Habakkuk 2

Then the Lord replied: "Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it. For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay."

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Those Who Grieve


Tuesday, April 09, 2013, 7:01 a.m. – The Lord Jesus woke me with the song “Your Servant Witness” playing in my mind. Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. I read Ezekiel 9 (NIV): http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ezekiel%209&version=NIV

Then I heard him call out in a loud voice, “Bring near those who are appointed to execute judgment on the city, each with a weapon in his hand.” And I saw six men coming from the direction of the upper gate, which faces north, each with a deadly weapon in his hand. With them was a man clothed in linen who had a writing kit at his side. They came in and stood beside the bronze altar.

Now the glory of the God of Israel went up from above the cherubim, where it had been, and moved to the threshold of the temple. Then the Lord called to the man clothed in linen who had the writing kit at his side and said to him, “Go throughout the city of Jerusalem and put a mark on the foreheads of those who grieve and lament over all the detestable things that are done in it.”

As I listened, he said to the others, “Follow him through the city and kill, without showing pity or compassion. Slaughter the old men, the young men and women, the mothers and children, but do not touch anyone who has the mark. Begin at my sanctuary.” So they began with the old men who were in front of the temple.

Then he said to them, “Defile the temple and fill the courts with the slain. Go!” So they went out and began killing throughout the city. While they were killing and I was left alone, I fell facedown, crying out, “Alas, Sovereign Lord! Are you going to destroy the entire remnant of Israel in this outpouring of your wrath on Jerusalem?”

He answered me, “The sin of the people of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great; the land is full of bloodshed and the city is full of injustice. They say, ‘The Lord has forsaken the land; the Lord does not see.’ So I will not look on them with pity or spare them, but I will bring down on their own heads what they have done.”

Then the man in linen with the writing kit at his side brought back word, saying, “I have done as you commanded.”

Those Appointed

God was about to execute judgment on his rebellious people and their leaders – both religious and political leaders – because of their idolatry and spiritual adultery, because of all the “detestable things” they had done, because their sin was exceedingly great in God’s sight, because the land was full of bloodshed and the city full of injustice, i.e. because they were apparently murdering their own people and/or they were treating their own with injustice, and because they thought God did not see and so they ignored all of God’s warnings and his calls to repentance.

Ezekiel received a vision from the Lord concerning this judgment to come. In the vision an angel of the Lord took him on a tour of Jerusalem’s temple where God showed him, via the angel, all the detestable things that his people and their leaders were doing. Then the angel, or God himself, called out in a loud voice for those appointed to execute the judgment to come near and to get ready to do what they were appointed to do. Some believe these executioners were angels and others believe they were generals in Nebuchadnezzar’s army.

The Lord Jesus gave me a dream this morning which I believe favors the latter interpretation in these final days before the return of Jesus Christ. He gave me a picture of a soldier standing alone in the sand in a ready position, yet at ease (or parade rest), i.e. in “a modified position of attention,” and the second in a list of “four states of alert,” as though ready and just waiting for his next orders to resume the first state of alert (Def. source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_parade). The U.S./ISAF soldier looked like Adolf Hitler during the time of WWII, and there were obvious references in the dream to people being connected to particular banners/signs/posters of some kind, each containing a number. The Lord has shown me for the past several years that what is coming in these final days will be reminiscent of Hitler’s reign, only on a global scale, and much, much worse. And, followers of Jesus Christ will be the ones mainly targeted for extinction (see Rev. 12-14).

The Mark (or Seal)

Then God began to remove his glory and his protection from his temple, i.e. from his people who were steeped in sin and who refused to repent. But, before he executed the judgment, there was something he had to do first. He had an angel, or some type of heavenly servant of the Lord, or perhaps the Son of God himself (Jesus Christ) go throughout the city of Jerusalem and put a mark on the foreheads of those who “grieve and lament over the detestable things that are done in it.” This is reminiscent of Revelation 7:3 where an angel of the Lord called out in a loud voice to not execute judgment on the earth until “we” put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.

Perhaps this “angel” was also God the Son and the “we” is our triune God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – who must put this seal of protection on the foreheads of his servants before the judgment could be executed, or perhaps the “we” was a reference to angels. Yet, this is also reminiscent of the Passover when God had his children put a mark on their doors with the blood of a lamb so that the death angel would pass over them and they would not be harmed. And, all are symbolic of the cross of Christ and his shed blood for our sins on a cross, the seal of the Holy Spirit upon the lives of true followers of Jesus Christ, and the mark being symbolic of our salvation guaranteeing our eternal inheritance with God.

The Playground

Back to the dream from this morning for a few minutes here, the dream began with a scene of a playground and a play gym. On the upper level of this play gym was a series of what looked like posters all around all the sides of the play gym. On these posters were pictures of some kind, but also numbers. The numbers 48 and 6 stood out to me. There were 3 young children playing on the play gym. The two oldest children seemed to know what to do with these numbers. The youngest child was too young to read. All 3 of these children were the offspring of the US/ISAF soldier standing on the sand alone in ready position.

I struggled to understand this part of the dream yesterday, so I put it aside. Then, this morning, after I posted my quiet time from today, and I was doing some internet searches on another topic, I ran across an article about Washington, D.C. I was glancing down through the article when this part jumped out at me:

In commemoration of the 190th anniversary of the birth of George Washington, 48 American flags representing the then 48 states of the Union, encircling the monument, were raised on February 22, 1922. http://www.theforbiddenknowledge.com/chapter3/

Then, I had a “Wow!” moment. I realized that the “playground” was representative of mainland U.S.A. and that the posters or banners were representative of the 48 mainland states of the U.S.A. and their flags. And, the “play gym” was representative of Washington, D.C. The U.S./ISAF soldier was thus a representative of “Father Washington.” His first offspring is representative of the 48 mainland states, his second offspring is representative of these “6 men appointed to execute judgment” on the US homeland, and his third offspring appears, perhaps, to represent U.S. citizens (the innocents), but specifically those who have been marked as those who “grieve and lament over the detestable things that are done” in the U.S. and in God’s sanctuary, the true church.

The picture, thus, that I am getting from this is that this “Luftwaffe” (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luftwaffe), i.e. the “six men appointed to execute judgment” on mainland America and the 48 states come from the same “parent,” i.e. from Washington, D.C., as well as do the innocent citizens of the U.S. who are not party to this plot. In other words, when this happens, we must know that our own government betrayed us and turned against its own citizens. I believe the “Luftwaffe” is in position and is ready to move as soon as they are given the command, but that the Lord is showing me that he must first mark the foreheads of those who “grieve and lament over the detestable things that are done” in our nation and in the church in our nation. They represent Christ’s true servants who have his heart, and who long and pray and weep for revival to come in our nation. I don’t know what this means exactly other than he has a plan to protect us in some way from his wrath, though not necessarily to protect us from persecution and even martyrdom for our faith.

Your Servant Witness / An Original Work / March 13, 2012

Humbly I bow, Lord, before You,
Bringing my requests to You.
May I listen; hear You speaking.
May I follow You in truth.
Gently lead me in Your service.
Guide my steps and strengthen me.
Fill me with Your love and mercy.
May I live for Thee!

Let me be Your servant witness,
Telling others of Your grace.
May I always share the gospel
With those I meet face to face.
May I show the love of Jesus,
Caring for the needs of men;
Be Your servant witness always
For my Lord, Amen!

My desire to be like Jesus,
Living for Him ev’ry day.
May I obey all His teachings
Given me, so I’ll not stray.
Love You, Jesus, Lord, my master.
You are the King of my heart;
Follow You where’er You lead me;
Not from You depart!

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