Gideon #2: The Preeminence of the Lord Jesus Christ — Ed Miller

I'll ask you to open the Judges chapter 6, please, if you would. As we come to the study of God's Word, there's a principle of Bible study that's absolutely indispensable. A principle we can't take for granted, ever.

We can't live without it. God will use many, many principles as you study the Bible. He'll use many, many helpful tools and helpful aids. But there's only one thing indispensable, and that is total reliance upon God's Holy Spirit.

The Lord desires to reveal Himself. Let me give you a couple of verses. First, I want to give you one verse concerning the Lord, and then a prayer request that I have, and I'll ask you to join me in it.

Isaiah 30, verse 18 says, The Lord longs to be gracious unto you. That oppresses truth. The Lord longs to be gracious unto you, and therefore He waits on high to have compassion on you. And then the verse ends, How blessed are all those who long for Him.

What a glorious verse. Isaiah 30, verse 18. Sometimes I don't know what to pray, and so I pray in the very words of Scripture. Because I know I'm on inspired ground when I pray in the very words of Scripture.

And what I'd like you to pray for me today is, actually there are two verses. Paul asked for prayer. So this is inspired. Two times he used the expression, As I ought to speak. He said, pray that I might speak as I ought to speak.

One time he said, I'm paraphrasing now. I'll give you the verse in a moment. One time he said, When I speak, I will be speaking the mystery of the Gospel. Pray for me that I might speak as I ought to speak when I talk about the mystery of the Gospel.

And the second time he said, Pray for me because I'll be speaking about the mystery of Christ. Here's the exact verse. Ephesians 6, 19 and 20. Pray on my behalf that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth.

To make known with boldness the mystery of the Gospel. And then in Colossians 4, verses 3 and 4, he says, Praying for us so that we might speak forth the mystery of Christ, that I may make it clear as I ought to speak.

Two times, as I ought to speak. And he says, When I come to the mystery of the Gospel, pray that I might say it boldly as I ought to speak. And when he came to the mystery of Christ, he said, Pray for me that I might make it clear as I ought to speak.

Brothers, I'm asking you to pray as Paul requested. That utterance may be given to me as I open my mouth. And as I touch on the mystery of the Gospel, that I might speak it boldly as I ought to speak.

And as I touch on the mystery of Christ, that I might speak it clearly as I ought to speak. Now, we're not going to understand the mystery of the Gospel because I shoot straight. And we're not going to see the mystery of Christ because I make it simple.

We're going to see it if God opens our eyes, opens our heart, and lets us hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches. It's the Lord that must show us Christ. There's no way in the world, all the academics in the world are not going to unveil Him.

Only He can unveil Himself. And He waits on high to have compassion. He longs to reveal Himself. It's His pleasure, He said, to reveal His Son. And so with those encouragements, will you bow with me and let's ask the Lord to meet with us.

Our Father, we thank You again that we're not on our own as we come to this precious book. But Thy Holy Spirit lives in us, in our lives, in our hearts to search the depths of God and to make us know the things of Christ.

Lord, I ask that You would give me utterance as I open my mouth that I might speak the mystery of the Gospel boldly, the mystery of Christ clearly. We do pray for Your anointing on our hearts, on our ears and on this precious book.

Watch over Your Word to perform it. We ask in the precious name of our Lord Jesus. Amen. I ask you to turn to Judges 6 as we continue our archaeological dig. When you look into these Old Testament histories of redemption and you begin to sweep off the facts and see that God has fossilized everlasting truth, treasures in some of these old histories.

Gideon and the Blessing of the Lord's Presence

Just for interest, are there some brothers that were not here last night? Quite a few, all right. Then the other brothers, bear with me just a moment as we get again the burden and just review a little bit of what we looked at last evening.

We're looking at a very precious truth from God's Word and it's illustrated from a very precious portion of God's Word. The truth in a sentence is this, that there's blessing in the presence of the Lord.

That's the great truth and the theme that we're looking at this weekend. The illustration of that truth is, at least for our purposes, the fifth judge in the book of Judges. We're looking at the life of Gideon.

We're looking at the hand of the Lord in the life of Gideon. This son of Joash from the tribe of Manasseh. Gideon was a man whose heart beat hot for the body, for all the tribes, for the people of God, for God's flock, for God's children.

Because of sin, they had forfeited the presence of the Lord. And when they lost the presence of the Lord, they lost the blessing of the Lord because there's no blessing apart from the presence of the Lord.

