Come Down Lord: We Wait for You!
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God Came Down at the Cross on Calvary and Will Come Down again
The prophet Isaiah continues, "When you came down, Lord, things were wonderful. Why don't you do it again?"
And of course, we know that God would indeed hear this prayer and would come down. We see a glimpse of that on the cross at Calvary when darkness covers the world for some hours, we see that at the death of Jesus when there is a great earthquake and the graves of the believers are opened and a number of them are resurrected and even seen in the city! Clearly, again, scripture is reminding us when God comes among his people, nothing ever remains the same again. When God comes among his people, even those who were long dead come out of their graves. When God comes among his people, people will know to guess or pray about each to determine whether it is God who has worked or not. Everybody will know! Even those who oppose his will and his rule will know, "yes, we are against him but he's actually here among us." And trust me, when he comes back in the Second Coming, you will see the same thing that the prophet Isaiah is crying out: trumpet sounding out so loud, great trembling, great singing from the multitudes of angels, and God who once come down in the power will yet again come down. The question is: when he does come down on that today on whose side will you be? Will you be the kind that runs away from his presence and power because you are not fit? Oh, will you be the kind who will be there singing and saying, "I do not understand why you loved me. I do not understand why a great and glorious God would consider somebody like me! But while I don't, I know it is true, and for that, to God the glory!"
How I pray that when that day comes, none of us will have reason to regret. How I pray that as a church we are continually reminded that ours is a God of power and power that is transforming power that makes a difference. But this God, is also a God who is not afraid to use his power to judge anything that is unholy. And if you listen to the prophet very clearly, that's what we saying! "God when we sinned against you, when we broke your covenant; in your power, you judged us!" And how did he judge them? He gave them over to their sinfulness. Their hearts became harder and more rigid, their hearts became cold like frozen water. And that's why the Prophet says "if we are going to be revived and restored, your power must melt the frozenness of our hearts. You must be the same God who acts. You are the God who judged us and you are now God who must release us. It begins with a God and it must end with the God, no gimmicks, no shortcuts.
if anybody must be saved, if any sinner must become a saint, if any hopeless person must find hope beyond the grave; God must sovereignly and the divinely intervene, and that is why salvation is exclusively of God from the beginning to the very end. There is not a place, there is not a stage in the process where you can come and bring your CV, no! And if you really understand the power that the prophet Isaiah is describing, you don't even have the courage to bring your CV. Everything in you, in fact, wants to run away. Which is why Jesus the God-man not only came for our salvation, but came to shield us and protect us from the glory and the power of the Holy God led to consumers. It is Jesus that we are able to see God and relate with him, and fellowship with him and work with him because in Jesus, we are protected from the consuming glory of the mighty and holy God. And that is why it must begin with God and end with him.
We need to understand two things therefore as we read this passage: (1) that God is a God of power, and the every knee must tremble and bow before this God, including you and me. (2) We need to understand that we as individual believers, and as a church, we desperately need this power and this power is the only dynamic that sets us apart from the world and everything the broken and sinful world is.
So if you really want to summarize the understanding of what church is, the understanding of what God's people look like; you just summarize it with the word "power." If power is missing in action, that church needs another name. Probably it has become a counselling centre. Maybe it's a social or a psychology place where people go to get relieved of their guilt and their feelings; where people are encouraged and told it will be okay even though frankly it will not be. Maybe it has become an entertainment centre where people come and officially mechanically create happiness and good times, only to go back home and feel like they had drunk alcohol now they are experiencing yesterday's hungover.
