"William Booth"
The above oil painting was commissioned in
1993 by Last Days Ministries, which was founded by Keith Green.
It was a depiction of a vision that William
Booth, the founder of the Salvation Army had one day.
Vision is a powerful thing. The Bible says
that, “where
there is no vision, the people perish.” It is interesting how God
used vision or revelation throughout the Bible to speak to people and even
communicate His heart to them.
Proverbs
29:18
Where there is no vision, the people
perish.
“Where there is no
vision, the people perish”
In light of this past Sunday Celebrations
message about “going” I want to share with you Booth’s vision. As Booth was
traveling in his coach, he was looking out the window and saw the condition of
people around him. He recounts that people were “living carelessly
and in shameless
rebellion against God, without a thought for their eternal welfare.”
He says, “As I looked out of the window, I seemed to see them all… millions of
people all around me given up to their drink and their pleasure, their dancing
and their music, their business and their anxieties, their politics and their
troubles, ignorant – willfully ignorant in many cases – and in other instances
knowing all about the truth and not caring at all. But all of them, the whole
mass of them, sweeping on and up in their blasphemies and devilries to the
Throne of God.”
Psalm
37:39
The salvation of the righteous comes from
the LORD; He is their stronghold in time of trouble.
“God will Redeem my
Life from the Grave, His Salvation is drawing near”
Psalm
49:13-15
This is the way of those who are foolish,
And of those after them who approve their words. Selah. As sheep they are
appointed for Sheol.
Death shall be their shepherd; and the upright shall rule over them in the
morning, And their form shall be for Sheol
to consume So that they have no habitation. But God will redeem my soul from
the power of Sheol, For He will receive me.
“Here is the vision”
I saw a dark and stormy ocean. Over it the black clouds hung
heavily; through them every now and then vivid
lightning flashed and loud thunder rolled, while the winds moaned, and the waves
rose and foamed, towered and broke, only to rise and foam, tower and break
again. In that ocean I thought I saw myriads of poor human beings plunging and
floating, shouting and shrieking, cursing and struggling and drowning; and as
they cursed and screamed they rose and shrieked again, and then some sank to
rise no more.
And I saw out of this dark angry ocean, a
mighty rock that rose up with its summit towering high above the black clouds
that overhung the stormy sea. And all around the base of this great rock I saw
a vast platform. Onto this platform, I saw with delight a
number of the poor struggling, drowning wretches continually climbing out of
the angry ocean. And I saw that a few of those who were already safe on the
platform were helping the poor creatures still in the angry waters to reach the
place of safety.
On looking more closely I found a number of
those who had been rescued, industriously working and scheming by ladders,
ropes, boats and other means more effective, to deliver the poor strugglers out
of the sea. Here and there were some who actually jumped into the water regardless of the
consequences in their passion to ‘rescue the perishing.’
And I hardly know which gladdened me the
most – the
sight of the poor drowning people climbing onto the rocks reaching a
place of safety, or the devotion and self-sacrifice of those whose whole
being was wrapped up in the effort for their deliverance.
As I looked on, I saw that the occupants of
that platform were quite a mixed company. That is, they were divided into
different ‘sets’ or classes, and they occupied themselves with different
pleasures and employments. But only a very few of them seemed to make it their
business to get the people out of the sea.
But what puzzled me most was the fact that
though all of them had been rescued at one time or another from the ocean, nearly everyone
seemed to have forgotten all about it. Anyway, it seemed the memory
of its darkness and danger no longer troubled them at all.
And what seemed equally strange and
perplexing to me was that these people did not even seem to have any care –
that is any agonizing care – about the poor perishing ones who were struggling
and drowning right before their very eyes… many of whom were their own husbands
and wives, brothers and sisters and even their own children.
Now this astonishing unconcern could not have been the result of
ignorance or lack of knowledge, because they
lived right there in full sight of it all and even talked about it sometimes.
Many even went regularly to hear lectures and sermons in which the awful state
of these poor drowning creatures was described.
I have always said that the occupants of
this platform were engaged in different pursuits and pastimes. Some of them
were absorbed day and night in trading and business in order to make gain,
storing up their savings in boxes, safes and the like.
Many spent their time in amusing themselves
with growing flowers on the side of the rock, others in painting pieces of
cloth or in playing music, or in dressing themselves up in different styles and
walking about to be admired. Some occupied themselves chiefly in eating and
drinking; others were taken up with arguing about the poor drowning creatures
that had already been rescued.
But the thing to me that seemed the most
amazing was that those on the platform to whom He called, who heard His voice
and felt that they ought to obey it – at least they said they did – those who
confessed to love Him much were in full sympathy with Him in the task He had
undertaken – who worshipped Him or who professed to do so – were so taken up
with their trades and professions, their money saving and pleasures, their
families and circles, their religions and arguments about it, and their
preparation for going to the mainland, that they did not listen to the cry that
came to them from this Wonderful Being who had Himself gone down into the sea.
Anyway, if they heard it they did not heed
it. They did not care. And so the multitude went on right before them
struggling and shrieking and drowning in the darkness.
And then I saw something that seemed to me
even more strange than anything that had gone on before in this strange vision.
I saw that some of these people on the platform to whom this Wonderful Being
had called, wanting them to come and help Him in His difficult task of saving
these perishing creatures, were always praying and crying out to Him to come to
them!
Some wanted Him to come and stay with them,
and spend His time and strength in making them happier.
