The Empty Throne

In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.

Isaiah 6:1

Isaiah’s messianic vision of Christ sitting on His throne in the heavenly temple is quite instructive for today’s believers. 1 Cor 3:16 makes us know that we are also the temples of the living God, with Christ in-dwelling in us.
If we have accepted Jesus into our hearts in the ‘true’ born again experience, we owe Him nothing less than total surrender to His Lordship (making way for His throne to be placed in us) and exalting Him above every other consideration, person, factor, in our day to day lives (high and lifted up).

A few days into the quarantine period, as i was engaged in intercession, the Lord began to engage me with individual answers/insights to each individual. As we proceeded down the list, at the mention of a specific name His tone got slightly stern and He interjected with “never lift up this person in prayer to me anymore” ..to which I asked…why Lord? He responded “I have turned a deaf ear to him and will no longer entertain his matters. I have given him a very long period of time to change and repent, yet even now he is bent on running in his own way…so I have given him over to a reprobate mind”
Translation:
He is LORD of himself and his destiny, He just holds onto
Christ’s name to solve problems beyond his ability.
But he is not truly interested in worshiping God in Spirit & Truth

Following from that the Lord proceeded in an even sterner and pained tone: “A lot of people call me Lord” “Very many people call me their Lord but they only do me lip service” “There is no trace of my Lordship in their lives….” “they only ever seek to use me and use my name as a means to an end”
“My throne in their heart is empty”
“many of these will hear me say ‘depart from me ye workers of iniquity’
I know you not“

Seeking clarification for myself i asked: “Lord as i am now, a believer who also calls you Lord all the time, How will i know if i fall into this category, and what parameters can i use to assess myself to know whether your truly Lord in my life not just savior??”

He answered the first two immediately. The response to the third came later that day from the Holy Spirit. And i’ll summarize them according to the 3 criteria below.

These are 3 criteria for assessment He gave to me

Criteria #1: Bearing His Burdens

The first thing He mentioned was burden bearing, and in doing this He showed me a vision which for sake of brevity i cant write out. But He was explaining it out in this manner “I am glad when they drop their burdens at my feet, after all they do so at my invitation in Matt 11:28. Sadly only few make it into rest of Mathew 11:29” “Wale, what i desire from my people is intimacy with me. Where intimacy thrives, sharing of burden is involved“. “Some though are only interested in hiding behind my name to use me for their own purposes, but will not yield their necks to carry my burdens” “Some others i wait patiently knocking at the door of their hearts but they deliberately ignore me because they want to achieve somethings for themselves first yet not knowing that it is in bearing my burden which is light that true rest can be found for the soul.“

Burdens are diverse, and do vary from person to person and season to season, yet we will always be given the grace to bear them in His strength.
I like to think of it more as an invitation to partnership with Him in His agenda. He made it clear that any Christianity that has no responsibility element or bears no marks of personal burdens is questionable.
We are all called in one form or another, and every true call is authenticated by burden.

Criteria #2: Sacrifice

Criteria #3: Edicts, Instructions & Discipline.

Lordship connotes the words ‘domain’, ‘kingdom’, ‘authority’, ‘leadership’ in an active not passive sense. Anyone who has become born-again has been translated into the Kingdom of God where we have one ruler and one throne overseeing our lives.

What comes out of a throne? A Scepter. Edicts. Direction.
Where the Lord is enthroned in any life/church/fellowship, Present will be instructions, directives and errands. From past to present that life/church will be able to trace these things in their lives. Where these directives are flouted there will be occasional discipline.

Christ is not an absentee landlord, He is interested in directing our steps and guiding us according to His will. Christ hates the fact that many people call Him Lord but run their lives utterly devoid of His input. He hates the fact that many call Him Lord but live their Christianity without His boundaries

Yes we have the instructions and commandments in the bible, but the bible isn’t a dead book. In any true born again life the Holy Spirit gives life and voice even to the written word of God and often has to teach us how to practically apply these things in the facets and challenges of living.

When God put Adam in the garden He was free to do almost anything BUT eat the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Yet we have churches today that preach a Christianity without boundaries.

For every life where Christ is Lord, ‘seated high on the throne and exalted’, He places His boundaries & restrictions. They are not burdensome or legalistic but they are for our good and often related to our consecration..
These are not rules imposed by denominations or churches or spouses, but things Christ ministers personally to you to avoid, refrain from or eschew.

Too many Christians run around these days like bastards without a father, others on the other end of the egregious scale have replaced Christ on the throne of their hearts with their general overseers. Let us examine ourselves and allow the Holy Spirit to correct us where needed.

Luke 6:46
And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?

Proverbs 3:11-12
My son, do not despise the LORD’s discipline or be weary of his reproof, for the LORD reproves him whom he loves, as a father the son in whom he delights.

1 John 2:27
But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.

Summary.

This Easter you will hear a lot of talk about how Christ to save you from God’s wrath, which is true and wonderful. But be reminded that He didn’t do this to be a bystander in your life, nor to have His throne occupy the same space as Money, Football, Marriage, Business, Career or even your General Overseer.

Know that the same Jesus who withdrew himself from the 5,000+ He had fed because they purposed to make Him king (the throne of Lordship) on their own terms and serve their selfish ambitions, withdrew Himself from them. ref John 6:10-15

That same Jesus is still withdrawing himself from those who would seek to abuse their relationship with Him. As for you and I, this covid19 mandatory isolation offers us a one in a lifetime opportunity to re-connect to Him, repent and return in our hearts to the place of adoration and worship just for who He is.

Happy Easter Brethren.



You may consider reading;-
– Savior But not Lord: Christianity without Jesus
– Life More Abundant: From the grave to the Table
– Bound for God: Isaac Model of a Living Sacrifice
– The Night Cometh