2018.08.08 - The Wilderness Experience

2018.08.08 - The Wilderness Experience

Wednesday, August 08, 2018

11:24 AM

1.    What Is The Wilderness?

a.     Heb. midhbar, denoting not a barren desert but a district or region suitable for pasturing sheep and cattle'

                             i.        Psalms 65:12They drop upon the pastures of the wilderness: and the little hills rejoice on every side. 13 The pastures are clothed with flocks; the valleys also are covered over with corn; they shout for joy, they also sing.KJV

                           ii.        Joel 1:19O LORD, to thee will I cry: for the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness, and the flame hath burned all the trees of the field.KJV

2.    Old Testament - A Place of Death 

a.    Numbers 14:30Doubtless ye shall not come into the land, concerning which I sware to make you dwell therein, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun. 31 But your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, them will I bring in, and they shall know the land which ye have despised. 32 But as for you, your carcases, they shall fall in this wilderness. 33 And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years, and bear your whoredoms, until your carcases be wasted in the wilderness.KJV

                             i.        God allowedthe flesh and iron will of those that rebelled against Him to die in the wilderness

3.    New Testament - A Place of Death - And Power

a.    Matthew 3:1In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in thewildernessof Judaea,  2 And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. 3 For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. 4 And the same John had his raiment of camel's hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey .KJV

                             i.        Wilderness -  NT:2048 eremos (er'-ay-mos); of uncertain affinity; lonesome, i.e. (by implication) waste (usually as a noun, NT:5561 being implied): KJV - desert, desolate, solitary, wilderness. 

1.    NT:5561 chora (kho'-rah); feminine of a derivative of the base of NT:5490 through the idea of empty expanse; room,i.e. a space of territory (more or less extensive; often including its inhabitants): KJV - coast, county, fields, ground, land, region. Compare NT:5117. 

a.    What I see here is a season, room to make a choice, to choose God or self - whom will I serve

b.    Matthew 4:1Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wildernessto be tempted of the devil.KJV

                             i.        2048 same as above passage