Matt.17:5-8 – While he was still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, a voice from the cloud said, “This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to Him!” When the disciples heard this, they fell face down to the ground and were terrified. And Jesus came to them and touched them and said, “Get up, and do not be afraid.” And raising their eyes, they saw no one except Jesus Himself alone.
One of the things that I often catch flack about is people falling down in our services. I get it, falling down seems weird to the natural man, it was weird to me until I found myself on the floor in the magnificent presence of the Lord. We see this happening in today’s passage with the Lord’s disciples, one moment they were having a conversation about building three tabernacles and the next moment they are on their faces in the presence of the Lord. I guess the question to be asked is, “Why?”, and does this have a place in our modern more culturally relevant church. Maybe that is where the problem lies, maybe our churches have become to comfortable and relevant, maybe we need more of a dose of the fear of God. Here is how Spurgeon explains this moment.
“Yes, the voice overcame them. Deeper impression was produced by the words of the Lord than by the blinding light. “When the disciples hear it, they fell on their face, and were sore afraid. ” They were in the immediate presence of God, and listening to the Father’s voice: well might they lie prostrate and tremble. Too clear a manifestation of God, even though it related to Jesus, would rather overpower than empower us. The three disciples said no more about building tabernacles, but as one man, “They fell on their face. ” Awe is the end of talk: in this case it looked as if it were the end of consciousness; but this was only a temporary swoon, from which they would recover, and be all the more joyous.”
So this is the question I have been wanting to ask you, when was the last time you found yourself trembling in the presence of the Lord? Maybe that is exactly what we are missing. We have the great preaching, the ministries in place, and even refreshments in the foyer. Maybe what we are missing is more of the fear of God rather than the fear of man.
Love this because we all must navigate our way, not through but to this point. Do we go to Jesus, but with terms decided by us beforehand or do we completely yeild to take hold of a filling without measure? One would say but how? If you have been baptized in the Holy Spirit and received your prayer language, very similarly we yield, let go and let God.
Sounds simple, childlike, yes, however tough, intelligent in the ways of the world adults, yes even biblical studies, have to go higher than common sense.
🔥🔥🔥🔥🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌Amen !
The thing for a lot of Christians is they think they are doing what the Lord wants. But we could never build the Lord anything!! It all belongs to Him already. He’s after our hearts so we gotta ask ourselves ‘why’ we do what we do, is it bc our love for the Lord spills over into good works or do work with no devotion but think it’s for Him? He’s much more concerned with who we are than what we do….