Christ Formed in You Message #3 “Infant” Ed Miller, August 24, 2024
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Listen to the audio above while following along in the transcript below which is also available for download at www.biblestudyministriesinc.com
WELCOME AND PRAYER
As we come to the study of God’s word, there’s a principle of Bible study that is absolutely indispensable. We say that over and over and over again, and I say it every time I come to the word of God, even when I’m alone. I recite that because I don’t want to forget or ever depend upon anything except Him who alone can open the word and open my heart and unveil the Lord Jesus. The bottom line of all Bible study, Matthew 11:28,
“Come unto Me all who labor and are heavy laden, and learn of Me.”
That’s not learn about Me. He’s the teacher, “Learn of Me.” He’s the One Who leads us to Himself and into rest. I want to share a Bible verse before we pray together in 2 Chronicles 16:9,
“The eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those that are His.”
What I want to bring attention to is this; that the eyes of the Lord are searching to and fro on the earth, but He is not looking for those who are strong toward Him. That’s not what it says. He’s looking for those to Whom He can be strong. That’s not the same thing. I have an idea that we have a room full of those to whom He can be strong. He’s looking for those who will allow Him to strongly support them. In a special way here, I ask you to pray for me; I need to have the Lord strong toward me; and we all need it.
Let’s pray that God will meet us again. Our Heavenly Father, how glad we are to come to You in the name of our Lord Jesus and to be able to claim and know that it is Your great desire to unveil Christ to our hearts: far more desirous are You to unveil than we are to see. We ask you, Lord, to work in us that child-like attitude of helpless dependence, that we might trust You today as You minister Your word and perform all Your purposes in us. We pray for all the will of God today. Lead us where we are and then take us to where You desire us to be. We ask it the name of Jesus. Amen
REVIEW
We’re looking at these wonderful thirty years of preparation of our Lord Jesus Christ. The record the Bible gives us of those years are God’s record of the progressive revelation of the Lord Jesus. I don’t know of any scripture that more clearly presents the progressive revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ than those thirty years. It’s sad that sometimes the study of those years are neglected by God’s children when He is progressively manifest. Those were preparation years for our Lord Jesus. In Hebrews 5:8 and other places, He learned obedience by the things that He suffered in those years; in the days of His flesh,
“Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered.”
It says He was made perfect. Indeed, He was perfect, but if you read the context, it says He was made the perfect Savior by those thirty years. It means that those years qualified Him for the redemptive ministry that He did.
The way He came is the way He comes. What He was then, He is now. He’s everlastingly the same; the same yesterday and today and forever. And as He was progressively revealed in the Gospel record, is exactly the way Christ is formed in our hearts now. God in His greatness condescended to give us this wonderful picture. Adam was created an adult. Christ could have come as an adult and just done the work but in the wisdom of God He wanted us to see how Christ was progressively formed. So, He gave us this marvelous picture.
As He was first conceived in Mary, He is conceived in us; and as He is formed in her, He is formed in us. In the fullness of time when she gave Him forth and He was an infant, so there is a stage in our life where He is an infant. As He matured and grew and developed, He matures and grows and develops to a young adult in our life. We’ll follow the record of that progress, of that growth, of that maturing because as He grows and as He matures and as He’s formed, He finally reaches the place where He can begin His ministry. It’s after those stages that He begins His ministry. We are always, from the time we come to know the Lord, ready to roll up our sleeves and wade in and start ministering; and we minister long before He does. He matures and grows in us, but there comes a day when He’ll stand in the water of baptism and in the wilderness where He reaches that maturity, and His ministry begins.
Galatians 4:19,
“My children with whom I’m again in labor, in travail, until Christ is formed in you.”
Philippians 2:6,
“He Who has begun a good work in You will complete it.”
