Gideon and the Rapture
There are numerous lessons that we can learn from the story of Gideon, but one of my favorite pictures that is painted is about the resurrection. No, Gideon was not brought back to life after meeting his demise, nor were any other people in this story. In fact, there is a lot of death and destruction contained in these pages.
Let's start in the book of Judges and in Chapter seven.
Gideon was leading an army of 32,000 Israelite men. The enemy were the Midianites and the Amalekites, and were described in verse 12 as being "...as numerous as locusts; and their camels were without number, as the sand by the seashore in multitude."
That's a lot more than 32,000 men. Now Gideon was a nobody that was recruited by our God for this task. He had no military history, nor was he a renowned general. And even if he had been; it would still be akin to suicide to engage in such a lop-sided battle. Then in verse 2 things really get interesting.
[2] "And the LORD said to Gideon, 'the people who are with you are too many for Me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel claim glory for itself against Me saying, "My own hand has saved me"
[3] Now therefore, proclaim in the hearing of the people, saying, 'Whoever is fearful and afraid, let him turn and depart at once from Mount Gilead.' And twenty-two thousand of the people returned, and ten thousand remained.
[4] But the LORD said to Gideon, 'The people are still too many; bring them down to the water and I will test them for you there. Then it will be, that of whom I say to you, ‘This one shall go with you,’ the same shall go with you; and of whomever I say to you, ‘This one shall not go with you,’ the same shall not go.”
[5] So he brought the people down to the water. And the LORD said to Gideon, “Everyone who laps from the water with his tongue, as a dog laps, you shall set apart by himself; likewise everyone who gets down on his knees to drink.”
[6] And the number of those who lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, was three hundred men; but all the rest of the people got down on their knees to drink water. Then the LORD said to Gideon, 'By the three hundred men who lapped I will save you, and deliver the Midianites into your hand. Let all the other people go, every man to his place.' "
So Gideon's army; that is vastly outnumbered, is whittled down to 10,000 men, and then down to a mere 300.
If the upcoming battle seemed suicidal before then this would be in the realm of insanity.
But, after sneaking into the enemy camp, and hearing the recounting of an encouraging dream; Gideon made final preparations for the battle.
"Then he divided the three hundred men into three companies, and put a trumpet [shofar] into every man's hand, with empty pitchers, and torches inside the pitchers" (Verse 16).
This seems to me to be a very strange load-out for going into battle.
[19] "So Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the outpost of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, just as they had posted the watch; and they blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers that were in their hands.
[20] Then the three companies blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers – they held the torches in their left hands and the trumpets in their right hands for blowing – and they cried, 'The sword of the LORD and of Gideon!'
[21] And every man stood in his place all around the camp; and the whole army ran and cried out and fled.
[22] When the three hundred blew the trumpets, the LORD set every man's sword against his companion throughout the whole camp; and the army fled…"
What a spectacular battle!
But what does this have to do with the first resurrection?
Well, Yeshua bids us to: “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. “Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it" (Matthew 7:13-14, NKJV).
And in Matthew 20:16 He tells us that "Many are called but few are chosen"
32,000 people were called to join the battle, and only 300 were chosen. That’s 0.94%. Less than 1% of the people that were called were chosen. That is very few indeed.
Out of all the humans that have ever lived and died on this earth; only 144,000 will be in the first resurrection.
Revelation 7:4 NKJV — "And I heard the number of those who were sealed. One hundred and forty-four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel were sealed."
Revelation 14:1 NKJV — "Then I looked, and behold, a Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with Him one hundred and forty-four thousand, having His Father’s name written on their foreheads."
Revelation 14:3 NKJV — "They sang as it were a new song before the throne, before the four living creatures, and the elders; and no one could learn that song except the hundred and forty-four thousand who were redeemed from the earth."
There are currently an estimated 8.1 billion people alive at this moment. This is likely more than have ever been alive at any given time in history. But including all who have lived in the last 6,000 years the total number might well be as high as 100 billion (100,000,000,000).
Now the vast majority of these people have never been exposed to the truth, or had a genuine chance to choose to worship their Creator. Most of these people have never even been "called," and of the ones who have been called, far fewer have been chosen to be in the first resurrection.
The rest of these people are going to be resurrected as well, but that is another resurrection and another subject.
The story of Gideon can provide us a sober reminder of how precious this calling is that we have received. And furthermore, encourage us to live in such a way that we will be chosen.
So why was the army whittled down from 10,000 to 300? And why does the 300 represent the 144,000? In scripture, quite often the first time a number is introduced the context signifies the meaning of the number. The first time the number 300 is mentioned is in Genesis 5:22, "Enoch walked with God three hundred years." Therefore the number 300 represents walking with our God. This is why this number of people is used to paint a picture of those who will be in the first resurrection.
The manner of the test is interesting also. Those who bowed down to the water and drank like dogs were sent home. Those who lifted the water in their hands and drank with upraised eyes, were chosen. They were alert and paying attention to the things going on around them “Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming" (Matthew 24:22 NKJV).
Furthermore, our God does not ask us to come as we are. He demands that we change, He elevates us out of the pond water.
But there are a lot more beautiful pictures contained in the story than just that.
At the blast of the trumpets carried by Gideon and his men, the clay pitchers that they held were broken, and the light hidden within them was revealed!
1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 NKJV — "For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord."
This is describing the first resurrection, which will take place at the voice of the trumpet
1 Corinthians 15:51-52 NKJV — "Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed— in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed."
So at the blast of the trumpet we shall be changed. Our physical bodies cannot be in the presence of the Father, but as we saw above in Revelation 14:3, the 144,000 will stand before the throne on the sea of glass.
Our physical bodies will be broken when we are changed, just as the clay pitchers were.
After all, we were made of dust, and to dust we shall return.
But when our clay bodies are broken, the light of our Messiah dwelling in us will be revealed.
Psalm 36:9 NKJV — "For with You is the fountain of life; In Your light we see light."
John 8:12 NKJV — "Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”
Ephesians 5:14 NKJV — "Therefore He says: “Awake, you who sleep, Arise from the dead, And Christ will give you light.”
Beautiful!
In the parable of the 10 virgins in Matthew 25, the Bridegroom came at midnight to get his bride(s). And Gideon's army blew the trumpets just as the middle watch had been posted. The middle watch would have included midnight, and likely a few hours on either side of it.
Another point that the story of Gideon makes is that the victory came when the trumpets were blown, and the clay vessels were broken. The three hundred men did not need to slay the enemies by their own hand. Victory came from and through our Messiah. Just as when the 144,000 follow Him on white horses returning to the earth in Revelation 19:14-15.
This story of Gideon’s defeat of the enemy provides us some spectacular parallels to the first resurrection. It is things like this in the Bible that show that it is not just a book written by men. Mankind could never have invented these types and patterns, and thought to include them.
"Do not rejoice over me, my enemy;
When I fall, I will arise;
When I sit in darkness,
The LORD will be a light to me"
(Micah 7:8, NKJV).
Great work! Loved this post, great representation of the fact that many are called but few are chosen.
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