He Takes Away That He Might Establish: A Message for Our Times

[Frank Viola]

The following is a transcript of a spoken message I delivered a number of years ago. The puncutation captures the spoken form. I trust that it will minister life to some of you during this season.

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The Psalmist said that the Lord made known His ways to Moses, but made known His acts to the children of Israel. We have a God that does not do anything arbitrarily. He is very deliberate in what He does. He has His own special ways of doing things. He has specific ways of dealing with His creation. It takes a lifetime to understand the ways of God. But the more we understand the ways of God, the more we understand who He is. For His ways give us insight into His nature and character.

I want to talk to you tonight about one particular way of the Lord. It is a way by which He deals with His church. And I hope it encourages you. But I am going to warn you. It is very easy to forget. So I am trusting that if I can deliver this message clearly that it will stick inside of you. Because it could mean life or death at some point in your life (spiritually). There will come a time in your life as individuals and as a church where this will mean survival. I think that this aspect of the Lord is little known among the Lord’s people today. It is the reason why most of God’s people are living in a charismatic fantasyland and why they get discouraged so easily.

I am going to speak from a verse in the NT. It is Hebrews 10:9:

He takes away the first that He may establish the second.

What I want to talk to you about tonight is summed up in this passage. He takes away that He might establish.


THE FIRST AND SECOND COVENANT


Let me give you the context here. The writer of Hebrews is talking about the Old Covenant. He is saying that God took away the Old Covenant to establish the New Covenant. He removed one to bring in the other. He took away all the ceremonies and all the sacrifices of the Old Covenant to establish the New Covenant which is embodied in Jesus Christ. Jesus is the substance of everything in the Old Covenant.

This concept is very difficult for a Jew to cope with. In the mind of an unsaved Jew, there is no such thing as a covenant that is better than the Old Covenant. But here the writer of Hebrews says, “He takes away the first covenant to establish the second covenant, and the second covenant is better than the first!” God takes away to establish, and what He establishes is always better than what He takes away. In fact, the word better is a word that is used over and over again throughout the book of Hebrews. We have a better sacrifice, better promises, a better hope, a better tabernacle, a better priesthood, and a better covenant.

Now I thank the Lord that I am not living in the Old Covenant. I do not have to go to the outer court and sling the blood of a goat or bull to get my sins forgiven. Praise the Lord for that! We have a spiritual sacrifice and we offer spiritual offerings. Under the Old Covenant, you had to gut an animal. You had to take the entrails (insides) out. You then had to add salt and honey. Then you had to burn this, cook that, flay this, boil that. It was a living nightmare! Praise the Lord we are not under that anymore!

Under the Old Covenant you were forbidden to mix fabrics. You could not mix wool and linen. When you plowed you could not plow with two different kinds of animals. The Old Covenant was filled with law after law, and it was bondage! But now we have a better covenant. And God took away the first covenant to establish this better covenant.

“He takes away that He might establish” is a principle that governs the way that God works with His people.


EVENING AND MORNING


Let us trace this principle throughout history. Let us go back to the creation of the earth and take a fresh look at how God created it. When God created the earth, it was formless and void. Darkness covered the waters. So the creation of the earth began with darkness. After the darkness, God said, “Let there be light.” Notice that the darkness preceded the light. The darkness came first.

When God begins something new, He always starts with darkness, not light. First the darkness, then the light. Darkness is the precursor of light. So He takes away the darkness that He might establish the light.

God then begins to create life forms on the earth. The Scripture says, “And the evening and the morning were the first day. And the evening and the morning were the second day. And the evening and the morning were the third day,” and on and on until the seventh day. Now what came first, evening or morning? Evening came first. God’s day starts with darkness, not light. It starts with the evening, and not the morning. And when the seventh day arrives, God rests. The Scripture does not say “and the evening and the morning were the seventh day.” On the seventh day, there is no evening and no morning. We are simply told that God ended His work and rested on the seventh day.

What caused God to rest? He saw His image and likeness in the earth, and then He rested. Behold, I show you a mystery. When God sees His image and His likeness in the earth, He can rest. He does not rest until He sees His image and likeness in the earth. But again, He starts with the evening and then comes the morning. He starts with darkness and then comes the light.

