New Thoughts (5/22/06-5/24/06)
Before I really get started on this, I must make note of the parallel between the events covered in this text and the events occurring at church yesterday. We were privileged to be present at a stirring of the waters. The Angel of the Lord most assuredly came down in our midst and stirred things up. Service was not what was expected. Was it revival? Time will tell, but it certainly was a stirring. It was and is an appointed time for this church in this city. It was the hour of visitation, and many in that service recognized the fact. But, such visitations are the ultimate limited time offer. He has sent His angel to do all He purposes in this congregation and in the city that we are in. The waters have stirred and it would appear that we are the first ones in.
I could not help noticing, as I was serving in my usual position behind the saxophone, that many – too many – did not recognize the moment. Too many were either bewildered or bemused, at any rate apparently untouched by what was transpiring. Jerusalem missed the hour of her visitation. I know that on the whole this body has not missed it. We have been waiting with expectant desire to see this hour and now it is here. The waters are stirred and the body of the church has stepped in.
The question, then, for those who are holding back is the question posed to the man on the mat: Are you really determined? Are you so hungry for wholeness that you will take action, will do what it takes to be made complete? For the rest of us, the question is not that far different. Are we determined? Caleb had a different spirit (Nu 14:24), for he followed the Lord fully and faithfully. In his way, he was an angel of the Lord, awaiting His command, and sent to do His purpose. That is the call upon us today, in the light of this visitation. The Angel of the Lord has come to this church in this moment for a purpose, for God’s purpose. I am put in mind of that event from Joshua’s time, when he was met by the captain of God’s host, one standing sword drawn, fit for battle. “Are you for us or for our adversaries?” asked Joshua. “No,” answered the angel. “I come as captain of the host of the LORD.” Joshua responded in the only way fit to the occasion. He submitted, and asked, “what command have you for His servant?”
As we prayed during the early service yesterday, the purpose was intercession on behalf of the congregation, that all blinders, all blockages, all deadness of spirit would be cast asunder. As we prayed, I began to sense that there was indeed a cordon of angels gathered about the sanctuary, pressing outwards in an expanding circle, not unlike what one sees the police doing in facing down an angry mob. These were pushing outwards, clearing the temple of every hindrance, every unclean spirit. Again, I saw one standing arms crossed, at the back of the platform, easily as tall as the room (which is probably three floors high at its peek), standing as captain of this host, commander of the visit.
As service proceeded, and particularly as the unique nature of this kairos moment became more evident, I could only think of Elisha and his servant surrounded by the enemy and seemingly defenseless, but Elisha prayed. “Lord, open his eyes that he may see,” he prayed, for his servant feared that the end was come. But, God answered that prayer, and behold! The mountains were filled with horses and chariots of fire (2Ki 6:17-18). A fitting image for a day whose theme was ‘open our eyes, Lord!’
Oh, God! That we might all see in this moment that You are present in our very midst in a way we have only heard about. No longer shall we be a generation that has only heard the stories. Now, our eyes are seeing and our ears are hearing of Your manifest presence first hand! Mighty Savior, I call out to You on behalf of those who are still sitting unaware or unbelieving. I pray as Elisha prayed – Open their eyes that they may see that host which You showed me, that host clearing every deceiving spirit, every blinding spirit, every last shred of unbelief from the House of God. Shine Your light into the darkness of doubt, Lord, and rescue them, lest they be driven out for their unbelief! Let them see those You have sent to join us, to do Your purpose in this moment. Lord! Don’t allow them to miss the time of their visitation, but show them this heavenly host that they, too, may bow down before You with the simple question of honest faith, “what would You have me do?”
As a closing thought to this, while I was hunting down the Caleb reference, my eyes were caught by an observation I had made then, which seems most appropriate to repeat here, in light of what is happening. So, I include it here as a reminder for this present, most fitting moment.
