When God ‘breaks through’
Luke 9:28-36 & 1 Kings19:19-21
It had been dark and overcast that July day. The sun had not appeared. There had been several showers but we kept looking up into the sky to see if the sunny periods the weather men had forecast would come.
The children were restless because they would not play on the beach in the rain and the lovely stretch of sand was deserted.
Then about four in the afternoon it happened. The rain stopped and suddenly a shaft of sunlight broke through the clouds, a small blue patch of sky was seen and for about an hour we were bathed in light and warmth.
We have all seen it haven’t we? The sun burst through a small break in the clouds. Often only lasting for a few minutes, then it goes dark again.
For some people that is what life in general is like. Bright happy moments in an otherwise difficult, dark life.
I want to suggest to you today that God breaks through into our lives sometimes like that. He breaks through to show us His plans and His will.
I recently preached about getting alongside God.
Not expecting Him to get alongside us. But the question is, how? And as we work towards the answers we need to see how God breaks through to convey His will.
I have put it under three headings and want to expand it from today’s readings:
1) God breaks through sometimes Dramatically
2) God breaks through often gradually.
3) God has broken through permanently.
1) God breaks through Dramatically.
This is seen in our gospel reading about the Transfiguration. But it was not the first time it had happened.
As we open our Bibles to the record of creation in Genesis we read, 1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. 3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
Dark, formless, empty, then the shaft of light broke through. Daylight had come to the world. From that light came life and being. But not life as God wanted it to be.
The clouds of sin and evil soon covered the skies. They could not block Gods light completely, but they did enough to form a cloud cover that would prevent God from directly interfacing with the creation He had formed.
Throughout Israel’s history as we will see later, there came some gradual breakthroughs sometimes cumulating in a beam of light through the clouds, but nothing dramatic occurred for thousands of years, until...
A bright star appeared in the dark sky lighting up the way for a promised breakthrough, and then God broke through the clouds and sent to earth the Light of the Word, Jesus Christ.
John’s gospel says, ‘The light shines in the darkness. The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world.’
Showing us that He had a glorious plan for our future - salvation, forgiveness and eternal life. Although this was Gods greatest breakthrough of all, few witnessed it and fewer believed it.
God confirmed it at Jesus baptism where Matthew tells us ‘As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”’
There was further confirmation in our reading about the Transfiguration where we read that a cloud appeared over the bright scene and then it says, 7 Then a cloud appeared and covered them, and a voice came from the cloud: “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!”
This breaking of the light of God through the clouds was for the disciples benefit. Peter writing about it later says ‘You will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts. (2Peter 1:19)
Through Jesus God broke through the clouds of the world’s darkness to hold out the hand of friendship, love and salvation for those who would accept it. He showed and implemented His plans for salvation.
God broke through dramatically by sending Jesus.
2) God breaks through Gradually.
At times as we have seen God breaks through dramatically.
But sometimes His breakthrough is less dramatic except perhaps in people’s personal experience.
There are many OT examples of this; we read one this morning. The story of Elisha being taken up into heaven and Elijah taking his place. There was a gradual breakthrough for Elijah as he followed Elisha from place to place, learning about him and learning about God. Then for Elijah the tremendous breakthrough experience of seeing Elisha taken up in the chariot of fire.
It does not end for him there, a further breakthrough comes when he is able to use the double spiritual blessing and ask God to perform miracles so that others believed.
An example of this from the NT is Paul on the Damascus Road. Going all out to imprison the new religious sect of Christians. But then a blinding light breaks through the clouds and God speaks to Paul and he has a dramatic conversion.
Although it is for him dramatic, in a way it was also gradual. God had been working in his life up to that very point. For others it was clearly a shock seeing the different Paul. For Paul it was a light breaking through event.
But the scriptures show us that it is often far more gradual. As it was for these disciples on Marks fast track tour of Galilee and the surrounding area.
For them, it’s not a dramatic breakthrough, but a gradual almost imperceptible breakthrough. Day by day Jesus reveals a bit more to them. His power over demons, his ability to heal, his very different teaching. He revealed this and more to them over a period of three years.
During that time the light really dawned on Peter and He proclaimed Jesus “The Christ, the Son of God.” For others like Thomas it took longer, if fact until after the resurrection when he proclaimed Jesus, “My Lord and my God.”
For many of us, God breaks through gradually until a point comes when we own Jesus as Saviour and Lord. There are today still those who like Paul have more dramatic breakthroughs in their lives. But for most it is gradual and all will not be revealed to us until we see Jesus, face to face.
However I believe from scripture and from experience that God still breaks through in perhaps less dramatic ways into our lives at various times as He wants to show us His plan, to convey to us His will.
If fact I believe these are breakthroughs we need to ask Him for when we seek to serve Him in our lives and in His church. This is not just for great Christians such as Spurgeon, Muller, Carey and Mother Teresa, but also for ordinary followers of Jesus Christ.
