His Sons No More
Who Will Pitch The Lord’s Tent?
By Prophet Dr. David Owuor
The Lord’s Tent
God Almighty is fully devoted to the redemption and restoration of his people whenever they drift away. In his plans, the LORD is often steadfast to reinstate the shattered ruins of their lives thereby converting barren land into very fruitful vineyard church of unprecedented splendour. This manner of restoration can only take place when the church apprehends how helpless she is without Godʼs guidance. It is such an awakening that took precedence in the life of the prodigal son for him to attain restitution (Luke 15:11–32). Only a crisis-driven stirring of this nature can permit todayʼs church to totally surrender her troubled sinful life into the most able holy hands of God, for an urgent spiritual renewal (Isaiah 35:8–9).
However, the process of recommitting to God is always a painful one even as the church is reproved towards a life of purity and righteousness. Spiritual growth in this case can only be constituted by making advances in inculcating a holy life in the churchʼs daily routines. On numerous occasions, Israel too attempted to abandon the true God by dabbling in occult practices that greatly severed their relationship with Jehovah God. Often such conduct from Israel drew a sharp reaction from the LORD who immediately dispatched his prophets to her, for repentance and redress. Similarly, the present-day church has largely tinkered into a very defiled occult-like worship of materialism that has in essence coasted her afar from the will of God.
This is particularly occurring in spite of the mighty endtime revival that the LORD has promised her in these last days. Just like the Israelites often opted to worship idol gods like fate and destiny, the church too has deliberately chosen to worship the idol gods of earthly prosperity. On her part, Israel worshipped these baalist idols hoping that she could eventually influence her future. Todayʼs church has equally experienced such a terrible apostasy thereby causing her to lose faith in the LORD. This latter-day apostasy has caused the church to not believe that God Almighty can sufficiently provide for her daily sustenance. It has plunged the church into an ugly dire straits, in which she has now devised for herself means of survival. The priesthood is then able to even incorporate falsehood into their routine practice to earn a living. It has become a profession and not a calling. Rather than depend on God for her daily provision and eternal future, the church has shelved holiness and gone on a massive rampage to grab anything in anyway she can to sustain her worldly lifestyle. Every average christian is very much aware that this is what has caused distress in the worship sacrifice today.
On every occasion when defilement overtakes worship and overshadows it with worldliness, God is normally quick to reject that kind of detestable sacrifice. Under such besmirch circumstances, Jehovah often lifts his holy presence from that type of church. Desolation then becomes almost inevitable as things begin to fall apart.
Pitching the tent
When King Solomon built the temple of the LORD in Jerusalem, it was so perfectly done that it eminently became the biggest source of pride for the nation of Israel. Solomon had carefully followed to the letter every instruction of the LORD in building this august house. In his quest to serve the LORD, King Solomon desperately yearned for Godʼs favour to visit not only the temple but the entire land. Earlier on, his father David had greatly longed for such an opportune favour to build for the LORD, the God of Israel, a dwelling. In spite of that, the LORD did not honour David with such a privilege of nobility.
The God of Israel eventually chose Solomon to raise for him a tent in which he would dwell among his people. The building of Godʼs temple in Jerusalem was such an extraordinary task that required of Solomon to go out of his way, right into the harsh wilderness of Judea in order to identify the building blocks. King Solomon had in mind the kind of building blocks that befitted the raising of this holy tent. This caused him to search across the wilderness until he arrived at a virgin reservoir quarry that possessed the appropriate stones. It is these wonder stones that eventually would constitute the building blocks for the tent of the LORD. At this juncture, it appeared as though these Judean stones were selectively and deliberately positioned in place by the LORD that Solomon may run into. As a result, the stones excavated from this noble quarry turned out to be precious enough to accomplish the task of building the holy house of the LORD.
The perfect hand of God was again at work here in leading the entire exercise of temple building. The whole house of Jacob was consumed with overwhelming amazement as they witnessed the virtual re-enactment of the written Word of God come to pass in pitching this tent. From the point of their collection to the site of the temple of God until the tent was fully raised, no iron tool whatsoever was heard touching these wonder stones.
The God of Israel had earlier on given this tight instruction to Moses concerning the pitching of his holy tent. It was an instruction intended to be passed on from one generation to another as a command, a lasting ordinance unto the LORD. In that way, this instruction became the blueprint of the spiritual architecture that the house of the LORD would be built on whenever he required. So, King Solomon in his immense wisdom chose it not to depart from this spiritual blueprint, especially that the house belonged to Jehovah God Almighty. Presumably, this is the point at which the church deviated from the ways of God when pitching the tent. It is these discovered valuable stones that were used as the building blocks for the temple of the LORD on Mount Moriah (1 Kings 6:7). The stones bore very special qualities in that they were largely brilliant pure white (Rev. 19:8). Their brilliance enabled the temple to bear a countenance of reflective radiance whenever one approached it. Later on, this led the LORD to coddle the Jerusalem temple by saying “Like a lily among thorns, so is my darling among the women”. This was in an apparent reference to the white brilliance with which the temple stood out among all the buildings on earth when the Shekinah visited. It becomes a lesson to the church today because it draws emphasis on the importance of the building blocks on the eventual utility and lifespan of the church. It is this white radiant brilliance that symbolizes the wedding gown that the church is supposed to wear for rapture. This white brilliance is the holiness of the bride of Christ.
This notion especially came through at the most anticipated dedication of this house of the LORD in Jerusalem. Shekinah glory of the LORD descended into the temple in a mighty way to the point that worship had to come to a stop as the visibility was completely reduced. The revered cloud of the LORDʼs glory was so thick that it caused the people not to be able to see clearly. The power of Godʼs glory was so immense that the priests were compelled to suspend the service for a while because the cloud of God had completely filled the temple. Shekinah glory carries the most revered holy presence of the LORD God Almighty himself. And for this glory to visit a place is a signet symbol of approval from Jehovah. On that day, Jehovah God lavished Israel with such a historic endorsement at worship. It became an impressive confirmation of Godʼs approval on the pitching process of this tent. Such a visitation of backing by the Shekinah glory of the LORD is what todayʼs church should strive to attain.
Nevertheless, it is an approval earned and not gifted. It lays greater emphasis that underscores the reward of faithfully following the Holy Spiritʼs tight instruction on pitching his house. Many are the times that todayʼs pastors have pitched churches without consulting him. Such a tent then becomes their houses and not the LORDʼs dwelling. This initial step may seem simple but actually is very complicated and the most important determining stage. It calls for a lot of prayer and fasting as one seeks the direction of the LORD. Therefore, the church ought to emulate this entire pitching process in order to earn his favour. Likewise the christians should consider their bodies as the holy temple of the Holy Spirit and hence pitch their bodies in a manner that is spiritually right. This seemingly simple baby-step, is as a matter of fact, the spiritual cornerstone of their entire christian walk.
