Brothers and sisters, a little spiritual pursuit or a little godly living before the Lord is not enough to be used by the Lord to turn the age. All those who are used by the Lord to turn the age must be Nazarites; they must be voluntarily consecrated ones. I believe by now all of us know what voluntary consecration means. It means that when everyone else on earth seeks after the world and enjoys the world, I separate myself from it. This separation is a voluntary consecration. The Bible records that in those days the king of Babylon chose a group of young men from different races to stand before him. The opportunity of being chosen was something beyond one’s dream because the king would give them good food and drink for three years so that they would be fair and fat in the flesh to stand before him in the palace. Many yearned for such opportunity but were not able to have it. Yet Daniel and his three companions vowed, saying, “We forsake such opportunity. We will not enjoy the food and drink here. We cannot be the same as other people. We must take another stand. Other people do not have God and are not for God, but we are for God.”

At that time, Daniel might have been only a young man in his teens, yet the two matters of God’s authority and God’s glory were recovered in him. This young man with his three young companions accepted God’s authority and came under God’s authority. This is not all. We also see God’s temple and God’s expression with them. When Daniel’s three friends flatly refused to worship the idols, that was in fact a proclamation that they expressed God! They seemed to be declaring, “Although it is true that we are in the land of Shinar, we are not the people of Shinar. It is true that we are in Babel, but we are the descendants of Abraham. We cannot worship the idols here. We want to testify of this God of glory. We want to have the God of glory expressed in us!” On that day his three friends fully expressed God before the idols. The Bible records that after the king of Babylon cast them into the burning fiery furnace, he saw that the three persons whom he cast into the fire had become four persons (Dan. 3:23-25). The form of the fourth person was like the Son of God. Please remember that this was God being with them, in their midst, and expressed through them while in the furnace.

Of course, we must realize that they expressed God this way because they submitted themselves to His authority. While the whole earth denied God’s authority, they acknowledged God’s authority. While the whole earth had men as kings, they had God as their King. The whole earth was saying that they would eat and drink what the king of Babylon told them to eat and drink; to them, whatever the king of Babylon said counted. But these few said, “No, we are not under the authority of the king of Babylon. We are under Jehovah’s authority. Only His words count. If what the king of Babylon says is in accordance with what God says, we will obey. If not, we will not obey. We cannot go against Jehovah in obeying the king of Babylon.” Hence, this was not a question of not eating or not drinking, but a question of who is ruling over men. If we read the book of Daniel carefully, we will see that Daniel and his friends were truly under God’s authority and truly allowed God to be expressed through them. Whether they were bound in the land of captivity, were cast into the furnace, or were even cast into the den of lions, they allowed God’s glory to be fully expressed.

How could they be like this? It is because they were voluntarily consecrated ones. It seems that God had never called Daniel, nor had He appeared to him. (Of course, we believe that God was working there in a hidden way.) What we see from the book of Daniel is that these men offered themselves to God willingly.

In turning the age, God needs man’s voluntary consecration. In almost all cases of turning the age, God does not show us that it is the Holy Spirit who calls and seeks for men (the only exception being the case of John the Baptist). On the contrary, God shows us that every time the age is turned, God’s work is seen in a very hidden way; it is not so apparent to man. What is obvious to man is man’s voluntary consecration. With Daniel and his three friends, we do not see the outward work of the Holy Spirit. What we see is the voluntary consecration of these men.

The condition at that time was one in which the nation of Israel was in captivity, the temple was destroyed, and all the utensils within were carried away. God’s authority, glory, and expression were gone from the earth. Everyone had rejected God’s authority and was under the authority of the king of Babylon; they were expressing the demons and had become involved with the demons. Even the food they ate and the wine they drank had been offered to demons and was defiled and unclean. Yet at that juncture, Daniel and his three friends (who were very young then, Daniel probably being not more than twenty years of age) stood up and said, “While the whole earth is rejecting God’s authority, we will come under God’s authority. While the whole earth is involved with demons, we will be involved with God. We are here to express God. While the earth is drifting downward in this current, we four will go against the current and will go upward. We cannot go down with the tide. On the contrary, we will go upward against the tide.” Brothers and sisters, this is the secret for one to be used by God to turn the age! You can also be used by God to turn the age today, but the secret lies in your willingness to consecrate yourselves.
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