God’s Appearing Issues in our Consecration: our Life is for God and God is our Life

Gen. 12:7 And Jehovah appeared to Abram and said, To your seed I will give this land. And there he built an altar to Jehovah who had appeared to him.

Abraham was a man just like us, not necessarily seeking God or being for God, until God appeared to him. When God appeared to Abraham, something changed in him: he left his homeland and his family, and he followed God’s instructions to go into the land of Canaan living a life of the altar and the tent.

Before God appeared to Abraham, he was just a regular person living in a land full of idolatry and corruption; after God appeared to him first and then again and again, Abraham built an altar to God and then he lived in a tent, sojourning in the land of Canaan which was to be his as God has promised.

Our consecration is not something we come up with or can do by ourselves. We don’t simply “decide to follow Jesus” without having God’s appearing. Even if we want to be fully for God, our being will oppose us; in our natural man we have absolutely nothing to give God or do for God.

But when God appears to us, we spontaneously consecrate ourselves and all we are to God for His purpose. Every genuine believer in Christ has had God appearing to him at least once in his life, and ever since his life has changed. When God appears to us, we spontaneously deny our self.

When God appears to us, we are strengthened into our inner man to live no longer to ourselves but to Him who loves us. When God appears to us, we build an altar, declaring that everything we have is for God and His purpose, and we live in a tent, declaring that we don’t belong to this world but are rather strangers and sojourners, citizens of the kingdom of God (Heb. 11:13; 1 Pet. 2:11; Eph. 2:19). We need God’s appearing again and again.

On the one hand, we need to exercise our spirit to deal with anything between us and God, confess our sins, get into God’s word, seek to touch the Lord, and contact Him to fellowship with Him. On the other hand, when God appears to us, our life changes and the course of our life is re-directed toward God and His purpose. God’s appearing changes us.

God’s Appearing Issues in our Consecration to Him

We have seen that, when God appears to us, He infuses us with Himself to become the very believing element in us. The issue of God’s appearing and transfusing is that “we build an altar and live in a tent” – we consecrate ourselves to God and live totally for Him.

When God appeared to Abraham, he had a radical turn: he built an altar to Jehovah and lived in a tent, trusting in God for His instant leading and taking God’s presence as the road map for his travelling (see Gen. 12:7-8; 13:3-4, 18; Heb. 11:8).

When we meet God Himself, when God appears to us, we have the power to deny ourselves, give up anything that hinders us, renounce the world, and consecrate ourselves to God. No one can just “offer himself to God” out of his own will and desire, unless God has appeared to Him.

God’s appearing is the strongest attraction in the universe, and when man catches sight of God even once, he cannot be the same – he will offer himself willingly to God for His purpose. Watchman Nee helps us see more on this,

A turning point in our spiritual life does not come through our decision to do something for God; it does not come as a result of our resolving to do this or that for God. It comes when we see Him. When we meet God, a radical change takes place in our life. We can no longer do what we did in the past. When we meet God Himself, we have the power to deny ourselves. The matter of denying one’s self ceases to be optional when we have met God. His appearance makes a person unable to go on by himself; it forces him to not live by himself anymore. God’s appearance brings with it inexhaustible power. Such an appearance will alter the whole course of a person’s life. For a Christian, the power to live for God is based on his vision of God. Oh! It is not our decision to serve the Lord that enables us to serve Him. It is not our will to build an altar that produces an altar. An altar is built when God comes to a man. (Collected Works of Watchman Nee, vol. 37, “The Life of the Altar and the Tent,” page 90)

It is impossible for a man to see God and “be cool about it”, that is, be indifferent and continue his life as before. When we see God and are touched by Him, we will consecrate ourselves to Him. Abraham didn’t hear any sermons on consecration, but when God appeared to him, he consecrated himself to God.

When God appears to us, when we taste His grace, we will build an altar. When God appears to us and we see His mercy toward us, we will spontaneously become a living sacrifice.

This is also my testimony. When God appeared to me in the 1998 Poland Camp, I could not be the same ever again. My taste changed, my eyes were opened to see Him, my spirit was stirred up, my appetite for the Word was increased, I had a desire to know God and His Word, and I started to speak of the Christ I loved.