A well-built spiritual tent of the Holy Spirit will always be favoured with the visitation of the LORD. Like Israel, the church should first of all go into the spiritual wilderness of Judea and find a suitable quarry that contains the rightful spiritual white stones. It is these spiritual white stones that constitute the building blocks for the temple of the LORD. The white radiance of these spiritual white stones would then impart a righteous character of brilliance in the hearts and lives of the christians. Such building blocks Jesus showed the church from which quarry to obtain. And he further excavated and laid them bare at Calvary on the Cross during the pitching of the church. It implies that the church should go no where else other than to the spiritual quarry at Calvary and on the Cross, in order to pick up the rightful spiritual building blocks for pitching the spiritual tent of the LORD, in their hearts. This also displays that the fall to sin being witnessed in todayʼs church, must have come from the wrong foundation she laid. In which case during the foundation laying process, the present-day church must have most definitely gone to the wrong spiritual quarry and picked up the unsuitable stones for pitching tent. No wonder, she has not been visited.
However, the dispensation of repentance gives the church a new sparkle of hope because she can literally return to the basics and lay the right foundation before rapture. In that way, the Shekinah glory of the LORD will revisit the house. The Shekinah Glory is a very instrumental part of Godʼs presence that brings healing, deliverance, restoration and joy unspeakable to his people. This further underscores the importance of pitching the LORDʼs tent using the appropriate spiritual white stones of holiness. Only then can the well-pitched hearts of the christians experience the much needed visitation of the Holy Spirit.
Ignoring the red flag
Being completely well-pitched, the temple of the LORD in Jerusalem enjoyed all the highest spiritual glamour on earth at the time. High worship was marked in the house with the glory very often pervading sacrifice. In the midst of this saturation, came the gradual gliding away from the truth. The tragedy began to unfold when sin slowly began to permeate into this mighty house of the LORD in Jerusalem. It is often very treacherous for man to become familiar with Godʼs love. Familiarity of this kind normally undermines the fear of the LORD thereby causing man to fall out of Godʼs order. This type of disrespect is what slowly but steadily took hold of the house of the LORD in Jerusalem for a long time. Persisting on utterly unchecked, this fall-out became the biggest source of controversy and grief between the LORD and the house of Jacob. It is a very red flag that was flapping so high having been raised right above the tent. A flag like this should always never go unnoticed because it is already flying high anyway. It is like entering into a living room where a large ʻcrimson elephantʼ is seated and one claims that they cannot see it. So was the case with Israel when sin began to take hold of worship.
Even today in the churches there is a large crimson elephant but to the demise of the august house, the priesthood claims they cannot see it. Very often in this kind of spiritual myopic fall, a third party becomes directly involved in impairing the otherwise previously harmonious cordiality. Fellowship between the church and God Almighty normally goes through such a spiritual tragedy. And in this kind of spiritual adulteration the third party is more-often-than-not an imposing idol that drifts attention away from God. In this kind of scenario, many times the LORD will correct his people as an act of affection.
When Jehovah decided to pass Israel through such a bruising correction, it was symbolic of his great concern for her future. In the church too, the LORD often gets fully engrossed with remolding and re-navigating the future of christians. When the church follows a spiritually destructive path, a need will normally arise that she be restrained and reformed. In many occasions however, the only way for the LORD to capture the churchʼs complete attention may require that he permits her to suffer the consequences of sin.
Todayʼs church is a perfect model of the wounds of sin that can befall an obstinate house that lacks the fear of the LORD. For this reason, God has always sent his prophets to warn the church prior to such judgement. Under this banner God sent Isaiah, Malachi, Jeremiah, Moses, Ezekiel among others to proclaim portentous words to Israel. On all these occasions Godʼs unchanging message has always remained repentance. Jeremiah and Ezekiel stand out as mighty messengers of peace and reconciliation between God and man. While Ezekiel was called in Babylon during captivity, he initially came from a priestly ancestry. In this way, Ezekiel was given tremendous visions of the sin and defilement that had crippled the temple of the LORD in Jerusalem. The LORD wanted Ezekiel to expose the sin that had defiled his temple. Happening during Babylonian captivity, the LORD implied his Omnipresence even in captivity, and his unrelenting quest for repentance. He followed them there hence they could not escape his judgment.
On the contrary, Jeremiah on his part was sent to forewarn the Israelites of the impending judgment of the LORD before it happened. This judgment would come if the temple worship did not reform. Jeremiah had foreseen the commotion coming from the north, as the LORD would permit the Babylonian army to attack, destroy, and burn down the temple in Jerusalem. The LORD holds the church of Christ to an even greater standard than Israel given the presence of the Holy Spirit. Failure of the church to repent and reform her ways will most definitely attract tempest as the wrath of God unveils. Post-rapture tribulation and eternal damnation are the judgment of the LORD that befalls an obstinate unrepentant church. This will attain its height during the millennial judgment. It is important to realize that Israelʼs refusal to clean up the idolatry of her temple worship did not go unpunished. Consequently, this led to the judgment of the LORD and the total destruction of the temple (2 Chronicles 36:15–21).
The correction that the LORD levied on the Jerusalem temple teaches a mighty lesson on the need to heed Godʼs instruction. Such a lesson the present-day church ought to catch in order to well-pitch their hearts, reform and get raptureready.
Reinstating the tent
For sometime now, it has been Godʼs desire to reinstate his relationship with the church. This has especially been necessitated by the need for the church to regain her position as the Light of the world in these last days (Matthew 5:13- 14). This would give her a critical leverage into the much anticipated latter harvest. Previously, the height of worship was marked by the heavy presence of Shekinah glory. But the coming of the LORD Jesus caused a mighty spiritual paradigm shift in which now Jehovah would have to dwell in the hearts of man. This has brought the Holy Spirit right to the forefront of worshipping the LORD. For that matter the Holy Spirit is most essential in all stages of reinstating the church. The urgency of this reformation in todayʼs church cannot be over emphasized especially that many souls are perishing in the dark corridors of sin. Within these corridors of this dark world, souls upon souls are desperately awaiting redemption thereby making the call for restoration even much more urgent.
However, it is important to acknowledge that in the LORDʼs house there are different types of articles, some made of gold while others are carved out of wood and clay. But it is the golden vessels that the LORD God Almighty is right now most concerned about since they are the ones suitable for the latter harvesting of souls (2 Timothy 2:17–21). It is hence absolutely necessary that todayʼs church to be purified like gold in order to vessel the latter rain. Joelʼs prophecy predicts a massive outpour that would overtake other dramas currently overshadowing worship in church (Joel 2:28–31; Hosea 6:1–6; Haggai 2:6–9).