The only thing that makes church a church is God's divine presence in their midst. That when you come to God's people, you don't just come to a community with good morals; you don't just come to people who feel guilty that every time they are repenting and confessing their sins: you come to your people, who are filled with the power of God through the person of the Holy Spirit, that it is unmistakably clear that God is at work in the lives of these men and women. That is what distinguishes church from any society or community or organization. And if church cannot recognize the desperate need for God's power, then we are not different from the world we're trying to run away from. Pity a church that does not cry for God's power. Pity a church that does not long for God's intervention. Pity a church whose confidence is in the God who once worked in history, but they are not sure of his current relevant presence or of his work in their midst day after day. That the cry of everyone who claims to be God's person, must always be, "Come down Lord, fill me Lord, empower me Lord, because only in the power of God, can I make a difference in the world around me. Only in the power of God, can I be transformed enough for the world to see that actually God does change people's lives. Only in the power of God can the hearts of sinners be melted. And even those who remain enemies deliberately, will walk away saying, "We saw the power, but we run away from it."
People who end up in hell are not people who will be complaining and saying this is not fair. How could a loving God send us there? Everyone will be convinced and without any doubt whatsoever that God was at work, but they turned their backs on him; because he's power is visible. His power is evident. Even the whole of creation, not just human beings recognize it. And the prophet Isaiah says "when you came down, Mountains trembled. The nations knew that you had to come. So there is no excuse whatsoever for those who don't bow their knee. The Church needs this power, our church needs this power. And the question is how do we become that power-packed, that spirit-filled church that will make a difference, whose people will live for God in our generation. That when all is said and done, even sinners who won't enter through our doors can say, "We know that when you enter through those doors at that church, your life will be changed forever. But since we are not ready for change that's why we want to go there.
Even out there they might still give testimony of who we are. Not because we are smart, or we sing well or we love well, but because of what God evidently is doing among us. Now the prophets tells us what we need to do as a church if we are to get that power that he cries out for on behalf of God's people. And he simply summarizes his request in one word, the word "waiting."
He says that "what no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, what no one has perceived is that you are a God who is unique, and there is none beside you." Why? "Because you are the God who acts on behalf of those who wait for you." The difference between God's power and God's people receiving that power is a church in waiting. That for God's people not only to access God's powerful, godly Christian living, but to actually live in the very presence of this God is that we might be a church that waits and longs after God. The prophet Isaiah not only says that you act on behalf of those who wait for you, but he will continue with his apologetic arguments as to why God should really release this power in the lives of his people.
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God Came Down at the Cross on Calvary and Will Come Down again
The prophet Isaiah continues, "When you came down, Lord, things were wonderful. Why don't you do it again?"
And of course, we know that God would indeed hear this prayer and would come down. We see a glimpse of that on the cross at Calvary when darkness covers the world for some hours, we see that at the death of Jesus when there is a great earthquake and the graves of the believers are opened and a number of them are resurrected and even seen in the city! Clearly, again, scripture is reminding us when God comes among his people, nothing ever remains the same again. When God comes among his people, even those who were long dead come out of their graves. When God comes among his people, people will know to guess or pray about each to determine whether it is God who has worked or not. Everybody will know! Even those who oppose his will and his rule will know, "yes, we are against him but he's actually here among us." And trust me, when he comes back in the Second Coming, you will see the same thing that the prophet Isaiah is crying out: trumpet sounding out so loud, great trembling, great singing from the multitudes of angels, and God who once come down in the power will yet again come down. The question is: when he does come down on that today on whose side will you be? Will you be the kind that runs away from his presence and power because you are not fit? Oh, will you be the kind who will be there singing and saying, "I do not understand why you loved me. I do not understand why a great and glorious God would consider somebody like me! But while I don't, I know it is true, and for that, to God the glory!"
How I pray that when that day comes, none of us will have reason to regret. How I pray that as a church we are continually reminded that ours is a God of power and power that is transforming power that makes a difference. But this God, is also a God who is not afraid to use his power to judge anything that is unholy. And if you listen to the prophet very clearly, that's what we saying! "God when we sinned against you, when we broke your covenant; in your power, you judged us!" And how did he judge them? He gave them over to their sinfulness. Their hearts became harder and more rigid, their hearts became cold like frozen water. And that's why the Prophet says "if we are going to be revived and restored, your power must melt the frozenness of our hearts. You must be the same God who acts. You are the God who judged us and you are now God who must release us. It begins with a God and it must end with the God, no gimmicks, no shortcuts.
