The Hidden Man
of God
The following message is a translation of a message in Swahili from brother Hiram
Macharia. We have done our best to translate it into English. May it add to your faith in
Christ Jesus, as he did to ours, when he ministered in Kenya in December 1996.
The Hidden Man of God
Jesus was the first person to be hidden in the
Father. First, he was placed in a virgin,Mary. All other children that are born are born
from a woman who no longer is a virgin. But Jesus was hidden. He was placed in a vessel
that never had been touched, a holy, consecrated vessel. Normally a woman must know a man
to become pregnant, but in Jesus’ case, His mother never knew a man. Truly this was
out of the ordinary and a hidden event.
Even so it is with us too. For when we are born
again it is a hidden work after the inward man. The outer man looks no different and by
all outer appearances is still the same. But the birth of the new creation man in Christ
Jesus is a hidden work and no man knows the name of that person except the Father
(Revelation 2:17, 3:12). Just as Jesus descended from the spirit and inhabited the flesh,
so the person is born of the spirit and yet inhabits the flesh.
Jesus was not from Herod’s line, the
current king of Israel. He did not come from the line of the famous Pharaohs. Jesus was
not born of any famous line of the current time. He came from Joseph and Mary, both of
whom had lineage from King David, but they were not of the lineage to such a degree that
it would be known. After all, many in Israel could trace their lineage to David because
Solomon had over 300 wives. Truly, Jesus was of royal blood, but truly he was hidden.
When He was born, He was hidden in Bethlehem
(means "house of bread"). The King of Kings was not born in Washington D. C. nor
London nor Paris or any other famous important city. He was born in a city of that his
parents had to go to in order to pay their taxes. A city that had no importance in the
plans of the Roman empire, the government of that time, is the place wherein Jesus was
hidden.
When we are born again we enter into that
heavenly Jerusalem, that mother of us all since we are born from above (Hebrews 12:22-23).
It is a city which is the bride of Christ (Revelation 21:9-10). It is a people known of
God but a people not known of the world - a hidden people. Each saint is born biologically
in a city which has no importance but each is also birthed in a spiritual city that has
all the importance as far as God is concerned.
Jesus was born of a no name virgin in a no name
city and birthed in a hotel that had no rooms so his father and mother were sent away into
what we would call today a garage which back then was a stable for the animals of the
hotel.
He was hidden even further by being born in a
manger. The manger was the trough in which the hay was strewn. There was not even enough
room in the stable. How hidden He was. So when Herod hearing of His birth called for the
accounting of the children, the hotel manager could say he sent away a pregnant lady to
whom he could not give a room. Jesus was so hidden that his date of birth and place of
birth were not known. A manger was a public place, not a private house where births
normally occurred. Jesus was hidden in the open.
Our life is hid with God in Christ. No one
knows that and no one knows the date of our birth. We walk around in Christ in the middle
of the city in which we live and no one knows. Hidden but visible. Spiritual but natural.
At the time Herod felt threatened by the birth
of Christ so he called for a counting of all children of the age of two and younger. It
was then that the angel of the Lord appeared and sent Jesus with his parents to Egypt to
hide. God calls us out of the denominational church system so that we are not numbered
among them (Revelation 18:4). He calls us out to be hidden in Him and so that He can deal
with us directly, personally and yet we can have fellowship with people of like same faith
who are called out for the same purpose. Hidden from the systems, but basking in the
presence of God, God deals with us openly but unknowingly by the world. He hides us in His
foolishness.
Moses was born at a time when the children of
Israel were multiplying so fast that the Egyptians felt threatened by their numbers. So,
the Pharaoh called for the killing of the children. Moses mother hid herself until her
child was born. She nursed him as long as she could, but a day of the hiddenness was about
over.
So, under the leading of the Holy Spirit, she
hid Moses openly. She placed him in a reed "boat" and pushed him down the Nile.
A Hebrew child, floating openly down the Nile is not very hidden. Moses was hidden where
there was danger - alligators, mosquitoes, hippos. But he was hidden in a safe and secure
place. He was hidden openly. He was hidden in the river until he was found by
Pharaoh’s daughter. What better place to be hidden than in the house of the one who
wanted to kill you? Proverbs 28:12 states: "When the righteous men rejoice there is
great glory but when the wicked rise, a man is hidden."
God knew it was a secure place, that middle of
a river seen openly of all. We must not second guess God as He moves us about openly as it
appears to our carnal minds, when in reality He is our armor on the front (Ephesians 6)
and our rear guard (Isaiah 52:12). Then God causes Moses’ own mother to come and
sustain him in the midst of a nation that seeks to kill him. This is the hidden man of
God. His mother’s milk, God’s word is enough to sustain us while we are hidden
in the midst of a perverse and wicked generation.
