If the Vision Tarry (Light, and Then a Fight) — Hans R. Waldvogel

And not away, therefore, your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward. For the vision will not lie, though it parry.". I like that word. That is not an exact quotation, taken from the New and from the Old Testaments.

Light Revealed by the Father

But maybe it has an application to us this morning, because during these weeks we have heard rather wonderful testimonies, of which the word might be true, flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father who is in heaven.

That happens all the time, but it happens especially at a time like this, when we give God a chance. Light comes to your heart, and when we hear the testimonies we realize that it's very real and very wonderful light.

Light about the inward life, light about the indwelling of Jesus Christ, light about a victorious warfare, or light about the coming of the Lord. And of course there has come to all of us a light about fellowship with Jesus, waiting upon God, and the wonderful results.

And maybe you have received light about divine healing. It is really very remarkable how much light we get. Very remarkable. The difficulty is this, that most people get stuck right there. They think that's the climax when God has dealt with them.

God has given them some light, and they forget that light is not your portion. It isn't your own until it's been tested. I was delighted with the testimony of a sister Wednesday afternoon who received light on divine healing.

Her little girl was covered with eczema from head to foot, and some lady brought light to her and told her from the Bible that he that forgave all her iniquities also bore her sicknesses, and that by the prayer of faith that child could be healed.

And so when she said she believed, they prayed for the child, anointed her with oil in the name of the Lord, and then the fight started. The sister left, and left this woman with her sick child. But now they had prayed the prayer of faith, and she kept looking at that child, and it seemed as if that eczema wouldn't go away.

She wouldn't use any means anymore, any remedy. She threw those away, threw away the sand, didn't cover the sores anymore, and that seemed to make the trouble worse, aggravate the itching and so on. But she had received light, and she believed that that light had come from God.

Where did you get your light from? Does it lie? Does the vision ever lie? Does God ever say anything that he doesn't mean? Or does he say it in a way that you don't understand what he means? Little girl said, if God doesn't mean what he says, why doesn't he say what he means?

That's what the Bible means when it says it won't lie. That's what Jesus means when he says, and shall not God avenge his own elect? But there's the strong suggestion that with life there comes a test.

Faith Tested in Spiritual Warfare

You're going to be tested. You're going to be tested severely. Your faith is going to be tested. But there's a great high priest in heaven who is so deeply concerned in your victory because your victory is his victory, and his victory is the defeat of hell, and it's the manifestation of the kingdom of God.

That's the reason for the warfare. That's the reason all hell has risen up to quench the light, to take away from you that light of faith. Don't be surprised if you're tested. Don't be surprised if the devil tries to come with his devilish lie and tell you, as God said, he didn't mean it like that after all.

You better try something else. You better not be too sure. Oh, that's what's the matter. The apostle Paul had a great life when he saw Jesus. He never backed down, even though not only all hell but the whole world and the whole Roman Empire and the whole nation of the Jews rose up against that one little Jew to crush him.

But at the end of his life, he could say, I finished my course. I fought a good fight. I have kept the faith. He knew that he was not chasing a will of the West, but he knew that Jesus Christ was God Almighty and that the gospel of Jesus Christ was the only power of God unto salvation for this poor, deluded humanity.

And praise God, there was nothing else for him to do but to be true to his testimony and true to the light that he had received. But look at the fight he had to fight. Look at the enemies that rose against him.

All hell was against him, but God was on his side. And one time, during the darkest hour of his trial, the angel of the Lord stood by him. It seemed as if he had to be defeated. Men defeated him. His very co-laborers wanted to defeat him.

And the Lord says, Fear not, Paul, for I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee. And from time to time there came their encouragement. What has God done for you? He's given you life. You testify to it.

You've stood up and you've said, I've got life. Oh, I've heard that so many times. Hundreds of times I've heard people say that they have life and they express it and it's real life. But tomorrow they're in darkness.

They're not willing for God to work out to will and to do because that entails a fight. God has never been able to do anything upon this earth, but he took a fight and he took a fighter. God wasn't able to establish his kingdom upon this earth until Jesus Christ, his son, had paid the price and he had to be crucified for it.

But oh, the glory that has been descending ever since. The dears that have been raised ever since because Jesus gave his cheek to those that smote him and plucked off their hair. He set his face as a flint.

