I have had a bit of an image, a picture in my mind over the last few days as I have been talking with the Dad! I was walking down a trail, the terrain wasn’t so bad, kind of like a grassy plain. As I came over a hill I found myself confronted by a long, tall. solid (could not see through it or over it), plank, wooden “privacy” fence. And I was looking for a way to get through or around it. I saw no end to this fence that I could see on either side. There was also no door or gate, nor could I reach the top or climb up and over, no foothold or places to grab as the frame for the fence was on the other side. The only thing I could see was a ‘knot hole’ — (a small round circle of irregular wood that forms on some planks, it is called a ‘knot’, occasionally the knot falls out and leaves a small but obvious hole in a fence and thus, is called a ‘knot hole’) — and I approached the fence and looked through the knot hole, though I couldn’t see much through the hole (no people or anything specific), I knew in my spirit that this is where I wanted to be, it was safe, it was green and beautiful. It was the Kingdom, where the remnant was and I knew my Dad and my Lord were there and that they wanted me to be there as well. So I said, “Dad, how do I get through this fence to get where you are?” His response, quick, both cryptic and to the point, in my native Texan English, as usual, was….
“THROUGH THE KNOT HOLE!”
— (In my Texas culture we have a phrase we use from time to time, when one is going through a difficult, stressful, challenging time or situation when asked the simple common question, “How ya doing?” It is not unusual to respond with, “Well I am being drug through a knot hole.” So I clearly understood ‘the Dad’s’ answer and I did not care for it much!) —
“Hmmp, very funny Dad! There is no way I can get through that knot hole, impossible!”
“Yes, it is for you at least, but I will pull you through it if you let me.”, was His response.
Than the the Lord’s statement came to mind; the one where Jesus responded to the “rich young ruler’s” reaction to the Lord’s answers to his question – (about ‘how he could obtain eternal life‘ through the full obedience of ‘selling all he had, giving it to the pour and then coming and following him’) – as the Lord watched him walk away sorrowfully – Matt 19:23-24:
Then Jesus said to His disciples, “Assuredly, I say to you that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. 24 And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.“ NKJV
My Lord was not just being ridiculous when He used that ‘eye of a needle’ metaphor. Just like He was not being ridiculous when He told me the only way to get to where I wanted to go was THROUGH THE KNOT HOLE! Which is, for me at least, IMPOSSIBLE!
Matt 19:25-26
25 When His disciples heard it, they were greatly astonished, saying, “Who then can be saved?” 26 But Jesus looked at them and said to them, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” NKJV
The question is not whether or not I can do it, the real question is — HOW MUCH DO I WANT TO BE IN HIS KINGDOM, TO BE HIS SERVANT, TO BE WITH HIM? How much do I want Him to be truly Lord and Master of my life!? (That is really His life, as He is the one who gives me breath and life.) The only way is ‘through the knot hole‘ or as Jesus said, through the ‘eye of the needle‘, and that is exactly what He told this wealthy young ruler, to do!
Though there is no direct historical reference to the “needle” being a small and narrow gate in Jerusalem, the metaphor still fits that scenario. In the story here, where Jesus has just told this young rich man to divest/shed himself of his wealth,– (the camel was a status of wealth — the camel was the ‘semi-truck’ of that region) — because it was a hindrance to him entering — coming through the narrow gate, the ‘knot hole’ (the cross of Christ) by which one must enter the city of the Kingdom of God! Matt 7:13-14
“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. 14 Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it. NKJV
So it would be for anyone seeking to enter through a small and narrow gate while attempting to bring his camel loaded with his ‘baggage’, possessions, wealth and goods through it! Especially if there was an enemy that sought his harm and death following closely behind. No, he would have to decide; either (1) leave his baggage, status, wealth and ‘camel’ behind and come through empty handed, poor and humbly; or (2) stay with the camel and possessions and attempt to fight off the enemy (not a wise choice). There is no third option, no middle ground. No one, including me, can choose, love, or serve two masters:
Matt 6:19-34
19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure (what you truly value) is, there your heart (passion and attention) will be also.
