The Lord has gathered us again this morning. I would like to read a few Scriptures.
Isaiah 6:1
In the year that King Uzziah died
I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up;
and His train filled the temple.
Revelation 21
I saw a new heaven and a new earth:
for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away;
and there was no more sea.And I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven,
prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying,
Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men,
and He will dwell with them,
and they shall be His people,
and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God.
And in verse 14: “Having the glory of God.”
Lord, as we come to You this morning, I look unto You. Lord, as we share Your Word, we know it is most precious to You because it has come from Your own heart.
And Lord, we want to ask that You would anoint us by Your Holy Spirit, each one of us individually, that we might have an ear to hear what the Lord says—not what man is saying, but what the Lord says this morning.
Lord, give us the ability. Give us revelation of the King, I pray, this morning as we share Your Word. Lord, bless this time, we pray, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
I am continuing in this thought about spiritual warfare. This morning, it may seem that what I share with you might not exactly be spiritual warfare, but it has very much to do with spiritual warfare.
There are times in the midst of such a long and drawn-out battle, particularly after you have sustained a particularly heavy hit from our adversary, such as the United States received on September 11, 2001, when it causes us to reflect. It causes us to think: Why are we here? What is this all about? Why has this happened?
It brings us to a place where we need to see the big picture. We need to see the context of all this warfare, because really, what happened on September 11 was just the outcome of the work of the powers of darkness—the principalities and powers that have been at work for ages and ages, the ones who are dead set against the testimony of Jesus Christ.
What is really under attack is, frankly, not the United States of America. It is the outcome of the enemy’s attack on the Lord’s church.
And thankfully, the Lord is using this, because it is awakening our hearts to the hour in which we are living. I think it is so interesting that all of this has occurred just about the time that most of us in our Bible studies are in Matthew 24, 25, and 26, speaking of the Lord’s return and the judgment seat of Christ. To me, they are all very much related.
So what I share with you today has very much to do with this issue of spiritual warfare.
Secondly, I would like to share with you that I found this to be quite an interesting time before the Lord this week. Frankly, I was really having a lot of trouble this weekend—not doing well at all.
I received this almost as a letter from the Lord to me when it came. It was so unique in the way in which I received it. When I went to our meeting Friday night, it was reinforced, and the thoughts the Lord seemed to put upon my heart came almost like a letter. So I sat down and wrote them out.
Today, what I desire to do is share my letter with you—the thoughts from what I believe the Lord gave to me.
Now, some of the things that I share today, the doctrine that you hold may not be exactly the same as what I share. I want to say, please do not be offended, but let us all be open to what the Lord would say to us in what He has for us today.
I do believe it is time to pledge allegiance—to pledge allegiance to the Lamb; to take His yoke upon us; to drink the cup that He gives, whether it be bitter or sweet; to cement ourselves under the mighty hand of God until He chooses, in His grace, to raise us up.
It is time to take up the cross and follow Him wheresoever He goes; to give our heart, mind, and soul to Him.
It is a time not only to see Him as the Lamb of God, but as the Head of His church, and also as the Captain of the host—the Commander in Chief of the armed forces of God.
Yet, most importantly, it is a time that we need to see Him as King of kings and Lord of lords.
We are called according to purpose and His grace, and He is empowering us to carry out His purpose. Every man, woman, and child was born with God’s purpose set upon them. Some will never fulfill that purpose. Some will never come to Christ. But many will, and many have.
We must press on in the Lord Jesus Christ to fulfill our purpose and calling in Him. In the Word of God, He makes clear to us what His purpose is: that in the fullness of times, He will sum up everything in Jesus Christ.
All that we see, all that is happening, will eventually result in the glorification of the Lord Jesus Christ. All that is of Him, and from Him, and out from Him, and back to Him, will be revealed in fullness and glory in that day.
But we are called today. We are called with purpose today—not after we die, not after we go into eternity, but now. God has called us to purpose, and He has called us in His church to His purpose.
