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Our kings need to die so that we may see Jesus.
A lot of people are going to Hell for eternity. A lot of believers are living in hell right now on this earth waiting to go to Heaven. They are "Prisoners in The Promise Land." This became even more apparent to my wife and I during a recent trip to Europe. What is the solution? Jesus must glorify Himself to these people, or reveal Himself to them. Glorify means to reveal, to be seen, to see the real thing.
People can hear about God, people can hear the Gospel, people can listen to testimonies, but real salvation occurs when God glorifies Himself, or makes Himself known to a person. When that happens that person will have an opportunity to fear God and not man. It is difficult to describe to someone who has not seen Jesus. He longs to show up in person and reveal Himself. When that happens our lives will change.
How does that occur?
1. Desperation. This subject is discussed later in this chapter and even more amplified in the next chapter.
2. Truth. We need light. Light comes to us when we sow truth.
John 3:19-21:
“19 “And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
20 “For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.
21 “But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.””
2 Thessalonians 2:10-12:
“10 and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
11 And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie,
12 that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”
Just a reminder that God delivers us from our enemies, the things we hate, not our "friends."
3. Obedience. There is a spiritual law in affect. When one obeys God, God reveals Himself in a greater degree.
John 14:21 (Amplified Bible):
21 The person who has My commands and keeps them is the one who [really] loves Me; and whoever [really] loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I [too] will love him and will show (reveal, manifest) Myself to him. [I will let Myself be clearly seen by him and make Myself real to him.]
Some examples of God glorifying or showing Himself to people.
Recently my wife and I toured the Island of Rhodes in Greece where the Apostle Paul had visited as recorded in Acts chapter 21. We prayed before leaving the ship that God would put us with the perfect cab driver of His choice. A cab driver approached us and gave us his sales pitch. We felt good about this man. He was older, had a good knowledge of the island to share with us, and had a good countenance. His wife had visited Israel and was probably a God fearing woman. This man had just been through a near death experience with a blocked artery and major surgery.
He showed us the building wherein the United Nations had, in 1947, voted to accept Israel as a sovereign nation. We did not do a lot of preaching, just some testimony and normal discussions. I told him about my grandfather Spiro Chkoreff who passed away in 1936 in a miraculous manner. Spiro was an evangelist and church planter in Detroit Michigan. His circulatory system was failing therefore his feet and hands would become cold. One day as he way lying in bed, his son, my Uncle Mike, was rubbing his feet to make them warm. Spiro looked up at him and said, "Son, you can stop now, Gabriel is here for me." Spiro then gloriously passed into Heaven. This story touched the cab driver deeply.
Throughout the day we witnessed the Holy Spirit through us glorify Jesus to this Greek Orthodox man. We felt that he was a God fearing man, but this day Jesus glorified Himself to this man in a brand new way. He told us that he would never forget this day, and that he would always tell all the people he could how God sent him special messengers that day.
Many years ago one of my sons had a job in a retail store when he was a teenager. He demonstrated God's character on the job, not by shoving the Gospel message down their throats, but by quietly standing for the Lord. A fellow employee persecuted him harshly, constantly telling him how stupid he was for believing in God. One day many months later, this fellow employee fell on some kind of devastating experience. He came into work one day, and in tears thanked my son for not giving in to his persecution, and that through his quiet and gentle stand for Jesus, this man came to a saving knowledge for his own life. This was an example of Jesus glorifying Himself though a mere teenager who was attempting to live his life in holiness for the Lord. The sweet smelling fragrance of the Lord came out of this clay vessel!
Many people do not experience real salvation because they fear the opinion of others. I have heard it said that the same area of the brain that is affected by physical pain is also affected by the exclusion or rejection by others. However, that fear or pain is often overcome by a good clear vision or glorification of God in one's life. Ecclesiastes 12:13 says, "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, For this is man’s all."
Isaiah became desperate.
He saw something that he had never seen before, even as a prophet of God.
Isaiah's king died and the result was fruit for the Kingdom of God.
Isaiah in the first five chapters was lamenting over the earthly kingdoms that had gone bad. He saw them replaced by a spiritual kingdom. “In that day the Branch of the LORD shall be beautiful and glorious; And the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and appealing For those of Israel who have escaped” (Isaiah 4:2).
