Crystallization-Study of Joshua, Judges, and Ruth
Message Eight
The Intrinsic Significance of Gideon
as God’s Valiant Warrior
OPENING WORD OF THE PROPHESYING MEETING
Reading the verses in each day.
Reading the main points in the outlines.
Pray-reading the verses:
Judg. 6:12 And the Angel of Jehovah appeared to him and said to him, Jehovah is with you, valiant warrior.
Judg. 7:6-7 And the number of those who lapped the water into their mouth with their hand was three hundred men…. And Jehovah said to Gideon, Through the three hundred men who lapped I will save you, and I will deliver Midian into your hand. But let all the other people go…
Judg. 7:13-14 …There was this round loaf of barley bread tumbling through the camp of Midian….This is nothing else but the sword of Gideon….God has delivered Midian and all the camp into his hand.
Word of Appetizer
What’s the intrinsic significance of Gideon’s success?
Gideon listened carefully to the word of God, something that was rare among the children of Israel at that time; Gideon obeyed God’s word and acted on it; Gideon tore down the altar of Baal and cut down the Asherah ; this touched God’s heart; Gideon sacrificed his relationship with his father and his enjoyment of society, to follow Jehovah.
As a result of the above four factors, Gideon received a reward—the economical Spirit came upon him; with Gideon we have a picture of a man who lived in union with God, a God-man, to fulfill God’s word and to carry out God’s economy.
Spiritual Burden
In Gideon’s success he joined himself to God, but in his failure he joined himself to Satan; we have no right to divorce the Lord and no reason to forsake Him; we must take Him, love Him, honor Him, respect Him, regard Him, exalt Him, and cling to Him, rejecting Satan to the uttermost; then we will be blessed; blessed is everyone—nation, society, group, and individual—whose Lord, Head, King, and Husband is Jehovah.
Concluding Word of the Prophesying Meeting
The Revelation of the Truth
Gideon was raised up by God as His valiant warrior and sent by God to save Israel from the oppression of the Midianites; we must see the intrinsic significance of Gideon’s success.
The selection of the overcomers is seen with God’s selection of Gideon and the three hundred men to fight with him to defeat the Midianites.
We must see the intrinsic significance of the secret of Gideon’s failure.
Gideon’s indulgence in sex and his greediness for gold led to idolatry; greediness is idolatry, and both fornication and greediness are linked to idol worship; his failure shows us that we need to exercise strict control in dealing with the matters of sex and wealth.
The Experience of Life
In the New Testament we have Christ’s life of obedience and submission, and if we walk according to the spirit, we will spontaneously fulfill the righteous requirement of the law; if we take every part of the law as the word breathed out by the God whom we love, we will have the law in the aspect of the life-giving Spirit; then the law will function to dispense God Himself as life into us as His loving seekers.
Practice and Application
We must know the self, realizing ourselves to be the least; we must offer up ourselves to God as a living sacrifice according to His good, well-pleasing, and perfect will to have the reality and living of the Body of Christ.
We must tear down the idols in our heart, in our life, and in our work for the Lord’s testimony.
We are the many grains so that we may be ground into fine flour mingled with oil for making the cake, the bread, of the church; a model of those who are learning to be tempered, blended, and crossed out in order to do everything by the Spirit to dispense Christ into one another for the practical Body life.
PROPHESYING TOPICS—TWELVE TOPICS PER WEEK
Day 1
T1: In spiritual things, seeing depends on hearing (Judg. 6:12; Rev. 1:10, 12).
(Please explain that Gideon listened carefully to the word of God, something that was rare among the children of Israel at that time.)
T2: Only those who are obedient to God are useful (Heb. 5:8).
(How did Gideon obey God’s word and act on it?)
Day 2
T1: Gideon tore down the altar of Baal and cut down the Asherah (Judg. 6:25-28).
(Please explain that intrinsically, an idol is anything within us that we love more than the Lord and that replaces the Lord in our life.)
T2: Gideon received a reward—the economical Spirit came upon him (Judg. 6:34).
(Please explain that we need to be filled with such a Spirit essentially and economically, for life and for work.)
Day 3
T1: The account of Gideon shows us how to be an overcomer (Judg. 6:15; Eph. 3:8).
(Please explain that to be an overcomer we must know the self, realizing ourselves to be the least.)
T2: God allows us to have financial difficulties in orderthat we would take Christ as our satisfaction (Judg. 6:25-27; Col. 1:18).
(Please explain that difficulty in material supplies comes for the purpose that we may seek to have Christ take the first place in all things and learn the lessons of faith.)
Day 4
T1: How the overcomers are selected is seen with the selection of the three hundred (Judg. 7:2-6).
(Please explain that whoever wants to glorify himself and is fearful and afraid will be eliminated.)
T2: The sacrifice of our personal interests and enjoyment for God’s purpose (Judg. 7:2-6).
(What are the three conditions by which God selects the overcomers?)
Day 5
T1: Gideon and those three hundred men moved together and acted in one accord (Judg. 6:16; 7:13).
(Please explain the intrinsic significance of God’s giving Gideon three hundred men and made them one body.)
T2: A barley loaf…is a loaf of the resurrected Christ who can never be limited (Judg. 7:13; 1 Cor. 12:24-25).
(What’s the spiritual significance of a “round loaf of barley bread”?)
Day 6
T1: After his great success, Gideon had a terrible failure (Judg. 8:16-17, 30, 24).
(Which three factors are included in the secret of Gideon’s failure?)
T2: In his failure Gideon joined himself to Satan (Isa. 14:13-14).
(Please explain that we must love God, respect Him, exalt Him, rejecting Satan to the uttermost; then we will be blessed.)
