The Leading of the Lord — George Warnock

The Lord’s Leading Toward the Promised Land

Let's turn first of all to Numbers 9. We're not going to skip Sinai exactly, but they went south till they got to Sinai. They stayed there, I believe, a year or so at the leading of the Lord. Sinai was a turning point.

It was a turning point. Up till then, they'd been getting farther away from Canaan. After Sinai, they were going directly towards it. And God's direct route to the land of promise is a roundabout way.

That's God's direct route. I like the positive message, too. God says this, and I'm going to get it. God says we're risen with Christ and we're seated with Him in heavenly places. God says it's done, we're seated there now, so what's all this talk about going into it?

God said to Abraham, Arise, Abraham, and walk through the length and the breadth of the land. Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon shall be yours. And Abraham walked through the length and the breadth of it, and it is a beautiful land.

And he was claiming it for himself, because God says it's yours. The fact remains, till the day of Abraham's death, he never possessed it as such. And the reason he never really possessed it and could make it to be his home and would say, God called me out of the earth of the colonies and promised to give me a son and to make of me a great nation and to give me this land.

And the reason Abraham did not find it in his heart to claim the promise was because in view of the way that the Lord had led him and in view of the many offerings that he'd offered unto the Lord as he wandered through the land, to Shishun, to Bethel, down to the south, down to the south, notice, down to the south, back into Egypt in the time of famine, but reproved of the Lord and brought back to the south land again, back to Bethel, a circle, eh?

Down and up again. And then on to, I forget what was next, but everywhere he went, erecting an altar unto the Lord, knowing that this is the land that God had given him, till finally he settles in Hebron, a very beautiful land, a very fruitful land, and made that his home, all the while cherishing the fulfillment of God's promise.

Abraham, this is your land. Isaac, I have given you as the son through whom all nations shall be blessed. Still, there is something in Abraham's heart that says, I know, Lord, what you said is true. I believe it, but my heart isn't satisfied.

There must be something better. How do I get that? Well, when Sarah died and he had to find a burying place for her, he went to, who was it he went to, to buy the plot of ground to bury Sarah in? Hamor?

And he says, sell me a piece of land here. Now mind you, this was the country that God had given Abraham. Sell me just enough to bury my wife in. And he said, oh, go ahead, Abraham, you're a great man.

We thank a lot of you. Go ahead. No, but he said, I can't. And he didn't know why, but Abraham said, I can't do that. I've got to buy it. Because he says, I'm a pilgrim and a stranger here. And so the Holy Spirit picked that up.

Something that no natural logic could pick up. But because Abraham and his future descendants, who were also men of faith, confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims in the earth, that proved that they were looking for a better country.

He was in the land that God had given him, but he says, I'm a stranger and a pilgrim in it because, he says, this can't be all. There has to be more than that. And there was more than that. Abraham wouldn't see it yet until he'd gone all the way.

I trust that in whatever state God finds you right now, you will find it in your heart to go on into the fullness. And that God will never let your heart be satisfied in any gift or any ministry or any blessing or any enlargement that God might give you until you come to the full intention of the desire of God's heart.

And because that was the full intention of the desire of God's heart, he would give Abraham the final test. And if Abraham would pass this test, he would draw very nigh unto the desire of the heart of God.

Abraham’s Test and the Surrender of God’s Gifts

It was grievous to Abraham when God had said some years before, send Hagar and Ishmael away. For Sarah, his wife, had said, cast out this bondwoman and her son. For the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac.

The thing was grievous in the eyes of Abraham because after all, Ishmael was his precious son whom God had given him. But Isaac had come in the sea. And God said, it's not going to be in Ishmael, it's going to be in Isaac that I will fulfill my promise.

Telling you and I that whenever we set our hands to try and fulfill God's work, we're going to spoil it. That's why any altar that was built unto the Lord in the Old Testament had to be built of whole stones.

They couldn't take a stone and chisel it nice so it looked nice. Just rough stones that they'd take and pile together because God says, if you lift your hand upon it, you've polluted it. Yet people tell me that the Great Pyramid there is a marvelous altar to the Lord in the land of Egypt, carefully chiseled by human hands.

