Wideness of God's Mercy

By Hazel Holland

I recently read an article by John Scotland1, an English pastor, who has ministered in England and America for over thirty years. He describes the challenges he has faced since the beginning of the renewal in 1994—“the agony of being made a prophetic sign and wonder.”

Many times over the past seven years I have tried to put into words what it feels like to be made a “prophetic sign and wonder.” Being English myself also, I have been taught by my culture to be reserved and appropriate in social situations, and not to unnecessarily call attention to myself. So when the Lord’s hand came heavily upon me in 1998, and began causing me to become intoxicated with the Spirit in unusual ways like shaking, weeping, laughing and “ho-ing,” it became very hard for my natural mind to comprehend. What became especially difficult was learning to embrace rejection as I began to experience the agony of being shunned by people I loved.

Over the last three years I have come to better understand the purpose of God in causing someone to become drunk in the Spirit as I am reminded that the early church was born with the sign of intoxication. When the Holy Spirit fell at Pentecost believers drank Him in to such a degree they were accused of being full of new wine because they acted and looked drunk to the natural eye.

One of the benefits of being intoxicated with the Spirit was that they were given boldness to fearlessly proclaim the Good News. They were freed from old mind-sets and paradigms to such a degree that they became totally abandoned to God and His purposes. Even though outwardly they appeared crazy to their listeners they were in fact very sensitive to the Holy Spirit and could hear His voice and obey freely.

What was God’s purpose in causing them to become drunk in the Spirit? Clearly it must have been similar to the intoxication Jeremiah experienced as he was called to prophesy to a people in bondage under the Babylonian system. He said, “I am like a drunken man whom wine has overcome because of the Lord and His holy words” (Jeremiah 23:9).

As the Holy Spirit intoxicated Jeremiah he was enabled to prophesy to God’s people in order to break through religious mindsets and the judgmental spirit created by the false prophets of his day. Because the church today has become a “wilderness” of confusion, the Holy Spirit is moving through various prophetic voices at this time in order to draw people’s attention away from the old wine of institutionalized religion so that they will become thirsty for the New Wine—Jesus Christ.

If we understand the purposes of God and the prophetic anointing being carried by those God has called to awaken the church out of her sleepy condition we will not frustrate the grace of God. I have come to realize that God uses the anointing of prophetic drunkenness (for lack of a better word) on me at times to address modern-day pharisaic spirits, and disable the self-righteous mindset of many in the church today. God uses what appears to be foolishness to confound the wise.

The prophetic utterance of ‘ho!’2 is given to startle us and awaken us out of our spiritual slumber. God wants us to desire Him… to become thirsty for the Living Water. His desire is to unlock people’s hearts and minds so that they can be set free from denominationalism. He is overturning the “tables of the money changers” so that His house is no longer “a den of thieves.” He’s bringing up stuff we’ve tried to keep quiet. He’s leveling the junk we have placed on top of Him. He is releasing the captives from spiritual abuse so they can respond by faith to the Good News of Jesus Christ and His finished work for all people.

The Scriptures reveal that the benefits of Christ’s death have been made available to all men throughout all ages from the very beginning of the world. “For God chose us in Christ to be holy and blameless in His sight from the creation of the world” (Ephesians 1:4). Apparently people are able to benefit from Christ’s work without knowing or confessing His name but by responding to the light shining in the darkness and which the darkness did not put out (John 1:5).

Faith in God is what saves us—not possessing a certain amount of minimum information. God’s Word tells us that He cares about faith more than the content of our theology. He cares about trust more than orthodoxy. “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6). In essence the issue God cares about is the direction of the heart.

So faith is our response to information about God in the direction of trusting Him and obeying Him. Since God has not left anyone without a witness, God judges us all fairly on the basis of the light we have received, and how we have responded to that light. How wide is God’s mercy for all people. How far-reaching is God’s redemptive work in Christ that is intended to benefit the whole world. “… God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:19). “And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent His Son to be the Savior of the world” (1John 4:14). In these texts we see that God gave a gift to the whole world in the person and work of Jesus Christ. God provides salvation for the world (the many) through the person of His Son (the one).

We see that this is a pattern throughout Scripture from the very beginning—the pattern of God setting aside one person to be the source of salvation for the many. First, God chose to make a covenant with Adam and then Noah, showing the pattern of representation. In these covenant promises God announces His saving purposes are going to be working among all peoples sharing a common ancestry in Adam and then Noah.

The promise given to Noah prepares the way for the blessing of all nations through Abram. Abram is called, not for his own sake or even his family’s sake, but for the sake of the whole world. It appears that God’s way is to choose a single representative of the group to deal with the whole group. It is vital that we grasp the meaning of the call of Abram and to his seed after him to be a special nation in the context of God’s concern for all nations. God chose Abram for the sake of the world, not for his own sake. His election was not a sign of God changing His mind about the other nations, wanting to save some and reject others. No. The decision God made to call Abram reveals the path God has chosen to bring about the salvation of the many through the faith of the one. The election of Abram is evidence of God’s desire to save the world. This is most clearly emphasized in Scripture by Jesus being presented to us as the last Adam, the one who represents the race as its Redeemer (1 Corinthians 15:22).

