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THE NEED FOR MEN WHO TURN THE AGE
Scripture Reading: Dan. 1:1-21
Today we would like to consider how young people who are under God’s hand can be used by Him to turn the age.
GOD PURPOSELY USING YOUNG PEOPLE TO TURN THE AGE
We need to realize that many times God does things on earth to turn an age. When God works on earth, He does so age by age. The reason that God has many age-turning moves is that men used by Him in one age often become fallen and fail to reach His goal. This forces God to turn the age, that is, to have a new start so that He can do what He wants to do in a new age.
We can see many cases like this in the Old Testament. God would bring in a new age by doing something through some people during a particular time. However, due to man’s degradation, that age would soon become fallen and degraded. It would become so degraded that God could not have a way with men on earth and could not do anything anymore. As a result, God would have to bring in a new age. Only by bringing in a new age could God do any work again. Unfortunately, the next age did not continue for long before it fell again. God once more could not do any work. Consequently, He had to bring in another age. When one reads the Old Testament, he can see that one age came after another had degraded. One age rose only to see it wane again. Another age rose and then also failed again.
I would like you to realize that God’s work in turning the age is always done through men. Before a new age is ushered in, there are always men in the previous age who are used by God particularly to turn the age. And in every age-turning work, God purposely uses young people. The two most obvious examples are Samuel and Daniel.
THE TURNING OF THE AGE BEING FOR THE BRINGING IN OF GOD’S AUTHORITY AND EXPRESSION
Samuel turned the age of the priesthood to the age of the kingship, whereas Daniel turned the age of captivity to the age of return. The age of the kingship brought in by Samuel, properly speaking, began with David. It came to its golden peak when King Solomon built the temple. At that time God’s authority was manifested through men; God was able to rule through men under His authority. At the same time, God’s glory was expressed among men.
In those days in Israel, on the one hand, there was the throne of the house of David and, on the other hand, the temple. The throne speaks of God’s authority, and the temple, of His glory. One should remember that the glory of God filled the temple when Solomon consecrated it to God immediately after its completion. We know that there is symbolic significance in this. The throne and the temple among the Israelites show that God desires to rule and to express His glory.
I hope that the young brothers and sisters will see these two things. God wants to have a throne on earth and a habitation on the earth. The throne speaks of His ruling, and the habitation speaks of the expression of His glory. Such an age was brought in by Samuel. On the one hand, he brought in a throne and, on the other hand, he brought in a habitation through this throne. This situation was quite apparent among the Israelites after King Solomon succeeded in building the temple. God established a throne, ruled through it, and obtained a dwelling place, a place for His expression through which He manifested His glory among men. This period can be considered a very normal age.
However, this condition did not last long. Due to man’s corruption and Satan’s attacks, this testimony was destroyed. When Solomon was old, the age had become fallen. At that time it seemed that God’s throne was laid aside and His glory was neglected.
From King Solomon on, his descendants began step by step to fall further. At the time of King Ahab their condition could not have become more fallen. By the end of the books of Kings, which was the very end of the age of kingship, everything had become degraded and desolate. There was no more of God’s throne or God’s glory. Both of these had disappeared. What could God do? God could only give them up and let them go. As a result, the enemies came in, and Jerusalem was destroyed; the temple was burned down, and all the utensils for serving God in the temple, together with the Israelites, were carried away to Babylon. It totally became the age of captivity because everything was carried away.
GOD’S FOCUS THROUGHOUT THE AGES BEING HIS AUTHORITY AND EXPRESSION ON EARTH
I have no thought of giving young people too much doctrine. Nevertheless, I hope that you would know something about God. In the first chapter of the Old Testament, after God created man, His focus was on two things: first, He wanted man to have His image, and second, He wanted man to have authority on His behalf. From the beginning of the Bible, we can see that what God cares for in man are the matters of image and authority. From Genesis to Revelation, from the beginning of mankind all the way to the new heaven and new earth in the future, God’s special focus on man has been with these two matters.
