Will you please turn to Proverbs, Chapter 29, Verse 18?
Where there is no vision, the people cast off restraint;
But happy is he that keepeth the law.
And will you please turn to Acts, Chapter 22. We will read from Verse 1 through Verse 16.
Brethren and fathers, hear ye the defence which I now make unto you.
And when they heard that he spake unto them in the Hebrew language, they were the more quiet: and he saith,
I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city, at the feet of Gamaliel, instructed according to the strict manner of the law of our fathers, being zealous for God, even as ye all are this day:
And I persecuted this Way unto the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women.
As also the high priest doth bear me witness, and all the estate of the elders: from whom also I received letters unto the brethren, and journeyed to Damascus to bring them also that were there unto Jerusalem in bonds to be punished.
And it came to pass, that, as I made my journey, and drew nigh unto Damascus, about noon, suddenly there shone from heaven a great light round about me.
And I fell unto the ground, and heard a voice saying unto me, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?
And I answered, Who art Thou, Lord? And He said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest.
And they that were with me beheld indeed the light, but they heard not the voice of Him that spake to me.
And I said, What shall I do, Lord? And the Lord said unto me, Arise, and go into Damascus; and there it shall be told thee of all things which are appointed for thee to do.
And when I could not see for the glory of that light, being led by the hand of them that were with me, I came into Damascus.
And one Ananias, a devout man according to the law, well reported of by all the Jews that dwelt there,
Came unto me, and standing by me said unto me, Brother Saul, receive thy sight. And in that very hour I looked upon him.
And he said, The God of our fathers hath appointed thee to know His will, and to see the Righteous One, and to hear a voice from His mouth.
For thou shalt be a witness for Him unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard.
And now why tarriest thou? Arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling upon His name.
Dear Lord, as we continue in Thy presence, we just wait upon Thee for Thee to speak to us. Dear Lord, Thy Word is our life, and we just pray that, by Thy Spirit, Thy Word will come deep into our hearts, and change and transform us, and bring us into where Thou hast ordained for us to be, for Thy glory.
We commit this time into Thy hand. Without Thy Spirit working, everything is in vain. But we praise Thee, knowing that Thy Spirit has been sent out to do the work. We ask in Thy precious name. Amen.
Brothers and sisters, these days I have been waiting upon the Lord concerning our situation. I am seeking the Lord for His Word for us, and somehow I am impressed again with this matter of vision.
Thank God, many years ago the Lord showed us vision, and it is because of that that we have been here all these years. But I do feel that this is a time that we should go back again to the vision that God showed us at the beginning, lest we have departed from it or grown old about it.
I do feel there needs to be a refreshing, a rethinking, and a returning to what the Lord showed us at the beginning.
You know, King Solomon spoke three thousand proverbs, and some of these are recorded in the book called Proverbs. Out of all the proverbs recorded in that book, to me, I feel there is one that is of tremendous importance. This is Proverbs 29:18:
Where there is no vision, the people cast off restraint;
Happy is he who keeps the law.
Where there is no vision, the people cast off restraint. In other words, what is vision? Vision is something that is given to us in order to put us under God’s restraint.
If there is no vision, we have no objective. We have no direction. We just go wherever we want to go and do whatever we want to do. There is no discipline. There is no control. It is free for all.
But with vision, it gives us direction. It gives us meaning in life. It shows us our goal—where we are going and how we are going.
In some versions, you find it translated, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” Now, brothers and sisters, perish is a very, very strong word. In other words, if there is no vision, it ends in nothing. You never arrive at anything; you just drift along and waste your whole life.
This is how important vision is. In some other versions, you find it says, “Where there is no vision, the people disintegrate.” In other words, there is nothing to hold them together, because everyone has his own ideas, and everybody loves to do his own way. That is what human beings are like.
So, where there is no vision, we are scattered and disintegrated, everyone going his own direction and doing his own work. It is just like in the time of Judges.
As you read the Book of Judges and see all these tragic situations happening among God’s people, the Holy Spirit gives a final word. At the end of the Book of Judges, it says that because there was no king, everyone did what he thought was right. Scattered—not united, not one—but everyone going his own direction.
This is how important vision is. Even in the world, we find vision is important—or, to put it another way, dream. Some people say they have a dream, and that dream controls them. The dream drives them. The dream gives them meaning, and their whole life is controlled by that dream.
With such a dream, sooner or later they may arrive at and accomplish something. In other words, if you have no dream, then you have no goal, no meaning, and no direction. There is no need to press on. You just drift and spend your life away. You accomplish nothing.
So even in the world, dream is really vision, but in a physical way.
