Burning Ones - Beholding is Becoming - Session 2

There is more for us.  We have only just scratched the surface of the Goodness, Mercy, Kindness, Patience, Love, and Faithfulness of our God.  We have only just begun to know.  We have only just recently discerned the glory of His character.  Whether you’ve been saved for 40 years or were born again on this very day, we have all only just begun the journey into the heart of our God.  It will take all eternity to peer into Him, but the Good News is this, we are on our way. 

Jesus said that eternal life was to know the Father, and to relate to Him. (John 17:3).  Eternal life is relational.  God desires to reveal Himself…to us!  Pause.  Wait.  No, really...wait.  God longs to reveal Himself to us.  He desires for us to know Him.  Our lives are meant to be an adventure into His heart, into His thoughts, into His purposes.  This is utterly unexpected.  Who could have imagined that the God who created the universe, who said, “Let there be light,” would long to be known, and known by us?  This is profound. 

The nature of our God will never be stagnant.  He will not stop unveiling, revealing.  He will not hold Himself back from loving you.  Let’s open our eyes again.  There’s just so much more for you!

I.  VISIONS OF GOD

Isaiah 6

[1] In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. [2] Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. [3] And one called to another and said:

            “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts;

            the whole earth is full of his glory!”

A.   When we preach the Gospel, there can be a tendency to preach it like a history lesson, instead of a reality, or THE reality.  We preach the facts without necessarily demonstrating or manifesting the actuality of the Kingdom of Heaven.  The Gospel is more than facts.  I love the simplicity of the four spiritual laws printed out on tracts, but there is a reality that must manifest with the preaching.  We are ambassadors.  Me.  You.  We are ambassadors of a real kingdom, with a real King.

B.    The scriptures are full of the accounts of men and women who were taken into this other realm, this other reality:  Heaven.  This world is passing, fleeting, temporary.  But there is a realm that will not fade.  When we consider heaven, I’m afraid that we think of it in translucent terms, while we often consider this life to be opaque.  This life just seems more real.  But nothing could be further from the truth.  Our God, sitting upon His throne, high and lifted up, is reality.  Unshakeable.  Certain.  Reality. 

C.    I want to obliterate every argument that comes against the plan of God in your life.  You were made to behold the Lord in His glory.  Jesus is making intercession for you to know Him and to see Him in His glory.  The enemy would come to whisper, “Ah, but those men were special.  They were holy.  You are just… you.”  How many times have we heard this whisper, this deception from the enemy, and given up?  Instead of believing the Word, instead of believing the truth, we bought into the lie.  In agreement with the intercession of Jesus for your life, I come against every lie of the enemy.  I declare the truth to you.  You were made to behold the Lord.  I speak to your eyes to be opened to the realm of His majesty.  You will see!

Ezekiel 1

[1] In the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I was among the exiles by the Chebar canal, the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God. [2] On the fifth day of the month (it was the fifth year of the exile of King Jehoiachin), [3] the word of the LORD came to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the Chebar canal, and the hand of the LORD was upon him there.

[4] As I looked, behold, a stormy wind came out of the north, and a great cloud, with brightness around it, and fire flashing forth continually, and in the midst of the fire, as it were gleaming metal. [5] And from the midst of it came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance: they had a human likeness, [6] but each had four faces, and each of them had four wings. [7] Their legs were straight, and the soles of their feet were like the sole of a calf's foot. And they sparkled like burnished bronze. [8] Under their wings on their four sides they had human hands. And the four had their faces and their wings thus: [9] their wings touched one another. Each one of them went straight forward, without turning as they went. [10] As for the likeness of their faces, each had a human face. The four had the face of a lion on the right side, the four had the face of an ox on the left side, and the four had the face of an eagle. [11] Such were their faces. And their wings were spread out above. Each creature had two wings, each of which touched the wing of another, while two covered their bodies. [12] And each went straight forward. Wherever the spirit would go, they went, without turning as they went. [13] As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, like the appearance of torches moving to and fro among the living creatures. And the fire was bright, and out of the fire went forth lightning. [14] And the living creatures darted to and fro, like the appearance of a flash of lightning.

[15] Now as I looked at the living creatures, I saw a wheel on the earth beside the living creatures, one for each of the four of them. [16] As for the appearance of the wheels and their construction: their appearance was like the gleaming of beryl. And the four had the same likeness, their appearance and construction being as it were a wheel within a wheel. [17] When they went, they went in any of their four directions without turning as they went. [18] And their rims were tall and awesome, and the rims of all four were full of eyes all around. [19] And when the living creatures went, the wheels went beside them; and when the living creatures rose from the earth, the wheels rose. [20] Wherever the spirit wanted to go, they went, and the wheels rose along with them, for the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels. [21] When those went, these went; and when those stood, these stood; and when those rose from the earth, the wheels rose along with them, for the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.

[22] Over the heads of the living creatures there was the likeness of an expanse, shining like awe-inspiring crystal, spread out above their heads. [23] And under the expanse their wings were stretched out straight, one toward another. And each creature had two wings covering its body. [24] And when they went, I heard the sound of their wings like the sound of many waters, like the sound of the Almighty, a sound of tumult like the sound of an army. When they stood still, they let down their wings. [25] And there came a voice from above the expanse over their heads. When they stood still, they let down their wings.

[26] And above the expanse over their heads there was the likeness of a throne, in appearance like sapphire; and seated above the likeness of a throne was a likeness with a human appearance. [27] And upward from what had the appearance of his waist I saw as it were gleaming metal, like the appearance of fire enclosed all around. And downward from what had the appearance of his waist I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and there was brightness around him. [28] Like the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud on the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness all around.