The LORDʼs vision of November 20, 2007 on the state of church illustrates the gravity of the fall in todayʼs tent. This tent is absolutely devoid of Godʼs presence. When the LORD on November 20, 2007, showed me this defiled state in church, he intended to highlight the areas of correction. But when the LORD Almighty followed this up on March 26, 2008, with a mighty vision of the temple of God in heaven, he in essence implied an urgent need for a new spiritual tabernacle to be raised for him. In the absence of restoration, the future of the church is hopelessly dark because it would tantamount to missing the rapture.
God Almighty still considers worship to be the most central activity in the life of mankind. As a matter of fact, life itself ought to be a highly celebrated expression of worshipping our God in heaven. Hope for the future then would have to revolve around the restoration of worship in todayʼs church. However, in order to re-align into the full course of reinstatement, the present-day church must reflect on how Israel was restored from her greatest day of darkness.
Jeremiah’s prophecy
Jeremiah the prophet came into the scene at a time when the temple of the LORD in Jerusalem was going through a difficult spiritual prelude. Worship had been defiled to a grinding halt, and the people had resorted to living their lives like sheep without a shepherd. This is because there was no sense of direction and guideline, nor was there any meaningful leadership. The appearance of Jeremiah in the midst of this quagmire literally opened a new chapter in the relationship between Israel and the LORD God.
Renowned as the weeping prophet, Jeremiah was charged with the primary responsibility of bringing restoration into the house of the LORD. However, this restoration would not come without a forewarning of failure to comply. Jeremiah had also seen the tempest that was coming with the Babylonians from the north. Unbeknown to Israel, Jeremiah had seen the tremendous destruction that would inevitably take place on rebellious unrepentant Jerusalem. It is as though the utility and worthiness of the physical temple of the LORD in Jerusalem would have to grind to a complete halt, thereby necessitating major spiritual changes in the lives of the people. No more would they be proud of a physical shell in the name of the temple of the LORD when actually his presence had already lifted (Jeremiah 7:2–11). In this way, Jeremiah the prophet had foreseen the advent of Christ the Messiah. It is at this critical threshold that Jeremiah mightily spoke into the life of the present-day church of Christ.
Spiritual desolation
Jeremiah was privy to the voice of Rachel uncontrollably mourning in Ramah, because her offspring were no more. This vision denotes a terrific milestone in todayʼs church (Jeremiah 31:15). Jeremiah foresaw the destruction of the defiled house of the LORD and the desolation that would devour the land. Spiritual desolation was in the offing as worship would be removed from Jerusalem. Jeremiah had envisioned the egress of unrepentant Israel into Babylonian captivity, an act that would not come without destruction of life and property by fire. The temple of the LORD would have to be destroyed as the Israelites exited the land. However, their point of exit would be through Ramah. Ironically, as the people of Israel continued to procrastinate on repentance, it translated into gross disobedience and this prophecy was promptly fulfilled. It came to pass with such an impunity when the temple was attacked, looted, destroyed and people killed within its precincts. In an unimaginable spectacle, fire gutted down the preciously adorned house of the LORD in Jerusalem. The unquenchable wrath of God which Jeremiah had prophesied again and again, as coming with fire, was now at hand. Those who escaped the sword were all collected at Ramah on their way to Babylon (Jeremiah 40:1–6). It was an extremely dreadful experience on Israel, the apple of Godʼs eye. “Look, the whole country lies bare before you,” These were the words spoken to Jeremiah by Nebuzaradan the chief warrior of Babylon. It practically implied that the dissenting voices which had previously antagonized Jeremiahʼs proclamations would now be no more. The land would now have to enjoy its restful sabbaths, well observed as holy and unabated, yet remaining totally desolate for sometime. This is what Rachel wailed about since all her children would have to live the Promised Land into the cruelty of captivity.
Much more important is that such an unprecedented exit would leave behind a fire-destroyed and devastated temple of God. No more worship was going to be presented in the land at all. It is this no more that Rachel bitterly wept about. A state of spiritual desolation of this kind is what comprised Rachelʼs no more. And because the temple was fire-destroyed, the highly celebrated relationship that Israel had enjoyed with Jehovah would have to be severed. In other words, Israel was now on her own, both the remnant internally displaced persons (IDPs) left in the land, and those refugees held captive in the far land Babylon. The no more that Jeremiah saw Rachel advancing in her groaning was surely a spiritual no more when God cuts the link with her children. It is this Ramah prophecy that hinges directly on the state of todayʼs church. Jeremiah the prophet had seen beyond the Babylonian captivity and right into the church today. The servant of the LORD also foresaw the advent of Christ Jesus in Bethlehem. He had witnessed in the Spirit the rushed departure of baby Jesus to Egypt thereby escaping Herodʼs evil scheme. It came with such a massacre of babies as mourning and wailing gripped the whole land. Astonishingly, this unveils a revelation on todayʼs church. This escape to Egypt prefigured the awful desolation that would consume church today. The spell of earthly worship had passed creating an increasing need to set up a new tabernacle.
This new house would have to be a spiritual sanctuary of the Holy Spirit and only Jesus has the authority of priesthood, to raise that tent. The servant of the LORD, Jeremiah had the great honor to witness the destruction of the physical earthly temple in Jerusalem when it fell to sin. Concomitantly, in that grand vision Jeremiah saw Rachel embittered and uncontrollably mourning at Ramah over her children (Matthew 2:17–18). The sin that had infiltrated into the Jerusalem temple prompted the LORD God Almighty to command a complete fire-flush out of defilement. Jehovah had at that point decided to restore a glorious and spiritual relationship with man. Such a relationship would be more permanent than temporary. This restored spiritual worship would have to be built and established by Christ Jesus the spiritual high priest. In this way, Jeremiah the servant of the LORD, foretold the coming of Christ Jesus, the Messiah.
Rebuilding the new house
When Jeremiah heard the voice crying at Ramah over desolation, it marked an important turning point in the history of Israel. But little did Israel know that this prophecy was also intended for the desolation that would befall todayʼs church. Todayʼs church has found herself in the very spiritual desolation that Israel encountered after the destruction of the temple. The relationship between Israel and the LORD was severed as no more worship prevailed in the land. Slavery had claimed all the sons of God and no one was left to pitch his tent.
Currently, the church finds herself in the midst of the spiritual slavery of sin and it appears as though none of his sons are left to pitch for him a holy tent of worship. Sexual sin has entered the church, as the love of money holds her hostage. Many things have happened in this church of today. Her restoration will have to come from the fire-destruction of these abominations at worship, followed by a lonelier desolation, and the eventual rebuilding of the spiritual wall. The fire necessary to destroy todayʼs earthly and more physical church in order to give way to the spiritual tent, comes from the Holy Spirit. The four glorious gospels anchoring the true Word of God will have to be propelled by this fire of the latter anointing in order to purge-up the church across the globe.
