We are continuing on in the series on the judgment that is upon the professing Church. If we look at Scripture and the character of God, it is no longer an option to think that we are not under His judgment. We must begin to recognize that we are under His judgment and why we are under His judgment. If He does not enlighten our eyes to these things, we will remain under His judgment. It is really that simple. In our day many seem to recognize that something is wrong, but a program or an event is thought to be what is needed. The only thing we can do is to begin to seek the face of the Lord in humility and with broken hearts, though even those are His work in the soul and not something that can be worked up by human effort. But until the Lord shines His face upon us to some degree we will not see the sin or our dark hearts and the reasons why the Lord has turned His face from us.
For all of us have become like one who is unclean, And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; And all of us wither like a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. 7 There is no one who calls on Your name, Who arouses himself to take hold of You; For You have hidden Your face from us And have delivered us into the power of our iniquities (Isaiah 64:6-7).
Last time we looked at several passages of Scripture in an effort to see something of how Scripture uses and what it means when it speaks of the face of God. We saw that Scripture uses the phrase to speak of the presence of God. When His face is turned toward a people or a person, it is His favorable presence to do good to them. When His face is hidden from them, it is a judgment upon them. Other texts speak of the face of the Lord being set against a people to do harm to them. We then saw from our text that the judgments of God in Isaiah 64:6-7 are all linked to God hiding His face from the people. When God hides His face from a people, they are without power to resist or stand against evil and so they are delivered into the power of their iniquities.
Another thing that we must point out here is that no denomination or theological position is distinguished here. If people are unclean, then their theology is unclean as well. If there is no one who calls on His name, then regardless of their theological position they do not call on His name. We should not think of this text as saying that no one ever calls on God at all, but that no one calls on His name in truth. Throughout the Old Testament we see people calling upon their gods in order to deliver them and to do something for them. In Scripture, however, a person’s name stood for who they were. The name of God, then, is not just a word that distinguishes Him, but refers to His whole character and what He is. In other words, if no one calls on “Your name” then no one is calling on the true God. Remember that eternal life is to know Him and that one must know Him in order to love and be like Him.
Another aspect of calling on the name of God is to arouse ourselves and to take hold of Him. This is suggestive and powerful language. In some ways it is almost blasphemous if we take this in a literalistic sense, but it speaks volumes when we understand that it refers to the zeal and desires of the soul to know God and to seek Him for who He really is. Hosea 7:7 teaches us something when it sets this out: “All of them are hot like an oven, and they consume their rulers; all their kings have fallen. None of them calls on Me.” We see heat in some people in their political and financial dealings, but when that is true those same people are not calling on God. Many times people get frustrated with their political rulers and they forget who is really in control and so they forget God.
What does it mean to take hold of God? Genesis 30 gives us one picture: “Then Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. 25 When he saw that he had not prevailed against him, he touched the socket of his thigh; so the socket of Jacob’s thigh was dislocated while he wrestled with him. 26 Then he said, “Let me go, for the dawn is breaking.” But he said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” 27 So he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” 28 He said, “Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel; for you have striven with God and with men and have prevailed.” Luke 22:44 gives us one picture of Christ who was taking hold of God in prayer: “And being in agony He was praying very fervently; and His sweat became like drops of blood, falling down upon the ground.” Hebrews 5:7 gives a second picture of Christ in this: “In the days of His flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His piety.” If this is what it means to take hold of God, then certainly the professing Church is under the judgment of God. We give canned prayers and ask for blessings rather than take hold of God in prayer and in faith in other parts of life. We offer prayers that are at best with a small percentage of our desires and hearts. Is there any real reason to deny that God has turned His face and we are not seeking Him in our day? Sure we have commentaries and books galore. But where is God? His face has been turned away and He has hidden Himself from us. When God hides Himself, there is no way to find Him apart from His grace.
In times past (biblical and then in history after the NT times) when God was going to send a revival “He set His people a prayin.” True prayer is not to be seen as man trying to wrest something from an unwilling Deity, but it is actually God working a desire for Himself in the hearts of people before He grants them the desire of their hearts. When people are not being broken for their sin and from their own efforts and sufficiency, God is not working a desire for Himself in them. When people are not truly seeking God, a blessing of God Himself is not close. The account that Luke gives us in the book of Acts is generally the pattern that true revivals have followed.
Acts 1:4 – Gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, “Which,” He said, “you heard of from Me; 5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” “12 Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey away. 13 When they had entered the city, they went up to the upper room where they were staying; that is, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas the son of James. 14 These all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer, along with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers. Acts 2:1 When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance.
Here we see a pattern. The people were told what was going to happen and to wait for what the Father promised. They went to Jerusalem (as commanded). But notice what they were doing after being told directly by Christ what was going to happen. Instead of just waiting around doing nothing, they “were continually devoting themselves to prayer” (v. 14). The idea of being devoted to something in this context was to attend constantly. It was not that they devoted part of a week or a day to prayer, but they were constantly being devoted (continually) to prayer. They did not go and give themselves to religious duties as such, but they were given over to constant prayer. It was not a ritual sort of prayer or a duty prayer, but it certainly appears to have been several people given over to a true seeking of God. What were they praying for? It is more than a guess as to what they were praying for.
Jesus told them to go to Jerusalem and wait for what the Father had promised. He spoke of the New Covenant just before being handed over to be crucified. They knew Jeremiah 31:31-33 where God had promised to write His laws in them and write it on their hearts and of the promises in Ezekiel 36:26: “Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.” They were in the upper room praying for the Spirit to be given as we can see what was said after the Spirit was given: “Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear” (Acts 2:33). It was also the Old Testament promise that Paul spoke of in Galatians 3:14. When these people heard the words of Jesus regarding the Father’s promise of the Spirit, they devoted themselves to prayer and a true revival came.
Where are these things today? Where are those who are burdened and wrestling with God? Where are those who are devoted to seeking His glory, His face and the Spirit to be poured out in true revival? These things are talked about but don’t happen when people are under judgment. We get caught up with projects and religious activities but we are not given over and devoted to seeking God as the sole desire of our hearts. It is easy to utter words, but true prayer requires broken and humbled hearts which is beyond human power. True prayer is a supernatural work that God alone can work in the heart, drawing the souls of His people to Himself and giving them a desire for Himself above all. When this is not being done, God has withdrawn and His face is hidden from a people while they go on in their religious ways. We are under a terrifying judgment while the professing Church goes about doing its religious duties. That is exactly what happened to Israel too. We must learn this.
There is simply no way out from this judgment if the professing Church continues the things below and many more:
- Looking to itself and its own practices, methods and means.
- Being content to be religious without broken hearts, or perhaps just a measure of sorrow.
- Being content with the external works of self instead of the internal work of the Holy Spirit.
- Being content to find its wisdom in and from itself rather than His wisdom found in prayer.
- Being content to listen to the scholars instead of seeking brokenness from God.
- Having any hope in self and the efforts of self and so will not seek His face alone.
- Confusing their religious efforts with seeking God.
- Being more afraid of the opinions of men than pleasing God.
- Preaching against sin as a moral evil rather than that which is against a holy God.
- Seeking idols because of not knowing the true God.
We are so used to trusting in programs, methods, scholarship and our own efforts that we think we are seeking God when in fact we are seeking ourselves and are under judgment. We are so used to thinking that the judgment of God is physical rather than spiritual. We think that the Old Testament people were judged because of their outward sin and if we avoid those we are okay. But God also judges with spiritual judgment and a withdrawing of His face. We must give up all other things, even religious things, in order to seek His face. If not, the judgment will be irrevocable. While these words are hard, that does not mean that they are not true. We live in dark times.
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