Chapter 16: Man As A Sign To Man 1. The Creator of man is not an idle unemployed God, as a philosophic sect of bygone times supposed Him to be. He is not a passive but the most active Being that exists. He causes many efforts in manifold ways to save mankind, i.e., to make them in this temporary life fit for the life everlasting. He signals His holy will to men through the stars, through animals, through events, through famine, through abundance, through catastrophies, through war and peace, through diseases, and dreams. With this same desire to save men, He makes one man signal another man, and one nation signal another nation. A spiritual person observes this divine procedure every day and gets the confirmation of this. The Holy Book of God, as a Record Book of Gods intentions, plans, and procedures, serves as the unshakeable touchstone of everyday experiences. 2. The God Man is a sign to mankind. The greatest sign and signal that has ever been given to men from the world of spiritual realities is the Lord Jesus Christ. Even as a forty day-old child the aged Simeon foretold of Him saying: Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel, and for a sign which shall be spoken against. 3. The Holy Virgin Mary was called by the prophets a sign, a sign of Gods power and wisdom in the divine economy of human salvation. Ask a sign of the Lord thy God, said the marvelous Isaiah to King Ahaz, ask it either in the depth, or in the height above (i.e., in the depth of time or in the height of eternity). When the faltering king refused to ask it, the prophet still, penetrating centuries ahead, prophesied—not to the unwilling king but to the generations to come and said: Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign. Behold a Virgin shall conceive, and bear a Son, and shall call His Name Immanuel. 4. The Apostle Andrew was the first of the Twelve to follow Christ. Afterwards he said to his brother Simon Peter, We have found the Messiah, which is interpreted Christ. This news induced Peter at once to go with Andrew to meet Christ. In the same way Philip served as Gods signal to Nathanael. 5. The prophets were the signals, or signal givers, to mankind. The Lord spoke to Ezekiel, I have set thee for a sign unto the house of Israel. Again, Say, I am your sign. Repeatedly speaking to the people, Thus Ezekiel is unto you a sign. The great Isaiah speaks the same of himself and of his children, Behold, I and the children whom the Lord hath given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the Lord of hosts. The last words ought to be specially marked: From the Lord. A signal of God! 6. A good man and a bad man can be seen as signals form the Lord. Zerubbabel certainly was a good and wise man. To him, the Lord revealed His intentions of overthrowing the thrones of kingdoms, chariots, and riders. And in that day, saith the Lord of hosts, will I take thee, O Zerubbabel, and will make thee as a signet; for I have chosen thee, saith the Lord of hosts. 7. One man to another man, or even to a nation, may be a signal of the Lord; in a similar way one nation to another nation, or one city to another city. The instances are numerous: Assyria, Babylon, Moab, Egypt, Ethiopia, Sodom, Gomorrah, Tyre, Sidon, Capernaum, Bethsaida, Chorazin, and Jerusalem. A reader of prophecies about those cities and countries would shiver if he thought of their succeeding destructions. The Lord did not spare even His elect people. And thou shalt become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword, among all nations wither the Lord shall lead thee. A sign, a signal, a lesson to all nations. St. Nikolai Velimirovich The Universe as Symbols and Signs: An Essay on Mysticism in the Eastern Church
Posted on: Sun, 19 Oct 2014 18:22:23 +0000
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