Isaiah 43:18-19,21 Remember ye not the former things, neither consider
the things of old.
19 Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring
forth; shall ye not know it?
21 This people have I formed for Myself; they shall show
forth My praise.
Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old. This is not speaking of bad things or sins you have committed. This is speaking of the things that your walk with God has consisted of in the past. Your prayer life, your worship, the way you've served God now has to change. That level is drying up. God is doing a new thing! What you’ve done in the past will no longer work as it once did.
Our attitude now should be like Paul’s. But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ. Philippians 3:7-8. If we are going to move into the next level where the Lord is now functioning, it is necessary for us to abandon the level we are now on. He taketh away the first, that He may establish the second. Hebrews 10:9.
We must understand that what God is doing now is not a revival. He is not interested in reviving the old. It is passing away. He is bringing forth something new. He is creating a new heaven and a new earth. For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. Isaiah 65:17. A revival is an effort to pump life into something that is fading away. God is purposely drying up the present level to bring forth a new level in Him. It is a new level of His Kingdom coming forth. God is establishing a new and greater relationship with His people.
Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? It’s now! God is not going to move! He already is! If we expect Him to move on the level we’ve walked on in the past, we will miss what God is doing. We must move up to the realm where God is speaking and moving. In other words, we do not bring God down to where we are. We move up to where He is. He has prepared a place for us (John 14:2-3). Let’s enter in.
Then the Lord asked, “Shall you not know it?” Many will not know it. There are no outward signs to confirm it (Luke 17:20). Only those who “have an ear to hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches” (Revelation 2:11) will be aware of this next level of ministry. They will be the overcomers spoken of in Revelation chapters two and three.
The Kingdom of God does not come in its fulness all at once. It comes in levels or stages. It is like a new day coming forth, a little at a time. But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day. Proverbs 4:18. It is a spiritual coming of the King within us (II Thessalonians 1:10). He is establishing His Kingdom within us (Luke 17:21). Since it is a spiritual coming, there will be no outward signs; the natural realm will not confirm what God is doing. The Kingdom of God cometh not with observation. Luke 17:20.
Now the question the Lord asked was: Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye no know it? The fact is, many Christians will not know it. They do not all have ears to hear what the Spirit is speaking to the churches. Spiritual perception and revelation is essential. Only those with a heart to abandon the old and to embrace the new will be able to experience it. Those who cling to the old will not see it. Old wineskins are not flexible enough to receive the new wine of the Kingdom (Matthew 9:17). Those who begin to walk away from the old, but look back with a love for it in their hearts, like Lot’s wife (Genesis 19:26), will not be able to make the transition either.
The majority of Christians are never aware of the next move of God when it comes. It is quite easy to get locked-in to the present level, and not even want to change. Most churches are not moving in any more now than they were fifty or a hundred years ago. In fact, many are not even moving in as much as they were then.
We tend to only hear on our present level. How can we hear what God is speaking on the next higher plane? God creates the hearing ear (Proverbs 20:12). It is with the spirit, or heart, that man hears what God is speaking. So the state of the heart determines whether we hear the Word of the Lord, or not. And our hunger and thirst for the Lord determines the state of our hearts.
Copyright © 2003 by Henry DuBose