Self or God: Which One Shines Forth?

The Word of God sets before us a contrast between two very different places we can abide — two very different sources of “beauty.” The first is the city of Tyre.

Tyre: self perfecting its own beauty

…O Tyre, you have said, “I am perfect in beauty.” Your borders are in the midst of the seas. Your builders have perfected your beauty.

Ezekiel 27:3-4 (NKJV)

Tyre was a city of merchants, and as you read on it is all about buying and selling and the riches of this world — very much like Babylon, the spirit of Babylon. It is the place of self, where self strives to be perfected: “I am perfect in beauty.” That is the self-absorption in each one of us from the fallen nature — always believing it is right in its own eyes, strong in its own ways. This is what the Word of God calls the flesh.

Zion: God shining forth

The other place stands in sharp contrast:

The Mighty One, God the Lord, has spoken and called the earth from the rising of the sun to its going down. Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God will shine forth. Our God shall come, and shall not keep silent; a fire shall devour before Him, and it shall be very tempestuous all around Him.

Psalm 50:1-3 (NKJV)

This is the place of the saints — where we are not perfecting beauty in ourselves, but where God shines forth. That is what God wants: to shine in our lives. But He cannot shine if self is in the way. One of the two will live within us. The fallen nature will shine forth from our life, or God will. That is exactly why Jesus said that to follow Him we must deny ourselves — deny this fallenness within us — and let God shine forth. I believe that is what it means to be light in this world: allowing God to shine forth within us.

“He shall not keep silent”

Notice the phrase, “Our God shall come, and shall not keep silent.” This is not a time in our lives for silence. God wants us speaking His word — words of encouragement, the good news, and warnings to those who are far off. And notice too, “a fire shall devour before Him”:

And of the angels He says: “Who makes His angels spirits and His ministers a flame of fire.”

Hebrews 1:7 (NKJV)

These are the characteristics God looks for in our lives. God shall not keep silent — yet how the devil wants us silent. Don’t talk about that. Keep your Christianity to Sunday, to Wednesday nights, but don’t bring it into the public square. That is precisely the enemy’s aim. But the apostles answered that spirit plainly:

We ought to obey God rather than men.

Acts 5:29 (NKJV)

The fire that devours before Him is the fire of the Holy Spirit burning within us, giving us power to stand.

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