A Word for the Church: The Fighting Vigil

I love watching documentaries, though I haven't for a while; time is scarce these days. I remember watching one about a pride of lions a video journalist had followed in Africa. There were a few male lions and several lionesses, and over the course of the documentary, we journeyed through the calm, sunlit resting periods as well as the hungry, prey-stalking periods.

At one point, there was a scene where a male lion challenged another male to get to his lionesses. 

And nope, that did not go over well. That did not go over well at all. 

The defensive lion was angry. He bellowed his rage in quite a spectacular, echoing roar, and when the attacking male lion tried to bypass him, he charged, and the two rolled and bit and clawed and slashed. The scene made me tense (I don't like watching animals get hurt -- often a by-product of watching documentaries), but I wanted to see who won.

Eventually, the attacking lion ran off, limping and bleeding, and the victorious big cat returned to his vigil as he guarded his lionesses. 

Exodus 12:31-51 records the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt. The tenth plague breaks Pharaoh. A genocide of firstborns sweeps across his nation, and he can no longer stand up in defiant opposition against God. He's discovered his own dead son, and he's had enough. No more bartering, no more haggling a la: "Your men can go, but keep back your women and children and flocks and herds."

Now it's: "Get. Out!" Or, as he puts it: "Up! Leave my people, you and the Israelites! Go, worship the Lord as you have requested. Take your flocks and herds, as you have said, and go." 

And then he tacks this on: "And also... bless me."

Which... is hard to swallow. I can feel the retort swelling up inside me: "Uh, you're the one who not only kept this people in slavery, but you also ordered your slave drivers to oppress -- even more than they were already doing -- this people. You had nine chances to make it right. Bless you? I don't think so."

The Scripture doesn't say what Moses' response is to this statement. Maybe he ignores it. Haste seems to be the order of business here, not revenge.

Because as soon as Pharaoh tells Moses and Aaron to leave... they do. They run back to the Israelites, and the entire nation is packed up and ready to go. They've eaten their Passover meal with "their cloaks tucked into their belts, their sandals on their feet, and their staffs in their hands" (Exodus 12:11). When Moses arrives in Goshen, the Israelites grab their dough that's not even baked yet (and hasn't had yeast added, so it's going to be flat). They toss it in kneading troughs, wrap the troughs in clothing to keep the dough from drying out, and they put it on their shoulders.

Then they march. On their way out, they ask watching Egyptians for money, articles of value. And the Egyptians rake through their houses, bringing everything they have and giving it to the Israelites. "The Lord had made the Egyptians favorably disposed toward the people, and they gave them what they asked for; so [the Israelites] plundered the Egyptians."

These people were desperate to get rid of this accursed nation who had ruined them. "Get. Out!" Take our silver, take our gold; you want clothes, too? Here's a closet-full. Just leave us!

So the Israelites do. They make camp in Succoth (not terribly far removed from Rameses where they begin their exodus). This was interesting: "There were about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides women and children. Many other people went up with them, as well as large droves of livestock, both flocks and herds" (Exodus 12:37). So it seems that some Egyptians, possibly, were interested in leaving behind their ruined country and throwing in their lot with Israel. There's no mention (that I can find) of whether these people only journeyed to Succoth and then left them, or if they went with them further. It's possible they were Israelite sympathizers who were only going with them to "see them off." 

Here's what stood out to me about this whole exodus from Egypt: "At the end of 430 years, to the very day, all the Lord's divisions left Egypt. Because the Lord kept vigil that night to bring them out of Egypt, on this night all the Israelites are to keep vigil to honor the Lord for the generations to come" (Exodus 12:42).

Does God ever turn His back? Nope. Can you ever surprise God? Nope. Can you ever close your blinds, hide under your bed, and blink without God knowing about it? No. 

Why not? He keeps vigil over us. "He will not let your foot slip -- He who watches over you will not slumber; indeed, He who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord watches over you" (Psalm 121:3-5).

I looked up the definition of the word vigil. Google tells me that the word means: "A period of keeping awake during the time usually spent asleep, especially to keep watch or pray."

