VISION: DANGEROUS AND RADICALOUS
VISION: MOUNTAINS OF LIES AND BLOODSUCKERS
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
They said Barabbas
Matthew 27:20-22 (King James Version)
20But the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitude that they should ask Barabbas, and destroy Jesus.
21The governor answered and said unto them, Whether of the twain will ye that I release unto you? They said, Barabbas.
22Pilate saith unto them, What shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ? They all say unto him, Let him be crucified.
20But the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitude that they should ask Barabbas, and destroy Jesus.
21The governor answered and said unto them, Whether of the twain will ye that I release unto you? They said, Barabbas.
22Pilate saith unto them, What shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ? They all say unto him, Let him be crucified.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Monday, August 11, 2008
Command Performance-By Bryan Hupperts
Command Performance-By Bryan Hupperts
bryanhupperts@hotmail.com
The invitations, laid in gold leaf, were sent out announcing a command performance in the great theater. God himself would be attending. The people were excited as they returned their RSVPs. All came at the appointed time to witness this great performance.
The program bill proclaimed that two choral symphonies would be performed. Chilled in the air conditioning, all sat in anticipation of seeing God as they waited for the performance to begin. A special seating box, high above the audience, was marked Reserved and many whispered that must be where God would be seated.
The house lights dimmed to black and a spotlight beamed down center stage at a lone mic stand. An unknown man stepped out of the shadows and announced, “There will be a delay.” And he turned his back to the audience and walked back behind the curtain. The house lights went abruptly up leaving the throngs of people staring at each other.
At first, most sat in reverent silence waiting patiently for the arrival of God and for the two choral symphonies but, as the evening wore on, the air conditioning quit and the room was getting hot and stuffy. As the temperature climbed, tempers began to flare.
“Com’on. There is no sign of God or his choir. Where is the promise of his appearing?” some asked. Others, seeing people in the audience with whom they had long running, unresolved disputes, began to stir the waters of resentment telling their tales of woe until they were exaggerated beyond recognition with accusations running like wildfire, the destructive flames fanned along by willing, wagging tongues.
Others sat sweltering in resentment dressed in their finest, seething that they had dressed for the event and now had to wait. And for what? Couldn’t God have fixed the air conditioning? Didn’t he see this coming? And where was the so-called choir? Did God even have a clue how badly they were being inconvenienced?
Amid the clanging cacophony, amid the darkness and din, and the Babel of crescendoing voices, a different sound was heard. There were a few who feared the Lord who began to say to one another, “We don’t understand the delay either but, while we’re here, let’s worship God anyway.” Despite their discomforts, they praised Him.
As for the rest, the greater number in the vast audience began to divide along racial, political, and economic lines. Someone had to do something! Manipulators, adept at creating an “Us vs. Them” mentality, arose to draw men after themselves, exploiting the general discontent. Open warfare soon began. Kidnappings were common as seating groups would conspire together to “save” souls from other seating sections from their obvious deceptions, to get them into the “true work” of God.
The theater management issued a call for help. The audience was immense and, because of the delay, would anyone volunteer to help pass out food and water? Many of the quiet worshippers left their seats, and, in spite of the heat, donned the black jackets of servants and began to wait on others, passing out food and drink. While some received it with genuine gratitude, most murmured and complained. It was either too this or not that enough; whatever the complaint, it was not up to their standards.
The theater seemed ready to tear itself apart. Angry voices were rising; tempers flaring, while the few faithful worshippers still tried to encourage any who would listen that God was yet in control even if they had to take that statement on raw faith. They defended the name of Him who was Faithful and True while others openly scoffed.
Suddenly, a cool breeze blew through the packed house. The house lights dimmed as a sigh of relief went through the crowd. In the blackness a lone spotlight again shone about the mic stand. The unknown man again stepped up to the microphone and announced, “The performance is now ended. Good night.”
He again turned his back to the audience, walking towards the curtain as stunned audience members jumped to their feet in fury, demanding an explanation. Where was God in this so-called command performance? What about the two promised choral symphonies?
The man turned to face the crowd, and, after pausing for a long moment as if listening to an unseen Friend, motioned for silence.
He said, “You do not understand. Two choral symphonies were played out here tonight but you were the performers, not the audience. God himself was the audience and out of the abundance of your mouths, whether it was sweet worship or bitter complaint, you each sang to Almighty God what was truly in your heart. And those appointed to write in God’s Book of Remembrance recorded every word.”
### ### ###
With which of the two choral symphonies playing in the world do you willingly blend your voice?
Bryan Hupperts
© 2008
www.SheepTrax.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
bryanhupperts@hotmail.com
The invitations, laid in gold leaf, were sent out announcing a command performance in the great theater. God himself would be attending. The people were excited as they returned their RSVPs. All came at the appointed time to witness this great performance.
The program bill proclaimed that two choral symphonies would be performed. Chilled in the air conditioning, all sat in anticipation of seeing God as they waited for the performance to begin. A special seating box, high above the audience, was marked Reserved and many whispered that must be where God would be seated.
The house lights dimmed to black and a spotlight beamed down center stage at a lone mic stand. An unknown man stepped out of the shadows and announced, “There will be a delay.” And he turned his back to the audience and walked back behind the curtain. The house lights went abruptly up leaving the throngs of people staring at each other.
At first, most sat in reverent silence waiting patiently for the arrival of God and for the two choral symphonies but, as the evening wore on, the air conditioning quit and the room was getting hot and stuffy. As the temperature climbed, tempers began to flare.
“Com’on. There is no sign of God or his choir. Where is the promise of his appearing?” some asked. Others, seeing people in the audience with whom they had long running, unresolved disputes, began to stir the waters of resentment telling their tales of woe until they were exaggerated beyond recognition with accusations running like wildfire, the destructive flames fanned along by willing, wagging tongues.
Others sat sweltering in resentment dressed in their finest, seething that they had dressed for the event and now had to wait. And for what? Couldn’t God have fixed the air conditioning? Didn’t he see this coming? And where was the so-called choir? Did God even have a clue how badly they were being inconvenienced?
Amid the clanging cacophony, amid the darkness and din, and the Babel of crescendoing voices, a different sound was heard. There were a few who feared the Lord who began to say to one another, “We don’t understand the delay either but, while we’re here, let’s worship God anyway.” Despite their discomforts, they praised Him.
As for the rest, the greater number in the vast audience began to divide along racial, political, and economic lines. Someone had to do something! Manipulators, adept at creating an “Us vs. Them” mentality, arose to draw men after themselves, exploiting the general discontent. Open warfare soon began. Kidnappings were common as seating groups would conspire together to “save” souls from other seating sections from their obvious deceptions, to get them into the “true work” of God.
The theater management issued a call for help. The audience was immense and, because of the delay, would anyone volunteer to help pass out food and water? Many of the quiet worshippers left their seats, and, in spite of the heat, donned the black jackets of servants and began to wait on others, passing out food and drink. While some received it with genuine gratitude, most murmured and complained. It was either too this or not that enough; whatever the complaint, it was not up to their standards.
The theater seemed ready to tear itself apart. Angry voices were rising; tempers flaring, while the few faithful worshippers still tried to encourage any who would listen that God was yet in control even if they had to take that statement on raw faith. They defended the name of Him who was Faithful and True while others openly scoffed.
