You are currently browsing the tag archive for the 'King' tag.
by Jim and Marcella Wies
Many of us have been hearing this declared, or have sensed it in the Spirit. But one of the things we need to understand is the nature of prophetic terminology. While this is not an exact science, I have discovered that a new hour, prophetically speaking, is usually from three to five years in length. And a new day seems to be from 10 to 20 years long.
Another interesting fact about prophetic terminology is that the Scriptures tell us that God’s version of a new day begins in the dark. When God created the heavens and the earth, He declared that “the evening and the morning were the first day.” So His day starts with an evening, or a period of darkness.
With that in mind, I believe we HAVE stepped into a new day. I believe it began about a year ago, but most people still feel like they are pretty much in the dark. A Scriptural example of that was when the baby Jesus was born in Bethlehem. That was not only the beginning of a new day but a whole new dispensation; yet only a handful of people knew it for at least 12 years, and it took 33 years for the reality of it to be fully known.
The year 2008 was a time of darkness and confusion for much of the Body of Christ. The winds of change have been blowing, but it is yet to be seen what the full implications will be . You might even say it this way: The landscape around us has changed, but during the dark part of the day, it is hard to make out what is in our surroundings. Fortunately though, as the dawn comes, there comes a progressive clarity.
“But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, that shines brighter and brighter until the full day.” Proverbs 4:18
So, we HAVE stepped into a new day. This IS a new day, and our need is to persevere to see the dawn and the full light of day. While 2008 was a time of darkness and confusion for many, I believe there is coming fresh clarity in 2009.
Seeing Jesus as a Refiner’s Fire
The first time Jesus appeared, most religious people of the day missed Him because they were looking for a conquering king (based on their selective reading of prophetic Scriptures). But instead, He came as a suffering servant (also found in the prophetic Scriptures). Next time, He will appear as the Conquering King, while most are still expecting Him to be the suffering servant. The first time He came, He was the Lamb of God. But now He is about to be revealed as the Lion of the Tribe of Judah.
We have a Savior who loves us with an everlasting love but who is, at the same time, a refining fire. It was said of Him in Malachi:
“‘And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple, even the Messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight. Behold, He is coming,’ says the LORD of hosts. ‘But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner’s fire and like launderers’ soap. He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer to the LORD an offering in righteousness.’” Malachi 3:1-3
An honest and full examination of Jesus will have to show Him to be both grand and dreadful. He is grand to those who love and put their trust in Him but, at the same time, dreadful to His adversaries. He is a loving God and a gracious Savior, but He is also a consuming fire, as is plainly spoken in Hebrews 12:28-29: “Therefore, since we are receiving a Kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire.”
The fact that our Lord is a dreaded warrior is great when we consider His vengeance against our adversaries. But one of the Scriptures that should strike fear into our hearts is the section of Hebrews, Chapter Ten, where we see a warning for those who despise the Lord’s gift of grace.
“Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the Blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.
“For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.
“Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the Blood of the covenant by which He was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know Him who said, ‘Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,’ says the Lord. And again, ‘The Lord will judge His people.’ It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” Hebrews 10:19-31
The Lord is About to Show Himself
as a Man of War
“Now I saw Heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war.” Revelation 19:11
“The LORD will go forth like a warrior, He will arouse His zeal like a man of war. He will utter a shout, yes, He will raise a war cry (King James Version says “roar”). He will prevail against His enemies.” Isaiah 42:13
The prophet Joel, whose prophetic words apply directly to the end times, shows a “last days” Jesus roaring as a Lion who calls His saints to war as well.
“The LORD also will roar from Zion, and utter His voice from Jerusalem; the heavens and earth will shake; but the LORD will be a shelter for His people, and the strength of the children of Israel. So you shall know that I am the LORD your God, dwelling in Zion My holy mountain.” Joel 3:16-17
Joel 2:28-29 describes the days we are currently in: “And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions. And also on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days.”
It is in this context that we begin Joel, Chapter Three, so we need to see Joel 3 as a very significant Scripture for us as we come to the end of the age. It describes the happenings that will be going on “in those days and at that time” (Joel 3:1). We see that this will be a significant time of battle as the Lord comes forth as our Lion, our mighty Warrior. And here we see Him calling us to the battle as well.