Judges chapter 6, verses 1 -6 describes the pitiful condition that God's people fell into because they lost the sensible presence of the Lord. God had raised up because they turned away from Him a rod, a chastening, a strap of three cords, the Midianites, the Amalekites, and the sons of the east.

And God used that oppressor in order to bring God's people low. And they were brought low. If you look at the first six verses of chapter 6, you see that God's people had been reduced to living in caves, in the holes of the earth, in the ground, like animals, like rodents.

They were running into the hills away from the enemy. They had become scavengers just to exist. They had turned from living to surviving. Gideon knew that the redeemed were redeemed for a higher life than that.

And as he looked around and saw the people of God, it just broke his heart. He didn't know what to do. He wanted to help them. He wanted to serve them. He wanted the enemy driven out, and God's people allowed to come back from the darkness and into the light of God.

He longed for that. And because he didn't know what to do, he came up with a program. And from dawn to dusk, every day, he began to beat wheat against the rock and try to eke out an existence for himself, for his family, for his neighbors, and for the people of God.

But as the story goes on, glorious day, God looked down from heaven, and God saw this man with a burden for God's people. He wanted to be a blessing, but he didn't know what to do. And so the second person of the Godhead, the one who is now at the right hand of God, came down in the person of the angel of the Lord and stood by this man as he was beating wheat against the rocks, the side of the winepress in the foothills.

The Lord, the angel of the Lord, addressed Gideon with these words, The Lord is with you. And he knew that, and that's why he was blessed. But he looked around at all the people, and he acknowledged to the angel, Yes, the Lord's with me, but the Lord, you've withdrawn your presence from them.

And though he knew that, that the Lord was with him and the Lord wasn't with them, and that he was blessed because he had God's presence, and they were not blessed because they did not have the Lord's presence, though he knew that, he didn't know it.

He knew it, but he didn't know it. And God had to teach him what he already knew, as God often has to teach us, what we already know. He knew the facts. He knew the principle. But God had to teach him again.

Now, I'm convinced in my heart of hearts that this weekend, the truths that I'm going to share, and the concepts, and the realities, and the principles, I'm convinced you already know them. You're not going to hear that for the first time today.

I think you've heard it many times and probably have taught these very truths. But sometime, God has to teach us again what we already know. And I'm talking about the truth in its organic form, the truth as it is in Jesus, not the truth as it is in an abstract way and separated from the Lord Jesus.

God knows how to quicken us. The truth that God's presence is the secret of God's blessing, that's so obvious. But it's not so obvious. And Gideon had to relearn that truth. God in His grace was teaching them.

If he's ever going to be the channel through which the blesser can bless his people, then he must allow God to take him deep into that truth, the truth of the presence of the Lord. I tried to show you last night that the starting point for Gideon, and we're following Gideon, the starting point of that instruction was Gideon's, the grace he was given to lay down every attempt to bless in any other way than through the presence of the Lord.

Gideon did that. He took that which represented his service. He took that which represented his work, his ministry, his labor, his burden for the people of God. And you know the story. He laid it down on a rock before the Lord, before the angel of the Lord.

And then as we continued the story, we saw the angel of the Lord reach out the rod, the staff that was in his hand. And he touched that ministry, that offering. And in a cloud of smoke and in a moment of time, everything that Gideon had tried to do to bless God's people was a pile of ashes.

That's the start there. And Gideon began by laying it all down before the Lord. He was burdened for the body because they had been reduced to cave dwelling and living in darkness. He wanted them blessed.

He wanted God to send down his dew from heaven. And God answered his prayer. And this is where we left off last evening. How does God answer? You'd expect since Israel, the people of God, have the problem that God would begin by dealing with Israel.

But Gideon's the one with the passion to bless. And Gideon's the one with the burden to see something happen so that God's people can be delivered from the oppressor and come out and live as they were redeemed to live.

And so we see in the story, God does not begin by dealing with Israel. But he says, Gideon, you want to be a blessing? Then I must deal with you. And God begins then to deal with this precious man, Gideon.

And I'm suggesting, brothers, if we're ever to be those channels of blessing. I pray you do have a burden for the body. Because it's sad how they're living. It's sad. It's pitiful. It should break your heart.

If you have that burden, then like he did to Gideon, he's going to call you and say, now you come into my presence. I want us to watch this weekend as how the Lord deals with this precious brother and invites him into his heart.