Suddenly, a cool breeze blew through the packed house. The house lights dimmed as a sigh of relief went through the crowd. In the blackness a lone spotlight again shone about the mic stand. The unknown man again stepped up to the microphone and announced, “The performance is now ended. Good night.”
He again turned his back to the audience, walking towards the curtain as stunned audience members jumped to their feet in fury, demanding an explanation. Where was God in this so-called command performance? What about the two promised choral symphonies?
The man turned to face the crowd, and, after pausing for a long moment as if listening to an unseen Friend, motioned for silence.
He said, “You do not understand. Two choral symphonies were played out here tonight but you were the performers, not the audience. God himself was the audience and out of the abundance of your mouths, whether it was sweet worship or bitter complaint, you each sang to Almighty God what was truly in your heart. And those appointed to write in God’s Book of Remembrance recorded every word.”
### ### ###
With which of the two choral symphonies playing in the world do you willingly blend your voice?
Bryan Hupperts
© 2008
www.SheepTrax.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Unauthorized Church Bake Sale-By Bryan Hupperts
Unauthorized Church Bake Sale-By Bryan Hupperts
bryanhupperts@hotmail.com
Unauthorized Church Bake Sale
She was driving past a church when she saw a sign advertising an Unauthorized Church Bake Sale. Why would a church bake sale be unauthorized? Curiosity got the better of her so she parked and waked on to the lot following the luscious scent of conflicting aromas.
There was bread everywhere; rolls, cakes, loaves. The scent of baked goods was delicious, tantalizing, calling all to feast. She noticed several officiating Judges moving from table to table and realized there was a contest being held. The grand prize to be awarded was the coveted blue ribbon that proclaimed: Bread of Life.
She had one of those Holy Spirit warning moments; a verse about those whose “God is their belly,” rang her alarm bell deep within. Though sorely tempted, she decided she would not risk defiling herself with any of the bread until she knew for certain which really was the Bread of Life.
The bake sale offered something for every appetite, a special bread just for you. The ritualistically pious were drawn to bread that had mysterious images of Jesus and the Virgin Mary that had suddenly appeared in the crust. The non-ritualistically pious were drawn to the hot cross buns. They seemed to have a side contest going to see whose hot cross image was bigger.
And the snack cakes! As a former unbeliever, she knew well the taste of Snickerdoodles. She was amazed at the numbers of snickering, scoffing unbelievers in the church yard that readily scarfed them down. Scoffers dine willingly on unbelief, their ravenous appetites never satiated. Why would anyone believe this stuff, sweet as it was, was the Bread of Life? She walked on.
There was a shouting war flaring up between a table of white breads and another table of brown breads, each claiming superiority over the other arguing authoratively that the Bread of Life was either White or Brown depending on which table you stood behind. No one on the outside of this ghastly display of enslavement would touch their moldy breads though those eating at the respective tables didn’t seem to notice the worms and dry crusts, probably from over familiarity. Again, she walked on.
There were fruit loaves that demanded special treatment and acceptance. While contest rules specifically forbade fruit in the mixture, the fruit loaf lovers demanded that the rules be set aside for them. After all, they found themselves described in the Bible as Romans-One-Meal bread.
There were delightful twisted loaves that smelled almost heavenly but there was something not quite right, something… well, twisted to them. How could anything truly heavenly be twisted? Still, it smelled wonderful, lilting in the breeze and she almost convinced herself this must be the genuine Bread of Life. Still, remembering her vow, she refrained with a sigh and moved on.
There were cream puffs aplenty but they quickly melted in the sun. Then there was a newcomer: Prosperity bread. You eat it and it fills you again and again till you die from malnutrition. They can’t seriously believe this fraud is the Bread of Life, yet obviously many did.
Uneasiness began to crawl up her tingling spine. Suspicious, she squinted and noticed the small print on each display card bearing the names the various breads. Adjusting her glasses a bit to read the fine print, she was horrified to read: Made proudly with the Leven of the Pharisees.
While leaven will make something quickly rise, she knew this was against Luke 12:1 where Jesus said, “Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.”
Alarmed, she stood up and shouted to the Judges, “These breads are tainted. They are rife with pride, made with the leaven of the Pharisees. Instead of the taste test alone, why not look at the ingredients? Will not the true Bread of Life will be pure, holy and undefiled?”
A momentarily hush swept over the feasting crowd only to be dispelled by the angry retorts that came hurling in like rocks. “Oh, come on. You don’t think this dough will rise by itself, do you? We bake according to our tastes. We’re serving God, helping him with our added ingredients. We know what the people want.”
She reached in her Bible and pulled out a Leven-O-Meter and began to test the breads for their leaven contest. Ironically, many of the contest Judges started screaming, “Judge Not! Judge Not! How DARE you judge this bread?” as the Meter clicked madly on like a Geiger counter at ground zero.
Fearing a riot, one of the Judges grabbed her arm, pulling her aside to a popular, though out of the way, table under the sign, “Day Old Bread.” The Judge quietly explained that, while the other breads technically were disqualified because they took a short cut and used the leaven, the fast rising yeast of the Pharisees, they did help “spread the Word,” and besides, up till now, few had complained.
Gathered at the Day Old Bread rack were true, though forlorn looking, believers chewing away on dry, brittle crusts. She squinted to read the ingredients list and, sure enough, this was indeed genuine Bread of Life. But why would Bread of Life be so tasteless and lifeless? It didn’t look particularly appetizing but it was the genuine article. That’s when she noticed the Clearance sign.
"Not very fresh, is it?” she asked. The Judge, trying to placate her, said, “No, it not exactly fresh. That’s why it’s for sale, dirt cheap. Still, this is genuine Bread of Life. A Stranger comes and gives us the extra loaves he cannot give away. Try your Leven-O-Meter and see. It’s just a few extra days old and a bit past its freshness, that’s all. We sell a lot of this.”
While her Leven-O-Meter confirmed this was indeed Bread of Life, she suddenly remembered the Bible story about the manna, the bread of heaven, coming down and needing to be collected daily or it would turn wormy and moldy. Like God’s mercies, it had to be sought for anew every day.
“Do you have any fresh Bread of Life? Not the cheap day old stuff, but the today’s Bread?” she asked, her voice carrying further than she intended. The place went silent as the Judges and contestants drew their collective breath. And the barrage of insults began. In what sounded like an angry run-on sentence, she was told:
… Bread of Life is made by grinding pure grain against a stone in a mortar and pedestal… too work-intensive… old fashioned way that takes too long and cannot not be mass produced or mass marketed. .. the world is hungry for bread so we manufacture ours with a little extra additive for the masses cheaply and quickly….maybe not the healthiest stuff around but add a little high fructose corn syrup and it turns sweet… it’s almost as good as...
And she found herself thrown out laying face down on the street, her Leaven-O-Meter smashed to bits. She had been banned from the contest for having a “critical spirit.” The contest went on without her. Shaken and upset, she picked herself up and headed towards her car when a Stranger appeared from the crowd and approached her. “I came today hoping to find someone who truly hungers for the Bread of Life,” he said, motioning towards the crowd. “For even the few who find it, most willingly settle for the leftovers.”