Image indicates God’s expression. Suppose you are not presently in the United States. Your friend in the United States cannot see you. However, you can take a picture and send it to him. He will then know your image by the picture. You can print copies of this picture and send them all over the United States. You can even print the picture in all the American newspapers. In this way everyone in America will see you. Hence, an image is an expression. In the same way, man is created in God’s image. In other words, man is God’s picture; he is an expression of God’s image. Someone once told us that a sculptor first takes pictures of a model from the front, back, right, and left sides and then sculpts according to these pictures. In the end the statue that he makes will be exactly the same as the image of the model. When you see the statue, it is as if you see the real person. Hence, an image is the expression of a person.
Please remember that expression is a matter of glory. Image is expression, and expression is glory. After Solomon finished building the temple, it was filled with God’s glory. That was God’s image expressed, and God Himself was manifested.
At the same time, there was the matter of authority, that is, the matter of the throne and the kingdom. Brothers and sisters, the Bible focuses all the time on the matters of image and authority.
If we realize this, we will understand the reason that in the prayer the Lord taught the disciples, He said, “Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory” (Matt. 6:13). The reason He said this is that in the beginning of the Bible there were these two matters, and at the end of Revelation there are still these two matters. I cannot speak in detail here. I only hope that the young brothers and sisters will have an impression that being a Christian is not merely a matter of being saved or just a matter of loving the Lord. What being a Christian concerns, touches, and relates to is something very significant; it has to do with the question of image and authority, of God’s glory and the kingdom.
MAN’S FAILURES THROUGHOUT THE AGES BEING AN OVERTURNING OF GOD’S AUTHORITY AND A FAILURE TO ALLOW GOD TO BE EXPRESSED
Although from the very beginning God focused on the matter of image and authority, and although the work He did on Adam concerned these two things, we know that before God reached His goal, that age became fallen. This fall continued from Adam’s time to the time of the tower of Babel. At the time of the tower of Babel, men did two things: First, they denied God’s authority. Men collectively rebelled against God there, denying His authority. They said with a stern face, “Who is God? We do not know Him! We human beings are everything. We will build a tower reaching to heaven in order to proclaim our name. We do not know who Jehovah is. We know only ourselves!” In this way they utterly overturned God’s authority.
Please remember that before the tower of Babel, no nation had yet appeared on earth. It was from the tower of Babel that nations of men began on earth. Men wanted to establish their own nation; they did not want God to rule. At the time when the age of the kings was about to begin, the Israelites did one thing that displeased God very much. They imitated the nations and desired a king over them instead of having God as their King. It was at Babel that men began to resist God’s ruling and tried to make themselves king.
At the tower of Babel, not only did men overturn God’s authority, but they worshipped idols. Archaeologists and historians tell us that in those days there were all kinds of idols on the tower and in the city of Babel. Idols are versus God’s image; they do not allow God to be expressed. Rather, they allow the demons to be expressed. Even today there is no country that is without a shrine; every country has its own shrines. What is a shrine? It is a place where Satan is expressed. At the time of Solomon, there was a throne in the nation of Israel, which spoke of God’s throne and authority. There was also a temple, which spoke of God’s expression. However, today’s nations have become Satan’s throne and the place where Satan rules. At the same time, every nation has its shrines and its places of idol worship. That is the expression of Satan. This is not simply a matter of human superstition or of the backwardness of civilization. Satan’s subtle work is in it. We must realize what Satan is always doing in the universe. He always establishes a nation among men, instigating men to rebel against God and to deny His authority. At the same time, he sets up shrines everywhere in every nation for men to worship him so that they would express him. Everything that he does is to damage God’s authority and glory.
Consequently, God began to call Abraham out of the land of the tower of Babel. We cannot cover this matter in too much detail. If we read the experience of Abraham, we again see the matters of authority and expression. His story is one of many distractions and frustrations.
