2021: The Pursuit of Holiness- Lord, Send Me!

“Then I said, here am I. Send Me!” Isaiah 6:8

The year 2021 will see an increased desire to know God and pursue His Holiness. Our pursuit of Holiness rests in the covenant promises of God. When you walk in the likeness of Christ through having come to a born-again life our actions in Him will always in covenant authority cause holiness to reign in our lives. In asking God to send you is an accepted commitment to the covenant life. It begins your journey to holiness.

            Being sent is not the beginning of God’s calling in our lives it is the result of His work in our lives from the beginning of our life. We are called from the foundation of the world. We are on His mind in all aspects of His kingdom purpose. He prophesies to Jeremiah in Jeremiah 1:5, “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, and before you were born, I consecrated you; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.” Jeremiah reveals to us that our being sent and our asking to be sent [for the sake of the gospel] begins not at our asking but even before our conception in the womb. Asking to be sent confirms you have been chosen. It is a holy convocation!

His Calling secures our inheritance

            Holiness sits at the center of God’s promised covenant to establish His inheritance in our lives and in our offspring. By establishing a holy life, we produce a generation of righteousness in our lifeline. The response “Here I am” further connects the Abrahamic covenant with our prophetic nature in responding in the same way to our calling [Isa. 6:8]. Just as the Abrahamic covenant sets the stage for Isaac and Jacob leading into the establishment of the twelve tribes of Israel, we are grafted into this holy convocation of Christ’s eternal work at the cross [Gal. 3:29]. Our pursuit of holiness rests in the work of Jesus and our desire to become more like Him. The covenant plays a significant role in this process.

            Believers must not be misled to think that all the spiritual works towards holiness are filled with joy and happiness; nor should they think that once there is a burden of life that they have lost their spiritual experience. At times, it is very unfortunate that believers do not realize that the burden in the Spirit is the source of real spiritual work and it enhances the absolute power of the cross.

Where can we go, Lord?

            In John 6:68, the Lord questions the disciples about leaving Him as others have because of the hard words He spoke to them. It was in the discourse of the Son of Man in John 6:55 Jesus said these words, “For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink.” Many believed Him to be speaking of cannibalism which was a vulgarity to them. Yet, He was speaking about the spiritual aspects of His office. After this statement many of those who followed Him left Him. In so doing, He turned to His disciples and asked: “You do not want to go away also, do you?” v67. Peter wasted no time in responding with a resounding revelation: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life” v.68.

            The Apostle Peter’s revelation of Jesus having words of eternal life are revealed to Him by the Spirit of God [Matt. 16:16]. In Peter’s resolve to stay loyal to our Lord through the Spirit’s inspired actions to open an understanding to Peter the true revelation of the office of the Christ, holiness and God’s eternal glory have encompassed the heart of the apostle. The greatest revelation is that he knows Jesus to be the Christ, the greater revelation is that he speaks for all the disciples. Notice in John 6:68 he did not say “Where can I go, Lord?” Instead, he invokes a plural pronoun saying, “Lord, to whom shall WE go?”

            In seeking holiness there are two aspects of attaining this attribute of our Lord; 1- Peter’s statement [“Lord, to whom shall we go?” v68] and 2- Isaiah’s prophecy [“Lord, Send Me!” Is. 6:8]. Each of these testaments have an individual confession and the greater acknowledgement of the call on the church. He stirs both of these revelations in us and then puts action to them by sending us individually and corporately.

Only the holy are sent!

This is a hard statement since most of the church would believe they are not qualified. They would be correct in stating that no one is qualified in holy living of their own power by the will of their flesh. However, we are in Christ and hidden in Him until the last day [Col. 3:3]. Therefore, it is not we who live in holiness by our own volition but rather we are holy because He lives in us by His Holy Spirit. To understand this, we must come to the knowledge that we are sent and commissioned to bring the gospel to the world because the Holy Spirit in us compels us to. We are sent because we are holy in Him.

In Hebrews 12:25-29 the writer of this letter describes God as a consuming fire. In this description is a statement of truth that requires our response: “See that you refuse not Him that speaks…” v25. In our sending is the understanding that there must first be a calling and in that calling God speaks. Our refusal to respond to this call is a denial to the pursuit of holiness. Because God is a consuming fire the ways of the world wane in the presence of holiness. His consuming fire results in a holy life. He burns away all impurities and sets our feet on the road of righteousness. Any refusal to His sending would be a denial of the very work of the cross of Christ in our lives.

An Unshaken Kingdom

            The pursuit of holiness when He calls and our response is Lord, send me, places us in alliance with an unshaken kingdom that has established salvation down through the ages witnessed by the Law and the prophets.  There are several aspects of being sent that are foundations of His unshaken kingdom.

• He warns from Heaven [v.26]—His decrees that are sent forth from heaven to earth represent the cornerstone of the foundation of His kingdom. They are constant, never shaken, never moved, or unyielding in purpose.
• He removes what can be shaken [v. 27]—this is the removing of temporal created things. The shaken will be taken away and only the spiritual will remain. Our sending is a spiritual event moving in a temporal world.
• What cannot be shaken will remain [v. 27]—the things of the Spirit cannot be moved and will remain even in the midst of His consuming fire. In His calling we hear His voice. Our response to this call is to be sent. In that sending is a spiritual event that can never be shaken. The work of the kingdom remains.
• Receiving an unshakable kingdom yields our acceptable service v. 28]—It is a humbling experience to accept the call of God. We must approach it with reverence and awe showing our gratitude to be in His service.
• He is a consuming fire [v. 29]—Leviticus describes the holy fire that burns at all times at the altar [cross]. “The fire on the altar shall be kept burning on it. It shall not go out…” [Lev. 6:12].