“Yeah,” she said, “I saw that. And I was nearly killed for my efforts.” Smiling, he produced from beneath his coat an ordinary unbroken loaf of bread. “This is the Bread of Life you seek. Break it and eat.”
She looked at this ordinary looking loaf of Bread suspiciously, asking, “Why didn’t I see this at the bake sale contest? Have you eaten from it? If so, why is it not broken?” And the Stranger smiled again explaining that each of us individually have to take hold of the Bread of Life and break it ourselves because it was once broken for each of us.
She was beset by a hunger, driven by an appetite she could not explain. The Stranger with the Bread had her full attention. “How much?” she asked, hoping for a bargain.
The staggering cost was laid before her. In an unflinching voice, he said, “Your dreams, your hopes, your sins and failures, all that you hope to be and all that you fear you’ll become. You past, present and future, all claims to your own self life; in short, to eat this Bread will cost you everything.”
She could hear the din of the Unauthorized Bake Sale contest happening in the church parking lot – they had chosen this years’ winner - and she grieved for them. They truly did not understand what they were doing.
She took the precious loaf and felt a sting in her soul as she raised it up unto God and broke it in half and began to eat. Satisfaction filed her soul and, as she passed from death to life, she now understood that it was now her calling to seek out those who truly hungered for the Bread of Life, those who would accept no substitution. And the loaf broken by her hands was whole again.
The Stranger smiled and said, “Come Sister, let’s be about our Father’s business. The night is quickly coming when no man can work.” With the precious Bread of Life in hand, they turned their backs on the Unauthorized Bake Sale and headed for the highways and byways.
Bryan Hupperts © 2008
http://www.sheeptrax.com/
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
bryanhupperts@hotmail.com
Unauthorized Church Bake Sale
She was driving past a church when she saw a sign advertising an Unauthorized Church Bake Sale. Why would a church bake sale be unauthorized? Curiosity got the better of her so she parked and waked on to the lot following the luscious scent of conflicting aromas.
There was bread everywhere; rolls, cakes, loaves. The scent of baked goods was delicious, tantalizing, calling all to feast. She noticed several officiating Judges moving from table to table and realized there was a contest being held. The grand prize to be awarded was the coveted blue ribbon that proclaimed: Bread of Life.
She had one of those Holy Spirit warning moments; a verse about those whose “God is their belly,” rang her alarm bell deep within. Though sorely tempted, she decided she would not risk defiling herself with any of the bread until she knew for certain which really was the Bread of Life.
The bake sale offered something for every appetite, a special bread just for you. The ritualistically pious were drawn to bread that had mysterious images of Jesus and the Virgin Mary that had suddenly appeared in the crust. The non-ritualistically pious were drawn to the hot cross buns. They seemed to have a side contest going to see whose hot cross image was bigger.
And the snack cakes! As a former unbeliever, she knew well the taste of Snickerdoodles. She was amazed at the numbers of snickering, scoffing unbelievers in the church yard that readily scarfed them down. Scoffers dine willingly on unbelief, their ravenous appetites never satiated. Why would anyone believe this stuff, sweet as it was, was the Bread of Life? She walked on.
There was a shouting war flaring up between a table of white breads and another table of brown breads, each claiming superiority over the other arguing authoratively that the Bread of Life was either White or Brown depending on which table you stood behind. No one on the outside of this ghastly display of enslavement would touch their moldy breads though those eating at the respective tables didn’t seem to notice the worms and dry crusts, probably from over familiarity. Again, she walked on.
There were fruit loaves that demanded special treatment and acceptance. While contest rules specifically forbade fruit in the mixture, the fruit loaf lovers demanded that the rules be set aside for them. After all, they found themselves described in the Bible as Romans-One-Meal bread.
There were delightful twisted loaves that smelled almost heavenly but there was something not quite right, something… well, twisted to them. How could anything truly heavenly be twisted? Still, it smelled wonderful, lilting in the breeze and she almost convinced herself this must be the genuine Bread of Life. Still, remembering her vow, she refrained with a sigh and moved on.
There were cream puffs aplenty but they quickly melted in the sun. Then there was a newcomer: Prosperity bread. You eat it and it fills you again and again till you die from malnutrition. They can’t seriously believe this fraud is the Bread of Life, yet obviously many did.
Uneasiness began to crawl up her tingling spine. Suspicious, she squinted and noticed the small print on each display card bearing the names the various breads. Adjusting her glasses a bit to read the fine print, she was horrified to read: Made proudly with the Leven of the Pharisees.
While leaven will make something quickly rise, she knew this was against Luke 12:1 where Jesus said, “Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.”
Alarmed, she stood up and shouted to the Judges, “These breads are tainted. They are rife with pride, made with the leaven of the Pharisees. Instead of the taste test alone, why not look at the ingredients? Will not the true Bread of Life will be pure, holy and undefiled?”
A momentarily hush swept over the feasting crowd only to be dispelled by the angry retorts that came hurling in like rocks. “Oh, come on. You don’t think this dough will rise by itself, do you? We bake according to our tastes. We’re serving God, helping him with our added ingredients. We know what the people want.”
She reached in her Bible and pulled out a Leven-O-Meter and began to test the breads for their leaven contest. Ironically, many of the contest Judges started screaming, “Judge Not! Judge Not! How DARE you judge this bread?” as the Meter clicked madly on like a Geiger counter at ground zero.
Fearing a riot, one of the Judges grabbed her arm, pulling her aside to a popular, though out of the way, table under the sign, “Day Old Bread.” The Judge quietly explained that, while the other breads technically were disqualified because they took a short cut and used the leaven, the fast rising yeast of the Pharisees, they did help “spread the Word,” and besides, up till now, few had complained.
Gathered at the Day Old Bread rack were true, though forlorn looking, believers chewing away on dry, brittle crusts. She squinted to read the ingredients list and, sure enough, this was indeed genuine Bread of Life. But why would Bread of Life be so tasteless and lifeless? It didn’t look particularly appetizing but it was the genuine article. That’s when she noticed the Clearance sign.
"Not very fresh, is it?” she asked. The Judge, trying to placate her, said, “No, it not exactly fresh. That’s why it’s for sale, dirt cheap. Still, this is genuine Bread of Life. A Stranger comes and gives us the extra loaves he cannot give away. Try your Leven-O-Meter and see. It’s just a few extra days old and a bit past its freshness, that’s all. We sell a lot of this.”
While her Leven-O-Meter confirmed this was indeed Bread of Life, she suddenly remembered the Bible story about the manna, the bread of heaven, coming down and needing to be collected daily or it would turn wormy and moldy. Like God’s mercies, it had to be sought for anew every day.
“Do you have any fresh Bread of Life? Not the cheap day old stuff, but the today’s Bread?” she asked, her voice carrying further than she intended. The place went silent as the Judges and contestants drew their collective breath. And the barrage of insults began. In what sounded like an angry run-on sentence, she was told:
… Bread of Life is made by grinding pure grain against a stone in a mortar and pedestal… too work-intensive… old fashioned way that takes too long and cannot not be mass produced or mass marketed. .. the world is hungry for bread so we manufacture ours with a little extra additive for the masses cheaply and quickly….maybe not the healthiest stuff around but add a little high fructose corn syrup and it turns sweet… it’s almost as good as...
