Prayer Movement (PM)

Night And Day Prayer According to David . . .

Psalm 27:4 4 One thing I have asked from the LORD, that I shall seek: That I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the LORD, And to meditate in His temple.

Based on divine revelation (1 Chr 28:19), David appointed 288 prophetic singers (1 Chr 25:1) and 4,000 musicians (1 Chr 23:5) who were charged with ministering to the Lord “night and day” (1 Chr 9:33). David chose to erect a tent in Jerusalem (2 Sam 6:17) for this purpose. Throughout this time, the sacrificial apparatus – the brazen altar, incense altar, table and lamp, was up and running in Gibeon (1 Chr 16:37-40, 2 Chr 1:1-5; 2 Chr 5:5). David, however, had the Ark of the Covenant brought up from the house of Abinadab (2 Sam 6:3) and placed it in his tent in Jerusalem. For over forty years Asaph and his associates offered songs of praise and prayer around the clock in David’s tent. The presence of the Lord there drew and captivated the people of Israel (Psalm 122.1-4). Once the temple was completed, the ark of God’s presence and the supporting service was moved to the new location. When David penned Psalm 23 and mentioned dwelling in the house of the Lord forever, he was referring to his tent experience! The Levites were commanded to seek the Lord (1 Chr 16:11), to give thanks and praise (1 Chr 25:3) and to bring to remembrance His covenant and His words (1 Chr 16: 15). To accomplish this, they prayed and sang the scriptures “night and day”. David commanded this perpetual practice and in today’s equivalent provided over 100 billion dollars to support the singers and musicians and build the temple (1 Chr 29:3-5).

However, sometime after he died and perhaps in the lifetime of Solomon, this practice ceased. It was restored later under Joash (2 Chr 23:18) and failed; and in Hezekiah’s revival (2 Chr 29:25) yet failed again and was then restored under Josiah’s revival (2 Chr 35:15). It failed once more and was again restored, this time by Nehemiah (Neh 12:45) before it failed for the last time after Nehemiah’s day. From Nehemiah’s account, the HOP appears to have been too expensive to maintain (Neh 13:6-12), not to mention inconvenient and invasive to all!

Isaiah told the nation that God was waiting to hear from them before He acted (Is 30:18-19). Sin was holding them back (Is 59:1-2) and a blindness had settled on their hearts (Is 6:9-10) but there was hope. David was a shining example, a testimony of one who had sinned grievously, repented, got back up and went hard for God (Is 55:3-4). From God’s perspective, His temple, His house was fundamentally a “house of prayer for all the nations” (Is 56:7). By the spirit of prophecy, Isaiah linked the promise of Abraham’s blessing for the nations to the operation of the house of prayer (HOP)!

Isaiah saw darkness, a deep darkness that was coming upon the land. From the vantage point of history, Isaiah was seeing into the last days. He saw the glory of God rising at the same time as darkness grew. The nations were drawn by the light and glory that rested upon the saints (Is 60:4). The glory of God was so intense that even the prodigals returned. God promised Isaiah that He would make fallen Israel glorious through the HOP. God would appoint watchman “who would not keep silent but would cry out night and day and give Him no rest until He made Jerusalem a praise in the earth” (Is 62:6-7). Intimacy would draw and sustain the intercessors (Is 62:4-5). And God would reveal Himself as, bridegroom, king and judge (Is 62; 63). Though fallen, the HOP would live again.

Jeremiah saw the saints being led by God in the last days (Is 30:24; 31:9). They would have provision (streams of water), guidance (straight paths) and would experience God as a father – intimacy. But access to this treasure was limited. It was obtained through prayer. Amos saw the people of God in a famine (Amos 8:11-12). It was not a famine for food but of the “word of God”. “And people will stagger from sea to sea . . . but they will not find it”. Houses of Prayer, however, will have abundance and most likely become places of refuge, perhaps even a “Goshen” (Ex 8:22). Haggai told the returning remnant of Israel that they needed to prioritize a functioning HOP over building their own houses (Hag 1:2-4).