He has called us to be and to serve Him as the house of God. He has called us to be and to serve Him as the body of Jesus Christ. He has called us to be and to serve as His army on this earth, in time, in history, even this hour, with a view of becoming His helpmate, His bride, in eternity.
We are called to be and to serve Him as His house—a place where He wants and chooses to dwell among His people.
He calls us to be His house, where He puts His name, where He can reveal Himself to us and commune with us: a place where He can call home.
We are called to be and to serve Him as His body: to be a testimony of Him, to be a corporate expression of His character, of His life, and of His ways.
Just as the human body carries out the desires and will of our head, we are to carry out the desires and will of Christ, the church’s Head—to show forth the light of Christ in this dark world and to manifest His wisdom to the principalities and powers of darkness.
We are called to be and to serve Him as His army: to be an instrument to administer His authority, His heavenly government, and His heavenly power.
We are to be as an outpost of the King in a foreign land that maintains His victory over all the forces that, though conquered, still oppose and resist His authority, resist His government, and resist His lordship.
We are called to restrain the evil forces of darkness until the King returns and sets up His earthly kingdom.
When the King returns, right prior to His return there will be the judgment seat of Christ. The judgment will be for all those who have accepted Jesus Christ, trusting in the blood of the Lamb as a propitiation for our sins.
We will come before that judgment seat, and there will be a judgment there. Based on what we have been reading in Matthew 24, 25, and 26, we see that the Lord will judge us in accordance with His grace. He has given us all grace and talent to serve Him, and how we utilize His grace and respond to His grace is the basis on which we will be judged.
It appears from those Scriptures that at the judgment seat of Christ, some will be called good and faithful servants and will pass on into this kingdom-age, millennial period—the marriage supper of the Lamb, as it is called. It will be a thousand-year marriage supper, to be with Him, to reign and rule with Him through that period.
I can only say that for the others, it appears there will be a remedial work and time, because in the end there will be that perfect heavenly New Jerusalem, where all the saints will enter into it.
God is always faithful to His own, to bring us to the fullness that He has purposed for each one of us, and He will do it.
After the judgment seat of Christ, as He begins to set up His kingdom on this earth, He will gather the nations that are upon this earth at that time. There will be the judgment called the judgment of the sheep and the goats.
There will be sheep nations and goat nations. This judgment appears to be based on how the nations have treated the Lord’s people, His own, and the ones called by His name.
As we read in Matthew 25:
Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of these my brethren, even these least,
ye did it unto Me.
Those sheep nations will remain upon this earth as earthly nations. During that period, the Lord Jesus Himself will reign upon the throne set upon this earth in Jerusalem. He will reign with a rod of iron and in righteousness. Everything will be in perfection and done in righteousness.
Those who have been faithful to His calling will have the honor, privilege, and reward of serving with Him, of reigning and ruling with Him for a thousand years in His heavenly government, which He will establish over His earthly government.
At the end of that thousand years, at the end of the millennium, Satan will be loosed from his chains. He will have been chained for a thousand years during that period, so there will be no direct influence by the enemy upon the nations of the world at that time.
But you see, the real problem is not so much Satan any longer; it is the poison that he has put in men’s hearts. At the end of that period, God will loose Satan from his chains and allow him on this earth for a period of time.
It says he will deceive many. Many will turn, and many will join with him in rebellion against God, of which it says a fire will come down and devour them.
Then there will be that final accounting: the great white throne, in which the dead will come before Him and be judged out of the books of life.
Those who have responded to the Lord during that kingdom age, those who remain faithful to Him, will remain on this earth as an earthly people. His heavenly people will be joined with Him at that time.
What we will see is that there will be a new heaven and a new earth. It says the old earth is done away with. So we have a new heaven and a new earth, with an earthly people and with a heavenly people.
This is what was so much on my heart. God has a great purpose, and He has called us all to be a part of that purpose.
He wants us to be a part of His heavenly government with Him, to dwell in the midst of His people.
As we see the New Jerusalem coming down from heaven, do we not see that this New Jerusalem is the house that we are called to be while on earth, in our present life, in this present hour?
