Our first step in our Salvation is to be willing to see what God wants to show us.
One may be a pastor, preacher, prophet or other servant of God and yet be totally spiritually blind! How do we know it? The Lord shows it to us clearly in His Word (Is. 6:1-5), where the Lord deals with man, not with a prophet. Isaiah was one of the major prophets in the Old Testament and yet did not see himself until he saw the Lord. Until we see the Lord with our spiritual sight, we will not see ourselves either. We will not see that our lips are unclean, that they are covered with iniquity and sin and need to be cleansed. That’s why the words also which are coming out of them (which were not given to the prophet by the Holy Spirit) are dirty with iniquity, unrighteousness and sin. And the people, who hear those words are just as blind and deaf and understand nothing and are unclean, they are, so to speak, – lepers (Is. 6:9).
The Lord is here speaking not only about the Old Testament prophet and about Israel, but also about His New Testament servants and about the Church. And secondly, the Lord here reminds Isaiah about the King Uzziah, which started well, served the Lord and prospered. But after time, he left the way of obedience and started on the way of pride and of self-satisfaction and became a leper (2Chr. 26:1-5,16-21). The Lord also showed that the sons of Israel, which condemned Uzziah and judged him for his sins and pride and disobedience, were not better themselves, than their King. From this Light of the Lord we can see that the very same facts and principles apply also in the spiritual world of the New Testament. Hence, it is not only the world and the rulers of this world, but the Church and the governing functionaries in the Church as well, which are “lepers” before the Lord and they do not see it though they are clean, reputable and well respected. And this applies also to all believers and definitely to all pagans, which is to say, to all mankind.
Without the spiritual sight and ability to discern and comprehend, man cannot even start his way of Salvation. God does not desire blind sons and daughters, nor deaf ones, nor without understanding, nor yet sons and daughters as lepers. God desires people, which will bring satisfaction to His Heart. All such are called the “Remnant – Overcomers – Conquerors” and those are very few. Is this not a terrible revelation? And this is not all, as there are many believers, which do NOT WANT to have the spiritual sight, they lust after the evidence of facts, which are tangible. Even the Kingdom of Heaven they desire to assess by their senses of physical sight, hearing, touch, taste even smell. And when that does not work, they are brought into a crisis. Wherever there are tangible things and proofs, there will always be multitudes of people. The devil is also capable to gather multitudes by imitating the work of the Holy Spirit in the realm of visible “proofs” (miraculous healings, falling of people under laying on of hands, speaking in tongues, uncontrollable laughter, unfounded testimonies of naïve people, emotional effusions, etc.) People are so naïve, receptive and accessible to fables, inclined to believe “men of God” (today even “women of God”) that they pack the whole stadiums and support their “grandiose plans” with bundles of monies though they have not the slightest clue or proof, where those finances will end up. Is this not a great tragedy of believers?
And what did that leprosy represent? Man blessed by the Lord, walking in the Light of the Lord, knowing the favor of the Lord… and in his heart that deeply rooted thing ready to stand up and turn those Lord’s blessings to its own account, to make for itself a name, gain a position, chance to elevate, dignify itself, gain power, glory, influence, reputation. This is leprosy! What is then the thing, which is an abomination to God? It is that selfishness, egoism and leprosy, which are in all of us. The Lord blesses… and in the secret chamber of our heart we become “a personality” because the Lord blessed something. We do not see that His blessing came to us through His Grace and Mercy, but we start both to think and to believe secretly that something must be in us, which explains it, which deserves it. It must be our ability, cleverness, wisdom or skill and we start to speak and testify about our successes. There is that germ, that embryo, that virus of leprosy, of power, of self-sufficiency, of asserting ourselves. Leprosy is the root of our self, of our ego, of our selfishness and stubbornness, which hardens our soul instead of making it softer. Here also rests the danger of blessings and prosperity. It is thus necessary for us to be crucified in the very center of our blessings and thus avoid the danger of the spiritual leprosy. In order for us to ever achieve this, we must see the Lord and His Holiness. In the light of His Holiness we will be able to see clearly also the leprosy where we would never expect it – in ourselves and in others around us including the multitudes of Christians, of course.
What was the main reason for such a revelation and the need for such experience through which Isaiah had to go? The Lord was not surprised by Isaiah’s answer and His Word for Israel He had prepared. God knows the heart of man and He knew very well that Israel, His people, did not want to see the reality! They had their own visions and ideas and they were not prepared or willing at all to see what God wanted to show them. And by the way, the Church is not better in any way! Therefore, God pronounced His Judgment over His people and it was a terrible Judgment since He took away from them the ability to see and hear and understand! Is it not a terrible Judgment? (Is. 6:10) If the people of Israel and of today’s Church would want to see reality, they would behave differently, they would take completely different attitudes. They would be free of the powers of prejudices, of all suspicions, all criticism, all logical conclusions and they would start to seek truth indeed. They would be free to ask questions, examine the Scripture, search, observe, seek, inquire, consult and not be as corpses taken out of coffins. They would stop arguing and stubbornly defending their prejudices and persuasions, chiefly those that never had any foundation, justification or substantiation. In other words, they would start showing clear signs of hunger and desire after truth and would have no fears to carefully investigate even details of specific problems. They would be willing to receive truth even if it would differ from their present personal persuasions, personal understandings, personal comprehension especially should these prove contradictory to the Word of God.
* * *
To be continued next week
brother Hanola
…