God’s beginnings start with evening. What we call the end of the day, God calls the beginning. In fact, every life form begins in darkness. Nine months of darkness for a human, and then it sees light. To put it another way, God’s beginnings are our nights. What we call the end, He calls the beginning. What may appear to be the end in your eyes is the beginning in God’s. Are you with me on this? Our day starts out in the morning with birds chirping, newspapers thrown on the lawn, and fresh coffee percolating. But God begins in the evening. He begins with darkness. And then He brings the morning . . . and the light.

So what does Genesis 1 teach us? It teaches us several things: First, God’s beginnings are always in darkness. The evening is where He starts, and then He moves to the morning. Second, what God does first is always followed by something better. If you look at the six days of creation and follow each day, you will discover that with each day of creation, life on earth gets higher and richer than the day before. Everyday there is more life. Everyday there is more light. In the beginning of the creation, we are told “and God saw that it was good.” By the end of creation, we are told “and it was very good.” So each day had gotten better. Again, we see a principle. God takes away to establish, and what He establishes is always better. He takes away the darkness to establish the light. He takes away the evening to establish the morning.


IN THE LIFE OF JOB


Let us move forward. We come now to Job—a man who really had a dark night. Here is a man who had great wealth. Here is a man who had friends. Here is a man who had many children. Here is a man who was blessed by God. He had wealth, possessions, a large family and friends. He was a blessed man. And what happened? God took it all away! I want you to be impressed by this. This happened suddenly without warning. An angel did not send Job an email saying, “Get ready, there is a big one coming!” God did not send him a fax saying, “Look out, Job, you are going to lose everything in one day!”

Have you ever read the story? In the same day Job lost his cattle, his crops, and his children. It appears that God was on vacation. This was Job’s dark night. God was silent, but He was not absent. The Lord was there throughout the ordeal, from beginning to end. In fact, He was actually behind it . . . allowing it. There was a shift between what was happening in the heavenlies and what was happening on earth. Job’s drama was being played out on a double stage. There were things happening of which he was completely unaware. Job was experiencing his evening . . . his darkness.

Brothers and sisters, let me remind you: The evening always has within it the promise of the morning! The night always has within it the promise of the day to come! When you go through the dark night, as a church or as an individual, remember that within the evening is the promise of a morning. “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning” (Ps. 30:5). God takes away that He might establish, and what He establishes is always better than what He takes away.

Job endured his evening. He was bombarded on every point to lose his faith in God . . . by pressure from his friends and from his own wife. Yet Job maintained his integrity. His words are so fitting. He said, “The Lord gave and the Lord took away.”

But saints, after the evening . . . after the night . . . there was a morning for Job. God gave back to Job everything he lost and more. Job received double what he lost. He received more children, he received more wealth, more cattle, and more crops. Not only that, but Job lived for one hundred and forty more years . . . and God blessed him. Now, whenever I read that account, I always think to myself what about the kids that are buried in Job’s backyard? What about them!? I have to believe that the Lord took the pain away, and Job lived a peaceful satisfied man. For the Scripture says God blessed him.

You have a God that takes away so that He may establish. And what He establishes is always better than that which He took away. So if you have something good in your life, be prepared for it to be taken away. But know this. If He takes it away, He is going to establish something far better.


IN THE LIFE OF JOSEPH


Let us move forward again. We come to Joseph the dreamer. Joseph was a young man who was part of a large family. He had a father who loved him very much. One day, God gave Joseph a dream. In it, Joseph saw his destiny. He was so excited about it that he began to brag to his brothers. A fatal mistake! What happened? He entered into darkness. His brothers threw him into a waterless pit . . . a place of darkness. And he was left there for dead. From there, he was promoted to a prison . . . on death row!

The Psalmist says that “the word of the Lord tried him as his soul fell into iron.” In other words, when Joseph was in prison, the word of the Lord was trying and testing him to see whether or not he was going to let go of the vision or believe it despite his circumstances. Joseph held to the vision until the end. Even though everything that was going on around him spoke the opposite.

Joseph finally had his morning. God brought him out of the prison and exalted him to be the ruler of Egypt. His family was restored. The hatred that his brothers had toward him turned to love. He regained his father and received more than what the Lord had taken away. The vision came to pass.

God takes away that He might establish, and what He establishes is always better.


IN THE LIVES OF MOSES AND AARON


We now move on to Moses and Aaron. The two men are leading the children of Israel in the wilderness. There arises a controversy about their leadership. Moses and Aaron are being challenged. God gets a bright idea and says, “Moses, I want you to take a rod from each of the leaders of the tribes of Israel . . . twelve rods. And I want you to put them in the tabernacle.” The rods were put in the Holy of Holies where only the high priest had access once a year. The Holy of Holies was the little room in the tabernacle where the presence of God rested on the ark of the covenant. The twelve rods were put behind the curtain in this room where there was no light. The only time that this room was lit up was when God appeared on top of the ark of the covenant and displayed His glory. Other than that, the room was utterly dark . . . pitch black.

