A Revival Resource Center
 |
| Articles and sermons |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Resources |
 |
 |
 |
| The Ministry |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
Relevant Seeing Ans Speaking
By
Lars Widerberg
"Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; for Jehovah hath spoken: I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me. The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib; [but] Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider." (Isaiah 1:2-3 ASV)
This is prophecy: Heaven demands an open ear, an open heart.
This is prophetic speaking: A conclusive word, a statement of eternal character sent to cause and provoke man to thinking.
This is prophecy: Heavens stand in awe, the earth trembles.
This is prophetic speaking: A word relevant enough to attract the attention of the realms temporal.
This is prophecy: Words containing eternal values sent into a time/space setting to instruct, to divide right from wrong, to bring justice and dignity.
This is prophetic seeing and speaking: Something seen as with the eyes of the Lord regarding a time/space issue, words sent from Heaven to earth, to men, to be considered by men in relation to the state of affairs of common men. Prophecy is more than many things a matter of thinking, a matter of generating thinking. Prophecy is reality spoken in a relevant manner into a setting in which matters of authenticity are held in esteem by men whose hearts are warm and open to the things of the Lord and whose intelligence stays at working temperature for the sake of relevancy and sobriety. Prophecy defines itself by a clever approach to present reality, it speaks real words to a real world. It is sent to bring a certain sense of ultimacy, it challenges, its directness is at times offensive for the sake of alerting a dulled conscience. Prophecy is Heaven sent to Earth.
Fundamental to ministry is its priestly character. It is forever set to approaching, ascent, a drawing near, an "unto God". It calls upon the other to come close, to come alongside, to enter into fellowship. The man made ready for ministry embarks on a route along which he will find altars exclusively prepared for him, only for him. This route directs itself away from ministerial matters, from routines and an official approach to fellowmen. It aims at reconciliation, at a recovery of values lost. Its aim is that of bringing life, of reviving, of returning to first things, of restoring to a state of ultimacy. Each aspect of the temporal and the ephemeral encounters a challenge in the presence of a priestly mind. The prophetic function appears and operates within this framework.
The prophet is to be found where people are straying. Priests and intercessors approach each other at the nexus of a sinful people for the sake of justice and reconciliation. A prophet appears in the day of deepest trouble to recover what is lost. A prophet is a man of eternal strength in days of great shaking. Prophets are moulded and fostered for days of apostasy. His message is birthed at the threshold of the temple. His approach to life is intrinsically other, but he is still a man – sensitive to the things which constitutes a man.
Such a man was Isaiah – sources indicate that he might have been a cousin of the king. This is the prophet, a man of the temple, a man of the royal court. This is a prophet, a man among men, but a man who saw God and lived.
The priestliness of this man and his message will not pass unnoticed while reading his book with an open mind. Each statement, each and every word conveys a sense of ultimacy. The prophet, the priestly mind captures the brokenness of the Almighty. The prophet ministers unto God in that he allows himself to become a vessel for divine travailing. "My people doth not consider." "My people do not care to think." "This is a people lost to disorder and unholiness because of their unwillingness to assess and reason."
Prophetic work begins in reflection. Prophetic work consists of thinking and pondering, it is directed by a conscience on high alert, it contains comparison and weighing, it defines itself as an intense search for righteousness and justice. Prophetic work is a painful relating to something which is lost. The work of the prophet is one of recovery. It invites a man to a worthy striving for the vindication of the Lord.
"Holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, even Jesus" (Hebrews 3:1).
Everything, literally everything, in the priestly dimension is bound up with things eternal. Priestly ministry, prophetic ministry, any ministry is related to a seeing, a considering of things eternal. The heavenly calling positions the man who dares to respond in immediate relation to the throne and to the Lamb in the midst of the throne. Heavenly creatures provide possibility to speak by means of a cleansing by burning coals. Life and peace are committed to the priestly office to be administrated among men. The prophet is established solely by divine sending. The throne, the reign of the Lamb and the ultimacy connected to this is arranged and combined for a maximised assault on the proud and haughty self-asserting men in these final days. Our On-High calling is priestly/prophetic ministry aimed at a bringing back to a serious consideration of the words sent from the heavenly realms, the words of ultimacy.
