“In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple.” (Isaiah 6:1)
Dear People Who Keep Company with God,
Isaiah was caught up into heaven and saw the visible manifestation of God’s glory. It was there that he received the commission and anointing for his life and prophetic ministry. He spoke of angelic beings about the throne crying out, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!” (Isaiah 6:3) He described an overwhelming awareness of his sin, that nothing can hide in God’s presence. But God’s throne is a throne of grace, and Isaiah’s sins were removed with a living stone taken from heaven’s altar. This stone speaks of Christ and His cross. Notice, the angels did not say, “Heaven is full of His glory.” Rather, they said, “The whole earth is full of His glory.” As the years passed by, there was a growing ache in the heart of Isaiah. He fulfilled his calling as a prophet, but his time on earth was ending, with him still waiting for the glory of God to fill the earth. He prays one of the most beautiful prayers recorded in the Bible. “Oh, that You would rend the heavens! That You would come down! That the mountains might shake at Your presence.” (Isaiah 64:1) You can feel his aching heart in the word, “Oh.” There is an “Oh” within us all. We’ve had encounters, prophetic promises and dreams come true, but as the years go by there remains a place in our hearts that still aches and cries out, “Oh.” It means if only. It’s the deep in us calling to the deep in Him. It is the place in our hearts that yearns for more of God. And we pray “Oh” when our hearts are overwhelmed with struggle and sorrow.
As beautiful as this prayer is, “Oh” is the only part of it that we should pray. God has already answered the cry of Isaiah’s heart. Christ came down. When He died on the cross, the veil in the temple that separated the holiest place was torn from top to bottom and will never be closed again. Heaven is opened. The earth quaked, and rocks were split (Matthew 27:51). The Book of Hebrews tells us that the veil is symbolic of the flesh of Christ. Heaven has been torn open. Today we can boldly enter into His presence with a clean conscience and a heart full of faith, knowing that God has already removed everything that stands between Him and us by the blood of Jesus Christ (Hebrews 10:19-22). He has already given us the keys to the kingdom of heaven. The Apostle Paul wrote that the “message of the cross is the power of God.” (I Corinthians 1:18) All the grace, mercy, and power of God are released to us through the cross of Jesus. Instead of praying for God to rend the heavens and come down, let us ask Him to open our minds and show us all that we already possess in Christ.
Many Blessings, BW