22 “The lamp of the body is the eye (what we desire or look at longingly). If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness.
24 “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and Mammon (Mamonas — a demonic principality – wealth PERSONIFIED — of greed and the ‘love of money’ or material things, the ‘lust of the eyes’. 1 John 2:16)
25 “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?
28 “So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; 29 and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
31 “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. NKJV
Ultimately, we do have a very fierce and murderous enemy, the prince of this world — the ruler of this age– that is hot on our trail seeking our destruction and the only way of deliverance is ‘through the knot hole’. Which will strip us of everything, – the love of money and things, and the comforts of the world, the desire to be noticed and accepted by men – that hinders us from entering the Kingdom of God and fulfilling the plans and destiny that He has for us. There will be no shortcuts, no negotiations.
As the Lord clearly stated at the beginning of this “pandemic”, that He was ‘finished’ with Laodicea (the rich, double minded, lukewarm church that worships money and things of this world as much as it does Him) and Ephesus (the church with much’ knowledge’ but little love and they do not ‘know’ Him anymore, and has lost it’s light, it’s eye became bad) and Babylon– the love of the world the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life. (1 John 2:16) and He was calling His bride to come out of them, like Sodom and Gomorrah.
There will be no compromise, no middle ground! So as for me, I cry out, “DAD, WHATEVER IT TAKES TO DRAG ME THROUGH THAT KNOT HOLE SO THAT I CAN BE DEAD TO MY OWN DESIRES AND WAYS, THE LOVE OF MONEY, THE FEAR OF PAIN OR LACK OR DEATH, AND TO ABIDE IN YOU AND PLEASE YOU and be the New Wine skin you desire me to be; DO IT! ALL to Jesus I surrender.
There is a very good chance that we could be facing shortages, power outages, all kinds of confusion, maybe violence, theft and heavy persecution. Are we ready for that? Are you preparing your heart for that? Are we abiding in Christ without fear? Are we still needing to get ‘pulled through the knot hole’ which will strip us of everything that we might hold dear in the flesh? I know that I am still, like Lot’s wife (Luke 17:32), turning around and looking back. There is still a part of me that is wanting to go back to Egypt (the old normal comfortable luke-warm life of slavery). I am still clinging to the desires of the flesh, still a residue of the fear of man, persecution, and lack. If I allow the Lord to ‘pull me through the knot hole’, none of that will remain, though the process may be painful. I will choose to embrace the process. I want to be part of the Isaiah 60/ Philadelphia REMNANT last days army. (Remnant means small, very small. Only 42,000 + men, women and children responded to Cyrus’s call to return, to come out of Babylon and rebuild the temple and Jerusalem, this is thought to be less than 5% of the Jewish Babylonian diaspora!)
We would do well to remember that our Father and Lord is jealous for us! HE IS OUR FATHER and OUR BRIDE GROOM and He wishes to share us with no other, it is the second of the Ten commandments, remember them?
Ex 20:1-17
And God spoke all these words, saying: 2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 3
- “You shall have no other gods before Me.
- 4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image — any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; 5 you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, 6 but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.
- 7 “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.
- 8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.
- 12 “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you. 13
- “You shall not murder. 14
- “You shall not commit adultery. 15
- “You shall not steal. 16
- “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. 17
- “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.” NKJV
(By the way the Lord did not take one of these off the table! In fact, He intensified, murder and adultery and divorce! (Matt 5:21-32) He corrected an incorrect, legalistic application of the Sabbath that was used to intimidate, control and manipulate the flock, but the Sabbath, one day in seven, as a day of rest, worship, coming together in community to hallow Him and love one another, should still be a critical and important part of our lives.)
So. what are you going to do? As for me, I am going through the knot hole, or die trying! Well, now that I think about – either way I am going to die, it’s just a matter of choosing which death is preferable!