Hidden Heroes: Eldad and Medad

by David Chadwick

Hidden heroes. One of my favorite things to do is to search out people in the Bible who are less likely to be seen yet incredibly significant players in God’s story.

Our two hidden heroes today are Eldad and Medad.

Who are they? They are found in the book of Numbers.

Numbers 11:24-25 says that Moses gathered 70 elders from Israel’s camp around the tent. The Lord came down and the Spirit rested on them and they received the ability to prophesy around the tabernacle.

Evidently, Eldad and Medad started prophesying among the people inside the camp. Joshua spoke up and asked Moses to forbid the two of them from prophesying. It seems that Joshua wanted Moses to be the sole one who told the people the words of the Lord. But Moses responded saying that he loved to see the Spirit of the Lord resting on all his people that they might prophesy to one another.

Some wonder if Eldad and Medad’s prophecy was futuristic in nature, maybe a reference to a future victory that Israel would have over Gog and Magog. Could this be the Ezekiel 38-39 prophecy? Maybe so. Others believe this prophecy may have been referencing the fact that Joshua would succeed Moses. Regardless of the exactness of the prophecy, one thing is clear: Moses wanted more than just 70 elders prophesying in that camp. He clearly desired all to prophesy!

I can’t help but wonder, from a New Testament perspective, if this Old Testament story isn’t a beautiful first glimpse at what would be one of Jesus’s teachings found in John 10:27, where he taught that his sheep hear his voice, know him, and follow him. Clearly Jesus had a high value for his followers to learn to hear the voice of God.

Then, in 1 Corinthians 14:5, Paul urged the New Testament church to not just hear the voice of God, but to accurately relay it to other people. To accurately discern what God may want another to hear. To give words of encouragement and life to other people through the power of his Spirit.

I pray the bride of Christ learns to hear the voice of God and uses it to bless and encourage other people, whatever that looks like, for his glory alone!

Why Theology Matters: Christology Compels Us to Go! Part 2

by Marilynn Chadwick

...Continued from yesterday:

How could I get my arms around such a huge nation as the Sudan? I decided to pray for a random man and called him “Sudan Sam.” The Sudan now had a face. A door eventually opened for me to travel with a humanitarian coalition to deliver survival kits to women and children forced to flee their village near the Darfur region of Sudan. The suffering we encountered was unthinkable. Pastors told of the rape and torture of Christians; some had been crucified. Yet, for over two decades, the eyes of the world had been elsewhere.

During the journey, my husband and I grew fond of our Sudanese interpreter. A survivor of the brutal war, Zaki was the son of the first Christian convert in the region. I casually mentioned I had been praying specifically for the Sudan and had even nicknamed someone “Sudan Sam.” Zaki look startled and blurted, “That’s me. I am Sudan Sam! My name is Zaki Samwiil” (Arabic for Samuel), he cried excitedly. “My father was also Samuel. There’s a book about his life called Samwiil of Sudan!” Zaki and I practically laughed and cried. Suddenly, the earth seemed very small. How could God’s love be so large as to inspire specific prayer for a specific man in such a remote region?

Suddenly the practice of Christology was not just about having sound doctrine about Jesus—it meant walking as one guided by his Holy Spirit. “Zaki,” I said quietly, “can you believe that halfway around the world, God alerted me to pray for you by name before we ever met?” We sensed the almost tangible presence of Christ that day, certain of God’s deep love for us both.

Did Jesus really make a spectacle of the defeated powers of darkness, “triumphing over them by the cross” (Colossians 2:15)? If we believe this is true, our prayers should have the winning edge. Paul exhorts us to pray in the Spirit of battle (Ephesians 6:18). A vibrant Christology empowers warrior-like prayers that move us boldly into forgotten and dangerous places. If we are listening to the Spirit of Jesus, he will invite us into the realm of missional living consistent with his own mission. “My food,” he said, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work” (John 4:34 NIV). “As the father has sent me, so I send you” (John 20:21 NRSV).

When the doctrine of Christology is practiced rightly, our prayer and our serving become inseparable. A healthy Christology affects everything about our life of faith. We pray with the mind of Christ. The things that break his heart break ours. A robust Christology also prods us to grow in faith and gratitude. We become a living witness to others who may be searching for the Jesus they have never known.

Our Christology impacts our prayer life—which then empowers our serving—which then bears fruit for eternity. Redeemed humanity. It’s what Jesus told us he wanted most. It’s the reason for his suffering on the Cross and for his Resurrection. Is our practice of Christology a “So what?” or a “So that!”? Could a weak Christology be partially to blame for our sometimes-anemic results in prayer?

Through prayer, God draws us near as dearly loved children. We become part of the “family mission”—fearlessly treading into the darkest of places. Jesus’s mission is the scandal of the cross. But earth’s messiness did not stop God, nor should it stop us.

___________________

A part of today's Daily Moment of Hope is adapted from Sometimes He Whispers Sometimes He Roars by Marilynn Chadwick.

To request a copy of this book, please click here. 

Why Theology Matters: Christology Compels Us to Go! Part 1

by Marilynn Chadwick

When we have a strong Christology, we pray as Jesus prayed and we serve as Jesus served. Prayer opens the door for our earthly assignments to the least and the lost. If we are praying as Jesus prayed and seeing the world through his eyes, we will naturally ask God to “break our heart for the very things that break his.”

This means we pray with a readiness for action. A well-developed Christology compels us to walk where Jesus walked and serve as Jesus served, all the while becoming conformed to his image (Rom 8:39). Jesus becomes our example for what “Spirit filled, and Spirit empowered ministry” ought to look like. Indwelled with his Holy Spirit, we follow in Jesus’s footsteps.

If we are praying as Jesus prayed, then “How do I pray?” becomes “What can I give?” and ultimately, “Where do I go?” We sense Christ’s burdens; we search for ways to take up his cross. We trust the Holy Spirit to guide us in specific prayer. Strategic action often follows when we listen to the voice of Christ. The doctrine of the Incarnation, God in human flesh, reminds us of God’s desire for intimacy with us.

We are changed as we meditate on the identity of Christ—Jesus as a real person. We see his Jewishness, his location in first-century Palestine. Sometimes referred to as the “scandal of particularity,” Jesus’s identity reminds us that God’s love is big enough to love humanity in very specific ways. God is with us and for us, and because he “reaches into our specificity,” our prayers will move us into concrete actions. We are challenged to follow Jesus in loving the vulnerable, the humble, the “least of these” (Mat 25:40).

After the events of 9/11, I was struck by my own lack of awareness of believers in vulnerable areas—more specifically, in the global persecuted church. One day, I was prompted to pray for the nation of Sudan after reading an article in our city’s paper. I learned that Sudanese Christians had been targeted for extermination by their own government—for decades. The genocide had slaughtered over two-million citizens and displaced more than twice that many. An excerpt from my journal dated October 11, 2001, reads:

Lord, I confess I have not travailed for your persecuted people worldwide. 

My view has been so narrow. The great suffering in the Sudan is staggering. 

Show me how to pray.

How could I get my arms around such a huge nation as the Sudan? I decided to pray for a random man and called him “Sudan Sam.” The Sudan now had a face. A door eventually opened for me to travel with a humanitarian coalition to deliver survival kits to women and children forced to flee their village near the Darfur region of Sudan. The suffering we encountered was unthinkable. Pastors told of the rape and torture of Christians; some had been crucified. Yet, for over two decades, the eyes of the world had been elsewhere.

...to be continued