Jesus, with full awareness of the heavenly HOP, told the disciples to beseech the Lord of the harvest for workers. The harvest was ready (Matt 9:38). Evangelism went forth in the church age but the HOP, with a few notable exceptions, languished. Luke saw the last days when God would restore the fallen tabernacle (tent) of David (Acts 15:16-17). Amos spoke of the “booth” of David (Amos 9:11-13) being restored (national, military and political Israel) while Luke saw the HOP and worldwide evangelism that would explode. The Kingdom of God would increase its impact on earth (Matt 6:10) while persecution mounted up (Matt 24:9). The available saints would take their place on the wall of “night and day” intercession as God declared to Isaiah. The HOP would gain momentum. It would cry out for Israel and the revival of the church and when the church awakens, it would become a great light on a hill in a sea of dark. The HOP praying church would drive missions, see the restoration of believing Israel (Rom 11:12-15) and, finally, the return of Christ. Zechariah saw the spirit of supplication strike the nation of Israel which led them to recognize the one who was pierced for their transgressions (Zech 12:10). Paul saw that God would give a huge final boost to missions when Israel recovered from their blindness and saw Jesus.

John saw the heavenly HOP functioning just before the judgments of Revelation were to be released. The golden bowls of incense, which are the prayers of the saints, were full (Rev 5:8). The bride had made herself ready (Rev 19:7). The tipping point had been reached. As the seals began to roll, the prayers of the martyrs were added into the mix (Rev 6:9-10) with great impact. The trumpet judgments followed and greatly escalated the pressure against the Antichrist’s kingdom and were fueled by heavenly incense that was added to the prayers of the saints (Rev 8:3-4). The Antichrist’s kingdom was destroyed; Jesus returned and the millennium rode into history on the massive wave of intercession, intimacy and praise – the house of prayer.

“Arise, shine; for your light has come, And the glory of the LORD has risen upon you. ² “For behold, darkness will cover the earth, And deep darkness the peoples; But the LORD will rise upon you, And His glory will appear upon you. ³ “And nations will come to your light, And kings to the brightness of your rising (Isaiah 60:1-3)

Isaiah saw darkness; a deep darkness that was coming upon the land. But he also saw the glory of God rising at the same time and the nations were drawn by the light and glory that rested upon the saints.

⁴ “Lift up your eyes round about, and see; They all gather together, they come to you. Your sons will come from afar, And your daughters will be carried in the arms (Isaiah 60:4).

The glory of God was so intense that even the prodigals returned. Profound wealth came to Israel (Is 60:5-6). The nations gathered to serve Israel – rebuilding the walls and ancient ruins. Strangers pastured their flocks and tended their vineyards.

From the vantage point of history we know that Isaiah saw a slice of the last days and the millennium. Joel saw the darkness and rising light as the collision of two “days”. It was the great and the terrible “day” of the Lord (Joel 2:11). When the saints hear of rising darkness they tend to react with fear and they desire to hunker down as best they can until the storm passes. But darkness isn’t for the saints. Light and glory is.

The darkness Isaiah saw began as a mercy from God; an opportunity for men to repent and experience the light of God’s rising glory. John the apostle saw that the darkness would eventually become a painful judgment as the 5^th bowl was poured out on the antichrist’s kingdom. As the strength of the antichrist was broken, the darkness gave way and the glory of God continued to mount up and carry into the millennium and beyond. Night disappeared altogether (Is 60:19).

In Isaiah 60:16, God revealed Himself as redeemer (forgiveness, mercy, grace and justice), as savior (health, deliverance and salvation) and as the “mighty one of Jacob” (signs and wonders, powerful in every dimension). The people of God became righteous and possessed the land forever. Isaiah had seen earlier that God’s government would have no end (Is 9:7)

In a moment of ecstasy, Jerusalem cries out with great joy and expectation and she praises God for the coming favor she and people of God would experience (Is 61:10-11). But Isaiah’s soul is anguished as well. He knows well Israel’s spiritual condition. He cries out. He prophesies and declares the coming revelation of the bridegroom God that delights in His people (Is 62:1-5). They will be married and not forsaken.