To us believers, vision comes from God. In other words, God reveals Himself. Our God is not a God who hides Himself. Our God loves to reveal Himself. He likes to tell us what He is, Who He is, and how He is.
He wants to reveal to us His purpose, His will, His mind, what He is aiming at, what pleases Him most, what He wants to accomplish, and what is the meaning of all His work. We call it vision.
So, brothers and sisters, where there is no vision, there is no accomplishment. Where there is no vision, everything is just drifting: no direction, no aim, no goal, no effort.
Spiritually speaking, vision is a basic principle. To put it another way, anything that is in the spiritual realm begins with vision. If there is no vision, then you do not see anything. You do not have any spiritual principle to guide your life, and because of that, you do whatever pleases you.
Vision is of utmost importance in spiritual things.
Now, when you read that verse, it says, “Where there is no vision, the people cast off restraint,” and then it follows, “Happy is he who keeps the law.” Why? Because the Jewish way of writing proverbs is to repeat a truth. The first sentence states it, and the second sentence uses another wording to repeat it.
So, in Old Testament times, what was the vision? In Old Testament times, the vision was the law. God revealed the law to His chosen people.
Even though the Gentiles had not been given the law, we find in Romans 2 that the law was written upon their hearts. So, in other words, God’s law—whether written on stones or written on hearts—is there. This is the guidance, the rule, the regulation, the law of our living.
If we keep the law, happy is he. If we violate the law, condemned are we. So, brothers and sisters, that is the Old Testament. The law is everything; it gives everything.
But thank God, we are today not in Old Testament times, because our Lord has covenanted with us in a new covenant. We have just had the Lord’s table, and every time we have the Lord’s table, it reminds us that we are no longer under the old covenant of law, but under the new covenant of grace.
Now, that does not mean that we can be lawless. It means that grace works higher and nobler than law.
Now, what is grace? When we think of grace, we think of something that God has graciously given us. Now, that is true. But basically speaking, what is grace? God is grace, and God expresses His grace to us in His Son.
So we can say very safely that grace, strictly speaking, refers to God’s Son, Jesus Christ. He is the personification of God’s grace.
Because when you read John 1, you find that the law came through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. Before the Lord Jesus came into this world, the world did not know what grace was. But when He came into this world, He brought grace to mankind.
So He is grace itself. He is truth itself. That is what our Lord Jesus is.
So, brothers and sisters, what is our vision today—the vision that governs our life individually and together? What is that heavenly vision?
I believe this is something that we need to be reminded of again and again. Even if we may feel tired about it, we need to put our life before that light again and again, lest we depart from it.
Brothers and sisters, we are talking about the heavenly vision. As you mention the heavenly vision, I think immediately you will go back to the experience of Paul. But actually, you find that the same vision was given to Peter as well—not in detail, but in principle.
When you read Matthew 16, you find that our Lord Jesus, when He retreated to the border of Caesarea Philippi, asked His disciples, “Who do men say that I am?”
Remember, this was the time when our Lord was beginning to be rejected by His own people. Of course, His disciples would only tell Him good reports: “You are John the Baptist risen to life. You are Elijah, the great prophet. You are Jeremiah, because You weep a lot. You are one of the prophets, or the Prophet prophesied by Moses in Deuteronomy.”
Moses said that among your brethren God would raise up One, and you must listen to Him. If you do not listen to Him, you perish.
But, brothers and sisters, our Lord Jesus was not satisfied with all these good comments. So He asked His disciples, “You have been with Me for three years now. Whom do you say that I am?”
And you remember Simon Peter said, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Our Lord Jesus said, “Simon Bar-Jonah, this is not something human beings can reveal to you. It is My Father who is in heaven who has revealed it to you.”
Immediately our Lord continued, saying, “Thou art Peter.” Now you have changed. Once you were Simon, but now you are Peter—a little stone, a piece from that massive rock. You have My life in you now.
“What am I going to do with you? I will build you, with others like you, on Me. I will build My church upon this rock, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.”
When you read Matthew 16, you find that the same revelation was given to Simon Peter that was given to Paul, or Saul the Pharisee. So now we come back to that heavenly vision.
If we read Acts 22, Paul was arrested by the people in the temple. They wanted to kill him, but he was given the opportunity to speak to the people. When he spoke in Hebrew, they were quiet, listening to him.
He first related to them his past. He was a Jew—not only a Jew, but a typical Jew—because even in his family they used Hebrew. He was brought up at the feet of Gamaliel, and Gamaliel at that time was the greatest rabbi in Israel.
He was educated under Gamaliel, and not only that, but he was very zealous for the traditions of the fathers. At that time, Jewish tradition was considered the best of all traditions. That is why many Gentiles admired that tradition, and some joined the Jewish community while others visited their synagogues.
