"Say
ye, I am your sign." - Ez. 12:11.
The mental
conception of consecration has come to mean to be blessed
and to be made a blessing. That is not a true conception
if just left there. These passages, which we have read
(see below) contain a proposition which is the central
and basic principle of consecration to the Lord, of being
given to the Lord. And what is it? That He might make us
a sign. They contain this law, which we have often
pointed out, that God in His eternal purpose determines
that the method of His realisation should be by an
incarnation of Himself, that is, a manifestation of
Himself in the flesh; and that He should do something in
that incarnation which would be a sign to the universe,
that should signify something of the infinite Wisdom,
Power, and Sovereignty of God - that He should take hold
of the form of a man, and in that form do things and say:
"Look at that and learn." By what He does in
such an instrument He is making that instrument a sign
and signification not only to man, but to angels of the
two hierarchies, the divine and the satanic. As exampled
in Job, that He might do a thing that the whole hosts of
Angels and demons should look at and learn, and be made
wise; so that in every realm, amongst men and in the
heavenlies, the lower and the super heavenlies, God
should be able to do a thing in those who are His, which
would be the means of instructing, making aware,
informing and demonstrating.
Moses was
a sign to the Children of Israel. He disobeyed God and
God had at once to act, and because Moses stood in such a
prominent position before the people, his disobedience
was publicly punished. In that judgment he became a sign
to the Israelites, lest they should come to lightly
regard the sin of disobedience. And with us, there will
often have to be a public demonstration and judgment of
the flesh, for the warning of others, as well as the
vindication of the Truth in its living outworking. Moses
was God's sign. It costs to be God's sign. Are we
willing? How great the cost to Moses! - but - the
afterward!
That this
is a principle of Divine dealing is illustrated in these
scriptures:
Ezek.
12:6. "I have set thee for a sign."
Ezek. 12:11. "I am your sign."
Ezek. 24:24. "Thou shalt be a sign unto them and
they shall know that I am the Lord."
Acts 1:8. "Ye shall be witnesses unto Me."
2 Cor. 3:2. "Ye are our epistle... known and read of
all men."
2 Cor. 3:3. "Ye are manifestly declared to be the
epistle of Christ."
1 Cor. 4:1. "Let a man so account of us as the
ministers of Christ."
1 Cor. 4:9. "We are made a spectacle unto the world,
and to angels and to men."
Eph. 3:10. "To the intent that now unto the
principalities and powers in the heavenlies might be
known by the Church the manifold wisdom of God."
2 Cor. 2:15. "We are unto God a sweet savour of
Christ in them that are saved and in them that perish, to
one we are the savour of death unto death, and to the
other of life unto life."
I believe
that the Lord in these days is seeking to gather out a
people, and to gather in a people - few they will
certainly be, and one does not say that the Lord can do
this with all who are His - who shall be His Sign to the
"House of Israel." Their testimony may not be a
testimony that "the House of Israel" is utterly
wrong; but their testimony will be that there is a higher
and deeper life in God to which He would call them. One
feels this borne in upon one so much in these days, and
you will understand the signification of this, that when
the Lord calls a people, a small company it may be, when
He puts His hand upon one here and one there, adds them
one by one to a small company of those who are to be a
special sign to His household, He deals with them in
altogether different ways from those which He follows
with other people, and He says: "I will do a new
thing."
Now it is
no use you making a comparison with others. They may, in
their way, have a certain seal and blessing of God upon
them; but it does not mean that the way the Lord is
leading you is a wrong way; and you dare not argue
according to the ways the other people go. This is the
way of the Lord for you. Do not stay to make
comparisons. We stumble at that so often, we who have
given ourselves wholly to God and then have these
exceptional and trying experiences to come up against -
the full impact of the wrath of the enemy. We look around
upon others who have an easier time, because they are not
going the way we are going. Immediately we do that the
bottom begins to fall out of the whole thing. The point
is, the Lord has His wheel within a wheel, His instrument
with which He desires to make a special sign to His
people, of His Wisdom, His Power, His Grace, His Methods,
His Purpose, so that He can reveal Himself through you to
others. Do not have, for one moment, the thought of
anyone being on a pedestal, and being in solitary
isolation, of special account to the Lord. It simply
means that we go deeper down to death, and in humiliation
before the world, than anyone else. And because the
Lord takes us deeper, He is able to reveal something
higher.
God is
leading us out into a way which is, unusual, which is, if
you like, peculiar; and doing a thing which we know not
of as having been done anywhere else. As He leads us thus
I believe it is in order that, in doing this thing, with
all its cost, with all its pain, with all its need of the
slaying of every bit of the flesh, pride and arrogance,
and its desire for the approval of men, and all that kind
of thing - in His new way He is seeking to have such to
go with Him, in order that He may make them a Sign, as
something spiritual, and something spiritually powerful;
not that men can applaud, not that men may approve, but
which perhaps will be like the impact of God from the
Throne of God upon the throne of Satan, in these closing
days. That is the burden of the Word of the Lord:
"Son of man, I have made you a Sign"; "Say
unto them, I am your Sign."
It seems
to me that this moment is a moment when we should face
the implication of this word; as to whether we are going
the popular way; or whether we are going the unpopular
way; as to whether we are going to be the Lord's Sign.
When Paul uttered these words: "God has made us last
of all a spectacle," he was taking account of the
holidays of the Romans, when they gathered for a day's
sport. When all the other things had been got through,
the last thing was the turning into the arena of
criminals who were made sport of to crown this holiday,
for people to laugh at, jeer at, ridicule, make fun of,
and Paul says: "Last of all, we are made a
'spectacle'" - the world laughs. Just as the world
laughed at Nehemiah in the building of the walls of
Jerusalem.
"God
has made us a spectacle." Are we ready to be made a
"Sign"? The thing which the world laughs at?
The cross of the Lord Jesus has proved ever and always to
have been the superlative wisdom and power of God. For
the time being the sharing of the cross is the real test.
The Master endured the cross, and despised the shame, in
order to be made a sign.
Was there
ever a Sign more glorious and mighty than that cross, -
in the heavens, in hell, and on the earth?
So our
Master came to the end, and said: "For their sakes I
consecrate Myself. For their sakes I give Myself unto the
full consecration; and that consecration is the cross;
and I am willing to be made a 'Spectacle' to men, demons
and angels, for their sakes." The Lord wants us to
be Signs. One says this with bated breath, knowing little
of what it means, but knowing also that His Grace is
sufficient. Beloved, He is just seeking to gather a
company of people together of whom He can make a Sign,
not only of suffering and affliction, but of Power and
Glory, to show to others His Wisdom, His Might, His
Sovereignty, His Grace. Will you say on those terms, on
that ground: "I am the Lord's." "At Thy
feet I fall; to suffer, live or die, for my Lord
crucified"? This is what it means to be His
witnesses. "Ye are my witnesses" - it does not
mean going out and talking; it means the Lord working out
in our lives, and others looking on, and saying:
"That is the Mind of God: that is the Way of God;
that is the Will of God." And as He does it, so
demons learn what God is, the Glory of God, the
Sovereignty of God; angels bow because of His doings in
the Church, and glorify Him on our behalf.
May He
lead us to give our assent and consent in a new, fresh
act of abandonment and consecration individually, and as
a people, for these coming days. What the Lord does will,
doubtless, for a while, cost something, test us very
deeply, but we shall emerge into a revelation of Himself
which has not been seen by us before.