It's a polluted altar if it's an altar to the Lord. Of course, trying to find the Word of God in that. One more test that Abraham had to go through. When God had given him everything, he appeared to Abraham and says, Abraham, take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and take him up into one of the mountains that I will show you, and offer him there unto me as a burnt sacrifice.

And without question, the next morning, Abraham prepared for the journey, took Isaac, took the wood, took the fire for the burnt offering. We can't hardly conceive of that. And it's so difficult for God's people, I think particularly difficult for God's ministers, to think that God is saying to lay down something that God himself gave them in answer to his own promise, and perhaps in answer to the prayer of faith God gave it, you ask me to give it back to God?

But let me tell you, it's going to take that if we're going to have that full revelation of Christ. You see, when up the mountain, you know the story, how he laid out Isaac on the altar, and the intent and purpose, he had actually slain Isaac, as the Apostle Paul tells us, he had done it in his heart, the work was done, and he had a revelation of the Lord, had a revelation of the Lord of glory, such as he had never had, Shechem, Bethel, the Negev, Hebron, blessed places that God had led them to, but he'd never had such a revelation of the Lord as the day when he gave back to God everything that God had entrusted to him.

It's going to take that to come into that full revelation of the Lord. Jesus said, Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it and was glad. I don't know of any other mountain that he could have, that Jesus was referring to, but Mount Moriah, when he'd given to God everything, and he saw something better, better than the land, better than Canaan, better than the possessions that God had given him, for he caught a glimpse of the city that has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.

But you can't really see that vision until you know your Moriah experience. And I'm not here to tell you that you've got to go out and lay everything on the altar, literally, sell everything that you have and give to the poor, or whatever.

I'm here to say that if you're going all the way with God, you've got to give him everything. If and when and how God might choose to ask you, that's up to him. And so they went south to Sinai. We can't go through that.

The brethren have touched on many aspects of it. They were to go north from there, on to victory. But before they could go on to victory, they had to stop at Sinai. They had to learn the ordinances of the Lord.

Sinai, Holiness, and the Better Covenant

They had to be a cleansed people. They had to be a prepared people. All defilement must be put away. Of course, God knew they were sinful people, and so He ordained sacrifices of atonement that when they sinned, they could bring their sacrifices and be acceptable in the sight of God.

God was requiring holiness of His people. He knew they couldn't give it, so He provided the remedy because it was impossible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sin. It wasn't possible. But it covered sin for a season.

The New Covenant. Christ did what they couldn't do with all those sacrifices so that that law, which they looked at and trembled when the sounds came forth from Sinai, thou shalt not, thou shalt not, thou shalt not, thou shalt not.

And there was darkness and blackness and tempest and smoke and fire and quaking of the mountains so that the people ran away. Even Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake. But you've come to a different mountain.

Mount Zion, the city of the living God and the heavenly Jerusalem. And to an innumerable host of angels and to the general assembly and church of the firstborn which are written in heaven and to God the judge of all and to the spirits of just men made perfect and to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant and to the blood of sprinkling that speaketh better than that of Abel.

To God the judge of all and the spirits of just men made perfect. God is speaking from Zion today. A better mountain, a greater mountain, a more gracious mountain and a more terrifying mountain. See that ye refuse not him that speaketh.

For if they escape not, who refuse his voice who spoke from earth, how shall we escape who hear his voice from heaven? For yet once more saith the Lord, I will shake not the earth only but the heavens also.

Moses and the children of Israel trembled at the quaking of the mount. God says once more he's going to shake. And this time there's going to not only be earthquakes, there's going to be heaven quakes.

And the purpose of the heaven quakes that are coming is to destroy everything that is shakable. People look at the great and terrible day of the Lord and all they see is the terror of it. It is terrible.

It's full of terror but it's also the great day of God Almighty. When God rises up and says I'm going to put an end to the reign of sin. I'm going to crush it. I'm going to stamp it under my feet. God's angry.

Do you know why God's angry? Because of the desolation that this world system and the religious system is made of God's temple. He says it's the vengeance of my temple that I'm after. I'm going to avenge my temple.

God awakes out of his sleep as a mighty man goes forth conquering but he's going to do it through a conquering people and the conquering people have got to be a holy people. A cleansed people. A people who have known and heard and partaken of the righteousness of God not at Sinai but at Mount Zion.

