John chapter 11:55-57 (NIV)
When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, many went up from the country to Jerusalem for their ceremonial cleansing before the Passover. They kept looking for Jesus, and as they stood in the temple courts they asked one another, “What do you think? Isn’t he coming to the festival at all?” But the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that anyone who found out where Jesus was should report it so that they might arrest him.
John chapter 12 verses 9-11 (NIV)
Meanwhile a large crowd of Jews found out that Jesus was there and came, not only because of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. So the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus as well, for on account of him many of the Jews were going over to Jesus and believing in him.
This blog entry may turn out to be a bit longer than usual because as I have mused over the bible verses, my thoughts went down a particular path and kept going! Back in the day I might even have preached on it. I won’t hopefully go in to pages on here though!
I was initially struck by two points. First of all, people went looking for Jesus in the Temple. They should have been able to find Him there. After all, He was the Son of God, and the Temple was His Father’s House. But, on this occasion, the people who were genuinely seeking Him were unable to find Him, because He wasn’t welcomed by the leaders and teachers who should have been first to welcome Him in.
That reminded me of part of the vision shared by the Reverend Kenny Borthwick about the Lion Soul of Scotland. I first heard Kenny share this in March 1999, at a Saturday Night meeting in Struthers Memorial Church in Glasgow. It made such an impact on me, I have never forgotten it, and have heard Kenny speak of it elsewhere since then with the same impact. Today I was reminded of part of it, and have included a paragraph of the transcript of that 1999 meeting which was included in one of Hugh Black’s books because it seemed relevant to my musings.
(From “Evidence from the floor” by Hugh Black – Chapter 12 ‘ A Gleam from the North’ Page 172 – “And what I saw was this lion began to wander into different churches. In one church, which has a reputation of being alive, when the congregation saw a lion coming in they cleared out!…
…In the case of the vanishing congregation, once the lion was gone, they all came back in and went on exactly as before. The lion, the uprising of something new, will not be wanted in many churches that have a reputation of being alive. But then I saw this lion going into a church where it was welcomed, and in that church, it began to gain strength.”)
It struck me that as lives are coming into churches in these days looking for answers in what is becoming known as “the quiet revival” will they find Jesus in our congregations? Or will we, as God moves however He chooses, chase the lion soul out, and thus lives will not find God in the way that they should? We as Christ’s ambassadors need to allow the Holy Spirit the freedom to move in anointing as He wants to in the midst of God’s people. By doing so, those who come seeking for God will surely find Him. If not, then they will go elsewhere. We need to be sensitive to how God wants to move, and not simply dismiss what He wants to do just because its not what we are used to, or expect.
The second point that struck me was that the people found out where Jesus was and went to find Him there. He was in Bethany at the home of Lazarus. They were also keen to see Lazarus because they had heard what had happened to him. That reminded me that our testimony is important, people will want to find out more about Jesus often because of what they have seen or heard from us. That’s why we need to guard our testimonies.
Dear Lord,
Help me to be obedient to Your will and sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s directing in these days where lives are looking for You. I ask in Jesus’ Name. Amen.