The current desolation in which the worship of money has been hyped up in church, homosexuality flourishing, false prophets blooming, etc; will have to be destroyed by the fire of the Holy Spirit in the same way Jerusalem temple was gutted down. Only then will it give way to a new and spiritual Holy Ghost-filled sanctuary across the globe (Nehemiah 2:19–20). The restoration of the present-day church prior to the rapture was long foretold by Jeremiah the prophet when he heard the LORDʼS response to Rachelʼs bitter wailing. The spiritual insight of the LORDʼs response to Rachelʼs bitterness is two-tier. In the first layer, the LORD promises not only to restore Israel from Babylonian captivity, but also to stir-up the massive wave of Alia that is currently being experienced in Israel. This Alia is the return of Jews from the four corners of the earth into the Promised Land of Israel. It has been going on since the time of Nehemiah the prophet, through to the birth of the state of Israel until now and still goes on. As prophesied then, this would be one of the biggest endtime spiritual landmarks of our time.
Restoration back to Israel popularly known as Alia has brought the Jews from the east (Sifaradim) and west (Ashkenazi) back to Israel. The second layer of the LORDʼs response to Rachel, concerns the current church of Christ. By telling Rachel to restrain herself from weeping, the LORD was essentially promising to bring the church back from the land of spiritual slavery of sin into the endtime revival house of worship (Matthew 2:16–21). This revival tent would have to be a spiritual tabernacle that is overflowing with the Holy Spirit and the plentiful harvest.
Along the clouds
Within this promise to Rachel, the LORD also hinted on what he showed Isaiah the prophet. As the LORD spoke with Isaiah regarding the return of Israel back to the Promised Land, Isaiah the prophet also saw those who were flying along like clouds, like doves to their nests (Isaiah 60:8). Isaiah was greatly disturbed causing him to ask the LORD whom these were. He had realized that these were not Israelites returning but gentiles headed to Israel in that dispensation to come. This has been beautifully fulfilled in our time with the current on-going massive wave of christians who are rushing to Israel this year 2008 to celebrate with Israel, her 60th anniversary. It is apparently the same vision the LORD showed me immediately after John the Baptist had just spoken with me on that mighty April 2, 2004. It is the flights of aeroplanes carrying the christians into Jerusalem that Isaiah also foresaw causing him to say, “…flying along the clouds like doves in their nests…” However, the acme of this promised restoration of the church will occur with the entry of the restored holy church into rapture (1 Corinthians 15:50–56).
It is noteworthy that the return of Israelites from the diaspora, has become one of the biggest milestones of our time, in the fulfillment of biblical prophecy. It directly hinges on the endtime events in the church. It is astounding that all this is happening at such a time when the LORD, in a mighty vision on March 26, 2008, spoke with me about his holy and glorious temple in heaven. Import is made here on the urgent need to restore the present-day church into a glorious, heavenly spiritual tabernacle. Only the restored spiritual tabernacle will allow the church entry into rapture. This way, Jeremiah foretold both the restoration of Israel and todayʼs church. It is no wonder, that Jeremiah heard Rachel being told to restrain her voice from mourning and her face from the heavy flow of tears because she was now going to be rewarded with future hope (Jeremiah 31:16–17; Jeremiah 30:1- 3). The hope that the LORD promised Rachel has a direct axis into todayʼs spiritually desolate church. But to realize this hope, there must be an abolition of the worldly and earthly worship that currently suffuses her.
Defiled worship has prevailed in the church for some time now, thus causing an urgent need for a spiritual dispensational change. For the required spiritual change to take shape, obliteration of todayʼs defilement must not be allowed to live a void vacuum in church. Such vacuums are so detrimental to the well being of the church. The LORD Jesus himself warned against a vacuum of this nature, when he said that the cast evil spirit would go around in the wilderness searching for a home, not finding one, and hence return to the void, well-cleaned empty church. But this time it would return with seven other more virulent spirits, making the condition of the church worse of at the end than it was in the beginning. For that matter, the eradication of defilement from todayʼs church must be accompanied by the rebuilding of a new Holy Spirit-filled tabernacle. This tabernacle must throb in the hearts of the christians, anxiously animating them in anticipation for the wedding of the Lamb. The Holy Spirit of the LORD is good at this. The bottom-line appears to be the building of this new spiritual and heavenly-focussed tabernacle of the LORD, in the hearts of the christians.
However, what staggers one is that the building of both the spiritual and physical tabernacles appeared to have required the wilderness purification. King Solomon needed the wilderness of Judea from where he found the building blocks for the temple. Jesus too required wilderness for the spiritual building of the church.
Spiritual building blocks
Subsequent to his historic and landmark baptism by John the Baptist in the Jordan river, heaven opened and bore testimony unto our precious LORD Jesus. The Holy Spirit then came down lighting on him as a pure white glorious dove, thereby baptizing him with fire and the Spirit of the LORD. It is this water and Holy Spirit baptism that commissioned Jesus to rebuild the house of the LORD from an earthly sanctuary into the spiritual dwelling of God. The voice of the LORD God had then spoken from heaven saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” This was in reference to the seal of approval that Jesus bore as he began the remarkable task of building the spiritual tabernacle of the Holy Spirit. Then, the Spirit of the LORD immediately led Jesus right into the wilderness of Judea from where he was able to identify the spiritual quarry that is endowed with the suitable white, glorious building stones for the church. However, to obtain these spiritual white glorious building blocks, Jesus required to pray and fast for forty days and nights. These forty days and nights are the most basic and important prerequisite for the building of the spiritual tent of God. It is this period that also symbolizes the much needed stretch of building the faith. Faith is built and consolidated during this phase through the fasting and the temptation that the LORD permits the church to go through. Without these basic requirements, the church would have been built on a very feeble and momentary faith that cannot withstand this turbulent evil world. These building blocks that Jesus excavated for the church became embedded in the Word of God, when he said “It is written, it is written, it is written…” (Matthew 4:1–11). Such building blocks had to be totally undefiled and virgin, having never been touched by any iron tool (Exodus 25). These kinds of building blocks that Jesus obtained do supersede any greatest miracle ever known to man, because they are the incontrovertible Word of God that will never change come new earth, come new heaven.
Prior to this, Jeremiah the prophet had foreseen the destruction of the earthly temple in Jerusalem, and the advent of Jesus coming to build this spiritual temple of the Holy Spirit (Jeremiah 18:1–3). The invaluable lesson that comes out of this is that, in Godʼs order of things, the lesser has always to be superseded by the greater. The temple of the LORD in Jerusalem was the lesser that had to be superseded by the greater spiritual tabernacle of the Holy Spirit that Jesus came to build. Beginning with Abraham, Melchizedek too being the greater, had to bless Abraham, the lesser. Melchizedek later appeared as incarnate Christ the Messiah, our Everlasting Father, surpassing Abraham the father of nations (Hebrews 7; Isaiah 9:6). The same spiritual order prevails in the house of the LORD Almighty.
