DIVINE SIGNS
[p. 157] DIVINE SIGNS
Isaiah 7:14; Isaiah 8:18; Zechariah 3:8; Ezekiel 24:15-18; Ezekiel 24:27
These scriptures speak of signs, and in speaking of them my hope is that the Lord will enable me to make a present application. The idea of signs is prevalent throughout Scripture, and bears on our times in the book of Revelation. There were those who sought a sign from the Lord, a sign from heaven, as if there had not been any from Him, whereas He was Himself a sign from the outset, as a Babe; and the works which none other man did, had been done by Him, were every one signs. Yet unbelief and impudence would ask of Him a sign from heaven. His reply was: Hypocrites! For hypocrisy marks those who are unbelieving as to what is before their eyes, what all can see. However, He would give them one, not that which is spoken of in the first scripture, but “the sign of Jonas”, that as Jonas was three days and three nights in the belly of the fish, so the Son of man should be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth (Matthew 12:40). The Son of man! Most solemn of signs, and one that spoke volumes as to human guilt for, if He who knew no sin had to enter into death and remain there for three days and three nights, the responsibility must belong to others. The responsibility attached to man, the cause lay in the race. Later He says, “The Son of man is about to be delivered up into the hands of men, and they shall kill him” (Matthew 17:22,23). A most solemn matter, one that is intended to come home with convicting power even in our own time.
As I was saying, the idea of signs comes down into our dispensation, and (as I shall be showing presently at greater length) particularly in the Apocalypse, which is a book of signs: “Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave to him ... ; and he signified it, sending by [p. 158] his angel, to his bondman John, who testified the word of God, and the testimony of Jesus Christ, all things that he saw” (Revelation 1:1,2). God gave it to Him, and He humbly takes the mediatorial place as receiving it. Indeed, He says, “of that day or of that hour no one knows, neither the angels who are in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father” (Mark 13:32). But now He has received it — “which God gave to him”. The giving of this Apocalypse to the Son was a great event. But I speak of the word signified. It refers to signs, and we cannot read Revelation intelligently save as we understand signs; each sign is intended to convey an impression, a prophetic impression, indeed, on ourselves, for the book was sent to all the assemblies.
Now, having said so much in an introductory way, I refer to the first scripture. It comes in in a most gracious way, for the house of David in pretended piety had refused a sign, and yet Jehovah spoke directly to Ahaz, showing how false piety may preclude from us the most precious communications and guidance. The house of David was wearying men and now wearying God — a remarkable charge; and we easily take on this attitude, assuming to have a better knowledge of certain circumstances than God. He says to Ahaz: “Ask for thee a sign from Jehovah thy God; ask for it in the deep, or in the height above”. He was ready to do anything in this sense for that house, now failing, although presently to be brightly represented in Hezekiah. What seemed hopeless had a bright result.
I wish you to note that the allusion in the sign is not to God’s power, but to power in the virgin; that is to say, in such circumstances of unbelief, indifference and false piety, the allusion is to the virgin state. It is not the only such reference in this prophecy, for later on the virgin daughter of Zion defies the king of Assyria, showing what military power attaches to the virgin state, that is, the state that is unconquered by the world — a precious commodity, one of the most valuable in our day. We see how it shines in the gospels, but then in God’s power, for the incoming of the Son of God was a mighty transaction of God; indeed of His own, for the Word became flesh. It was a mighty operation, and the enemy would becloud its significance.
In our scripture it is the virgin’s power, and so I touch on that humbly and simply, only to enhance it, touching on it, I trust, holily. It is the virgin’s power that is the sign. The babe, indeed, was a sign according to Luke. “This is the sign to you: ye shall find a babe wrapped in swaddling-clothes, and lying in a manger” (Luke 2:12). That was the announcement of the angel to the shepherds. But the sign here is the virgin conceiving and bringing forth a son. In truth it is not a virgin, the proper rendering is the virgin, as if there were only one, and there could be only one in this wonderful transaction. Heaven would not think of another; in the sense conveyed, there could not be another. It is the virgin, one marked off prophetically and in due course here. But then, I am speaking of the quality of the condition, the subjective condition afforded to all, and that is the sign here. She shall bring forth a son and call (she calls) his name Immanuel. Let us think of this for a moment, over against Ahaz and all that marked him as of the house of David, to say nothing of the house of Israel, its wretched confederacy with Syria. Think what confederacies there are about us today religiously — independent companies joining up, assuming to have virtue in themselves? “Say ye not, A confederacy”, the Spirit says in this section. The idea of a confederacy is obvious — independent companies joining up with independent companies, and all against Jerusalem and the house of David; the house of David itself poor and weak, and represented as unbelieving and pretending to false piety, but still it was the house of David, to which great thoughts and promises attached. So what was needed over against Ahaz’s unbelief was this virgin state, this subjective condition, seen strikingly in Mary in Luke 1; and it is [p. 160] that which triumphs. The sign here is this condition and the result of it.