And when Peter, the first pope, came and tried to discourage him, he said, get thee behind me, Satan. He said that to every other pope. Get thee behind me, Satan. And you've got to say that to yourselves.

Oh, when God gives you life, it will not lie. It will not lie, but you're going to have a fight. When Pastor Blumhart got light on divine healing, all hell rose up against him. There was a girl in his assembly who was demon-possessed so terribly.

And he had gone to visit her with the deacons. And the doctor was there. And the doctor said, goodness, this is no case for a doctor. Where are the elders who have faith to pray the prayer of faith? And then the doctor left.

And Pastor Blumhart put on his coat, and he wanted to leave. And one of his deacons said, didn't you hear what the doctor said? Ah, he said, that's the truth. It struck conviction to his soul. He said, that's in the Bible.

The prayer of faith shall save the sick. And so they began to pray. And the more they prayed, the more demons took hold of this girl. At first, there was only one. But finally, there were over a thousand.

And they were talked back to Pastor Blumhart. And the more they talked, the more he prayed. The more he prayed. And when the devil said, you can't cast this out, he said, no, but Jesus can. And finally, the devil said, you and your continuous prayer, you're going to make it impossible for us to abide.

And one night, one night, all these demons went out. The whole crew. It was after two years of fighting. Two years of fighting might have discouraged the staunchest man. And that man was not in Pentecost, although he did receive the baptism in the Holy Ghost.

But he fought for two years. It took a Schwab with a square jaw to do that. But he did it. And sometimes you've got to set your jaw and set your face as a plank. He knew that the vision would lie. And when those devils came out, they came out with a shriek that was heard all over that town.

And the shriek was this, Jesus is victor. A very strange thing happened at the same time. They didn't have a telephoto in those days. And it took a long time for news to come. But while this girl was being delivered, she had a vision.

And she saw these devils through the air. They were sailing over southern Europe and into Spain and over Spain, out across the ocean, into the place where there was an island. And then she saw how a mountain opened and fell for fire and brimstone.

And all these devils were cast into that crater as they cried, Jesus is victor. The strange thing was that at that very moment there was an earthquake on that island. And a volcano burst forth. And the newspapers came with the story a few days later.

But, beloved, that victory did not only deliver that one girl, but it brought a great revival over all of southern Germany. It delivered the atmosphere of hordes of demons. And people got healed by the thousands.

Even the dead were raised. And even to this day, after a hundred years, the revival is still going on. When we work there now, in Kirchheim, in Weilheim, in other places, we feel the power of those prayers and of that revival.

The devil is still in the air. And when you are true to the light that God gives you, in spite of what the devil does, don't be afraid, tarry for it. It will not lie. It will surely come, but it will require a standing by faith.

It will require standing against the wisdom and against the reasoning of men and sometimes against the misunderstanding of your closest associates. God has given you life. And everything that God does in the world requires men and women like Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who will stand in the name of God and know there's but one thing to do.

Well, you know God's will is to do it if it kills you. You can heat your furnace seven times more if you like. That makes no difference to us. You can bring your whole orchestra, your saxophone and saltry and harp and your ukuleles and your agony pipes and let them play their most plaintive melodies.

Our God can deliver us, and if he will not, yet we will not bow to your image. Beloved, the light that God gives you is Christ himself. My Father has revealed it unto thee, and we ought to remember that with fear and trembling we must work out our own salvation.

And we must remember the great honor God has bestowed upon us to stand. There were times in my life when God asked me to stand alone and to walk alone. I was brought out of the denominational church into this marvelous movement.

Leaving Formal Religion for the Leading of the Spirit

And do you know what brought me? It was the sight of Christ. I was hungry for Jesus. I was longing for meetings where Jesus would have charge, where the glory of God would be allowed to fall. We were not allowed to pray in our church except by the clock and by the bell, the church bell.

But here I came into a movement where people waited upon God. They would come an hour ahead of time if possible to pray. That's the way to come to church, not look at your clock and see if you can't sleep another five minutes.

The people that habitually come late to church will someday get late to heaven, as sure as you're late. Better to come late than not at all, and sometimes you can't help it. But if there is not a cry within your soul, I must be about my Father's business.

