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Hinnay! Hinnay!
(Gen. 22:1) After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”
I had a dream. In this dream, I was at a hotel with a beachfront pool and I was swimming. Clint was with me. I came into a large room, and walked to the front, and there was my friend Lee Shapiro speaking in Hebrew with his family. He began speaking in English so I could eavesdrop, although it was mundane family stuff. When he was finished we went to the back of the room to talk. I asked him what he had been doing and he explained that he gone back to studying, by this I understood he meant he was studying to be a Rabbi. It didn't occur to me, until I was awake, that he had died in Afghanistan, during the Soviet occupation of that country, while making a documentary film there. He is the young man with me in the photo on the back cover of my book A Cult Challenge to the Church.
When I awoke, I began to think of the meaning of this dream. Lee and I lived in a time of great change laced with a youthful optimism. We really believed we remake the world for the better. It wasn't just the Moonies who thought this; this was the Age of Aquarius. Everything was destined to be much, much better. Lee died trying. Fifty years later, I can see a lot of wreckage from our poor attempts. Fifty years later, I have come to realize that we cannot make the world better for God. Through us, God can make this world a better place, and only God can do it. This is what I felt when Lee told me he was returning to his religious roots.
God has always been calling us to come to Him. All too often, our response is to run and do something, to go witnessing, to pray fervently for someone, to give something away… We are sure that if we try hard enough, we can do this. What is Abraham's response? “Here I Am.” In Hebrew, this is one word, “Hinnay.” Hinnay. I am here. What are You wishing to tell me? In Abraham's case, God's answer was a horrifying request. We went through this the last time I spoke. Ten verses down, the angel of the Lord, calls again. Abraham answers again, hinnay. This time, he is told to stop what he is doing.
Before we continue with this theme, let's back up to the beginning of the problem…
(Gen. 3:1) Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden?’”
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, in his book Creation and Fall devotes an entire chapter on what he refers to as “The Pious Question.” He stops the question at “Did God say…” The trap is set there; not in the rest of the question. Here is the breach. The moment that Adam and Eve chose to analyze what God had said, they stepped away from God into their own realm of knowing good and evil. The question seems innocent, even pious. Shouldn't we make sure that we know what God really means. But, questioning the command of God is deciding for oneself what is good and what is evil. The original sin was a simple flicker behind the eyes in answer to a seemingly pious question.
“The decisive point is that through this question the idea is suggested to the human being of going behind the word of God and now providing it with a human basis—a human understanding of the essential nature of God.”
(Bonhoeffer, Creation and Fall, 106).
In a similar vein, Jesus is asked a seemingly simple question, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” He answers, “You know the commandments…” (Mark 10:17-19). He is saying you know the answer, but are you doing it? Too much time is spent questioning the Word. This was the Pharisee's favorite game. But when Nicodemus comes to Jesus, he is told “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3). Read the Word. Believe the Word. Don't use your pretzel logic to remold the image to something more culturally comfortable.
I love theology, as I am sure you have figured out, but understanding the Word can easily succumb to straining out gnats while you swallow the camel. Karl Barth is the theologian most well-known for attacking the liberal theology of Berlin where Bonhoeffer studied. Bonhoeffer liked Barth and became friends with him, sneaking Barthian doctrine into his doctoral dissertations. But, as one biographer states it, “Bonhoeffer was now living with the conviction that theologians must be willing to speak clearly and have a personal stake in their claims. He found Barth impervious to the ethical and social dimensions of doctrine—in fact, irritatingly so” (Marsh, Strange Glory, 139). Ethereal ideas buzzing around your ivory tower don't promote the Kingdom.
On the other hand, Bonhoeffer spent two semesters at Union Seminary in New York were he studied under the activist theologian Reinhold Niebuhr. After one class he approached Niebuhr and asked in frustration, “Is this a theological school or a school for politicians?” The same biographer suggests that, in this case, Bonhoeffer's frustration was that “The man seemed to talk about everything but God” (Marsh, Strange Glory, 106). Bonhoeffer's general opinion of the American seminarians of his day was that they were inattentive and lazy in their thinking. They were ready to do something, but didn't want to take the time to hear from God.