Has He come into your life? He will mature and grow, and He will use you redemptively. Now, it may be bumpy along the way, but He’s going to mature and He’s going to grow you to those places. We can’t nail it down and say, “Well, that happens eight days later, like it happened in His Life.” But there are seasons. The Lord Jesus was in Mary for nine months in her pregnancy; Jesus was a fetus. When Christ was so small in those early days, almost imperceptible in your heart and life, the facts of the Bible record give us a great principle. When Christ is first conceived in my heart, I don’t know much, but I do know these things. I know that it’s not by man, I know it was not by works but by His Spirit. That’s not a lot but that’s a beginning. That was the introduction of Christ being conceived in your heart.
At that time, I didn’t know much but I knew this; God had written a Magnificat in my heart; there’s a song, a joy. I can’t explain it; it’s just there. I was alive with thanksgiving, and the exuberance of emotional joy was a chief characteristic when Christ was a fetus in my heart. I didn’t know much but I knew there was something in me that was drawing me to be with those who had a similar experience. I found myself gravitating to those who, by His miracle, have also been prepared by God. At that time, I didn’t know much but I knew that God is doing something in the lives of my loved ones because there is no way that I can explain what happened in my life. God began to do miracles in my family and praise God for that!
At that time when Christ is just a fetus, when everything is new and there’s a song in my heart and I’m rejoicing in God’s people, I don’t have a clue about the word of God; but God does. And so, He guides me by circumstances, and He leads me to the “house of bread.” Mary had no clue that she had to arrive in Bethlehem at a certain time and that God used Caesar and all the rest in order to bring her to that place. That’s how it was then, that’s how it is now and it’s how it shall ever be when Christ is a fetus in my heart.
JESUS’ INFANCY
That brings us to the second stage of the maturity of the Lord Jesus, His infancy, His babyhood. He’s in process, and He’s growing and developing and maturing. It’s different from when He was in the womb. At least you can see Him now. He’s born; He’s a baby; He’s an infant. He can be seen and held, hugged, and appreciated and admired and shown off. This section will include all the Christmas stories; the shepherds going to the temple to have the Lord circumcised and dedicated; the coming of the Magi and so on. You might also want to include Matthew 2:12-23, with Herod’s wickedness, slaying all the infants of Bethlehem.
Because we are so accustomed to studying these stories in an isolated way, and they are so familiar, you might think we will start with the Shepherd’s story and then go to the temple and look at Simeon, and then go look at the Magi, and all that kind of thing. That’s not how we’ll be sharing this today. There’s nothing wrong with that, but we’re trying to follow this progress as it’s the development of our Lord Jesus. We’re not just looking at Christmas stories, one story after another. We’re going to focus more on the development, the forming of Christ. I’m going to try to read the stories together in order that we might see them all together as one, the story of Christ when He was an infant.
I hope we won’t try to judge one another as we go from stage to stage, i.e. “I know Christ is a fetus in so and so’s life; there’s no question about that.” God hasn’t called us to do that. God has called us to rejoice that Christ is maturing in our lives and He’s going to come to maturity in order that He can minister through each one of us individually and through us corporately as a body. That’s the glory of the whole thing. There are some in whom Christ is still a fetus; they know about grace, and they know it’s not by works and they may gravitate to God’s people and they aren’t grounded in the word but God is still guiding them by circumstances. There are some where Christ has only become an infant in their life. The assignment I believe God has given me is to set before you what it looks like when Christ is just an infant.
I want to make an observation before we begin with those principles. The way the Holy Spirit tells the story, although the stories give us clear demarcations concerning the progress and growth of our Lord – these are 9 months, these are eight days and this is two years and then this is twelve years – He marks it off as if to tell us to, “Study this and then study this because this is different than this.” Just so, there are other truths that are observable as you go through the record that are also growing and maturing. We have not enough time now to develop all those refrains. I’ll give you a couple of examples, so you’ll know what I’m talking about.