He was brought up with the best of the Jewish tradition. Not only that, he was zealous. Most young people would be thinking of the world, but this young man was different. He was thinking of God, and he was more zealous than his contemporaries.
He was so zealous for Judaism that he considered Jesus an impostor of Judaism. So he wanted to wipe out the followers of Jesus Christ. Not only in Jerusalem: he would go into houses, capture men and women, and bring them to judgment. When they were sentenced to death, he gave his vote.
He was so zealous that he got papers from the high priest to go to Gentile cities, to bring those followers of Jesus back to Jerusalem to be sentenced and condemned. Brothers and sisters, he was, of course, an unusual young man.
His vision was the law, and that vision motivated him. It gave meaning to his life. He plunged himself totally into it.
But thank God, God knew his heart. He was mistaken, but honest, and God looks upon the heart.
While he was on his way to Damascus to capture and seize these believers, God allowed him to go as far as almost reaching the city. Then, at noontime, a light came upon him brighter than the noonday sun.
The light had such power that he was smitten by that light to the ground. The people who were with him saw the light, but they heard nothing. But he heard a voice in Hebrew: “Saul, Saul, why dost thou persecute Me? It is hard for thee to kick against the goads.”
Saul did not know that Person, so he said, “Who art Thou, Lord?” And the voice said, “I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest.”
Brothers and sisters, to Saul, Jesus of Nazareth was an impostor. But here he discovered one thing: that the same Jesus is the Lord of all.
The Bible tells us that he saw the Son of God. He saw Jesus as Lord and Christ. That is the first part of the heavenly vision.
Now, brothers and sisters, when we believed in the Lord Jesus, how much of the Lord Jesus did we really see? Did we see Him only as Savior?
We were in sin and darkness. We wanted to be delivered, and thank God, He opened our eyes to see that Jesus is the Savior of the world. We believed in Him and were saved. Thank God for that.
But, brothers and sisters, is this all we saw when we believed in the Lord Jesus?
Put it this way: we cannot say that we do not have the heavenly vision. At least we have a glimpse of it. But unfortunately, the heavenly vision that we saw at the beginning was so incomplete. We only saw the beginning part. We did not see the full aspect of the heavenly vision, and that is why our Christian life was so weak.
When the Apostle Paul saw the Lord Jesus, he saw Him as the Son of God, the Heir of all things. He saw Him as the Christ, the Lord.
That is the declaration of the apostles on the Day of Pentecost: God has made Him both Lord and Christ. In other words, He is not only Christ, Who has accomplished all that God sent Him to do, but He is also Lord. He is the Lord of all.
That is the revelation of our Lord Jesus. You find that in the heavenly vision that Paul saw on the road to Damascus. You find that in Matthew 16, which Peter saw at the border of Caesarea Philippi.
So, dear brothers and sisters, the major part of the heavenly vision concerns Jesus Christ. Do we see Jesus Christ as Christ and as Lord, or do we see Him only as our Savior?
He saved us; thank God for that. But then we live our own lives. We do not submit ourselves totally to Him.
What God wants us to see is His beloved Son as the all and in all. He is not only our Savior. He is our Christ. He is our Lord.
If we really see this, something is bound to happen: we have to present our bodies as a living sacrifice. No one can see Jesus as Lord and continue to live his own or her own life.
That is why you find Romans 12:1:
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice.
In other words, if you see Jesus as God means for us to see Him, then there is no right for us anymore to live for ourselves. We have to live for Him and by Him.
But then you find the second part of it. Saul asked two questions. One question was, “Who art Thou, Lord?” And he was answered. Then he continued with the second question: “What shall I do, Lord?”
Saul was a person who knew what to do. He was his own master. He had a strong will, and he would carry it out to the end.
In spite of this, his conscience must have bothered him while he was witnessing Stephen’s death. No one could see that vision, that situation, and not be touched. He must have been touched deeply, but he rebelled against his own conscience. He hardened his heart by doubly persecuting the Christians.
But, brothers and sisters, when a sight of Christ was given, he was totally changed. That is what we need. We need a growing revelation, a growing vision, of Jesus Christ.
We should not be satisfied just with knowing Him as our Savior, and that is it. Because if we do, we will be self-centered throughout our life.
When Saul was given that vision, immediately you find that he yielded himself to Christ. He was his own master before, but now he had found a Master. So he said, “What shall I do, Lord?”
You see, the commander changed in his life. He transferred his right back to Christ Jesus. Now, have we done that?
Another thing we need to remember is this: when our Lord Jesus said, “Saul, Saul, why dost thou persecute Me?” Saul, being a Pharisee, needed to know the mind of a Pharisee. A Pharisee was trained in logic.