Ultimately at issue, is the pious question drawing you closer to God or farther away. This seems to be the heart of Bonhoeffer's theology, and it is certainly mine. Ever since the moment that Adam and Eve succumbed to that pious question, humankind has suffered under its own self-made image at odds with God's image for which they were created. God is calling us back and sent His Son to open the door for our return.
Two years ago I spoke here on the topic “Come Up Here! Releasing Your God Given Destiny.” Some of you may recall that message. It is that message that is the inspiration for the mural which I painted on our back wall. If I have a main theme, that is it. So let's look at some Bible quotes on coming up higher…
(Exod. 3:4) When the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.”
God calls Moses from out of a burning bush. Moses answers, “Hinnay”. We know th story, Moses, the Hebrew hot-shot from the Pharoh's palace, is humbled by having to flee for his life. He has now spent forty years tending sheep in the desert. God radically redirects Moses, becoming his boss. Moses returns to Egypt, takes his people out of bondage to the Pharoh, and takes them to the mountain where he first encountered God directly, the mountain of the burning bush. The entire top of the mountain is now on fire.
(Exod. 19:24) And the LORD said to him, “Go down, and come up bringing Aaron with you. But do not let the priests and the people break through to come up to the LORD, lest he break out against them.”
(Exod. 24:2) Moses alone shall come near to the LORD, but the others shall not come near, and the people shall not come up with him.
(Exod. 34:2-3) Be ready by the morning, and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and present yourself there to me on the top of the mountain. No one shall come up with you, and let no one be seen throughout all the mountain. Let no flocks or herds graze opposite that mountain.
In Chapter 19, Israel arrives in front of the mountain and God audibly speaks the ten commandments. Aaron and Moses are called forward. In chapter 24, Aaron and his sons, Moses and seventy elders are called to the base of the mountain where they meet God. And then in chapter 34, Moses takes Joshua and returns to the mountain. Moses is called up higher, alone. Do you see a theme here? Moses is being called to meet the Lord face-to-face, but Aaron and the elders are to remain at a distance. The rest of the people need to stay very far away. We all know the story, Aaron and the elders return from their meeting at the base of the mountain and they are excited. They describe the pavement of sapphire under God's feet (Exod. 24:9-11). Moses proceeds up the mountain with Joshua (Exod. 24:12). By the time Moses returns, forty days later, the camp is a riot of partying around a golden calf that Aaron has just fashioned (Exod. 32:15-19).
(Exod. 32:9-10) And the LORD said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people. Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them, in order that I may make a great nation of you.”
God tells Moses He intends to consume them, I assume with fire! Do you notice that the one man whose heart is right towards God, the one who answers “Hinnay”, is the one man God wants to save and make a new nation out of him. But Moses begs God for mercy and patience (Exod. 32:11-14). We know the history of Israel. It is long on infidelity and transgression, with occasional bright spots where the people really do seek God. For the most part it is a story of a small faithful remnant. As a result the history of God's special people is filled with purges. When you are called to glory, there is only one answer, “Hinnay”.
(Num. 16:12) And Moses sent to call Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, and they said, “We will not come up.”
These are two rebel leaders causing a division in the camp of Israel. These two rebels Dathan and Abiram who refuse to come up to Moses, (they refuse to answer, “hinnay”), and they are swallowed by the earth (Num. 16:30-33).
(1 Sam. 3:1) Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the LORD in the presence of Eli. And the word of the LORD was rare in those days; there was no frequent vision.
This should be another familiar story. Samuel has been living in the temple as a servant to the high priest Eli. We don't know exactly how old he is, probably still quite young. God calls to Samuel while he is sleeping and he mistakes it for Eli calling him and answers “hinnay”. He runs to Eli and repeats, “Here I am, for you called me” (1 Sam. 3:4-5). After this occurs three times. Eli realizes that it is God calling Samuel and so he coaches him on how to answer,“Speak, LORD, for your servant hears” (1 Sam. 3:9). This is the beginning of Samuel's life as a prophet of God.