God responds to the prophetic cry and plight of Israel. He reveals His strategic end of the age plan for moving Israel from their current state in Isaiah 59 to where He will take them in Is 60-63. In the last days, God will place watchman on the walls who will cry out night and day and give Him no rest until He fulfills His promise to Jerusalem. Intimacy will draw the watchmen, sustain them and fuel their intercession for all that God would give – a simple end of the age strategy.

Their night and day intercession will be critical to God’s plan. Jeremiah tells Israel that in the last days the Lord will carry the nation in the context of prayer (Jer 31:9).

⁹ “With weeping they shall come, And by supplication I will lead them; I will make them walk by streams of waters, On a straight path in which they shall not stumble; For I am a father to Israel, And Ephraim is My first-born (Jeremiah 31:9).“

He will lead and supply through prayer. God will back up His intentions. The house of prayer will become a rich place of revelation, intimacy, understanding, signs and wonders, salvation and the good things of God (Ps 27:4; 132:5) even while the nation is caught in a famine for hearing the words of the Lord (Amos 8:11).

Because we have been adopted into faith and grafted into the vine that is Christ, Christians will share in the mysterious promises of Israel. Isaiah 60-63 will have its greatest fulfillment in Jerusalem and Israel but the same dynamic will occur throughout the world wherever His servants are found. There has always been a great divide between light and dark but this will escalate in the last days. Dark will become darker and light will become amazingly bright and glorious and many of those caught in the grip of darkness will come to the light.

God will start with the available watchmen – those who love Jesus. He has strategically placed sons and daughters in cities around the globe. They will gather and cry out for their communities. And they will cry out for Jerusalem that today needs help in intercession. Rockford has the opportunity to be a younger sister of Jerusalem. It may well become a city of refuge as Isaiah described.

Like Jerusalem and in concert with her, Rockford’s servants, through night and day prayer, will see the glory of God rise. The experience of God in His house of prayer will fuel up first commandment devotion and obedience which will in turn further fuel intimacy. Rockford will intercede for Israel. Rockford will intercede for Rockford. And Rockford will intercede for the nations. Those living in darkness in Chicago, Milwaukee and Madison and counties nearby will stream to the light of Rockford’s glory. At the same time there will be a wave of workers coming out of Rockford to fulfill the great commission. Rockford will be part of the greatest revival ever seen on earth.

One way or another God will have His House of Prayer, watchmen, musicians, and prophetic singers just as king David had. They will cry out for Is 62:5-7 to be fulfilled in Jerusalem but also in Rockford. Jerusalem and Rockford and many other cities of refuge will cross the line together as the great and awesome days of the Lord play out. God will shake everything that can be shaken.

We know from John that there will be martyrs as well as overcomers. The enemy will oppose the saints. God will test His watchman too and all those who say yes. He is going to have a bride for His Son – dedicated lovesick worshipers. The bride will make herself ready (Rev 19:7).

Who killed Jesus? For some reason Christians over the centuries have looked at the Jews and pointed the finger. Others argue that the gentile Romans share equal blame. However, Isaiah provides the very clear answer.

¹⁰ But the LORD was pleased To crush Him, putting Him to grief; If He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, And the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand (Isaiah 53:10).

Jewish and Gentile involvement in the death of Christ was very intentional but the One who pulled the trigger was God alone. There was no divine intervention to whisk Jesus safely away to heaven. God crushed Him.