Then something happened that caused a radical change in Isaiah and his relationship with the Lord. The king during that period was King Uzziah. At one time he was a great and powerful king. He brought peace, prosperity and security to the people, as well as spiritual revival. However Uzziah's aspirations went beyond God's plan and will, as he also wanted to be a priest. Finally, after much effort by people to stop him, he took the place of a priest in the Temple and was stricken by leprosy.
Just think of the embarrassment of the people when they had to tell visiting dignitaries that their king was living out in back of the palace in a little shack because he had leprosy.
Finally the great king died.
“In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple” (Isaiah 6:1, KJV). His king died, but he saw also the Lord. It is important to utilize the original King James version, as the other more modern translations do not use the word, also. Isaiah's earthly hope and security had died, and that is when he also saw the Lord.
Isaiah saw the Lord like he had never seen Him before.
“In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke” (Isaiah 6:1-4, KJV). The seraphims were fiery angels. It was an awesome sight.
When we really see the Lord, we also obtain an accurate view of ourselves.
“Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone [undone and ruined]; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts. Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged” (Isaiah 6:5-7, KJV) (bracketed comment from Amplified Bible).
We can expect sanctification.
Woe is an expression of grief and despair. Notice not only did Isaiah see himself as an undone and ruined person, but also when he saw himself in this way immediately the Lord caused a cleansing from the altar. That is our God. He is quick to cleanse us when we repent, and normally we can only repent when we really see Him. I believe that this is what we now call sanctification, which results in consecration and holiness in character. Without this type of encounter with the Lord on a regular basis, we will not be able to see the King and hear Him speak. Without hearing Him speak, we cannot operate in the Kingdom of God. Go to God daily to cleanse you from your fleshly ways. Ask Him to uncover strongholds and generational sins. Often, strongholds are sneaky because we cannot notice them ourselves. Strongholds cause us to act ungodly in involuntary way without even premeditation.
Without this type of cleansing, the enemy will keep us impotent with guilt and shame, and the Kingdom of God will not be real in our everyday lives.
Isaiah peered into the Kingdom of God.
Notice in Isaiah 6:5, above, Isaiah said, "Mine eyes have seen the King." He saw the Lord not only as the Lord, or God, but as a King. Kings must have kingdoms, and I submit that this is where Isaiah caught a vision of the coming Kingdom of God. Notice in Isaiah 9:6-7 Isaiah prophesied of the coming Kingdom of God. “For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace There will be no end, Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, To order it and establish it with judgment and justice From that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this” (Isaiah 9:6, 7).
After his cleansing, Isaiah heard the Lord speak.
In my life I usually hear God speak very well after repenting. As I will describe, hearing God speak is your key to the Kingdom of God. This time Isaiah heard God say, “Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: 'Whom shall I send, And who will go for Us?' Then I said, 'Here am I! Send me'"(Isaiah 6:8).
God asked Isaiah to preach a very strange message.
“And He said, 'Go, and tell this people: Keep on hearing, but do not understand; Keep on seeing, but do not perceive.' Make the heart of this people dull, And their ears heavy, And shut their eyes; Lest they see with their eyes, And hear with their ears, And understand with their heart, And return and be healed." (Isaiah 6:9, 10).
Isaiah asked how long he would have to preach such a message.
The Lord answered in verses 11-12, saying, “Then I said, 'Lord, how long?' And He answered: 'Until the cities are laid waste and without inhabitant, The houses are without a man, The land is utterly desolate, The LORD has removed men far away, And the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land'” (Isaiah 6:11, 12).
Why would God ask anyone to preach such a strange message?
I believe that God was saying, "Until the people become desperate." We rarely see the King and the Kingdom until we become desperate and gut level honest.
Notice in Mark chapter 4 when Jesus was teaching on the Kingdom of God working according to the parable of the sower, He quoted what He had told Isaiah here in Isaiah chapter 6.
Mark 4:11, 12:
11And He said to them, To you has been entrusted the mystery of the kingdom of God [that is, the secret counsels of God which are hidden from the ungodly]; but for those outside [of our circle] everything becomes a parable,
12In order that they may [indeed] look and look but not see and perceive, and may hear and hear but not grasp and comprehend, lest haply they should turn again, and it [their willful rejection of the truth] should be forgiven them.