And she found herself thrown out laying face down on the street, her Leaven-O-Meter smashed to bits. She had been banned from the contest for having a “critical spirit.” The contest went on without her. Shaken and upset, she picked herself up and headed towards her car when a Stranger appeared from the crowd and approached her. “I came today hoping to find someone who truly hungers for the Bread of Life,” he said, motioning towards the crowd. “For even the few who find it, most willingly settle for the leftovers.”
“Yeah,” she said, “I saw that. And I was nearly killed for my efforts.” Smiling, he produced from beneath his coat an ordinary unbroken loaf of bread. “This is the Bread of Life you seek. Break it and eat.”
She looked at this ordinary looking loaf of Bread suspiciously, asking, “Why didn’t I see this at the bake sale contest? Have you eaten from it? If so, why is it not broken?” And the Stranger smiled again explaining that each of us individually have to take hold of the Bread of Life and break it ourselves because it was once broken for each of us.
She was beset by a hunger, driven by an appetite she could not explain. The Stranger with the Bread had her full attention. “How much?” she asked, hoping for a bargain.
The staggering cost was laid before her. In an unflinching voice, he said, “Your dreams, your hopes, your sins and failures, all that you hope to be and all that you fear you’ll become. You past, present and future, all claims to your own self life; in short, to eat this Bread will cost you everything.”
She could hear the din of the Unauthorized Bake Sale contest happening in the church parking lot – they had chosen this years’ winner - and she grieved for them. They truly did not understand what they were doing.
She took the precious loaf and felt a sting in her soul as she raised it up unto God and broke it in half and began to eat. Satisfaction filed her soul and, as she passed from death to life, she now understood that it was now her calling to seek out those who truly hungered for the Bread of Life, those who would accept no substitution. And the loaf broken by her hands was whole again.
The Stranger smiled and said, “Come Sister, let’s be about our Father’s business. The night is quickly coming when no man can work.” With the precious Bread of Life in hand, they turned their backs on the Unauthorized Bake Sale and headed for the highways and byways.
Bryan Hupperts © 2008
http://www.sheeptrax.com/
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Jeremiah 7:23
But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you.
Jeremiah 7:23 KJV
Jeremiah 7:23 KJV
Friday, July 25, 2008
Sent From God-By Art Katz
A few have asked the question what did Art speak about at IHOP? I was just at Ben Israel site and found this that Art spoke at Kansas City, IHOP in 2006.
Judge for yourself,
Blessings,
Susan
http://www.revivalschool.com/
*************************************************************
Sent From God
By Art Katz
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
An edited transcript of message # K-IHOP-06.
(Kansas City, Jan. 2006)
This morning I feel impressed to share with you a new word that has come out of the recent ministry days in Mexico, and which I believe is going to be a significant arrow in the Lord’s quiver. I am not even sure of its full meaning, but can only say that it resonates and hints at significant things in our understanding of God. As with every word from heaven, you can get from it what you will, or you can just as equally get nothing at all. Or later on, all of a sudden, the word will spring to life in the sovereign purposes of God.
The text is from Isaiah 6.
In the year that king Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and His train filled the temple.
Above Him stood the seraphim: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another, and said, “Holy, holy, holy, is Jehovah of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.”
And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of Him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.
Then said I, “Woe is me! For I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, Jehovah of hosts.”
Then flew one of the seraphim unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: and he touched my mouth with it, and said, “Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin forgiven.”
And I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?”
Then I said, “Here am I; send me.”
And He said, “Go, and tell this people, ‘Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not.’ Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they sea with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and turn again, and be healed.”
Then said I, “Lord, how long?” And He answered, “Until cities be waste without inhabitant, and houses without man, and the land become utterly waste, and Jehovah has removed men far away, and the forsaken places be many in the midst of the land. And if there be yet a tenth in it, it also shall in turn be eaten up: as a terebinth, and as an oak, whose stock remaineth, when they are felled; so the holy seed is the stock thereof” (Isaiah 6:1-13)
I was quite surprised when the Lord quickened this and underlined ways of perceiving the text not previously considered. But I think it is going to be one of those seminal messages that come forth every now and then, the rhema word of God that may not immediately be understandable to all to whom it comes. If it doesn’t fit right now, do not set it aside, but I do believe that what was suddenly and dramatically exposed in this sixth chapter was pivotal for all of Isaiah’s future prophetic use as well as the issue of Israel’s destiny.
Are you guilty with me of having too airily dismissed this account as some kind of mystic vision of the Lord? Somewhere high and lifted up with His train filling the temple in some kind of hyper-state of glory? Why would it affect the prophet so as to cause him to pronounce his being undone? My own suggestion is that the prophet saw the King in the greatest moment of His majesty. In other words, God in His deepest essence was brought to a point of such expression that anyone who contemplates that moment rightly has got to be altogether devastated and undone. With that in mind, I am led to believe Isaiah saw the crucifixion of the King, because nothing reveals the majesty of God more than in the depth of His suffering, experienced and borne for us as atonement!
You may ask how Isaiah could have seen the crucifixion of Jesus six or seven centuries before the actual event. Let us not forget that the Lord was ‘slain from before the foundations of the earth were laid.’ If we only see the crucifixion of Jesus as a historical event in a point of time, we will be marred and limited in our Christian walk. Our walk will of necessity be with a minimal comprehension of the crucifixion as a body of doctrine to which we must agree, but we have not seen the glory. And unless we see the glory, there never will be any sending.
This is not just a chance episode in the life of the prophet; it is the unfolding of a remarkable pattern; a sequence of events by which the prophet, who already had a ministry and was already cautioning and warning the nation of its sin from the very first chapter of his book, now enters a new dimension. His subsequent ministry as one sent was no longer merely to warn or to caution, but to judge. His word would now constitute judgment. They will not hear, they will not see, their hearts will be dulled because the prophet has spoken to them in a new depth of urgency and weight and authority as one sent.
How many of us have sufficiently dwelt on the word sent as we ought? Do we understand the significance of the difference between one who went and the one who is sent? However well-meaning it might be, is not most of our Christian activity self-initiated or committee determined? Do we know, and I mean really know, what it is to be sent from the One who is enthroned?
My own observation is that the overwhelming majority of Christians have a self-motivated itch to go and to do, to be seen and to cut a swathe for themselves and their ministry, but we are not seeing sendings of the kind that initiated the early history of the Church. Those that were sent turned the world upside-down. Do we sufficiently honor and esteem the phenomenon of sending? Do we understand the difference between the consequences of the work that results from one sent in comparison to the work of one who is self-initiated in his going? Are we even assured that the world needs to be turned upside-down? Or do we see the world as needing merely to be modified and have some of its excesses reduced? Do we see the world as being evil? Are we chafed by its immorality, even its a-morality? Do we have the basis for comparison that would be ours once having seen the Lord high and lifted up?