The Jerusalem temple too had to be abolished and surpassed by the temple of the Holy Spirit that the LORD Jesus built. Likewise, the current defiled church of Christ must be superseded by the elect holy raptured church. The most important and final restoration of the church hence occurs at the rapture, superseding all previous revival events. For the church to enter into the wedding of the Lamb of God is the ultimate restoration from spiritual captivity of sin. For this reason, God promised Abraham that as numerous as the stars in the sky are, so would be his descendants (Genesis 22:17–18). Daniel the prophet later saw those christians who had led many into the righteousness of the LORD, shining like the stars forever and ever on the day of rapture (Daniel 12:3). Isaiah the prophet also saw the asleep in the dust of the earth waking up to a great joy because their morning dew had arrived (Isaiah 26:19–21). This morning dew is the mighty outpouring of the Holy Spirit that comes to the church in order to glorify the repentant church and usher in the morning at the midnight hour. It is this morning dew that purges the sin off the church, purifying her into glorious immortal bodies that are imperishable. Once the church wears these incorruptible bodies, she will then be able to enter into rapture (1 Corinthians 15:50–56; Revelation 19:7–8). The church that wears these glorious imperishable bodies glitters like the stars forever and ever.
In the beginning, God promised that one day he would dwell among his people and be their God. This promise spurned right across precious Israel and the church of Christ (Ezekiel 37:24–28). However, such a dignified and splendid prompting would require that the church obliterates the spiritual rot of her sullying worship in order to pave way for the new morning dew. God coming to dwell among his people literally meant the new dew of the Holy Spirit coming to infill the christians. Joy unspeakable will then consume the entire church as the morning dew brings deliverance, healing and the much needed restoration (Revelation 19:7; Isaiah 26:19). The eradication of sinful worship from Jerusalem hence became a mighty act of prophecy unto this endtime church of today (2 Chronicles 36:15–31). Such destruction through judgment has always been used by the LORD as an opportunity to reassemble building blocks anew.
A derivative of this is when the LORD Jesus went to Bethany in order to resurrect Lazarus. When Jesus got there, he found out that Lazarus had already died and began to decompose, rot and putrefy. One can only imagine the level of three-day decomposition in that warm Mediterranean climate where things go bad real quick. To the common man, Lazarus had already been four days in the tomb and rolling out the stone would have just saturated the air with a reek of stench no man can stand (John 11:39). However, for the LORD Jesus, the degradation and putrification that had consumed Lazarusʼs body was nothing other than an opportunity to assemble anew, the building blocks for resurrection (John 11:40–43). All this eventually became the mightiest symbolism of how God would one day return to rebuild the spiritually putrefied ruins in todayʼs sinful church. Such ruins are today putrefying in the church with homosexuality, prostitution, wealth transfer gospels, witchcraft, falsehood, false prophets, to mention a few. From a laymans point of view, one would think that todayʼs church has been already dead for four days, and it would be abhorrable to roll the stone of her spiritual tomb for Jesus to restore her. But such was the case with Lazarus, when Jesus commanded the stone of the tomb rolled and resurrected him.
In the present-day church also, he can command the spiritual stone of the tomb to be rolled out for a revival. It is only then that the rebuilt church would be able to experience the latter outpour, endtime grand harvest, and ultimately rapture (Haggai 2:9; Amos 9:11–12). After resurrection, Lazarus was then able to sit and dine with the LORD. In the same way, after rapture, the church will be able to sit and dine with the LORD at the wedding supper of the Lamb. The Jerusalem temple that had been the greatest source of pride and apple of the eye of Israel, eventually had to be destroyed in order to prepare the way for the Messiah. The levitical priesthood that had celebrated worship sacrifice in Jerusalem became obsolete as the high priest of the order of Melchizedek appeared into the scene (Hebrews 7). He still remains priest of God Most High forever and ever. He is seated on the right-hand side of God the Father in heaven and has commanded the spiritual stone that blocks todayʼs church from accessing his resurrecting power, to be rolled out.
The Potter’s valley
Many times when the LORD sends forth a prophet unto the earth, his Spirit navigates the prophet, taking him here and there as the Word is proclaimed. The LORD ensures that the prophet never visits any place that he has not sent him to, in what could constitute a random movement. The LORD God Almighty is normally very deliberate with his prophets, thereby taking them to specific places to make the pronouncements of the LORD. This is normally a very deep spiritual event that cannot be fully perceived and understood in this earthly realm. So was the case with Jeremiah the prophet of the LORD when he had to speak to obstinate and rebellious Israel. Nonetheless, the manner in which the LORD compelled Jeremiah to relay the message to Israel, is what discloses much to the church today. It is obvious that todayʼs church is scampering for a fresher breath of life from God. The LORD had instructed Jeremiah to first go into the Potterʼs house, before he could reveal the message to the desolate Jerusalem temple (Jeremiah 18:1–3).
The potterʼs house to which the LORD God was referring Jeremiah is a valley by the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. This specific infamous valley has a long running history thereby earning itself the name, the valley of Ben Hinnom. The Ben Hinnom valley was renown as a valley of grand disposal and refuse. It is at this place that all the garbage and decomposing refuse generated from the city of Jerusalem was dumped. It became a gross place littered with broken pots, torn clothes, decomposing waste foods, dead and rotten dogs, putrefied cats, among other litter. This was surely a degenerated place that no one would have longed to visit.
What is particularly most astonishing about this valley of Ben Hinnom, is that in all its grossness, the potters could be seen working tirelessly at the wheel. Perhaps it reveals much of the drudgery of the work of the Potter. Moreover, a careful examination of how they worked, reveals that these potters mostly gathered the discarded broken pots for their work. These abandoned broken pots offered their most valuable raw-material as they broke them down into very fine pieces, soaking them in water and using them as clay. This clay was eventually worked at the wheel in order to rebuild another pot, absolutely different from the mother pot that had been initially trashed. The new pot that would come out of the clay was unbelievably cosier, well-passed through fire and fully adorned. In fact in many occasions the new pot superseded the beauty of the former. It was such a craftsmanship of the potter at this valley as they gave a new breath of life into such a vessel that had previously been completely abandoned and writtenoff. In fact the new pot was quite another pot compared to the previous one from which it had been derived. This is because, where the previous pot was weak and leaky to hold its content, the new rebuilt pot always came out more strengthened and fully reinforced to withstand the stresses that would be exerted by house use. Such was the new cistern that emerged from this valley of ruin, rot and stench. But the only prerequisite that would give an old pot a chance of being rebuilt anew, was the brokenness it possessed. This marked a complete change of identity from the previous pot to quite another pot.
