The Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, “Lift up your eyes, and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward; for all the land which you see I will give to you and to your descendants forever. I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth; so that if one can count the dust of the earth, your descendants also can be counted. Arise, walk through the length and the breadth of the land, for I will give it to you.”
Genesis 13: 14-17
The word “Arise” is used many times in the Bible as a command from God, either directly, or through an angel, for someone to arise and go somewhere to do something specific for God. Here are three examples.
In Genesis 12, the Lord instructs Abram (who would later be called Abraham) to “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.” (Genesis 12:1-3) God tells Abram to arise and start walking to a land that God wants to give to him and his descendants. He doesn’t give him a map, or tell him how far away the place is, or give him a timeframe of how long he will be walking. He just tells him to go. And Abram picks up his family and he goes. In Genesis 13, Abram separates from Lot, his brother. Lot goes east of Abrham to the Jordan valley. Part of Lot’s territory includes the city of Sodom, whose citizens were wicked and great sinners in the sight of the Lord. Abram, on the other hand, settles in the Land of Canaan. Because Abram is obedient to God, placing Him above all else, even family, God rewards him, telling him to arise and walk through the Land of Canaan, which will now be his to settle in every direction. In Genesis 15, God establishes a covenant with Abram, promising to number his descendant as the number of the stars in heaven. In Genesis 17, God changes the name of Abram to Abraham, and makes circumcision the sign of the covenant. Christ descends from Abraham. And all of this happened, because Abraham was willing arise and go.
The book of the Prophet Jonah begins with God telling Jonah to “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness has come up before me.” (Jonah 1:2) Rather than arise and go as God commanded, Jonah flees from the presence of the Lord, finding instead a ship sailing to Tarshish and away from Nineveh. The Lord, however, sent a great storm on the sea and the ship Jonah on which Jonah was sailing was threatened. The men on the ship knew that Jonah was fleeing from the presence of the Lord, and Jonah knew he was the cause of the misfortune. He asked to be cast over the side of the boat, and when this happened, the wind ceased. A big fish swallowed Jonah for three days and then vomited him out at Nineveh. Eventually Jonah did as the Lord commanded, but he complained about it, even as he was doing it. One lesson here is that we are all called to arise and go somewhere, to do something specific, and when we don’t do that, God might steer us in that direction anyway. Whoever God chooses for a task, God wants that person, whether that person is a teacher or a doctor or a priest. He gives us each a unique way to arise and go and part of our journey of life is to identify what way makes us unique and to the thing that God has put in front of us.
In the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 2, after the visit of the Magi, Joseph has a dream where he is told by an angel to arise and go to Egypt, to flee the slaughter of innocents by King Herod. I’m sure the last thing he wanted was to pick up his small family and move to a foreign country for an unknown period of time. Yet Joseph knows his role is to protect the Christ-child and the Virgin Mary and he arises and goes because he knows it’s the right thing.
At every baptism, we read the Gospel account from Matthew 28 where Jesus gives the Great Commission, where He tells His disciples “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to do all that I have commanded you.” (Matthew 28:19-20) We are all commanded to arise and go and do something that spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This commission was not only given to the original disciples. It is given to every disciple, each one of us. And each of u will fulfill it in some way. Some of us will actually go to another country and spread the Gospel. Some of us will go into the ordained ministry and we will fulfill the commission in that way. Some of us will be very engaged in ministry as a layperson. Some of us will be entrusted with families and we will work to make our little family into a Christian family. And each of us will be called upon to support the church in some way so that the Gospel is preached to all nations, beginning right in the city in which you live. The “arise and go” won’t necessarily require us to really go far, be an active part of your church community, bring Christ into your home, bring your children to church and bring Christ to them at home, and be ready in some way to help others work on their salvation.
There may be occasions where God tells you to arise and go, such as a job opportunity, or when you feel a nudge towards a certain career path. God has a specific call for each one of our lives, a specific way we can help the world and a specific way we can help spread the Gospel. Part of our life’s work is to figure out the call and arise and go to fulfill it.
God has taken His place in the divine council; in the midst of the gods He holds judgment: “How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked? Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.” They have neither knowledge nor understanding, they walk about in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken. I say “You are gods, sons of the Most High, all of you; nevertheless, you shall die like men, and fall like any prince.” Arise, O God, judge the earth; for to Thee belong all nations. Psalm 82
Question to ponder today: Can you put yourself in the shoes of a Biblical character, like Abram, Jonah or Joseph, and imagine your reaction if you were told by God to arise and move?