Jewish history as revealed in the scripture is sad. When the history of the church is laid alongside, shame and embarrassment for the peoples of God seems like the only appropriate response given God’s heart for His people and our response. There are times of faithfulness and times of heart-wrenching disobedience. Sadly, the practice of disobedience appears to be much more prevalent for both Jews and Christians. Paul wrote about the judgment of Israel and warned the church,

“God gave them a spirit of stupor, Eyes to see not and ears to hear not, Down to this very day” . . . ¹¹  I say then, they did not stumble so as to fall, did they? May it never be! But by their transgression salvation has come to the Gentiles, to make them jealous . . . ¹⁷ ¶ But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive, were grafted in among them and became partaker with them of the rich root of the olive tree, ¹⁸ do not be arrogant toward the branches; but if you are arrogant, remember that it is not you who supports the root, but the root supports you. (Romans 11:11-12; 17-18).

Apart from a few exceptions in history, there is almost nothing in Church yesterday or today that would provoke any jealousy among the Jews. Worse, with the destruction of the temple and Jerusalem in AD 70 and the final dispersion of Jews in AD 132, many Christians came to believe that Israel had been completely rejected by God. The wild olive was no longer grafted in but they put themselves forward as the cultured olive tree!

Consequently, all biblical promises originally given to Israel were applied to the church that, in many eyes, had replaced Israel. One way or another, Israel and its people were extracted from all the promises. The promises given to the people of God were reassigned to those who follow Christ. The Old Testament became only an introduction to the main event – the New Testament. And Israel became a relic of the past. Jews were and are those whose forefathers killed the prophets of old as well as Jesus.

The blindness or hardening that Jews have experienced seems to have seeped into the church as well. Those who could have been the most helpful to Jews in the dark moments of the WW2 chose instead to be adversarial or indifferent.

Paul asked the following rhetorical question. “I say then, God has not rejected His people, has He? May it never be! . . . ²⁵ ¶ For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery, lest you be wise in your own estimation, that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fulness of the Gentiles has come in; ²⁶ and thus all Israel will be saved; just as it is written, “The Deliverer will come from Zion, He will remove ungodliness from Jacob (Romans 11:1, 25-26).”

There is a season coming when Israel’s blindness will lift and the church needs to pray for this hour. If for no other reason, the promise attached to their acceptance of Jesus will be released.

¹⁵ For if their rejection be the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead (Romans 11:15)?

Jerusalem is the capital of Israel and will be and has been the place of God’s temple. Those who oppose this fundamental understanding, oppose God. The church needs to ask God to give Israel all that is on His heart and to set the table for what He plans to do. Lastly, the church needs a church that will make Israel jealous! The church needs to repent and stand with Israel in this coming season. The reproach for doing so will be significant.

And of course, when we align ourselves with God’s purposes and give ourselves to those purposes, we enter into the fruit that comes with it. For God will certainly do what He says He will do. When we sow to the flesh, we reap corruption. When we sow to the Spirit we reap from the Spirit (Gal 6:8).

The Church has clarity about many things. We know that Jesus is fully God and fully man. We know that we are sinners without exception. We know that Jesus is “the way, the truth, and the life”. There is no middle ground and there is no other path to salvation. We know that heaven and hell are the only alternatives on the table and that hell is the default option. We have a long list of things we know.

One thing we don’t know with clarity, however, is the “last days”. Jesus commanded the church to “watch” because we do not know the hour (Matt 25:13). Our willingness to watch and engage is one more filter that God uses to expose our hearts and motivations. Extreme distain, skepticism and mocking regarding the last days and the return of Christ will be rampant in that season (2 Pet 3:3-4). A large measure of this will come from the church. Many will throw up their hands in confusion and simply check out. With subtle sarcasm, they winsomely note that it will all “pan” out in the end. It will, in truth, all pan out in the end but how it pans out for each of us individually is the real issue. There will be terrible surprises if we don’t understand “God’s end game” and faithfully participate as God gives clarity.

The last days details and sequencing are still jumbled for us but we are at an hour when the picture is beginning to resolve and come into focus. It is not a doomsday season – a time to miraculously escape altogether or a time to gather supplies, build defenses and wait for the extraction team to come and save the day. It is not a season for Christianizing the world, disciplining the nations into a Christ-friendly posture through dialogue, tolerance and compromise.

