How can I share with you the wonder of the Kingdom—the beautiful, silent ethereal music and dance of His Kingdom?
We who have gone through the night vigil of tribulation, through the trials, even knowing that there is more to come, cannot but fix our hope upon “the joys that are set before us.”
Hebrews 12:2–3, NASB: Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you may not grow weary and lose heart.
Like the wonders of fresh days at dawning, they send the first sounds of their joy and rejoicing ahead of them. The dark shadows and evil portents of tribulations and terrors of the night before us fade away before the dawning wonder of that which is just beyond. Ineffable is the privilege of watching with eager faith the changes that dance before the eyes of our spirits.
Psalm 130:4–6, NASB: But there is forgiveness with Thee, that Thou mayest be feared. I wait for the Lord, my soul does wait, and in His word do I hope. My soul waits for the Lord more than the watchmen for the morning; indeed, more than the watchmen for the morning.
Who could have imagined or envisioned this amazing thing that is transpiring in our lives, in our brothers and sisters? It is like watching a birth, seeing a lamb born. There is the mingling of all the elements of the hopeful travail of our pregnant times, full with the promise of a new life. Like a little calf, wobbly on its feet, or a little goat that is taught to stand as soon as he can, we who are born in the midst of this hour are aware that we are born at a time when the dragon is ready to devour all that is born of God; the predatory beasts of the spirit are ready to destroy what God is birthing.
Revelation 12:4b–5, NASB: And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her child. And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron; and her child was caught up to God and to His throne.
We prepare ourselves for flight, like a little lamb on shaky feet. In the fresh hours after birth we stand, with trembling and shaking, because all nature has taught, and God Himself teaches, that we should be filled with faith from the hour of our birth. We are prepared in our spirit and in our mind to leap over the walls, to avoid the traps and the snares, and to possess the future (Psalm 141:8–10).
Psalm 18:29, NASB: For by Thee I can run upon a troop; and by my God I can leap over a wall.
God is our future. We have set our hope and our affection upon Him (Colossians 3:1–2).
There have been hopes and dreams of men of the world that caused them to strive, labor, and discipline themselves so that they could attain lesser goals: a little recognition, money, position, relationships.
We labor for something more. We labor for the wonder of the day when battle ceases. We will stand before Him, having fought a good fight and having finished the course, having kept the faith, to hear Him say, “Well done.”
Paul told Timothy, I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing. II Timothy 4:7–8, NASB. In the parable of the talents we read, “His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave; you were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things, enter into the joy of your master.’ ” Matthew 25:21, NASB.
Like David, we are now a fugitive in a land where it had been promised that we would be king (I Samuel 23:14). But we strive and we labor and we battle, and we do whatever is necessary to see that the entrapment of Satan is avoided—and that the workings of God in our heart are not avoided, but that we confront them full on and say, “Work Thy will in us, O Lord” (Philippians 2:13). Those who bemoan the journey, and feel that the way is too difficult, may likely perish in the wilderness before they reach the objective that God’s commission had given them (Psalm 106:24–26).
This day in my heart is a wonder, and a joy, at our privilege. There can be no award in this world to equal that which comes when He says, “I have chosen you and ordained you that you should go forth and bear fruit” (John 15:16). What a privilege to participate in this most amazing breakthrough of ages, of dispensations, and to stand before the Lord and say, “Thank You, Lord, that You allowed us to run” (Hebrews 12:1–2).
“For truly I say to you, that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it; and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.” Matthew 13:17, NASB.
Many desired to see this age; but by Thy choosing, O Lord, we were privileged to live in the flush of the morning of this new day.
The unhappiness of man is a necessary outcome; also the futility of all creation is a necessary expression of this age. “The cattle are moaning in the field. The seeds die in the clods. Joy is withered away from the sons of men” (Joel 1:12, 17–20). But in the midst of futility there is a crying unto the Lord, with the thankful anticipation that we have been chosen to live, to be brought forth in this hour of darkness. Our anticipation shall see the dawn.
Blow a trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm on My holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming; surely it is near, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness. As the dawn is spread over the mountains, so there is a great and mighty people; there has never been anything like it, nor will there be again after it to the years of many generations. Joel 2:1–2, NASB.
“We wait for Thee, O Lord, more than they that wait for the morning” (Psalm 130:6). We are like the watchers on the wall who are ready to blow the trumpets. Yea, we have already sounded them.
Listen! Your watchmen lift up their voices, they shout joyfully together; for they will see with their own eyes when the Lord restores Zion. Isaiah 52:8, NASB.
On your walls, O Jerusalem, I have appointed watchmen; all day and all night they will never keep silent. You who remind the Lord, take no rest for yourselves; and give Him no rest until He establishes and makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth. Isaiah 62:6–7, NASB.
A new day is coming. It does not come as men would hope for, for the light dawns upon our rags, upon our wounds, upon the filthiness of our hearts that we are able to see for the first time.
Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments and standing before the angel. And he spoke and said to those who were standing before him saying, “Remove the filthy garments from him.” Again he said to him, “See, I have taken your iniquity away from you and will clothe you with festal robes.” Zechariah 3:3–4, NASB. And in the midst of all this hour we do not focus on ourselves, but we look to the Lord and say, “Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord” (John 12:13). Our hopes and our expectations revive. They surge up like a rising current, like a tide that will sweep over all of the entrenchment of evil against it.
“But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap.” Malachi 3:2, NASB.
The ominous day of the Lord is come, and who shall be able to stand? In this hour, who shall present himself before the Lord? And what defiant heart will not quail and withdraw from His presence? Rebellious ones will hide in caves, and call for the rocks and mountains to fall upon them (Revelation 6:16). But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength … Isaiah 40:31.
In this hour a joy comes from the Lord: the wonder of having been chosen, the marvel that we have had revelation of His Word. We vessels of earth look upon ourselves and say, “We brethren are the most unworthy; yet God has moved among us, and He is pleased to manifest Himself through us.”
For God, who said, “Light shall shine out of darkness,” is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the surpassing greatness of the power may be of God and not from ourselves; we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. II Corinthians 4:6–10, NASB. How base we are, how weak, how foolish! (I Corinthians 1:27–28.) And yet the amazing thing is that we see God coming to shine forth in our midst to confound the enemy, to bring down all the thoughts of the haughty (II Corinthians 10:4–5), to be glorified in us (II Thessalonians 1:10).
What a privilege! What an overwhelming joy! What a surging thing that comes up and seems to suffocate us with the wonder that we are His and that this is His hour, His day! We stand in awe before Him. Our hearts are filled with the silent exaltations, as inexpressible as the “groanings too deep for words.” And in the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. Romans 8:26–27, NASB.
The day of the Lord dawns with clouds and tears, but our hearts see only the sunrise.
Our joyful privilege of walking with God is greater than any dread of the perils of the walk.
The world is in travail because these are pregnant times full of the promise of a new age.