The Three-Nineteen
Teaching
Several
years ago, Steve Thompson of MorningStar Ministries in North Carolina put out a
tape of the month called “The 3:19 Teaching”.
Steve was driving along one day and he noticed his odometer was reading
“191919” so he asked the Lord what that meant, and the Lord said it meant
“three nineteens.” The Lord then gave
him three scripture references: Acts
3:19, Ephesians 3:19, and Hebrews 3:19.
Acts 3:19 "Therefore repent and return, so that
your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from
the presence of the Lord;
Ephesians 3:19 and to know the love of Christ which
surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.
Hebrews 3:19 So we see that they were not able to enter because
of unbelief.
Steve
said that when he got on a plane to fly to give this message that would be
taped as a tape of the month, the plane was an Airbus 319. He arrived at his destination at 3:19 pm,
and when he checked into his hotel, his room number was 318. (You want to avoid the last 3:19!)
I
was walking along a trail in the woods near our house shortly after I received
the tape listening to the message on my Walkman, and I wasn’t watching where I
was going. It was a good message and I
was listening to it for the second time.
The trail bordered a chain link fence for about half a mile, and one of
the upper fence pipes had come loose and was sticking out into the trail. I ran smack into it. It hit me on the left side of my head and
ripped off my glasses and my earphones and left me stunned and gingerly feeling
the side of my face to see if chunks were missing. There was no blood, much to my surprise. And when I got home, I could not find even a
hint of a scratch. The end of the pipe
had hit squarely on the earpiece of the glasses and miraculously had done no
damage whatsoever. I knew that only God
could have pulled that off, and I knew He wanted to get my attention. Unfortunately, I am too often like a horse
or a mule which must be steered by a bit in the mouth. So rather than speak with a still small
whisper which I might not be sensitive enough to catch, God sometimes clobbers
me in the head with a pipe. He had my
attention. At the time I wasn’t sure
what I needed to repent of.
I
knew that He loved me and that He only disciplines those He loves, so I had no
problem with God hitting me in the head with a pipe. But it wasn’t until a year or so later that I noticed that
Revelation 3:19 (another three-nineteen) speaks directly to the situation. Now I realize that He was telling me to step
it up --- to get more zealous about repentance.
Revelation 3:19 'Those whom I love, I reprove and
discipline; therefore be zealous and repent.
But
even before that, not long after the actual incident, God had brought another
three-nineteen into the picture. I had
just heard an old hymn for the first time, and I was learning the chords and
words when I suddenly realized it was hymn number 319 in my hymn book. The hymn was, “Jesus Keep Me Near the Cross.”
Near
The Cross
Jesus,
keep me near the cross
There
a precious fountain
Free
to all, a healing stream
Flows from Calv’ry’s
mountain
(chorus)
In the cross, in the
cross
Be my glory ever
Till my raptured soul
shall find rest beyond the river
Near the cross, a
trembling soul
Love and mercy found me
There the Bright and
Morning Star
Sheds its beams around
me (chorus)
Near the cross! O Lamb of God
Bring its scenes before
me
Help me walk from day to
day
With its shadows o’er
me (chorus)
Near the cross I’ll watch
and wait
Hoping, trusting ever
Till I reach the golden
strand
Just beyond the
river (chorus)
Words & Music by
Fanny J. Crosby and William H. Doane
The
message couldn’t be clearer. Anything
less than being filled to the fullness of Christ and entering fully into God’s
rest is unacceptable, particularly in these last days. God’s word to us is to be fervent and repent
so that we might be filled up to the fullness of Christ --- that we might rise
to the stature that God has provided for us in the shedding of Jesus’
blood. It’s about shedding our sins and
walking in purity. It’s not about
hanging on awaiting the rapture; it’s about appropriating God’s promises that
we might rise to the authority and power that God has in mind for us so that we
can stand firm and overcome the devil by enduring and laying down our lives if
so called. Any lesser vision apparently
deserves a crack in the head with a pipe so that we might wake up.
Jesus
keep me near the cross, even though I kick and squeal and wonder at times if
You’ve left me --- though I know You never will. I believe it is this trust in the depths of the seeming absence
of His explanation that pleases Him the most.
The “dark night of the soul” keeps us near the cross like none
other. Only the cross is worth glorying
in. When we look back on our lives, it
will have been the working of the cross in our lives that established the value
points. How the flesh hates that and
cries for relief. And how perplexing it
seems at times when the Lord keeps the hammer down --- and down --- and down some more. He keeps it down so long that you quit caring if He ever raises
it again. You get tired of kicking
against the goads and you just give up and give in. It’s too hard to swim against the current. Let His river carry you to its destination
which is the sea of His body where you will be fitted in as a living stone
conformed to His purposes.
Vern Kuenzi