When I Survey the Wondrous Nace, part 1: A Prophetic Think Tank

The bible is a book of stories and exhortations which have all sorts of social, historical and moral import. We can read it like a newspaper or a self-help book and glean great expressions of love, great reasons for justice and peace, great reasons to live a clean life free of the filth and degradation of the world, resulting in greater happiness in this world and a model for spiritual life in another. We can run an honest political campaign on the lessons found there. We can use it as a basis of civil law. We can use it to guide us in knowing how to treat our spouse and children. We can certainly use it to get a good idea of how God expects us to behave if we are His children.

But, most importantly, the bible is a book of prophecy. It exists to certify God’s righteousness in His faithfulness to promise and precisely fulfill. It demonstrates His sovereignty over all time and space, and discredits the claims of other “gods.” It exists to activate and maintain a certain quality of faith propelled by a love for spiritual truth. In this sense, it can’t do a thing for the world, the flesh and the devices of men to benefit them because those things have a limited life span. It works indirectly only as for secondary benefit for societies and individuals to build a world that is at peace and at least tolerant of evangelism, but a primary benefit, a “remez”, to prove the existence and nature of God for those who look at the world primarily as an evidential means to righteously believing in Him, not an end in itself.

The idea of the cross as a dual meaning is one of a simple shape of wood and a theological idea and belief. Jesus hung on a piece of wood with a vertical and horizontal beam and Jesus made atonement. But is this as far as we can understand the cross as a p’shat and a remez, going on without a nagging conscience about the shape of a true cross or the nature of real theology? Or, is both the whole modern plain and theological and understanding of the cross a p’shat awaiting a real remez?

Which is a superior translation of stauros: cross or pole? If we are stubbornly Word-centered, as we should be, we start by looking at the words equivalent in Hebrew. That word that most closely matches stauros is nace. Not only in definition but most importantly in spiritual meaning. Hold on, because this will get very disturbing for those who act like the shape of the cross, its p’shat, is more important to the Christian faith than its remez.

Nace in Hebrew, or נֵס, according to Strong’s Hebrew Lexicon, is:

a flag; also a sail; by implication, a flagstaff; generally a signal; figuratively, a token:–banner, pole, sail, (en-)sign, standard.

Another word form is:

nacac (naw-sas) – to gleam from afar, i.e., to be conspicuous as a signal (the idea of a flag as fluttering in the wind); to raise a beacon; lift up as an ensign

The word carries three primary meanings:

A pole, staff, or flagstaff.
The banner raised upon a pole.
A sign, particularly a miraculous, prophetic sign, as we will see, particularly that of the Messiah.

In accord with # 3, nace means “something lifted up.” It means exaltation. Let’s go through the OT and see how the word and meaning are used in a few typical instances when what is lifted up is the prophetic of God’s word. Ultimately, we are asking something like “how is God lifted up.” Then, we are asking, “is this the reason and way we lift Him up today?”

When used to signify a pole

And the LORD said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole (נֵס): and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live. And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole (on), and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived. (Numbers 21:8-9 KJV)

When used to signify the banner

How long shall I see the standard (נֵס), [and] hear the sound of the trumpet? For my people [is] foolish, they have not known me; they [are] sottish children, and they have none understanding: they [are] wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge. (Jeremiah 4:21-22 KJV)

Thou hast given a banner (נֵס) to them that fear thee, that it may be displayed because of the truth. Selah. (Psalms 60:4 KJV)

And he will lift up an ensign (נֵס) to the nations from far, and will hiss unto them from the end of the earth: and, behold, they shall come with speed swiftly: (Isaiah 5:26 KJ

When used to signify a prophetic sign, particularly the sign of the Messiah

And the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up together with Korah, when that company died, what time the fire devoured two hundred and fifty men: and they became a sign (נֵס). (Numbers 26:10 KJV)

And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign (נֵס) of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious. (Isaiah 11:10 KJV)

And he shall set up an ensign (נֵס) for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth. (Isaiah 11:12 KJV)

And he shall pass over to his strong hold for fear, and his princes shall be afraid of the ensign (נֵס), saith the LORD, whose fire [is] in Zion, and his furnace in Jerusalem. (Isaiah 31:9 KJV)

Thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles, and set up my standard (נֵס) to the people: and they shall bring thy sons in [their] arms, and thy daughters shall be carried upon [their] shoulders. (Isaiah 49:22 KJV)

Go through, go through the gates; prepare ye the way of the people; cast up, cast up the highway; gather out the stones; lift up a standard (נֵס) for the people. Behold, the LORD hath proclaimed unto the end of the world, Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold, his reward [is] with him, and his work before him. And they shall call them, The holy people, The redeemed of the LORD: and thou shalt be called, Sought out, A city not forsaken. (Isaiah 62:10-12 KJV)

The word that the LORD spake against Babylon [and] against the land of the Chaldeans by Jeremiah the prophet. Declare ye among the nations, and publish, and set up a standard (נֵס); publish, [and] conceal not: say, Babylon is taken, Bel is confounded, Merodach is broken in pieces; her idols are confounded, her images are broken in pieces. For out of the north there cometh up a nation against her, which shall make her land desolate, and none shall dwell therein: they shall remove, they shall depart, both man and beast. In those days, and in that time, saith the LORD, the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together, going and weeping: they shall go, and seek the LORD their God. (Jeremiah 50:1-4 KJV)

You can see that if we were to settle on one definition for nace, it would certainly be a prophetic sign. We must also remember that a prophetic sign is not only a prophetic promise but the actual person or event which fulfilled it. The person who speaks in the Bible is put as the equivalent of what he speaks and believes, particularly as a means of certifying that person morally. We do the same thing today when we say “he is a person of His word,” “a man is only as good as his word.” A person’s word is a moral sign. The Messiah is also a sign and the ultimate sign at that! He is prophesied, and his person appearing among men is a fulfillment of the promise, the Word of God. Jesus was Himself called a sign (miracle, sign, token, wonder). Giving one of many examples from the New Testament:

For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people; A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel. And Joseph and his mother marvelled at those things which were spoken of him. And Simeon blessed them, and said unto Mary his mother, Behold, this [child] is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign which shall be spoken against; (Luke 2:30-34 KJV)

In Jeremiah 4:21-22, you might think that only a flag or banner is indicated, but it’s not. Go back a moment, and we see this:

Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! surely thou hast greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, Ye shall have peace; whereas the sword reacheth unto the soul. (Jeremiah 4:10 KJV)

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