The Posture of Obedience

“As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram; and lo, a dread and great darkness fell upon him” (Genesis 15:12).

“And when I heard the sound of his words, I fell on my face in a deep sleep with my face to the ground” (Daniel 10:9).

“When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead” (Revelation 1:17).

Just as an enormous shock of light blinds before it illuminates, so an enormous revelation blinds before it enlightens.  In each of the three verses stated above, God manifests himself in such power and presence as to deeply effect those he came to.  To Abram, he came as a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch (covenantal affirmation represented by the presence of the Holy Spirit and fire which is only given to those who obey God); to Daniel, he came through an intermediary angel (sent to those inheriting salvation); and to John, he came as the Son in full regalia (representing those who consummate their salvation in heaven).  Needless to say, mortal man is too frail to see or hear such majesty without effect.  Weakness, deep sleep and/or death-like stupor was the initial effect of each of them.  The presence of the Almighty reflects light so thick as to seem a solid projection.  God’s glory dispels darkness in a flash and weakens mortality by the weightiness of it. 

The responses of Abram, Daniel, and John, were reflexive on the obvious level of their physical reactions, but on a less obvious level, they responded to God faithfully and obediently from their hearts long before he fully manifested himself to them.  THE POSTURE OF OBEDIENCE was the internal posture of each of them before they reflected that posture externally by laying their bodies out in prostration, deep sleep, and death-like submission.  To lay prostrate before God is to fully deflate the ego and defer to him and his wisdom.  The accompanying death-like sleep is a reflection of obedience; it is man getting out of his carnal thinking so as to hear God above the clamoring noise of carnal wisdom.  Like as Moses was the meekest man on the face of the earth before God revealed himself to him, so these three humble saints walked in THE POSTURE OF OBEDIENCE before God revealed himself to them.

I can’t be dogmatic on this point, but it seems to me that the greater the revelation someone receives, the greater the humility and meekness that someone walked in prior to that revelation.  Moses, as already mentioned, was the meekest man on the face of the earth.  Was Moses naturally predisposed to meekness, or did he develop meekness in response to revelation light?  And did God reveal himself to Moses because of his sovereign will to do so, or did Moses precondition his heart by obeying the initial light of life and each subsequent addition of light throughout his lifetime until his capacity grew large enough to receive a full revelation of God?  Since scripture clearly states that Jesus Christ is the light which enlightens every man who comes into the world, and attaches to every man a responsibility to obey that light, does the man who disobeys that light overturn the will of God?  Of course not!  In spite of these words addressed to those who received the light, that they “were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God”—John 1:13 (implying sovereignty only), there still remains a responsibility for every man—by the exercise of his free will—to receive or obey that light.  My point is simply this: everyone is given the initial light of life.  Obey that light, and more light is added (eventually leading to God and salvation); disobey that light, and what light there was, gets snuffed out. 

Adding Moses to the likes of Abram, Daniel and John, is easily justifiable.  Moses knew and used THE POSTURE OF OBEDIENCE regularly.  One example is sufficient to prove his posture of prostration and utter deference to God Almighty.  Accused of exalting himself above his fellows by Korah and a group of dissemblers, “Moses...fell on his face” (Numbers 16:4) rather than retaliate or defend himself.  Rather than lifting himself up to fight for position and honor, Moses, as was his habit of humility, deferred to God.  Prostration is THE POSTURE OF OBEDIENCE.