“Proclaim this among the nations: ‘Prepare for war! Wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near, let them come up. Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears; let the weak say, ‘I am strong.’ Assemble and come, all you nations, and gather together all around. Cause Your mighty ones to go down there, O LORD. Let the nations be wakened, and come up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat; for there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations. Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe.” Joel 3:9-13
The Lord and His Kingdom
“He (Lord Jesus Christ) who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords; who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see. To Him be honor and eternal dominion! Amen” 1 Timothy 6:14-16
“Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.” Matthew 9:35
“Then He called His twelve disciples together and gave them power and authority over all demons, and to cure diseases. He sent them to preach the Kingdom of God and to heal the sick.” Luke 9:1-2
The message that Jesus preached was the Gospel of the Kingdom of God. A simple definition of a kingdom is a domain where a king rules. The Kingdom of God implies a King, and Jesus is that King. Simply put, wherever Jesus has rule, there the Kingdom has come. Not only did Jesus preach the Kingdom of God, but His disciples were instructed to preach the Kingdom. In fact, Jesus connected the accomplishment of the Church’s mission to the full declaration of the Gospel of the Kingdom to all the nations as a witness before the end will come (see Matthew 24:14).
David caught a glimpse of this King and wrote of Him in Psalm 2:
“Why do the nations rage, and the people plot a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying, ‘Let us break Their bonds in pieces and cast away Their cords from us’…
“…’Yet I have set My King on My holy hill of Zion.’ I will declare the decree: The LORD has said to Me, ‘You are My Son, today I have begotten You. Ask of Me, and I will give You the nations for Your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for Your possession…’
“…Now therefore, be wise, O kings; be instructed, you judges of the earth. Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and you perish in the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him.” Psalm 2:1-3, 6-8, 10-12
Daniel saw Him in a night vision:
“I was watching in the night visions, and behold, One like the Son of Man, coming with the clouds of Heaven! He came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him. Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a Kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His Kingdom the one which shall not be destroyed.” Daniel 7:13-14
At His ascension, Jesus said, “All authority in Heaven and on Earth has been given to Me” (Matthew 28:18). The implications of that are staggering. His supreme rule extends over all. He rules over space. He rules over time and eternity. He rules over nature. And, although there are pockets of rebellion currently remaining in the hearts of men, His rule shall eventually and inevitably extend to every individual, for Scripture states in Philippians 2:10-11, “…that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow…and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
Lord of All
Scripture points to the fact that a belief about Jesus as Savior is not the same as a surrender to Jesus as Lord. In fact, one very grave problem within much of western Christianity has become an “easy believism” that is void of repentance and Lordship. That is, faith without repentance; salvation without sanctification; mental assent without life-changing surrender. He is not a Savior whom we have the option of establishing as Lord of our lives; rather, He must be acknowledged as Lord, then He will save us.
In our zeal to be theologically proper regarding the grand theme of grace, modern Christianity has often been guilty of presenting a “Gospel” of faith without Lordship, a cheap grace that’s not really grace but licentiousness (which means absence of restraint, indecency, wantonness) – note Jude 1:4: “For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.”
Costly grace recognizes the call to discipleship that Jesus expects in light of our redemption. Christ gave all for us and expects nothing less in return. Our relationship with Him is the “treasure in a field” for which a man sells all he has to purchase; or the costly pearl a man gives all to acquire. It is the call of Jesus for which a disciple leaves his nets, forsakes all, and follows. Such Gospel demands total surrender. It says, “If you receive Me as Lord, I will save you.” It is costly because it costs us our life, but is redemptive because in exchange we gain that which is true life eternal.
We find Jesus introduced as Lord and referred to as Lord close to 3,000 times in the New Testament. Jesus demonstrated His Lordship – His rulership over creation – by turning water to wine, through bread and fish multiplied, and even through His authority over the elements. He commanded the wind and waves, He exerted authority over demons and the domain of darkness, sickness, and disease, etc.
He was the Lord God who now had interposed His presence into the human condition in the form of Jesus, the Son of God. The Scripture indicates that Jesus came to intervene, and through His coming, bought back that one last, lost domain, the wayward heart of man, thus being established as Lord of all, once and for all.
This final dimension of His Lordship is clearly stated in Acts 2:36: “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.” and… Philippians 2:5-11: “Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name” – THE NAME OF JESUS CHRIST, THE LORD!
This final establishment of Jesus as Lord by the Father – even over the hearts of every man – gives the conclusion of the matter. He is Lord of all. We are all destined to acknowledge it by the confession of our tongue and the bending of our knee. Acknowledging Him as Lord implies putting faith in His saving power while giving Him right to rule over our lives. It is a Gospel that includes both repentance and faith. The fact is that everyone will acknowledge Him as Lord. He is Lord!
(Scriptures to meditate on: week one: Malachi 3; week two: Psalm 2;
week three: 1 Corinthians 10:1-15; week four: Hebrews 10:19-39.)
