Bill Johnson - You Were Born for Connection With God
See, his longing is always to accomplish significant things through co-laboring with the yieldedness of his people, those who have been made in his image. Created in his likeness, they would respond with the same heart as he has. So here we are in this moment, fast-forward to Solomon’s day. He builds this temple, and it’s time to dedicate what I would assume is the most extravagant building that has ever existed. Man, I would love to see it. Here’s this moment where the priests have come together, and I remind you of Exodus 19:6 and Isaiah 61:7, which announce to the people of God: you shall be priests unto the Lord. 2 Peter 2:9 says you are priests unto the Lord. The Old Testament pointed to the future, saying, «It’s happening.» Peter, in the book of Revelation, chapter 1, verse 5, announces it’s not coming; it is now. You have the right and responsibility to minister directly to him. So everything we see of that nature, that function in the Old Testament, is to seed the cloud and give us insight.
We have all these priests gathered together, and in verse 12, it says the Levites who were singing, all those of Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun, with their sons and brethren, stood at the east end of the altar clothed in white linen. They had to wear linen; they couldn’t wear wool, because if they wore wool, they would sweat, and there was nothing you could do in your own works—sweat—in the presence of God. Everything was to be by grace. Here’s another glimpse: you’re never there by your works, and that was the insistence of the Lord. They had cymbals, stringed instruments, harps, and with them were 120 priests sounding trumpets. Man, that had to be something! I mean, there were entire family lines whose whole job was just to play trumpets. You think about it; it almost seemed silly. Another family line were singers, and there was yet another group who were just cymbal players. The whole point was they had to become excellent at what they were doing, carrying that mantle throughout their family line—120 priests sounding trumpets.
Verse 13: It came to pass when the trumpeters and the singers were as one, making one sound. «Yeah, but I want to stand out.» No, you don’t. No, no, you don’t. You’re privileged to be a part of the whole. It’s not about you; it’s not about me. When they sang as one to be heard in praising and thanking the Lord, when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets, cymbals, and instruments of music and praised the Lord, saying, «For he is good; for his mercy endures forever,» that the house, the house of the Lord, was filled with a cloud, so that the priests could not continue ministering because of the cloud. For the glory of the Lord had filled the house! What did we read in Haggai? The glory of the latter house will be greater than the former. It’s always his intent to take us from glory to glory. Anything less is man’s influence. It’s always his intent to take us from glory to glory. It doesn’t come because it’s my goal; it comes because I surrender to his.
Here in this moment, we find—I don’t know how many are there—there are at least 120 who are playing trumpets, then you’ve got probably the same amount or more who are singers. You’ve got the cymbals, you’ve got strings; you’ve got all this stuff. So you have this massive crowd, and they’re all playing not for the nation of Israel—they are playing for the audience of one. We are playing directly to him. Every strum, every clanging cymbal, every syllable that is lifted up in song—everything is for the one. When that happened, and it became a united sound, when they sang as one with horns, that’s a miracle right there. When all of that comes together as one sound, the cloud came and so filled the temple that no one had to stand up and say, «I think it’d be appropriate if we went to our knees right now just to honor the Lord.» I believe those moments are fine; I’ve done it and probably will do it again—who knows? The day’s not over. But it wasn’t that kind of moment; it was an involuntary reaction: I’ve got to hide my face from the one who just entered the room.
Here’s the deal: this all happened under an inferior covenant, and inferior covenants do not release superior blessings. If what happened in this context took place in the Old Testament when they were just learning what it was to sing to the Lord and to honor him and to give offerings of thanksgiving and praise, then how much more has he designed it to happen here with us? I remember a prophetic song we had in Weberville; prophetic songs were the song of the Lord, with the Lord himself singing. I mean, I didn’t hear his voice, but we heard it through another voice. I remember the word he said: «Did I not fill the tabernacle of Moses with my glory? Did I not fill the temple of Solomon with my glory? How much more should I fill the place that I build with my own hands? My beloved, I’m building you.» No matter what we throw into the mix—our ambitions for our families, our countries, our cities or whatever—just put it all in the pile; it is all profoundly impacted by the glory.
Where is this headed? I can’t shake the fact that his goal is for the whole earth to be filled with his glory. Now, he’s God; he can make that happen now, but it would be a military invasion; it wouldn’t be through partnership. See, his longing is always to accomplish significant things through co-laboring with the yieldedness of his people, those who have been made in his image. Created in his likeness, they would respond with the same heart as he has—to model, to illustrate, to release, to activate his will in the earth. That’s the heart of God; that’s the heart of God. That’s the privilege we have in this hour. We know his heart. I may be confused by a thousand things, but the one thing that’s not confusing, not if I read this, is that he has got me on a track. It’s not a road where I can take directions I want; it’s a railroad track. You don’t turn; the direction has been set. You can stop; you can go backward, but you can’t change the assigned direction. The direction is from glory to glory.
I remember I’ve been sentimentally stirred up in the last week or so, just in my private little world, remembering—I’ll never forget the Sunday sitting right down there where Brian and my sons happened to be leading in worship. That Sunday, he may have played two chords. I’ve always said it was one, but he might have gone to a second chord. Something happened on that second chord; he filled the room, and we didn’t get to our first song for 40 minutes, and no one was keeping track. It was after the fact; you look back and wonder: why? Because something happens when he comes in; everything that was important to you, you can’t even remember. It’s not like, «Ah, I’ll bring it up later.» No, you can’t remember it in the manifest presence of the King of Glory. Suddenly, there’s only one thing on your mind: it’s what I was born for. I was born for this seamless interaction between the King of Glory, who has made me qualified, because I could never qualify myself. He’s qualified me to be in this moment, and it’s in those moments we hear him say, «Who shall I send?» Without even thinking, the hand goes up.
People who tell me, «I love to worship the Lord; I don’t like to leave that place,» I’m not sure they saw him yet. I’m not sure they actually saw him. Because I’m not sure you could see his heart and not want to go. I don’t know if it’s possible to sit in that moment where you see him, or where there’s an overwhelming sense of who he is and what he’s like, and he says, «Who shall I send?"—and you find your hand going up, saying, «I’ll do it. You name it, I’ll do it. I’m there. I don’t know what I’m doing, but I trust you; go with me, I’ll go.» I’m not sure that anyone who wants to just sit there and do nothing has actually seen what they claim to have seen. There’s something about, «Who shall I send? I’ll go.» There’s something about that moment of going where that glory never leaves you. It’s not like I’m departing the glory; it’s like I’m going to now enter into a greater realm of glory because I will now be an instrument in his hand. Perhaps that is how the whole earth becomes filled with his glory—as people in the presence carry the presence to bring change.