!” But we have here something far deeper than mere human gratitude.
David’s conscience would not allow him to indulge in self-gratification.
He said, “This is the blood of the men who went in jeopardy of their lives!”
How could he drink it?
It was more than just a cup of water. It was an evident token, a symbol, proof of their love and devotion to him. The cost was too great. His only course of action was to give it to God, to pour that precious water out as a drink offering to the Lord.

One Big Gap

Sue was once awakened at 4:00 a.m. to the sound of the blaring television set. She immediately thought that one of our children couldn’t sleep and was watching TV. However, it was so loud, she decided she would go downstairs and
turn
it down.

When she arrived in the den, she found that one of the family dogs had accidentally stood on the remote control and was watching the sports channel.

It fascinates us to see an animal imitate us with a wink or what seems to be a smile, or if it watches the sports channel. However, although evolution tries to link us to animals there is one big gap. As humans, we know that we are “beings.” We are aware of our destiny with death. We are aware of the existence of a Supreme Being. God has placed eternity in our hearts.

A non-Christian friend of mine found he had six months to live. His friends told him to spend the last six months doing a “brothel crawl.” He wasn’t interested. He found that he had something within his heart considerably stronger than his sex drive—it was the will to live. Deep within his heart he had a cry, “Oh,
I don’t want to die!”
Eternity was in his heart. Its deep whisper was, “Oh, that one would give me a drink of water from the wells of salvation.”

Before the beginning of time, God saw not only the cry of his heart, but the cry within every human heart. The Mighty Three, the Triune God, broke through the hosts of hell to draw water from the Well of Bethlehem. God was in Christ, reconciling the world to
Himself
. Now the offer to sinful humanity is: “Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting

life
” (John 4:14).

The true convert holds the Cup of Salvation in his trembling hands. He has seen the cost of his redemption. He sees that he was not redeemed with silver or gold, but with the precious Blood of Christ. Like David, he cannot drink of that cup in a spirit of self-indulgence. Rather than drink in the pleasures and the comforts of the Christian life, his reasonable service is to present himself as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable, and pour his life out as a drink offering to the Lord.