Lord, Give A Vision
by Dr. J. O. Percy
S u r v e y in g t h e w o r l d s c e n e and all its desperate spir itual need produces an inevitable conclusion: the people of God have lost all initiative and have little or no vision of world need on the one hand or of the challenge of the Word of God on the other. A tragic lethargy seems to have settled like a pall over the church of the Living God, narrowing and beclouding vision, producing an indifference that is responsible for sending countless multitudes of precious souls into the blackness of darkness forever. Well has the hymn writer exhorted “ Lord give a vision, burning within, Of men and of women lost in their sin.” The prophet Isaiah gives us a message for this hour and. for this need. In the 6th chapter of his book we have a record of A vision of the Lord Jesus; A vision of world need; A vision of service. Isaiah had been preaching for at least two years before he penned this sixth chapter. One could imagine the great man of God pouring out his soul, earnestly be seeching men and women to return to God. But his mes sage lacked “punch” and it certainly did not produce results. Isaiah had to learn the lesson that every child of God must learn: a vision of the Son of God is imperative for service. NOTE FIRST, A VISION OF THE LORD. The Apos tle John tells us in John 12:41 that Isaiah saw the Lord Jesus. He had a vision of the Eternal Son of God and an indelible impression was made upon his heart and soul of Christ’s majesty, glory, and omnipotence. It was a vision so magnificent the very seraphim cried out, “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord!” The glory so filled the temple that none could enter (2 Chron. 7:1-3)—a glory that completely changed one man so that the course of history was altered. Let me ask you: have you really seen Him? Does a vision of Him, transcending every other experience, fill your soul? May I suggest that your dis interest in the work of God and especially in the foreign mission field is largely the result of lack of vision of the Eternal Son of God. Until we see the Lord Jesus as Isaiah saw Him, there will never be a burden for missions, never a burden for souls, never a burden for the church, never a burden to see the Lord Jesus glorified in the hearts and lives of men. “ I saw the Lord” is basic and must precede every other spiritual experience in the life a believer. NOTE FURTHER, A VISION OF WORLD NEED. Seeing the Lord Jesus, Isaiah saw himself in all his own spiritual need. His unworthiness, his sinfulness, his “ un clean lips” were all adequately cared for by the living coals from off the altar. Then in the glory of his new found vision, Isaiah suddenly saw something he had not essentially seen before: a world, and not just Israel, in spiritual need. “ I dwell in the midst of a people of un
clean lips.” Seeing the Lord Jesus brings sin into its proper focus and the spiritual need of men and women of the world into its right perspective. Is it not amazing and even shocking that saved people can rub shoulders with unsaved men and women and never be moved with the thought that these are perishing souls? Without a vision of the Saviour, we can never have a vision of lost souls here in the homeland, not to speak of a vision of lost souls in India or Thailand or Ethiopia or Italy or some distant comer of the earth. In essence, Isaiah is saying, “ I have seen the King, the Lord Jesus, and this new vision of Him has revealed to me the lost condition of people everywhere!” Do we have such a vision? Or is it nothing to us that millions are dying? Care we not that multitudes perish for want of spiritual life? Know we not that Jesus died for them as much as He died for us? Are our hearts of stone that they cannot be moved? The world is in desperate spiritual need. Less than 3% of the world’s people of 3,100,000,000 souls could be con sidered to be born-again; 97 out of every 100 people walking the streets of our great cities are spiritually dead. Why can’t we see this? Why is our vision blurred, our hearts hard and our blood cold? As truly as a vision of the Lord Jesus revolutionized Isaiah’s heart, even so will a vision of the risen Son of God revolutionize our hearts and enable us to see the world as God sees it. NOTE LASTLY, A VISION OF SERVICE. Innumer able people say, “ God never called me into His service,” although they would find it hard to give evidence that He had called them to secular work, or to remain at home. God has called every believer to His service, but the things of this life have so beclouded vision that the believer is in no position to hear the voice of God. Isaiah saw the Lord Jesus; this brought a vision of world need and now he was able to hear the voice of God. “Whom shall I send and who will go for us?” brought the im mediate response “ Here am I, send me.” But it all be gan when he saw the Lord Jesus. Many of God’s people can never hear the voice of the Lord. The loud clangings of the world shout out His voice. Preoccupied with things that are of little account, there is little desire to bring men and women to Christ. But it can all change with a new vision of the Son of God, a new understanding of the purposes of God for this age, a new realization that the purposes of God involve every believer in the Lord Jesus and the staggering truth that without us it is virtually impossible for Him to accomplish His heart burden of drawing all men unto Himself. May we have in these days of amazing opportunity a new vision of the crucified, risen, ascended, soon-coming Son of God which will produce a vision of desperate world need, and a vision of service that will lead us to respond to God’s gracious invitation and then to hear Him say, “ Go”— everywhere—“ and tell this people.”
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JANUARY, 1963
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