Others wanted Him to come and take away
various doubts and misgivings they had concerning the truth of some letters He
had written them. Some wanted Him to come and make them feel more secure on the
rock – so secure that they would be quite sure that they should never slip off
again into the ocean.
Numbers of others wanted Him to make them
feel quite certain that they would really get off the rock and onto the
mainland someday; because as a matter of fact, it was well known that some had
walked so carelessly as to lose their footing, and had fallen back again into
the stormy waters.
So these people used to meet and get up as
high on the rock as they could, and looking towards the mainland (where they
thought the Great Being was) they would cry out, “Come to us! Come and help
us!”
And all the while He was down (by His
Spirit) among the poor struggling, drowning creatures in the angry deep, with
His arms around them trying to drag them out, and looking up – oh! so longingly
but all in vain – to those on the rock, crying to them with His voice all
hoarse from calling,
“Come to Me! Come,
and help Me”
Booth then gave a stirring rebuke and challenge for the
believers who have been rescued. He writes,
“And then I understood it all. It was plain
enough. The
sea was the ocean of life – the sea
of real, actual human existence.(The Masses) That lightning was the gleaming
of piercing truth coming from Jehovah’s Throne. That thunder was the distant
echoing of the wrath of God. Those multitudes of people shrieking, struggling
and agonizing in the stormy sea, was the thousands and thousands of poor
harlots and harlot-makers, of drunkards and drunkard makers, of thieves, liars,
blasphemers and ungodly people of every kindred, tongue and nation.
“The Awesome Throne of Jehovah”
Oh what a black sea it was! And oh, what
multitudes of rich and poor, ignorant and educated were there. They were all so
unalike in their outward circumstances and conditions, yet all alike in one
thing – all sinners before God – all held by, and holding onto, some iniquity,
fascinated by some idol, the slaves of some devilish lust, and ruled by the
foul fiend from the bottomless pit!
‘All alike in one thing?’ No, all alike in
two things – not only the same in their wickedness but, unless rescued, the
same in their sinking, sinking… down, down, down… to the same terrible doom. That great
sheltering rock represented Calvary, the place where Jesus had died
for them. And the people on it were those who had been rescued. The way they
used their energies, gifts and time represented the occupations and amusements
of those who professed to be saved from sin and hell – followers of the Lord Jesus
Christ. The handful of fierce, determined ones, who were risking their own
lives in saving the perishing were true soldiers of the cross of Jesus.
That Mighty Being who was calling to them
from the midst of the angry waters was the Son of God, “the same yesterday, today and forever”
who is still struggling and interceding to save the dying multitudes about us
from this terrible doom of damnation, and whose voice can be heard above the
music, machinery, and noise of life, calling on the rescued to come and help Him save the world
My friends in Christ, you are rescued from
the waters, you are on the rock. He is in the dark sea calling on you to come
to Him and help Him. Will you go? Look for yourselves. The surging sea of life,
crowded with perishing multitudes rolls up to the very spot on which you stand.
Leaving the vision, I now come to speak of the fact – a fact that is as real as
the Bible, as real as the Christ who hung upon the Cross, as real as the judgment day will
be, and as real as the heaven and hell that will follow it.
Look! Don't be deceived by appearances – men and things are not what
they seem. All who are not on the rock are in the sea! Look at them from the
standpoint of the great White Throne, and what a sight you have! Jesus Christ, the Son of God is, through
His Spirit, in the midst of this dying multitude, struggling to save them. And
He is calling on you to jump into the sea – to go right away to His side and
help Him in the holy strife. Will you jump? That is, will you go to His feet
and place yourself absolutely at His disposal?
A young Christian once came to me, and told
me that for some time she had been giving the Lord her profession and prayers
and money, but now she wanted to give Him her life. She wanted to go right into
the fight. In other words, she wanted to go to His assistance in the sea. As when a man from the shore, seeing
another struggling in the water, takes off those outer garments that would
hinder his efforts and leaps to the rescue, so will you who still linger on the
bank, thinking and singing and praying about the poor perishing souls, lay
aside your shame, your pride, your cares about other people’s opinions, your
love of ease and all the selfish loves that have kept you back for so long, and
rush to the rescue of this multitude of dying men and women.
Does the surging sea look dark and dangerous? Unquestionably it is so. There
is no doubt that the leap for you, as for everyone who takes it, means
difficulty and scorn and suffering. For you it may mean more than this. It may
mean death. He who beckons you from the sea however, knows what it will mean –
and knowing, He still calls to you and bids to you to come.
You must do it! You cannot hold back. You
have enjoyed yourself in Christianity long enough. You have had pleasant
feelings, pleasant songs, pleasant meetings, pleasant prospects. There has been
much of human happiness, much clapping of hands and shouting of praises – very
much of heaven on earth.
Now then, go to God and tell Him you are
prepared as much as necessary to turn your back upon it all, and that you are
willing to spend the rest of your days struggling in the midst of these
perishing multitudes, whatever it may cost you.
You must do it. With the light that is
now broken in upon your mind and the call that is now sounding in your ears,
and the beckoning hands that are now before your eyes, you have no alternative.
To go down among the perishing crowds is your duty. Your happiness from now on
will consist in sharing their misery, your ease in sharing their pain, your
crown in helping them to bear their cross, and your heaven in going into the
very jaws of hell to rescue them.”
Psalm
49:14
Like sheep they are laid in the grave; death shall
feed on them; and the upright shall
have dominion over them in the morning; and their beauty shall consume in the
grave from their dwelling.
Bless You
Josie Hagen
