Terror Rises 19.8.21 3.13 am
“And people shall enter the caves of the rocks and the holes of the ground, from before the terror of the Lord, and from the splendour of his majesty, when he rises to terrify the earth. 20 In that day mankind will cast away their idols of silver and their idols of gold, which they made for themselves to worship, to the moles and to the bats, 21 to enter the caverns of the rocks and the clefts of the cliffs, from before the terror of the Lord, and from the splendour of his majesty, when he rises to terrify the earth. (Isa 2:19-21)
“Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave4 and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, 16 calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, 17 for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?”” (Rev 6:15-17)
Background
50 years ago, I endured daily nightmares waking up daily terrified that if I died that day I was rightly destined for hell. This penultimately real experience has a precise application. This came to me yesterday in an emergency prayer meeting for Afghanistan, one in a series made possible because Perth has so far sovereignly been largely spared from the ravages of COVID.
Introduction
As per Saigon 1975, those alive today will never forget the images of Kabul airport 2021(https://7news.com.au/news/middle-east/tragic-scenes-as-afghans-fall-from-plane-while-attempting-to-flee-kabul-c-3698374). This is not because of the exceptional wickedness of the Taliban, but because the days in which we live are a manifest foretaste of the coming “great and awesome day of the Lord” (Joel 2:31’ Mal 4:5; Acts 2:20). The prophetic commission of this article is to answer the question: “What can possibly move a slumbering apathetic Western (Australian) Church to pray for the Taliban, Boko Haram, the Burmese army, Hindu and Buddhist militants and aggressive Western secularists etc. persecuting Christians? Not only pray, but to go at great risk to spread Christ’s love amidst outwardly Godforsaken lands.” The answer is as clear biblically as it is unpalatable to the ordinary human spirit, “The terror of the Lord is the weapon of the love of God.” Superficially, we will never accept this.
No Fear of God
The texts at the top of this page witness that God and the Lamb share the property of wrath. In holiness, the Son of God makes known now through his sovereign historical acts that he is utterly serious about judging the world. Isaiah 26:9 was given to me at the time of 9/11, “For when your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.” How is it then that the fear of the Lord is scant amongst us (Rom 3:18)? By divine providence this week I had dealings with two Christian brothers facing criminal charges, but in whom I do not visibly see the outworking of salvation “in fear and trembling” (Phil 2:12). Doubtless, only holy children recognise the “punishments” (Heb 12:6; John 19:1 “floggings”) of a Holy Father (John 17:11). In losing sensitivity to these strong divine dealings the soft Western Church has lost a very great deal. An outstanding characteristic of the great 18th century transatlantic revival was weeping profusely for the lost. (George Whitfield was “the weeping prophet”). That generation understood that the terror texts of scripture were recorded to move us to tears on behalf of the perilous state of the wicked! What do we need to see to recover such a painful but powerful vision?
Blood Spattered Bride
In the context of my recent writings on bridal spirituality, what sort of a Bridegroom has “eyes like a flame of fire” and wedding garment “clothed in a robe dipped in blood” (Rev 19:12-13). The blood is certainly, even if figuratively, the blood of Christ’s enemies, for it is proof of his righteous judgements executed on behalf of his afflicted Wife (Isa 62:2-3; Rev 14:18-20; 19:11). Only the uncompromising strength of the Last Judgement can still the restless conscience of the martyrs in their longing for holy vengeance (Rev 6:10; 1 Thess 4:6). In the very best sense, the Lamb of God, now Ruler and Judge of all the earth (Gen 18:25; Acts 10:36), inspires holy dread. A Dread which releases for the remorseless the deepest intercession of a Spirit-filled heart.
Law and Love
Why are the most religious people, from the Taliban to the juche-ideologists of North Korea (“man is the master of his destiny”), so remorseless in their persecution of the sons and daughters of God and such violators of the image of God in general? The philosopher Voltaire famously said, ‘In the beginning God created man in His own image, and man has been trying to repay the favour ever since.’. He couldn’t know that the decade following his death would see the bloodbath of the French Revolution. The idolatry of humanity making God in its own image, draws forth the fiercest divine wrath upon the haughty and proud (Isa 2:11-12) who, become ensnared in a dreadful legalistic self-righteousness that is eternally precarious. “Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? 5 But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.” (Rom 2:4-5). Only God’s own act of dying in the place of such blatant sinners can atone for all our unlimited wickedness.
Back to the Cross
“he made intercession for transgressors” (Isa 53:12) describes a total way of life. In Gethsemane and on the cross (Mark 14:36; 15:34) Jesus took upon himself the curse of the Law (Gal 3:13). The Lamb “became” (2 Cor 5:21) the Taliban, ISIS, the BJP, the Burmese army and so on unclouded by any hardness of sight. The eyes of his heart were fully enlightened to human darkness so the Lord truly “feared like no man feared” (Luther) and embraced the eternal dimensions of the terror of God which “destroys the destroyers of the earth” (Rev 11:18). In the Spirit we can join in the exalted prayers of Jesus arising from the heavenly altar (Rev 8:3; Heb 7:25) that continue unabated as the heart prayers of a fully broken, soft-hearted man. To pray for the worst of humanity (“Go for souls and go for the worst!” Wm. Booth) is clearly the vocation of the Church in Perth.
Conclusion
Jesus is seeking a Church/Bride who groans in the knowledge (Rom 8:26) that he takes “no pleasure in the death of the wicked but rather that he turns from his wicked way and live” (Ezek 18:32; 33:11). This will mean not only weeping for the victims of the Taliban, and their like, but weeping in union with Jesus for these evil men. Prophetically, we can fulfil this word, “Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen.” (Rev 1:7), a wailing in its original context (Zech 12:10) of repentant unprecedented grace-filled prayer signals the hope of global revival. PTL