All of the listed aspects of an unshaken kingdom, the kingdom of God, come into play when we say “Lord, send me.” We have, in the Spirit, become transfigured into the image of our Lord; our mindset, our intent, and our disposition all come into a new understanding of the kingdom.

The Duality of the Christian life

            When we ask God to send us in His name for the purpose of the gospel and the promotion of the kingdom of God through the salvation of souls, we encounter a duality of the realism of life. On the one hand, all of us as Christians have stood before the experience of Sinai; having met God through the cross of Christ and taking His Law into our hearts; and on the other, many of us will never stand before Zion because we have rejected the gifts of the Holy Spirit and the power thereof.

            In chapter two, I addressed the differences between a Sinai and a Zion experience. The consuming fire of God is consistent with the Zion experience. It is our Pentecost. The Zion experience brings greater privileges with greater responsibility. To be sent and to dwell in Zion is a denying of the life of flesh and a promoting of the Spirit within us. Neglecting to live our lives in the Zion experience inhibits our ability to greater victory, prosperity, and blessing. You cannot live a fulfilled walk in this life without the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Being sent demonstrates a life of spiritual power.

            The scripture in Hebrews 12:25 tells us that if we refuse Him in our calling and reject the warning He has given from heaven to the earth, how much more shall we escape the pending judgment? If we refuse His call [v25] after having been warned by the prophets who walked the earth, how much more will we escape when the calling has come down from heaven with more authority and greater power [v25]?

            Our constant focus in seeking holiness as we are answering the call of God in our lives is to remain at the foot of Zion. It is the city of our great King. “Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King” Psalm 48:1-2. This scripture speaks to the greatness of God and how He should be praised in the mountain of His holiness. To dwell on the sides of the north, the city of our great King is to walk in the power of His Spirit, to stay in His manifest anointing, and to reap the presence of His glory. There can be on other way. He is our all in all, our soon coming King, and our righteousness.

            Mt. Zion is the representation of the kingdom of God within you. The kingdom that cannot be shaken. The kingdom that will always remain and never cease. The kingdom that is great in beauty, joy, and eternal peace. Therefore, our cry “Lord, send me!” is a cry of liberty and freedom. It is a fulfillment of His eternal order in our lives.  In a plain reading of Hebrews 12:22-23, this passage explains that the followers of Christ now dwell on the true Mt. Zion pointing not to itself but to the city that God would build through His Son. It exists now in the heavenly realm to be manifested historically on earth, not because it is a dualistic entity of the spiritual and the earthly but because it is a city of historical progression. For “we do not see everything in subjection to Christ” Hebrews 2:8, yet we will see this because what has been inaugurated in the heavens will be consummated on earth.

Causes and Effects

            There is a spiritual principle in the Scriptures of causes and effects. What is caused in heaven is affected upon the earth. The Genesis account of creation is a great example of how things are developed in the heavenly realm and then manifested in the world. “The Lord said, “Let there be Light, and there was light” Gen. 1:3. The Lord in heaven speaks to the earth and it obeys.

            When the Israelites gathered at the foot of Mt. Sinai, they were presented with a great cause that was born of heaven. The Lord entered into a spiritual covenant with them as a people and gave them the power of His will to walk as His people and to be a witness to the nations. Their understanding of this was demonstrated in God’s Law. The heavens broke threw the atmosphere and by the power of God caused the Word of God [His Ten Commandments] to be written for the nation of Israel to effectively change the world. In Exodus 20 the Lord establishes the propensity of His covenant with the Jewish people.

A major aspect of the cause/effects principle rests in the belief that true followers of Christ now dwell on the true Mount Zion, not a spiritualized noumenal one. This is because earthly Zion pointed not to itself but to the city that God would build through His Son. It exists now in the heavenly realm to be manifested historically on earth, not because it is a dualistic entity of the spiritual and the earthly but because it is a city of historical progression. For “we do not yet see everything in subjection to [Christ]” (Heb. 2:8), yet we will see this because what has been inaugurated in the heavens will be consummated on earth.

The Fullness of Faith

            Even in our being sent we must still draw nearer to Him. Hebrews 10:22, “Let us draw near, in fullness of faith.” It is our full assurance of faith that is significant in our sending. The full assurance of faith refers only to the strength and confidence with which we believe. The truth we accept may be limited and defective, and our assurance of it may be more an undoubting conviction of the mind than the living apprehension of the heart. In both respects the fullness of faith expresses what we need—a faith that takes in objectively all that God offers in it its fullness, and subjectively all the powers of our heart and life in their fullness. Let us draw near is the establishment of holiness. The closer we come near to Him the greater the holiness of His Spirit falls upon us. The drawing near increases the effectiveness of the gifts of the Spirit in our sending.  Our spiritual man comes alive with the authority of the King of Kings, the Lord of all creation, to witness the great testimony of His life ensuring salvation to all who would come to Him through our sending.