Spring
1999
The
Manifest Presence of the Lord P-13
Walter Beuttler
"Behold, I stand at the door, and knock. If any man
hear My voice and open the door ...” Rev 3:20 KJV.
This does not refer exclusively to men, but to anyone who
will hear and respond. Some time ago, in Australia, a Scripture
in I Corinthians 14 was applied literally, "The manifestation
of the Spirit is given to every man." Women were excluded
and told they must remain silent. Rather, this speaks of “opportunity.”
The only condition is that we hear and respond, which will
result in a feast with the Lord as He reveals Himself to us
in His manifested presence.
This experiencing of the Lord’s manifested presence
is available to all those who love the Lord, and demonstrate
that love by their obedience. Its outworking will depend on
how developed we are toward spiritual maturity, the Lord’s
purpose for our lives, our spiritual hunger and capacity,
or completely apart from us, the sovereign purposes of the
Lord. Thus, it is not restricted to an isolated few or given
because we are particularly holy.
We should rejoice when the Lord condescends to use us. If
we ever think that we are special because the Lord is using
us, remember the wonder that He has anything to do with us
at all. If we become proud because we are being used by the
Lord in any way, think of Balaam's donkey who prophesied to
the prophet. If the Lord can use a donkey to speak, it is
no great thing that He uses us.
His knocking on this doorway of spiritual opportunity indicates
the Lord’s singular desire to personally meet with us.
Notice that the emphasis is on our hearing and responding.
Since this is the voice of the Lord knocking, spiritual perception
and sensitivity is required for us to hear. Our capacity for
spiritual perception can be increased in several ways; through
teaching, by our feeding on the Word, by our fellowship with
the Lord, and by prayer. It is very important that we seek
to improve our ability to hear His voice
We should guard our spiritual awareness and never take this
ability for granted. It is important that we never take for
granted, not treat lightly the Lord’s approach to us
for fellowship. The Song of Solomon reveals a very high degree
of intimacy between Solomon and the Lord. Yet toward the end
of his life, Solomon turned so far from the Lord that his
eternal state is left in doubt.
In Italy, there is a painting of Solomon which shows him
coming up in the resurrection before the Throne of God, in
which the saved are on the right and the lost on the left.
As Solomon approaches, there is an expression on his face
which indicates that he does not know if he belongs on the
right or the left. There is one Scripture that gives a bit
of a hope, where the Lord said to David, "My mercy shall
not depart from him."
At the zenith of his seeking the Lord, the Lord appeared to
Solomon in a dream and said, "Ask what I shall give you."
Consider what your answer would be if the Lord were to say
this to you. Our answer would be synchromatic with our true
spiritual state, as it would reveal where we stand spiritually.
I can relate to this as I had a similar experience, but for
a different purpose. Years ago, during a time of severe dealings,
the Lord was grieved with me and took His Spirit from me for
three days. Then after a time of severe disciplining, the
Lord said, "Ask what I shall give you," and I responded,
"There is only one thing I would ask, that I might have
Your Spirit to return.”
Solomon’s response was, "Give me now wisdom."
In the Hebrew, the idea it carries is: “Give your servant
a hearing heart.” There are two types of hearing; the
natural faculty of hearing through our physical ear, and the
inner spiritual faculty of spiritual perception.
God is a Spirit and Psalm 94:9 tells us, "He that planted
the ear, shall He not hear? He that formed the eye, shall
He not see." The Lord has no physical faculty of hearing,
but rather, a spiritual faculty of hearing.
Because we have these two diverse ways to hear, we tend to
neglect our spiritual hearing. Therefore, Jesus emphasized
our spiritual hearing, "He that has an ear to hear, let
him hear." They heard what Jesus was saying with their
physical ear, but He reminded them that there is a much higher
level of hearing by which we should hear. Only then can we
know what He is really saying.
In John’s messages to the seven Churches, he repeated
to each of them, "He that hath an ear, let him hear what
the Spirit saith unto the Churches." This is an appeal
to the inner hearing of the heart, which was the request of
Solomon.
When I retire at night, I often pray, “Give now Thy
servant a hearing heart.” I am asking the Lord to help
me to discern when He is knocking on the door of my heart,
so I might respond.
Many times, I have been asked, "How can I learn to better
recognize the voice of the Lord?" The best way is through
our times of fellowship with the Lord. Comparing Himself to
a shepherd, Jesus said,
"... the sheep follow Him, for they know His voice.
And a
stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him, for
they know not the voice of strangers” John 10:4b-5.
These sheep were not taught how to recognize the voice of
their shepherd. Rather, they came to know his voice because
they spent so much time with him. The time we spend waiting
upon the Lord is tremendously important.
Along with this, we come to recognize the voice of the Lord
through our spiritual experiences. The Holy Spirit will work
with us and help us to learn the Lord’s voice. Samuel
is a good example of this. He had laid down to sleep and the
Lord came and called Him. He ran to Eli thinking it was he
who had called, but it was not. After he had come three times,
Eli told him that it was the Lord who was calling him. Our
translation says, “the word of the Lord was not yet
revealed unto Samuel.” But the Hebrew reads, “the
voice of the Lord was not yet made known to Samuel.
The best way to recognize His voice and leadings is by association.
As we wait on the Lord and gain experience through our responses
to His presence, we come to recognize and understand the voice
of the Lord. A young child will usually cry when picked up
by another. A newborn will not do this, but because the baby
has spent much time with his mother, he has learned to recognize
her.
If I were to spend time with you, you would come to recognize
the sound of my voice. But if instead, someone explained to
you the sound of my voice, it is most probable that you would
not recognize it when I came into your presence.
There is a progression that we learn through experience that
will lead us into His presence.
"Behold I stand at the door and knock" - attention.
"If any man" - opportunity.
“Hear” - spiritual perception.
“My voice” - recognition.
“Open the door” - response.
There is no substitute for spending time in the presence
of the Lord. As year by year, we grow spiritually, we will
more easily recognize His voice.