However, as the potter toiled at the wheel, one would not escape the horrendous stench that saturated the valley of Ben Hinnom. It was an absolutely repulsive reek that filled the air at this place at the time when Jeremiah was instructed to go speak to Israel from there. This was the place at which God eventually commanded Jeremiah to ask the temple of the LORD the following question, “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does? Like the clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.” (Jeremiah 18:1–6). At that time, Israel was not acquainted with the fact that the LORD was actually talking about a new dispensation of sacrifice that would have to replace their defiled temple worship. The LORD was essentially drawing parallel between the unbearable stenchy reek accruing in the valley of Ben Hinnom and the defiled worship that was happening at the Jerusalem temple. In other words, God Almighty was for all practical purposes telling the temple in Jerusalem that as stinky as the valley of Ben Hinnom was, so was the defiled fragrance of the worship she emitted into his holy and glorious throneroom. Going by this it is plausible to say that spiritual desolation was already devouring the temple worship while Israel in her illusions thought that revival was throbbing.
Within this backdrop, Jeremiah had already envisioned the devastating destruction of the Jerusalem temple, and the building of the spiritual tent of the Holy Spirit. This new dispensation of worship would have to be a spiritual dispensation that only Christ Jesus the Messiah could now bring into the earth (John 4:21–26). It is common knowledge today that, like the stench coming out of Ben Hinnom valley, so is the defiled fragrance of worship coming out of the current church of Christ into the most holy throneroom of God Almighty in heaven.
Another pot today
Entrenched in this Jeremiah prophecy is the deep-seated truth that the LORD is conveying to todayʼs church. When the LORD Jesus birthed the church out at Calvary, his resurrection and the pentecost brought forth such a glorious worship that saw the onset of a massive revival. Embedded in that revival was the unshakable foundation of holiness driven by the relentless quest for righteousness among the priesthood and saints alike. The Holy Spirit moved with such a force and power that cripples walked, the mute heard, the demon-possessed were delivered and countless numbers received Jesus. The servants of the LORD then walked under the extreme fear of the LORD even as the anointing of the LORD led the fiery Holy Ghost-filled summons they delivered across the lands. Without microphones and the sophistication of private aeroplanes they still led multitudes into the salvation of the LORD from one nation to the next. It became the shock and awe of the church. The LORD had indeed laid his signet approval on the worship that came forth from this early tent.
However, in what appeared to be the perfect replay of the scenario in Jerusalem temple, sin began to gradually creep into the church of Christ. Holiness took the backbench as defilement paraded the front rows and pulpit. It became as though the unspeakable was now slightly becoming tolerable in the otherwise holy house of the LORD. With the onset of modernity and the advent of post-modernism in the church, every sin seems to have escalated and yet acceptable. Defilement entered the worship teams and the congregation in the forms of homosexuality, prostitution, tight trousers that show their anatomy, miniskirts, tight skirts with long slits, masturbations, open gay lesbianism, deception, slutty dressing, and fleshy immoral dancing during worship services. The pulpit was not spared either as pastors became blind to the ʻlarge crimson elephantʼ in the house.
This huge abomination of sin the servants of the LORD have today claimed that they cannot see. On their part, the pastors began to preach an inflated corrupt gospel of prosperity which exalts money and earthly wealth over and above the most important holiness of the LORD. Things gradually became worse when the false prophets swung in to take their cruel bite. They started prophesying good earthly things like cars, new aeroplanes, new homes, cheques in the mail from unknown people, wealth and health. It is obvious that sexual sin escalated in church even as books were written about great televangelists in sexual scandals. It is common knowledge that this kind of reeky stench must have grieved the heart of he who gave away Jesus to suffer on the Cross at Calvary. Now the level of disgust with this type of wrenching worship sacrifice that is going on unabated in todayʼs church must have compelled the LORD to open revelation.
The quest for increased monetary gains in the church has gradually overruled the age-old most important foundation of holiness that is inbuilt in the gospel of the Blood of Jesus. Thus sin has gone entirely unrebuked in this house. To make matters worse, even inside the priesthood pastors can now openly confess to falling into the otherwise easily avoidable sexual sin of the day. Open gay homosexuality is now reigning in the church, including on global christian television where gays homosexuals and lesbians cannot be rebuked, but shockingly now publicly share views expressing their positions on the bible. As though this were not bad enough, the present-day church has taken this to a new height by openly and publicly anointing open gay homosexuals as pastors and bishops. To add salt onto injury, there is a raging debate that is currently threatening to split the church of Christ onto whether this abomination of homosexuality should be included in worship practice or thrown out of church.
While all this goes on in church, the rest of the other christians are busy attending movies of immorality driven by hollywood. To them the biblically most cherished concept of spiritual separation either does not exist or they havenʼt even heard about it since they received the LORD Jesus and got born again. These are the abhorrable abominations that Jehovah allowed Jeremiah to foresee as coming to defile worship in todayʼs church. The reason for which the LORD equated the stenchy reek of the Ben Hinnom valley with the so-called fragrance emanating from todayʼs church into the most holy throneroom of Jehovah God. It is no wonder, in the vision of November 20, 2007, a lot of grass had grown into the interior of the church, the seats were total black, and no body was found there worshipping Adonai. These strange fires that the pastors have lit at the altar of the LORD have hence not gone unnoticed.
Today, holiness is rarely preached in church and yet it is this holiness that matters most to God Almighty.It is however very popular today to preach a sensational summon that is very pleasing and itching to the flesh through the emphasis of prophesies on the grand wealth transfer that is about to happen to christians. Many times this defiling prosperity gospel is punctuated with populist teaching on how to manage your financial wealth well; how to receive financial blessings; how to sow-a-seed and get an instant miracle on the spot.Interfaith fellowships have created a detestable compromise, tolerance, and the literal accepting of the eastern idolatrous gods right into the church.
The pastors have especially championed this very pathetic attempt to equate Jehovah with the eastern wooden gods that cannot hear, neither walk nor speak (Jeremiah 10:5- 10). How can this be possible in the house of Jehovah? In the midst of all this it is even more disturbing to hear pastors preaching about the acquisition of private aeroplanes as a sign of approval or anointing from the LORD. This has literally redefined the meaning of ʻfallʼ. It has raised into question as to how far fallen the church has to get in order to realize that there is a grand fall? One hears of spiritual super stardom that has entered into the church today. This title is being labelled on certain popular preachers who are renown for funds-raising in churches, or comical preachings that attract a lot of people who come to laugh their heads-off or preachers that are good at prophesying the things of the world. These kinds of messages are very tickling to the unsuspecting innocent children of God. The love for Christ which is all sufficient does not seem to feature anywhere in the celebrated summons of todayʼs church.
It appears as though there is so much soothing of the wounds than its actual healing in this house. These constitute the strange fires that are otherwise completely foreign unto the LORD and discharge such reeking Ben Hinom ʻfragranceʼ of stench into the holy and glorious throneroom of God Almighty. For the LORD to have used Jeremiah to make proclamations with implications on todayʼs church from this valley, directly implies that God is seriously longing for the rebuilding of a spiritual tent of worship. This by inference means that todayʼs church has successfully transformed herself into an outer court centre of earthly worship. It doesnʼt take much to detect that the gospel being propelled in this church is mainly a horizontal gospel which does not connect to heaven, but is tied to earthly wealth and prosperity.
