but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.”
Men like Daniel and Paul who received and carried a God-given vision throughout their lives were men of the Book. Men of the Book do assuredly receive at appointed times supernatural visions. Neglect of the book kills vision. Disobedience to the law kills vision. Why would God give a prophetic vision to anyone who does not keep the law? You can never separate vision from obedience. In Jeremiah’s day the false prophets were filled with ecstatic vision but lacked biblical obedience. They perished but Jeremiah endured.
Obedience leads to a God-given vision. If you lack vision give yourself over to walk in the light of God’s Word and I promise you spiritual vision will be birthed in your heart. Men and woman of the Book have always been men and woman with vision. A vision (chazon) is a mental sight. It is something you can look at, gaze at or contemplate. A vision birthed by God in the heart is something we can look upon and meditate upon. It is conceived out of His character, His ways and His Word. An envisioned person is one caught up in a vision revealed from God. He gives them a vision of His divine and eternal purpose that will carry them through trials, temptations and troubles. It is the ability to see afar off. It is the ability to see beyond time. It is the ability to see from God’s perspective.
We are also told that “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” To “perish” (para) means to loosen, to dismiss, or to set at nought. A people without vision disintegrate, fall apart, or go to pieces. They lose the meaning of all they are doing. They lose focus. They lose the sense of divine purpose. To “perish” also means to expose, be naked, or to uncover. Where there is no Biblical vision the church ends up naked and ashamed like Laodicea. Blindness always goes hand in hand with nakedness which follows close on its heels. An obedient people have never lacked vision. The vision of the disobedient is mere smoke. The vision of the man who keeps God’s Word is eternal. A biblically inspired vision will make you stand through Hell and high water. Visions birthed out of the mind and heart of man always lead to spiritual demise and nakedness.