Everything hinges upon seeing the Lord as the Lord, because after forty-one years in the faith and in world-wide ministry, touching and examining the Church in its best forms, I would have to say that my greatest grief over the condition of the Church, its leadership and its prominent ministers is that they do not know God as God. They do not know Him as He in fact is. Without this knowledge of God, we are condemned to a hollow counterfeit much more in harmony with our own approving ambition and intentions. Consequently, there is no fear of God, and we will find ourselves taking liberties and initiating conduct that was not sent from Heaven. Everything rests on seeing the Lord high and lifted up and enthroned in His majestic glory and brought to perfection in the moment of His most excruciating suffering at Calvary. That is what this prophet saw, and he cried out “I am undone! I am a man of unclean lips!”
The problem is not the unclean lips; but ‘I am a man.’ We do not know how deeply humanistic man is as man. We do not see how deeply the intrinsic nature of man is opposed to God. We do not see how our ambitions and self-initiated activity could possibly be an act of direct rebellion against God. We do not see our unwillingness to wait to be sent as being any particular offense. Isaiah saw himself. “Woe is me, I am undone, I am a man.” And if I am a man, of necessity my lips are going to be defiled, even though a prophet.
Until we agree and come to this low estimation of ourselves, we will always suffer the loss of the high exaltation of God. The two things are inextricably joined. Who of us thinks they can perceive the truth of themselves as man? Is not our estimation of ourselves far out of proportion to the way in which we really need to see ourselves? Is not the reason we are able to indulge such exaltation because we have no basis for comparison? Do we not see ourselves only in comparison to others? By so doing, are we not rather imagining our own superiority? When you see yourself in comparison to God, however, you become as a dead man.
This is the way of sanity; this is truth; this is reality; it is the foundation of any true sending. Why would God send half-baked believers anywhere into the world? What are they going to communicate? They cannot communicate anything that exceeds where they themselves are in their own estimation. Yes, they might bring some measure of good, but they are not going to turn anybody’s world upside-down. Only one who is sent from the Throne bears the authority and anointing of that One who sends.
“Who will go for us?” The word ‘who’ haunts me; it suggests very few candidates. How often do you find a believer who has risen above the prevailing culture and the correctness of his doctrine, and who really knows God as God, who sees God as terrifying, stupefying and vast? When was the last time you met someone who has seen God in His greatest act, namely, the revelation of the nature of God in His suffering and death, which had ever and always been His nature? The only thing that the Cross did was reveal what God always was and is. God is a servant. He is a sent one Himself from the Father.
What did it mean for this sent Son, who had lived eternally in the presence of the Father, to forsake that exalted and unimaginable condition of relationship, and to come down to this crusty globe and take upon himself the form of a man? He began life as a helpless infant laid in a manger and suffered everything that was required of an earthly, human existence as a Jew and as a son of David, a son of Abraham and as a son of Adam, so to speak. We do not know the humility of God until we have rightly pondered what it meant for the Son to come down into this Earth. It was the crucifixion before the crucifixion. Every instance of it, every act of it is the issue of self-denial; it is the issue of compassion and concern for other at the expense of oneself. We need to probe and examine this more than any other consideration, more than our yearnings to become sophisticated in understanding the Last Days movement of the Jews and the Church’s mandate during that time.
“Who shall go for us?” We are back to that piercing question. The only one who can go is the one who has seen, and having seen, comes to such a place of repulsion over himself that he is undone. This was Isaiah, the prince of the prophets speaking. If he could say, “I am undone” at the seeing of God as He really is in His glory, what shall we say? And until we say it with the same heart-piercing cry, we will never be a candidate for being sent. But, what does this whole cosmic drama wait on? The text itself tells us: “In the year that king Uzziah died.” What would the Lord be trying to say here? Did the Holy Spirit give that just as an historic index so we could date this event because we know the life-span of this king? Or does the death of the king have something to do with the revelation given to the prophet? What would you suspect?
My own intuition is that the death of the king is the decisive factor that set in motion the entire episode. But, why is this so important? Why does a death have to necessarily precede a revelation of this magnitude? This is a revelation that issues in a call, and the call issues in a judgment upon Israel by a prophet going forth as a sent one. And not only that, but it is a judgment upon Israel that is still valid to this day. Israel is still bound; its eyes are closed nationally-speaking; its heart is numb; it cannot see, cannot hear and cannot understand. Jews are civil and gracious on any other subject, but on this they become impenetrable because the judgment has been decreed.
Apart from a few ‘remnant’ Jews like myself, the nation itself presently stands under this judgment. You wonder why so many Christians eagerly believe God has called them to be prophets. That eagerness betrays their own over-estimation of themselves. What if your speaking would mean a necessary judgment for the hearers? Some measure of judgment goes forth in the prophetic proclamation that is designed to bring to death areas of the flesh that are impudent, untrained and undisciplined and need this judgment. It is not a pleasant task. Only those who are dead and see themselves as undone are the ones who are capable of going and pronouncing that kind of judgment. It is all the same to them whether the hearers are blessed or judged. The issue is obedience to a ‘Go, and say to them…’
We are moving towards a concluding episode in the salvational history of mankind with regards to the people Israel. Israel is under judgment through a prophetic word, but the judgment needs to be reversed and the people be released by another sending. If it took a sending to bring the judgment, in my opinion, it will take a sending to end the judgment. There needs to be a ‘prophetic’ company of believers as the Church of the Last Days, who have seen the Lord and know Him in His majesty, high and lifted up, and who are stricken to death at their own vain presumptions about themselves. They are those who see themselves ‘as good as dead,’ and unless a coal comes off the altar of God, they will not presume that they can speak for God.
From the text we know that God does not in any way placate the prophet; He is silent, but sends an angel with a coal from the altar, clearly implying that He is in complete agreement with the prophet’s own estimation of himself. The important point to note is the reaction of the prophet to the revelation of God in His resplendent majesty as crucified evoking such a sense of his own shame. Karl Barth, my favorite theologian, the great German-Swiss thinker clearly understood this reality when he wrote: “The reality of sin cannot be known or described except in relation to the one who has vanquished it.”
How many of us can say that we know the reality of sin? And I am absolutely assured that if we do not know the reality of sin as God sees it and as Isaiah saw it, we have no reality. The reality of sin is the necessary foundation of all human reality, and if we do not have it, all of our grandiose categories about redemption and the Cross are only just a vapor; they are ‘sound and fury signifying nothing.’ More than we know, we have unsuspectingly reduced our beliefs to a body of doctrine. Our agreement with certain evident truths will never effect anything in us or in the world. And why would God send anyone in that condition? Has He nothing better to do, no better candidate to send than someone with a shallow notion of sin? Why would He send anyone who has fallen short of the acknowledgement of His glory, and who has little knowledge of what atonement means or what He has paid to obtain it? Paul could say, “Paul knew the terror of the Lord with regard to sin, and therefore could persuade men.” This kind of knowing needs to be an object of our highest priority. How do we come to know the reality or the terror of sin, realizing that that is the underlay of everything? What did Jesus do and perform that was so consequential, worthy of our admiration, let alone our adoration if we do not understand what He met in His death?
