I Brought You Unto Myself

Following are a couple of exerts from Segulah on the Other Writings page:

When the King James Bible was translated, peculiar meant singular, or belonging solely or especially to.  It was a good choice for the word segulah back then.  But these days peculiar has come to mean odd, or eccentric, even weird.  So the newer English translations have chosen other words to translate segulah.  The New American Standard has my own possession, with a note in the margin reading, special treasure.  The New International Version has treasured possession.  Putting these all together, we have some idea of the meaning of the word.  We are a special treasure God possesses, a treasure that is singular, unique; there is none other like it; and it is solely His own….

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….And so God’s segulah becomes uniquely His own.  No one else has possession of it—no one.  His segulah is solely His own.  With the precious blood of Christ He has redeemed us from the iron furnace, from Egyptian bondage, has purchased us to become His segulah, His own unique and special treasure, a people for His own possession.  But for what purpose?  Lord, help us to comprehend the beauty of this.  For what purpose?  Just… for Himself!

“Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto Myself.”

“Ye shall be unto Me a peculiar treasure…”

“Ye shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation…”

Unto Me, He says.  I brought you unto Myself.  When with the eye of the Spirit we catch a glimpse of the implications of this, it makes us tremble.  For this is saying far more than that God brings His people into some sort of proximity with Himself.

Isaiah says,

But now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and He that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name: thou art Mine.                                    (Isa. 43.1)

Thou art… Mine.  And a few verses later He goes on to tell us specifically what becoming His own means.

This people have I formed for Myself: they shall show forth My praise.                                                                                    (Isa. 43.21)

This people whom He has formed for Himself… God, in forming us and bringing us unto Himself, it means that we become the unique expression of Himself, the revelation, the very outshining of Himself… to show forth His praise.  It is a thought so astonishing, and so beautiful, and so utterly holy, that it just causes you to take your shoes off.

Peter surely had this verse from Isaiah in mind in the passage we started to quote earlier.

But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people, that ye should shew forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvelous light…                (1 Pt. 2.9)

This has to be one of the most beautiful passages in the whole of the Bible.  We who were once darkness… God with creative Voice calls into the darkness, calls Light out of the darkness, and we who were once darkness now become Light in the Lord: we shew forth the praises, the virtues, of the One who called us—all the beautiful aspects of His own heart and character of Light.  Thus, we are created, formed, for Himself.

The Lord told the people that He carried them on eagles’ wings, and brought them unto Himself.  What can this be saying but that the whole story of their redemption from Egypt with the blood of the passover lamb was entirely His own sovereign work.  He did the impossible: broke the yoke of their bondage to a cruel and powerful tyrant; He bore them on eagle’s wings, and brought them unto Himself.

We ourselves have been in the same place, chained in Egyptian bondage, deeply aware that our situation was utterly impossible; there was no power on earth that could ever set us free from the pull of gravity of the sin that pressed down upon us.  We are slaves of a tyrant—sin.  But then the kindness and love of God our Saviour appears… with His strong eagle’s wings.  And there is no sin too great, no problem too difficult, no circumstance too heavy for Him; He redeems us with the blood of a… yes, a Lamb: and thus liberates us, lifts us up, bears us up on strong eagle’s wings, and brings us unto Himself.

How does He bring us unto Himself?  By that Way that is too wonderful for us—the way of the Eagle in the air.  It’s the Spirit-Way, the Way of the Spirit… that no man knoweth (Pr. 30.19, Eccles. 11.5).  It’s by:

…the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Spirit
Which He shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour;
That being justified by His grace we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.                                  (Titus 3. 4-7)

All the popular routes and methods of man are but the ways of the flesh, and we must not walk in those ways, however attractive and right in our own eyes they might seem at the time.  For they will not bring us to God.  Again I say—they will not bring us to God.  They lead to death.  We must learn the Way of the Spirit, and walk therein. He will lead us in the Way of the Cross.  But there is no other Way that brings us unto Himself.

For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the Spirit.                                                                    (1 Pt. 3.18)

What wondrous words.  “That He might bring us to God…”  To God Himself!  And so the Passover Lamb is slain, and the precious blood applied to our doorposts, and the days of our Egyptian slavery are over right then and there.  But that is just the beginning.  For God says, “Now get up here, up on these Wings: we’re going on a journey in which you will discover the implications of this great redemption, the full emancipation that is yours, not only from Egypt and sin, but from yourself.”

For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.                                                                                         (Rom. 5.10)