The purpose, the will of God gets bigger
In each stage of the record there is an emphasis on the word of God. I don’t just mean the Bible; I mean the purpose of God, the will of God. As you go from stage one to stage two, the will of God gets bigger also. For example, when you look at the virgin birth, why was He virgin born? Well, among the many reasons is this: because it was prophesied in Isaiah 7:14 to fulfill the word of God. Why was He born in Bethlehem? Among many reasons, it was to fulfill the word of God. Micah said He would be born in Bethlehem. Why did He come? He said in Hebrews 10:5-7,
“I come to do thy will.”
So, in the beginning we see that it’s about God’s will; it’s fulfilling God’s purpose and fulfilling God’s word.
When they brought Him to the temple in Luke 2:22-23, why did they bring Him there? They said that it was according to the law of Moses, as it is written in the law to fulfill the law. Why did He come out of Egypt? It was to fulfill Hosea 11. It’s about the word of God. Why did He settle in Nazareth? It was so that it would be fulfilled which was written by all the prophets that He would be a rejected person. That’s the principle of the Nazarene. Why did He go to Jerusalem when He was twelve? It was because it was commanded by the word of God that three times a year they would go up to Jerusalem. Luke 2:49,
“He was about His Father’s business.”
There was a growing emphasis on the word of God. When He was baptized by John, there was this little argument. John didn’t want to do it at first. Why did he finally do it? Matthew 3:15, it was to fulfill all righteousness, to fulfill the word of God.
The cross grows and moves closer
So, I’m suggesting that as Jesus matures, there’s this growing maturity also of the will and purpose of God. In the beginning it was hardly a shadow, and you can hardly see it, but it keeps getting clearer and clearer. Do you know what else is in every story? The cross! You see, He’s moving toward the cross. Every story has the cross hidden, and it gets bigger and bigger, and the cross grows and grows, even in His infancy. Some suggest that the swaddling clothes that He was wrapped in was the same that Lazarus was wrapped in, grave clothes. It wouldn’t surprise me to be so, if His first wrappings and His final wrappings were the same. Some have seen the cross in the offerings of what the Wise Men brought, especially in the Myrrh commonly used for burials. Luke 2:34, Simeon’s word,
“The child is appointed for the rise and fall of many in Israel; a sign to be opposed.”
When Jesus was twelve years old what’s the whole background of that story? It’s the Passover! Is the cross in there? That’s the whole point of that; it’s the celebration of deliverance through the blood of the Lamb. And when Jesus was eight days old, that’s the first shedding of the blood of the Lord Jesus as He was separated from the flesh. It’s all a picture and the cross grows and grows and grows! When He stood in Jordan’s stream and identified with hell-serving sinners, and the dove came down and He said that it was the dove of peace, that’s not primarily so. It’s the poor man’s lamb. It’s the cross. As He stood in the water, God anointed Him with the cross, as He stood among those that He came to save.
As we’re following the growing and maturing of Jesus, it’s also the word and purpose of God getting bigger and bigger, and the cross getting bigger and bigger. There are other things, as well, that grow. I’m suggesting that, in proportion to the revelation of Christ in my life and in proportion to the revelation of Christ in your life, so will grow the purpose of God in your life. And so will grow the cross in your life when you see Jesus. We’re going to be looking at the characteristics of Christ as an infant but let’s begin by calling attention to a transition between Christ as a fetus in my heart and Christ as an infant.
The instrument begins to hand off Jesus
When I describe Jesus as a fetus, I call attention to the fact that Mary, the instrument of the indwelling Christ, brought Christ to the door of others prepared by God. When Mary brought Christ to Elizabeth’s door, Christ was small; He was so imperceptible that Elizabeth looked in an unhealthy way toward the instrument. Praise God for the Christ but also praise God for the instrument! That’s not unusual, and I’m not saying that it’s wrong at that stage to be thankful for the instrument that brings Christ to your door. The instrument, Mary, and the Christ in the instrument are so united that you can’t really take them apart; they’re one. The instrument is certainly prominent in that fetal stage.
