Going "All In" for God

After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James, and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves.  There he was transfigured before them.  His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. Just then, there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus.  Peter said to Jesus, "Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters--one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah."  While he was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased. Listen to Him!"  When the disciples heard this, they fell face down to the ground, terrified.  But Jesus came and touched them. "Get up," He said. "Don't be afraid." (Matthew 17.1-7)

Here's a story I would have loved to be a part of.  How fortunate those three disciples were when Jesus went up before them and that they witnessed the Blessing of God being bestowed on Jesus.  The whole thing was full of meaning, every detail full of significance.  Just as the firstborn of the Jews received a blessing (remember Jacob stealing Esau's blessing?), Jesus received validation from His Father.  And to prove it, God arranged for there to be six witnesses: three from this world, and three from Heaven. (God was witness to this event, too.)  The Jewish tradition was that if two or more witnesses could agree on the events, then their testimony was deemed admissible in a court of law.

The Spirit witnesses included Moses, the Law-giver, the one man that the Jews looked up to the most.  He was there as a representative of the Old Covenant, and the promise of Salvation.  Also present as a witness from Heaven was Elijah, whom the Jews would recognize as the Restorer of All Things.  Malachi 4.5-6 says "See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful Day of the Lord comes.  He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers; or else I will come and strike the land with a curse."  This is why the Jews, to this day, always send someone outside just prior to the Passover meal, to see if Elijah has come.

This is explained further in Matthew 17.10-12: "The disciples asked Him, 'Why then do the teachers of the Law say that Elijah must come first?'  Jesus replied, 'To be sure, Elijah comes and will restore all things.  But I tell you, Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but have done to him everything they wished.  In the same way, the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands.' "  In this way, he was likening John the Baptist to Elijah.

Here is a fun fact: Moses' work had been completed by Joshua, a name that means "the Lord saves".  Elijah's work was completed by Elisha, a name that means "God saves."  The two names have similar meaning, and are therefore forms of each other (as in today, the names John, Juan, and Sean all come from the same root).  The name Jesus is the Roman form of the Hebrew name Jeshua.  Again, it means "The Lord Saves", and is similar to Joshua and Elisha.

Follow me here.  Clutch, because I am shifting gears.  I'll get back to the point eventually, I promise.  I grew up in a strict Baptist house, where gambling was strongly discouraged.  As a result, I never learned to play Poker.  But in 1978, Kenny Rogers had a hit song called The Gambler, which showed that life lessons can be learned from gambling.  "You've got to know when to hold 'em, and know when to fold 'em.  Know when to walk away, and know when to run."

I still don't know all the terminology, even though online gambling sites have made Texas Hold 'Em more popular now that it was when Kenny Rogers cut that record.  I think that a "river" is a flowing body of water; I think that a "flop" is something that fish do when you take them out of the river.  But some Poker terms I do know are "Up the Ante", "Double Down", and "Go All In."  And this is where we get back to the three Spiritual Heroes in the story.

Moses was up against Pharaoh.  Nine times Moses upped the ante, and nine times Pharaoh folded.  But Moses didn't leave the game.  He kept on going, confident that the cards he was holding would beat Pharaoh's hand.  That was faith.  Would that I had that much perseverance, that much focus.  I would have wimped out on the first hand.  "Mr. Pharaoh, would you please let us go make a sacrifice to God? No? Okay, have a nice day."  But Moses kept at it, and each time, it cost the Egyptians a little bit more, so that finally, on the tenth hand, Moses not only won the right to go three days' journey into the wilderness; he won complete freedom from Egyptian oppression.  See, if you hang in there, and stick with it, you will get more than you bargained for.

Elijah was up against the prophets of Baal.  He arranged for a contest, a face-off of one man and his God against 450 prophets and their false god.  In I Kings chapter 18, we read about the duel: two altars were set up, and two bulls were slaughtered as sacrifices.  Elijah challenged his opponents to call upon their god and have fire come down and consume their sacrifice.  Then he would do the same, and whichever god responded would be the real god, and the people would worship him.  So the prophets of Baal called out.  They danced around.  They begged and pleaded.  They even cut themselves.  Nothing happened.  Then Elijah started taunting them: "Maybe your god is asleep, or maybe he is relieving himself.  Call louder."  They made fools of themselves from morning until mid-day, and nothing happened.  Then Elijah called the people to himself, and doubled-down on the wager.  He had the men dig a trench around his altar.  He asked for four barrels of water to be poured over his offering. Then he said, "Do it again".  And after they had drenched it the second time, he asked them to do it a third time.  A total of twelve barrels of water had been poured over his offering and the wood beneath it; it was so drenched that the water ran off and filled the trench they had dug.  Then Elijah said a simple prayer to the God of Israel, and fire did come down from heaven.  It consumed the bull sacrifice; it consumed the wood; it even consumed all the water in the trench, as well as the stones and the soil that the altar had been made of.  God, give me that kind of faith--where I am so confident in my hand that I will double down on the bet, knowing that You are able to pay off in the end.

Finally, not to stretch the point too thin, but Jesus went all-in by offering Himself as a sacrifice for our sins.  He did not hold back; He did not fold. He went all-in.  And there may come a time when He asks us to do the same.  Will we be ready? Will we be willing? Will we be able to offer ourselves on that altar?

There are three reasons that we might not be.  First, we may not like the odds; the deck may appear to be stacked against us.  Wasn't this what Moses felt when he and his brother stood in the presence of Pharaoh?  Pharaoh had wealth, riches, power and a standing army with horses and chariots.  Moses had a rag-tag group of slaves behind him, and a staff to hold on to.  But he knew what God had told him to do, so he went all-in.

Second, we may not like our cards.  We may look at the hand we have been dealt, and think "what if they have a stronger hand?"  The thing about gambling, and about life, is that it entails risk.  We don't see what the other guy has.  We don't want to lose, or be humiliated in any way, so we fold.  We pick up our chips and go home.  Elijah could have done this.  At one point after the fire from heaven episode, Elijah was so discouraged that he asked God "Am I the only one still with you?"  And God had to show him that no, he was not alone.  What he had done on Mount Carmel had made a difference, and there were hundreds in Israel that had not worshipped the Baal.  But when it counted, Elijah took a chance, and the result was that God was able to show His power over other gods.

The third reason we may be hesitant to go all-in is that it will stop the game.  We won't be able to play after that--either we will win, or we will lose our shirt, but the game will not go on after this hand.  Some of us like the game; we're good at it.  We like to tease others a little bit, show a little of our hand, but keep the Ace in the Hole. We wish the Game would go on forever, so we wouldn't ever have to face real life.  This is what Peter thought when he saw Moses and Elijah there--he asked Jesus if he could build three shrines, one for each of the spiritual giants on the mountain top.  After that, they would never leave; and Peter, James and John could visit them whenever they felt like it.  But God had other plans.  He knew that for His ultimate plan of Salvation to come to fruition, Jesus would have to come down off the mountain and offer Himself as a sacrifice.  So God interrupted Peter and said, "This is My Son; shut up and listen to Him!"

We all love that mountain-top experience.  We all want the spiritual high to last forever.  But Jesus has other plans.  When the three disciples fell on their faces before Him, Jesus put His hands on them and told them to get up, to not be afraid.  He is telling us the same thing--have faith in Him.  Go out into the World and do good.  And when you get placed in a situation where you have to face off against Evil, raise the stakes, double down and go all in for God.  He will bless you for it.