God doesn't sleep and God knows and sees, but this is a special knowing and seeing. This is a carefully directed attention. This is a keeping watch with active intent: I see you, and I am watching out for you. It's a fighting vigil -- everyone stay back: this one is Mine.

Hagar flees into the wilderness after Sarai mistreats her, and an angel of the Lord finds her and tells her she is pregnant with Abram's son. This news -- in essence -- saves her. She is giving birth to the son of a great chieftain. She will be taken care of. "She gave this name to the Lord Who spoke to her: 'You are the God Who sees me,' for she said, 'I have now seen the One Who sees me'" (Genesis 16:13)

God keeps vigil over Hagar. He didn't stand disinterestedly off in the distance, watching her run away. He is involved, even when she doesn't know it. Even when she feels abandoned and abused. He intentionally keeps vigil over her.

This morning, I was reading in Revelation 2:18-29 -- the letter to the church in Thyatira. I didn't intend to go there, but that's where I ended up, and here's why I think the Holy Spirit took me there:

"I know your deeds, your love and faith, your service and perseverance, and that you are now doing more than you did at first" (Revelation 2:19).

This is a church that does great things, right? It's the type of church that we strive to be. We want to do great things. We look around at our communities and we seek out ways to help. Who are the poor? Let's help them. Who are the oppressed? Let's get involved in reconciliation. Who are the underserved? Let's serve them. All the things Christ asks of us in Matthew 25:35-36 ("For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me") -- we strive to do.

Good for us. We're a good church. Give us a gold star.

But there's a rancid little fly in the ointment: "Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols. I have given her time to repent of her immorality, but she is unwilling. So I will cast her on a bed of suffering, and I will make those who commit adultery with her suffer intensely, unless they repent of her ways. I will strike her children dead. Then all the churches will know that I am He Who searches hearts and minds, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds."

This church, the same church that has done great things in the name of love and faith and service and perseverance -- is the same church that has shown tolerance for paganism. Idolatry. Sexual immorality. Food sacrificed to idols. All things about which the Scriptures are clear. 

They've taken the good and buried the bad beneath a blanket of tolerance, and the Lord has seen it. He's kept vigil over them, and He doesn't miss a beat. 

Jesus speaks again: "To the rest of you in Thyatira, to you who do not hold to [Jezebel's] teaching and have not learned Satan's so-called deep secrets (Gnosticism taught that in order to defeat the enemy, one had to experience evil deeply): Only hold on to what you have until I come."

Only hold on to what you have until I come.

Y'all, this same battle that raged in Thyatira's church is raging in our churches today: tolerance of evil, this skewed warped view that in order to reach the lost, we need to become lost ourselves in order to empathize with the lost. It's the compassionate thing to do. We don't want anyone to feel uncomfortable in their lost-ness.

No. N-o.

There is nothing in Scripture that talks about compromise with the world. There's plenty about compassion and love; there's loads about grace and forgiveness -- but all of the Word calls us to holiness: out of darkness, into His wonderful light. "Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more." Out of darkness. Into His light.

An exodus from slavery into freedom. An exodus while the Lord keeps vigil. While the Lord watches to make a distinction between Israel and Egypt, between the sheep and the goats.

I feel like this is a hard truth. It shouldn't be, but it is. I look around and see the many ways Jezebel's teachings are still threading through the church. It's thousands and thousands of years after the woman lived. Why are they still here?

Because the same one who taught Jezebel her philosophy of life is still present in the world today, still waging the same war against God, and will continue until Jesus comes again.

So, as Jesus Himself says: "Only hold on to what you have until I come." Cling to it. When the world seems to tilt sideways and you wonder if you're supposed to tilt with it, don't.

The Lord watches over you; He does not slumber or sleep. The Lion of Judah stands against the roaring lion seeking to devour. He watches out for us. We can rest in peace. But we can't compromise with the enemy in the meantime. We can't stay in Egypt.

"He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches" (Revelation 2:29). Oh Jesus, let us hear Your voice.