In a following chapter we will go into detail on why the Kingdom of God is restricted to certain types of people, and who qualifies for it. I believe that one reason that Jesus hides the power of bearing fruit from some is that He hides His power from His enemies. God's main enemy is Satan who is the father of lies. However Satan has many "children" who also willfully reject the truth. If our government had a huge and powerful nuclear bomb, they would do everything needed to keep the enemy away from it. So with God, He hides the power of the fruit bearing process from those who do not love the truth.
Isaiah's experience in summary.
Isaiah became desperate because the "king" he was trusting in died.
Isaiah "saw" the Lord like he had never seen Him before.
Isaiah "saw" himself, a man undone, like he had never seen before.
Isaiah repented.
Isaiah was cleansed by the Lord, sanctified.
Isaiah saw the King, and peered into the Kingdom of God.
Isaiah heard God speak.
Isaiah obeyed God's voice.
Isaiah bore fruit, exponentially, for the Kingdom of God. His fruit is still reproducing in the earth today.The Kingdom of God is about bearing fruit.
God created us to be fruit bearers, but when Adam sinned he took the human race out of the fruit bearing process and into making life work by sweat and thorns. However, Jesus came and preached the Kingdom of God. He constantly said, "Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand" (Matthew 3:2). More often than not, we cannot be fruit-bearers in God's Kingdom until our "kings die."
The process that Isaiah went through qualified him to begin to bear fruit.
Isaiah became desperate, saw the Lord and the King, saw his own unholy condition, heard God and obeyed. He began to bear fruit. Just look some of these issues that Isaiah spoke about after He saw the Lord and began to bear fruit. Just think how much fruit these prophecies have borne since Isaiah had a revelation of them. Multi millions of people have found the Lord through Isaiah's prophecies.
Isaiah's prophecy of the virgin birth of Jesus is in chapter 7. “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14).
Isaiah's prophecy of the character of the Messiah is covered in chapter 11. “There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, And a Branch shall grow out of his roots. The Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon Him, The Spirit of wisdom and understanding, The Spirit of counsel and might, The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD. His delight is in the fear of the LORD, And He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes, Nor decide by the hearing of His ears; But with righteousness He shall judge the poor, And decide with equity for the meek of the earth; He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, And with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt of His loins, And faithfulness the belt of His waist” (Isaiah 11:1-5).
There are many more prophecies from Isaiah that have borne fruit for millions of people, not the least of which is Isaiah's prophecies of Jesus in Chapters 53 and 61.
In future chapters we will cover more specifically how fruit is borne within the Kingdom of God and what types of fruit God produces through us.
Isaiah 53:1-12
“1 Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
2 For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, And as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness; And when we see Him, There is no beauty that we should desire Him.
3 He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
4 Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted.
5 But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before its shearers is silent, So He opened not His mouth.
8 He was taken from prison and from judgment, And who will declare His generation? For He was cut off from the land of the living; For the transgressions of My people He was stricken.
9 And they made His grave with the wicked--But with the rich at His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was any deceit in His mouth.
10 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, And the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in His hand.
11 He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, For He shall bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great, And He shall divide the spoil with the strong, Because He poured out His soul unto death, And He was numbered with the transgressors, And He bore the sin of many, And made intercession for the transgressors.”
Isaiah 61:1-11
“1 “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me, Because the LORD has anointed Me To preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives, And the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, And the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn,
3 To console those who mourn in Zion, To give them beauty for ashes, The oil of joy for mourning, The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; That they may be called trees of righteousness, The planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.”
4 And they shall rebuild the old ruins, They shall raise up the former desolations, And they shall repair the ruined cities, The desolations of many generations.
5 Strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, And the sons of the foreigner Shall be your plowmen and your vinedressers.
6 But you shall be named the priests of the LORD, They shall call you the servants of our God. You shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, And in their glory you shall boast.
7 Instead of your shame you shall have double honor, And instead of confusion they shall rejoice in their portion. Therefore in their land they shall possess double; Everlasting joy shall be theirs.
8 “For I, the LORD, love justice; I hate robbery for burnt offering; I will direct their work in truth, And will make with them an everlasting covenant.
9 Their descendants shall be known among the Gentiles, And their offspring among the people. All who see them shall acknowledge them, That they are the posterity whom the LORD has blessed.”
10 I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, My soul shall be joyful in my God; For He has clothed me with the garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness, As a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments, And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
11 For as the earth brings forth its bud, As the garden causes the things that are sown in it to spring forth, So the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.”
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