Then watch how this begins to change when the Lord Jesus comes out of the womb. The first story is about the shepherds. Luke 2:6-20,
“When the glory of the Lord appeared to the shepherds in the field…”
I believe that was the Shekinah glory that had left the earth 600 years before in the days of Ezekiel. Notice that there’s not a word about the human instrument. Luke 1:10,
“And the angels said to them, ‘Be not afraid; I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be for all people, for there is born to you this day in the city of David, a Savior who is Christ the Lord. And this is a sign to you; you shall find a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger.”
And instruments are mentioned but only incidentally. It’s not about them; it’s about Him! “Unto you this day is born a Savior, Christ the Lord.” This time it’s not the instrument indwelt with an unborn Christ gravitating toward those prepared so she can have fellowship; this time the prepared are seeking her out; the shepherds are coming to her. She’s not coming to them. I have an idea that the shepherds would never have gotten the news that night if they waited for Mary to show up in the fields or waited for Joseph to show up and tell them. Mary and Joseph at this time were themselves instruments that were very Christ centered, as any new parent would be. They were focused on their baby. At this point, others are coming to see the baby.
When they arrived in Bethlehem and sought Him out by the sign the angel gave them, did they find the human instruments? The answer, of course, is yes; they found the ones who brought Christ into the world. Mary was there and so was the stepfather of the Lord Jesus. Luke 2:16,
“They came with haste, and they found both Mary and Joseph and the babe lying in a manger.”
The instrument is still there. I want you to notice that there is a separation now. It’s not that the baby is hidden in the instrument so that all you see is the human instrument. Now they see the instrument, but they also see the baby, and there has been a separation of the instrument and the Christ. Mary is still there, and Jesus is still there but now the attention comes off Mary, and they look in the manger and see the Lord Jesus. When the shepherds finished sharing what they had been told, everyone was amazed, including the instruments that brought Him into the world. Luke 2:19,
“Mary kept all these sayings, pondering in her heart.”
The instrument begins to hand off Jesus for others to hold
Let’s go eight days ahead. We come into the temple and there’s another that’s been prepared by God. Luke 2:26,
“It had been revealed unto him by the Holy Spirit that he should not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.”
Truly, this man was a seeker, prepared by God to meet Jesus. The timing is impeccable. Verse 27,
“He came in the Spirit into the temple.”
Let me ask you, did he see the human instrument? The answer is yes because she’s carrying the baby. When He was a fetus, was she carrying the baby? Yes, that’s how we express it, “She’s carrying a child.” Is there a difference between carrying a baby and carrying a baby? She was carrying the baby in such a way that all you could see was the instrument. Now she’s carrying the baby in such a way that you can see the instrument, but you can also see the baby. Verse 28,
“He received Him into his arms and blessed God.”
Do you see the progress? Elizabeth sees mostly the instrument. The Shepherds see the instrument and Jesus, but He’s sort of lying down “there” in the manger. Simeon, bless the Lord, actually takes Christ from the arms of Mary and embraces Him for himself. Now He’s holding Christ for himself!
I’ll tell you, brothers and sisters in Christ, this is part of the infancy of Christ, but it is a wonderful day in the formation of Christ in our life when as an instrument of God, we learn how to hand Christ to somebody else in such a way that they can embrace Him without embracing us. That’s what took place here. That’s all part of the infancy of Christ. That’s the first observation as we move from Christ as the fetus to Christ as an infant. There is a gradual separation between the instrument and the Savior until finally the instrument is able to hand off the Savior and others can embrace Him.
Seeing salvation as the Person Jesus
Here’s another observation of our Lord Jesus and how He develops as an infant. Let’s go back to the Simeon story. I want to look at the terminal points of the record of the infancy of Christ. As he embraces Jesus, he takes Christ from the instrument and he holds Christ to himself, and as he looks at the Christ, what does he see? According to the testimony, Luke 2:29,
“Now must thy servant depart in peace according to thine word, for my eyes have seen Thy salvation which Thou hast prepared in the face of all people, a light of revelation to the Gentiles and the glory of Thy people, Israel.”