All of us at times want to find out what Gods plan is. What He wants us to do in a particular situation or event.
Jesus clearly tells us to ask, seek and knock. He recognises that we need God to break through into our lives to convey His will and so He tells us to be proactive, ask –get on our knees and pray and pray. But then spend time quietly listening.
Before fridges, people used ice houses to preserve their food. Ice blocks gathered in the winter build into ice houses and often covered with sawdust so that they would last well into summer.
There is a story of a man losing a very valuable watch in such an ice house. He and his fellow workers searched among the sawdust on the floor but could not find it. ‘That's it’ he through, ‘it will get frozen, then wet, and then useless.’
But a small boy heard about this and he crept into the icehouse at night and found the watch. ‘how did you find it they asked’, ‘Well’ he said, ‘I closed the door, lay down in the sawdust and kept very still. Soon I heard the watch ticking.’
Often the question is not whether God is breaking through by speaking to us, but whether we are being still enough and quiet enough to hear. Ask – then:
Seek; read the scriptures to see what God is saying. Knock, be proactive. Kick a few doors and see if God will open them.
I like most people do not find this easy to do, even though I know it works. I find God breaking through into my life and speaking, mostly not in dramatic ways, but more in clear realisation, a sunbeam of light, although sometimes he shouts and gives me a wakeup call and occasionally he uses other people, or events see his will. Sometimes I have a real struggle.
One occasion stands out because in a minor way it was a literal shaft of light shining through.
At the time, about 16 years ago I had been seeking Gods will as to where He wanted me to move to in my ministry I had been asked to a church to preach with a view of taking up ministry there. The Lord had already shown me clearly that it was time to move from the two churches I had been minister at for nearly 8 years. I had told both churches and they were praying about my future and theirs.
The preaching and the time spent with this new church had been very positive. The 10 deacons had told me that their 100% recommendation was that the church should invite me to be their minister. Now I awaited the church meeting vote from the 100 or so members. It had to unusually be a 100% yes.
At the time I was on a short holiday in Cheshire, England when the news came through that three people out of over 100 had voted again me. The rest of the church was devastated as at the time was I. I went out for a walk on that dull rainy afternoon and as I walked I prayed about it and asked God why.
I walked for a few miles praying and found myself in a small town. Suddenly the sun broke through the clouds and shone down on the steeple of the town church. There was no booming voice from heaven, but I knew right away what God was saying, He was telling me not to be upset by what had happened, His plan was a bit different, He had another church in mind.
In fact He revealed that church and His plan shortly afterwards and I became minister of another church for the next 12 years.
The shining through the cloud in that way was a one off for me, but God continues to speak in other ways as I ask, seek and knock. That is not unique to me; the promise is for us all. I need and we all need to ask seek and knock a lot more that we do. Often God reveals gradually His will, His plan.
Sometimes we are like the little girl who had disobeyed her dad and been sent to her room. After a while he went to see her and through her tears she asked, “Why do we do wrong things?” “Well” dad said, “sometimes the devil tells us to do something wrong and we listen to him. We need to listen to God instead.” To which the little girl sobbed, “But Gods doesn’t talk loud enough!”
God always talks loud enough, but often we do not listen long enough or hard enough, or do not even give Him chance to speak.
So God does break through and speak-
Dramatically, Gradually and lastly Permanently.
3) God breaks through Permanently.
This has happened in remarkable ways on two occasions.
The first was when God sent His only much loved Son into the world to be the Saviour of the World. It was a dramatic birth as God shone though in bright light and spoke to Mary to tell her of His plan. He broke through with a bright light to shepherds to proclaim the birth; He broke through with a bright light to wise men to confirm that this was His Son, King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
God covered the earth with darkness when men hung His Son on a cross and laid him in a grave. But he shone through dramatically in a tomb and through bright angels told the word that Jesus had risen, sin and death had been conquered. Salvation was available for all who believed.
But then that same Jesus descended through the light up into the clouds and was seen no more.
All went quiet for a short time, but then God broke through in wind and flame to light up the lives of Jesus followers through the coming of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus coming to be our salvation was permanent. He will always be our salvation. God breaking through by the Holy Spirit is permanent. The Holy Spirit came and He remains in our world and when we invite Him, in our lives.
Today God breaks though into our lives through Jesus as we pray, through the scriptures as we read, through the Holy Spirit as we allow Him to work in us.
God still breaks through to reveal His plans. The only blockage in that breakthrough is disobedience on our part when we fall into sin, laziness on our part when we do not regularly read His words in the scriptures and lack of desire from us as we do not spend time in praying and listening to His voice.
God wants to communicate more and more to us.
He has done His part permanently, dramatically, gradually. He wants to continue to do it, mostly I believe gradually like He did to the disciples. But it’s up to us to walk with Jesus as they did, to speak to Him as they did so that He can break through the clouds for us and our church, to His glory and our blessing.