And so the Lord says, “Take the rods and put them in the Holy of Holies in pure darkness for one whole night.” There was an evening. There was darkness. There was a night. Then the morning came and Moses took the rods out. Strikingly, one of them—Aaron’s rod—had budded! Life out of death. Life out of a dead stick. In the dark night something had happened. In the morning, there was resurrection. The dead rod had produced blossoms.

Brothers and sisters, evening is the time of death. It is the time of hopelessness and helplessness. But the evening is always followed by the morning, where there is resurrection. Every evening has a promise of the morning. “And the evening and the morning were the first day, the second day, the third day,” etc. Every night has within it the promise of a day. The Lord takes away that He might establish.


IN THE LIFE OF DAVID


We come now to David. David was a young boy in a seemingly functional family. Samuel, the heavy-duty prophet of that day, selected him out of all the young men. Samuel prophesied over David and anointed him to be king over all Israel. What a vision . . . what a destiny! What happened after that? Nothing! David was utterly ignored. Here he thought he was going to be a featured celebrity on TBN, have interviews with Charisma and Christianity Today, and become a household name. Instead, nothing happened! Absolutely nothing.

Then, something happened. Goliath. After David triumphed over Goliath and the Philistines, he attained instant popularity. People were singing the praises of David on the streets. Until God chose to take it all away. The next thing we learn, David is in the wilderness being hunted like an animal by king Saul. He has no friends, but has more enemies than he can count. This was a dark night for David. The evening had come to his life, and it lasted a long time. You can read all about it in the Psalms. David is despairing everywhere. But after the dark night, what happened? God took away the first King, Saul, and He established the second king, David.

He took away the first that He might establish the second. And when He establishes, it is always better. David was a better king than Saul. David’s night was over. His evening had passed. Then came the morning and the light. And it was very good.

Brothers and sisters, do you not understand that when God begins a new thing in your life as a church, or as an individual, He will first bring you into an evening. We have a Lord who always begins with the evening. He always begins in darkness. He takes away so that He can establish. And what He establishes is always better than what He takes away.

Look at Hosea 6:1-3:

Come, let us return to the Lord for He has torn, but He will heal us. He has smitten, and He will bind us up. After two days, He will revive us. And in the third day, He will raise us up and we shall live in His sight. And we shall know as we follow on to know the Lord His going forth is prepared as the morning . . .”What a beautiful passage. God tears us to heal us. He smites us to bind and revive us . . . on the third day . . . in the morning. He takes away that He might establish.


IN THE LIFE OF CHRIST


We come now to Jesus Christ. Think about our Lord’s birth. When Jesus was born, darkness covered the earth. When Jesus made His appearance on this planet, Israel was under the iron fist of the Romans. People were being oppressed and suppressed. It was a sad, dark time for God’s people. It was an evening. It was a dark night. And then the Light appeared. Christ came.

After living on the earth for thirty-three years, our Lord had a dark night in Gethsemane. It was there that He faced the reality of the horrible, devastating, catastrophic evening that awaited Him on Calvary. And He submitted to it. The writer of Hebrews says that the Lord “endured the cross for the joy that was set before Him.” Jesus knew that a glorious morning would follow His evening. He knew that the dawn would follow His dark night. This gave Him the power to endure.

But look over at the disciples . . . that is another story all together. I want to paint the scene for you. These are the associates on the Lord’s staff. These last three years have been cushy for them. They got their IRS taxes paid by going fishing. Whenever they were hungry, the Lord created food out of scraps. They were insulated from criticism and persecution. Jesus handled it all. They simply followed and observed. What a team to be on!

But Jesus forewarned the Twelve: “I will be taken away from you . . . but it is better that I be taken away. For if I am not taken away, the Spirit cannot come.” Jesus told the disciples of John the Baptist, “My disciples do not fast when the Bridegroom is here. But when He is taken away, then they will fast and they will mourn.”

Well, the Lord was taken away. And what did the disciples do? They went back to their old life. I am sure they were thinking, “It’s over. We followed Him for three years, and He let them kill Him! We had the promise of all that He said would happen, and where are we now?”

