“grow up … to a perfect man,
to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ”
(Eph 4:15 & 13, NKJV)
In a previous teaching we concluded with the Scripture from Isa 52:1-2 (ASV) – “Shake yourself from the dust, arise; sit down, O Jerusalem! Loose yourself from the bonds of your neck, o captive daughter of Zion!” One of my spiritual sons pointed out that the word shake in this text has the root meaning of “the rustling of mane, which usually accompanies the lion’s roar” (Strong’s)! Remember what we had made clear in a previous teaching – Satan IS not a lion; he merely roars like one (1 Pet 5:8). With this roaring he identifies those he can devour. Take note – those he CAN devour. Literally – through the dust of your flesh-like nature you are taken captive through the mock roar of the Evil One. Your shaking loose of it is in fact your own way of paying back Satan. (An analogy – in the Simba chips ad the lion roars; later the potato chip roars back 🙂 It’s time you return the roar.)
It is then very interesting to note that the Hebrew word used for shake (nâ’ar, H#5287) is a totally different word than what is used for when God shakes something. Then the word (râ’ash, H#7493) is used! Satan wants us to believe that he can shake apart our worlds, but he can only roar – and his roar is that of a toothless lion. When God roars, the earth is shaken and nothing remains as it is. When Satan roars, only fear and an imagined world is brought to being.
A good example of how Satan’s roar is used, is the narrative of Samson, who after he had been disobedient to God on many occasions, finally told Delilah the secret of his supernatural power. Then, having lost his hair, realized that he could not break the bonds like he could have done before. Here the word nâ’ar is specifically used – “But he did not know that the Lord had departed from him.” Samson’s disobedience, carnal nature and the fact that he broke his covenant with God cost him his glory and his power – he comfortably became Satan’s prey. Instead of shaking himself free from the dust through the power of Yahweh, he was shaken in the dust, emptied out.
Because he was out of alignment, Satan had a certain legal right on his life.
It is also interesting to note then that the word nâ’ar is also used in the context of a youngster, someone who is not yet an adult (H#5288). And it makes a lot of sense – “When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.” (1 Cor 13:11). When someone is still in the first or second dimension, a mere child in the faith, he is swung back and forth by every new teaching – Paul makes an appeal that we should “grow up” to the “knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Eph 4:13-15).
Those that are spiritually immature, even though they have authority and an inheritance, have no right to it before they have come of age (Gal 4:1-3). Someone may be saved, born-again, but if he still walks according to his flesh and not by the Spirit, he is still on Satan’s menu.
- Sela: Ask God to let you finish, once and for all, with childish things.
- Read: 2 Sam 19-21
- Examine how this has been fulfilled: 2 Sam 21:19-20. (Tip: 6 is the number of the flesh.)
- For a deeper understanding: Read pp. 16-20 in Kelly Varner’s book Prevail: A Handbook for
