Last blog we talked about our prayer spawned by the modern hymn . . . "Speak, O Lord". In John's vision, recorded in Rev. 1:9-19, we see the transcendent glory of the appearance of Christ that is a description of His Majesty! We need such a vision of Christ in our worship that not only informs us of the vision of the church as it is, but as it can be. We need a 21st century vision of His Majesty, Christ the Lord, that will unveil a new and fresh encounter with Him in worship.
If a king or even the president of a country entered the room, we would sit up, take notice, and seek to honor the office of the person. And yet every time we enter the room gathered with God's people for worship, we are in the presence of the King of all Kings in all of His glorious majesty.
Having a new vision is not a sensation-seeking ecstasy or a form of escapism. It is the confronting of the King of all Kings - a stark, earth-shaking, staggering shaking of our senses with a fresh, very realistic encounter with His Majesty, Lord of the Church! This worship doesn't include tameness, predictability, numbing formality or our own prison-like presuppositions of what worship is. It must begin with a private encounter of total upheaval in our own personal experience, allowing Jesus to deal with us in a private setting, preparing us for gathered worship. The reason for this is so that the same realities that gripped John can grip us: Experiencing the reality of the Majestic person of Christ, the reality of His position of authority in our lives, and the reality of His glory and power found in His completeness.
God is waiting for those who would dare to hunger and thirst for an unusual visitation of His Majesty to our 21st century generation. He desires us to seek His glorious power and might in every culture, every nation, and every church. Are we prepared for His Majesty to speak? Are we prepared to seek Him with everything that we are in Christ? Do we really hunger to honor and glorify Him? He is so ready. Are we? mjm
