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Norwegian,DanishAnd of Benjamin he said: "The beloved of the Lord shall dwell safely by Him; and the Lord shall cover him all the day long, and he shall dwell between His shoulders."
The scriptures tell us this information, which Moses prophesied concerning Benjamin:
And he (Benjamin) will be:
1) Beloved of the Lord and consequently will:2)
Dwell safely by Him. Literally "Founded upon Him." If you are a born again, Spirit-filled Christian, this is the picture of you today. Your life is literally founded upon Christ Jesus. The literal interpretation of Acts 2:38, is this:
"Repent every one of you and be baptized UPON the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."
There are other verses which speak of being baptized "in" or "into" the name of Jesus Christ.
In this, God becomes our "hiding place," or place of protection. The Benjamin Company will know God as their refuge from the tempest and the storm, their shelter, and continual abiding place, for God will be with you at ALL times, and never leave you nor forsake you, so long as you follow on to know the Lord, and do not forsake Him.
3) He (Benjamin shall dwell between God's shoulders. This is the picture of a child being carried on his Dad's shoulders. This latter picture is so beautifully portrayed in Deut. 32:11, where God compares His care for His own to that of the mother eagle teaching her young eaglets to fly. For she bears them upon her strong wings as she trains them to take administrate over their place of dominion in the heavenlies.
"For you have been a strength to the needy in his distress; a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall."
Isaiah 32:2
BENJAMIN IN THE NEW TESTAMENT:
Saul of Tarsus is one example of a famous Benjamite convert to the Christian faith, but here we use the Benjamin Company of all believers who seek a close relationship with God, lead of His Spirit. Saul of Tarsus hailed from the tribe of Benjamin, and was converted from Judaism, where he'd been strictly trained in Jerusalem as a Pharisee under the Rabbai Gamaliel.
In Phillippians 3:5, Saul tells us he counts all things, including the loss of his reputation, (i.e. as being from the tribe of Benjamin, being a Pharisee of Pharisees, a small thing compared to the value of knowing Jesus Christ as his personal Lord and Saviour. But perhaps even in this misplaced zeal of his life before conversion, when he persecuted the church of Jesus Christ; delivering to death the believers; we see a little bit about the devotion of tribe of Benjamin to fight for what they thought was right.
God, who looks on the heart, saw a man who desperately wanted to know the Lord with all of his heart, but who was headed in the wrong direction, and the Lord Jesus apprehended him there on that Damascus road that day. Saul gazed into the shekinah glory into the face of Christ Jesus and said: "Who are you?"
And Jesus revealed to Saul of Tarsus what so many have longed to know over the centuries--He revealed to Saul "the way into the the very presence of God--the way into the holiest of all, is in Jesus Christ--who is the Door--this is the way in--through receiving forgiveness of sins and inheritance among those who are sanctified through faith in the one who is king of kings and lord of lords.
Upon his conversion, Saul set his face as a flint toward the kingdom of God and never turned back. His life burned like a flame with a passion for God, that was unrelenting. But no longer with the ous hatred of a Pharisee for those who named the name of Messiah Jeshua, but now Saul's one desire was to declare the name of the Lord to all who would listen.
Now we truly see the face of Benjamin the warrior in all of it's redemptive purpose in God, as we see Saul, whose name was changed at conversion to Paul; as his lifelong focus becomes "to be conformed to the image of God's Son Jesus, that: as he testifies to us in Galatians 1:16: God might "reveal His Son in me."
Is Jesus Christ the very foundation of your life today? He can be! The bible teaches us that other foundation can no man lay, than that is laid: Christ Jesus! When the storms come, if your life is builded upon the Rock, which is Christ Jesus, you will endure.
"But the righteous is as bold as a lion..."
Proverbs 28:1
My purpose is not to place undue emphasis upon the natural linage of the tribe of Benjamin, but to bring out the spiritual truthes as seen in prophetic words God has given Benjamin through time, comparing spiritual things in the Old Testament with spiritual truthes in the New Testament. And looking to Benjamin as an allegory, or type of the true Christian, or believer in Jesus Christ, and to focus on the qualities which they so beautifully exemplify.
In Benjamin, God shows us not only our fervor for the faith, but also our human weaknesses.
In the prophetic word God gave me concerning the "Benjamin Company"which is recorded in a previous message on Benjamin, and you can find at the Lark of the Morning Prophetic Page at https://www.angelfire.com/wa/LARKOFTHEMORNING; we see Benjamin in the "winter-time" of his soul--a place we all have been from time to time--longing for God--battling spiritual forces which try to cause him to question his own worth in the kingdom of God.