When God’s light shines on us, we will spontaneously say as Saul (Paul) did, What shall I do, Lord (Acts 22:10)? The issue of God infusing Himself into us is that we put everything on the altar to be burnt for His satisfaction, and we live a life of the tent, building up God’s city (New Jerusalem) and seeking to bring in the kingdom of God on earth.

Lord, we treasure Your appearing. We can do nothing without Your presence being with us. Your appearing strengthens us to consecrate ourselves to You. Lord, appear to us in our daily living and infuse us with Yourself! Only under Your constant infusion can we live a life to You, a life of the altar and the tent. Lord, we want to see You, be infused by You, and live to You. Your appearing is everything to us, and we love to be in Your presence!

Building an Altar means that Our Life is for God and God is our Life

Our life is for God and God is our life

What does it mean, in our experience, to build an altar to God? It is very interesting that each time God appeared to him, Abraham built an altar to God (Gen. 12:7; 13:3-4). An altar is for worshiping God by offering all that we are and have to God for His purpose (see Gen. 8:20-21; Exo. 29:18-22).

Building an altar is the spontaneous issue of having God’s appearing, and it testifies that God is our life, our life is for God, and the meaning of our human life on earth is God Himself.

We build an altar not merely for sin offering but for burnt offering, and we lay our hands on the animal sacrificed on the altar to show that we are the ones who are being offered to God. Christ is the only One who offered Himself to God on the altar (the cross) and He was pleasing to God.

We offer Christ to God, and we take Christ’s blood and apply it to our right earlobe, our right thumb, and our right toe (in a spiritual way). This means that we take Christ as our burnt offering, we lay our hands on Him and identify ourselves with Him, offering Christ to God for His satisfaction, and we are covered by Christ’s blood in our hearing, doing, and walking.

Christ’s redeeming blood sanctifies our hearing by our listening to the word of God, our doing – by doing what is required by God, and our walking – by our walking in the ways of God.

Then, as Lev. 14:14-17 shows us, after the blood we have the ointment which is applied to us, signifying that the anointing of the Spirit of resurrection is applied to us after we apply the blood. We put everything we have and are on the altar and leave it there; we are not here to make a name for ourselves but to seek God’s name to be sanctified and glorified.

We are reduced to nothing, and as nothing we are one with Christ, the One who now is the anointing Spirit in resurrection, and we hear the word of God, do the works of God, and walk in the ways of God.

May we stay under God’s appearing every day that we may be infused with Him, offer everything to Him, and be one with Christ for the fulfillment of God’s purpose! Our life is for God, God is our life, and the meaning of our life is God!

Lord, thank You for drawing us to Yourself through Your appearing. Our life is for You. Our future is Yours. God is our life, and the meaning of our life is God. As a result of Your appearing and infusing, we offer all we are and all we have to You for Your purpose. Lord Jesus, God’s beloved Son, we lay our hands on You as the strong ram of consecration. You are the Only One pleasing to God, and we identify ourselves with You to please and satisfy God. Cleanse us with Your precious blood and anoint us as the Spirit in resurrection for us to serve God and fulfill His purpose!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, bro. Ed Marks’ speaking in the message for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Watchman Nee, vol. 37, “The Life of the Altar and the Tent” (ch. 16), as quoted in, the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Genesis (2), week 2 / msg 2, Living by Faith—Being Today’s River Crossers to Live the Life of the Altar and the Tent.
• Hymns on this topic:
  # Lord, thank You I am sacrificed / Upon the altar of love; / Unto You I am set apart, / I love You, Lord above. / I consecrate myself to You, / I give myself to You. / Work in me fully that I may / Be useful Lord, to You. (New Hymn on Consecration)
  # Fully surrendered—Lord, I would be, / Fully surrendered, dear Lord, to Thee. / All on the altar laid, / Surrender fully made, / Thou hast my ransom paid; / I yield to Thee. (Hymns #422)
  # First the blood, and then the ointment, / Cleansing, then anointing comes; / If we pass not thru Golgotha, / Ne’er to Pentecost we’ll come. / If the blood has never cleansed us, / Ne’er the Spirit’s pow’r we’ll know, / If for Christ we’d truly witness, / Self-life to the Cross must go. (Hymns #279 by Watchman Nee)