12. 1906 - The Lamb on His Throne

1906 - The Lamb on His Throne

Again at this convention in answer to prayer God poured out on us by his Spirit a burden for lost souls. We saw the same "brokenheartedness" for the sins of others. None felt this more than John Hyde. God was deepening his prayer-life. He was permitted of God to have the privilege of drinking of the Master’s cup and of being baptized with his baptism—the second baptism of fire, suffering with him that we may reign with him here and now, the life of true Kings for the sake of others.

About this time John Hyde began to have visions of the glorified Christ as a Lamb on his throne — suffering such infinite pain for and with his suffering Body on earth, as it is so often revealed in God’s Word. As the Divine Head, he is the nerve center of all the body. He is indeed living today a life of intercession for us. Prayer for others is as it were the very breath of our Lord’s life in heaven. "He ever liveth to make intercession for us." It was becoming increasingly true of John Hyde. How often in the prayer room he would break out into tears over the sins of the world, and especially of God’s children. Even then his tears would be changed into shouts of praise according to the divine promise repeated by our Lord on that last night when he talked freely with his own. "Ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy" (John 16:20-22). A brother writes about the Convention of 1906, "Thank God, he has heard our prayers and poured out the Spirit of Grace and intercession upon so many of his children. For example I saw a Punjabi brother convulsed and sobbing as if his heart would break. I went up to him and put my arms about him and said, ’The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin.’ A smile lit up his face. ’Thank God, Sahib,’ he cried, ’but oh, what an awful vision I have had! Thousands of souls in this land of India being carried away by the dark river of sin! They are in hell now. Oh, to snatch them from the fire before it is too late!’ "

See another example of how this agony of soul in John Hyde was reflected in one who was a daughter in Christ to him. An Indian Christian girl was at this convention. Her father had com- pelled her to neglect Christ’s claims upon her. In the prayer room she was convicted of her sin and told how her heart was being torn away from her father to Christ. One could almost see the springing tendrils of her heart as the power of the love of Christ came upon her. It was a terrible time. Then she asked us to pray for her father. We began to pray and suddenly the great burden for that soul was cast upon us, and the room was filled with sobs and cries for one whom most of us had never seen or heard of before. Strong men lay on the ground groaning in agony for that soul. There was not a dry eye in that place until at last God gave us the assurance that prayer had been heard and out of Gethsemane we came into the Pentecostal joy of being able to praise him that he heard our cry.

"That meeting was one," writes this brother, "that will never leave my memory. It went on all night. It was a time when God’s power was felt as I never had felt it before." This brother continues, "God wants those who are willing to bear the burden of the souls of these millions without God to go with Jesus into Gethsemane. He wants us to do this. It is a blessed experience to feel that in some measure we can enter into the fellowship of Christ’s suf- ferings. It brings us into a precious nearness to the Son of God. And not only this, but it is God’s appointed way of bringing the lost sheep back to the fold. He is saying, ’Who will go for us, and whom shall I send?’ Are you who read these words willing to be intercessors ? If we are willing to put ourselves into God’s hands, then God is willing to use us. But there are two conditions: obedience and purity. Obedience in everything, even in the least, surrendering up our wills and taking the will of God. And the next step is purity. God wants pure vessels for his service, clean channels through which to pour forth his grace. He wants purity in the very center of the soul, and unless God can have a pure vessel, purified by the fire of the Holy Spirit, he cannot use that vessel. He is asking you now if you will let him cleanse away part of your very life. God must have a vessel he can use!