Have we noticed how the world is dying, without foundations and oblivious to eternity? Has the world been told what sin is or what judgment and hell are? Has it not rather dispensed with Jesus as a peripheral nothing, celebrated at Christmas time to give the department stores the occasion for our orgies of buying? Even Japan has a Christmas. The world has turned the Advent of the birth of the Son, who met the sin problem in His death, into a culture for commerce. How is it that we are not chafed over that? How is it that we can so easily join the world right into those stores and indulge ourselves as much as any rather than boycott the event itself? Have we been able to persuade Jewish life of the terror of sin? Or do they look upon our celebration of Christmas as just a harmless, Gentile equivalent of their Chanukah? Is not their Chanukah as much a false piece of baloney as our Christmas? And the world continues to spiral down into death while these things are celebrated as being somehow real.
There needs to be a great cry going out from Christendom that we have not seen or perceived rightly the great, central event of history, the Advent of the Son from Heaven who took upon Himself the form of a man, Jewish man, and suffered the consequence for the sin of mankind in order to appease the honor of His Father, who had been disgraced by a sinful, covenant-breaking humanity. Until that revelation has broken upon our hearts and until we have seen sin in the context of the suffering, the humility and the anguish of His soul, we have not the knowledge of sin and therefore everything will suffer in proportion.
Do we really know how vile evil is? How intrinsic it is to man and to his nature? I don’t mean man’s most malicious things, but when he is acting at his best. To have an inadequate sense of sin is to have an inadequate sense of God. If we have a low estimation of sin how than can we exalt God? Is this not the thing that keeps us from adoration of God in its truest and deepest sense? When we do come to true adoration, we will have come to the ultimate place of relationship with God that is transcendent and breaks through in realms of worship and praise that cannot be imitated or effected in lesser places. I believe this is the place of reality that releases the authority and power of God on the basis that we can now be trusted by the Living God.
We need to have an esteem for the word ‘sent’ which comes through in the Greek word apostolos, meaning a ‘sent one.’ Will we be willing to wait, knowing that we are presently unqualified and that we have nothing really to communicate that would turn the world upside-down? Will we be willing to wait for God to impart to us an authority to face nations or peoples who are intrinsically hostile or indifferent to our message? The only way that anyone will begin to rightly hear us is dependent upon their recognition that indeed we are sent ones in the authority of God, bearing a sent word.
From the text we have seen that Israel’s present condition as a nation has been condemned to judgment, because a prophet came who was sent and spoke and performed it. Nothing has changed from that day to the present one. The ‘until’ has not yet come, and when it comes it will come in apocalyptic devastation and ruin in present-day Israel. My intuition is that the judgment that came by prophetic speaking needs to be relieved by prophetic speaking. Where are the Isaiahs of our generation? Where can we conceive of a corporate sending, a ‘corporate Isaiah’ who could be sent, whose speaking now will open eyes rather than close them, open hearts rather than close them, save rather than condemn?
I believe it is waiting for those who are sent, waiting for those who have seen the truth of their condition and have cried out over it, because they have seen the Lord as He is, high and lifted up. But what precipitates everything? The year that Uzziah dies! When we can say ‘Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of Hosts’ and that ‘the whole earth is full of His glory,’ not just in triumphal moments, but in the moments of death and disappointment and what seem to be the severest contradictions of God, then we have arrived! We have come to the true knowledge; we have seen the Lord and we have seen ourselves as He sees us. Only then will He purge and send us.
Prayer:
I want to pray now, that if you do not know who your Uzziah is for you, that the Lord will show it. There are various forms of Uzziah: it could be a person, a ministry, some personal ambition. “My God, we have quoted that text; we have used it as sermons. We thought we knew it and understood it, but we ourselves were not affected and did not understand the supremacy of one sent from the throne of Heaven. We are so alive to our own itch ourselves that we have not wanted to wait for that. We have taken every door of opportunity to minister in response to the needs everywhere in the Earth that would welcome high-spirited and bright young believers to bring blessing. But the Earth yet remains in its curse and still needs to be turned on its head.
Lord, search us out and reveal to us who that Uzziah is. Is he likely not someone who is presumptuous in the realm of ministry and tries to usurp the function of priests because he is a king or leader, and we admired that one and wanted to be identified with that one? We therefore share something of his presumption, which is why he has to die for us and we have to die for him if we are to see the Lord as he in fact is, namely, high and lifted up.
Come and bring us into that agreement with the seraphim that qualifies us to be sent ones; those who do not bring a merely cultural, time-dated perspective but a timeless view of the angels of God who forever perceive the glory of God. Bring us to this apostolic and prophetic place, for Israel’s sake, needing to be freed from the judgment that has been imposed upon it by the speaking of a prophet, by a fresh and new speaking of a prophetic company who can be sent, whose speaking will open the blind eyes, open the deaf ears, open the closed hearts that they might be saved! What a destiny of the Church at the conclusion of the age! Thank you for the preciousness of the call, in Jesus’ name. Amen.”
Scripture verses from the Authorized Standard Version of the Bible
Transcription by Lars Wideberg
Editing for printing by Simon Hensman
( Art Katz articles/audios/videos can be found at: www.sermonindex.net)
Judge for yourself,
Blessings,
Susan
http://www.revivalschool.com/
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Sent From God
By Art Katz
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An edited transcript of message # K-IHOP-06.
(Kansas City, Jan. 2006)
This morning I feel impressed to share with you a new word that has come out of the recent ministry days in Mexico, and which I believe is going to be a significant arrow in the Lord’s quiver. I am not even sure of its full meaning, but can only say that it resonates and hints at significant things in our understanding of God. As with every word from heaven, you can get from it what you will, or you can just as equally get nothing at all. Or later on, all of a sudden, the word will spring to life in the sovereign purposes of God.
The text is from Isaiah 6.
In the year that king Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and His train filled the temple.
Above Him stood the seraphim: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another, and said, “Holy, holy, holy, is Jehovah of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.”
And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of Him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.
Then said I, “Woe is me! For I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, Jehovah of hosts.”
Then flew one of the seraphim unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: and he touched my mouth with it, and said, “Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin forgiven.”
And I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?”
Then I said, “Here am I; send me.”
And He said, “Go, and tell this people, ‘Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not.’ Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they sea with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and turn again, and be healed.”
Then said I, “Lord, how long?” And He answered, “Until cities be waste without inhabitant, and houses without man, and the land become utterly waste, and Jehovah has removed men far away, and the forsaken places be many in the midst of the land. And if there be yet a tenth in it, it also shall in turn be eaten up: as a terebinth, and as an oak, whose stock remaineth, when they are felled; so the holy seed is the stock thereof” (Isaiah 6:1-13)
I was quite surprised when the Lord quickened this and underlined ways of perceiving the text not previously considered. But I think it is going to be one of those seminal messages that come forth every now and then, the rhema word of God that may not immediately be understandable to all to whom it comes. If it doesn’t fit right now, do not set it aside, but I do believe that what was suddenly and dramatically exposed in this sixth chapter was pivotal for all of Isaiah’s future prophetic use as well as the issue of Israel’s destiny.
Are you guilty with me of having too airily dismissed this account as some kind of mystic vision of the Lord? Somewhere high and lifted up with His train filling the temple in some kind of hyper-state of glory? Why would it affect the prophet so as to cause him to pronounce his being undone? My own suggestion is that the prophet saw the King in the greatest moment of His majesty. In other words, God in His deepest essence was brought to a point of such expression that anyone who contemplates that moment rightly has got to be altogether devastated and undone. With that in mind, I am led to believe Isaiah saw the crucifixion of the King, because nothing reveals the majesty of God more than in the depth of His suffering, experienced and borne for us as atonement!
