Please turn to Acts 26:19.
Wherefore, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision.
Let us pray.
Lord, we want to thank You for being with us. We thank You, Lord, because in Your presence there is life. In Your presence there is light; in Your presence there is truth; and in Your presence there is glory.
Lord, we thank You for being so gracious to us. Our prayer is that You will continue to bless Your people, continue the work of restoration, and bring Your people into the fullness of Your purpose. May Your will be done on earth among Your people, as it is in heaven. We want to lift up Your name and glorify Your name, for You alone are worthy to be glorified.
In the precious name of the Lord Jesus. Amen.
We do thank the Lord for carrying us together these days. The Lord has been good to us, and we are most grateful. We thank the Lord especially for giving us the privilege of visiting with you. We praise the Lord that He has His hidden ones all over the earth, and we do together look forward to the soon coming of our blessed Lord.
The theme for our time together is the heavenly vision. We call it the heavenly vision because it is not earthly; it is not human. It is from heaven. It is from the Lord Himself.
It pleased God to reveal His Son in us, and we thank God for giving us His beloved Son. We want to see this heavenly vision.
With this heavenly vision, we have a goal before us. With this heavenly vision, we have the inward strength to press on and to endure. The heavenly vision gives us that inward love, and it unites us as one Body, one people.
We believe that this is the will of God, and it is His good pleasure. This vision should transform our lives. It should become the very testimony of our lives.
As we mentioned during the past two days, the heavenly vision is composed of two parts.
On the road to Damascus, Saul saw the Just One. He heard His voice:
Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?
It is hard for thee to kick against the goad.
It pleased God to reveal His Son in Saul. In the heavenly vision, Saul met his true Master. He was created by God for a purpose, but he had never known it. When he met the Master, even the Lord Jesus Christ, he surrendered.
But on the road Saul also saw something together with the Lord Himself. He saw the church as the Body of Christ. The Lord said, “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?” Saul was persecuting believers—Christians, followers of the Lord Jesus—yet the Lord identified Himself with them. They were His Body, the members of His Body.
Whoever touches any member of the Body touches the Head. This is the glorious, universal Man: Christ as the Head, with His Body covering the whole earth. In this Body, the Head manifests Himself. This is the testimony of the church.
There on the road to Damascus, Saul was, as it were, taken up to heaven. He saw the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. That vision was so majestic that it delivered him out of himself and into the very glory of God.
But, brothers and sisters, this was only one part of the heavenly vision. The heavenly vision continued into the city of Damascus.
In Damascus, God revealed to Saul the other part of the heavenly vision. He showed him a little man—not an insignificant man, but a little man—named Ananias, a believer in the city of Damascus.
Ananias identified himself with Saul. By laying hands upon him, Saul was brought into the fellowship of the Body of Christ.
Brother Saul, receive thy sight.
Saul’s eyes were opened, and he was filled with the Holy Spirit. He saw Ananias, and Ananias was no longer an enemy. He was a dear brother in the Lord.
The universal Man touches the earth in the local church. There you find the practical expression of the church. The local church is a miniature of the universal church. The principles revealed in the universal Body must be practiced on earth in the local church.
This is the complete vision. If people see only the heavenly part on the road to Damascus, without seeing the practical part in the city of Damascus, they may become visionaries. They may see something glorious, but it is never put into effect.
On the other hand, if people see only the local church without seeing the heavenly vision, they may gradually become legalistic and eventually exclusive, because they do not see the wide horizon.
Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, it is very, very important that God reveal to us both parts of the heavenly vision. These truths always go together.
This evening, we would like to concentrate on the declaration of the apostle Paul:
I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision.
If you want to know who Paul was, what made the difference in his life, and what his ministry was, here it is: “I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision.”
This heavenly vision changed Paul’s whole life. Before he saw the heavenly vision, he was a Pharisee, a self-righteous person, zealous for the traditions of the fathers. He persecuted the church. He thought that he was serving God.
But actually, he was opposing God. He was sincere, but he was in darkness. Then God, by His grace, revealed the heavenly vision to him, and that heavenly vision changed his whole life.
