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Dead Man Walking!

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Revelation 1:17-18 When I saw Him, I fell at His feet as if dead. But He laid His right hand on me and said, Do not be afraid! I am the First and the Last, 18 And the Ever-living One [I am living in the eternity of the eternities]. I died, but see, I am alive forevermore; and I possess the keys of death and Hades (the realm of the dead). AMPC

Candace Osmond, on her website, Grammarist discusses the popular idiom, “dead man walking,” stating: “Dead man walking” is a phrase we’ve all heard thrown around, from conversations to T.V., movies, and even books. But have you ever taken a second to think about where it could have possibly come from? The roots of the phrase “dead man walking” actually originated in the United States in the early 20th century. It was created in prisons to describe a man condemned to death who was being led to his execution. The guards would walk him down the corridor, and others would say, “dead man walking!”

The author of Revelation, the Apostle John, is believed to have been in his nineties when he was exiled by the Emperor Domitian to the Isle of Patmos. Interestingly, tradition states that Domitian attempted to boil John to death in a boiling cauldron of oil but John survived unscathed. As a result the Emperor banished him to exile on Patmos in which many of the prisoners were forced to work in the mines. All of these things taken together in a collective whole become even more interesting against the backdrop of John 21:19-23  He said this to indicate by what kind of death Peter would glorify God. And after this, He said to him, Follow Me! 20 But Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved, following—the one who also had leaned back on His breast at the supper and had said, Lord, who is it that is going to betray You? 21 When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, Lord, what about this man? 22 Jesus said to him, If I want him to stay (survive, live) until I come, what is that to you? [What concern is it of yours?] You follow Me! 23 So word went out among the brethren that this disciple was not going to die; yet Jesus did not say to him that he was not going to die, but, If I want him to stay (survive, live) till I come, what is that to you? AMPC

The Apostle had faced down the possibility of death on numerous occasions simply by choosing to be counted among the followers of Jesus. To follow Jesus was to embrace death. It was guilt by association and none was more intimate with Jesus than John. John was the only disciple courageous enough to stand at the foot of Jesus’ crucifixion and was no stranger to its inevitability. Which makes the events of Revelation 1 almost comical. John wasn’t afraid of death – he is in his nineties – yet when he encountered the Shofar-like Voice of Jesus “on Fire” – he fell at His feet as a dead man. To which Jesus replies to His friend: Do not be afraid! I am the First and the Last, 18 And the Ever-living One [I am living in the eternity of the eternities]. I died, but see, I am alive forevermore; and I possess the keys of death and Hades (the realm of the dead). Jesus had faced down the specter of death, was crucified, and raised from the dead. He wanted to remind John of the fact: I am alive forevermore! (and you will be too).

The Apostle Paul had written years earlier: For we who live are constantly [experiencing] being handed over to death for Jesus’ sake, that the [resurrection] life of Jesus also may be evidenced through our flesh which is liable to death.12 Thus death is actively at work in us, but [it is in order that our] life [may be actively at work] in you. 2 Cor. 4:11-12 AMPC

For all of the Apostles death was no stranger yet they did not “smell” like death. The Resurrection Life of Jesus only grew stronger in them as they repeatedly submitted to Jesus, the Spirit and the Word. Every time they yielded and obeyed; every time they submitted themselves to the will of God – they lived even more and those around them came to life too. Possibly this is the reason John was invited to “Come Up Here!” in Revelation 4:1. John reminds us in Revelation 12:11 that those who live with Jesus in eternity – those permitted to “Come Up Here!” – are those who “did not love and cling to life even when faced with death [holding their lives cheap till they had to die for their witnessing].” Revelation 12:11 AMPC

During this holy season remind yourself to not cling so tightly to this life but to embrace Jesus’ death in order to become His life to those around you. Look up and see the “great cloud of witnesses” in Hebrews 12:1 and listen for their exhortation: “For the reward of the lamb and for His Suffering!” This was the exhortation of Moravian missionaries who sold themselves into slavery, and packed their belongings in a coffin that would be used to bury them on the mission field. Join with the other dead men, women and children walking – into His Light and Love.