Since God is maker of heaven and earth and the creator and judge of all nations the scope of His concern embraces the whole of humanity. The whole world and its peoples belong to God who created them to relate to Him. God is not just the God of Jews or even Christians, but the Lord and judge of all the earth.

Further glimpses into God’s saving work among people at large prior to the time of Abram is given in anecdotes concerning such people as Abel, Seth, Enoch, Noah, Daniel, Job and Melchizedek. All these men being neither Jews nor Christians pleased God because they sought Him with the faith response (Hebrews 11:6).

After the call of Abram the Old Testament makes it clear that God’s election of Israel is a corporate election and a call to service, not privilege. Israel is summoned to be God’s priestly people in the earth. The prophet Isaiah puts it eloquently when he says; “I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth” (Isaiah 49:6).

Israel was elected to a ministry of redemptive servanthood. God chose Israel because He had a special task for the Jews to perform, not because He loved them more than the other nations or because they were better than the rest. The calling of Israel could succeed or fail. In fact Paul speaks of the failure of this mission when he says, “God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you” (Romans 2:24).

The Old Testament doctrine of election remains unchanged in the New Testament. Christians are God’s chosen people the same way that Israel was, chosen in Christ to be a servant community and witness to the kingdom of God. We have been called out of darkness to declare God’s praises (1 Peter2:9). Our calling is to be the first fruits of the new creation as we anticipate a much larger harvest to come (James 1:18). We are elected to serve God by issuing the invitation to all peoples for God’s end time banquet.

What is universal is God’s love for the human race. God’s election of Abram or of Israel or of the church is the way God implements His love for humanity. Because God loves the world He elects a people, he elects prophets and apostles in order to implement His love for the entire human race. Election has nothing to do with the eternal salvation of individuals but refers to God’s way of saving the nations.

After the call of Abram God is still presented in the Old Testament as active beyond Israel’s borders. God’s concern for the whole world does not stop once Abram is called. He is still in dialogue with Gentiles. Unfortunately in the church today we have overlooked the meaning of the call of Abram. We have ignored the tradition of holy pagans that tells us that God is in dialogue with people beyond the borders of Israel and the church. No one group or any certain territory holds a favored position in relation to salvation. God is bringing these blessings to all people on earth. Exclusivity and elitism are out of the question. Peter declares after his change of heart, “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right” (Acts 10:34-35).

Although salvation exists for everyone, it is not automatically conferred upon everyone. There are two many warnings in Scripture about divine judgments falling on people to be ignored. These warnings clearly reveal that God allows people in their freedom to reject Him. “But unless you repent, you too will all perish” (Luke 13:5). Clearly God does not purpose to reject anyone, but anyone can choose to say “No!” to Him.

If Christ died for all while yet sinners, the opportunity must be given for all to register a decision about what was done for them (Romans 8:5). They cannot lack the opportunity to receive salvation because someone failed to bring the Gospel to them. So how is salvation within the reach of the unevangelized? I believe the faith principle is the basis of universal access to salvation. As has already been emphasized, people are saved by faith, not by the content of their theology. They cannot respond to light that did not reach them, but only to revelation that did.

Charles Ryrie states it clearly when he says that the basis of salvation in every age is the death of Christ. The requirement for salvation in every age is faith. The object of faith in every age is God. But the content of faith changes in the various dispensations.

Jesus, speaking as a Jew with the Gentiles in mind, reminds us that deeds of love done to needy people will be regarded at the last judgment as having been done to Christ. Jesus is standing in solidarity with the human race. Serving the poor embodies what the love of God is, and is accepted as the equivalent of faith. The Son of Man, because He is identified with humankind in every way, receives the deeds done to the poor as deeds done for Him. Those who confess Christ and those who do not are judged alike by the extent to which they walk in the way of the Son of Man.

Having said that I am compelled to ask two thought-provoking questions. Are nominal Christians who profess Christ with their lips but do not perform deeds of love to the needy in greater danger of being condemned than those who have not heard the gospel of Jesus Christ, but whose hearts walk in the way of the Son of Man? Is it possible that God is using prophetic voices to trumpet His concerns for those in the church who are enlightened in the things of God, but are in danger of being condemned at the last judgment because their hearts are not walking in the way of the Son of Man?

1 The testimonies of John Scotland and his wife can be read at his own website (John Scotland.org) or in the current issue of Spread the Fire Magazine (a free magazine from Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship—tacf.org).
2 In the fall of 1997, the Lord began manifesting the Hebrew word “Ho!” through Hazel Holland involuntarily, similar to how the Lord blasts the Hebrew word “Hey!” from the mouth of John Scotland. The Hebrew word “Ho” is found around fifty times in the Old Testament, usually translated as “woe, ho, alas, come, pay attention, listen up, etc.” and sometimes retained in Old King James English. Most times in Scripture it appears to be used as a warning to alert people to pay attention to what God is saying through His prophets. I believe that today God is using men and women as “human shofars,” as trumpets to wake up those who are spiritually dead inside and outside of the church (see Joel 2:1). The “Ho!” is a call to forsake our empty cisterns (Jer. 2:13) and come drink the living water of intimacy with Christ: “Ho, everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters and drink, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yeah, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.” (Isa. 55:1, KJV)