God used Paul to establish churches everywhere. He became a witness for the Lord, and he suffered much for the Lord’s sake. Yet, for him, it was all worthwhile. He concluded his whole life and ministry in this one sentence: “I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision.”
To be given the heavenly vision is a mercy of God. It is not because anyone is worthy. We are all unworthy. It is all by grace; it is all by mercy.
God has shown us what the church really is. There is nothing for us to boast of. It is all of grace.
But, dear brothers and sisters, simply seeing the heavenly vision does not mean that we have entered into it. God may give us insight into His mystery, but that does not mean the vision has become our very being. It is only the beginning.
The reason God shows us the heavenly vision is not for us to boast of it, nor merely to talk about it. God is most practical. If He shows us anything from heaven, He wants us to enter into that reality.
The vision should become our vocation. If it does not become our vocation, then it is not enough.
By the grace of God, He opens our eyes to see Jesus, the Son of God. He shows us something of the fullness of Christ. This is the mercy of God. What we see of Jesus is only a little, but how thankful we are for it.
God also opens our eyes to see the church: the church as the Body of Christ today, and the church ultimately filled with the fullness of Christ. When the church is mature, she will become the eternal Bride of God’s beloved Son. This is the eternal and glorious purpose of God.
God reveals these things to us because He wants us to enter into the vision. What we see must become our life, our ministry, and our vocation.
When we truly enter into the vision, it is no longer merely our vision. The vision possesses us. You cannot explain Paul without the heavenly vision. When he saw the vision, he gave himself to it.
We believe that this is God’s will for every one of us: that what God has revealed to us in our spirit may become our daily life and our testimony.
Paul used a double negative: “I was not disobedient.” He did not merely say, “I was obedient.” He said, “I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision.”
I believe there are two reasons for this. First, it is for emphasis. But second, it shows us how easy it is for us to be disobedient to the heavenly vision.
Many have seen the vision, but most people do not follow it, because there is a cost. When God gives you a vision, there is a calling. God expects a response in your spirit.
Think of Abraham. When he was in Ur of the Chaldees, a city full of idols, tradition tells us that he was connected with the making of idols. Yet somehow God touched him.
According to a Jewish story, Abraham’s father left him to care for the idols. Abraham broke the idols, and when his father returned and asked what had happened, Abraham showed the foolishness of trusting in idols.
That is a Jewish story. But the Bible tells us that the God of glory appeared to Abraham. Abraham must have been seeking for truth, and the God of glory appeared to him.
The glory of God called Abraham:
Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto the land that I will show thee.
Whenever there is a vision from above, there is always a calling involved. God is most practical. The call was to leave everything in the past behind and go to the place God would show him.
It was a leap of faith. The Bible says that by faith Abraham left his city, left his home, and went out not knowing where he was going. He only knew that God had called him.
Whenever a vision from God comes to us, there is always a calling there. We must leave the things of the past behind and follow the Lord.
Most people are not able to mingle faith with the word that they hear. The result is that their vision gradually becomes a mirage. They become visionaries, but there is no reality in life.
Paul said, “I was not disobedient.” He had to begin to walk in the way of the vision. He did not know all that would be involved.
The Lord told him that he would be His witness before people, kings, Jews, and Gentiles—and that he would suffer much for His name’s sake. Paul had to leave everything from his past behind: his former successes, his pride, his religious attainments, and everything in which he could boast.
He left all those things behind and followed the Lord by faith, not knowing what would happen. The God of glory had appeared to him.
Brothers and sisters, when vision becomes vocation, there is a cross. Without the cross, without bearing our cross and following the Lord Jesus, the vision will never be turned into vocation.
Consider the Lord Jesus. He was equal with God and did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped. Yet He emptied Himself of the glory, honor, and worship that accompanied Him. He took the form of a bondservant and was found in fashion as a man.
He humbled Himself, becoming obedient even unto death, yea, the death of the cross.
The Lord Jesus came into the world to die. He was born to die for our sake. He was the sinless One, yet He took upon Himself human flesh and lived upon this earth as a Man.