"My people do not consider." Prophetic work consists of thinking and pondering, it is directed and instructed by a conscience on high alert, it contains comparison and weighing, it defines itself as an intense search for righteousness and justice. Prophetic work is a painful relating to something which is lost. Prophetic work consists of attentive waiting for content, it offers a thoroughgoing purging for the sake of consistency, it does not settle for anything less than perfect and precious correspondence. As in Heaven, so on Earth.
Words brought by the prophet deal with the real world, such words will not leave man in idleness amidst the needs of fellowmen. The prophetic Church finds itself engaged in costly charity operations. It never spends its recourses on its own pleasure, it hunts for opportunities to practice love, it looks to the Father for instructions regarding prophetic, sacrificial spending. Prophetic work shapes the future, but not with promises which finds no fulfilment. Prophetic work shapes the future by engaging men in projects of reconciliation and restored dignity. This is worship, pleasing to God, with instruments designed and tuned after a different fashion (James 1:27).
The priest, the intercessor as well as the prophet learn to dwell restfully in the vast realm of thinking which is God’s. The message of the prophet is birthed at the threshold of the temple. The prayers of an intercessor are induced by the Spirit of prophecy – at all times aimed at revealing Christ in solid testimony. The priest gathers strength for the gruesome work of reconciliation in the chambers of godly council. Our prayer must, at any given point of time, focus the restoration of an ability to gather insight and of evaluation.
Ours is the choice between the folly of fantasy and heavenly relevancy as present time values a mysterious development of the things divine rather than a functional response to the eternal purposes of God and the needs of a fallen generation. Our generation of Christians proves its estrangement from the Lord in its lack of sharing in His perennial burden for things lost, for values lost, for peoples lost. Prophets speak words of heavenly relevancy, real prophets speak words which confronts our pleasure-craving modernity with the reality of priestliness.
"Your princes are rebellious and companions of thieves. Everyone loves a bribe, and is pursuing rewards. They do not judge the orphan, nor does the cause of the widow come to them" (Isaiah 1:23).
"Zion shall be redeemed with justice, and her returning ones with righteousness" (Isaiah 1:27).
"They shall be ashamed of the trees which you lusted after; and you shall be ashamed of the gardens that you have chosen" (Isaiah 1:29).
Princes and prophets, pretenders in office, follow after rewards. Princes and prophets, pretenders before men, are returning from the chambers of prayer, returning from the council of the Lord without any sense of the necessity for speaking truth in love. Theirs is a covering of pretension and loftiness, the accuracy of their predictions secures their positions among a people who do not consider matters of ultimacy. God’s words are related to a realm which is tangible, in which things are verified by conscious response resulting in godliness. The fear of God results in justice expressed in a sacrificial manner among the oppressed. The fear of God is the revolt of a conscience against injustice.
A straying priesthood pitches their tent in the gardens of their own choice. A priesthood gone astray always find room for the moneylender’s tables within the courts of the Lord. Priests who are lost to priestliness prefer glamour, having no interest in glory. These men have no regard for content, they regard humility with contempt.
But Zion will be redeemed with justice. The prophet calls for a returning. The prophet’s words engage man in a recovering of what is lost. The true prophet is ashamed…The true prophet is utterly embarrassed by the behaviour of the false one. The true prophet is utterly embarrassed by the unwillingness established among men of God and their followers in regards to proper discernment, to plain man’s thinking. The true prophet shares this embarrassment with God himself.
Source: European Prophetic College - Email: EPC@Comhem.se
Back
Home | Authors | Biographies | Topics | Revivals | Books/audio/CD | Links | Translation | Prayer watch |
Vision & History | Revial Seminars | Contacting usCopyright © 2003. Ensemble Rebâtissons la Maison.