You better go and serve your Father. That's what Jesus said to the Jews. Beloved, we're about a holy fight, a wonderful fight, and our champion shunned not the cross, but for the glory that was set before him, he despised the shame.

Oh, what shame, what shame, what shame. We talk about the cross. We sing about the cross of blissed height. We sing about the blood that was shed, but listen, every one of us would have run and hidden our faces if we had seen it.

If we had been with Jesus Christ in the garden, when they found him and when they beat him, we would have run just like the other disciples. There was no glory there. There was shame, and God Almighty went through that.

And the only way you and I will overcome the devil is by the blood of the Lamb and by testifying to him before a wicked and adulterous generation, by not being ashamed and by not backing down when the whole world turns away from him.

Surrendering Ministry to Christ's Direction

You've got life. God gave me life in those days about the fact that Jesus Christ was Lord in the meeting and that a minister was a subordinate and that his business was to be a vessel made for the Master's use.

And you know, I had a great fight. My first fight was with fanatics. As soon as you open a meeting to the leading of the Holy Ghost, all the fanatics come around and want to blow off steam, and I got scared.

I thought I had to straighten everything out, every screeching fanatic. And the Lord said, leave it to me. This is my meeting, not your meeting. Interesting how the Lord spoke to another minister who said, I don't like those things in my meeting.

And the Lord said, oh, oh, is it your meeting? I thought it was my meeting. Oh, that's the choice I had to make in those days between having my own meeting, between having a work of my own and leaving it entirely in the hands of Jesus.

And to this day there are people that say, oh, isn't he a boss, isn't he the whole cheese? They've told me that just recently. Well, I'd only be fooling myself if I tried to do anything myself. I know between myself and Jesus Christ how very wonderfully He has defended His own cause 28 years, no, 35 years.

But I remember how in the beginning I was tempted by the very people that showed me the way into this life. They backed down and they said to me, you have to back down too. We came into a town where Pentecost was not known like this and they had held meetings and they said, we've got to have a program.

These people don't understand the guidance of the Holy Ghost. And after they were through, they turned the meetings over to me and they said, now you'll have to do like the Baptists do. You'll have to give out your songs and you'll have to regulate the meeting and you'll have to get a sermon ready.

And so I got frightened. I said, well, I came out of that hole and now you want to put me back into that concentration camp? I said, that's funny. I thought that the Lord was able to take care of his own work.

And I said, Lord, if you can't, I certainly can't. But something wonderful happened. I went to that meeting with that faith. And I sat down on the platform and I said, now Lord, what are you going to do?

Well, he took care of that meeting in such a wonderful way that after two weeks we had such a revival that nobody could preach and didn't have to preach. And I tell you something. People rolled out of their chairs all over the place.

The whole place was baptized in the glory of God. And God has proven to me that the vision will not lie. And for 28 years, some of the mightiest spirits in Pentecost have tried to divert me and lead me away and say, you can't do it.

It can't be done. They said, you can't have a work like this unless you join an organization. More than one of the biggest lights in Pentecost have told me that. They said, you join us. You've got to do it in order to keep fanaticism out of your work.

Well, they've had more fanaticism in one meeting than we've ever thought of in a whole month's time. Jesus Christ has been able, and no one else is able, but he is. But he needs men and women that believe him in spite of the tests of hell.

Standing Firm Against Opposition

And why do I talk like this this morning? Because presently, some light will come to your soul that perhaps no one else has ever had. And it'll come from God. And you'll have to stand up against conventional ideas.

And it's hard. And the great bulk of people will feel, well, it's easier to swim with the stream than against the stream. Oh, but to stand. Beloved, how many have had a wonderful life on divine healing, and where are they today?

Why? Why, because the devil didn't like it. Do we have to do the devil's will? God likes it. God likes it so much that himself took my infirmities and bare my sicknesses. Thank God! And I'll be tempted a thousand times.

But, beloved, here I stand, Martin Luther said. Here I stand! When Columbus got the light that there was a continent over there, that the earth was round, the whole world rose up against him. The church rose up against him.

They were going to burn him at the stake for such unscriptural doctrine. Why, the world is flat as a pancake. And what a time Columbus had. And in order to get his boat filled with helpers, they had to first open the prison and let out prisoners to help him.

