ADVANCE TO THE REAR
OR
(Conversion from God)

You are watching an old battle film and two armies are face to face in mortal combat.  One side begins to prevail and to break through the defensive lines. Then the defending commander gives the order and the cry comes loud and clear ... “RETREAT!” In a modern military struggle, the terminology may be different, and for psychological reasons they may use the command that I have given for the title of this article; “ADVANCE TO THE REAR”. But whatever the command, the result is the same and the soldiers end up heading in the wrong direction away from the only path that leads to victory. In our King James Version of the Bible this turning away from the good and toward the wrong is labeled "backsliding". It is found one time in Proverbs, three times in Hosea, and thirteen times in Jeremiah. The Hebrew word is SHUB (shoob as in shoobie) in almost every instance, and has the root meaning "to turn or return". The King James Version does not use the word backsliding in the N.T. But the Greek word EPISTREPHO is virtually equivalent and is translated “Turn” and “Converted”. This is also the word the Septuagint uses as the translation for SHUB most often.   (See Strong's Hebrew Dictionary  # 7725 and his Greek Dictionary  # 1994).

These words do not have a special religious meaning inherent in them. They become significant in the religious sense only as the religious context is apparent. This is very important because too often we reserve the word 'backslider' and the idea behind it for the person very deeply involved in sin and degradation. I want to suggest that this is a mistake and I would like to make an attempt to clarify the matter with a famous quote:

 "Your status as a BACKSLIDER is not
determined by the degree of sin,  nor by
the length of time involved in that sin, but
by the direction you are headed relative
to the will of God."

This famous quote is from “Thoughts of Hayden Kent” and you are free to quote it (or refute it) anytime without fear of being a plagiarist. I seriously think it is a very important statement.  Please read it again ...(I'll wait). So we see a brother or sister in sin and we say tisk, tisk, a backslider. And so they are. But if we could rewind the life of that individual  and give it an instant replay to a time when they were right with God and apparently walking in His will and seemingly set for the race ahead of them and look at it more closely ... THERE!! ... There it is! ... don’t you see it? right there ... that little shift in attitude towards the things of God. That little point in time when the eye was allowed to look away off to the right or the left side for just a moment. THAT WAS WHEN THE BACKSLIDING OCCURRED! The rest was simply the outcome of the 'SHUB'; the turn. The turn is sometimes a very minor and gradual thing. But the consequences can often be staggering.

Read Jeremiah chapter three, paying special attention to the words 'turn'; 'return', and 'backslide'. There you will see a dramatic narrative in which Israel, the Northern kingdom has been taken captive. Judah, her sister in the South is “playing the harlot”. God is pleading with Judah asking them; "do you not see your sister Israel?  Will it not be more severe with you if you go down the same road, disregarding the warning she is gives?"

"Return, turn, come again to Me saith the Lord." Towards the end of the chapter Judah is coming to her senses. She may yet turn again and the Lord is waiting.

Once again, allow me to state my thought with the classical mathematic illustration. You want to go from point A to point B which is some distance away.  The science of plane geometry proves that a sleight deviation at any point along the line will expand the destination error in direct proportion to the length of the line and the degree of deviation.  The course of travel may even be REVERSED if the error is severe enough. Ask any one who has navigated upon the sea or in the air. Deviation is a critical matter in navigation.

What can one do then when once they have lost the way?  Is there any hope?  Is there any escape? You bet your life there is. In fact if you are a Christian you already did bet your life when you put your trust in Jesus! And you showed your wisdom when you did.  I will make you a promise. It is that all along life's way if every time you deviate from the true way and every time you err, you call upon God in the name of Jesus, that He will, by His Spirit, by His people, by His Church, plead with you to change The cry that you will hear if you listen is "Correct the Course!"  "Return to Me!" "Keep the Faith!"  "Repent!" ... yes, Repent! Oh Gracious Lord! 

No one goes so far that true repentance cannot restore them. Anywhere along the path of error, just a little effort on our part, not of might, not of works, but of faith, of weak humble submissive repentance towards God. The Lord will go into action for His prodigal children. How often I have gone astray and finally was reminded of His grace. By this grace, at some point along the line of rebellion comes the words of the Spirit of God "will you leave Me also?" And the only response must be "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life."  We must constantly have our eye on the "mark", adjusting our course quickly, making our calling and election sure.

In Luke 22:31-32, Jesus sees the difficult times coming for Peter after the Crucifixion.   The denials, the doubt and the fear that will follow these traumatic events. He knows Peter will not always be heading in the right direction.  He speaks the Word of Faith:

Simon,  Simon,  behold,  Satan hath
desired to have you,  that he may sift
you as wheat:  But I have prayed for
thee that thy faith fail not: and when
thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.

But I thought Peter was converted way back in Matthew 4:18-22? Didn’t they leave everything ‘straightway’ and follow Jesus? Obviously Peter was not yet turned in the precise direction that Jesus intended for him. Take the time to see the force of the Greek in this   passage.  Jesus tells Peter that Satan desires to have YOU. This pronoun is in the plural here and refers to all of them. If it took place in Virginia it would be Y'all. But Jesus also says  I have prayed for THEE Peter and now he uses the singular pronoun. Satan has desired to have all of them. He desires to sift all of them. But you Peter, are the leader of this bunch that I have called and ordained to spread the Gospel. When you are finally converted (EPISTREPHO), when you finally are heading in the right direction, it is YOU that I have chosen to strengthen the brethren. 

We know that Peter did a few things off the mark between the time Jesus spoke these words and the Day of Pentecost! So the question must be asked; When was Peter converted? The most likely place to locate this experience from my perspective would be John 21. In this chapter we find Peter leading the disciples off on another fishing trip. The Lord must now directed him to forget fishing for a living and become a shepherd of the flock.  In John 21: 19-20 we read  and when He (Jesus) had spoken this, He saith unto him (Peter), follow me. Then Peter, turning about, seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved following. Just a few pages later, in Acts 2:14ff, we find Peter, standing up to give meaning to the Pentecostal outpouring.  He was finally turned directly toward the perfect will of God. 

Dear friends, when you are driving down the highway with danger on both sides, traffic on the left and guardrails and ditches on the right, the wise place to be is right in the center of your own lane which has been clearly marked out for you. Why play with the possibility of disaster by seeing how close to the edge you can drive? 

Let me leave you with a recap:  The way of the just is clear.  You did not backslide when you found yourself in a pigpen of sin. No, it was way back at that fork in the road when you took the first step down the wrong path. Whenever you find yourself drifting to the left or the right, there is only one thing to do and one place to go regardless of the magnitude of the deviation and that is to Jesus.  He not only knows the way, He also knows you and He knows what to do to get you back in the center of the Way.  Beloved    friend He is the Way! The next time the enemy tries to make you retreat from the path that leads to victory by telling you to “Advance to the rear!” you listen to the voice of the Spirit. Do you hear It?  It is the Captain of our Salvation (Heb. 2:10) and He is saying CHARGE!!