Moses was so hidden that he grew up in the
Pharaoh’s house and was given a position of authority second only to Pharaoh. How
well hidden he was. Moses was learning from God first-hand the ways of the Egyptians. God
had promised Joseph long before Moses that the people of Israel would return home. So,
Moses was seeing the salvation of God being worked out in Egypt within himself as the
vessel of deliverance as well as God dealing with Pharaoh.
Jesus was the hidden man. The people of Israel
were looking for a Messiah who would come and deliver them from Roman rule and set up the
Jews as an independent state and perhaps even rulers of the world. But Jesus was the
hidden man, who came to establish a kingdom not of this world. The church today looks for
a man, Jesus, to return and set up His kingdom with them and that the church will rule and
reign over the world. A similar deception as the people of Israel. He is the hidden man
seeking to rule from within.
Moses, carnal like the people of Israel and the
church, sought in the flesh to fulfill God’s plan and killed an Egyptian soldier that
was overseeing the Hebrew workers. This shows clearly that Moses knew God’s plan and
purpose, but Moses was not totally crucified yet. Remember he had been in Pharaoh’s
house for forty years.
Now God sends him into the wilderness to be hidden for another forty years. He was hidden
from the Egyptian Pharaoh (the religious system) in the middle of a desert, even as Jesus
was hidden from the religious system in Egypt. Hidden, removed from all positions of power
and might, Moses learns obedience to the plan of God. It is while we are hidden, separated
from the world and religious systems, that God deals with us to learn the obedience of a
son. It is only then.
Being hidden is not a negative thing but on the
contrary it is very positive. He keeps you hidden from the world but in the ways of the
Lord. "Let the hidden man of the heart, that which is not corruptible, even the
ornament of a meek and quiet spirit which is in the sight of God of great price..."
be worked out in you (1Peter 3:4). It is only when we are hidden in Him that we can learn
to identify with His nature. To be hidden in this verse means to be of great cost,
precious. So the hidden man is precious of great cost for it is God Himself who laid down
His life for us. He is the one arising as the day star.
I am sure you remember the story of Elijah. He
confronted the prophets of Baal with fire from heaven (1 Kings 18). God answered the
servant of the Lord and 450 prophets of Baal were slain that day (18:40). But when the
woman of the flesh came after him (Jezebel) God hid him in a cave (19:9) for a season and
then hid him in the wilderness.
Sometimes the nature of God must be hid in the
tomb of the flesh, the outerman. Sometimes it takes the wilderness to hide us in God until
the indignation passes over (Isaiah 26:20). But if we do not know how to hide ourselves in
Him we will be revealed. It is important that we know how to enter into the chamber of the
Lord.
The wilderness is what hid Elijah. How did it
do that? What did it do? A wilderness has no path in it. It is a wilderness, and unless
you know your geographic bearings you would be lost. The earth staggers to and fro as a
drunkard. The earth is that Adamic nature which totters and does not know where it is
going. Hiding in that wilderness but knowing your gyroscope, your compass you remain in
balance.
Jezebel could not find Elijah until it was time
for Elijah to come forth again out of the desert. Until God wants to reveal you the world
will not see you. Jesus was hid in the storm, resting peacefully, until Peter called
concerned about the boat sinking. Oh, the outerman sees the natural and fears, but the
inner man controls the course of events. Do we reflect Jesus or do we reflect the nature
of Peter?
Elijah waited in the wilderness until it was
the time be to revealed. In the wilderness, the place of hiding, God speaks to Elijah
about his next manifestation. It is only when you are hidden in Him that He can speak. You
know you are in Him when He speaks, such reassurance.
How does one hide in the Lord? Sin is defined
as missing the mark ("hamartia" in Greek). Sin is not hiding in Him. Like an
arrow shooting to the target it must hit the bulls eye (the center circle) to make the
mark. Anything less is sin. So, we must be conformed to the image of Christ and anything
less is sin. We hide in Him by being identified with Him in crucifixion and resurrection.
We hide in Him by knowing that we are Him in this world, even as He and the Father are one
(John 17:21).
Another time Elijah travels to Zarephath which
means "place of refining". A widow with a son were preparing their last meal and
then with no food left would die within a few days. Elijah by the spirit is brought to
this woman. He asks her to give him the bread before she gives it to her son and herself.
The Christ nature thirsts to give life. It
meets the people on the natural plane. The hidden man seeks to manifest life to the
people. In his thirst to bless her, he asks her to provide. In her provision to the man,
the woman is blessed with food that does not run out and oil that lasts. The food speaks
of spiritual food to feed her, and the oil speaks of the anointing of the baptism of the
Holy Spirit that leads us unto the life of the Holy of Holies, the feast of Tabernacles,
that third experience in God.
How well is Elijah hidden? If Elijah had tried to hide in another place, he would not have
had food. We are to hide where God will sustain us. If our life is hid in God, His life
will enable us.
How well is Elijah hidden? He goes into a house
of a widow! He enters and lives in her house. It looks like the two have an illicit
relationship going on - a widow and a strange man. How well God is hid in that situation!