If someone tells you, “Why do you persecute Me?” and it is a voice from heaven, as a Pharisee, naturally you would say, “That is impossible. You are in heaven; I am on earth. I have never touched You. How can You say, ‘Why do you persecute Me?’”
“True, I persecute Your followers, but I have never had a chance to persecute You.” He could very well argue that way.
But, brothers and sisters, at the same time, he saw the vision of the church. He saw that Christ is the Head. He was touching the members of His body, and now the Head complained, “Why dost thou persecute Me?”
Brothers and sisters, Christ is the Head and the church is His body. Any member of the body that you touch, you touch the Head.
He saw the church. Brothers and sisters, have we seen the church after we have believed in the Lord Jesus? Are we still individualistic?
Have we come to see that we are but a member of the body? We are not only under the Head, but we need the other members of the body. Have we come to see this yet?
Because he had seen a glimpse of that, when he said, “What shall I do, Lord?” the Lord did not immediately tell him everything to do. You know what would have happened if the Lord had done that? Saul would have gone ahead and done it without the help of any brothers and sisters, because he thought he did not need them.
He had been alone all the time, doing things in his own way, independently. Surely, he would just have risen up and done what he was told to do.
But our Lord Jesus trained him in such a way that, when he said, “What shall I do, Lord?” Saul was expecting the Lord to tell him what to do. But the Lord did not tell him directly. The Lord said, “Go to Damascus and wait there until someone comes and relates to you My will and My purpose.”
From the very beginning, the Lord was dealing with this man. In other words, the church to him from the very beginning was not a theory. The church to him from the very beginning was a reality.
He could not be independent. He would not be able to get God’s answer without his brother.
He was a well-known person, but God sent an unknown person, Ananias, to tell him what God’s will was for him and to open his eyes.
Brother and sister, when you read that story, it is so beautiful. What would happen to that Pharisee if everything were just between the Lord and him?
Sometimes we hear people tell us, “I do not need anybody. Just the Lord and I—that is enough.” It sounds very spiritual.
Brothers and sisters, I have heard that. People have been meeting together, and then one day something happens, and they completely withdraw and just stay by themselves. They say, “The Lord and I—that is it. That is all enough.”
But I have also seen people who take that position. What happens to them? I can cry over it.
Thank God, the church is not a theory. The church is a fact.
Saul would never know the will of God if he did not have his brother Ananias. God used an unknown person to help a great person.
So he testified that while he was praying, a brother named Ananias came in and laid his hands upon him. Saul was the one who went to Damascus to lay his hands on Ananias, but now, instead, you find it was Ananias who laid his hands on Saul.
In other words, Saul did not get Ananias, but Ananias got Saul as a brother in the Lord. Is that not wonderful?
He laid his hands on him. Laying on of hands simply means being united into one. Once they were enemies; now they were brothers.
He laid both his hands upon him and said, “Brother Saul, the Lord sent me to you to open your eyes, for you to be filled with the Holy Spirit, and to know the will of God. He has chosen you as a special vessel.”
Brothers and sisters, how glad Saul was to be received into the fellowship of the saints. That is why, throughout his life, from the very beginning, he joined himself with the brothers in Damascus.
When he went to Jerusalem, he wanted fellowship with the brothers there. Wherever he went, he sought fellowship. He was not a loner, doing things according to his own will, but he always drew brothers and sisters to be with him.
Even when he wrote letters, you find that he had someone writing with him, to show that there was no independence, but how we need one another.
So, brothers and sisters, strictly speaking, this is the outline of the heavenly vision.
To me, I feel that the problem with us today is that, even though we cannot say that we have not caught any vision whatsoever—because we have, at least we saw Jesus as our Savior—our outline of the vision is not clear.
We see only a small part of it, and then we neglect the whole thing. That is the reason why we find our Christian life so limited.
So it is the prayer of my heart, brothers and sisters, that the Lord will open our spiritual eyes and really allow us to see, number one, Who Christ is. That should affect our life.
And number two, what the church is. That is also a deciding factor in our life on this earth.
This morning, all I do is present this afresh before you and pray that we will reconsider this whole matter. Do not allow us to be lopsided, but let us learn to live accordingly.
Not a theory, but a life; not your own life, but your life together with your brothers and sisters.
Let us pray.
Dear Lord, as we remember Thy heavenly vision, we do pray that it will not be lopsided, but full, and that daily Thou wilt enable us to fulfill it to the fullest.
Oh, dear Lord, we pray that Thy people will catch the vision and also grow into that unto a vocation that comes forth to the praise of Thy glory. We ask in Thy name. Amen.