The Lord's Sign
The
Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold! The virgin will conceive and will
bring forth a son; and she shall call His name Immanuel.
(Isaiah 7:14 LITV)
A
sign points to a specific destination and is of value only relative to the
destination. For example, a road sign foretells and points the way, but we never
travel simply to get to the next sign. In this instance the Lord's sign points
the way to the full realization of His eternal Purpose in Christ Jesus!
We are not
suggesting that Jesus was sent merely as a sign. He is the redeemer, the Savior
of the world! It is still true that the details of His birth and the name
Immanuel give us prophetic signs that foretell end-time events. Just as He
fulfilled all scripture in His first coming, his Body is destined to also
fulfill prophecies and sometimes those prophecies that seem to apply only to Him
are also being fulfilled in His body, the ekklesia.
With this in mind let us carefully consider the Lord's sign, as prophesied by
Isaiah in the passage quoted above.
Consider the
words the virgin. In 2 Kings 19:21 we
read about "The virgin the daughter of Zion." The prophet Jeremiah also
prophesied about this same woman, "For I heard a cry as of a woman in travail,
anguish as of one bringing forth her first child, the cry of the daughter of
Zion gasping for breath, stretching out her hands, 'Woe is me! I am fainting
before murderers.'" (Jeremiah 4:31)
Also Isaiah
prophesied of Zion,
Sing,
O barren one, who did not bear; break forth into singing and cry aloud, you who
have not been in travail! For the children of the desolate one will be more than
the children of her that is married, says the LORD. (Isaiah 54:1 RSV)
Upon
reading further we find a reference to God as Husband in verse 5, and to
Israel/Zion as wife in verse 6.
And
I will betroth you to me for ever; I will betroth you to me in righteousness and
in justice, in steadfast love, and in mercy. I will betroth you to me in
faithfulness; and you shall know the LORD. (Hosea 2:19-20 RSV)
This is the
very language that Paul used to explain this mystery as related to the Church
and Christ. As Israel was God's betrothed, so the Church is the bride of
Christ.
The Hebrew
word translated virgin in the above
passage would more correctly be translated bride,
one who is about to become a wife, one who is betrothed. This was exactly the
case with Mary, the handmaiden of the Lord. She was a virgin, the betrothed of
Joseph. Mary divinely conceived and bore a Son who was the fullness of God on
earth, Immanuel--God with us. This sign also points to a future spiritual
fulfillment. Another bride will birth a man-child, who will live to the full
everything that is implied by the name Immanuel.
In
Revelation chapter twelve God reaffirms the sign.
And
a great sign was seen in the heaven:
a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a
crown of twelve stars; and being with child she cried, being in travail, and in pain to bring forth. And another
sign was seen in the heaven: and behold, a great red dragon, having seven
heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems; and his tail draws the
third part of the stars of the heaven; and he cast them to the earth. And the
dragon stood before the woman who was about to bring forth, in order that when
she brought forth he might devour her child. And she brought forth a male son,
who shall shepherd all the nations with an iron rod; and her child was caught up
to God and to his throne. (Revelation
12:1-5 Darby)
We read of
two signs in this passage. The first sign is the sign of Isaiah seven fourteen,
spoken of here in its future fulfillment. Earlier John heard a voice like a
trumpet saying, "Come up here, and I will show you the things which must happen
after this" (Revelation
4:1 WEB).
We know then
that the signs of Revelation affirm the sign of Isaiah and prophetically point
toward future events. The details of this sign seen by John correspond so
thoroughly to the birth and life of Christ that many theologians believe the
sign must refer to Christ's physical birth. But these signs are a reference to
things that must happen after this, after the time when John wrote about them.
The woman and the man-child are a clear reference to the end time bride of
Christ and the birth and maturity of the end-time Body of Christ.
We will here
make a statement that at first may be misunderstood. Please bear with us! Just
as Jesus was Immanuel, God with us, so is the Body of Christ. Paul wrote of a
mystery regarding the Body, "For even as the body is one and has many members,
but all the members of the body, being many, are one body, so also is the Christ"
(1Corinthians 12:12 Darby). We have used the Darby version because, in this
instance, it is the closest to the original Greek. Notice the words, "so also
is the Christ." The Christ that Paul was speaking of here was the whole
Christ, Head plus Body. Christ is the Head. We are His Body. Together we make up
the Christ. The definite article the,
which is left out of most other translations, is significant. A
thing is much different than the
thing. The word the implies the genuine article, the real, exclusive and only one of
its kind. Just as Christ in His physical body was Immanuel, the very temple or
dwelling place of God, so the Body of Christ (Head plus Body) is the continuum
of this mystery, the temple where God tabernacles on the earth. Immanuel--God
with us!
We know that
the Body Of Christ is also referred to as God's temple. Haggai prophesied, "'I
will shake all nations, and they shall come to the Desire of All Nations, and I
will fill this temple with glory,' says the Lord of
Hosts. . . .'The glory of this latter temple shall be greater than the former,'
says the Lord of Hosts. 'And in this place I will give peace,' says the Lord
of Hosts." (Haggai 2:7 - 9, NKJV)
There will
be a latter day manifestation of the Body that will far exceed anything that has
occurred upon the earth before. This latter-day Body will show forth the
fullness of the stature of Christ as one new man, having reached maturity. They
will reign and rule with Christ. They
will be caught up to God and to his throne.
And
He has put all things under His feet
and gave Him to be Head over all things
to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.