There is no preaching that seriously connects the sheep to the true shepherd in the Kingdom of God. It is as though the church already gave up on her hard-won heavenly appanage. As though in all this, the LORD was using Jeremiah to ask todayʼs church; “Canʼt the Father do with you, as the potter does with this clay, rebuilding you afresh into another pot suitable for the latter endtime glory?” Vividly clear is that Jehovah God is right now in the business of obliterating such a house of earthly worship, in readiness for the much awaited spiritual tabernacle of the latter anointing of the LORD.
It is this spiritual new tabernacle that constitutes another pot. In other words, by speaking to Israel on the need for reformation, Jeremiah was in essence equally asserting to the church today that time had come for being built into another pot. However, like the prerequisite of brokenness that Ben Hinnom pots required to be rebuilt, todayʼs church too must possess a brokenness that will allow the Potter to destroy it and rebuild another cistern of her. This another pot is well fire-baked into a strict spiritual pot; a holy and glorious pot; an eternal pot; a heaven-bound pot; that will be able to bear the most powerful latter anointing (Haggai 2:9; Joel 2:28–32).
Because the LORD does not mix the latter anointing with the former, it will take another pot to achieve the glorious vessel that is required for the endtime Holy Ghost revival. Among the christians it is this another pot that symbolizes the repentant and restored hearts in church. At the moment the hearts of the christians have completely conformed their orientation towards the defilement and materialism of this corrupt world. A defiled worship of the nature witnessed today in church comes as a result of the inflating yeasts that exalts the things of this world above Christ (1 Corinthians 5:6–8).
The weed that the LORD presented in the November 20, 2007 vision of God, as growing uncontrollably in the interior of the church, essentially figures the same corrupt effect of yeast. This yeast has worked the Word being preached by pastors today. There is therefore, an acute lack of spiritual myrrh and fragrant cinnamon in the worship fragrance that the church brings forth today. For which reason the LORD has no more sons left in the land to pitch for him a holy tent of worship. He still desires however, that some day he will have a new tent pitched for him with stronger ropes and cords, a glorious tent of the Holy Spirit.
The promised hope
“. . . so there is hope for your future,” (Jeremiah 31:17)
These were the words of the LORD to Rachel in her greatest loneliness and bitterness. These words promised the return of her children who were no more. At that time a cry of anguish was heard in Ramah, mourning and weeping unrestrained. Rachel had refused to be comforted, for her children were dead. It brings a new spiritual meaning to the no more that Jeremiah was allowed to see.
The desolation that would guzzle Jerusalem was essentially a spiritual desolation in which her lifeline connection with the LORD would be cut off. And this meant no more worship as no more sons would be available in the land to raise the tent of the LORD. It imputes the true understanding of no more into a state of complete spiritual death. This clearly denotes how God views the state of spiritual desolation in the church. When worship stops and sin enslaves the church, the LORD looks at that spiritual desolation as a state of death in the house. Such a death ascribes to a people with no destiny and future. But in comforting Rachel the LORD gave the church a clear picture of what it takes to receive renewal. In this way, the LORD is saying the complete renewal of the church must encompass all the details of sorrow, brokenness, repentance, forgiveness, restoration and hope. This involves following Godʼs tailor-made plans in order to raise worship again. However, such a process must begin by the church admitting her need for Godʼs healing no matter how far she has strayed from him. The renewal of worship is what restores life to the dead situation that defilement accredits to the church. It is incredible that the LORD has often used the no more situations in the bible to present a novel message to the church.
The message the LORD presents using the no more situations is an instruction that he is committed to restoring broken fellowship with man. For example, when Joseph had been sold by his brothers to the Egyptian merchants who were carrying bitter myrrh at the time, he was essentially no more in Jacobʼs house. And desolation had encrouched into the house of Jacob as anguish took control. Later on when famine devastated the land and there was need for the house of Jacob to solicit for some grain, they were led to Egypt. At that time Egypt was a world super power with enormous technology for food production and architecture. When the sons of Jacob arrived in Egypt to buy grain they did not realize that it was Joseph they were pleading with for grain. But Joseph being aware of who they were asked them about the family, and they responded that one of their brothers called Joseph was no more (Genesis 42:13). Though initially desolation had gripped the house of Jacob, later on God used the fact that Joseph was no more in that house, to save this family from devastating famine, into a family revival.
Restoration came to Jacob as his son Joseph who was initially no more, now even became a king in a foreign land. God Almighty bemoans that his tent is destroyed with all its ropes snapped and yet his sons have gone from him and are no more. It is a grief from the fact that today he has no more sons left to pitch his tent and set up his shelter (Jeremiah 10:20). As Jeremiah was sent to proclaim this message to Israel, God was grieved at the state of his tent. In like manner, the church has permitted spiritual desolation to establish in her worship. It has gotten so bad that all the ropes are now snapped, and the cords destroyed with no more sons left in the house to pitch the LORDʼs holy tent.
God is today pleading with the church to raise up for him a new tent that is entirely spiritual and devoid of sin. But he does not seem to find anyone available to undertake this noble task because all his true servants are today no more as a result of the worldliness that has wooed away (Isaiah 56:9–12). The March 26, 2008 vision of the temple of God in heaven is what provides the greatest beacon of hope to the present-day church. It is a hope that is synonymous with what the LORD spoke about when he told Rachel, “ʻ…so there is hope for your future, declares the LORD, ʻyour children will return to their own land.ʼ” In this new hope the church can borrow from Israel. It was meant to mark the beginning of a major revival as the sons of the land would now have to return to Jerusalem in order to restore the tent.
The church too has now been promised the return of the sons of God into the house in these last days. It is these previously no more sons of God that will have to return from the captivity of sin, and raise forth for him another tent, using stronger ropes of holiness and cords of righteousness. This new awaited tent in the church will become Godʼs tabernacle of the Holy Spirit. The day in which the church will raise forth a holy spiritual temple in her heart, will mark the day of freedom and return from the spiritual slavery that she lives in today. It will be the utmost hope as her sons, dubbed the Nehemiahs of today, begin the return into the desolate house of God, throwing themselves down in bitterness and weeping at the loneliness therein.
The return of these Nehemiahs of today will offer the greatest hope that can ever visit todayʼs sinking and desolate church. All the sadness Rachel went through can now be emulated in todayʼs church as a gateway to reaching the heart of God Almighty. Rachel was desperate for renewal of worship in the desolate land. If Rachelʼs life was any lesson to go by on the path to restoration, then reminiscing on her entire life becomes useful in this regard.
