The wilderness journey is being walked out NOW in these last days .... if he had "killed their lusts ..." back then I believe people wouldnt be in nearly the shape they are currently in today.
The "wilderness" is a spiritual journey through the trials and tests of the devil in order to try our faith.. Jesus went through it and all the children of God in the past present and future go through it as individuals. It is a journey of Life which repeats itself in every generation. All people who want to follow the Lord will go through it in the same way Jesus did and they will not be ready for any preaching till after they come through it in the same way Jesus did. Jesus did not preach to anyone till after his trials in the wilderness, did He? He studied to show Himself approved to God for most of His life. He was taught by his mother as a child and was taught by doctors and lawyers and scribes and religious leaders etc during his adolescence. He sat and studied with doctors from the age of 12 years. He was baptized in adulthood and was immediately sent into the wilderness after baptism in water. He only began to preach after He came out of the wilderness and only preached for three years before He was crucified and called a liar , blasphemer, of the devil etc.
The lusts of the fathers were killed. That does not mean your lusts have also been killed. Your lusts will be killed when you eat the meat that God sends you to eat. The lusts of future generations will be killed when God sends them their meat to eat. They obviously can't eat it yet since they have not been born to eat anything yet. Each person, past present and future needs to go through the same trials and tests to purify them and test their faith. each one is at a different stage of growth just like all the people in this world are at different ages and at different stages of growth. The whole world is not the same age and at the same stage of growth. Some are born and some die at the same time. Life and death are happening at the same time all around us in the natural and it is the same in the spiritual realm. Life and death happen simultaneously.
God does not give spiritual life to anyone without killing or destroying their flesh at the same time. God does not give anyone the mind of Christ without destroying their carnal mind at the same time. God does not give anyone righteousness without destroying their sinfulness. You cannot serve both God and sin at the same time. You cannot serve two masters at the same time.
Since were having so much fun with metaphors, try this one on for size.
You're PUTTING THE CART BEFORE THE HORSE.
For a "lust" or hunger for His word to "kill the carnal mind and fleshly nature" is totally backwards.
That carnal mind and fleshly nature is IN ENMITY to a desire or hunger for His word.
You are obviously confused and not understanding me at all.
I never suggested that the carnal mind lusts for the word of God. The Spirit lusts for the Word of God and that lust goes against the flesh and kills the flesh.
Gal 5:18 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.
It was the carnal mind ( the natural man ) of the children of Israel which was hungering for the things of the world ( Egypt)
Those lusts are in the heart. They are the desires of the heart.
At the same time as the natural man ( carnal mind in man ) hungers for the things of the world, the Spirit in the same man hungers for the things of God and wants above all things to have the MEAT of the WORD of God not just milk or bread.. God in His mercy gives His people the MEAT they want from His WORD in spite of all their grumbling and complaining about the bread/ meat being not as fancy as they had in Egypt but at the same time He is as angry with their lusts as they are with Him for giving them boring meat or boring manna, the same thing over and over again. However, He does not give them their fancy egyptian food to feed their lusts but his anger and passion is the kind that is made of love and will destroy those lusts of the flesh rather than feed them while at the same time will feed the lusts of the Spirit and give life to the spirit while killing the flesh. God does both things at once with the same Word, same meat, The meat that God gives is always good for you.
The fire of God can be perceived as the Love of God as well as the anger of God. The very same fire consumed the dross and purifies the gold at the same time.
The lusts of the Spirit will destroy the lusts of the flesh.
Sgs 8:6 Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm: for
love [is] strong as death; jealousy [is] cruel as the grave:
the coals thereof [are] coals of fire, [which hath a] most vehement flame.
The Love of God will kill your fleshly carnal nature and you will be refined by fire. There is no other way to refine gold than put it through a fire.
1 Peter 1:7 That
the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:
All Gods children go through the wilderness trials at some stage of their walk with the Lord. Some have been there and done that and others have yet to go into the wilderness. They are at different stages of their walk but ultimately none escape it and none escape death to the flesh. How much gold is left depends on how much you love the Lord and how much you can manage to love your enemies by giving them what they need which is not always what they want. and is most times what they don't want since the flesh does not want what the Spirit wants at all. God always gives us what we need not what the flesh wants but what the Spirit wants. His will is always done, Not our will but His will. God never submits to the will of the flesh at any time. The one who gives you all the lusts of your carnal minded flesh is the devil.
I believe this post has run it course since its turning into and argument between the two of you. Tone it down a bit or I will close the thread.
Please be patient. Please Don't close the tread. The fire gets hot but its worth it in the end if we can come to understand each other is it not?
Gold needs to go through fire to be purified.
Dross hates the fire since the fire destroys it but gold does not because gold knows what it takes to be shiny and clean.
The shinier and cleaner we wish to be the hotter the fire we need to go through.
Isa 43:1-2 But now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel,
Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called [thee] by thy name; thou [art] mine. When thou passest through the waters, I [will be] with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee:
when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.