“Who hath heard such a thing? who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? or shall a nation be born at once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children.”-Isaiah 66:8
Travail, there is no connotation of the word that invites pleasant thought. Travail is to labor with pain, to toil. The word is synonymous with the labor of childbirth. There is nothing glamorous or glitzy about travail. It is the precursor to birth, the final stage in the forge of life. There is no birth without travail.
It’s no great revelation to say that travail for a woman is a painful process; so much so that this was God’s curse to the women. To labor in childbearing. The women labors to bring forth life, and the man labors to sustain it. Here is the balance of God’s justice on original sin. Yet in labor we learn, we learn that there can be no children without travail. As with natural babies, so it is with spiritual babies. For there to be a new birth in Zion, there must be travail in Zion. Zion represented the spiritual center of the Jewish nation. The habitation of Almighty and the seal of His chosen people. Today, we live in a spiritual Zion, an “heavenly Jerusalem”, and a “church of the firstborn”. The church is every redeemed believer who is sealed with the Holy Spirit and living a holy life. We who have been called out of the world and into the collective body of Christ. This body is Christ’s church, and the church is the bride of Christ. Zion today is a spiritual place inhabited by the church. So, what is the travail of Zion today? What is the labor of the church? How might we bring forth children? We cannot set the terms of growth, of revival, of revelation; no more than we can say for certain when a baby should come into this world. God has set it all in his providence and given to us the burden to carry it. We carry it in prayer. The principal step to having children is wanting them. A sincere desire to see lost souls found, broken hearts redeemed, sin sick lives healed. To see the gospel, go out, and lives changed. To rob the devil of his workforce and gather jewels for the Crown. This desire cannot be tainted with a selfish notion of boosting the member list or adding to the donation box, but it must be a longing for life. As a mother longs to hear life’s first cry; we long to see a soul awakened to Christ. We carry it in witnessing, testifying, preaching, teaching. The publishing of God’s truth through the empowering of the Holy Spirit. Truth published unabridged, and unredacted. Pure and powerful. We carry it in love, and acts of service. The church of Christ being the hands and feet of Christ. Clothes for the naked, bread for the hungry, shelter for the homeless, and healing for the sick. Knowing no holiness that is not social, and no persons that are not worthy.
Paul wrote to the Galatians: “whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you,” herein the purpose of travail; that Christ would be formed in you. How then can Christ be formed in anyone if the church is not carrying them to the birth? Carrying them by nourishing, cherishing, and protecting. Carrying them by being and living the example of Christ? As soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children. This is the essential element of childbirth. Travail cannot be circumvented with handy promotional tools or false piety. You cannot delegate travail or outsource burden. It is the responsibility of the mother; for by divine right no one else is suited to the task. Do you believe this? That it is up to the church? To you, to me? If so, are we willing to enter travail? This labor of love. This means of life. Who among the church today is willing to sacrifice? To give, love, and serve? That we might see new life, and see Christ formed in others. As soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children.