And the closer Gideon gets to the Lord, you look back and something's happening to the enemy. And Gideon goes further into the Lord and something else happens to the enemy. And Gideon goes further into the Lord and something happens to the people and they start coming out of the caves.

This is the great message that's on my heart that I want to discharge God assisting. Let me review the simple outline that we're following for those that like logical connection and then we'll move to our new material.

God's Invitation to Enter the Preeminence of Christ

In chapter 6, verses 25 all the way to 7, 8 is what I'd like to look at this morning. And God invites Gideon to come into his heart, into himself, into the truth of the preeminence of Christ. That's what I'd like us to look at this morning.

And then Gideon says, all right, I've laid hold of that truth. Now will your dew come down from heaven? Now will you bless? God said, not yet, Gideon. And then God invites Gideon to come deeper into his presence.

And we'll look at chapter 7, the first 21 verses. Gideon, you've got to know about my life and the release of my life through broken vessels. You've got to know about the manifestation of Christ. And so God takes him in and he begins to learn this.

And marvelous things happen as he's pressing into God. And he says, now will the dew come down? And the Lord said, not yet, Gideon. I want to take you in and we'll look at that tomorrow night, Lord willing.

From chapter 7, 22 to the end, chapter 8, 35 or whatever it is. God says, you need to come into my glory. And as Gideon walks into the glory of God, the problems dealt with and God's people are set free.

That's how to bless. You've got to be in the blessing if you're ever going to be a blessing. And so we're looking this weekend at what it means as we follow Gideon to press into the Lord, to the knowledge of the Lord, to go into his presence.

And the deeper, brothers, we go into his presence, the more the Lord can use us to bring his dew upon his. Well, that's pretty much what we looked at. Now, I'm going to ask you to turn to chapter 6, please.

Israel's Cry and God's Covenant Faithfulness

Before we actually get to the principle that I want to share, I want to say a word about chapter 6, verse 6 and 7. If you glance at that, please. So Israel was brought very low because of Midian. And the sons of Israel cried to the Lord.

And now it came about when Israel cried to the Lord on account of Midian, that the Lord sent a prophet and so on. And that expression, the sons of Israel cried unto the Lord, see, that looks like cause and effect.

It looks like they cried and therefore God answered. But their cry describes when God moved, not why God moved. They didn't move because they cried. You know, when I first read this, it looked like they were crying out in repentance.

In fact, the last time I taught the book of Judges, I had the seven times Israel repents. Boy, I crossed those notes out fast. If you have those notes or those tapes, you mark that out. Because they did not repent here.

I thought they repented. And so God heard them repent. They cried in repentance. And so he sent a prophet. And then he bowed to heavens and came down in the person of the angel of the Lord. And then he raised up a judge in the person of Gideon.

No, that's not what happened. If you look carefully, you'll see they were far, far, far from repentance. At this time, and we'll see it, they were worshiping the Baal. And when God used Gideon to tear it down, they wanted to kill him.

That's not repentance. There's a long way from repentance in their hearts. The Bible tells us in chapter 6 why they were crying. Because they were oppressed. It wasn't repentance. They were burdened because of the Midianites.

So much like the thief on the cross, the unrepentant thief. He cried out for salvation, the unrepentant thief. It was salvation from nails, not sin. That's what he wanted. Get me out of this mess. Get me out of this situation.

That was their cry. Now, God responded to that cry. When you study the Old Testament, let me encourage you what the epistles are to the New Testament. That is explanation and heart. It explains the history.

The poetical books are in the Old Testament to the Old Testament. It's heart. It's the explanation. And over and over again in the Psalms, God explains some history in Genesis or Exodus or something like that.

And the cry is explained in the historical psalm. Now, let me just say a word about that. You might want to look at it. Psalm 106. Just a couple of verses here. Psalm 106, verse 43. Actually, it's verse 43 to 46.

Did I say Psalm 103? It's 106? Oh, I said 106. I'm going to begin reading at 43. Many times he would deliver them. They, however, were rebellious in their counsel and so sank down in their iniquity. Nevertheless, he looked upon their distress.

Now, watch this. When he heard their cry, he remembered his covenant. Now, that's a different thing altogether. When he heard their cry, he remembered his covenant for their sake and relented according to the greatness of his love and kindness.

