Guidance from God: A Prophetic Vision
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Intro:
19 And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts;
20 knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation,
21 for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.
Today, I want to preach on the topic of [Guidance from God], the subject of my message is, [A Prophetic Vision].
Last year, our Sunday School classes spent a few months studying revivals of the past. One of our lessons covered the Hebrides Revival.
The Hebrides are a remote set of islands north of Scotland. Much of the island is made up of small villages. But in late 1940s, there were two sisters, Peggy and Christine Smith, who became concerned.
Both were in their eighties. Peggy was blind and Christine was bent over with arthritis. But they heard some news that concerned them.
Churches were dwindling in attendance and most young families and younger people had no interest in God. Instead of complaining about the situation, they decided to pray.
Every Tuesday and Friday evening they would begin to pray at 10:00 and would often pray until 3:00 to 4:00 in the morning. At some point during their times of intercession, Peggy had a vision.
Though she was physically blind, God opened her spiritual eyes and she saw the church filled with young people and revival sweeping across the Hebrides.
God fulfilled this vision with a historic outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Books have been written, documentaries have been produced, and stories have been shared in what God did in the Hebrides Revival.
But it all began when two women prayed and God gave a prophetic vision.
He spoke His word and the word became like a light that shined in the dark place until the day dawns and the Morning Star rose in their hearts.
We’ve been studying the prophetic and I am thankful that God does speak.
In the Hebrew, one of the definitions of prophet is “to see, gaze, or look at.”
There are times when God speaks and reveals a prophetic vision about a situation or person. As we read in our text, men of God spoke as they were moved on by the Holy Spirit.
Thinking back to the revival in the Hebrides, God gave the vision for revival months before revival came.
But when God releases a true prophetic vision, it should cause us to pray and believe for what no one else can see or at least what people have not seen yet.
Vision is important in our lives.
18 Where there is no vision, the people perish: But he that keepeth the law, happy is he.
2 Then the Lord answered me and said: “Write the vision And make it plain on tablets, That he may run who reads it.
3 For the vision is yet for an appointed time; But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; Because it will surely come, It will not tarry.
When God releases a prophetic vision, it is important to pray about that vision and believe the Lord to bring it to pass. Even though the vision takes time to come to fulfillment, we see that IT WILL SURELY COME.
Prophetic people are people of vision who pray and prepare in advance ofd what God is going to do.
ANYONE can hop on the bandwagon once God has fulfilled the vision. But I want to be the type of person who will persist in praying and believing God LONG before HIS vision becomes a reality.
This truth is something we read about in Isaiah 62. Let’s look at how to pray about a prophetic vision with three points, [God’s Reassurance], [Our Response], and [Our Responsibility].
Let’s begin
1. God’s Reassurance
1. God’s Reassurance
1 For Zion’s sake I will not hold My peace, And for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, Until her righteousness goes forth as brightness, And her salvation as a lamp that burns.
By this point in the book of Isaiah, the prophet has laid out a vision from God. The vision include:
judgment for their sins
captivity because of their rebellion against God
comfort that God will not forget them
reassurance that God will bring them home
Though Isaiah had to deliver bad news for the people of God, he also had the prophetic vision and hope that God would bring salvation to His people.
Something we MUST remember about the Lord. He is a just God, but He never wants to see His people suffer. We might be the beneficiaries of our poor decisions, but that does not mean that God does not love us and desire to restore us.
The nation of Judah would face hardships because of their poor decision, but God wants to reassure them that He will rescue and restore them.
BUT, such a grand and hopeful vision requires someone who will pray and believe LONG before the reassurance becomes a fact.
That is where Isaiah was in the previous few chapters. God revealed to him that the Light of God will shine and that the Lord will send an anointed one to come and help.
But for this to happen, Isaiah knew that he needed to pray and believe God. So notice His words:
1 Because I love Zion, I will not keep still. Because my heart yearns for Jerusalem, I cannot remain silent. I will not stop praying for her until her righteousness shines like the dawn, and her salvation blazes like a burning torch.
He had a prophetic vision that looked beyond the impending hardships. It is true that the city of Jerusalem would face intense difficulties.
Around a hundred years after Isaiah prophesied, Jerusalem fell into the hands of the Babylonians.
The temple was destroyed
The city was burned
The people were displaced
The nation was left in ruins
But Isaiah could see beyond that. He believed for the day that God would RESTORE Jerusalem and return the people to their former glory.
God lovingly reassured that He would forgive the people and bring them home.
When it comes to the vision God has for our lives, our families, and our church, it is vital that we do what Isaiah did.
We do ourselves and our families and disservice when we hold our peace and become relaxed in a lifestyle of prayer.
I feel God is reassuring each one in this room today with this promise— I have a vision for your life, but we need to pray about this vision and trust God.
Isaiah will not rest until God fulfills His promise. That is what we do with a prophetic vision.
2. Our Response
2. Our Response
6 I have set watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem; They shall never hold their peace day or night. You who make mention of the Lord, do not keep silent,
7 And give Him no rest till He establishes And till He makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth.
With the assurance that God has a plan and a vision for our lives, Isaiah then reveals how we should live out the vision God has for us.
Notice he explained that he place watchmen on the wall. What do watchmen do?
Since the earliest times in Scripture, people built towers. Initially, these towers were constructed to protect the sheep and sheep against wild animals.
As time went on, the towers became larger and were placed in larger cities to provide defense against the enemies.
Inside of these towers were called watchmen. They had an important responsibility, to protect ancient towns or military installations from surprise attack or civil disasters.
The watchmen were to watch out for impending trouble. Isaiah already spoke about watchmen once:
10 His watchmen are blind, They are all ignorant; They are all dumb dogs, They cannot bark; Sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber.