When they go north they go north with the tabernacle of God for it was there at the foot of the mount that they received the instructions for the tabernacle which our brother spoke of. Moses told the people to bring bring something.

Some scarlet some wood some cedar wood some precious stones maybe bring some brass and the only brass they had was the looking glasses of the women so the women brought their looking glasses and they melted that down to make the lever that instead of looking in the brazen mirror to see how pretty their face was they would look into the mirror of God's word see what God thinks of them and they brought silver and linen all these different things and you know it would take a month to go into it adequately wouldn't it but God says let them build me a sanctuary that I might dwell among them.

The Tabernacle and the Corporate Body of Christ

I know that there's a cry there's work to do and the end is near. Let's get out there and fight the devil. Let me tell you you're not going to make any great inroads against the powers of darkness in this world until you pause there at Sinai and learn the ways of the Lord and the judgments of God and the holiness of God and a tabernacle is constructed for his glory and God is building a tabernacle according to the pattern in heaven that was just a a very imperfect shadow.

But the real temple is the temple that God has designed in the heavens in which he's manifesting on the earth. A temple not built with hands. A temple composed of living stones of which you and I are the the members see I don't have much.

I don't. You don't need much because this thing that God is going to do is not going to be in some great man. It's going to be in a corporate people. We had a warning of it when they were baptized in the cloud that here was a people who were baptized in God's spirit.

I thought that was Canaan too. It used to be Canaan in early Pentecostal song and testimony. I got the baptism of the Holy Ghost and so that's Canaan. It was the first step of the journey. First step of the journey.

There had to be much accomplished after that just preparation. What a glorious feeling just to feel that mighty cloud of God just to go right through you and that mighty baptism. And Israel received it in type.

But with the most of them God was not well pleased and they were overthrown in the wilderness. And so Paul says the reason I'm referring to that and the reason I'm referring to the instances in the Old Testament where your fathers perished in the wilderness was to the intent that you should not lust after evil things as they did.

To the intent that you should not murmur as they murmured. To the intent that you should not complain as they complained. That's why it's there for you and I so that we can learn from what happened to them.

But God's commentary is they didn't know my ways because they didn't come to know God's ways. They never come to know the heart of God. So I didn't know when I mentioned before how I longed for God and wanted to know God.

I didn't know to take a lifetime to walk in His ways to come to know Him. And I don't know Him yet because now I've discovered it's going to take eternity for me to know Him. But that doesn't discourage me because God has put eternal life within and instead of looking upon Heaven as a boring place as I used to goodness, nothing but the walk the golden streets.

And I've come to see that this speaks of that city that Abraham saw whose builder and maker is God. A people in whom God dwelleth the tabernacle of the Most High the Bride of the Lamb, the Body of Christ the Precious Virgin without spot or blemish that God made for Himself make me a sanctuary that I might dwell among them made it for Himself.

God says when you come into Canaan you're to be a people of inheritance. You're to be my inheritance. Paul prayed that with this spirit of wisdom and revelation we might come to know. What is the hope of His calling not your calling.

What is the riches of the glory of His inheritance not my inheritance. His inheritance and the saints. God's got an inheritance in you. He's got an inheritance in you. Do you know what it cost Him? Everything.

Do you know what it cost Him for everything that you can see in the world. Everything that you can see in the heavens. Do you know what it cost God? What was it? A whisper? Father John? Whisper? A word?

Let it be and it was. Do you know what it cost God to bring forth this creation that He's making out of you and I? Everything! I'm not theological when I mention this but I don't like to look upon the concept of one, two, three persons and God says Jesus you go so God stayed there secure in the heavens in a second went and did the work.

And I know that when Jesus hung on the cross that God the Father was there feeling every anguish, feeling every pain of it that the God who created the heavens and the earth says I'll go down and I'll suffer myself because I'm a humble God.

But how can a humble God walk with a proud people? That's why He's out to make you and I humble. He wants to walk with you. He wants to dwell in you. He wants you to be the house in which He will dwell and live and move and express Himself in the earth and in the heavens to the intent that in the ages to come He should show unto the principalities and powers in the heavens.

No to the intent that now unto principalities and powers in heavenly places He might make known through the church the manifold wisdom of God. So God's making a sanctuary. You're all a part of it. I don't care if it's just a piece of red thread or a golden thread or a piece of wood.

