Lookahead: She was born with a crippling, terminal disease and was days away from death at the age of 11. She was an invalid, bent over like a pretzel with a severe heart deformity—subject to heart attacks at the slightest excitement (e.g., a visit from a beloved relative). Jesus gave her a date, telling her that He was going to heal her on August 24th. He came to see her in a roomful of witnesses who felt a wind and watched her spine being popped back into place and invisible hands rearranging internal organs, in front of their eyes.

Continuing from last week’s contributing factors/theories on why the Israelites passed up a Kingdom Opportunity…

6. There was a big fear factor/discomfort level with the spectacular

During the holiday season, I watched the incredible Patterns of Evidence Video Series. In one interview, Jason Derouche (Professor of Old Testament and Biblical Theology and author of A Modern Grammar for Biblical Hebrew) commented that “it’s as if they (the pillar of a cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night) were hovering like a bird over Israel, leading them.” Is it possible that the people were uncomfortable with what they considered to be “micromanagement?” After all, we don’t read in the Bible that the people woke up in the morning, went outside, saw that the pillar of a cloud hadn’t left them and fell on their faces in thanks and worship. It’s as if they deliberately distanced themselves from the supernatural.

Back to the Book of John, only one apostle joined Jesus on the water. And he walked in this ethereal plane for a very short time before fear took over. John 6:15-21

Also, it seemed that Jesus was ignoring the apostles and walking right past them. But actually, I believe that He was doing what He always does—the incomparable supernatural—and that they were free to join His walk at any time. However, they were obviously quite uncomfortable with it.

And that discomfort may be alive and well today. In another Patterns interview, Jodell Onstott (author of YHWH Exists) commented that “There is a very theophanic element to this wilderness sojourn. Today we have this habit of really humanizing God. We don’t like the idea of anything out of the ordinary…So when we hear about waters parting, Israel walking on dry land, a cloud or a pillar, we’re very uncomfortable with those things…”

I had talked about my NDE research last week. I did a quick survey to see how people, who have experienced heaven, respond once they are “earthen” again:

√ One NDE’r who went to heaven, came back to earth and didn’t share his experience for months ostensibly because he was so upset at God for making him return and suffer a painful rehabilitation; eventually his heart softened, and he became a real witness (and radio show host!) for God’s love

√ Several NDEr’s didn’t share for long periods of time because they weren’t sure exactly what had happened to them

√ Not a few NDEr’s marriages failed in the months or years after the significant emotional event (however, in one amazing testimony, the woman discovered she was married to a child molester and spent a couple of years trying to save the man and the marriage while protecting the victims)

√ One evangelist who was transported to heaven as a child, crashed and burned as an adult. He sacrificed his pastorate and large following to pursue a relationship with a man in his church

For that matter, how do people with indisputable radical miracles behave? One of the most amazing 20th Century miracles that I’ve ever heard about was Betty Baxter’s. She was born with a crippling, terminal disease and was days away from death at the age of 11. She was an invalid, bent over like a pretzel with a severe heart deformity—subject to heart attacks at the slightest excitement (e.g., a visit from a beloved relative). Jesus gave her a date, telling her that He was going to heal her on August 24th. He came to see her in a roomful of witnesses who felt a wind and watched her spine being popped back into place and invisible hands rearranging internal organs, in front of their eyes. Then she jumped to her feet–normal height–completely healed

√ I watched a video of Betty Baxter giving the testimony 30 or 40 years later, and the poor thing was utterly burned out. She was essentially saying she wanted to go to be with Jesus immediately because she was exhausted and sick of all the negative press.

7. God allowed this natural propensity of being blind to His Glory because the Israelites couldn’t have handled the truth at that time. They were barely out of the bestial phase in terms of spiritual development. (As I’ve said before, the 613 laws that God gave in the Torah were given to correct behavior that the people were presently exhibiting on a widescale level, and that behavior was downright skanky at times.) The Israelites would need dozens of decades with the Torah to evolve to the point where they could receive His gift.

√ And the gospels indicate that they hadn’t fully arrived at that point yet during Jesus’ earthwalk:
And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive…Matthew 13:14.


8. There are two levels of belief and the Israelites were stuck in the “Moses is good enough for me” mode. These two levels are revealed in John 4:42–the Samaritan townsfolk said to the women at the well: “We believe now, not because of (Level 1) what you said, but because (Level 2) we ourselves have heard Him, and we know that He really is the Savior of the world…” The percentage of people who needed to hear it from God personally (Level 2), versus a human intermediary (Level 1), was very, very low in the wilderness; they were happy to hear it from Moses. Essentially their faith in man was higher than their faith in God–and they weren’t looking to Him.

√ This is reinforced in John 6:30,31. In this case, two types of Jewish people were identified–those looking for a meal and those looking for the meal provider. The Jewish religious elite smarted off to Jesus, “The Scriptures say, ‘Moses gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, Moses didn’t give you bread from heaven. My Father did. And now he offers you the true bread from heaven”; whereupon they rejected that bread also and showed that they couldn’t handle the more deeply revealed truth either. The people did not realize in the wilderness, or even when their Messiah was standing right in front of them, that God was the Meal Provider. The Israelites kept screaming at Moses and he seemed to respond each time with the sustenance solution. So that was sufficient for them. What a waste!

Finally, in sum, during COVID, I tried to make a daily habit of learning and meditating on scriptures. After months of confessing Psalm 63:1,2, I had a major revelation this past week—

David prayed to God: Oh God Thou art my God. Early will I seek Thee. My soul thirsteth for Thee, my flesh longeth for Thee in a dry and thirsty land where no water is, that I might see Thee as I have seen Thee in the Sanctuary. David’s flesh longed for God. When we have evolved to the point where, not only our spirits and soul long for God, but our flesh is impervious to worldly temptations and distractions—like mouth-watering meat with the addictive seasoning/spices of slavery—and when our eyes can only see the Pillar in our paths, I would venture to say that we have become KO’s.