It was his covenant that moved them, not their cry. It was his heart, not their voice. They didn't repent at first until God remembered his covenant. It's when he began to act that they came to repentance.

It's new covenant repentance. You know what new covenant repentance is? Jeremiah describes it in chapter 31, verses 18 and 19. Jeremiah says, Bring me back that I may be restored, for you are my God. Jeremiah said, After I was turned, surely then I repented.

You don't repent first. God turns you. After I was turned, surely then I repented. After I was instructed, then I was ashamed. Jeremiah 31. I just didn't want you to put too much stock in their cry. Praise God they cried.

But it's his heart. It's his love. It's his compassion. It's his grace. It's his covenant that moves him to deliver us. Now let's get back to Gideon. Let's follow God's heart as he draws this wonderful saint into his presence.

The Prophet Exposes Israel's True Problem

If Gideon is ever to satisfy the burden that's on his heart to bless the people of God, he must be brought into the presence of the Lord. That's where the blessing is. So God begins at the beginning when he remembers his covenant.

Chapter 6, verse 8. The Lord sends a prophet. Now this is before, actually before he appeared to Gideon. He sends a prophet. And he always sends the prophet. Now it's not clear whether this prophet had to go in and out all the caves and all the dens in order to reach these people.

As some suggest, well they didn't have an open square. We're going to have a meeting today. The prophet will meet you at a certain time. Maybe he had to go in and out of those caves. I don't know. The Bible doesn't say.

We don't know if the enemy was there all the time, or if it was just at the harvest that they came and invaded the people. I'm not sure. I think that they probably stayed a lot longer than most people realize.

Anyway, verse 7. It came about when the sons of Israel cried to the Lord on Conamitian that the Lord send a prophet to the sons of Israel. And he said to them, Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, It was I who brought you up from Egypt, and brought you out of the house of slavery.

I delivered you from the hands of the Egyptians, from the hands of your oppressors, dispossessed them before you, gave you their land. I said to you, I am the Lord your God. You shall not fear the God of the Amorites, in whose land you live.

But you have not obeyed me. As I pointed out yesterday, they weren't saved to live like they were living. He said, I redeemed you from the house of bondage. I brought you to live on the land which pictures my son.

To live in abundance and to live on the land. Not to hide away in some dark cave. But then he says, You have not obeyed me. When this unnamed prophet at the end of his message said, You shall not fear the gods of the Amorites.

He wasn't talking about fear like trembling. Don't be afraid of them. Don't cower. Don't have your knees knocked together. He's not talking about that. He's using the word, as we say, fear the Lord. You shall not fear the God of the Amorites.

He's talking about reverence. Talking about worship. He's talking about service. Fearing the gods of the Amorites. And with that message, the prophet disappears off the pages of the Bible. Do you notice what the prophet didn't say?

He didn't say turn or burn. He didn't say repent. He didn't say look to the Lord. He didn't say pray. He didn't say fast. He didn't say hang in there. God's going to send you a judge. All he said was, Look at you.

Do you know why your life? You disobeyed. So you didn't encourage them in any way? The prophet came in and said, You are living like this. You shouldn't be living like this. I didn't save you to live like this.

I redeemed you for something higher than this. And you want to know why? I'll tell you why. I told you not to fear the God of the Amorites and you did. And he leaves. When the sons of Israel cried, even though they were only seeking salvation from nails, the Bible tells you why they cried.

Chapter six and verse eight. On account of Midian. That's why they cried. On account of the Midianites. They knew their problem. There was 135 ,000 of their problem out there. The Midianites. The Amalekites.

The sons of the east. And they cried to the Lord, Deliver us from our problem. The Midianites. The purpose of the prophet was to turn their eyes. From what they thought the problem was. The Midianites.

And to turn their eyes to the real problem. And that's how God always begins. By sending a man of God. To tell us. That the problem is not the problem. When we deal with symptoms. We're just chopping off weeds at the surface.

Nothing is happening. We can't beautify the Christian life with peat moss. Just put it on the top. God loves me too much. And God loves you too much. To let you deal with problems that are not problems.

It's a glorious thing. When the Lord takes your eyes off the problems. Plural. The Midianites all over the place. Put your eyes. On the problem. Singular. That's why it's so important because. Brothers.

If the problem is not the problem. Then the solution is not the solution. It's not too deep. But it's tragic because. God's people are running after solutions that are not solutions. And God will not scratch you where you don't itch.