God is giving us an illustration of Christ in His infancy that He is embraced and now, in a clear way, we look at Christ and we say, “I’ve seen salvation.” Salvation is a Person and His name is Jesus. It’s more than a plan of salvation. It’s a Person. And that’s how it begins when Christ is an infant. Verse 29, he says, in effect, that he’s ready to die, now that he’s found Christ, “Let me depart in peace.” Do you remember when that was about all you knew? Do you remember when you embraced Christ for yourself and all you knew was that I found salvation and I’m ready to die? See, that’s infancy. That’s just when He’s a baby and all you knew was that He was Savior, and you are ready to die. Then you go tearing out into the neighborhood to tell everybody else! “You’ve got to find Him and then you’ll be ready to die!”
We begin to taste of surrender, seeing Jesus as Lord and Savior
It’s beautiful to see Christ as an infant in His children. First, it’s the instrument and then it’s the Person that we pin our hope for all eternity. But that’s not the full story, embracing Him as Savior. At the end of the infant record there’s the story of the Magi. We’re going to pass over all those interesting facts about the amazing star and how many Magi were there, and the relation of the Magi to the Old Testament prophets and astrology, etc. Jesus is now about two years old. We know that from Matthew 2:16,
“When Herod saw that he was mocked by the Wise Men, he was exceedingly wroth and sent forth and slew all the male children that were in Bethlehem and the borders thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time that he had exactly learned of the Wise Men.”
Now it’s about two years and some Gentile seekers came from the East, and they are seeking Him; but notice the difference. God is calling attention to a progress from the Shepherds to Simeon and now to the Magi. What is their vision of Him? Luke 2:2,
“Where is He that is born King of the Jews. We’ve seen His star and we’ve come to worship Him.”
This is infancy. Mine eyes have seen salvation and I’m ready to die. On the other end, He’s King and He’s Lord and I want to bow down and worship Him. I want to lay my gifts at His feet. Matthew 2:11,
“They came into the house and saw the young child with Mary, His mother, and they fell down and worshipped Him, opening their treasures, offered Him gifts; gold, frankincense and myrrh.”
They bow before the King, and they worship the King and they lay their gifts before the King.
May I suggest that those are the terminal points of the infancy of Christ! Do you remember in your life when He began to develop? He’s also Lord; He’s my Savior and my Lord! You’ve heard the testimony, “For years I knew Him as Savior and then I knew Him as Lord but finally I’ve come to really know Him as Lord.” Now, brothers and sisters in Christ, I know we speak of Jesus as Savior and Lord, and we are accustomed to think this way; many, many Christians know Him as Savior but not everyone has come to know Him as Lord. And it’s a crisis in our lives when, finally, we see that He’s Lord, and we bow down and worship Him as Lord, and we think that we’re pretty far down the road by that time. That’s part of His infancy. You aren’t very far down the road at all! You haven’t even begun.
When you see Him as Savior and finally as Lord and we begin to worship the Lord, this is the first real taste of surrender. We begin to learn a little bit about laying things down at his feet. That’s all the early stages. That’s all threshold-truth and thank God for threshold-truth! Thank God for the day when we see He’s our Savior and we’re ready to die, He’s our Lord and King and we bow down before Him and lay down all these gifts! That’s an incomplete view of a very complete Savior. Seeing Him as Lord is infancy. He’s only begun to be formed in you when you come that far. It’s true that some have not even come that far.
Surrendering and rededicating to each new revelation of the Lord
Let’s back track to eight days after He was born. Another characteristic of this period in my life when Christ is being formed in me, when He was a fetus, I knew I wanted to be around God’s people and I was happy, but now I’ve seen Him; it’s a Person, it’s Salvation and I’m ready to die. He’s my King and I fall before Him. Eight days later, according to the record, Luke 1:31, God had told Mary before Jesus was conceived that she would call His name “Jesus”. Matthew 1:21, an angel told Joseph that he would call His name “Jesus”. So, in Luke 2:21, when eight days had passed, before His circumcision, His name was called “Jesus”. They didn’t name the baby when He was born. They named the baby at the dedication, at the circumcision eight days later. I want to call attention to this; in the revelation of Christ in His infancy, one of the big things that will begin to become real in our life is dedication. There will be dedication and rededication and so on.