The heavenly nature in Him was completely different from the world. As heaven is different from earth, so He was different from everything that belonged to the earth. He was a stranger and a foreigner as far as the world was concerned.
His life was not governed by the world. His whole life was governed by heaven.
The Lord had power to overturn the Roman Empire and make Israel first among the nations. He could have become the kind of Messiah the Jews expected. But He said:
I can do nothing of Myself.
What things soever I see the Father doing, these also do I in like manner.
What I hear from the Father, I speak.
He was the perfect Man, and yet He did not live by His own will. It was always the Father’s way, not His own.
The world could not understand Him. The world rejected Him. The world crucified Him because He did not belong to it. Even His disciples often did not understand Him. When He spoke of spiritual things, they interpreted them in earthly and material ways.
Though He was a Son, He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. Being made perfect, He became the Author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him.
If we want to follow the vision, we must suffer. Is this not what the Word says?
Through many tribulations we must enter into the kingdom of God.
There is nothing strange about this. A servant cannot be greater than his master. We who follow the Lord Jesus must follow the way He walked.
The heavenly vision is glorious, but it costs us very much. Our natural life is opposed to that which is heavenly and spiritual.
If we want to follow the heavenly vision, we must deny ourselves. We must take up the cross.
Peter denied the Lord three times. But, brothers and sisters, do not blame Peter. So far as we are concerned, no one is able in himself to bear the cross and follow the Lord.
We may say, “I will follow You. I am willing to give myself. No matter how much suffering, I will follow You.” But the Lord says, “Have no trust in yourself.”
We cannot do it in ourselves. The Lord has shown us the way, and He is the only way. His grace is sufficient. He will make it possible.
After every test, we can only bow and say, “Lord, it is Your grace.” This is the only way for vision to be transformed into vocation.
The way is the way of the cross. The cross leads to the crown. The cross deals with everything that is not of God in us. It is through the cross that the self-life is put aside.
He must increase, but I must decrease.
This is the way. The Lord does not tell us everything that will happen. He leads us step by step. Are we willing to walk this way?
Paul looked upon all that he once counted as treasure as loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus his Lord.
What things were gain to me, these have I counted loss for Christ.
Yea verily, and I count all things to be loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord.
Paul wanted to know Christ, the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed unto His death, that he might attain unto the out-resurrection from among the dead.
He did not say that he had already attained. He pressed on because the Lord had apprehended him. Brothers and sisters, do you know that the Lord has apprehended you? Do you know that He has apprehended you for a purpose?
He wants to glorify you. He wants you to know Him and to be transformed into His image. Paul said that he wanted to lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus had laid hold of him.
Paul could be satisfied with nothing less. The purpose of God had to become real in his life.
It was no longer Paul; it was Christ. Christ was his life.
When the vision becomes our life, we love the church as Christ loved the church.
The first thing Paul would do when he went somewhere was to find the brothers and sisters. He loved the church.
Like our Lord Jesus, Paul could say that, apart from all the sufferings he had endured, there was the daily pressure upon him of concern for all the churches.
Who is weak, and I am not weak?
Who is caused to stumble, and I burn not?
He was willing to spend and to be spent for the saints. He was no longer independent. He was deeply joined to the Body of Christ.
The vision consumed him. He became a witness. He knew that the testimony of Christ would go on.
Paul knew the mystery of God and the mystery of Christ—the church. He did not merely preach it. He lived it.
I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.
For this ministry, he gave himself. He labored to present every man perfect in Christ.
What are we living for? Is this our vocation? Is the goal of our lives that the church may become glorious, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing—holy and without blemish?
The Lord Jesus has apprehended us. We can trust Him. The love of Christ constrains us.
In our weakness, we will never be able to follow Him by our own capacity. The heavenly vision is heavenly; it is spiritual; it is entirely different from our natural strength.
Lord, open our eyes. Give us grace to see Your glorious purpose. We want to follow You, but our faith is not enough. We cast ourselves upon You.
Oh, Lord, take us in Your own hand. Bring us into the reality of Your precious purpose. Amen.