This passage was in reference to the current leadership in Jerusalem. They allowed God’s people to backslide because they were not vigilant in protecting them from spiritual attacks.
Now Isaiah explains, I have recieved a prophetic vision from God, there is hope in our future. So we need watchmen on the wall who will pray all day and night.
Why is this a necessary response to God’s reassuring vision?
The only thing that can stop God’s will in our lives is when we choose not to believe His will and refuse to pray and trust in His will.
So Isaiah is emphasizing, those who are in the position to watch out for the people, now is not the time to rest, it is the time to pray and seek Him.
Furthermore, he says to GIVE GOD NO REST. I love those four words because they show us what God wants from us.
If we are not careful we can believe the lies of the enemy that tell us to give God a break.
How long have you prayed about that need?
How many times have you asked the Lord for the same thing over and over?
God speaks through the prophet assuring us, in response to God’s vision for our lives, we have the opportunity to pray and keep trusting Him.
It NEVER offends God when we continue to return to Him in prayer. It is not a lack of faith. It is not an indication of doubt. It is merely following through on the prophets words to give God no rest.
Jesus explained it this way:
9 “So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
Our response to God’s reassurance is to watch and wait for Him to answer. And we are not waiting and watching on our own.
1 Unless the Lord builds the house, They labor in vain who build it; Unless the Lord guards the city, The watchman stays awake in vain.
Isaiah will not rest until God fulfills His prophetic vision. That is what we do with a prophetic vision.
3. Our Responsibility
3. Our Responsibility
10 Go through, Go through the gates! Prepare the way for the people; Build up, Build up the highway! Take out the stones, Lift up a banner for the peoples!
11 Indeed the Lord has proclaimed To the end of the world: “Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Surely your salvation is coming; Behold, His reward is with Him, And His work before Him.’ ”
12 And they shall call them The Holy People, The Redeemed of the Lord; And you shall be called Sought Out, A City Not Forsaken.
What is Isaiah promising here?
He is promising the people that God’s vision will come to pass.
What is their responsibility?
They are to get ready for what God has promised.
I think this part of Isaiah 62 is vital for us. Knowing God has a vision and praying for His vision is one thing, but He calls us to go a step further and to make preparations for His vision.
Let’s read this in the NLT:
10 Go out through the gates! Prepare the highway for my people to return! Smooth out the road; pull out the boulders; raise a flag for all the nations to see.
11 The Lord has sent this message to every land: “Tell the people of Israel, ‘Look, your Savior is coming. See, he brings his reward with him as he comes.’ ”
12 They will be called “The Holy People” and “The People Redeemed by the Lord.” And Jerusalem will be known as “The Desirable Place” and “The City No Longer Forsaken.”
Isaiah was declaring, we have the best news in the world, we cannot sit on this truth and not tell anyone. We have a responsibility to make the message known to EVERYONE!
The long night is about over.
The days of difficulties are about done.
The Savior is coming and He is ready to bring His rewards with Him.
Why did Isaiah have such confidence that this is our responsibility?
He had already recieved assurance that God had a vision for the people.
He was doing his part to respond to God’s vision through prayer and intercession.
Now, if he really believed that God would fulfill His vision for the nation, why would he not tell everyone he could about the hope that was soon to come.
Isaiah was prepared to do everything he could:
to remove every obstacle
to remove every distraction
to remove every hinderance
so that everyone could loudly hear the message— WE HAVE A SAVIOR WHO IS WILLING AND READY TO HELP US!
And isn’t it wonderful God did exactly that. Even though the enemies of Jerusalem destroyed the Temple, burned the city, broke down the walls, and left the place destitute, God restored it all back to His people.
They did not have to walk around in shame or defeat, because God gave them a new temple, new gates, and a new home.
Sure everyone rejoiced when this happened, but the part I like best is that Isaiah saw it hundreds of years before it took place.
How?
Because God gave him a prophetic vision. He believed in God’s reassuring promises, he responded through prayer, and he fulfilled his responsibility to let everyone know the good news.
Close:
A prophetic vision.
If God had a vision for His people in the days of Isaiah, then God has a vision for us in 2022.
We are nearing the end of one year and about to enter another. And I thoroughly believe that God has a plan for our lives. He has a vision for us.
He sees a future for us that if he told it all to us now, we would have a hard time believing everything He wants to do.
But I can reassure everyone in this house that God has a plan for our lives, our families, and our church.
What do we do with this reassurance, we need to pray. We need to keep returning to Him, giving Him no rest until He fulfills the vision!
And in the meantime, we are responsible to keep letting everyone know, God has a vision. He has a plan. He has a future. What we see today is not the end of the story.
There is SO MUCH MORE God has for us.
So I stand here doing exactly what Isaiah instructed in verses ten through twelve. I want to remove every distraction and hindrance in this moment with this proclamation:
The Savior is coming and His reward is with HIM.
I am not just talking about the coming of the Lord. I do believe that Jesus is soon to return and I do believe that He will reward us according to our works.
But, what I want to emphasize is that He is coming to each of us with a prophetic vision.
What is God’s vision for our lives?
In some ways it is unique. What God does through me might differ in what He does through you.
But in many ways it is the same. God’s vision for us is to see us:
saved from sin
filled with His Spirit
healed of our sickness
walking in His power
living in His provision
growing closer to Him
receiving revelation from His word
knowing Him more and more each day
He want us to walk in His favor and live in the overflow of His provision. His vision is better and greater than we could ever imagine!
BUT we have to do our part.
I can assure that He has something for us. But we must respond in prayer and fulfill our responsibility to get ourselves, our family, and our church ready.
Jesus is coming in the future and RIGHT now.