When God truly comes into His house, it won’t matter whether there are more believers or unbelievers in the area. They will know it is Him whether they want to or not. That has been the story of every real revival that man has experienced. When God comes, and it’s more than our wishful thinking, more than our tickled flesh, it will not just be the Church that notices. When God comes, we will not have to work to convince those around us that He is real. The nature of our work will simply be to shepherd and disciple all those who have come to the sudden realization that He is real. When the rebels awaken to that realization, there can only be fear. The very King against whom they rebelled is in their midst, and they know it. What can they expect but the death that is treason’s due? God moves to guard His spokesmen and, more importantly, to guard His message. He will get His Word out, and His Word will not go out in vain. It will accomplish all that it declares. He will accomplish all His purpose in mankind, whatever the opposition may try.
The Setting (5/23/06)
Here is a question that occurs to me this morning. It seems clear enough that John was writing to a primarily Gentile audience. The number of times that he stops to explain what the Hebrews called a particular place, as he does here, would seem to give sufficient evidence of this. If he were writing to his fellow Jews, after all, he would hardly have need to explain where this pool was. Even if he did consider that a necessity, he would not need to explain their own language to them, would he? But, he does mention both the name and the location of this pool for the edification of his readers. Why? What possible use was this knowledge to them? Surely, for the Gentile interested in the Christ, to know that He was in Jerusalem at some pool known for having healing properties, that were enough. Yet, he makes it specific. It was a pool called Bethesda, and it was by the Sheep Gate.
The answer that is suggested to me is that he mentions these things because they are important in their own right. They are, perhaps, more important than the fact that they were situated in Jerusalem, and certainly more important than the myth that caused the sick to congregate there. The myth does nothing more than explain why there would be so many invalids lying about in that particular spot. It was more, you see, than the fact that there were five porches offering shade in that place. It was a place of anticipation, a place of hope. It was, as the name implies a House of Mercy.
In fact, the name Bethesda, and its connection to the thought of being a house of mercy or healing is so established in the Christian world that many a hospital takes this as its name. In large part, we can thank John for this, as it is because of his mention of the name here that those who established the hospitals were aware of its meaning. See, if it was worth John’s effort to tell us the name and the location, it is because we should understand their significance, just as these founders in past ages found a need to understand it.
So, we have the House of Healing located nearby the Sheep Gate, or the Sheep Pool, as some others would have it. Either way, the significance of that vicinity is not to be lost on us. We are after all, the sheep of His pasture, and He has declared Himself our great Good Shepherd. The Shepherd, He reminds us, enters by the door. It is He who goes before His sheep that they may follow Him exclusively (Jn 10:2-4). This, He followed up by saying, “I AM the door of the sheep” (Jn 10:7). The Shepherd is at the gate by which the sheep enter the city. He stands at the pool where they can refresh themselves after the long journey, just before they enter the holy city to fulfill a holy purpose.
That pool is called the House of Mercy. Now, a number of translations leave out the mention of why it bore this name, and why the sick were there. Apparently, some manuscripts support its inclusion and others don’t. For fear of appearing to support Jewish mythology it winds up excluded. But, John only means to provide an explanation for the setting. Surely, those who needed to be told where this pool was would also be curious as to why all those folks were lying about there. So, he anticipates the question and answers it. He does not endorse their beliefs, only gives them mention so that we might understand. What is important, in his sight, is that this place, because of that myth, was called the House of Mercy, and now the God of all Mercy was standing in the midst of those who had come looking for mercy.
Even though they were there for questionable reasons, yet they attributed even that to the hand of God. If there was any healing value to those waters, it was because they were stirred up at the Lord God’s command. It was nothing about the water, it was about that certain place and being there at the certain time.