Much could be said of Christ’s birth. It is the greatest of subjects, His death and resurrection being its counterpart. There could be no death of Christ without the birth of Christ, hence they are bound together. His death is involved, for indeed He “came by water and blood” (1 John 5:6). He had that in mind. Not that death was on Him personally. Never! It is blasphemy to assume that it was. Nobody could take His life from Him, but still He came to die. Others did the killing, alas — “ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain” (Acts 2:23) — but He has entered in once for all, into the holy of holies, having obtained an eternal redemption. So that the incarnation and death of Christ stand together — the first great event being the sign here: the Babe; and not only the Babe, but the virgin state through which He was brought forth. That is what I wish to stress, the virgin condition, the unconquered condition in holiness, that which stands out against all the attacks of the enemy to corrupt. That was available in Mary, and as it is, in a spiritual sense now, available for God, something for Him will be brought forth. “I again travail in birth”, says one in true virgin feeling, true motherly feeling, too, “until Christ shall have been formed in you” (Galatians 4:19); and that is what is needed, the formation of Christ, the reproduction of Christ in true formation in the saints. That is surely a sign.
That is all I have to say on that point. I come now to chapter 8, which is a counterpart of the other, that is, the children which God gave to Christ — without saying anything about a mother. It is now the paternal side. The Assyrian had come up, and he had gone too far. A comfort to us as the enemy is attempting to interfere with the rights of God in His people — doing it, indeed, succeeding, too; but then the remnant said, “God is with us!” which is “Immanuel” interpreted.
[p. 161] Let confederacy be made; let the Assyrian come up — under God he may come up as needed for discipline, but presently he goes too far. He goes “further”, reaching “even to the neck”; but it is Immanuel’s land. Who can contend with Immanuel? That is the refuge for the remnant now — Immanuel’s land! The enemy knew not what he was doing, he had touched on the rights of God in Christ. We can pray on those lines, and if we do we shall be heard. Hardly anything is of more importance than to pray intelligently. Many prayers are fervent, but with little or no intelligence or faith. Daniel prayed intelligently, he opened books that conveyed the mind of God and read them. Prayer should be on that principle — “the word of God and prayer” (1 Timothy 4:5).
So that, as we pray intelligently and in faith, we know that we are heard. Daniel knew that he was heard. The angel Gabriel came to answer his prayer — and make him “skilful of understanding”; and he says, moreover, “thou art greatly beloved” — all showing that our prayers not only bring answers, but they make us lovable to heaven. But we must bear in mind that even if we pray according to the intelligence which Scripture affords as to the rights of Christ, we must make allowance for the inscrutableness of divine government. God is not obliged to tell us all, nor does He, but as we pray intelligently according to the revealed will of God, we shall be heard. Isaiah 8 is a question of the rights of Immanuel, and when these are touched upon God interferes, and that will ultimately be the end of the enemy’s efforts. The remnant say, “It shall not stand: for God is with us”. Let us understand that! What is the enemy doing? He knows not: even the virgin daughter of Zion can compete with him and overcome him; how much more Immanuel!
Referring again to our second scripture, the government of God requires that He (Jehovah) should hide His face from the house of Jacob. It is a [p. 162] most solemn thing, that God has to hide His face from the house of Jacob. And Immanuel on His side says, “I will look for him” — true piety, true subjection, too — “I will wait for Jehovah”. Jacob began that note: “I wait for thy salvation, O Jehovah” (Genesis 49:18). Messiah carries the thought forward and it covers our own position. It is a question of waiting upon God. Conditions require that God should hide His face, but not to the Messiah, to Christ, nor to those whom He has given to Christ. What a touching word that is, “the children that Jehovah hath given me”! And what are they to be? “For signs and for wonders in Israel”. Is there no present application? There is. Every one of us, those whom God has given to Christ, is a sign, a sign to be understood, too. “The children that Jehovah hath given me”. Think of the Lord’s feelings of affection in regard of the saints viewed thus! Indeed, this scripture is quoted in the epistle to the Hebrews to bring out the great fact of His humanity — “I and the children which God has given me”. They are for signs and for wonders in Israel! How great it is to be one of them! Let us understand the magnitude of it! It is self-evident; children given to Christ by God are different from all other children.