(Ephesians 1:22-23 MKJV)
And
this until we all come into the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the
Son of God, to a full-grown man, to the
measure of the stature of the fullness
of Christ; (Ephesians 4:13 MKJV)
For
it pleased the Father that in him
should all fullness dwell;
(Colossians 1:19)
For
in him dwells all the fullness of the
Godhead bodily. (Colossians 2:9)
These
scriptures show God's intention to fill all things with His Son by means of
the Body of Christ. Satan knows this, and like any adversary he has set himself
to oppose the advancement of the Kingdom.
There will
be an end-time rebirthing of the Body of Christ. The primary target of Satan,
the red dragon, is the Body of Christ, the expression of Christ in the earth. In
creating the counterfeit body, his objective was to fully displace and scatter
the true Body of Christ. There have been true believers down through the years,
but the corporate expression where Christ is seen in His fullness was displaced
early on.
There were
individuals who shone with Christ's glory, as there still are, but one member
does not make a body. Throughout history, whenever a corporate expression of
Christ began to emerge, before long the red dragon came to devour it. He will
tolerate every form of religion, but he cannot abide the thought of the many-membered
body coming to its fullness and fully expressing the glory of God's Son. This
fullness cannot be expressed through single members, however brightly they might
shine, for they only possess a measure of the gift of Christ. The focus of all
Satan's energies in the first century was to devour this corporate Body, and
this effort continues today. Just as Herod tried to kill the infant Jesus, so
the dragon wants to devour the man-child in His inception, before He should
reach the fullness of the stature of Christ. Satan's proven and most effective
means of offsetting the body of Christ is his substitute, religion.
Just as
Jesus is Immanuel--God with us, in that God is resident in Him, so the Body of
Christ in whom Christ now dwells, and will be fully manifest, is Immanuel on the
earth. This is the mystery of the Body of Christ the fullness of Him who fills
all things. This God with us
existence in man is the glory of
God. Paul taught extensively about this coming glory being restored to those who
dwell in Christ.
For
whom He foreknew, He also predestined to
become conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the
first-born among many brethren;
We who are
the members of His body were predestined to be there. We were predestined to be
made perfectly into His image as parts of His spiritual body. God has set a
process in motion from the foundation of the world, a process in which we are
predestined, called, justified, and finally glorified. If Christ is to be fully
glorified, the body in which He lives must also be fully glorified.
So just how
are we, his body, to be glorified?
Paul continues in the next chapter of Romans,
What
if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known,
endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction?
And
He
did so in order that He might make known the riches of His glory upon
vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory, even
us, whom He also called, not from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles.
(Romans 9:22-24, NASB).
We existed
before hand as spiritual members in His heavenly body and knew a certain level
of His glory, but we are also being prepared for a greater glory, glory in its
fullness. Just as Christ had to come to this earth and learn obedience through
the things which he suffered, so we, too, are being perfected during our earthly
sojourn for a greater glory. Christ was glorified in heaven before He came, and
the Father had greater glory awaiting Him through His act of obedience. Consider
this exchange with His Father over His impending crucifixion.
"Now My soul has become troubled; and what shall I say, 'Father, save Me from
this hour'? But for this purpose I came to this hour.
To glorify
the Father through His perfect obedience was also to glorify the Son. The same
is true of His saints, the members of His body. To lay down our lives in
obedience to Him is to glorify Christ. To glorify Christ by our obedience even
unto death is to share in the Glory of the crucified Son. So many who call
themselves Christians today want the power and the glory, without taking up the
path of the cross which brings its fullness into our lives. We should consider
Paul's prayer in his letter to the Philippians and make it your own.
. . .that
I may know Him, and the power of His
resurrection and the fellowship of
His sufferings, being conformed to
His death. (Philippians 3:10, NASB).
Even those
who strive for an earthly prize know, "No pain, no gain." The city of God,
the New Jerusalem, Mount Zion, will yet be adorned with His glory at His coming.
(Paul
and Barnabas) strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to
continue in the faith, and saying, "Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God." (Acts 14:22, NASB)
And
I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made
ready as a bride adorned for her husband. (Revelation 21:2, NASB).
Glorious
things are spoken of you, O city of God. Selah. (Psalms 87:3, NASB).
God knew
beforehand that we could not be made perfect without a time of testing. We are
here on this earth among vessels of wrath to learn the patience of God as we
suffer at their hands. We share the sufferings of Jesus who is our Head.
The
Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if
children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ,
if indeed we suffer with Him in order
that we may also be glorified with Him. For
I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be
compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the anxious
longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God.
(Romans 8:16-19, NASB).
Paul wrote
to the church at Thessalonica,
But
we should always give thanks to God for
you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because
God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by
the Spirit and faith in the truth. And it was for this He called you through our
gospel, that you may gain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. (2
Thessalonians 2:13,14, NASB).
Paul speaks here of being chosen "from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth." This is the path we take to reach the glory of Christ. First God chooses us while we were yet sinners to be His sons and daughters. He makes us holy by enfolding us in Christ and giving us the gift of the Spirit of His righteousness. He gives us the faith of the indwelling Christ to believe in Him. Finally, He places His life-changing truth within us, conforming us into the very image of His Son. This is the process of His grace at work in us so that we can attain the glory of His Son as His joint heirs in the Beloved. It is this glorious bride who is without spot or blemish for which the Bridegroom comes, not a bride who has not been proven and tested.