Tuesday, February 9th, ‘10

Tuesday, February 9^th, ‘10

COSMIC CURTAIN

“…He will swallow up the covering which is over all peoples, even the veil which is stretched over all nations” (Isaiah 25:7 NASB)

We speak of the Iron Curtain or Bamboo Curtain. The former has been leveled; there is little more than a speed bump now between eastern and western Europe. The latter is trickier because it is a mixture of communism and capitalism, still the same old repression continues. But there is another curtain, harder to discern, though easily felt, that which drapes over cities, peoples and nations. You can feel it flying into world hubs, a spiritual blanket, what Paul termed “spiritual wickedness in heavenly places” (Eph 6:12). By “heavenly” he doesn’t mean the abode of God but atmospheres of demonic concentrations. It is like a veil. Speaking of the Jews, Paul shared, “But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart” (2 Cor 3:15). The curtain is a spiritual blindfold, but in the Isaiah sense, a demonic element wraps itself around an entire geographic area, even to “nations”, to cut it off from the light of the gospel (see 2 Corinthians 4:4). That blinding is attributed by Paul to “the god of this world”. It is a satanic interference.

Later in Isaiah the prophet beseeches, “Oh, that You would rend the heavens! That You would come down! That the mountains might shake at your presence” (Isa 64:1). That is the heart-cry of all true intercessors. Victory in the heavenlies come through spiritual clash. What we bind on earth is bound in heaven, or the “heavenlies” (Mat 16:19). John envisioned our day, “And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon…and his angels…” (Rev 12:7) Here the curtain begins to tear. Already, two-thousand years ago, the veil of the temple ripped in two, opening access between man and God. But religion was quick to do its seamstress job and try to sew the thick veil back together. I mean, the enemy has beclouded the heavenly sphere to keep lost souls under bondage. In areas overrun by drugs, crime, violence, voodoo, gangs and tyranny you can “feel it in the air”. That feeling is not just a tangential emotion; it is a gut spiritual reaction.

So a part of prayer must focus on the rending of that cosmic curtain. No matter the resistance God promises to answer such a prayer. Our text says He will “swallow up the covering which is over all peoples…” The next verse goes so far as to say, “He will swallow up death for all time” (Isa 25:8). That is the culminate curtain shredding. I keenly sensed that thick black blanket years ago flying into Port-Au-Prince; the spells and yells of voodoo could be sensed in our descent. And I’ve felt it over many other cities. We sympathize with (and sow toward) the Haitian people after the horrendous quake, but I can feel a rumbling in the clouds far stronger than any in earth. Soon God will shake all nations before appearing in glory (Hag 2:7). Earth-shaking events, however, are first heaven-shaking, “…and on earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and waves roaring…for the powers of the heavens will be shaken” (Luke 21:25,26). The seas are affected by the skies. Peoples are set free by prayers. Nations don’t shake till the heavens shake. So storm the gates in prayer. The final curtain is about to come down. All that is behind it is fetid and hellish, like lancing an infected wound, but for Dr. Jesus to heal Earth’s sin wounds, that curtain, that veil, that tissue, has to be rent. The intercessory tam wields the blade.