The Lord forewarned them that they would experience sorrow. But their sorrow would one day be turned to joy. When we are in the dark night, we are not thinking about the morning. We are not thinking about the day.


A WOMAN IN LABOR


The Lord used a parable once about the woman who was in labor. Consider this woman. She is pregnant. This is darkness for her. Sickness in the morning. Violent vomiting. She has to get a new wardrobe. It matters not what she wears, she still feels fat. The curves have vanished. Now there are stretch marks! It does not matter how she sits, she still cannot get comfortable. She cannot wear her “two piece” for the summer! It is a dark night for her. And then the labor. I have no idea how cataclysmic the pain must be. But I have heard the screams firsthand. Talk about darkness! Talk about pain! Talk about suffering!

But what did the Lord say about this? When the woman finishes her travail and the baby is born, she remembers her pain no more! She forgets everything . . . even the nasty things that came out of her mouth while she was screaming! The memory is erased because the child is born and the morning has come. The night is forgotten. He takes away to establish, and what He establishes is always better. This is our Lord.

The disciples forgot this when their Lord was taken from them. They experienced a dark night. Those three days seemed like an eternity for them. There was no hope on the horizon.

Remember the parable of the old wineskin and the new wineskin? God is going to take away the old wineskin so that He can deposit His new wine. But He needs a new wineskin. So the Lord tampers with our wineskins. He wrecks them if He can. He destroys the old wineskin to give His new wineskin. That is why there are changes in church life. Because the Lord wants to deposit new wine. And the new wine is better than the old wine.

You cannot exhaust the wine of Christ. Consequently, He has to tamper with our wineskin now and then. He has to tear it down. Because old wineskins burst with the entrance of new wine. They do not give. They do not stretch. Thus the Lord must take away the old to establish that which is new. And what He establishes is always better than what He takes away.

This is the way in which our Lord works. First darkness, then light. First evening, then morning. First death, then life. What you call the end of the day, God calls the beginning. We have a seasonal God. He works in seasons in our lives individually and in our life as a church. We have winter, spring, summer, and fall. Winters are the hardest. Sometimes you do not just have a winter, you have a blizzard! God goes on vacation. But just remember this. It will come to an end. The Lord will bring a church through winter. But spring is around the corner. Then summer. Then another winter awaits, only to be followed by another spring.


THE FIRST AND SECOND BORN


I am going to close this message with an illustration. All throughout Scripture, God’s choice is always with the second born, not with the first born. Adam had two sons: Cain and Abel. Cain was the first born, and Abel was the second born. God took away Cain, and put His favor on Abel.

Abraham’s first born was Ishmael. But God took away Ishmael, the first born, and put His favor on Isaac, the second born. Isaac had two sons: Esau and Jacob. “Jacob have I loved. Esau have I hated.” Esau was the first born; Jacob was the second born. God took Esau out of the race to establish Jacob, who fulfilled His purpose. God’s choice rested upon the second, not the first.

Joseph had two sons: Manasseh and Ephraim. Manasseh was the first born; Ephraim was the second born. God rejected Manasseh and put His favor on Ephraim.

David had a first born son with Bathsheba, and God literally took that child away. But the second born was Solomon who had the favor of the Lord and was given the kingdom.

Our Lord is not a fan of the first born. When God judged Egypt, the last plague that fell upon the nation was the death of all the first born sons. But the second born sons were not in danger. Why does God reject the first born and favor the second born?

We have a clue in 1 Corinthians 15:46-47:

That which is first is not spiritual, but natural. But that which comes after the first is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthly; the second man is the Lord from heaven.

God took away the first man, Adam, and put him out of his misery. He then established the second man, Jesus Christ.

Our first birth was a birth into Adam. We inherited his nature and incurred his judgment. Therefore, God rejects our first birth. It is our second birth . . . our birth into Christ . . . our birth from above . . . that God accepts. He takes away the first that He might establish the second, and the second is always better.

So my word of encouragement is that when you are going through the dark night—when you are in your evening—that is not the end. It is the beginning. Get behind the eyes of your Lord and remember how He works. The night, the evening, and the darkness are promises of a new day. If you can hold this in your heart, it will change your life.

Orignally Posted: http://frankviola.wordpress.com/

[Mom of three]

Frank, this was incredibly encouraging. We just found out today that my husband is losing his job. The future looks pretty scary. Thanks for the reminder that God specializes in glowing sunrises after dark nights.