The Inside Determines the Outside

The Inside Determines the Outside

“Blessed is the Lord God of Israel, for He has visited and redeemed His people, and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant David . . . that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our life.” Read Luke 1:68-75.

This is Zechariah’s prophecy concerning Jesus before His birth. In Jesus he saw a prince who would save Israel from all external enemies. This is how all the prophets had prophesied of Him, and the whole nation expected Him to be a mighty “King David.” When Jesus finally did come, the Jews did not understand Him. He did none of the things they had been waiting for; yet He did do them, but not in the way they had expected.

Zechariah prophesied, “That we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve Him without fear.” With these words he thought about the Romans who had laid waste the land and had made laws and regulations that hindered them in their worship. God had said, “For I will cast out the nations before you and enlarge your borders; neither will any man covet your land when you go up to appear before the Lord your God three times in the year.” Ex. 34:24. At that time, however, they could not go up without fearing the enemy. They sighed and longed for freedom. They thought, “If only the circumstances were different, then we would serve God.” They did not understand that it was their unfaithfulness that had brought them into these difficult circumstances. Jesus knew this, which is why He did not begin by attacking the external enemies, but rather the enemies within. He put sin in the flesh to death. Rom. 8:3. He testified to the fact that their own works were evil; He said nothing about the Romans. The Jews expected the opposite, so they began to hate Him. Jesus, however, knew that it was sin in the flesh, our self-will, that was the actual enemy and the cause of all this external misery. He took up the battle against these enemies and won an eternal redemption. Once these enemies were conquered, it would only be child’s play to conquer the external enemies.

He will destroy the man of sin with the breath of His mouth. That is done quickly, because He “disarmed principalities and powers” on the cross. Col. 2:15. But that battle was fought in secret. No one was able to follow Him to the place where He fought so that His sweat fell to the ground like drops of blood.

In our days, too, most people err on this point. They see only the external enemies. They think like this: If it had not been so difficult at home or on the job, and if this and that situation had been different, then I, too, would have served God. Others think like this: If I had a lot of money and if my circumstances were like this or that person’s, then I would have done much good and I would be happy. They believe that the outside creates the inside. People’s understanding of God’s work today is as little as the Jews’ understanding of Jesus. Nevertheless, a few souls are coming out of darkness and are beginning to understand that it is the inside that determines the outside. Once they gain the victory over sin in the flesh—their self-will—it takes only very little to bring order into their external circumstances. We can see that from what it says in Malachi 4:1-3: “‘For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, and all the proud, yes, all who do wickedly will be stubble. And the day which is coming shall burn them up,’ says the Lord of hosts, ‘that will leave them neither root nor branch. But to you who fear My name the Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings; and you shall go out and grow fat like stall-fed calves. You shall trample the wicked, for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day that I do this,’ says the Lord of hosts.”

This would not have come to pass if a work of preparation had not taken place first, if Jesus had not taken upon Himself flesh and blood like the children and had not first, through death, destroyed him who had the power of death, that is, the devil. Heb. 2:14.

We read: “But to you who fear My name,” etc. We realize that they were only a few in contrast to the many who did not fear His name. The battle which these few fought was hidden. They were despised and seemed to have no power at all. Yet they gained great victories over their lust—their self-will—and the power of Satan. When the day came that the external things were to be put in order, it went quite easily. The victory had already been gained beforehand; now it was only revealed. The ungodly, those who seemed so mighty, and who dominated everything around them, became like ashes under the feet of the God-fearing who jumped about like stall-fed calves. Zechariah’s prophecy was, and will be, fulfilled in truth.