Before God – even if He presents Himself as the Father – man finds himself to be provoked to perplexity, he finds himself overwhelmed, he is awestruck, he stands reduced, realizing that he is undone. There, before God, every possible category disengages from its commonality, from its ordinary and well-known value. What we have are fragments, the smallest possible beginnings of a description – fragments, insignificant words piled up, never enough to produce even the bleakest picture of what is seen and felt at the beginning of a history with God. This is where a heavenly mandate has its origin – in a realm which lies beyond, far beyond what is ordinary.
The man, who stands with a mandate, does so because of his history with God. There is an element of “otherness” engraved in his inner constitution, he carries a peculiar mark over his living – a “Beyond”. He has become a foundational man, in touch with reality, because of his trembling before to word of God. His life carries the reality of having been brought beyond to see God and to see himself in relation to that first seeing – and then, to see mediocrity as God sees it, from the viewpoint of holiness and purity. The sending implies conflict – holiness versus the mundane and the mediocre. He will never be satisfied with trivialities, ever seeking for that which corresponds to his encounter with that which is beyond.
He is indeed a watchman, jealously guarding that which belongs to a true seeing. He has willingly become a servant, a man who stands before God patiently waiting for a word, for a burden, for God’s timing. He never engages in men’s devises – rather opposes them. Elijah never became an “in-house-prophet” or “one of the boys”. He might be alone, but never aloof, never taking a position away and above to indicate otherness. His is a servant’s role – towel in hand, as well as a rebuke when appropriate. The mastering word of his service is to be found in Rom 1. Paul declares true service to have its source in the inner man. Service involving hands and feet, thought and mouth ought to be brought in submission to the inner reality of true seeing and sending.
That which is true in regards to seeing and sending begins, and is then covered to its fullness, by servanthood. With David the expression was waiting. Jeremiah had his tears, and asked for more of the same kind. From Elijah we gather a sentence displaying persistency: “God, before whom I stand”. Isaiah brought servanthood to its fullness in his gospel-preaching. Ezekiel found words to speak regarding times and situations when both Israel and the Gentiles are to be brought to a seeing, seeing God as he is – “Yada”, a representative Hebrew word reoccurring some 70 times throughout his book. A sent man is a servant, a foundational man is at all times a servant. A man with a word must stand as a servant. If this particular ingredient is missing with the man who professes sending, we do harm by not dismissing him.
The man with a mandate stands qualified to speak by inner reality. The approval needed consists of an inner history with God, the seeing which God has given. The seeing which he has obtained from God far too often contradicts the common seeing of man, for him to be able to receive credentials from men in formal positions. A mandate formulated in the presence of God constitutes perplexity in seeking its reality, while obtaining it as well as in the exercising and expressing of its practical aspects. It constitutes perplexity for the one sent and for the people who comes across and becomes crossed by the man who stands with a mandate. Heaven contradicts and offends that which is earthly. If man stands perplexed by its breaking in, there is hope for salvation. If man turns against the sending of God, and does so repeatedly unto the hardening of heart – there is only a breaking in severe judgment to be expected.
The man who is chosen for a mandate, is chosen for a seeing which opens the regions beyond that which belongs to this world. His are times of Davidic waiting, perhaps of tears like Jeremiah, of training among sheep like Moses and Amos, of friendship in royal settings like Isaiah, alone at the brook like Elijah. A man is not easily made, the shaping of the history with God in which the mandate lies hidden is not for men to read and discuss. But, the solidity of its reality confronts all men. The mandate speaks without words as a marker of authenticity amidst vanity, as a marker of eternal values among triviality.
Look for men with a history with God. Pray forth men with heavenly mandate.
Lars Widerberg
Reading; Isa 6:5, 66:5, Rom 1:9
An excerpt from the notes to a Church in the City, the Big Apple – to Bronx, one of the five Burroughs of New York City.