Jim and Marcella Wies
Extreme Prophetic Ministries
Email: jwies@xpwebchurch.com
A few years ago my husband Gary and I rented a cabin in the beautiful and rugged mountains of Mount Hood National Forest where we celebrated our anniversary. The view of the mountains there are magnificent. Our cabin was about 50 feet from the river where two Rivers called the Sandy and Salmon come together. We could hear both rivers raging from all rooms of this cabin.
Wow, what a Master Artist our Lord is. He makes no idle strokes in His creation. His every move reveals His Glory and the excellence of His Majesty. I am in complete awe of His creation.
In the upper level of the cabin it over looks the Salmon River and in the distance I could see the Sandy River as it meets with the Salmon. The windows were open and I could hear the roar of the rivers as they collide. As I watched the two rivers come together I reflected on the verse in Genesis 1:6-8 “Then God said, “Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.” Thus God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament and it was so. Then God called the firmament heaven. So the evening and the morning were the second day.”
The above verse symbolically represents the separation of the heavenly and earthly. There are a people who have allowed their God to sanctify them as a holy people (1 Pet.1:16). Though the waters roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with its swelling – there is a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God, the Holy Place of the tabernacle of the Most High. God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved (Ps. 46:3-5).
We have been in preparation for the return of Christ. This is why so many people are looking for His return in the natural. They look at the conditions of the world and cry out and look for His return to be soon. Christ is returning there is no doubt, but first and foremost He is returning in and through a people who have prepared themselves. As nations rage and kingdoms are moved, His kingdom is about to be exalted among all other nations. We will not go out as cowards looking for a way out of this world, but we will come into the world with and in the fruition and power of our King Jesus. The second day of natural creation was a day of separation. We see this spiritual significance throughout the word of God. This division is Divine and for those who have allowed themselves to be separated from the influence of the earthly they have and are entering into the third day with spiritual receptivity that clearly understands they were created for God’s good pleasure and not their own. They were not bought without a price (1 Cor.6:20; Eph.1:9-10).
The first day was without form and void. Just as God’s spirit hovered over the face of the deep and over the face of the waters on the first day of natural creation, so the Holy Spirit has hovered over the Church. There is a “deep” within us that is capable of responding to an eternal desire that is within our Creator. Spiritually speaking the creation of the Church began the day Christ resurrected from the dead. The first day God said, “Let there be light, and there was light”. And God saw that the light was good, and divided light from darkness.” This is the spoken word of life for the sinner, and ever since that glorious day of His resurrection we have moved forward into the second day, and now the third. There is great understanding here if we can grasp this revelation because it explains why Christ has not returned yet, and why He is not returning the way so many think He is returning.
“And He said to them, Go and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out devils and I do cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I shall be perfected.”
As explained by Apostle Peter, a day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years is as a day (2 Pet.3:8,9). Peter was speaking prophetically of the Church age (two thousand years). The third-day however is the Millennial Day and it is here that the Body of Christ (which is exactly that – His body) will be perfected. This perfection that Christ spoke of is that of His body and His head coming together as one. For two thousand years Christ has looked for a place to rest His head.
“Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man has no where to lay His head”. (Luke 9:58)
As we are entering in to the third day since the resurrection of Christ and about to see the birthing of the seventh day (millennial / the seventh day since creation) we shall have a deeper revelation of His “rest”. Just as people are looking for Christ’s return because they feel His return is very near, they are also sensing a need to enter into His “rest”. Again, there is a misunderstanding as they attempt to make this “rest” a place in the natural. Many have recently chosen to gather together for worship on Saturday because they are sensing the need to enter into the “Sabbath” place. This is not a natural place, but a spiritual place. This rest is called the “abiding” (John 15).
“For with stammering lips and another tongue He will speak to this people, to whom He said, this is the rest with which you may cause the weary to rest, and this is the refreshing. Yet they would not hear”. (Is.28:11-12)
There is a spiritual rest that God has commanded us to enter into (1 Cor.14:21; Hebrews 4). This place of rest is the abiding in Christ wherein we are no longer working our way to heaven as we are already there in Christ seated in the heavenly places (Eph.2:1-10). We have moved from an outside God mindedness, to an inside God mindedness (Gal.2:20; Col.1:27). In Christ we can “rest” in Him as we move, live and have our being in the enveloping presence (parousia) of our Lord Jesus Christ. The “parousia” (life in the presence of God) is what we are to depend upon to “catch us up”. This being “caught up” is living in the heavenly places with Christ. I would like to reiterate there is a literal return of Christ. However, firstly He is coming bodily for the appearance and presence of Himself in His Body. He is coming to be glorified in His saints (2 Thess.1:7-10).