Let me turn back, though to the significance of the setting to understanding Him Who is now set there. The Shepherd has come through the Sheep Gate to arrive at the House of Mercy. Now, consider why sheep were brought through that gate, and why they passed by this pool. One article I consulted on the subject of this pool made note that it was probably the only fresh water source in this close to Jerusalem, a perfect spot to water the sheep as they were driven in from the countryside. I would note that in Scripture, we generally find fresh water sources spoken of as living water. It is alive and replenished by springs, unlike the more typical cisterns and the rain waters they hold. Here, then, was the Living Water standing at the pool. But, returning to the sheep, they were brought this way for the sacrifice. They had been most carefully raised, they had been culled from the flock because they were of the proper age and they were spotless and undamaged. They were fit for the sacrifice and they were brought here to fulfill their purpose.
What I see in this image, then, is the Shepherd identifying with His sheep, indeed He has joined His sheep. He is there on the path of sacrifice because of His mercy towards them. He will undertake to know in His own experience what they must face in theirs. He has come to be the sacrifice that those who are seeking the hope of mercy may find it. As He stops by the pool, he comes upon this scene of need, yet it is not the magnitude of the need that draws His attention on this occasion. There is a whole flock of desperate sheep about Him, all of which have need of His mercy, yet He has come for the one.
Even in the midst of walking out His purpose, my Jesus has such great compassion that He will step aside from His journey to help this man, however undeserving he may be. It is not that He has set aside His purpose, for His purpose is to seek and save the lost. Yet, we know what was to come upon Him in this city, we know what His arrival by this path foreshadows, and He surely knows it, too. In all that He does in the course of ministry, His eyes are never off of that final goal, that final moment. It is always there before Him because He knows full well that it is for this that He was sent. Yet, that purpose never blinds Him to the need of the moment. That purpose never distracts Him from being the Shepherd He was likewise meant to be. He is never so caught up in His great Purpose that He cannot be one with His sheep and minister to them. He did not, Paul writes, consider His Godhood a thing to be grasped (Php 2:6). Instead, He emptied Himself to become like us – the Shepherd Who joined His sheep.
A Different Spirit (Echoes of Caleb) (5/23/06)
As I considered the words of this passage, something in the definition of an angel put me in mind of Caleb once again, particularly of that description God has for him: Caleb has a different spirit, for he has done all my purpose (Nu 14:24). When I look at what the dictionaries have to say about angels, I notice this about them. They are spirits which wait upon God’s command, and by that command are sent to do as He purposes. Now, we can debate over whether pastors are the intended recipients of that description ‘angel of the church’ or not, but inasmuch as they wait upon God’s command and then do as He purposes they fulfill the office of angel full well. The same can be said for any one amongst us who lives as a servant of the Most High God, who lives it more than he says it. Caleb didn’t go about telling everybody how diligent he was to pursue God’s purpose. He just did it. He lived it. He had a different spirit, he had the spirit of an angel.
So, I mentioned at the start of this study the sense of there being angels in our church this Sunday in a way far more sensate, more real than usual. The articles on this word also make note of the fact that the angel of the church, that particular spirit in this case, not the pastor, shares in the success or the failure of that church. If it is doing well in God’s opinion, that angel has done well. If it is all appearance and no substance, there is a very depressed angel in the area, feeling that he has done all he can and still failed his mission. A servant of God cannot be happy in failing of God’s purpose. He cannot even be happy if his failure is part of God’s purpose, in all honesty. Yes, it’s a consolation to know that this was ordained by Him Who sent you, but that doesn’t make the failure of the attempt any more satisfying. In regards to our own visitation, I cannot say as yet whether our angel is pleased or sorrowful. I suspect at the moment he has mixed feelings. Surely, progress was made this Sunday. Surely things have been put in motion that have lain stagnant for a time. Yet, there is so much more.
The point I want to get to here is that there are times to God’s purposes. As Pastor Najem has taught us, there are certain places and certain times. The spirit of the angel, being wholly subject to God is subject to those certain times and places. The angel is the agent of kairos, the purpose of the moment and the moment of the purpose. In light of this, I have this sense that there is a particular angel purposed with visiting this church or that, with going into those churches to which he is appointed and ‘stirring the waters.’ This is what revival is, a stirring of the waters. It is a manifestation of the God of Mercy come into His house. It is the time for which so many are waiting, and when that time is come, those who are waiting must be ready to move, ready to jump in. The time will pass. The angel will be sent to other places, and if we have missed the moment, we shall have no one to blame but ourselves. Do you hear how the lame man answers Jesus? He has all manner of excuses for why he was late to the movement, but again, there is no one to blame but himself.