He's going to get to the problem. He's going to touch the heart of it. And like Jonah, you can throw everything overboard. But until you get to Jonah. The storm is going to keep raging. See, they thought the problem was out there.

Amalek. Midian. Sons of the East. They had a problem. In here. They had a problem in their heart. Chapter 6 verse 16. When the angel commissioned Gideon. He had actually told him the same thing. The Lord said to him.

Surely I'll be with you. And you shall defeat Midian as one man. See, the angel was calling attention. To the fact there's one problem. So you could ask the question. How'd you get into this, Matt? What's the problem?

And they'd say problem. Don't make it singular. It's problems. 135 ,000 look out there. They're like locusts all over the land. That's why we're in this mess. It's their fault. God said no, you don't have many problems.

The problem's never the problem. And the solution's never the solution. There's always ever only one problem. And there's only one solution to that one problem. And that's the ministry of the prophet.

And until you defeat the problems. As one man. You won't have the victory. There's always the one. And so God begins here in verse 16. Not many, just one. Gideon had met with the Lord. Gideon had talked to the God of heaven.

Had laid his ministry down at his feet. Had watched God receive it and consume it. Had come to the place where he did the right thing. He had peace with God. He named it. God is peace. Because God settled it in his heart.

And now God is ready. Gideon, come into my presence. The same night that God talked to him. He begins again. Verse 25. On the same night. That is the same night that the angel of the Lord had met with him during the day.

Tearing Down Baal and Establishing the Lord's Altar

On the same night he said to him, Take your father's bull. And a second bull seven years old. And pull down the altar of Baal. Which belongs to your father. And cut down the Asherah which is beside it.

Build an altar to the Lord your God. On top of the stronghold. In an orderly manner. Take a second bull and offer a burnt offering. With the wood of the Asherah. Which you shall cut down. Gideon took ten men of his servants.

And did as the Lord had spoken unto him. And because he was too afraid of his father's household. And the men of the city to do it by day. He did it by night. And so God homes in. Not on the problems.

But the one problem. The problem of the heart. And you can see here. You shall not fear said the prophet. The gods of the Amorites. And God's word to Gideon. Tear down the Baal. Tear down the Baal. See all of this has to do with preliminary preparation for the blessing.

Joash, Gideon's father. Who was the head of the clan. Had set up the Baal and its counterpart. The female counterpart. The Asherah. In a grove on a high hill. Up there in Ophrah. Now let me do a little donkey work with you brothers.

Some of you probably know the background. But let me just sort of fill you in a little bit. An overview. Why is there so much in the Bible about Baal? There are other false gods as well. And you don't see them mentioned as much.

But all the time you say, and their hearts went ahoy after the Baal. And they set up the Baal. What is this all about then? How did he get so famous? This Baal. It's the meaning of his name. It's the title, Baal.

It's a legitimate word. It means husband. It means husband in the sense of Lord, Master. Husband. See the Baal represented in the Bible all idolatry and the chief evil of all idolatry. And that is, Baal worship was supposed to represent a relationship with God.

He's a husband. It had to do with relationship. And the intrinsic evil of Baal worship, that it was an imitation of the true worship. It was a copy. It's amazing when you do the background of Baal worship, how close it was to the true worship.

It was just an imitation. An ape. A shadow image. You realize this? Sometime when the true people of God, would it shock you if in prayer, I led in prayer and I said, Oh Baal, will you please? Would that shock you?

See, that didn't shock them. It just meant husband. It was a word that meant husband. And they recoiled. God was so holy, they wouldn't use another name for Him. And so sometime they'd call in Baal. Hosea chapter 2 verse 16.

God is speaking. And you know that whole book of Hosea has to do with relationship and knowing God and the intimacies of the marriage tie. It's a lovely book. Wonderful. Hosea. And in that book, he says in verse 16, It shall be in that day, saith the Lord, that they shall call me Ishi, and they shall no more call me Baal.

They called him Baal. You say, what does the word Ishi mean? It's another word for husband. It means husband. What's the word Baal mean? It means husband. God says, call me Ishi, don't call me Baal. What's the difference?

Ishi means husband, lover. Baal means husband, master. God said, there's going to come a day when you're going to understand you're not going to call me husband, master. You're going to call me husband, lover.

The bridegroom, lover of my soul. You know how sometimes the Bible gives us compound names of our dear Lord? Jehovah is Jireh and Jehovah, Ramah and Jehovah, Shalom. Go through the Scriptures. Baal had compound names too.