But God well knew the need of the widow and her
son. God knew they were out of food and used the hidden man to provide it to them. God
knew that the widow’s son would die. So God sent Elijah, the hidden man of God into
the house (hidden even more) until the time.
At the very time that the son died and his
breath left him (1 Kings 18:17) Elijah takes the child and carried him to the upper room
(verse 19). This speaks of taking the child into the Holy of Holies. There in the realm of
life Elijah stretches himself over the child three times (three experiences of salvation,
baptism of the Holy Spirit and union with God).
It was after the performance of God through him
that the woman knew he was a man of God - not after he had given her food and oil. The
hidden man was revealed only to be covered again until God needed him. Even while hidden
from Ahab, the hidden man was able to do a work.
Consider Jesus, our pattern (1 Peter2:21).
Unless God revealed who Jesus was to someone, no one knew who He was. Some thought He was
Elijah or another prophet but no one thought He was the son of God. Even during His
ministry when He told them that He was one with His God, no one believed Him. Very few
knew He was the savior. Judas didn’t even believe Jesus was the savior because Judas
was looking for a natural savior to deliver the Jews from the Romans. Jesus was hid during
His ministry! What a pattern we have to follow.
Jesus is hid now in the bosom of the Father.
What is the Father? The Father is a spirit. We must worship Him in spirit and truth. Where
is the Father? John 14:23 states in the Amplified Bible: "...and My Father will love
him and We will come to him and make Our home (abode, special dwelling place) with
him." The word translated "with" is "para" in the Greek and can
mean: from or by or of. Thus, the translation could read "make our home from
him." So the Son and the Father are hid in the vessel, the saint, even as we are hid
in Him (Colossians 3:3).
But consider how well Jesus was hid. Jesus left
His body and hid himself in hell for three days. He preached to all captivity and led all
captivity captive (Ephesians 4:8, 1 Peter 3:19). Jesus hid in death while yet being alive.
While His body was on the cross and in the
grave, Satan rejoiced looking on the outer man thinking victory was won. While the grave,
which is what hell means, was being unguarded, Jesus hid Himself in hell for three days.
Satan waited three days outside the tomb of Christ, but Jesus was hiding - not in the
tomb. Jesus was in hell preaching to the captives.
When Jesus arose, Satan returns and finds that
the keys of death and hell could not hold Him and that everyone had left. Christ then has
given us the keys of death and hell so that our hidden man can do the very same thing that
He did (Revelation 1:18, Matthew 16:19). We are hidden in Christ as we reveal the dying of
the Lord in our body. If this be done then we can manifest the life of Christ (2
Corinthians 4:11).
There was no opposition to Jesus when He was in hell, for the Devil can work only on the
outerman and Jesus was the hidden man. Satan came and could find nothing in Him (John
14:30). For three days Jesus hid Himself in hell. But on the third day He arose freeing
all that were there. It is about three days since Christ first appeared. The earth, the
planet, has been a tomb but coming forth in manifestation is the hidden man of the Christ
nature.
The inner man is a hidden man. He is hid openly
in the world but not of it. He appears the same as other people but is not. He speaks the
same language as the people around him but speaks a heavenly language inside. While the
world struggles for earthly success in the area of finances and possessions, the hidden
man struggles with being conformed to the image of God and seeks the spiritual riches of
the kingdom. He is in the world but not of it.
The hidden man is revealed at the Father’s
discretion. God reveals who the hidden man is (say to Peter) to certain people or God
openly proclaims the hidden man as the Son (at the baptism of Jesus). Other than that even
Pilate did not know who Jesus was, except that his wife told him.
Why the Hidden man?
God wants us to hide ourselves in the cleft of
the Rock, in the very nature of Himself. As He told Jerusalem, He would have gathered them
as a hen gathers her chicks. He seeks to protect, nurture, prepare, establish and empower
us. In order for that to occur we must be hidden in His nature to learn of His ways.
He wants us to understand that He directs the
world for His glory and how we fit into the picture. God hides us so that we cannot be
seen. If we are seen, then He is not exalted. We are hid in Him, covered by the blood of
the Lord so that only the Lord will receive the glory. No man will receive His glory. That
is, no Adam nature will receive His glory.
Moses turned from the way (Exodus 3:1-10) he
was going in the wilderness. He took off his shoes, that is, he shed the old way he was
doing things to come into the presence of the I AM (verse 14). When there is only the I AM
there is no other. God did not destroy the vessel of Moses, but humbled him so that he was
the meekest man on the earth (Numbers 12:3). It is only when you are hidden in the
presence of the Lord that the self -nature is crucified.
Christ learned obedience by the things that He
suffered and then became a Son (Hebrews 5:8). It is the hidden man that suffers because no
one except the Father knows who He is. Our life, our very life, our only life, is hid with
God in Christ. Our death has been swallowed up into life. To God be the glory that He has
hid us in Himself so that we would not expose ourselves, our old nature. Such love, such
grace extended unto us. Let us always be hidden.
