Dear brothers and sisters, we feel greatly honored to be able to come and visit you. We do thank the Lord that He has made it possible for us to come, and we want to greet you in the beloved name of our dear Lord Jesus Christ.
Will you please turn to Proverbs 29:18? Let us read this verse together.
Where there is no vision, the people cast off restraint;
But he that keepeth the law, happy is he.
Also, Acts 26:19:
Wherefore, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision.
Let us have a further word of prayer.
Dear Lord, we want to thank You that we can gather together in Your name. We do desire to open our hearts today and trust, Lord, that Thou wilt reveal afresh Thyself to us. Give us the spirit of wisdom and revelation, that we may come to the true knowledge of Thyself.
Lord, our desire is that Thou wilt fill us with Thyself. May it be all of Christ and none of ourselves. We give Thee all the glory. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Solomon spoke three thousand proverbs. He was the wisest of men. God gave him a hearing heart, and out of his hearing heart came all these proverbs.
Among all the proverbs, there is one which is very, very important, because proverbs give us the principles of life. This principle is applicable not only to the earthly realm but even to spiritual life.
This is what the proverb says: where there is no vision, the people cast off restraint. In some versions it may say, “Where there is no vision, the people are scattered.” Or, even more strongly, “When there is no vision, the people perish.”
So we can see how important this matter of vision is. It is important even in this world. If people do not have vision—or, in another word, if people do not have a dream, if people do not have a strong ambition, if people do not want to attain to something—then that person can do nothing.
If you want to be successful in this world, there is something you want to arrive at, and you are willing to pay any cost for it. You are able to sacrifice many things. So we find that even in this world, vision, dream, or ambition is very, very essential. Otherwise, our lives will be mediocre. We are not able to succeed in anything.
Now, of course, when Solomon spoke that proverb, he had especially in his mind the children of Israel, the people of God. Therefore, he said, “Where there is no vision, the people cast off restraint; but happy is he who keepeth the law.”
The children of Israel were God’s people, and God gave them a vision. On Mount Sinai, He gave them the Ten Commandments. He gave them the law. God revealed to them what kind of God He was.
He is altogether different from anything else. He is unique by Himself. God is holy. The first four commandments reveal this. Then the other six commandments show us that God is righteous.
So far as His nature is concerned, He is altogether different. So far as His actions are concerned, He is altogether righteous. God gave this understanding to the children of Israel, and this was the vision given to the people of Israel.
Happy is the same as blessed. If the children of Israel kept this vision, they would be the most happy people.
Brothers and sisters, we know that the law is just and righteous. The law is spiritual. But unfortunately, the children of Israel failed to keep the law of God. Even though, by the mercy of God, they were able to offer sacrifices, only a few were able to keep the vision.
So far as the nation was concerned, they failed to become the blessed people.
Now, dear brothers and sisters, we are God’s heavenly people. Praise the Lord, He has come into this world. The shadow has passed; the reality has come. We are redeemed by His grace, and thus we are called the heavenly people of God.
As a spiritual people, God has also given us a heavenly vision. It is not the law. It is not merely something about God that gives us an outward knowledge of what God is like.
It is something inward. It is something in our spirit. Thank God, He has given us a heavenly vision.
Now, brothers and sisters, what is the heavenly vision? The heavenly vision is not a mental knowledge of God. The heavenly vision is God Himself. God reveals Himself to us in His beloved Son.
God shows us His eternal purpose concerning His beloved Son. That is the heavenly vision.
So, brothers and sisters, it is of tremendous importance—of grand importance—that we who are God’s people know what that heavenly vision really is. We must have a vision in our spirit.
Now, by vision, it does not mean something you see only with your naked eyes. It is something deeper than that. By His Spirit, He reveals His heart to us.
We see something of God. We see His heart. We see His mind. We see what He really is, and that becomes precious to us.
Brothers and sisters, this is what we need: God to give us the spirit of wisdom and revelation unto the true knowledge of God.
In my contact with God’s people in many places, I have discovered that the greatest need among God’s people is to catch that heavenly vision.
By the grace of God, He has not only enabled us to receive salvation. Thank God, we know that our sins have been forgiven. Thank God, we know that He has given us His own eternal life. Thank God, He has blessed us with many blessings.