Later, the descendants of Abraham came out of Egypt and arrived in the land of Canaan. There they passed through many stages of degradation. Finally, Samuel came. God brought in the kingship through Samuel and turned the age. At Solomon’s time we can still see these two things: the throne (as soon as there is a king, there is the throne) and the temple. The throne is a matter of authority and the kingdom, and the temple is a matter of expression and glory. We can see a return to God’s original desire. Here, on the one hand, there is God’s ruling and, on the other hand, God’s image and His expression.
Not too long afterward, when Solomon became old, the condition of Israel became degraded again. Eventually, the majority of the Israelites were captured to Babylon. By then the throne was no more, the nation was gone, the temple was totally destroyed, and all the utensils of the temple were carried away to Babylon. Babel is a Hebrew word; Babylon is its Greek translation. The two refer to the same place in the land of Shinar.
Genesis 11 records the descendants of Adam moving to the land of Shinar. There they built the city of Babel and the tower of Babel to resist God. As a result, God forsook that age; that is, He forsook the descendants of Adam and chose Abraham, intending that his descendants would become God’s testimony—to rule for God and to express God’s glory—in the land of Canaan. In Daniel 1 the land of Shinar is mentioned again. The enemies had carried the Israelites away to the land of Shinar again. This means that they returned to Babel again. The story of Babel was repeated again with them. As soon as they entered Babel, they were fully under men’s ruling and the ruling of demons. There were Chaldean shrines in Babel. I have said earlier that shrines are places where demons are expressed. At this time the nation of Israel was no more, the temple was destroyed, and the utensils for God’s worship were carried away to the land of Shinar and placed in the shrine of Babylon. This means that in that age God’s authority was no longer seen and God’s expression no longer existed. Everything had collapsed. It was at this time that God needed a man to turn the age.
THE RAISING UP OF MEN WHO TURN THE AGE FOR THE RECOVERY OF GOD’S AUTHORITY AND EXPRESSION
It was at this juncture that Daniel was raised up. Through Daniel’s being raised up, God’s people returned from Babylon to Jerusalem. Those who returned to Jerusalem were of two lines. One was the line of authority, which included men like Nehemiah and Zerubbabel who were David’s descendants. Among them were also some governors. The other line was the line of priests. These men expressed God’s glory in the temple. Men like Ezra and Joshua, the high priest, were Levites. Hence, their return was a recovery of authority and expression as at the beginning. One matter was to rule for God, because among David’s descendants rulers such as the governors were raised up. The other was the expression of God, because there was a return to the priestly and Levitical services of the temple.
In relating these matters, it is not my intention to tell some Bible stories. My only wish is that among the young brothers and sisters here, some would realize what is happening in the universe. If we realize what is happening in the universe, we will easily receive a burden. We will realize that in the present age also, God needs someone to rise up and to turn the age as Samuel and Daniel did. We should agree that the condition of today’s age is like that of Babel and Babylon and that God’s authority is denied on earth and His expression torn down.
In these days the whole world is celebrating Christmas. Look how they celebrate! Outwardly, they are celebrating the holy birth of Jesus Christ, but actually, they are in the flesh and indulging in their lusts. No dancing in the world is worse than the dancing on so-called Christmas Eve! People even call such a dancing party “the holy party”! This is how men celebrate Christ’s “birthday”! Not only do the Gentiles behave this way, but even many Christians also are carried away by the tide of this age. Many send Christmas cards to each other, greet each other with “Merry Christmas,” set up trees at home, and hang little light bulbs on them. It seems that if they do not do these things, they will not be fashionable. I am afraid that among the young brothers and sisters, some have also done this in the past. Please remember that all these are fallen things. Today all of Christianity has fallen into Babel. There is not a trace of God’s ruling, not a trace of God’s expression. It is altogether a condition of men forsaking God. In such a desolate age God needs young people to rise up to turn the age.