Now our third scripture is in the book of Zechariah. What is in mind in the passage is the recovery of the priesthood. It has application to our own times. The priesthood has been lost sight of, beclouded by a false priesthood which exists yet, and the high priest, too. I am speaking now of the history of christianity. The whole dispensation became beclouded and discredited — well-nigh lost in a public sense. This chapter contemplates the recovery of it. Joshua was the high priest, that is, the idea was there, but he “was clothed with filthy garments”. Satan was there to prevent what he understood God to be about. He is always ready to defeat what God is about to do. He gathers up by observation what is in the divine mind, and aims to [p. 163] defeat it, and one of the greatest features of the recovery in which we now have part is that of priesthood.
In the history of the assembly, the Levites arrogated priesthood to themselves: that is, because one had a gift, or clerical office, he became a priest. This beclouded the whole position. So this chapter is to recover the idea, particularly that of the high priest, for it is heavenly. There is no high priest on earth. “If he were on earth, he would not be a priest” (Hebrews 8:4). I mean, the priesthood in which we have part is a heavenly one, not one that can be attached to things set up here as if they belonged to this world, such as cathedrals and all that. Hebrews is to show that our High Priest, our priesthood, is heavenly. So the passage brings out that Joshua’s filthy garments are taken away from him — and, as typical of what exists today, what rubbish! How unfit to be worn by a true priest! Priestly garments today, such as the world recognises, are unfit for a true priest. True, priestly garments are found in remnant times, as we may see in Ezra and Nehemiah. Nehemiah himself gave five hundred and thirty priests’ coats.
Joshua was clothed in filthy garments, as we have noted, but God was coming in sovereignly to change those garments. How happy to see a christian who has worn these filthy garments — filthy in a spiritual sense — disrobed of them and clothed not only with true priestly garments, but with such as are called festival garments! Not the dull experience attaching to the clergy, for in truth it is generally dull and heavy, whatever interest and excitement there may be in the public exercise of the clerical office. In itself it is a dull matter, to say the least, nothing festive about it, nothing happy and free; those engaged in it are relatively isolated; in principle above and apart from the laity, there is but little mutual feeling. One great principle of the assembly is mutual feeling and enjoyment in holy things. They sang a hymn — that is the [p. 164] mutual side, not even the Lord, although evidently present, distinguished there. They sang a hymn and went to the mount of Olives. And in the prodigal’s case, too, there was the music and the dancing; there were festival robes and festivity according to God. The gracious recovery that He has effected and brought us into involves all this. The most sanctified thought is connected with divine festivity. Such is the blessedness of what we are brought into: the present portion of the saints.
So now Joshua is brought out into his full position. The priesthood is restored; and so the word as you will observe is: “Hear now, Joshua the high priest, thou and thy fellows that sit before thee — for they are men of portent”, that is, men to be observed as signs. Let this sink into our hearts. The high priest is addressed in a most appealing way. He is not addressed in his rags; he is addressed in his festival robes, in his high priestly garments, for God will have us to understand that there is nothing lost at all. He has recovered in these last days the very best things of this dispensation: not only have we a High Priest in heaven to intercede for us, but One who wears festival robes.
Then the men that sit before Him as His fellows: think of what we are brought into on the priestly line, for we are said to be a chosen race, a kingly priesthood, a holy nation! We are said to be a priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ — His fellows, too! He is anointed with the oil of gladness, as we know, above His companions, but still, we are His companions. You will understand what I mean, that God has recovered the very best things for us, what is most holy and blessed, involving spiritual intelligence in what has the character of holy festivity. Is there not happiness in it? Why should young people turn their backs upon it? Some do, alas! old ones, too — very like the “elder son” in the parable, refusing to go in. The Lord is appealing to [p. 165] us as to what has been restored, that we are part of it, and, as such, men to be wondered at. As priests, every one of us is included here. Characteristically, priesthood refers to spiritual men. Such, as we see in our chapter, are signs, over against the worldly priesthood, the accepted one in the world, prevalent throughout christendom. Christians in the true sense are different: they have the Spirit of God, hence anointed, and having taken on the character of Christ, they are the true sons of Aaron. Hence, like Joshua’s fellows, “they are men of portent” in these last days.
