The Holy Unnerves

06.06.09

J.A. Matteson

"And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as a dead man…." Revelation 1:17

The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob became flesh and dwelt among mortal men as the man Christ Jesus.

The magnificent One who spoke all things visible and invisible into existence and lives in unapproachable light; the One who set the starry host in their place and governs their existence, knowing their exact number and every subatomic molecule comprising their substance; the One who directs the seas and defines the borders of their habitation, filling them with wonder and life; the One who by the power of His might exalts and brings to naught the kings and rulers of the earth according to the good pleasure of His will; the One who laughs at the proud, being able to bring a swift end to their arrogant existence instantly by the breath of His mouth; the One who is and was and is to come, being the same yesterday, today, and forever; the One who is the first and the last the Alpha and the Omega; the One Who is infinite; the One who holds the keys to Hades, able to destroy both body and soul in hell; the One who is all powerful, all knowing, ever present, and absolute holiness, Who upholds all things, transcending all things to the praise and glory of His breathtaking name; the One who spoke to Job out of the whirlwind, “Who is this that darkens counsel with words without knowledge? Now gird up your loins like a man, and I will ask you, and you will instruct Me!” (Job 42:3-4); this One visited the Apostle John on the Island of Patmos and his response was predictable, involuntary, and appropriate. Sinful mans instinctive response in the presence of the Holy is that of inexpressible woe and utter dread, falling prostrate to the ground, face in the dirt.

The repeated testimony of Scripture is that the Holy unnerves sinful mortal men. As the Lord Jesus Christ testified, “This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil” (Jn. 3:19). Isaiah shook in fear and dread when the glory of the Lord was revealed to him; the children of Israel in horror at the presence of the great I AM cowered at the base of the mountain sending forth Moses in their stead; the Apostle Peter turned his face and hid from the Lord when the nets of his little fishing boat burst at the miraculous size of the catch; the blood drained from the face of king Belshazzar when suddenly the eerie hand of the Lord appeared and wrote upon the plaster of the wall announcing his immanent demise for desecrating that which was sacred.

Noteworthy is the contrast of biblical encounters with the Holy and contemporary descriptions of divine encounters by various groups. By some present-day reports the exalted Lord of glory is scandalously approached like an adolescent object of narcissistic indulgence, a spiritual lover who reportedly awards the pursuer with memorable supercharged emotional experiences; i.e., a Christian form of nirvana.

Foreign to the normative response to the Holy in Scripture is the present-day pattern of services whereby individuals fall backwards to the ground, and many into the arms of “catchers” who subsequently cover them with blankets and prayers expressed in unintelligible gibberish. Absent from Holy Writ is the phenomenon of uncontrollable laughter in the presence of I AM, rolling about on the ground, producing odd sounds like those of brute animals.

Beloved, Satan masquerades as an angel of light and seduces the simple with intoxicating potions designed to put ignorant men into a stupor, opening their minds to demonic influences, “The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons” (1 Tim. 4:1). Watch out for spiritual encounters that cater to the flesh by producing a mindless euphoria, experiences foreign to the normative fear of the Lord revealed in Scripture while in the presence of the Holy. Evaluate the genuineness of encounters with the Holy based upon Scripture (objective) and not experience (subjective).

Copyright 2009 Immutable Word Ministries ("...for the word of our God stands forever." Isaiah 40:8)