Decent men wouldn't go with a fellow like that on such a crazy voyage. But he started out. He had a vision, and he knew that vision wouldn't lie. And what a time he had! Behind him lay the great Azor, behind the gates of Hercules, before him not the ghost of shore, before him only shoreless seas.

The stout mate said, Now must we pray, for, lo, the very stars are gone. They sailed and sailed, as winds might blow until at last. The blanched mate said, Why, now not even God would know. If I and all my men fall dead, these very winds forget their way, for God from these dread seas is gone.

Brave Admiral speak, what shall I say? He said, Sail on, sail on, sail on and on. They sailed and sailed, then said the mate, This mass sea shows his teeth tonight. He lies, he curls his lips, he lies in wait with lifted teeth as if to bite.

Brave Admiral speak, but one good word. What shall we do when hope is gone? The word came like a leaping sword, Sail on, sail on, sail on, sail on. Oh, that's the word of Hades. My men grow mutinous day by day.

My men grow ghastly when and weak. The stout mate thought of home. What is this? Brave Admiral speak, but one good word. What shall we do when hope is gone? The word came again like a leaping sword, Sail on.

Then when and warn he kept his deck and peered through darkness all alone. Oh, that night of all dark nights and then a speck, a light, it grew, its starlit flag unfurled. It grew to be time's first of dawn.

He gained a world. He gave that world its grandest lesson. On, sail on, and you and I have a far better call than Columbus. We are going to gain a kingdom that was prepared before the foundation of the world and the Apostle Paul says God is not unfaithful, but he's going to give you that kingdom for which you suffer.

Faithfulness to the Life God Gives

Oh, that God might bring a harvest out of these prayer meetings and that he'll make each one of us faithful to the life which we have received. You're not going to be faithful if you measure yourself by others and think, well, I'll do as well as they.

For I'll please men. That's where more saints of God feel than anywhere else. We like the praise of men more than the praise of God. It's been that way in this work. God has never done anything, never made a forward move, but men have misunderstood and miscalculated and have fought and talked against it.

And God had to have somebody that has the vision, has the vision alone and was willing to pray through alone and pray through, you must. You've got to pray through. You've got to go along where Jesus Christ called you.

You'll never make the grace if you wait for others to come along. Even your wife may not understand you or your husband or those closest with you. And God gives you a life and when he gives you a life, he holds you responsible for that life.

Oh, my father, but what privilege is mine to have the Father himself speak to my heart and reveal to me things concerning his kingdom. Isn't that what Paul says? Which none of the princes of this world knew, for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

In other words, some of them were honest. They'll catch you out of the synagogue. They'll think that when they kill you, they're doing God's service because they know not the Father nor me. But God has to have someone to whom he can reveal the Father and the Son.

Increasing Revelation and the Coming Harvest

And in these days, very specially, the strange thing that about 50 years ago, the patent office in Washington was going to close down. One of the chief men there said, about 60 or 70 years ago, let's close the patent office.

There's nothing going to be invented anymore. All the inventions that can possibly be made are made. Why, they had even invented a bicycle. And nobody thought of an automobile or an airplane. That was unthought of.

But, beloved, today we realize that there are more inventions and more discoveries ahead than this world has ever dreamed of. We're only beginning to tap the resources of God's creation. Just beginning.

Electronics have just become known. And when I talk about them at home, they just stare at me. Like if you talk to a pot and pot about an air cooling system. Well, someday they won't stare. Someday, they'll understand.

But, beloved, there are people that think the end of the world is here and the end of God's revelations are here. No, we're just beginning. Just beginning. Oh, we ought to be faithful to the call of God.

Young people, there are opportunities yours that are marvelous. Why, the world is going to be covered with the glory of the Lord. Hallelujah. And they shall not teach every man his neighbor saying, know the Lord.

They shall all know me. How is it coming about why God is finding a people that know him and know that his word is true. Hallelujah. Look at what God has done in these last 25 years or 50 years. 50 years ago, hardly anyone knew about divine healing.

Today, the world's full. Full of it. Everywhere, men and women have received from God to preach the truth. And everywhere, the sick are being healed. Everywhere, thousands upon thousands are being baptized with the Holy Ghost.

What will happen tomorrow? Well, God has more light. But let us be faithful to the light we have. I never asked you to choose your own way or find your own path. I've asked you to follow me and allow me to tell you again that that is the way to victory.

Follow now me.