God’s Seers

God’s Seers

“Then Amaziah said to Amos: ‘Go, you seer! Flee to the land of Judah. There eat bread, and there prophesy. But never again prophesy at Bethel, for it is the king’s sanctuary, and it is the royal residence.’” Amos 7:12-13.

Israel continually departed from the Lord; they did not see their apostasy as critical or as serious as it actually was. Yet the Lord had His seers who could see Israel’s true state in relation to God. They saw clearly what needed to be corrected, and they called out their warning. They presented the way that was blessed and the way that was cursed to Israel, and they did everything they could to awaken a love for God and His laws in them and a hatred for idolatry. But quite often it went as it did with Amos: “Go, you seer!” they said. They did not want to be disturbed by God’s laws in their present, comfortable state. It did not matter to them if their current worship service and their royal temple were abominations in the eyes of both God and the seer. They were possessed by a spirit of apathy, and their eyes could not see the heavenly glory.

The spiritual state of an entire assembly will quickly degenerate wherever God’s seers are lacking in today’s Christian assemblies. The ways and customs of the world will gain entrance, making the assembly incapable of seeing the situation as serious as it is. They slide into a state of self-satisfaction even though the situation is deteriorating. Yes, the apostasy is great. They have their temple and their worship service, but not in covenant with Jesus’ laws and commandments. They have raised the banner of grace over everything, but they do not want to know anything about the searchlight of a seer of the Lord.

In the Laodicean church they thought that everything was in excellent shape. They did not have a seer of the Lord in their midst who could see the lukewarmness and apostasy and call out his warning. Fortunately, the Lord Himself viewed the situation and told them what they had to do so that they would not be spewed out of His mouth.

Anointed eyes determine the spiritual state of the church and the home. There can be churches that serve God uprightly according to the light they have, but when someone with more anointed and keener eyes for the Lord’s purity and glory comes along, the result will be revival and salvation more than ever before. The Ephesians were very God-fearing, but they did not have the anointed and enlightened eyes that Paul wished they had.

“The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes . . . .” Ps. 19:8. Our eyes are anointed according to the fervency of our love for the commandments. There is much talk about love in the lukewarm, religious world, but it is a false love. Genuine love is united with a fervent zeal to keep all of Jesus’ blessed laws and commandments. Jesus says that this is love for God, that we keep His commandments. All other love of God is just empty words.

Only if we have anointed eyes can we keep our home as a place where God’s pleasure and blessing can rest. If a mother is not a seer of the Lord among her children, the entire home will quickly degenerate. She needs to see the riches of the glory of His inheritance for her children and make it great and living for them.

When parents are not God’s seers, so that they rejoice in the Lord’s greatness and glory, they are seers of this world—and this host of seers is great. When they sit together with their children, they speak with enthusiasm of their artistic relatives, about those among them who have become something “great” in this world, and that little John or Henry have the same possibilities because of their background. They hold out all kinds of great expectations for their children, except being great in God’s eyes. They cannot possibly do their children a worse service. They put their children up on the heights where God’s anger and affliction will visit them. “Greatness” is the worst thing God knows, but humility is the best. Blessed is every father or mother who can say to their children: “Learn of me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart.”

Our eyes have grown dim if we have the least amount of impurity or love for this world in our heart. Judas left the flock of disciples and entered into Satan’s deep darkness because he had thirty pieces of silver before his eyes. Saul could have entered the heavenly mansions as an anointed and glorious king, leaving a shining memorial behind. However, because he desired something outside of God’s will, his life was blotted out and his name became a terrible warning for all times and all generations.

Now we live in the last times of preparation before the Lord’s return, and it is more important than ever before to have a clear vision. May nothing darken our view. May we see clearly what we have to do according to God’s will in every circumstance, and may we consider it a joy that all things serve us for our good when we fear and love God. Let us look to Him and radiate with joy, and prophesy for ourselves about victory and progress on all our ways. Let us, in the Spirit and by faith, see ourselves as those who have already endured all trials victoriously and who are along in the joyous host, at home with Christ. If we can see ourselves in that place, then all our afflictions will be light and but for a moment.

Yes, each seer of God is blessed and precious. Each single person in the church of the living God is called to be such a seer, each one in the work to which God has called him. Each seer of God is a man or a woman of praise, because they can see so infinitely much for which they can praise Him.