It has become a city, called the tabernacle of God, and He will dwell in it. He will be the light and glory of it.
This house, which seems so small, so unspiritual at times—somehow, the Lord has brought it to the place where it is His home: the New Jerusalem, the city.
So this house that we are called to be on earth, in time, at the present hour, will one day become the heavenly city. This house goes all the way through history, all the way back to the tabernacle in the desert.
It has only expanded in its glory down through the ages, as it went from a tabernacle to a temple made without hands—a spiritual house.
The body which we are called to be on earth, in time, in history, has now matured into the bride. She is without spot or wrinkle and will be in complete union with Christ.
It will be a union of pure, unselfish love; a union that shares in the fullness of His unblemished life; a union that shares continually in unspeakable joy.
It will be a union of spirit and soul, mind, will, and emotions. It brings both into completeness: Christ and His church brought into completeness, a union in purpose to manifest Christ in the new heavens and the new earth.
The army that we are called to be on this earth has become an army of kings and priests. As kings, to serve in the new heaven and new earth, to reign and rule with the King, to exercise and manifest His authority and His government in love.
As priests, we will lead in the priestly functions of worship and praise, which, brothers and sisters, will be in perfect harmony, without any flawed notes.
Worship and praise, pure and holy in spirit and in truth—pure as the driven snow. We will carry out our functions of communion with Him in prayer and stand for His will in His new heaven and new earth.
There will be full, unblemished communion with the Lord—nothing of self, no veils on our hearts, face to face with Him.
Today we see through a glass darkly, or dimly, but in that day, face to face, brothers and sisters.
We will also carry out that priestly function of serving one another. Our fellowship will be in Christ and will be a pure fellowship, so that when we share with one another, we will just see Christ, and Christ will be magnified even more in our hearts.
It is like we go into eternity, and each new day—and I am not sure that you can call them days at that time—it will just magnify more and more and more. His glory will fill the whole universe of this new heaven and new earth.
What is important, brothers and sisters, is that at that time and in that hour, Christ will have what has been on the Father’s heart before the worlds were formed and before man was created: a bride, a helpmate for His Son.
Out of Him, from Him—bone of His bones and flesh of His flesh, heart to heart, mind to mind, will to will—they will be one.
There will be no ability to tell where there is any difference.
This is what we are called to, brothers and sisters. Actually, it is beyond our imagination.
I remember when Paul was taken up into the third heaven, and his report was, “I cannot share with you what I saw and heard there.” It is impossible.
In fact, the Lord had to put a thorn in Paul’s flesh to keep him humble, because he still had flaws as a man. He could not share with us; he had no words, no way of sharing what he saw there. That day is unimaginable.
There are occasions, like Paul, when the Lord gives us a glimpse into the vastness, immensity, beauty, and glory of Christ, His church, and His purpose.
He opens our spiritual eyes beyond what our minds can see or reason. It is not something that we learn, but something that we see in reality. It alters our life forever.
It is called revelation. It is called vision.
Such as Isaiah had in Isaiah 6. He saw the Lord high and lifted up, and His train filled the temple.
Such as John the apostle had in Revelation, when he saw Him and had this vision of the King of glory.
Often, it seems to me anyway, these glimpses, these visions, this revelation, are given in desperate times—times like we are experiencing today, in times of great failure and declension.
Because, brothers and sisters, I believe it draws our hearts to Him. It causes us to seek Him as we have never sought Him before. It causes us to want to be serious as we have never been serious with Him before. We know that we desperately need to see Him and to hear from Him.
It was true of Isaiah. In Isaiah 6, after six chapters of seeing the sins of God’s people, declaring their failures, telling them of their sins, and foretelling the impending judgment of God, he had this vision.
No doubt, as I thought about this, Isaiah was probably disheartened. Just think about it: when you see the issues, the problems, the sins, and you have been commissioned to share with those people without reserve concerning their sins and the impending judgment of God—brothers and sisters, the day of judgment is coming.
