The Burning Ones - There is More - Session 1

There is more.  Much more.  And there is a certain amount of pain in believing it…because some of us have grown weary.  Some of us have revival fatigue.  We’ve believed.  We’ve contended.  We’ve warred.  And nothing much has shifted.  Or if it has, we’ve forgotten where we started anyway.  We’re tired and we are afraid to believe again.  We want to be found faithful, and it’s easier to be steady when we aren’t expecting much.  After all, it’s near impossible to be consistent when we’re nursing our disappointment. 

But isn’t this “steadiness” too costly?  After all, our steadiness has cost us our faith, it’s cost us our hope.  We’ve given up longing for heaven for a tiny, little slice of earth.  This “steadiness” is too costly!  We need to come back into the faith and believe again.  There is more.  Much more.  This is an invitation.  Don’t be afraid.  He will answer.  Let your heart long again for what only He can give.  He will most surely answer the longing in our hearts.

I.  REALITY

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.

A.   I’m certain that we can only put this life into focus when we have vision of heaven, the ultimate reality.  We cannot understand the earth until we understand the dynamic of heaven.  The Lord is seated on a throne, high and lifted up.  The train of His robe fills the temple.  He’s not the ruler of heaven only… He has conquered every domain and power and principality!  His robe fills the temple.  Meditate on this! 

B.    Isaiah was not alone in seeing God’s throne. Almost everyone in the Bible who had a vision of heaven, was taken to heaven, or wrote about heaven spoke of God’s throne. The prophet Michaiah saw God’s throne (1 Kings 22:19), Job saw God’s throne (Job 26:9), David saw God’s throne (Psalms 9:4 and Psalms 9:7; Psalms 11:4), the Sons of Korah saw God’s throne (Psalms 45:6; Ps 47:8), Ethan the Ezrahite saw God’s throne (Psalms 89:14), Jeremiah saw God’s throne (Lamentations 5:19), Ezekiel saw God’s throne (Ezekiel 1:26; Ez 10:1), Daniel saw God’s throne (Daniel 7:9), and the Apostle John saw God’s throne (Revelation 4:1-11). In fact, the book of Revelation may as well be called “the book of God’s throne,” because God’s throne is specifically mentioned more than 35 times in that book!

Colossians 2

[15] He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.

C.    Our God is not powerless. He’s not tame!  He’s a warrior King.  The train of His robe fills the temple. 

II.  BURNING ONES

Isaiah 6

[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.   Seraphim literally translates to “burning ones.”  These burning creatures are nearest the throne and they cry out day and night.  In the book of revelation, John sees these burning ones and they are covered with eyes all around and day and night they never cease to cry out to one another, “Holy, holy, holy.”  (Revelation 4:6-9).

B.    They are responding to the revelation of the Lord.  They are responding and calling out to one another.  They are not just caught up into their own realm of glory.  But as the behold the Lord, they cry out to each other.  There is a communion in the Godhead between the persons of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit that we have not comprehended.  And there is a communion in heaven, with the Godhead and with one another that we are being invited into.  The revealing of the glory of God spills over into communion between all the parties.  They call out to one another.

III.  HEAVEN IS RESPONSIVE

[4] And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke.

A.   The atmosphere of heaven is dynamic.  The heart of our God is dynamic.  There is nothing stagnant about Him.  There is nothing containable about His love.  Revelation chapter 4, describes lightning and rumblings proceeding from the throne.  There is sound and light coming from His heart. 

B.    When the seraphim call to one another, the thresholds of heaven shake!  What’s that??  The voices of these burning creatures carries weight.  Things shift as they release revelation of the holiness of God.  There is nothing stagnant about our God.  There is nothing boring about our God. 

C.    Communion is more than just intimacy with Christ… it involves a calling out to one-another-ness.  We were made to gaze upon the Lord and we were made to call out to one another.  We must be diligent about both to cultivate the Kingdom within our own hearts.   You were meant to see Him and to know Him as He really is.  We so easily forget.  Jesus has come down, so that we can go up. 