Hear this, though. Sheep follow the voice of the Shepherd. They know His voice, and when they hear His voice, they go after Him. This is good. Of course it is good. It is commended by the Shepherd. But, Caleb had a different spirit. He wasn’t just pulled back from his own distractions when the Shepherd’s voice finally got through to him. He was waiting on the Lord. He was attentive to his King, itching to be off on the King’s mission. He was not a sheep, he was a servant. He did not have the spirit of the sheep, satisfied to lie about in pleasant pastures until forced onward by the call of the Protector. He had the spirit of an angel; serving his Commander, and going forth to do all that He purposes.
When the angel of the Church comes to stir up the waters of the church, he is come with a purpose. That purpose is to transform sheep into servants. That purpose is to transform lame and weary pew sitters into vibrant and determined warriors, ready to take on the darkness in the power of the Light. It is a time of recruitment for those in the church, and it is a time of rescue for those outside. The legions sent on our behalf have pushed back the forces of the enemy for a time that we might go out in their wake and rescue the prisoners. There is an opportunity here, right now in this city, for us to do for the Kingdom as never before. Hope is being set before the hopeless, and the purpose is put in our hands to make them aware of it. I firmly believe that so long as we are fulfilling His present kairos purpose on our part, that army that He has sent to us will continue to pursue purpose with us.
We must be mindful, though, that the purpose of the Lord will be done with or without us. If we will not get up, get out and pursue His purpose, He will send His army to another tribe who will. Revival is not a call to lay back and be entertained by Daddy God. It is a call to service in the forces of my Lord and King. It’s time to preach the Kingdom. It’s time to preach the Kingdom not only in words, but in deeds. That time has come to Lowell, if we will have it. God’s will will be done, and we are handed an opportunity to be part of its doing.
Holy Father and King, don’t let this moment pass us by. Don’t let us miss the moment of our visitation. Oh, my Lord, make of this sheep a servant, a soldier. So much is converging right now. So much of what You have been teaching me in the last year or so. Those dreams where the darkness has had to succumb to the Light, the whole matter of Caleb, the call for obedient witness, it’s all about this moment, God. Let me hear, in this hour, the exact command of Your lips, Lord. Keep me awake to Your presence in every moment of every day, to know exactly what and when You would have me to do, and, oh! My God! Let me be found ready, willing and made able by Your Spirit in me.
A Limited Time Offer (5/24/06)
An angel of the Lord went down at certain divinely appointed times into the pool, and stirred up the waters. This has been the story of the Church ever since. The Church is itself divinely appointed, the only pool furnished by Living Waters, a place of refreshing for one and all who will come. Reading about the pool John writes of, it was suggested that the pool was likely fed by an intermittent spring. This, too, is a description the fits the Church quite well. It has indeed been an intermittent spring, going through periods of dryness and outright drought, only to be filled once again. Then, in those moments God has ordained, when the time is right by His reckoning, an angel comes to stir the waters.
We know it is like this. We know from history that there have been those times when the waters were stirred in a certain place, and that region was radically changed by the impact of that stirring. In part, America can trace its existence as a nation to just such a stirring, as much as men try to deny that now. The spiritual revolution that swept through the colonies in the wake of visits by Wesley and Whitfield was a necessary precursor to the more visceral revolution that brought the Colonies out from under the British. The Welsh revival, while not establishing a new nation, was no less powerful in its impact. In plain point of fact, wherever real revival has been visited on a people, it has been far more than the faithful in the Church that have been affected by it.
