As our team sets out for Japan shortly, one of our main focus areas is to raise the next generation of worshippers in Japan.
One of the things Pastor Matsumoto told us the last time we there was that there was a real succession issue in the church – as pastors got older, there was (as it were) a “generation gap” of young leaders to succeed them.
So on this trip, we are not only conducting worship seminars with the combined churches in Kagoshima and Mizayaki, we are also intentionally having members of their worship teams serve alongside us when we lead worship. We are hopeful that this will inspire them to pursue God in worship ministry but to also learn the skills from our team and catch some of the anointing.
Recently, I came across an interesting but obscure passage in Ezekiel 14:12-14:
The word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, if a country sins against me by being unfaithful and I stretch out my hand against it to cut off its food supply and send famine upon it and kill its people and their animals, even if these three men—Noah, Daniel and Job—were in it, they could save only themselves by their righteousness, declares the Sovereign Lord.
This passage is reminiscent of the intercessory mantle on Abraham as he prayed to God to spare Sodom in Genesis 18:23-26:
Then Abraham approached him and said: “Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked? What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people in it? Far be it from you to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. Far be it from you! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?”
The Lord said, “If I find fifty righteous people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake.”
Abraham was able to whittle down the number to 10, but alas, there were not 10 righteous people in Sodom.
In the Ezekiel passage, God said to Ezekiel that even if Noah, Daniel or Job were found in the land, God would not relent His judgment. It highlights the righteousness and intercessory mantle of certain people who, if they stood before the Lord, would cause Him to change His mind (as it were).
Ezekiel was taken to Babylon in the second exile. Daniel was taken to Babylon as a young man in the first exile. Some commentators think that by the time Ezekiel was prophesying in the second exile, Daniel could have been in this mid-30s.
Strikingly, Daniel is numbered amongst those of Israel’s history who were known for their faith and righteousness. Yet, Daniel was not a figure of history, he was a young person of this current generation. It is like saying if “John Wesley and Joe Wong were standing before me” or “Lester Sim and Martin Luther were standing before me“….
Our hope is that in Japan, God will begin to raise up a generation of young people with audacious faith, great exploits and uncompromising lifestyles who will bring revival to their land.