She began her life with a lot of weeping and perpetual anguish for a baby because she could not get one (Genesis 30:1). As Rachel died she was in great distress whilst giving birth to Ben-Oni/Benjamin and was buried in Bethlehem (Genesis 35:18–19). Arising from her sorrow at death came forth the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem. Apparently, when Jeremiah saw the LORD asking Rachel to restrain the tears from her eyes and stop weeping, it was a deep revelation on the advent of the Messiah. The Messiah would hence bring the hope that God talked about to mankind. The reward that God promised her as hope eventually came in from the birth of Christ, in the very place at which she bitterly mourned over desolation. The Jesus of Nazareth would later turn around her mourning and desolation into eternal hope of rapture to the kingdom of God.
Pursuing hope
Amazingly, when Israel felt desolate and her kings were no more anxiety claimed the land. All the people clamoured for a king by relentlessly petitioning Samuel the prophet of the LORD. It was a condition of severe desolation in the land. However, what is even more astonishing is the route that the LORD used to respond to anxious Israel. He caused the animals of a Benjamite man by the name of Kish to fail to return home one evening. Kish, whose donkeys were lost, was the father of Saul.
Donkeys were at that time the symbol of wealth and earthly status since they simulated the cars, trucks and buses of today. In such a desolation when his donkeys were no more, Kish was prompted to send Saul with one of his servant, to go look for the lost donkeys in the hill country of Ephraim. The search went on for several days across the hill country of Ephraim and hence in Kishʼs home an even deeper desolation started to cross the threshold. When Saul finally approached Samuel the prophet of God, Samuel took a flask of oil and poured on his head and kissed him saying “Has not the LORD anointed you leader of his inheritance?” This was the beginning of the end of the desolation that Israel had concerning her kings. It also marked the end of desolation in the house of Kish as he would now find his donkeys. Samuel the prophet hence said to Saul, “When you leave me today, you will meet two men near Rachelʼs tomb at Zelzah on the border of Benjamin and they will say to you, “The donkeys you set out to look for have been found and now your father has stopped thinking about them . . .” It also celebrates the end of desolation in the household of Kish. Astounding as it may be, but Samuel referred to Rachelʼs tomb as the place from which the hope would emerge to eradicate the desolation (1 Samuel 10:2).
Likewise, the LORD has seen the desolation in todayʼs church and has instructed the church to stop looking for her lost glory in the spiritual hill country of Benjamin, but to retrace her path back to a little village town situated near Rachelʼs tomb, and called Bethlehem. This is where Christ Jesus the eternal hope for rapture was born. It is only at this Bethlehem border with Benjamin that the church will be accordingly referred to Calvary, as the true translation of the eternal hope on the Cross. At this rugged old Cross at Calvary lies the eternal hope for the church. The hope for her renewal, restoration, and endtime revival. Only such crucifixion of the flesh that reigns in todayʼs church can revival establish the authority of the Holy Spirit in the house of the LORD. The subsequent result is the much promised and highly anticipated latter outpour. Such outpour is the initial requirement for the humongous grand endtime harvest of souls that is eminent.
Moreover, only on this path will the church be able to enter into the wedding of the Lamb of God. From the fallen state of the church, if she sought God with all her heart and soul she would most definitely find him (Jeremiah 29:13). That is the only hope available to the church today. Just like he was faithful enough to bring Israel back to the Promised Land, so will he be to the church, bringing her back home, into revival and rapture (Ezekiel 36:24–30). But along this path to revival, the LORD has placed a prophet to instruct her to Bethlehem enroute to Calvary repentance.
Rebuilding the wall
Nevertheless, for the church to attain this highly fêted hope she must remember the footsteps of Nehemiah the prophet. As Nehemiah left Babylon to Jerusalem, he found that the wall had been total ruined. All the marauding Bedouins had unrestricted access into the holy city. Boundaries are limits that are set for the church for her protection. As the church grows spiritually, she needs to continually make sure that her boundaries are in good shape because the limits she sets help to protect and preserve her spiritual gains and growth. Maintaining spiritual boundaries may involve repairing or building healthy borders where they have become weak, defective or torn down.
In biblical times each city was fortified by boundary walls that served as protection from outside enemies. If these walls were weak or broken there was grave danger of invasion and destruction. At one point in Israelʼs history, an enemy was threatening to attack Jerusalem so King Hezekiah strengthened his defences by repairing the wall wherever it was broken down and by adding to the fortifications and constructing a second wall outside the first one (2 Chronicles 32:5). Then Hezekiah encouraged the people by saying be strong and courageous we have the LORD our God to help us and to fight our battles for us (2 Chronicles 32:7–8). Some of the churchʼs boundaries may have slowly deteriorated as she has let down her guard against her areas of weakness to sin. She may have let her commitment to live a righteous life slip away so that she finds herself exhausted and over-taxed.
The church today needs to check and repair her spiritual boundaries as a way of preserving her spiritual gains. She can also construct a second wall of defence by developing a strong daily reliance on to the Word and the Holy Spirit. These two are very synergistic and will help to reinforce the wall around the church thereby protecting her spiritual gains from the marauding sin of the world. In all this the church must remember that no matter what enemies she faces the God of Israel, who is far greater, is always going to be with her when she depends on the Word and the Holy Spirit. It should bring her a great encouragement as she faces the daunting task of raising her wall of separation from this dark sinful world.
The integrity of the spiritual wall she builds is absolutely instrumental in this separation. A wall of this kind must be reinforced with the lateral fibre of righteousness and the vertical blocks of holiness as she connects with the kingdom of God. Profound insight into Jeremiahʼs prophecy is the mighty destruction that will befall an unrepentant church, that fails to raise the wall of separation from the world. The LORD razed-down the Jerusalem temple in her failure to spiritually separate from the sin of the land. So will it be when the spiritually unseparated church fails to enter the rapture and stumbles right into the most dreadful tribulation. Enormous wailing, gnashing of teeth and horrendous pain will ensue post-rapture. Thus the LORD speaking hope to Rachel had an arcane dimension that ramifies the whole structure of the life of the church. When the LORD did this, he literally spoke in this order; about the return of Israel from Egypt; the subsequent restoration of Jews from Babylonian captivity during Nehemiahʼs dispensation; the return of Jesus from Egypt after Herodʼs death; and the subsequent Alia of Jews to Israel witnessed today as they retrace their roots from diaspora. This very hope that the LORD spoke is the same hope of the much anticipated restoration of todayʼs church. The LORD intended this to be a means of transforming the current church that is more or less earthly, into a mighty spiritual house of endtime revival. It also hinges directly on the final restoration of the church into the rapture, kingdom of God, for the wedding of the Lamb of God. It is a principal allusion that the LORD was making on the post-rapture scenario. It directly relates to the final restoration and revival of Israel unto Christ Jesus the Messiah. It was also in reference to the Second Coming of Christ during which the earth would have the post-tribulation hope of peace. It is also the millenial reign of peace that our LORD Jesus will institute upon the earth with an iron scepter. During that time the LORD will return with the raptured saints, who had been no more from the earth for seven years. In these seven years as the raptured church celebrates the wedding supper of the Lamb of God, the earth would be overtaken by post-rapture desolation of tribulation.
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Shalom!