God for this body of Christ that He is making is likened unto the human body. You read 1 Corinthians 11, 12, 13, or 12, 13, 14. Hand can't say to the foot I've no need of you. Ears can't say I've no need of the eyes.

The body that God is making don't ever think you're going to become this great and mighty Christ in the earth. God wants to join you unto Him and therefore unto one another until this mighty Christ is in of a truth revealed and manifested in the earth in a corporate people.

For ye are the body of Christ and members in particular. And God hath tempered the body together giving more abundant honor to those parts which lack that there be no schism in the body. You know that the reason for schism in the body of Christ is not because you won't come in and form a New Testament church.

It's because that people are sitting there in the congregation not being taught not given the hope that they themselves should be a vital living member in the body of Christ. But as long as they come and pay their dues and fill their pew the preacher can be happy because he's got a whole bunch of people which he calls the body of Christ.

And until that minister in his dedication to the Lord and in his commitment to the Lord so seeks God that he's able to impart the living Christ into that member which is lacking try as you will. We're going to have schism in the body of Christ.

But there'll be no schism in the body of Christ when every member comes to that place where Christ is enthroned in his heart and life where Christ is the sum total of his hope and desires and ambition.

When Christ crowds out everything else then we're going to find this corporate people which is the expression of the living Christ in the earth which expression is going to until principalities and powers and heavenly places reveal the manifold expression of God's wisdom.

It's no mean inheritance that God has in mind. It's a great inheritance. We call it ours but it's really his because as God finds his inheritance in you and I so do we find our inheritance in him a tabernacle and then on into the wilderness again.

The Wilderness, Manna, and Learning God’s Ways

Let's turn to Numbers 11. Notice that before we come to Numbers 11 there's another reminder that the cloud of the Lord was leading them because we like the children of Israel. As soon as we get off into that wilderness again we say well what happened.

It's so beautiful there, so wonderful. But from here you go into a wilderness. Verse 35, chapter 10 exodus coming out preparation of the tabernacle Leviticus, the divine order, the divine arrangement the sacrifices, the manifestation of the holy sacrifices of God to purify and cleanse his people.

And then Numbers where the hosts were numbered for battle they were all numbered and set in their place for battle. And therefore the cry was as they marched forth from Sinai going north to the land of promise came to pass when the ark set forward not just the cloud this time but the ark of his presence over which the cloud of God hovered that Moses said rise up Lord and let thine enemies be scattered and let them that hate thee flee before thee.

Let not him that girdeth on his armor boasteth he that putteth it off. But we sing this song and well sort of puts the feeling of victory in you. But that's not going to bring the victory. Rise up. Oh Lord let your enemies be scattered.

Rise. Oh God let your enemies be scattered. It gets so faster. Sometimes I say rise scattered. The rest of you are all there. And I'm saying rise scattered. But it's a note of victory because God was leading his people on to victory but he's leading them into another wilderness.

And the people complained and it displeased the Lord and the Lord heard it and his anger was kindled and the fire of the Lord burned among them. It's a serious thing to begin to partake of the presence of God in the midst of his camp.

That cloud becomes a fire. The darkness of your heart rises up against it. That cloud will turn to fire start to consume the people. Moses prayed unto the Lord and the fire was quenched. Numbers 11 chapter 4.

And the mixed multitude that was among them. The American standard I think says the rabble. The rebellious ones fell a lusting. And the children of Israel also wept again and said who shall give us flesh to eat.

We remember the fish which we did eat in Egypt freely the cucumbers the melons the leeks the onions and the garlic. And now our soul is dried away. There's nothing at all before our eyes before our nothing at all besides this man.

And before our eyes. I think some of those other versions say our soul is dried up and there's nothing at all left except this manner to look at nothing but this manner to look at. But the manner wasn't given to look at.

The manner was given as God's provision for His people and it was a provision that provided absolutely every need that they had. Every need that they had was in the manner. The manner was as coriander seed very small seed.

The color thereof was the color of bdellium which I understand was white. People went about and gathered it ground it in mills heated it in a mortar baked it in pans made cakes of it. The taste of it was the taste of fresh oil.