That was his message. No doubt Isaiah was disheartened, but the Lord had mercy on our dear brother Isaiah because He gave him a revelation of the King.
He saw the Lord high and lifted up, and His train filled the temple. It was the train of His robe, full of authority, power, and majesty, filling the temple.
He saw Christ in His temple. Christ—we are the temple of God. Do you not see that it was a foreshadowing, a foretelling of that day when Christ would fill and be in the midst of His people in His temple made without hands? But Isaiah saw Him in the temple.
Yes, the people have failed, but God will not fail. He is still on the throne in the midst of His people.
He has His house that He so desires, and His glory fills it.
It was also true with John, the apostle John. He was in exile on the isle of Patmos. At that time, all the warnings that Paul had given about wolves entering into the church and dividing the church, and the poor condition into which the church would come, had actually come to pass.
I am sure the apostle John, who had stood strong for the testimony of Jesus, was greatly disturbed. He was in exile on the isle of Patmos, unable to help the churches in Asia where he had ministered so long.
But God gave our brother a vision. He saw the King of kings and the Lord of lords, and he saw Him walking among the candlesticks.
It was revelation given in desperate times, in a time of declension, in a time of despair, in a time of failure in God’s church and among His people.
It was given to encourage not only our brother, but those who had a heart for God, for Christ, and for His purpose. It was given that they might see the King and press on, and have hope and a will in Christ to press on.
Through these visions, He shows that though we fail, and the church in general fails, He will not fail. Though we are shaken, He is not shaken. The foundation remains unscathed. The solid rock may have a cleft in it, but it is still solid.
The throne has not even felt a tremor. God is on His throne, and His purposes for Christ, the saints, and His church will be fulfilled.
In both Isaiah’s and John’s experience, they were both undone. Remember, both fell at His feet when they saw the King of glory.
They saw how far short of this glory they were, and how far short God’s people were of the glory of the King.
Isaiah could only say:
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.
In view of the King, in view of this revelation that he had of the King, brothers and sisters, he was undone. It was as if his ministry prior to that had been filthy rags, though it had come from God, because he himself really saw that the darkness was not only in the people but in himself.
The Lord, in mercy, took a burning coal from the altar. The angel took a burning coal from the altar and put it on his lips, and said:
Thine iniquity is taken away,
and thy sin is forgiven.
Then the Lord challenged Isaiah: “Whom shall I send?” Was not Isaiah already sent?
Before, Isaiah saw the Lord as a Judge, administering judgment for the sins of the people. That was Isaiah’s vision of the Lord at that time. But now: “You see Me as the King in glory. In view of this revelation that you have seen, Isaiah, whom shall I send?”
Yes, My people need to see Me as a Judge, but they need to see the King, Isaiah. Who will share this vision with My people?
Isaiah responded as if it was the first time. He said:
Here am I; send me.
Here am I, send me.
Isaiah had a much-needed revelation. It changed his ministry. It changed his view. Oh, the glorious revelations of Christ that come from Isaiah.
With John the apostle, he fell at the Lord’s feet. He too was undone. But the Lord laid His right hand upon our brother.
Have you felt the right hand of the Lord on your life?
He identifies with His servant. John now saw himself as being so small, his ministry so insignificant, seemingly a failure.
He had been with the Lord for three years in His earthly ministry. He loved the Lord. He had obviously recognized the Lord as the Son of God.
He was the only disciple to witness Christ at Calvary. He had seen Christ not only as the Son of God, but as the Lamb of God.
He was in that upper room when the Lord Jesus reappeared in resurrection. John had had a vision of the Lord of resurrection.
But, brothers and sisters, none of these had the impact that this vision had on John. It utterly stripped John of everything that he was. He had seen the King in glory.
John was undone.
Brothers and sisters, now the King of glory, the King of all power and might and authority, lays His right hand on John.
It is as if to say, “It is all right, John. You are still My servant. Fear not, John.”
