There are some great promises in the Bible that use the terms “going out ” and “coming in” that we might not fully understand. For example;
Ps 121:8 The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore
Num 27:16-17 The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore
Deut 28:5-7 Your basket and your kneading trough will be blessed. You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out. The LORD will grant that the enemies who rise up against you will be defeated before you. They will come at you from one direction but flee from you in seven.
What do these phrases mean?
Going out to where?
Coming in from where?With religious lenses on, we want to take this to mean coming in to church and going out into the world.Is that the real meaning here?
1 Samuel 30:17-22 David fought them from dusk until the evening of the next day, and none of them got away, except four hundred young men who rode off on camels and fled. 18 David recovered everything the Amalekites had taken, including his two wives. 19 Nothing was missing: young or old, boy or girl, plunder or anything else they had taken. David brought everything back. 20 He took all the flocks and herds, and his men drove them ahead of the other livestock, saying, “This is David’s plunder.” Then David came to the two hundred men who had been too exhausted to follow him and who were left behind at the Besor Valley. They came out to meet David and the men with him. As David and his men approached, he asked them how they were. 22 But all the evil men and troublemakers among David’s followers said, “Because they did not go out with us, we will not share with them the plunder we recovered.
Num 27:18-21 (Amp) The Lord said to Moses, Take Joshua son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay your hand upon him; And set him before Eleazar the priest and all the congregation and give him a charge in their sight. And put some of your honor and authority upon him, that all the congregation of the Israelites may obey him. He shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall inquire for him before the Lord by the judgment of the Urim [one of two articles in the priest's breastplate worn when asking counsel of the Lord for the people]. At Joshua's word the people shall go out and come in, both he and all the Israelite congregation with him.
(same verse in Contemporary English Version) The LORD answered, " Joshua son of Nun can do the job. Place your hands on him to show that he is the one to take your place. 19Then go with him and have him stand in front of Eleazar the priest and the Israelites. Appoint Joshua as their new leader 20and tell them they must now obey him, just as they obey you. 21But Joshua must depend on Eleazar to find out from me what I want him to do as he leads Israel into battle."
We know that our battle is not against flesh and blood, but spiritual. Eph 6:12
1 Jn 3:8 But the Son of God came to destroy the works of the devil.
Deut 28:5-7 Your basket and your kneading trough will be blessed. You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out. The LORD will grant that the enemies who rise up against you will be defeated before you. They will come at you from one direction but flee from you in seven.
Doing the work that that Jesus did, destroying the works of the enemy, is accomplished in spiritual warfare, in going out and coming in.
1 Kings 3:6-7 (Amp) Solomon said, You have shown to Your servant David my father great mercy and loving-kindness, according as he walked before You in faithfulness, righteousness, and uprightness of heart with You; and You have kept for him this great kindness and steadfast love, that You have given him a son to sit on his throne this day. Now, O Lord my God, You have made Your servant king instead of David my father, and I am but a lad [in wisdom and experience]; I know not how to go out (begin battle) or come in (finish battle).
Jn 14:12 (Msg) … I, on my way to the Father, am giving you the same work to do that I've been doing.
Going out to where?
Coming in from where?With religious lenses on, we want to take this to mean coming in to church and going out into the world.Is that the real meaning here?
1 Samuel 30:17-22 David fought them from dusk until the evening of the next day, and none of them got away, except four hundred young men who rode off on camels and fled. 18 David recovered everything the Amalekites had taken, including his two wives. 19 Nothing was missing: young or old, boy or girl, plunder or anything else they had taken. David brought everything back. 20 He took all the flocks and herds, and his men drove them ahead of the other livestock, saying, “This is David’s plunder.” Then David came to the two hundred men who had been too exhausted to follow him and who were left behind at the Besor Valley. They came out to meet David and the men with him. As David and his men approached, he asked them how they were. 22 But all the evil men and troublemakers among David’s followers said, “Because they did not go out with us, we will not share with them the plunder we recovered.
Num 27:18-21 (Amp) The Lord said to Moses, Take Joshua son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay your hand upon him; And set him before Eleazar the priest and all the congregation and give him a charge in their sight. And put some of your honor and authority upon him, that all the congregation of the Israelites may obey him. He shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall inquire for him before the Lord by the judgment of the Urim [one of two articles in the priest's breastplate worn when asking counsel of the Lord for the people]. At Joshua's word the people shall go out and come in, both he and all the Israelite congregation with him.
(same verse in Contemporary English Version) The LORD answered, " Joshua son of Nun can do the job. Place your hands on him to show that he is the one to take your place. 19Then go with him and have him stand in front of Eleazar the priest and the Israelites. Appoint Joshua as their new leader 20and tell them they must now obey him, just as they obey you. 21But Joshua must depend on Eleazar to find out from me what I want him to do as he leads Israel into battle."