Such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. And when I saw it, I fell on my face, and I heard the voice of one speaking.

Revelation 4

[1] After this I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” [2] At once I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne. [3] And he who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian, and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald. [4] Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones were twenty-four elders, clothed in white garments, with golden crowns on their heads. [5] From the throne came flashes of lightning, and rumblings and peals of thunder, and before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God, [6] and before the throne there was as it were a sea of glass, like crystal.

And around the throne, on each side of the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind: [7] the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with the face of a man, and the fourth living creature like an eagle in flight. [8] And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say,

            “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty,

                        who was and is and is to come!”

[9] And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, [10] the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying,

            [11] “Worthy are you, our Lord and God,

                        to receive glory and honor and power,

            for you created all things,

                        and by your will they existed and were created.”

Daniel 7

9 …“As I looked, thrones were placed, and the Ancient of Days took his seat; his clothing was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool; his throne was fiery flames; its wheels were burning fire. 10 A stream of fire issued and came out from before him; a thousand thousands served him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him; the court sat in judgment, and the books were opened.

D.   We have lost the discipline of meditation, and out of fear that we are becoming eastern in our faith, we are missing out!  Moses instructed the people to meditate day and night on the Word of God.  David, spending long hours in the tabernacle of 24/7 prayer would write his songs to the Lord with instructions to the musicians and priests to read the line but then to “Selah,” pause and calmly think about the truth that was just read. 

E.    Granted, we live in a fast-food culture.  Everything is about get it now, get it quick.  But real relating, real seeing, real intimacy, does not work like that.  Intimacy is slow.  It’s cultivated.  We need to come back into the discipline of meditation, of thinking and picturing what we are reading. 

F.    I’ve been helping my daughter Juniah; write a report for school about Joan of Arc.  We’re covering her life and calling, her kidnapping and trial and finally, her death and eventual sainthood.  In the process of putting together this report, I’ve been thinking about how heavenly insight works.  Joan heard voices and believed that she was being called upon by God to help the French.  She got an audience with the king of France, he believed her.  Suddenly her vision became his.  The King made way for her vision to be presented to the armies of France, and they believed.  Suddenly her vision became the vision of the nation.  My point is this: vision can be shared.  Vision can be caught. 

G.   When we read the scriptures, it’s so easy to read them as a history of letters.  But their life comes to us when we read them as invitations.  When we study these accounts, when you meditate on them, we are brought into their reality.  Isaiah’s vision becomes ours.  Ezekiel’s vision becomes ours.  These scriptures become more than our inheritance, they become our experience.  And that this will change everything.

II.  BEHOLDING IS BECOMING

Isaiah 42

[8] I am the LORD; that is my name; my glory I give to no other…

A.   How many times have you heard this verse preached?  The way I’ve often heard this scripture unpacked is that our God is somehow withholding Himself, withholding His nature.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  A river of fire proceeds from the throne.  There are lightnings and thunders from His heart.      

B.    He’s not withholding something of His nature.  Rather, He is declaring something about ours.  We are not made to be a source of glory.  There is nothing in the heart of man that can produce glory.  We can’t produce it, but we can behold it.  We can reflect it.  And so, we can participate in it. 

2 Corinthians 3

[18] And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

C.    How are we transformed?  There is only one way.  We must behold the glory of the Lord.  How can we be like Him?  There is only one way.  We have to behold Him in His glory, in His reality.  This is the high priestly prayer of Jesus for our lives.  Why does He give His life in intercession for you to see?  Because this is the only way.  You absolutely have to see Him.  He’s not dead on the cross anymore!  He’s has been resurrected from the dead!  And that’s not all!  He has ascended to His Father, and your Father.  He went through the clouds, while in His body, with 500 eyewitnesses!  He has ascended.  He received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, and has poured Him out!  Bless God, that little upper room was transformed with fire from the altar on Pentecost. 

D.   Peter stands up to give an account to a baffled and mocking Jerusalem that morning.  And what does he declare?  Not a history lesson!  By no means, he declares the reality of heaven.  How does He have insight?  How does he know the dynamic of heaven?  He’s a fisherman.  He’s marred.  You know his story.  How does he know? 

Acts 2

[32] This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. [33] Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing.

E.    The baptism of the Holy Spirit is not optional.  He doesn’t come to fill us to add a little spice to our meetings.  The baptism of the Holy Spirit is about access to the reality of heaven.  Sin separated man from God.  But it was more than that.  Sin caused a separation of realities.  Eden, a real location in the earth, was where man and God met together in the cool of a garden.  The earth was created for the purpose of communion, heaven and earth in communion.  Sin separated these realities.  Instead of interaction there was estrangement and separation.  But Jesus has come to redeem us!  He has come to reconcile not just the individual man to God, but the realms of heaven and earth. 

F.    When the Holy Spirit is poured out in that little upper room, tongues of fire appeared on each of them, and Peter begins to declare the events of Jesus’ life while He was on the earth, AND the events of His ministry in the heavens.  Heaven and earth had been reconciled.  Peter could behold Jesus in His glory while positioned in the middle of a Jerusalem crowd.  Peter could see heaven.  And through the baptism of the Holy Spirit, so can we!

Prayer:

Father, I believe that I am meant to behold you.  I believe that I was meant to see Jesus in all of Hos glory.  Pour out your Spirit in my life.  Fill me with the Baptism of your love.  Reconcile the reality of heaven and earth in my life.  No more separation!  I desire to see you and know you as you are.