But, brothers and sisters, the greatest need among God’s people today is to catch that heavenly vision. Because without that heavenly vision, we really do not have a purpose in life.
What is the purpose of our spiritual life? Why is it that God should save us and forgive us? Is it that we may live our own lives? Is it that we may just enjoy the blessings that God has blessed us with? That would make us very selfish.
If we believe in the Lord Jesus and become self-centered people, we have missed God’s purpose. God has a higher purpose for us. He wants us to know Himself in a living way. He wants us to be what He wants us to be.
Otherwise, even we as Christians have no real purpose in life. What is the goal that you are seeking for today? We are called with a high calling. We are called with a holy calling.
What is it that God really desires to obtain in us? That our lives may be really useful to God and glorify Him.
Brothers and sisters, is there something within us that enables us to press on toward the goal? Is there a power within us that makes us willing to sacrifice everything for that one thing? Is there something within us that gives us endurance? Is there something that unites us together as one people?
If you have your own vision and I have my own vision, if you have your own purpose, we will be a scattered people. What really disciplines us? What keeps us from perishing?
To me, I feel that it is of tremendous importance, of grand importance, that every child of God must catch that heavenly vision which God has made known to us. Without that vision, we will cast off restraint. We will be a people without discipline, and God will not be glorified.
Heavenly vision is a must in our Christian life. It is the one thing that enables us to follow the Lord to the very end.
We find in the New Testament, in church history, and among God’s people, those who really glorified God in their lives. By the grace of God, they really achieved something for God’s glory. They were able to endure all kinds of suffering in order that the heavenly vision might be fulfilled in their lives.
Every one of them was caught by the heavenly vision. Dear brothers and sisters, every one of us needs this. It is not a mental understanding; it is an inward reality.
Now, of all those who had a vision, I feel that the Apostle Paul is one who gives us a very clear general outline of the heavenly vision.
We would like to share together the heavenly vision that Paul saw and how he was controlled by that heavenly vision throughout all of his life.
He gave his testimony before King Agrippa:
Wherefore, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision.
It was that heavenly vision that changed his life. It was that heavenly vision that controlled his whole being. This was Paul’s testimony, and I believe that it is God’s will that it should be our testimony.
The testimony of the Apostle Paul is given three times in the Book of Acts. The first time is in Acts 9, where we find what happened when the light from heaven came to Saul the Pharisee on the road to Damascus.
Then, in Acts 22, Paul himself gave his testimony before the Jews. Again, in Acts 26, he gave his testimony before King Agrippa, where the Roman Empire was represented.
So three times his testimony is recorded in the Book of Acts. Now, dear brothers and sisters, when God speaks once, we may not hear it. But here you find God speaks three times. What does it mean? It means that it should catch our attention.
It is not just something personal. It is a testimony. We may not experience it in exactly the same way as the Apostle Paul, because every one of us is different. But the outline of the heavenly vision should be the same.
It is important for us to understand a little better what kind of person this man Saul was. If you read the New Testament, you find a number of references to his past. He himself told us of his past, especially in Philippians 3:5-6.
He said that he was circumcised. Now, to a Jew, this was very, very important. You remember in Genesis 17 that God made a covenant with Abraham, and the sign of the covenant was circumcision.
A male born to the children of Israel must be circumcised on the eighth day. This was the sign of God’s covenant with Abraham. If a male child was not circumcised, he would not be considered as belonging to the commonwealth of Israel; he would be outside of God’s covenant.
Paul was circumcised on the eighth day. So you find that he was one of the covenant people of God.
He said that he was of the race of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin. He was a very orthodox Jew.
Saul was born outside of the promised land, but he was born into a Hebrew family. What is a Hebrew? It means that even though they lived in a Gentile city, in their home they still spoke Hebrew and maintained their Hebrew identity.
So he was a Hebrew of Hebrews. Now, brothers and sisters, it may not mean much to you, but to a Jew this was most important. It meant that he was truly one of God’s chosen people.
The culture of his city was Greek culture, and somehow his family was able to obtain Roman citizenship. So when he was born, he was a Roman citizen.
At that time, citizenship was very special, because there were many slaves in the Roman Empire. As a Roman citizen, he had the right to all the privileges of Roman citizenship.