John 17

[24] Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. [25] O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. [26] I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”

Ephesians 2

[4] But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, [5] even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—[6] and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, [7] so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

D.   You need to see!  We need to have our eyes opened and our ears opened.  We have become so dull that we are dull.  We don’t see and we don’t hear.  But Jesus has and is praying for us.  He has a desire… He has inquired of the Father, and the Father will answer Him.  Don’t you see you should have every confidence that the Lord will answer this longing in you.  Stop fighting it.  Stop dulling yourself.  Jesus is praying for you to see.  So see!

E.    Why do the seraphim burn?  Because they are in proximity to The All Consuming Fire.  They claim no revelation, no wisdom of their own.  They are receiving and responding.  How can we burn for God?  Come closer and higher.  Receive and respond.  Throw away your matches and tinder.  Come closer and higher. You don’t need that stuff.  Just come closer and higher to His heart.  Our God is an all consuming fire.

 IV.  SEEING OURSELVES

 [5] And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!”

A.   Isaiah has been a prophet to Israel for 5 full chapters before he has this encounter with the Lord.  He’s assessed the state of the nation, and called her back to repentance.  He has stood with the Lord against the accusations of the nation.  He has been faithful in his assignment. 

B.    And then he encounters the Lord. 

C.    In the midst of his ministry assignment, Isaiah encounters the Lord.  The encounter is terrifying.  For the first time, Isaiah sees himself as part of his generation.  He’s no longer a bystander…  And this is priestliness:  to indentify with our generation.  We aren’t outside it, condemning it.  We are part of it, and so we make intercession and plead for mercy.

D.   Our high priest, Jesus, came into time and space in full identification with his generation.  For the first time Isaiah sees himself.  Seeing ourselves is always incredibly painful, isn’t it? I think the biggest reason we don’t want to see the Lord is not so much to do with Him, as it has to do with not wanting to be confronted with our true selves.  In the light, we are revealed. 

John 3

[19] And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. [20] For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. [21] But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”

V.  TOUCHED WITH FIRE

Isaiah 6

[6] Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. [7] And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”

A.   Isaiah is no longer a spectator of heaven’s reality… he’s a full participant.  Jesus is not inviting you to watch.  He’s inviting you to participate. We need to interact with the reality of heaven.  It’s imperative that we go higher and come closer. 

B.    You need fire.  And there is only one place to get it.  Where does it come from?  Fire comes from the altar of the Lord.  You were made to burn.  You were made for fire.  This is not optional.  You will not fulfill your assignment, even in your faithfulness, without fire.  You cannot bring the dimension of heaven to your assignment, your ministry, your field, without fire from heaven’s altar! 

VI.  OVERHEARING THE DIALOGUE OF HEAVEN

[8] And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.” [9] And he said, “Go…”

A.   Intercession is a conversation… it’s a dialogue. 

Genesis 18

17 The Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, 18 seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? 19 For I have chosen him, that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice, so that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has promised him.” …

23 Then Abraham drew near and said, “Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? 24 Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city. Will you then sweep away the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous who are in it? 25 Far be it from you to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?” 26 And the Lord said, “If I find at Sodom fifty righteous in the city, I will spare the whole place for their sake.”

27 Abraham answered and said, “Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord, I who am but dust and ashes. 28 Suppose five of the fifty righteous are lacking. Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five?” And he said, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.” 29 Again he spoke to him and said, “Suppose forty are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of forty I will not do it.” 30 Then he said, “Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak. Suppose thirty are found there.” He answered, “I will not do it, if I find thirty there.” 31 He said, “Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord. Suppose twenty are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of twenty I will not destroy it.” 32 Then he said, “Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak again but this once. Suppose ten are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of ten I will not destroy it.” 33 And the Lord went his way, when he had finished speaking to Abraham, and Abraham returned to his place.

B.    This is what the Lord is inviting you into.  Come closer and come higher.  He will let you in on His conversations!  The glory of what I am saying.  There is something so much better than asking God to bless our thing.  Oh, to hear what He is saying…to hear what is on His heart.  This is our inheritance. 

Psalm 2

[7] I will tell of the decree:  The LORD said to me, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you.  [8] Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession.

Hebrews 7

25 Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.

C.    May we hear!  And may our response be, “Send me.”