(1) He has come to His people.
(2) He is come in His people.
(3) And He is coming through His people.
To, In, and Through (my husband did an incredible teaching on this if you are interested). From inworking to outworking (Phil.2:12; 2 Pet.1:4). From glory to Glory. From ever learning about Him to experientially living in and through Him (John 15).
As I was looking out at the two rivers coming together I saw prophetically Genesis 1:9 coming into fruition. “Then God said, Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place… and the gathering together He called seas. And God saw that it was good…”
The waters (two rivers) are symbolic of the nations of the earth; restlessness, under-currents, cross currents as the nations rage and are moved. As the waters come together (symbolic of eternal life through Christ), there is resurrection life (on the 3rd day he was raised up from the dead), the manifestation of Christ in and through His people. As the two rivers come together there is a raging sound, turbulence, and a powerful force creating such violent pressure that anything feeble is destroyed.
The nations are restless and raging. There are under-currents that attempt to destroy the workings of Jesus Christ but cannot. The Church may be hard- pressed on every side, yet not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed… (1 Cor.4:7-15). What the Lord has created cannot be destroyed – hallelujah! I’m talking Corporate Body here. When Elijah thought he was the only one left after Jezebel killed many of the prophets, the Lord encouraged him by telling him He had a remnant of prophets who had not bowed to the pressure of fear and false comfort (1 Kings 19:11-18).
“To you it has been given the mystery of the kingdom of God; but to those who are outside, all things come in parables… He who has an ear (spiritual receptivity), let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes (complacency, doubt, unbelief, false comfort, negative thinking, etc) I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.” (Mark 4:11; Rev.2:7)
Glorious things ahead for the Body of Christ. Incredible insight and knowledge given with the experience to follow. There are a people who have and are allowing God to break through their fallow mindset. We are in the age where evil is raging as it has never raged before. God has and is looking for a people who will not break rank. They don’t push each other. Everyone marches in their own column (Joel 2:7). They don’t look at others and wonder why they are not doing what themselves are doing because that is what God is doing and if others are not doing what themselves are doing then surely others are missing God – Ugh! Dear saints, if we were all the hands and feet of the body how in the world would we eat without a mouth to give strength and nourishment to the body? If we were all eyeballs how would we walk to what we are seeing (1 Cor.12:12-31)? I thank God for His plan of Unity rather than uniformity! May we respect and honor one another’s function as it is vital to the end-time purposes of God.
There is a Divine Division that Rightly Divides those who have unconditionally submitted themselves to the Lord from those who did not (the five virgins who did, and the five who did not – Matt.25:1). There is a people who have and are allowing the Lord to prepare them for His purposes, and are overcoming all that is hindering them from doing their part in the full manifestation of the Kingdom.
Let’s take a close look at today’s culture and today’s church. On several occasions, history has provided the critical need to thrust the church into breaking out of it’s’ box and becoming the force in culture and society that God intended it to be.
Today the Church has once again reached something so forceful (river flow) that there is a demand that we look hard at our traditional forms wherein facing the reality that we must move with the flow of God or else be moved aside by the powerful river force that is coming regardless of how we feel or think.
This Third Day (a day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as a day – 2 Pet.3:8) requires a third way of doing Church. There is a reformation of structure that is causing a Divine Division (spiritual indifference) within the Corporate Church. The formation of the “First Day Church” and the Second Day Church must be reevaluated as some of the things that we have allowed the Church to be built on are nothing more than sand.
Creation is groaning with expectation (fires, earthquakes, volcano eruptions, plagues, murders, etc) for the revealing of the sons of God (Rom.8:18-30). As the sons of God are awakening and manifesting the very life of Christ to the world there is a “Divinely Appointed Collision” that is also happening. Just as God was raising a deliverer (Moses) to Israel, and the rulers of that time ordered all first-born male infants to be killed, and then He sent His only begotten Son (first-born of many brethren – Rom.8:29) into the world, the rulers at that time ordered all male infants to be killed, so it is in our day with the sons of God. He (Jesus) the first born, desires to be birthed (manifested) through many brethren, multiplying (sowing) Himself into the earth. This is the fruition, the manifestation of the sons of God.
The rulers of our time attempt to destroy, hinder, stop; but cannot prevail against what God has pre-ordained. The sons (both men and women – Gal.3:28) of God will arise, and with this resurrection power there will be a Divine Collision that will powerfully flow into the world, impacting them for Christ, but this won’t happen without a fight. There will be a war whether some think so or not.
…A River runs through us.
A very Beautiful song about the birth of our Lord and King, Jesus Christ.