These times of real revival are the epitome of the kairos moment. They are divine appointments. They are those points in time when the angel of the Lord has been sent to a particular place to stir up the Church. Wherever this has happened, one discovers an amazing thing: it is not just the folks in church who are waiting for that moment. “I did not come to visit the healthy, but to heal the sick.” That’s the unchanged message of the Christ Whom we serve. “I didn’t come to entertain you, to get you all excited so you could chat with each other about what a wonderful service it was. I came so that you would get up and start doing the kingdom work.”
There’s a world of sickness out there, folks in the same condition as those who gathered around the pool in Bethesda. They are sick unto death and they know it. They know their only hope is to be there when the waters are stirred, when the Sovereign Lord determines to move. They are waiting for their kairos moment with a desperation that is so far beyond every desire and longing of the most fervent prayer warrior. Only, we can’t see it, because they are paralyzed by their sins. They may be walking about town, continuing in their daily routine, but they are suffering from a spiritual paralysis, and their spirits know that this time of stirred waters is their one moment of hope. It is the right time, and it is most assuredly a limited period of time.
It occurs to me that this is one aspect of revival that we just refuse to acknowledge. Because it is a kairos moment, it is a limited time event. This is in part for our own protection. Recall what became of Shiloh. That was one of the great places of revival. It was a place where it was widely known that God was visiting His people. What became of it? God was all but forgotten as people idolized the place He had come down. Consider the Temple. Again, the place where God came to dwell among His people came to be honored above He who came. Consider the places where God has come to visit in more recent times. Azuza Street has become the idol of the Pentecostals, so great in their sight that they have just celebrated its centenary. What about God? Consider Brownsville. It became a movement in its own right, it became a Mecca of sorts, with people going down in droves to see the spectacle. What about God?
It should be noted that in none of these cases was the fault to be found in the place of visitation. The fault lies in the sin of man, that cannot seem to tolerate the reality of righteousness without tarnishing it. In each of these cases, a visitation was assumed to mean a permanent indwelling, a permanent manifestation. We were fine with the fact that it was a divinely appointed time, but we were convinced that His divine appointment was a lifetime commission. God says, though, that these visits are for a time and a season. I dare say that He limits the duration of His visits for our own benefit. The energy it would require from us to dwell in that manifestation for an more extended period would rapidly drain us to the point of destruction.
We have been waiting for this kairos moment, and it seems pretty clear that the moment has come. Now is the hour of our visitation, but it is an hour, not an epoch. Now is the time when God has determined to be in our midst, to stir us up and to call us to action. Outside the walls of the church are a hungry and desperate people. The porches surrounding this place of His choosing are filled with those in need, longing to be the first ones in, waiting for a moment of hope.
The stirring of the waters is a stirring of hope for them. For us, it has got to be more than an emotional outburst. Of course we’re going to get all excited about His presence, but if that’s the extent of it, we have failed utterly. If that’s the extent of it, I rather doubt it was God who came to visit. If there is excitement amongst the people of God, it has got to spill over into service in His purpose. The sheep who have been visited must necessarily become servants.
The moment is here. I have very little doubt of that. The moment is here, but it is for a time. Now is the hour of our visitation, and it is incumbent upon us not to miss it. It is incumbent upon us in this hour of our visitation to be more attentive than ever to what God is saying, to what God is commanding. It’s not good enough to hear Him calling us back when we’ve wandered off. This is a season to be waiting on the Lord as never before, attentively looking to Him to see what He would have us to do and, like the angel of the Lord, like Caleb who had a different spirit, instant to do what He would have done. Now is the moment of purpose. Carpe Diem!
Determined to Act (5/24/06)
In this moment of purpose, the question is no longer, “are you willing?” Many are willing to be changed, but few are determined to change. Many are willing to be made well, but few are determined to be well. Many are willing to be made righteous, but few are determined to be righteous. This is the question Jesus put to the man on the mat. “Are you determined to act on this desire of yours?” You want to be healthy, but are you determined to do what you must do to be made healthy? You want to be a better husband, but are you willing to do what is necessary to be a better husband? You want to be a pure and spotless bride when He comes, but are you ready to do what it takes?