When the Jew fell upon the camp at night the manna fell upon it another place it says it is small and white like the hoarfrost. The Jew would come down during the night and the manna would settle on it.

And then the Jew would evaporate. And there was manna. They couldn't understand it. All it did was raise questions. Why? What? So they named it. What is it? That's what they named it. Manna means what is it.

But Dr. Strong says it also has the thought of how and why. And God's people in trial in testing in wilderness life are always asking questions. Why Lord? How? Why did you do this? You told me you were leaving me to Canaan.

Why? How? Why are you so quiet Lord? Why don't you answer my prayer? How long old Lord David said read the book of Psalms full of questions. God's people have not been able to understand the purpose of his leadings.

So he gave them manna. Strange food took a lot of work to gather it. You know it wasn't like popcorn that you could just gather it like coriander seed very small. They had to stoop down to get it. And they'd get a couple of quarts of it maybe for one man.

And some would get more than they needed others less. So they would share it. So that he that gathered much had nothing over. And he that gathered little had no lack. So there was both. There was sufficiency for the whole camp as it should be in the body of Christ.

For they were now a corporate people. And God was taking the corporate people into the land of promise. That's why I'm identified with the corporate people. That's why I don't have a ministry. When I'm not identified with the corporate people I'd like to.

I wanted God just by my own seeking. I would have got it if I could have. I tried. I like people but not that much. I'd sooner find God for myself. God wouldn't let me. Nor would he let me minister freely to a people who did not see or desire this vision.

So it isn't that I just figured. Well I'll sit down now and wait somewhere down the line. Maybe no. I am as dry as dry as a haystack. If there isn't an anointing on myself or on the people to whom I minister.

Strange bread. But Paul said it was spiritual food. Spiritual bread. And that was wilderness bread. Turn to Deuteronomy 8. Can I borrow a watch? Mine's stopped. I don't know if the Lord did it or not.

Deuteronomy chapter 8. We've come to Deuteronomy now. Numbers. Get ready for battle. But Deuteronomy Moses has to die. Because he had provoked the Lord himself. When on the second occasion where they needed water God said to go to the rock.

This time God told him to speak to the rock not to smite it. And for that act of disobedience Moses was barred from the land of promise. It was he was. He was baptized. The people of Israel were baptized unto him and whatever happened to them Moses had to share their fate.

Not to say that he didn't deserve it. He did deserve it because he provoked the Lord. And God says because you didn't believe me the sins of those who stand in the place of leadership are much more serious in the sight of God than those who are partaking of ministry.

Much more serious. God says I'm barring you from the land of promise. For that that was hard on Moses but he had a wonderful heart. You know God says you get Joshua. Lay your hands on him and anoint him and encourage his heart to take the people in.

But you go die. How would you like that? You can't go in. You've been disobedient. But see that young man there you go and encourage him and teach him. You know God's ways. How would you like that? Moses accepted it.

I know it was a sin but it was their sin that rubbed off on him. Paul tells us that Moses was faithful in God's house and God cherished in his heart a wonderful secret that one day Moses would stand with the Lord Jesus Christ himself along with Elijah on another mountain many centuries down the road and would converse with the Lord Jesus Christ concerning the death of the Lord Jesus.

What Moses and Elijah had anticipated all through their ministry. So he didn't actually lose out in the long run he was faithful. Their rebellion rubbed off on him. Moses regretted that he repented of that.

He was sorry. But God said I'm not changing my mind but I'm not telling you I've got something better. Deuteronomy chapter 8. So the key word of Deuteronomy is remember. Remember all the way the Lord has led you remember how when you came down to Sinai and God says now it's time to go up and take the land.

There's only 11 days to Kadesh Barnea. That meant 12 days from Sinai. They could have been in the land of promise. We're not going to deal with that. But they failed God and murmured and complained and their hearts were turned aside because of the report of the spies and they wanted another 38 years in the wilderness but they had to come back because God had already sworn with an oath.

I'm going to bring in your children that you said you couldn't bring in because they weren't able to stand it. They wouldn't have the power. They wouldn't be able to stand up. God says I'll make them stand and you die in the wilderness.

And God did it. Not because they were better but because God had sworn with an oath. If you people won't go in and you say because your children my children can't take it my children can't stand it. God says I swear by myself I'll bring your children in and you go ahead and die.