“John, you see the condition of My church. It looks hopeless. There are still many dark spots and wrinkles. You have given your heart, your soul, your life to Me and to minister to the church. You are the last of the twelve, and now you are in exile.”
“John, I am sure you are concerned. What will happen to those churches? What will become of My church?”
“Fear not, John. I am in control. I am the first and the last. I began this, John, and I will finish it. I am its beginning and its end.”
“John, remember, I am He that liveth, and was dead; and behold, I am alive for evermore.”
“John, it appears to you that the testimony of Jesus is dying, that the church is almost dead. But I am the life of it, and My life never gives in, never gives up. It never fails. It always triumphs, even over death.”
“John, I have the keys of death and hell. It does appear that the enemy has won, that he is declaring victory, but it is vainglory. I am the Victor.”
“See, John, I have the keys of hell and death. They are in My hand. It is impossible for the enemy to win because I have overcome him and taken control of his weapons.”
“Now, John, I want you to write these things down: the things which you have seen, the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter.”
“John, your ministry is not over. Share this revelation. Share this vision with My church. He that hath an ear will hear, and they will overcome.”
“There are many whose hearts are discouraged and disheartened by the failures, by what they see in themselves, and by the failure and condition of My church. John, they need to see Me—not only as the Lamb, but as the King. Then they can overcome.”
“They need to see the things that are, but most important, they need a vision of Me, their King. John, fulfill your ministry. Share this vision with My church.”
“John, I want you to know that I always live in the present. What I reveal to you, and to My people through you, is in the future for them, but it is a present reality for Me. This reality is now being worked out in time and in history.”
“Share this vision with My people. They need to see the King.”
Well, that is the letter, the things that came to me that I share with you this morning.
It is on my heart that we may not be discouraged, nor disheartened, nor tempted to drop out of the race, leaving our calling in Christ unfulfilled.
That would only be to submit to the enemy whom the King has already defeated.
We are all also called to overcome, and we can do it because He has overcome. He is the Overcomer.
We need this vision of Christ. May God give us revelation of the King, because without vision, we perish.
In Matthew 5, it says:
Blessed are the pure in heart:
for they shall see God.
Pure in heart does not mean sinless. We always need the blood of Jesus.
Pure in heart means a heart that is for the Lord, a heart that is given for the Lord, a heart that wants to serve the Lord, a heart that is not satisfied until the Lord is satisfied.
It is a heart that will press on when it cannot press on anymore; a heart that can serve when it is broken; a heart that continues on though wounded.
That is a pure heart.
May, in His grace, He give us a pure heart, for it is the pure in heart that see Him. We desperately need a vision of our King.
I will leave this last Scripture with you, which the Lord gave to Joshua. Moses had passed away, and God was fixing to take His people into the promised land.
I want you to know today: our promised land is not that far away, and He wants to take us in.
Moses was dead, and I am sure the people were disheartened. But He raised up a voice through Joshua. Joshua had seen the Lord.
This is what He told Joshua, and I think it is a charge that He would leave with us this morning.
Have not I commanded thee?
Be strong and of good courage;
be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed:
for the Lord thy God is with thee
whithersoever thou goest.
Have not I commanded thee?
Be strong and of good courage;
be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed:
for the Lord thy God is with thee.
Lord, we just come back to You this morning. Lord, I pray that the Holy Spirit will use this to give us a vision of the King.
Oh Lord, how I worship You and honor You. Oh Lord, this may be future for us, but it is present with You.
Lord, You have Your house. You have Your dwelling place. Lord, You have Your bride.
Lord, we come back to You. Lord, we would only ask of You: touch our hearts afresh in You this morning. Call us to hunger and thirst after You as we have never had to in the past.
Lord, cause us to rise up to be that army—the ones that can stand for Your name on this earth, the ones that can restrain the forces of evil through prayer, that can be Your prayer warriors, Lord, and stand for the will of God on this earth.
Place Your victory over everything: every event, every issue, every problem, everything that opposes the glory of God.
May we be that people, Lord, by Your grace and mercy. I pray in Jesus’ name.