In order to be an effective servant of Jesus Christ I must learn the meaning of identification with others. Aaron the high priest wore the names of Israel’s tribes on his shoulders and breast, a beautiful symbol of the identification of the priest with the people (Exodus 28). In the most absolute sense possible, Jesus, our High Priest, “became us” (Hebrews 7:26, KJV), not merely in becoming man, but in becoming our sin-bearer (2 Corinthians 5:21).
Identification with others is more than bearing one another’s burdens; it is stepping into the other person’s shoes. Since we cannot do this literally, it must be done vicariously and spiritually. It means feeling the hurt, the pain, and the sin as if they were our own. Paul felt in his heart the very lostness of his Jewish brothers (Romans 9:1–3)
We cannot adequately pray for others until we identify with them to the point where the thing we pray for becomes ours. When Rees Howells, founder of the Bible College of Wales, prayed for a tubercular woman, God said to him. “Will you become tubercular for her sake?” Of course God did not perform the transaction, but His servant had to be willing, thus showing his true identification.
The burden of identification is the true burden of the Lord. Nothing is as exhausting and depleting. That is where the battle occurs and the wrestling takes place. The greatest victories God can give us come out of identification with others. Holding services, preaching, and attending committee meetings are child’s play in comparison. Jesus will bear the scars of identification with us forever. And so will I, if I follow Him in that direction. Yet in that direction lies His—and my—greatest glory. “God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people” (Hebrews 6:10, NIV).
“He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21).
Daily with the King 