You may ask how Isaiah could have seen the crucifixion of Jesus six or seven centuries before the actual event. Let us not forget that the Lord was ‘slain from before the foundations of the earth were laid.’ If we only see the crucifixion of Jesus as a historical event in a point of time, we will be marred and limited in our Christian walk. Our walk will of necessity be with a minimal comprehension of the crucifixion as a body of doctrine to which we must agree, but we have not seen the glory. And unless we see the glory, there never will be any sending.
This is not just a chance episode in the life of the prophet; it is the unfolding of a remarkable pattern; a sequence of events by which the prophet, who already had a ministry and was already cautioning and warning the nation of its sin from the very first chapter of his book, now enters a new dimension. His subsequent ministry as one sent was no longer merely to warn or to caution, but to judge. His word would now constitute judgment. They will not hear, they will not see, their hearts will be dulled because the prophet has spoken to them in a new depth of urgency and weight and authority as one sent.
How many of us have sufficiently dwelt on the word sent as we ought? Do we understand the significance of the difference between one who went and the one who is sent? However well-meaning it might be, is not most of our Christian activity self-initiated or committee determined? Do we know, and I mean really know, what it is to be sent from the One who is enthroned?
My own observation is that the overwhelming majority of Christians have a self-motivated itch to go and to do, to be seen and to cut a swathe for themselves and their ministry, but we are not seeing sendings of the kind that initiated the early history of the Church. Those that were sent turned the world upside-down. Do we sufficiently honor and esteem the phenomenon of sending? Do we understand the difference between the consequences of the work that results from one sent in comparison to the work of one who is self-initiated in his going? Are we even assured that the world needs to be turned upside-down? Or do we see the world as needing merely to be modified and have some of its excesses reduced? Do we see the world as being evil? Are we chafed by its immorality, even its a-morality? Do we have the basis for comparison that would be ours once having seen the Lord high and lifted up?
Everything hinges upon seeing the Lord as the Lord, because after forty-one years in the faith and in world-wide ministry, touching and examining the Church in its best forms, I would have to say that my greatest grief over the condition of the Church, its leadership and its prominent ministers is that they do not know God as God. They do not know Him as He in fact is. Without this knowledge of God, we are condemned to a hollow counterfeit much more in harmony with our own approving ambition and intentions. Consequently, there is no fear of God, and we will find ourselves taking liberties and initiating conduct that was not sent from Heaven. Everything rests on seeing the Lord high and lifted up and enthroned in His majestic glory and brought to perfection in the moment of His most excruciating suffering at Calvary. That is what this prophet saw, and he cried out “I am undone! I am a man of unclean lips!”
The problem is not the unclean lips; but ‘I am a man.’ We do not know how deeply humanistic man is as man. We do not see how deeply the intrinsic nature of man is opposed to God. We do not see how our ambitions and self-initiated activity could possibly be an act of direct rebellion against God. We do not see our unwillingness to wait to be sent as being any particular offense. Isaiah saw himself. “Woe is me, I am undone, I am a man.” And if I am a man, of necessity my lips are going to be defiled, even though a prophet.
Until we agree and come to this low estimation of ourselves, we will always suffer the loss of the high exaltation of God. The two things are inextricably joined. Who of us thinks they can perceive the truth of themselves as man? Is not our estimation of ourselves far out of proportion to the way in which we really need to see ourselves? Is not the reason we are able to indulge such exaltation because we have no basis for comparison? Do we not see ourselves only in comparison to others? By so doing, are we not rather imagining our own superiority? When you see yourself in comparison to God, however, you become as a dead man.
This is the way of sanity; this is truth; this is reality; it is the foundation of any true sending. Why would God send half-baked believers anywhere into the world? What are they going to communicate? They cannot communicate anything that exceeds where they themselves are in their own estimation. Yes, they might bring some measure of good, but they are not going to turn anybody’s world upside-down. Only one who is sent from the Throne bears the authority and anointing of that One who sends.
“Who will go for us?” The word ‘who’ haunts me; it suggests very few candidates. How often do you find a believer who has risen above the prevailing culture and the correctness of his doctrine, and who really knows God as God, who sees God as terrifying, stupefying and vast? When was the last time you met someone who has seen God in His greatest act, namely, the revelation of the nature of God in His suffering and death, which had ever and always been His nature? The only thing that the Cross did was reveal what God always was and is. God is a servant. He is a sent one Himself from the Father.
What did it mean for this sent Son, who had lived eternally in the presence of the Father, to forsake that exalted and unimaginable condition of relationship, and to come down to this crusty globe and take upon himself the form of a man? He began life as a helpless infant laid in a manger and suffered everything that was required of an earthly, human existence as a Jew and as a son of David, a son of Abraham and as a son of Adam, so to speak. We do not know the humility of God until we have rightly pondered what it meant for the Son to come down into this Earth. It was the crucifixion before the crucifixion. Every instance of it, every act of it is the issue of self-denial; it is the issue of compassion and concern for other at the expense of oneself. We need to probe and examine this more than any other consideration, more than our yearnings to become sophisticated in understanding the Last Days movement of the Jews and the Church’s mandate during that time.
“Who shall go for us?” We are back to that piercing question. The only one who can go is the one who has seen, and having seen, comes to such a place of repulsion over himself that he is undone. This was Isaiah, the prince of the prophets speaking. If he could say, “I am undone” at the seeing of God as He really is in His glory, what shall we say? And until we say it with the same heart-piercing cry, we will never be a candidate for being sent. But, what does this whole cosmic drama wait on? The text itself tells us: “In the year that king Uzziah died.” What would the Lord be trying to say here? Did the Holy Spirit give that just as an historic index so we could date this event because we know the life-span of this king? Or does the death of the king have something to do with the revelation given to the prophet? What would you suspect?
My own intuition is that the death of the king is the decisive factor that set in motion the entire episode. But, why is this so important? Why does a death have to necessarily precede a revelation of this magnitude? This is a revelation that issues in a call, and the call issues in a judgment upon Israel by a prophet going forth as a sent one. And not only that, but it is a judgment upon Israel that is still valid to this day. Israel is still bound; its eyes are closed nationally-speaking; its heart is numb; it cannot see, cannot hear and cannot understand. Jews are civil and gracious on any other subject, but on this they become impenetrable because the judgment has been decreed.
Apart from a few ‘remnant’ Jews like myself, the nation itself presently stands under this judgment. You wonder why so many Christians eagerly believe God has called them to be prophets. That eagerness betrays their own over-estimation of themselves. What if your speaking would mean a necessary judgment for the hearers? Some measure of judgment goes forth in the prophetic proclamation that is designed to bring to death areas of the flesh that are impudent, untrained and undisciplined and need this judgment. It is not a pleasant task. Only those who are dead and see themselves as undone are the ones who are capable of going and pronouncing that kind of judgment. It is all the same to them whether the hearers are blessed or judged. The issue is obedience to a ‘Go, and say to them…’
We are moving towards a concluding episode in the salvational history of mankind with regards to the people Israel. Israel is under judgment through a prophetic word, but the judgment needs to be reversed and the people be released by another sending. If it took a sending to bring the judgment, in my opinion, it will take a sending to end the judgment. There needs to be a ‘prophetic’ company of believers as the Church of the Last Days, who have seen the Lord and know Him in His majesty, high and lifted up, and who are stricken to death at their own vain presumptions about themselves. They are those who see themselves ‘as good as dead,’ and unless a coal comes off the altar of God, they will not presume that they can speak for God.