Count Nikolas Ludwig Von Zinzendorf and the Moravians, Part One

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Count Zinzendorf was born into one of the noblest families in Europe. His inheritance was to sit on one of the continent’s most powerful thrones. He gave all that up and spent his life and fortune to carry the Gospel to the ends of the earth. Zinzendorf was not a Moravian but a devout Lutheran, and from a very early age had a desperate hunger for the Lord. At age six, he made a commitment to the Savior: “I firmly resolved to live for Him alone Who laid down His life for me.” Again, at age 9: “…To have a living communion with Christ, my heart’s affection never departed from my Savior.”

David Smithers tells of Zinzendorf: “His ‘blessed presence’ was his all-consuming theme. He had chosen from an early age as his life’s motto the now famous confession, ‘I have one passion. It is Jesus, Jesus only.” Prevailing prayer was a lifestyle for the Count. Establishing circles for prayer was his daily routine.

When he graduated from the school of staunch Pietist, August Franke in Halle, at the age of 16, he left the famous professor a list of seven praying societies. While at the school, the young Count was exposed to two evangelists who had been sent to India. At meals and daily meetings, these men recounted their experiences preaching the Gospel in foreign lands. To young Zinzendorf, these stories sounded like a modern Book of Acts. It was then that he was stirred with a passion for preaching the Gospel…The road had been paved. These two works of God (Zinzendorf and the Moravians) were about to meet and erupt in an explosion of God’s Presence on the earth. Holy Fire was about to be poured out on these humble, desperate, and hungry souls, and God was going to dwell and walk among His people.

Rend the Heavens

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“Can a mariner sit idle if he heard the drowning cry? Could a doctor sit in comfort and just let his patients die? Could a fireman sit idle while men burn and give no hand? Can you sit at ease in Zion with the world around you damned? – Leonard Ravenhill

“What God’s truth demands, His Grace will provide.” – Francis Frangipane

“I have set watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem; they shall never hold their peace, day or night. You who call upon the Lord, do not keep silent, and give Him no rest till He establishes….” – Isaiah 62:6-7

“The Scottish revivalist John Knox cried to God, “Give me Scotland or I die!” The cry of the Moravian Fellowship could well have been, “Oh God, give us souls or take us now!” – Frank Di Pietro

“See what the Moravians have done? Cannot we follow their example…and preach the Gospel to the heathen?” – William Carey

“This small group of people, in twenty years, called into being more missions than the whole Church has done in two centuries.” – Dr. Warneck

This missionary work, that would soon fill the Kingdom of God, was birthed by intense intercessory prayer. Perched atop a prayer tower, these nearly forgotten prayer warriors took turns praying 24 hours a day, 7 days a week from 1727-1827 – 100 years nonstop! “This intense intercessory prayer pioneered the richest and most daring missionary work in the history of the Church.” – Jim Goll

Watch and Pray

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“Organized missionary work and world evangelism as we know it today really did not exist in the western world until God lit a fire in the hearts of the Moravians through the ‘watch of the Lord.’ It was no accident that God restored the fire on the altar first, and then ignited a passion for lost souls in the world through prayer.” – Pastor James Goll

“In an era when missionary outreach was almost non-existent, the Moravians covered the world, going places where most refused to go. They suffered disease, poverty, and death, all to have the honor of being called “Ambassadors for Christ.” Half a century later, William Carey, the father of modern foreign missions, asked his Baptist brethren these historic words: “See what the Moravians have done? Cannot we follow their example.. and preach the Gospel to the heathen?”

