Divine Vision

“Where there is no vision [no redemptive revelation of God], the people perish.”

Where there is NO vision, the people disintegrate-go to pieces-cohesiveness breaks down.
The divine foundation of the Church as a whole is a revelation, a vision-a “having seen the Lord.” The Church started with this and took its rise from a seeing the Lord, high and lifted up, exalted at the right hand of the Majesty on high. The Church went forth on the basis of that vision as a cohesive testimony, as a corporate vessel, and what is true of the Church must be true of the relationship of all believers. You and I can never hold together by certain rules and regulations, or by a creed. It can only be as we are one in vision, one in revelation of Him.
If this vision is necessary to hold us together as individuals and to keep us from falling apart in ourselves, it is equally necessary to keep us together as the Lord’s people-and that is going to be one of the tests of these days!

There can be no doubt that we are soon to face some desperate times. We can hardly imagine (nor would we predict) just what might come to produce the “shaking.” Consider the scattering now taking place amongst God’s people. On every hand there are little groups forming and seeking to become a New Testament expression of Christ. Some are merely seeking escape. Others are really after fulfillment of God’s purpose. The old line of corporate expression and fellowship along creedal or denominational lines is breaking fast.
Now, is this outward breaking apart going to be the end, or is there going to be with all that a spiritual cohesion triumphing over apparent division? Is there a larger spiritual vision which can truly unite these smaller group expressions to become one glorious expression? What cohesive element will manifest a living testimony to the religious world?

As this “shaking” progresses, it will be seen that all the work of the enemy, all the division and confusion, all the breaking up and outward disintegration can have NO effect upon those who have really seen God’s purpose and His methods. There still remains, in the unseen before God in heaven-and here on earth as a testimony-that oneness and cohesiveness of God’s people which Satan cannot destroy. Those who have begun to live in the divine vision know its cohesive power.

Rich