At this time, we’ve only seen Him as Savior and as Lord. Is that all He is? I looked up some of the titles that was given to Him when He was a baby. These are not for later on; these are for when He was born:
Matthew 1:16, “Messiah, the Christ.”Matthew 1:1,“Son of David, the son of Abraham.”Matthew 1:23, “Emmanuel, God with Us.” Matthew 2:6, “The Shepherd.” Matthew 2:15 & Luke 1:35, “The Son of God.”Luke 1:69, “The Horn of Salvation.” Luke 1:76, “The Most High.”Luke 2:32, “The Light for the Gentiles.” Luke 2:32, “The Glory of Israel.” John 1:1&14, “The Word made Flesh.” John 1:4, “The Life and the Light of Men.”Malachi 3:1, “The Messenger of the Covenant.”Isaiah 9:6, “Wonderful Councilor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Hebrews 1:10, “The Firstborn from Whom are all Things.” Hebrews 2:10, “The Author of Salvation.”Genesis 3:15, “The Seed of the Woman.”1 Corinthians 15:45, “The Last Adam.” Zechariah 6:12, “The Branch.” Haggai 2:6, “The Desire of the Nations.”
Those are all His infancy titles. When you have a baby and say, “Come look at my baby and let me tell you about him,” how many things can you say? “He’s cute, he’s fat, look at all that hair!” What do we say? “He’s got a dimple.” But Jesus was all of these titles.
They had thought they had arrived when they saw Him as Savior and Lord. They had not yet seen that He’s the Everlasting Father and the Mighty God and the Counselor and Prince of Peace, and the Desire of the Nations. This may be a stupid question but how many angels are there? The Bible doesn’t tell us except 10,000 times 10,000; that’s a hundred million. And in another place, it says “unnumbered hosts”. Do you know that when Jesus was born, God called them all together, every one of them, millions upon millions? The Bible tells us about it. Hebrews 1:6,
“When He brings His firstborn into the world He said, ‘Let all the angels of God worship Him.”
Every one of them, no exception, worshipped Him. And we think that we’ve seen Him. He’s Savior, He’s Lord; we haven’t begun to see Him. That’s His infancy.
Far more than our dim eyes can see, as He begins to grow, even though we have Him, a million years can go by and we’ll never have more Christ than we have right now. We’ll see more of Him, but we won’t have more of Him. You have Him! He’s a Person and we have all of Him. He’s going to increase and increase and increase in our seeing Him. Anyway, in this infancy stage there begins to be a separation of the instrument and the Christ; there’s an incomplete view of a complete Christ. We taste a little bit of worship and a little bit of surrender unto Him but now there’s this thing in Luke 2:22,
“When the time came for the purification rites required by the Law of Moses, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord.”
This describes Joseph and Mary when Jesus was an infant, and they dedicated the baby. That’s going to be a big part of the infancy.
I can give so many testimonies. I won’t bore you with it. How many times in His infancy do you dedicate your life? And then you rededicate your life and you keep surrendering and surrendering. You don’t know at that time that you don’t need more surrendering; you need a greater revelation of Christ to whom you can surrender. We need Him to grow and then you can surrender to that new revelation. But at this time as He’s an infant, all you know is that He’s your Savior and He’s your Lord and you want to worship Him, and you want to give Him everything and you want to dedicate yourself. That’s not wrong. That’s how it is when He’s just an infant, just a baby. There’s more; He wants to grow more. But that’s how it is in those early stages.