The well known German historian of “Protestant Misisons,” Dr. Warneck, testifies: “This small group of people in twenty years, called into being more missions than the whole Church has done in two centuries.” This missionary work, that would soon fill the Kingdom of God, was birthed by intense intercessory prayer. Perched atop a prayer tower, these nearly forgotten prayer warriors took turns praying 24 hours a day, 7 days a week from 1727 – 1827 – 100 years nonstop! – Frank J Di Pietro

Unfortunately it wasn’t always this way. In the early 1700’s a group of Christians called the Moravians were fleeing from intense persecution in Bohemia, Poland and Moravia. In 1722 a lone Christian refugee named Christian David showed up at an estate owned by Count Ludwig Von Zinzendorf requesting permission to settle a group of these refugees on Zinzendorfs’ property. It wasn’t long until Christian returned with 300 of these refugees building a community of believers there on the estate. They called the community, “Herrnhut” or the “Lord’s Watch.” Author Di Pietro continues: Zinzendorf immediately “sensed a spiritual kinship” with these humble people. It wasn’t long before Herrnhut began growing and accepted refugees from other doctrinal persuasions. Now there were not onlyMoravians, but also Lutherans, Calvinists, Catholics, Separatists, Reformed, and Anabaptists. They were all seeking the fellowship of others who were looking for a heavenly city. The vision of Count Zinzendorf was that of the restoration of the apostolic community. He worked to establish a community of prayer, encouragement, and accountability. It wasn’t something that happened overnight. As you imagine, with such a wide diversity, doctrinal disputes arose, along with bickering over which style of liturgy or worship was appropriate. It even went so far as calling the Count the “Beast” mentioned in the Book of Revelation. Yet Zinzendorf refused to defend himself going from house to house, counseling each family from the Scriptures, teaching, and exhorting them.

“Before long the small community was becoming one as more and more homes were opening day and night for prayer, fellowship, and teaching. Small groups began holding all night prayer vigils, and it seemed almost weekly that the spiritual unity and the bonds of love were becoming perceptively stronger.” – Di Pietro

On May 12 Zinzendorf led the community in covenanting together to pray and labor for revival. Services held at this time usually ended in weeping, deep repentance, and lying prostrate on the floor. “By August 5th, anticipation was building to the point where many did not want to sleep for fear that they would miss something God was doing. One meeting started at noon and ended at midnight. The entire community walked as one in God, full of repentance and consecration. On Wednesday, August 13, Count Zinzendorf visited every house in Herrnhut in preparation for the Lord’s Supper. Everyone had come to a conviction of their sinfulness, need and helplessness. During the service, they made many painful prayers for themselves, for fellow Christians still under persecution, and for their continued unity. At that time, Count Zinzendorf made a penitential confession in the name of the entire congregation. The congregation knelt and sang, then began praying for one another. – Di Pietro

Suddenly with the sound of a mighty rushing wind, the power of the Holy Spirit swept across the congregation in waves. The noise of the wind was loud enough that many in the church looked toward the windows expecting to see a gale raging outside. The manifestation of the Spirit was not relegated within the four walls of the church, but fell throughout the community. Men, women, and children were touched as a passion for God and His purpose swept through their hearts. – Di Pietro

Zinzendorf records: “It was such a sense of nearness of Christ bestowed in a single moment upon all members of the community at once; it was so unanimous that two members, at work twenty miles away, unaware that the meeting was being held, became at the same moment smitten with the same blessing and anointing.”

One Moravian remembers: “We had quit judging each other because we had become convinced, each one, of his lack of worth in the sight of God. On that day of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, we saw the Hand of God and His wonders. We were all under the Cloud of the Father baptized with His Spirit. As the Holy Ghost came upon us, great signs and wonders took place in our midst. From that time, scarcely a day passed but what we beheld His Almighty workings among us. A great hunger after the Word of God took possession of us, so that we had to have three services every day. Everyone desired above everything else that the Holy Spirit might have full control. Self-love and self-will as well as all disobedience disappeared and an overwhelming flood of grace swept us all out into the great ocean of Divine Love.”

Jesus reminds us in Lukes Gospel of the importance of watching and praying: Keep awake then and watch at all times [be discreet, attentive, and ready], praying that you may have the full strength and ability and be accounted worthy to escape all these things [taken together] that will take place, and to stand in the presence of the Son of Man.(Luke 21:36 AMPC) The question is, Are we willing to turn our faces away from the anesthesia of entertainment and turn to Face God in prayer?