Finally I come to Ezekiel. He has as much to say of this thought as any of the prophets, and what you find in this case, as may be shown in others, is what God would bring about so as to reveal to anyone His mind. For indeed, it is said in Amos 3:7: “the Lord Jehovah will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets”. God is reviving the great prophetic thought amongst us, and this among other things implies that there should be increase in the number of prophets. “Would God”, says Moses, “that all the Lord’s people were prophets” (Numbers 11:29). Moses had no jealousy about that. The more prophets we have, the more effective our testimony will be. Christianity implies community, what one has we all have. And so, as I remarked, God reveals His mind to His servants the prophets. If one says a prophetic word in the ministry meeting, you may be sure the Lord has given it to him. He is ready to give a word to anyone available. The idea is that as the Child is taken into one’s arms — as Christ is taken into one’s arms — communications come as they did to Simeon (Luke 2). As we are told in the instruction covering this matter, a revelation may come to “another sitting there”, as one is speaking (1 Corinthians 14:30). If we are accustomed to the prophetic idea we shall understand. To be “among the prophets” is to be coveted. The gift of prophecy is one we are told to covet, and you can see the divine import of it.
[p. 166] As one is faithful, God will make him His friend, and will use him to convey His mind to His people.
In view of this, however, I am to have my part in the sorrow, so that the end of the prophetic word might be reached. That is a most solemn thing. If Elijah prayed for a drought, he had to experience the drought himself. He prayed twice, but between the answers to his prayers there was a sorrowful time, and he had to go through it. Included in the prophet’s lot is persecution. Stephen says: “Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted?” (Acts 7:52). There was not a prophet that escaped persecution. So there is no attraction for the flesh in this service, but there is great attraction for the spiritual, for what can be greater than to know the mind of God, to be a friend of God, and to have the power to communicate the mind of God?
Now in Ezekiel you have all this. He had to lie, for instance, for three hundred and ninety days on one side; and then forty days on the other — to bear the iniquity of the house of Israel and the house of Judah. Think of the food he had to eat, too — such suffering! We get him acting the part of a captive, too, to speak to God’s people, also as laying siege against Jerusalem — in which he was “a sign to the house of Israel”. Sometimes, as in chapter 24:19, they came to him saying, “Wilt thou not tell us what these things are to us?” Well, I am sure he was thankful to be asked such a question. At another time his word, however powerful, was like a song that they forgot — it had no effect upon their souls. All this is very searching as to the state of the saints, but still, one important thing about the prophets is that they represent the wonderful patience of God. And morally nothing could be much greater than to be an expression of that, to be a sign of the long-suffering of God. I cannot be this if I am recognising natural feelings or cultivating natural things. And this is the point in our chapter, that Ezekiel has to suffer the loss of his wife, who was suddenly taken away, and [p. 167] God says: You must not mourn, you must not put on such appearances as mourning requires; a most affecting thing. It was no small matter to Ezekiel, no ordinary bereavement. It was the desire of his eyes taken away with a stroke. “Thus”, Jehovah says, “Ezekiel shall be unto you a sign” (Ezekiel 24:24).
I speak thus so that we may be solemnised, for our position is most solemn. We are at the end of the times, and they require energy, they require patience in suffering. God is saying to me in this scripture that, if I am to be a sign in these matters I am to learn to deny natural claims, not to cultivate and live in natural things. I must learn to deny them. It is no question of what is righteous in these relationships, this must be recognised; but how many of us live almost entirely in what is natural! But then we are not signs in that. There is little or no difference between us and the world. There is not a sign in it, not a thing to promote fear and faith in those around us. Ezekiel, as I said, has to deny these natural affections, and the last verse says: “In that day shall thy mouth be opened to him that is escaped, and thou shalt speak, and be no more dumb. So shalt thou be a sign unto them; and they shall know that I am Jehovah”. It is worth our while, for God is sure to take a man up who denies himself of what is merely natural, who refuses to live in what is natural. God says: I will honour you in that day. I will open your mouth and you shall be a sign and they shall know that I am Jehovah.
May God bless His word to us.