From the text we know that God does not in any way placate the prophet; He is silent, but sends an angel with a coal from the altar, clearly implying that He is in complete agreement with the prophet’s own estimation of himself. The important point to note is the reaction of the prophet to the revelation of God in His resplendent majesty as crucified evoking such a sense of his own shame. Karl Barth, my favorite theologian, the great German-Swiss thinker clearly understood this reality when he wrote: “The reality of sin cannot be known or described except in relation to the one who has vanquished it.”
How many of us can say that we know the reality of sin? And I am absolutely assured that if we do not know the reality of sin as God sees it and as Isaiah saw it, we have no reality. The reality of sin is the necessary foundation of all human reality, and if we do not have it, all of our grandiose categories about redemption and the Cross are only just a vapor; they are ‘sound and fury signifying nothing.’ More than we know, we have unsuspectingly reduced our beliefs to a body of doctrine. Our agreement with certain evident truths will never effect anything in us or in the world. And why would God send anyone in that condition? Has He nothing better to do, no better candidate to send than someone with a shallow notion of sin? Why would He send anyone who has fallen short of the acknowledgement of His glory, and who has little knowledge of what atonement means or what He has paid to obtain it? Paul could say, “Paul knew the terror of the Lord with regard to sin, and therefore could persuade men.” This kind of knowing needs to be an object of our highest priority. How do we come to know the reality or the terror of sin, realizing that that is the underlay of everything? What did Jesus do and perform that was so consequential, worthy of our admiration, let alone our adoration if we do not understand what He met in His death?
Have we noticed how the world is dying, without foundations and oblivious to eternity? Has the world been told what sin is or what judgment and hell are? Has it not rather dispensed with Jesus as a peripheral nothing, celebrated at Christmas time to give the department stores the occasion for our orgies of buying? Even Japan has a Christmas. The world has turned the Advent of the birth of the Son, who met the sin problem in His death, into a culture for commerce. How is it that we are not chafed over that? How is it that we can so easily join the world right into those stores and indulge ourselves as much as any rather than boycott the event itself? Have we been able to persuade Jewish life of the terror of sin? Or do they look upon our celebration of Christmas as just a harmless, Gentile equivalent of their Chanukah? Is not their Chanukah as much a false piece of baloney as our Christmas? And the world continues to spiral down into death while these things are celebrated as being somehow real.
There needs to be a great cry going out from Christendom that we have not seen or perceived rightly the great, central event of history, the Advent of the Son from Heaven who took upon Himself the form of a man, Jewish man, and suffered the consequence for the sin of mankind in order to appease the honor of His Father, who had been disgraced by a sinful, covenant-breaking humanity. Until that revelation has broken upon our hearts and until we have seen sin in the context of the suffering, the humility and the anguish of His soul, we have not the knowledge of sin and therefore everything will suffer in proportion.
Do we really know how vile evil is? How intrinsic it is to man and to his nature? I don’t mean man’s most malicious things, but when he is acting at his best. To have an inadequate sense of sin is to have an inadequate sense of God. If we have a low estimation of sin how than can we exalt God? Is this not the thing that keeps us from adoration of God in its truest and deepest sense? When we do come to true adoration, we will have come to the ultimate place of relationship with God that is transcendent and breaks through in realms of worship and praise that cannot be imitated or effected in lesser places. I believe this is the place of reality that releases the authority and power of God on the basis that we can now be trusted by the Living God.
We need to have an esteem for the word ‘sent’ which comes through in the Greek word apostolos, meaning a ‘sent one.’ Will we be willing to wait, knowing that we are presently unqualified and that we have nothing really to communicate that would turn the world upside-down? Will we be willing to wait for God to impart to us an authority to face nations or peoples who are intrinsically hostile or indifferent to our message? The only way that anyone will begin to rightly hear us is dependent upon their recognition that indeed we are sent ones in the authority of God, bearing a sent word.
From the text we have seen that Israel’s present condition as a nation has been condemned to judgment, because a prophet came who was sent and spoke and performed it. Nothing has changed from that day to the present one. The ‘until’ has not yet come, and when it comes it will come in apocalyptic devastation and ruin in present-day Israel. My intuition is that the judgment that came by prophetic speaking needs to be relieved by prophetic speaking. Where are the Isaiahs of our generation? Where can we conceive of a corporate sending, a ‘corporate Isaiah’ who could be sent, whose speaking now will open eyes rather than close them, open hearts rather than close them, save rather than condemn?
I believe it is waiting for those who are sent, waiting for those who have seen the truth of their condition and have cried out over it, because they have seen the Lord as He is, high and lifted up. But what precipitates everything? The year that Uzziah dies! When we can say ‘Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of Hosts’ and that ‘the whole earth is full of His glory,’ not just in triumphal moments, but in the moments of death and disappointment and what seem to be the severest contradictions of God, then we have arrived! We have come to the true knowledge; we have seen the Lord and we have seen ourselves as He sees us. Only then will He purge and send us.
Prayer:
I want to pray now, that if you do not know who your Uzziah is for you, that the Lord will show it. There are various forms of Uzziah: it could be a person, a ministry, some personal ambition. “My God, we have quoted that text; we have used it as sermons. We thought we knew it and understood it, but we ourselves were not affected and did not understand the supremacy of one sent from the throne of Heaven. We are so alive to our own itch ourselves that we have not wanted to wait for that. We have taken every door of opportunity to minister in response to the needs everywhere in the Earth that would welcome high-spirited and bright young believers to bring blessing. But the Earth yet remains in its curse and still needs to be turned on its head.
Lord, search us out and reveal to us who that Uzziah is. Is he likely not someone who is presumptuous in the realm of ministry and tries to usurp the function of priests because he is a king or leader, and we admired that one and wanted to be identified with that one? We therefore share something of his presumption, which is why he has to die for us and we have to die for him if we are to see the Lord as he in fact is, namely, high and lifted up.
Come and bring us into that agreement with the seraphim that qualifies us to be sent ones; those who do not bring a merely cultural, time-dated perspective but a timeless view of the angels of God who forever perceive the glory of God. Bring us to this apostolic and prophetic place, for Israel’s sake, needing to be freed from the judgment that has been imposed upon it by the speaking of a prophet, by a fresh and new speaking of a prophetic company who can be sent, whose speaking will open the blind eyes, open the deaf ears, open the closed hearts that they might be saved! What a destiny of the Church at the conclusion of the age! Thank you for the preciousness of the call, in Jesus’ name. Amen.”
Scripture verses from the Authorized Standard Version of the Bible
Transcription by Lars Wideberg
Editing for printing by Simon Hensman
( Art Katz articles/audios/videos can be found at: www.sermonindex.net)
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