And he did so Moses says remember 8 verse 2. Thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these 40 years in the wilderness to humbly led thee. A lot of it was wandering but he's talking now to another generation.

No man there over the age of 58 except Caleb and Joshua because all that were 20 years old and under 38 years before were going to 20 years old and over 38 years before were going to perish in the wilderness.

And so there's a new generation that needed to remember some of these things. And God tells us why he led us in the wilderness. It was to humble you to prove you to know what was in your heart whether thou wouldst keep his commandments or no.

And he humbled thee and he suffered thee to hunger and fed thee with manna now that doesn't sound right does it. He suffered thee to hunger and fed thee with manna which thou knewest not. And so they called it manna which means what is this thing anyway which you didn't know neither did your fathers know.

He fed you with manna and caused you to hunger.

Refining the Saints Through Testing

Image and likeness. Glory to God. You think of everyone that's gone through things tonight. And I'll tell you it can all be summed up like this in one way or another. He's trying the gold. He's refining the gold.

The heat is on to take out the impurities to bring the maturity. To bring God out more and more in that life. Listen. I don't know. You know I don't know about this place. A lot of times I don't know about this place.

But there's many times when God shows me that if this whole particular area of ministry in the kingdom of God was designed to bring a couple dozen saints to glory and to maturity then God says settle for that.

Hallelujah. Didn't he say he'd make Jerusalem a furnace. Oh I don't like it here. I'd rather be somewhere else where something's going on. Well don't you want to be in God's Jerusalem for these end days.

God said he'd make Jerusalem a furnace in the end time. That's right. He'd create a fire in his habitation to purge the sons of Levi. And in this place we've known the fires. We are knowing the fires.

Hallelujah. The testings of God the purifying process of God in all of our lives. Well. Amen. Alright. Chapter 29 and verse 4. Now this is something borrowed. And ever since brother Fromke was here I'm not afraid to give out something borrowed.

This you will. The tree that bears fruit. What happens. It purges. That it might bear more fruit more fruit. You have a good fruit bearing tree. It bears lots of fruit. He's a good Christian. He walks in holiness.

He knows God. Well you think God is satisfied.

How many of you know God's. He said be holy as I'm holy be perfect as I'm perfect.

God's standard is not our standard. Unconsciously we think we've arrived or we're through all those terrible experiences. God says the standard is the stature of the fullness of Christ you see. So that's a misjudgment on the part of Job.

Let's hurry on here. In chapter 30 the thing that we see there. I'm crying out. I'm bringing this before the Lord but God doesn't even answer my prayers anymore. I'll close my eyes and turn my head. How many of you have said that God doesn't seem to hear my prayers anymore.

And then in chapter 31. In chapter 31 I must hurry now because I don't want to drag this out. More than one or two more lessons after tonight. In chapter 31 this reasoning thing out of Job's soul reaches let's say the depths.

And so what did they say to Moses when they came to this place which the Lord had sought out as a resting place. They said our soul loathes this light manna. We can't stand it anymore. Our soul is dried up.

We've nothing here but this manna to look at. God had provided everything they needed but he did not satisfy a longing that God provided along with the manna. He did not satisfy their hunger. They ate it they were still hungry.

They'd fill up so they couldn't take anymore two quarts of it every day. What's for breakfast? Manna dinner? Manna supper? Manna cakes. Grind it in mortars. Make meal. Make biscuits precious food. They'd fill up on it but they were still hungry.

You know why? Because God prepared it in heaven. You know the only thing that is hindering God's people from going on with him is the lack of hunger that God has every provision for every longing of the human heart.

But if there's no hunger there's no way that God can feed them. And if they do not partake of the hunger that God provides in the manna with rebellious hearts they'll try to find it somewhere else instead of realizing Lord I know I'm hungry.

But what's this all about? Do you know that this was corn from heaven? Do you know that this was angels food? Which another one translates the bread of the mighty God said in heaven I've got a people down there in the earth and they're so weak and helpless and so insufficient.

I'm going to feed them with the kind of bread that you angels partake of. And he sent some of it down to earth in the form of manna. They didn't know what it was. They didn't know what it was for hundreds of years until Jesus came in the scene and said I'm the bread of life barely.