Is it more than wishful thinking? That’s the question of Christ to His people, to you and to me. Is it more than wishful thinking? Are you resolved? Are you so determined to see this thing come to pass that you are right on the verge of doing it? Or are you like this man, lying on his mat, seeing the hope set before him but unwilling to do what it takes to make hope a reality? If it’s really a matter of inability, if you are truly striving toward that goal of the kingdom with every ounce of strength you possess, but you just can’t reach it, that’s really to be expected, and you can be sure that the Coming King will indeed bear you to the finish line Himself.
Notice, that He didn’t as the man if he was planning to make himself better. He asked if he was determined to be made whole. That word ‘be made’ is the word of creation. Here in the midst of need stood the Creator, the One Who alone can create from nothing. Here is the One Who can make a way where there is no way. Here is the One Who made you in the first place, and He can most assuredly see to your repairs! Are you determined to be created? Are you determined to be caused to be? To be made to have the quality, condition and character that you were created to have? Are you ready to act, given the opportunity?
Finally, there is the particular condition He asks about. Are you determined to be made whole – not only well in body, but true and accurate in doctrine, sound in body, soul, spirit, heart and mind? The whole of the man must be made healthy or the health of the body is for naught. Are you determined?
This is the question for the Church under visitation. Are you determined? A dear brother of mine was exhorting me recently, as I faced down a particular challenge in my life. He reminded me of the Valley of Decision, where the Scriptures point to the multitude stuck in that valley, unable or unwilling to move on. They are stuck there, he pointed out to me, because they have not made the decision. They have not determined to get out, so they remain. It took several weeks thereafter before I could say that I was really determined in the matter I was battling, but the time came. The time came when all that is in me welled up against the bonds and declared the day of the Lord.
For us, it is really just a determination to believe what God has said. It is a determination to believe God Is Who HE says He is, that He does what He says He does, that He means what He says. It is a determination to live the life He created us to live, not the cheep imitation that is offered to us every day. To the Church in revival the God of revival says, “Are you really determined?” Are you really determined to see Me manifest in your city, in your family, in your life? Because, if you’re not determined to see it in your life, then it’s wishful thinking to expect it for your family. If you’re not determined to see it in your family, than to speak of it for the city is vanity and wind.
If you are truly determined to act upon this hunger, to be made My manifest presence, know that it will not be in your own power that I am made manifest, but in your weakness. What the man on the mat said was true. He could not get himself up off the mat, but now there was one who could indeed put him in the pool, the Pool Himself. We are no different in this regard. We cannot put ourselves into a state of righteousness, but now there is One with us who can, Righteousness Himself. If we are going to manifest Him to a hungry people, we will have to stop manifesting ourselves. If it is more than a dream, we must will ourselves to His will, but it must be that real willing that is not just an expression of preference, but a determination.
I wrote, as the doctrinal point of this passage, that there is a place for the will of man in the work of God. Here is that place. The place for our will is to be absolutely determined to do His will, to seek His will, to await His will, and to act upon His will so soon as it is made known to us. That is the angelic spirit. That is the spirit that dwelt in Caleb. That is the spirit of the True Believer. God is not looking for wishful thinkers now, nor has He ever. He’s not looking for those who wistfully think upon what could have been, who are so caught up in their excuses for why it can’t be that way that they forget they are with the God of Impossibilities. There is no place for wishful thinkers in the camp of Him to Whom the word impossible does not apply! That camp is a camp for determined laborers. Are you determined? Are you really determined to put your back into whatever He may call upon you to do in His service? Are your eyes on His agenda, or your own? The servant has no agenda. His is to pursue his master’s agenda, and his master’s agenda alone. The slave may have no choice in the matter, but the servant has chosen to serve. He has willed to will his master’s will. Are you determined?