if anybody must be saved, if any sinner must become a saint, if any hopeless person must find hope beyond the grave; God must sovereignly and the divinely intervene, and that is why salvation is exclusively of God from the beginning to the very end. There is not a place, there is not a stage in the process where you can come and bring your CV, no! And if you really understand the power that the prophet Isaiah is describing, you don't even have the courage to bring your CV. Everything in you, in fact, wants to run away. Which is why Jesus the God-man not only came for our salvation, but came to shield us and protect us from the glory and the power of the Holy God led to consumers. It is Jesus that we are able to see God and relate with him, and fellowship with him and work with him because in Jesus, we are protected from the consuming glory of the mighty and holy God. And that is why it must begin with God and end with him.
We need to understand two things therefore as we read this passage: (1) that God is a God of power, and the every knee must tremble and bow before this God, including you and me. (2) We need to understand that we as individual believers, and as a church, we desperately need this power and this power is the only dynamic that sets us apart from the world and everything the broken and sinful world is.
So if you really want to summarize the understanding of what church is, the understanding of what God's people look like; you just summarize it with the word "power." If power is missing in action, that church needs another name. Probably it has become a counselling centre. Maybe it's a social or a psychology place where people go to get relieved of their guilt and their feelings; where people are encouraged and told it will be okay even though frankly it will not be. Maybe it has become an entertainment centre where people come and officially mechanically create happiness and good times, only to go back home and feel like they had drunk alcohol now they are experiencing yesterday's hungover.
The only thing that makes church a church is God's divine presence in their midst. That when you come to God's people, you don't just come to a community with good morals; you don't just come to people who feel guilty that every time they are repenting and confessing their sins: you come to your people, who are filled with the power of God through the person of the Holy Spirit, that it is unmistakably clear that God is at work in the lives of these men and women. That is what distinguishes church from any society or community or organization. And if church cannot recognize the desperate need for God's power, then we are not different from the world we're trying to run away from. Pity a church that does not cry for God's power. Pity a church that does not long for God's intervention. Pity a church whose confidence is in the God who once worked in history, but they are not sure of his current relevant presence or of his work in their midst day after day. That the cry of everyone who claims to be God's person, must always be, "Come down Lord, fill me Lord, empower me Lord, because only in the power of God, can I make a difference in the world around me. Only in the power of God, can I be transformed enough for the world to see that actually God does change people's lives. Only in the power of God can the hearts of sinners be melted. And even those who remain enemies deliberately, will walk away saying, "We saw the power, but we run away from it."
People who end up in hell are not people who will be complaining and saying this is not fair. How could a loving God send us there? Everyone will be convinced and without any doubt whatsoever that God was at work, but they turned their backs on him; because he's power is visible. His power is evident. Even the whole of creation, not just human beings recognize it. And the prophet Isaiah says "when you came down, Mountains trembled. The nations knew that you had to come. So there is no excuse whatsoever for those who don't bow their knee. The Church needs this power, our church needs this power. And the question is how do we become that power-packed, that spirit-filled church that will make a difference, whose people will live for God in our generation. That when all is said and done, even sinners who won't enter through our doors can say, "We know that when you enter through those doors at that church, your life will be changed forever. But since we are not ready for change that's why we want to go there.
Even out there they might still give testimony of who we are. Not because we are smart, or we sing well or we love well, but because of what God evidently is doing among us. Now the prophets tells us what we need to do as a church if we are to get that power that he cries out for on behalf of God's people. And he simply summarizes his request in one word, the word "waiting."
He says that "what no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, what no one has perceived is that you are a God who is unique, and there is none beside you." Why? "Because you are the God who acts on behalf of those who wait for you." The difference between God's power and God's people receiving that power is a church in waiting. That for God's people not only to access God's powerful, godly Christian living, but to actually live in the very presence of this God is that we might be a church that waits and longs after God. The prophet Isaiah not only says that you act on behalf of those who wait for you, but he will continue with his apologetic arguments as to why God should really release this power in the lives of his people.
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