While living in Egypt and God is protecting the Christ
One more observation; when Christ was a fetus, I pointed out that even though the instrument didn’t know the word of God, in His great grace, He guided us through circumstances. He protected and He took care of us. The story ends the infancy section with Matthew 2:13-33, God’s supernatural protection of the Christ. That’s a wonderful story which illustrates another characteristic. We’re going to move deeper into the grace of God. This is where Joseph and Mary are sent by God into Egypt and then later called out of Egypt. It has to do with spiritual warfare. As you would guess, at this stage when Christ is just a baby in your heart, you don’t have a clue about spiritual warfare.
I think I’ve seen a lot because I’ve tasted a little worship and a little surrender, and I’ve seen Him as Savior and seen Him as Lord; I think I know Him. But they are going to come into a big surprise and learn that there is an enemy that hates their guts. There’s an enemy that hates the Christ that is now an infant in their arms. At that time, you don’t know one thing about the devil’s schemes. At that time, you don’t know one thing about His malice. At that time, you don’t have a clue about your armor. At that time, you know nothing about His victory. You don’t know about prayer, and you don’t know about fasting, and you don’t know about “loosing and binding,” and you don’t know about corporate authority. You are vulnerable. And then you read the record.
I love this great illustration with Herod, pictured as the servant of Satan. I’m totally vulnerable (I speak as a fool); Christ is an infant in my life and is unformed in my life; He’s undeveloped in my life. Wouldn’t you think that when Christ was that small in my life, that the devil could come in and pounce all over me and wipe out the Christ in my life? That Satan hates Christ is certainly illustrated by what Herod did to those innocent babies in Bethlehem and the surrounding regions. If history tells the truth, it illustrates the malice of that mad man. He’s so stupid that his edict was to babies two years and under, and he forgot where his child was living, and his own two-year-old was killed. One historian at that time wrote, “It would be better to be a hog of Herod than to be his son.” It will stand forever as a symbol of the futility of any enemy going after Christ. If Satan, when you knew nothing of spiritual warfare, if Satan couldn’t get Christ when you were that vulnerable, do you think you are safe now? You are so safe! God is going to protect His Christ!
When God said to go into Egypt, you know what Egypt represents because you’ve read the record; that’s bondage, that’s slavery, that’s oppression. That’s not the place for Him to be protected. At that time, when He’s an infant, I don’t know anything about liberty; I don’t know anything about deliverance from the flesh; I don’t know anything about victory. I’ve been filled with the principles of the world and by the flesh, and I’m in Egypt. Is He going to send me to Egypt to protect Christ there? Not only to protect Christ there, but in Egypt Christ continues to grow and to live. Herod rots and dies; Christ grows and lives. There will be a day, and this ends the infancy, when we’ll get word, Matthew 2:15,
“Come out of Egypt; out of Egypt I’ve called my Son.”
But not yet. We’re still in the infancy stages. And so, even in Egypt, when we’re in Egypt, Christ comes into our bondage, but He’s protected, and He grows there. Then one day God is going to teach us a new deliverance and He’ll call us out, but not yet. He’s still an infant.
As an infant you can now see the instrument and the Christ being separated, and so much so that the instrument can now hand off the Christ to someone else who can embrace Him as salvation. In the infancy stage we have a very incomplete view of a complete Christ. We think it’s a complete view. We see Him as Savior; we see Him as Lord; we’ve tasted a little bit of worship; we’ve experienced for the first time laying down our gifts before Him. Our lives are marked by dedication after dedication, but we are still living in Egypt. God in His grace is protecting the Christ, and Christ is growing and developing, and we get ready for the next stage, “Out of Egypt I’ve called My Son.” He moves on and takes us forward in the heart knowledge of God. Do you see how He develops? The record of His Life is exactly how it develops in our life! We might think we’re ready for ministry, but not yet when He’s still a baby. Praise God for the revelations, but it’s only His babyhood! He needs to grow and grow and grow so some day He can have a redemptive ministry through His body and pour His life out for the world. That’s coming. I want you to see these characteristics.
