“…beauty is the battlefield where God and Satan contend with each other for the hearts of men.” (Fyodor Dostoyevski, The Brothers Karamazov)
The forerunner stands as an emissary of the jealous heart of Jesus and fights to apprehend the distracted affections of His people that He alone is worthy of. The day of His wedding is in Christ’s heart and He demands wholehearted devotion to Himself (Rev 2:4). The severity and urgency of this plea to the body of Christ is rooted in His jealous love and not anger or harshness.
God has orchestrated a global scenario that will completely eliminate the possibility of neutrality. The unprecedented pressure will cause the lukewarm to either fall away or become radically given over to loving Him with totality. Though the forerunner ministry does exist to plead with those who are caught in this snare and suddenly dangle between apostasy and fidelity (Luke 21:34), it primarily serves as an appeal prior to the hour when all that now challenges the preeminence of Christ for the allegiance of the human heart falls prey to the devastation of His wrath (Is 2:17).
Forerunners vie for Jesus to be supremely treasured by His people now in order that their hearts would not be crushed when all they treasured outside of Him is ground to dust by the Day of the LORD. How does one wage war in this all-important conflict? The battle line falls upon the affections of the soul and it is to the affections that messengers must appeal. Through groans of intercession and tear-soaked proclamation of the enthralling beauty of Christ, forerunners seek to conquer the deepest sentiments of the heart for surpassing worth of the Lamb.