MEN WHO TURN THE AGE BEING THOSE WHO CONSECRATE THEMSELVES VOLUNTARILY
Let us now take a look at Daniel. How did God use Daniel to turn that age? There is an important principle with Daniel as also with Samuel. It is voluntary consecration. Samuel was a Nazarite. A Nazarite was a person who consecrated himself voluntarily (Num. 6). We can see the same principle in Daniel. Apparently, Daniel was not a Nazarite. Actually, he was, because a Nazarite was a person who did not drink any wine or strong drink. What is the meaning of not drinking wine or strong drink? It means to not enjoy any pleasures of this life. This is the principle with Daniel. Daniel would have said, “I do not want anything that the world considers sweet, joyous, or satisfying.”
Why did Daniel drink neither wine nor strong drink nor partake of the king’s diet? It is because all these things were related to idols. What the king of Babylon drank, as well as his meat and grains, must have been offered to the idols. At least those meals were not clean according to the ordinances on cleanliness in Leviticus 11; it was defiled food. Daniel said, “I will not be defiled by that food. The young people of the world may participate in it. But I will not have a part in it.”
In principle, Daniel and Samuel were the same; both were Nazarites. Daniel refused everything that men enjoyed and boasted of. He refused everything that would offer him some position in the world. He was a voluntarily consecrated one.
Brothers and sisters, a little spiritual pursuit or a little godly living before the Lord is not enough to be used by the Lord to turn the age. All those who are used by the Lord to turn the age must be Nazarites; they must be voluntarily consecrated ones. I believe that by now all of us know what voluntary consecration means. It means that when everyone else on earth seeks after the world and enjoys the world, I separate myself from it. This separation is a voluntary consecration. The Bible records that in those days the king of Babylon chose a group of young men from different races to stand before him. The opportunity of being chosen was something beyond one’s dream because the king would give them good food and drink for three years so that they would be fair and fat in the flesh to stand before him in the palace. Many yearned for such opportunity but were not able to have it. Yet Daniel and his three companions vowed, saying, “We forsake such opportunity. We will not enjoy the food and drink here. We cannot be the same as other people. We must take another stand. Other people do not have God and are not for God, but we are for God.”
At that time Daniel might have been only a young man in his teens, yet the two matters of God’s authority and God’s glory were recovered in him. This young man with his three young companions accepted God’s authority and came under God’s authority. This is not all. We also see God’s temple and God’s expression with them. When Daniel’s three friends flatly refused to worship the idols, that was in fact a proclamation that they expressed God! They seemed to be declaring, “Although it is true that we are in the land of Shinar, we are not the people of Shinar. It is true that we are in Babel, but we are the descendants of Abraham. We cannot worship the idols here. We want to testify of this God of glory. We want to have the God of glory expressed in us!” On that day his three friends fully expressed God before the idols. The Bible records that after the king of Babylon cast them into the burning fiery furnace, he saw that the three persons whom he cast into the fire had become four persons (Dan. 3:23-25). The form of the fourth person was like the Son of God. Please remember that this was God being with them, in their midst, and expressed through them while in the furnace.
Of course, we must realize that they expressed God this way because they submitted themselves to His authority. While the whole earth denied God’s authority, they acknowledged God’s authority. While the whole earth had men as kings, they had God as their King. The whole earth was saying that they would eat and drink what the king of Babylon told them to eat and drink; to them, whatever the king of Babylon said counted. But these few said, “No, we are not under the authority of the king of Babylon. We are under Jehovah’s authority. Only His words count. If what the king of Babylon says is in accordance with what God says, we will obey. If not, we will not obey. We cannot go against Jehovah in obeying the king of Babylon.” Hence, this was not a question of not eating or not drinking but a question of who was ruling over men. If we read the book of Daniel carefully, we will see that Daniel and his friends were truly under God’s authority and truly allowed God to be expressed through them. Whether they were bound in the land of captivity, were cast into the furnace, or were even cast into the den of lions, they allowed God’s glory to be fully expressed.
