The burden of the word of Jehovah concerning Israel. Thus declares Jehovah, who stretches forth the heavens and lays the foundations of the earth and forms the spirit of man within him…. – Zech. 12:1
Of one thing we may be assured: our God is full of INTENT—that is to say, He is never purposeless in any action He undertakes. Therefore, we may know that Jehovah had great purpose in His actions described in Zechariah 12:1. All the heavens—all the rest of the universe—were created for and exist for the earth; the earth was created for and exists for man; and the spirit of man—formed by Jehovah within man—is what gives all the rest of creation meaning and purpose.
Man was created for God, and it is man’s spirit that is the organ by which God and man, man and God, may be joined into one (1 Cor. 6:17) for the carrying out of God’s eternal economy.
It is not enough simply to read the scriptures and agree with them. It is not even enough to simply agree with the Lord Jesus, or simply to be obedient to Him (as after the Law). Rather, we must touch our human spirit learn to EXPERIENCE and ENJOY Christ by exercising our spirit.
- We need to experience Christ as the MAN with a measuring line (Zech. 2:1, 2; Ezek. 40:3; 47:1-5; Psa. 139:23f). Zechariah inquires of the Man as to His purpose and he is told that it is the Man’s intention to “measure Jerusalem,” but not to discover how short it is of God’s intention—not in a negative judgmental way. Rather, the Man says, “To measure… to see how great its breadth is and how great its length is.”
Our Christ comes to us as the people and city of God to test us, judge us, examine us and wholly possess us, but not in a negative way. Instead, He comes to encourage us unto greatness in our growth and spreading in life.
- We need to experience Christ as a wall of fire round about us and the glory within us (Zech. 2:5). We must experience Him as our centrality and universality. He must become to us—in our experience—our center and our defender (Rev. 21:23; 22:1, 5; 21:11, 18a, 24). We must find all our glory in Him dwelling within us, and we must trust Him to defend us from every distraction, every wile of the enemy, and every working of death and deadness in our members.
- We need to experience Christ as the pupil of His eye—knowing our preciousness to Him and His desire to protect us from every harmful thing.
- We need to experience Christ as the shepherding One, shepherding us day by with is rods of FAVOR and BONDS (Zech. 11:7; 2:1f, 5, 8f, 11; John 21:15-17). By His precious shepherding we find GRACE to be mingled more and more with the Spirit in our spirit and thereby increase in oneness and one accord with all the saints.
- We need to experience Christ as the One who sends rain as we pray (Zech. 10:1; 12:10; Ezek. 34:26). The Lord is so full of favor toward us and full of rich supply. Nevertheless, we need to call upon His Name for more grace—more “rain”—time and time again.
- We need to experience Christ as the One who has the power to transform us as we trust Him and turn to Him day by day. He, and only He, is able to transform us from our weakness as sheep and cause us to become “horses of majesty” for His Name’s sake (Zech. 10:3; cf. 9:13, 16; Dan. 11:32b).
- We need to experience Christ as the One who gathers us with His gentle whistling if we will but hear and respond (Zech. 10:8).
- We need to experience Christ as the One who strengthens us in Himself by His transfusing and infusing so that we become those who “walk about in His Name (Zech. 14:9).
- We also need crucial experiences of Christ for the building up of the church as the temple of God:
o As the foundation stone—the One who holds and supports the entire church (1 Cor. 3:11)Dear brothers and sisters, we need so many precious experiences of Christ to rescue us from what may be only head-knowledge and agreement with God in the scriptures.
o As the cornerstone—the One who joins us to one another and cancels out all our natural distinctions (Acts 4:11; Eph. 2:20; 1 Pet. 2:6)
o As the precious building materials—gold, silver and precious stones (1 Cor. 3:12a)
o As wisdom to us from God (1 Cor. 1:30)
o In the power of resurrection (and not in our natural life and power) (Phil. 3:10f)
o In His death (not attempting to accomplish our own crucifixion and death) (Phil. 3:10; S.S. 4:6)
o In His love (2 Cor. 5:14; Eph. 3:17-19; 4:16)
I, myself, am so short of these experiences. I freely confess that I need more and more real, precious and sweet experiences of Christ as I spend time with Him and in His presence.
Join me in this prayer:
Lord Jesus, come. We are open to You! We open every avenue of our being to You. Lord, again we say, we are open to you. Come and shine upon us and shine from within us and enlighten every avenue and every corner of our being. We would like to be exposed, purged, and purified.Here is a wonderful hymn we enjoyed recently:
1. "Seven Spirits" of our God —
Lo, the age has now been turned
To the Spirit with the Son.
For the churches He's concerned.
Chorus:
Come, O seven Spirits, come,
Thy recovery work be done!
Burn and search us thoroughly,
All the churches are for Thee.
Burn us, search us,
All the churches are for Thee!
2. Sevenfold the Spirit is
For the deadness of the church,
That the saints may turn and live,
That the Lord may burn and search.
3. Now the Spirit of our God
Has become intensified:
'Tis not one but sevenfold
That the church may be supplied!
4. Now the seven Spirits are
Seven lamps of burning fire,
Not to teach us, but to burn,
Satisfying God's desire.
5. See the seven Spirits now —
Seven piercing, searching eyes.
In the church exposing us,
All the church He purifies.
6. Seven Spirits doth the Lord
For the churches now employ;
All those in the local church
May this Spirit now enjoy.