What is the significance of answering, “Hinnay”, or “Here I am”? The answer implies a pause to hear the reply. All too often, we are like the employee who has been doing nothing for hours, who, when hearing the boss call him, runs off to find something to do, without waiting to be told that there is something important to do. Think of this from the bosses point of view, he is probably very aware that the employee hasn't been doing anything, but now that he wants him for something important, the employee runs off to something unimportant. It's frustrating.
There is another dimension to consider; when Samuel was a boy “the word of the LORD was rare” (1 Sam. 3:1). If you read the story, the reason is because no one was being attentive to the Lord, not even the priests, Eli's sons. As a result, Israel was constantly being harassed by the surrounding nations. Cultural practices, abhorrent to God, were being adopted by the people. Their heart was far from God, and the people seemed unconcerned about it.
When there is no prophet to listen to God and follow instructions, God must wait for a willing heart. Samuel, who is there in the temple as a servant, not a priest, is just such a heart. Samuel's father is from the tribe of Ephraim, not a Levite, and definitely not of the lineage of Aaron. We don't know Hannah's lineage, but I think it is safe to say that Samuel would normally be excluded from the priesthood. Never-the-less, he is the one whom God calls. He will be the one who anoints David king of Israel.
(Matt. 22:14) For many are called, but few are chosen.
(Mark 7:14) And he called the people to him again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand…”
With Jesus, something remarkable happens. The calling of the Lord is being broadcast far and wide, and the call is filled with an empowerment, the earthly presence of the Holy Spirit. Jesus calls broadly. He blesses with healing and deliverance, and so the people came in large numbers. But having received the bread, many refused to stay and be transformed in spirit. Many joined the throng in calling for His crucifiction.
For those who did surrender in spirit, Jesus sent the Holy Spirit so that the church, the people of God could continue to provide heavenly healing and deliverance and to remake our spirits by the infused Spirit of the Living God. It all begins when we say, “Hinnay! Hinnay!”
(Rom. 8:30) And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
(Rom. 10:13-15) For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”
The call now is wide and broad, covering the whole globe. Where does the call reside? With God's people, those who love and serve Jesus Christ. Where does the Holy Spirit reside? With God's people, those who love and serve Jesus Christ. Those that Jesus called, his disciples, were imbued with power from on high. When the call is issued, answer, “Hinnay! Hinnay!”
(Rev. 4:1) After this I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.”
I am going to close with a quote from a man by the name of Rufus Moseley, whom I doubt many of you have heard of, but Francis MacNutt claims he was a major force in the Charismatic renewal:
“Suddenly and unexpectedly, a Presence, Power, and Glory, not of me, descended upon me and apparently had possession and full use of me. The whole body, as well as mind and soul, shared in the wonder… My arms began to go out and my body began slowly to rise, and while I did not realize it at first my body was becoming or taking the form of a cross, a cross of life, of honor, of bliss, and of glory. The higher I arose the greater the bliss and glory… When my body was apparently in the form of a perfect cross the glorified Jesus manifested Himself immediately in front of me... quickly He inbreathed or infused Himself within. I… said to myself, this is the fulfillment of John 14:20, ‘At that day (when He gives the other Comforter) you shall know that I am in the Father and you and me and I in you.’… It was made known that the kind of union that Jesus has with the Father is precisely the kind of union that He is seeking for us to have with Him… I had to ask for the truth about the Cross… It was apparent that there was a glory side to the Cross that had been almost unseen in most of Christian history. In this experience in answer to my question, I was put upon a cross of life—while He went to the cross of shame. I had been put upon the cross of bliss—while He had been put upon the cross of agony.” (Moseley, Perfect Everything. Quoted in MacNutt, Healing, 70).