The Invisible Church Blog

Ezek 21:5-7 That all flesh may know that I the Lord have drawn forth my sword out of his sheath: it shall not return any more. Sigh therefore, thou son of man, with the breaking of thy loins; and with bitterness sigh before their eyes. And it shall be, when they say unto thee, Wherefore sighest thou? that thou shalt answer, For the tidings; because it cometh: and every heart shall melt, and all hands shall be feeble, and every spirit shall faint, and all knees shall be weak as water: behold, it cometh, and shall be brought to pass, saith the Lord God.

We live in a world of mixture, and as stated in Ecclesiastes, each thing must come in its time. At present I believe it is a time to sigh. A sigh is very different thing, it can come about from both a yearning or weariness as well as relief. The sigh of the times for a Christian at this time will be a sigh of yearning or weariness. The Christian will have a yearning for the salvation of souls, and a weariness that so few will be found that seek Christ Himself. These desires for souls and for the glory of God will be so intense that all that may be accomplished in most cases is a sigh. Sure we may pray with words, we may speak with words, we may do what other good we can, but historically there repeatedly has come a time in the degeneration of each society that all a messenger of God can muster up is a sigh. I say that we indeed are experiencing the sigh of the times.

Yet it is times like this that the Lord will mark out them that are His. He will specifically “set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof”. Why? Because the sigh of the heart in a Christian breaks forth from a longing for the things of God, much higher than words can express. It comes from the deepest of moving of the Spirit of God, and is that which has been referred to as praying in the Spirit. “the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.” A sigh for souls and for the things of God is an expression of that close heart relationship that a Christian has with His Maker and Friend. None but God and others who sigh can see it, but a sigh of the heart is the mark which God has set upon His people.

A sigh of the heart is too low for pride which has not yet come to the end of self. A sigh of the heart is for those who have seen the majesty of God and have recognized their comparative littleness. A sigh of the heart before God and men reveals the humiliation of one who has nothing left to say on the matter. Sure there will be situations open for words, but as you long for souls who soundly reject Christ, all that may be left is the sigh of the times.

You may sigh In this time of room to room warfare for the souls of men just prior to the coming of the Lord, but fear not thou Christian, it is simply the sigh of the times.

Ezek 21:6 Sigh therefore, thou son of man, with the breaking of thy loins; and with bitterness sigh before their eyes.

Heb 1:8 But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom.

Upon the reading of Heb 1:8 (with reference to Numbers 24:17), we come to see that Christ is  typified by ‘a sceptre of righteousness.’ A sceptre is symbolic of the power of a king, the kind of sceptre it is, is dependent on that which the king wants to represent himself. In the case of Christ it is righteousness.

Est 4:11….whosoever, whether man or woman, shall come unto the king into the inner court, who is not called, there is one law of his to put him to death, except such to whom the king shall hold out the golden sceptre, that he may live….

As it was in Esther, the terms of peace with a king come when the king extends his sceptre to you as you approach him. To approach a king without these terms of peace means automatic death, yet there is an amount of uncertainty that the terms of peace will be granted until the approach is made. This is that which makes fear ‘the beginning of knowledge’. Yet as we see in Esther this fear is the beginning of knowledge, yet it is only the beginning of knowledge. The person has been enlightened enough to come to the king for a request or a favour, but they have not yet tasted whether or not the king is gracious, they have not yet come to terms of peace with the king.

Back to Esther. Vashti was beautiful and had everything going for her, except she had not made it to the beginning of right relationship to the king, which was a proper fear. She recognized no personal need to approach the king, therefore she had no desire to approach nor fear of approaching. Whereas to Esther a dire need was made known which magnified her fear, yet it was this same need that caused her to overcome her fear of approaching Ahasuerus. Vashti didn’t fear and didn’t come, whereas Esther feared but came anyway, and that fear was overcome. Which of the two then tasted that the king was gracious to them? Esther! Why? Because the sceptre and terms of peace associated with it was only extended to her. Did her fear of the king remain the same after she tasted that the king was gracious? No. It was changed, and made perfect in love.

Likewise when coming to the King, we approach with great need and conviction upon a knowledge of our own need of righteousness, which causes a fear of approaching a perfectly righteous God. To those who have come this way of being humbled by their own need of righteousness, the Sceptre of righteousness as the terms of peace is extended to them, all that is left is for them to reach up and touch it. Christ is that sceptre, He is the bridge of peace between God and man and it is His righteousness which is extended to man as the terms of peace between God and man.

To those who fear not God as Vashti feared not, this Sceptre and the terms of peace that come with it will be withheld, but to those who only fear God, I tell you that I have tasted that the Lord is gracious, and that He will extend His righteousness to you. Don’t stand before the throne in abject fear, but reach out by faith and touch Christ, who Himself is the ‘Sceptre of Righteousness’ extended to you, and have your fear made perfect in love.

1 John 4:18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.