Baal Hermon, Baal Bereth, and Baal Peor, and Baal Zebo, and Baal Zebub, and so on. Say, what do those mean? Baal Hermon, gracious husband. Baal Bereth, the husband of the covenant. Baal Peor, husband of love.

They were using those names. Close, but no cigar. It's not the real thing. It's an imitation. You see, Baal worshipped. They had their temples. They had their altars. And they had their priesthood. And they had their prophets, the prophets of Baal.

They didn't know they were committing idolatry. They thought it was the true God. See, we just sort of read these things, la, la, la. You've got to get into understanding what was going on in their hearts.

The very first mention of Baal in the Bible talks about the high place. And they would find the highest place. And they put up this image of Baal. And then in order to illustrate relationship, the female side of that, the asherah.

There's a lot more that goes with it, and it gets pretty twisted and gross. The prophets constantly spoke out against the high places of Baal. In 1 Kings 14, 23, it says, on every high hill and under every luxurious tree, they would have these idols to Baal.

Well, that's what you have here back in Judges. Joash, father of Gideon, had set up an image of Baal and its counterpart in the highest place. And it was called the fortress in the book of Judges. And they just found the fortress.

And it was the best place. And they just put him up there praying that someday Baal, through relationship, would become fruitful and there would be fruit on the land and the land would be blessed and so on.

Judges 6 .25, God commands Gideon, pull down the altar of Baal that belongs to your father. That was the symbol to God of a broken relationship. They had turned to a substitute husband. He had been jilted.

He's the brokenhearted lover now as we continue this story. They had left their first husband. They played the harlot and ran after imitation husbands. And so God says to Gideon, tear down the veil. I'm a jealous God.

Look up jealousy in the dictionary. First definition, intolerant of rivalry. Second definition, insistence on exclusive devotion. God is a jealous God. He's a husband. And He can't have another husband.

And then He says, that's the first part, tear down the veil. But verse 26, build an altar to the Lord your God on top of the stronghold. Tear down the veil and in its place to the Lord. Take a second bull and offer a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah which you shall cut down.

Israel didn't have many problems. They only had one. And the angel of the Lord and the prophet of the Lord turned their eyes to that one problem. It boils down to this. Who's in the high place? Who's in the high place?

Was the true God preeminent? Or was there some substitute husband sitting on the throne that belonged to Him? There can be no deliverance. There can be no dew from heaven. There can be no blessing of the Lord until Christ is in the high place.

The Preeminence of Christ Over Every Rival

And every substitute husband has been torn down. God is about to deliver His people from the sin of polyandry. Polygamy, many wives. Polyandry, many husbands. And they had fallen into that sin. This is the truth, I believe, of Colossians 1 .18, that in all things, finish it, in all things, He might have the preeminence.

Do you know the difference between preeminent and prominent? See, the difference between preeminent and prominent is this. You can have many prominent things in your life. You can only have one preeminent thing in your life.

You can have many prominent things in your life and good things. Family, fellowship, church, ministry, service, vocation, vacation. Many prominent things in your life. But the Lord does not want to be prominent.

Many, many Christians have made Him prominent. And God says, I can't send the blessing until He's preeminent, not prominent. Jesus doesn't want to be first and family second and church third. He doesn't want to be on that silly priority list.

I don't know if you have a priority list. First this and first that and the other thing. Colossians 3 .11, Christ is all. Christ is all. You see, putting Christ first implies a second. And there's no second to Jesus.

He said, I'm the first and I'm the last. And I'm the alpha and I'm the omega. And I'm the whole list. Don't you put me on your priority list even if you put me on top. It's a bail. It's got to come down.

I don't want to be prominent. You realize this? Satan doesn't care if you make Christ prominent in your life. He doesn't care. But he will hate you with an infernal hatred. If God ever dawned on you what He dawned on Gideon, that Christ is preeminent.

When I come to the word preeminent, I like to just use the expression, a one and only. Christ does not want to be prominent. Brothers, He wants to be a one and only. And until He's a one and only, and Gideon has to see Him as a one and only, there can be no blessing.

This is the first lesson that Gideon must learn. Now let me show you how this is done and illustrate from the principles how Christ takes the preeminent place. There's been a lot of discussion in chapter 6 about whether there's one animal or two animals.