In this, we see the Psalmist who sings of longing after God in a dry and thirsty land "where no water is..." Does this mean that David didn't know how to receive from God? Of course not, for David knew how pick up that harp of his and to enter into God's presence with praise and thanksgiving. But David also went through spiritual warfare in forms of discouragment, and times of depression in which he would turn his focus to the circumstances, where "no water was."
But God who is king over the circumstances, did not leave nor forsake him, but continues to lead him and guide him as a gentle shepherd, back to the place he should be. How did God lead him? Through His unchanging and eternal word. And if we ever lose our focus on Him who is eternal, we can find it in the pages of the bible. God holds it out to you today. Are you thirsty? "Come to the waters of life, where there is an abundant supply." One day, as Jesus was came to a well, there was a woman drawing water, but he discerned as he spoke with her that she was a person with a spirit need, trying to fill it in all of the wrong places. He promised her "Whoever takes of the water that I give, shall never thirst again." (John 4:14) Again in John 7:37-38: At the Feast of Tabernacles, Jesus stood and cried: If any man is thirsty, let him come unto me and drink, and he who believes in Me, who cleaves to, and trusts in Me and relies on Me, as the scriptures have said: Out of his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water. This he spoke of the Spirit which had not yet been given for Jesus was not yet glorified.
Are you hungering after God and saying: Where is He in the midst of my problem? Are you a believer who has lost your focus on God? Well, whether your "winter season" is some personal tragedy or fiery trial, or a general period of time when the corporate church alike is crying to God to send revival; be encouraged that if you will seek the Lord and "vaven" as it were in God's word; and hunger and thirst for righteousness, you will be filled, for God's word promises this.
God loves you and He is there.
If you are a sinner, God is waiting for you to acknowledge your sins, and to turn from them, so that he can take you as Benjamin and set you on His shoulders, where you will dwell safely with him. This is only a metaphor of course, a word picture. For in John 14:17, Acts 1:8, 2: 1-4, we read that God wants to dwell not only with you, but in you, and after you have repented of your sins and received forgiveness, been baptized into and upon the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of all of your sins, you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, just as the people of the early church did, with the evidence of speaking supernaturally in other tongues. Read Acts 10:46-48:
Well, what did he hear from God and what did he do? God told him to get up and get out of his country and to go to a land God would show him and Abraham did exactly as he was told. God told him to take his son to Mount Moriah and to offer him there and he took him, and although God did not require this of him, we see in this that Abraham heard God speak to him and he believed the word of the Lord. How does one "test the voice?" There are some people who do some craze things. God's got a New Testament, since He sent His Son Jesus who died for our sins, and raised again and ascended into heaven where He sits at the right hand of God, and ever lives to make intercession for us. We must come to God in and through the way He has made, as I said receeiving forgiveness of sins "In Jesus Christ," be water baptized "in the name of Jesus for the remission of sins, and be baptized or immersed in the Holy Spirit.
Then we must take the things we hear and compare them to the truth revealed in the bible, particularly paying careful attention to the New Testament, for the Apostle Paul warns: Though we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel, let him be accursed. Satan himself can appear as an angel of light, and your mind is the battle-field where the war is waged for your souls. The scriptures use the term "strongholds" of the enemy, from the metaphor of caves in Roman times, where robbers hid to avoid detection by the authorities. Here is where demons hide, and try to steal your righteousness, your joy and power with God. The thought may come after you have been healed: "What if the disease comes back?" This moves you from out of the realm of faith in God and into fear, and according to the bible, if you allow fear to become a "stronghold" or "prison-house" for you; fear will bring a snare on you.
Well how do you know the bible is really true? Men wrote it. But the scriptures say:
"All scripture is given by inspiration of God (God-breathed) and is profitable for instruction, for reproof, and conviction of sin, for correction of error, and discipline in obedience and for training in righteousness, that is in holy living,in conformity to God's will in thought, purpose and action so the man of God will be thoroughly furnished, complete and proficient, well-fitted and thoroughly equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16) Holy men of God penned this book as they were "borne along by the Spirit of God." This means that Satan will deceive those whom he can, by coming to them with plausible sounding things, but if you "put on the full armour of God, which is the word of God (Ephesians 6:11, 2 Corinthians 10:3-6) you will not be tricked.
We see the spirit of the "Benjamin Company" in the fact that they are able to discern God's voice and to respond accordingly to God. Whereas in the Old Testament, an animal was slain, in the New Testament, Jesus is the sacrifice for sins, but God wants the believers to be presenting themselves as living and holy sacrifices, acceptable to God; that they might prove the good and perfect and acceptable will of God, which is our reasonable service. God desires that we would be His tabernacle. That we will become His hand extended to the poor and needy, and those who do not know God, and in order to do this we must offer ourselves to God that He might lead and guide us in the way that He wants us to go.