We know that our battle is not against flesh and blood, but spiritual. Eph 6:12
1 Jn 3:8 But the Son of God came to destroy the works of the devil.
Deut 28:5-7 Your basket and your kneading trough will be blessed. You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out. The LORD will grant that the enemies who rise up against you will be defeated before you. They will come at you from one direction but flee from you in seven.
Doing the work that that Jesus did, destroying the works of the enemy, is accomplished in spiritual warfare, in going out and coming in.
1 Kings 3:6-7 (Amp) Solomon said, You have shown to Your servant David my father great mercy and loving-kindness, according as he walked before You in faithfulness, righteousness, and uprightness of heart with You; and You have kept for him this great kindness and steadfast love, that You have given him a son to sit on his throne this day. Now, O Lord my God, You have made Your servant king instead of David my father, and I am but a lad [in wisdom and experience]; I know not how to go out (begin battle) or come in (finish battle).
“Until we come to terms with war as the context of our days, we will not understand life. We will misinterpret 90% of what is happening around us. “John Eldredge
Jn 14:12 (Msg) … I, on my way to the Father, am giving you the same work to do that I've been doing.
Let’s look at several other uses of the same phrase.
1 Sam 29:6 Then Achish called David and said to him, As surely as the Lord lives, you have been honest and upright, and for you to go out and come in with me in the army is good in my sight; for I have found no evil in you from the day of your coming to me to this day. Yet the lords do not approve of you.
Zech 14:3 Then the LORD will go out and fight against those nations, as he fights on a day of battle.
Joshua 14:11 I am still as strong today as the day Moses sent me out; I’m just as vigorous to go out to battle now as I was then.
Judges 9:38 Then Zebul said to him, “Where is your big talk now, you who said, ‘Who is Abimelek that we should be subject to him?’ Aren’t these the men you ridiculed? Go out and fight them!”
1 Samuel 8:20 Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles.”
1 Samuel 17:32 David said to Saul, “Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him.”
1 Sam 18:13 So Saul removed David from him and made him his commander over a thousand; and he went out and came in before the people.
1 Samuel 18:30 The Philistine commanders continued to go out to battle, and as often as they did, David met with more success than the rest of Saul’s officers, and his name became well known.
2 Samuel 21:17 Then David’s men swore to him, saying, “Never again will you go out with us to battle, so that the lamp of Israel will not be extinguished.
2 Sam 10:8 And the Ammonites came out and put the battle in array at the entrance of the gate, but the Syrians of Zobah and of Rehob and the men of Tob and Maacah were stationed by themselves in the open country.
2 Sam 11:17 And the men of the city came out and fought with Joab, and some of the servants of David fell. Uriah the Hittite died also.
1 Chron 7:11 All these sons of Jediael were heads of families. There were 17,200 fighting men ready to go out to war.
2 Chron 26:11 Uzziah had a well-trained army, ready to go out by divisions according to their numbers as mustered by Jeiel the secretary and Maaseiah the officer under the direction of Hananiah, one of the royal officials.
Ps 44:9-10 But now you have rejected and humbled us; you no longer go out with our armies. You made us retreat before the enemy, and our adversaries have plundered us.
Ps 60:10 Is it not you, God, you who have now rejected us and no longer go out with our armies?
Luke 14: 31 Or what king, going out to engage in conflict with another king, will not first sit down and consider and take counsel whether he is able with ten thousand [men] to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand?
It is obvious that the phrase “going out and coming in” is about warfare, about going out to battle, and then coming in from the battle after it is finished.
As John Eldredge writes in Waking The Dead:
We are called to war, to destroy the works of the enemy.
With spiritual warfare as the context, let’s look at the promises from God again, in a new light;
Ps 121:8 The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore
Num 27:16-17 The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore
God is our strength in battle. The war has been won, but our individual earthly battles continue.
2 Chron 20:17 You will not have to fight this battle. Take up your positions; stand firm and see the deliverance the LORD will give you, Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Go out to face them tomorrow, and the LORD will be with you.’”
Ez 46:10 The prince is to be among them, going in when they go in and going out when they go out.
Micah 2:12-13 “I will surely gather all of you, Jacob; I will surely bring together the remnant of Israel. I will bring them together like sheep in a pen, like a flock in its pasture; the place will throng with people. The One who breaks open the way will go up before them; they will break through the gate and go out. Their King will pass through before them, the LORD at their head.”
Luke 14:23-24 “Then the master told his servant, ‘Go out to the roads and country lanes and compel them to come in, so that my house will be full. 24 I tell you, not one of those who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.’”
John 10:8-9 All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture.
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