How could they be like this? It is because they were voluntarily consecrated ones. It seems that God had never called Daniel, nor had He appeared to him. (Of course, we believe that God was working there in a hidden way.) What we see from the book of Daniel is that these men offered themselves to God willingly.
In turning the age, God needs man’s voluntary consecration. In almost all cases of turning the age, God does not show us that it is the Holy Spirit who calls and seeks for men (the only exception being the case of John the Baptist). On the contrary, God shows us that every time the age is turned, God’s work is seen in a very hidden way; it is not so apparent to man. What is obvious to man is man’s voluntary consecration. With Daniel and his three friends, we do not see the outward work of the Holy Spirit. What we see is the voluntary consecration of these men.
The condition at that time was one in which the nation of Israel was in captivity, the temple was destroyed, and all the utensils within were carried away. God’s authority, glory, and expression were gone from the earth. Everyone had rejected God’s authority and was under the authority of the king of Babylon; they were expressing the demons and had become involved with the demons. Even the food they ate and the wine they drank had been offered to demons and were defiled and unclean. Yet at that juncture Daniel and his three friends (who were very young then, Daniel probably being not more than twenty years of age) stood up and said, “While the whole earth is rejecting God’s authority, we will come under God’s authority. While the whole earth is involved with demons, we will be involved with God. We are here to express God. While the earth is drifting downward in this current, we four will go against the current and will go upward. We cannot go down with the tide. On the contrary, we will go upward against the tide.” Brothers and sisters, this is the secret for one to be used by God to turn the age. You can also be used by God to turn the age today, but the secret lies in your willingness to consecrate yourselves.
THE NEED FOR YOUNG PEOPLE TO CONSECRATE THEMSELVES VOLUNTARILY TO BE AN ANTI-TESTIMONY IN THIS AGE
Brothers and sisters, while I was considering before the Lord what to share, I had a strong feeling within that I should let the young people realize the importance of turning the age and should show the young brothers and sisters the kind of persons God uses to turn the age. This kind of people are those who consecrate themselves voluntarily. While everyone else is going downward, a few persons are standing as an anti-testimony.
The whole book of Daniel is an anti-testimony against that age. All the others were eating the king’s meat and drinking the king’s wine, but these four were not. All the others worshipped idols, but these three would not do it. The others had stopped praying because of the king’s decree, but Daniel still prayed three times a day toward Jerusalem on his knees before God. This is the anti-testimony.
Brothers and sisters, let me say it again. What kind of persons can be used by God to withstand the age? They are the voluntarily consecrated ones. We can see this basic principle in both Samuel and Daniel. We must say, “I cannot do the things that the world does. I cannot take the way that the world takes. The world may follow the tide of this age, but I cannot follow it.”
Young people, you must realize that God’s testimony, including the authority and glory, has been destroyed in the tide of the world. Everyone who is used by God to turn the age must be one who consecrates himself voluntarily in the midst of this tide. He can stand up and declare to everyone, “I cannot follow this tide. I will be one who stands against the tide.” If you do this, God’s authority and God’s glory will be expressed through you.
If we read the book of Daniel, we will realize that God’s authority and God’s glory were both with Daniel. Daniel truly became God’s throne and God’s temple. In Daniel we see God’s ruling and God’s expression. Even the idol-worshipping Gentiles saw God’s glory and ruling in Daniel. No wonder that through this one person, Daniel, God was eventually able to bring the Israelites back to Jerusalem and to recover His authority and His temple among them. That turning point was totally because of Daniel. He was able to be such a one because he was a voluntarily consecrated one. He was willing to stand against the tide and be a testimony for God. This was a young man who could be used by God to turn the age. May God raise up young men like Daniel for the need of this age.