He was trained as a Pharisee. Now, brothers and sisters, when we hear the word Pharisee, we may think they were very bad because our Lord Jesus rebuked the Pharisees. But at that time the Pharisees were very, very special.
The Pharisees were a very strict sect of Jews. They not only studied the Scriptures, but sought to keep every item of the law and the traditions of the fathers. They were looked upon by other people as models.
Paul said that according to the righteousness which is in the law, he was blameless. We know that he was a student of Gamaliel, one of the greatest teachers of that time. He was zealous for the traditions of the fathers.
This was the kind of Saul he was. He was moral. He was religious. He was very zealous. In his zeal for the traditions of the fathers, he persecuted the followers of Jesus.
According to the tradition, they considered Jesus an impostor. They were looking for a political Messiah, but Jesus did not fulfill their expectation. He came for the spiritual good of the people, and they were disappointed.
Saul was very zealous to carry out what he thought was God’s will. All the time he thought he was serving God.
Yet he was totally blind. He was blinded by human tradition. There was no revelation from above. There was no heavenly vision in his life. He was groping in darkness. He did not know that he was persecuting God; he thought he was serving God.
Even the best of human tradition, if it is not revelation from above, is merely human production. Tradition is so powerful that Saul did not know what he was doing.
Even Christian tradition, handed down by our fathers, can be without revelation from above. Brothers and sisters, never, never be contented with any tradition apart from the revelation of God.
Saul persecuted men and women and put them into prison. When they were condemned to death, he gave his vote. He asked permission from the high priest to bring the believers to Jerusalem.
The long-suffering of God allowed him to go as far as he could. But on the road to Damascus, a light came from heaven, brighter than the noonday sun.
The very first thing in the grace of God that comes into our life is this heavenly light. We were all groping in darkness. We did not know what we were doing. We did not know where we were heading. Then the heavenly light came to us.
Brothers and sisters, in Genesis 1, when the earth was in darkness, the first word of God was, “Let there be light.” Is it not the same as we look back to our Christian experience?
In 2 Corinthians 4:6, it is God who shines in our hearts. We see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. One day the heavenly light came upon us.
We were exposed. We did not really know where we were. We did not know how sinful we were. But when the light came, we found that we were the chief of sinners.
When that light came upon Saul, in the light of heaven, he saw how sinful he was. He was a persecutor. He was one who was against God. Thank God that light came.
The light did not merely show Saul himself. It revealed to him the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. The first time we see our Lord, we see the glory of Jesus.
Then he heard a voice saying:
Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?
It is hard for thee to kick against the goad.
“Why do you persecute Me?” Saul had never met the Lord Jesus in the flesh. The Lord was in heaven and Saul was on earth. How, then, could Saul be persecuting Him?
Saul had persecuted the followers of Jesus, but Jesus is the Head. Every believer who believes in Him is a member of His Body. If you touch any member of the Body, the Head says, “Why do you touch Me?”
Immediately, Saul saw not only Jesus, the eternal Son of God; he also saw the Body. He saw the union between Christ and His people.
Brothers and sisters, when we believe in the Lord Jesus, we are baptized into one Body and made to drink of one Spirit. Whether Jews or Gentiles, we are one Body.
This Body is universal. It includes believers throughout the whole world, through all the ages, to the very last one who believes in the Lord. No matter what country you are in, you are one Body.
Saul said, “Who art Thou, Lord?” He used the word Lord. Formerly, he had been his own master. But now he gave up his life. He recognized that the Lord Jesus was his Master.
Brothers and sisters, have you seen the heavenly vision? Our Lord Jesus is the glorious Son of God. Have you seen Him in His glory and His purpose?
Once you see the heavenly vision, the rest of your life is changed. God reveals His Son to us.
Saul was a very clever man, trained in logic and argument. He might have said, “Lord, I never had a chance to meet You. You are in heaven, and I am on earth. How can I persecute You?” But the Lord showed him that in persecuting the believers, he was persecuting Christ Himself.
Dear brothers and sisters, the heavenly vision reveals Christ as the Head and reveals all believers as His Body. It brings us into fellowship with the saints all over the world. Our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son.
May the Lord reveal His Son to us, that we may see the heavenly vision and be obedient to it.