The prophet Joel saw a great disruption coming to Israel. It had present application to Joel’s generation but also served as a model of what was coming in the future. He described it as the great and terrible day of the Lord (Joel 2:11). It would be a season of Judgment (Joel 2:1-10) as well as a season of revival and salvation (Joel 2:28-32). It would be the perfect storm. Two enormous and growing fronts would meet together at one time.

Jesus described the last days as a time of labor pains (Matt 24:8). Birth pangs present an image of sharp pains, increasing in intensity, culminating in a short period of intense transition and then delivery. The coming storm will build ever more swiftly and exponentially. Both fronts will grow in energy and profound effect.

The last days will be terrible because of the convergence of the rage of Satan who knows his time is short (Rev 13:5-7), the travail of the physical earth (Rom 8:18-21), the ripening of the sin of men (Dan 8:23) and the judgments of God in the land (Rev 6). There will be a combination of heavenly, earthly, financial and political disturbances in a severity not seen before (Hag 2:6-8). The age of compromise within the Laodicean church (Rev 3:16) will end. The lukewarm and compromised will be forced to decide. They will either become first commandment lovers of Jesus (Matt 22:36) or fall away from the faith (2 Thes 2:3). And the man of lawlessness will arise and will ruthlessly reign over those who have no heavenly citizenship.

The last days will be great as well. The out-pouring of the Spirit in Acts 2 did not fulfill Joel 2. A greater out-pouring is coming along with cosmic signs and wonders. It will be the church’s finest hour. The church will pray in the largest harvest of souls that there has ever been seen (Matt 9:38), eclipsing everything in Church history (Rev 7:9, 14). That church will testify about Jesus. In an incredibly dark time, she will walk in justice, righteousness and “greater works than these” (John 14:12) before a watching and hostile world. There will be many victorious martyrs (Rev 6:11) who will die well in the Lord and many who will experience God’s phenomenal deliverance (Psalm 91) and supernatural supply (Is 35; Jer 31:9) and continue to testify boldly. Whether in martyrdom or amazing deliverance, their testimony will be the same.

¹¹ “And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even to death (Rev 12:11).

Jesus will fulfill all His promises to Israel. He will return with all past saints at the last trumpet. Current saints will meet Him in the sky (1 Cor 15:52). And He will march on Jerusalem with His army, recovering and saving the remnant of Israel (Rom 11:26); destroying the antichrist and his army (Rev 19:20). He will be received by Jewish leaders of the day and believing saints as the King. He will sit upon David’s throne in Jerusalem and the “increase of His government will know no end” (Is 9:7; Is 43:5-6; Is 66:8; Zech 14:5-8; Matt 23:37-39).

Jesus promised that all these things would occur in one generation (Luke 21:32). The nation of Israel was reestablished in 1948. It is not yet a righteous nation under righteous leadership. There is no temple now but God has a plan for all of this. Jacob has trouble ahead of her before Jerusalem is ready to receive her King. The wise nation or individual will pray for the peace of Jerusalem (Ps 122:6) and bless Israel (Gen 12:3) and let God work out the fine print.

Embarrassed! This is how many Christians felt when Harold Camping, an American Christian radio host, predicted that judgment day would occur in the fall of 2011 — specifically on October 21, 2011. He is certainly not the first to declare such a date and he will probably not be the last. However, something Biblically unacceptable is happening. Little by little, certainly in the West, the church is letting a biblical mandate slip whether because of embarrassment, odd theology, preoccupation with “what works” or simply sin. Jesus gave this instruction:

³⁶ ¶ “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone. ⁴² “Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming. ⁴³ “But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert and would not have allowed his house to be broken into. ⁴⁴ “For this reason you be ready too; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will
(Matthew 24:36, 42-44).

Waiting, ready (faithful), watching and expectant is the Lord’s command.

Christians clearly expect Jesus to return; just not now; later.

In 2008, my family moved to a new home. We believed that it was God’s next step for us. It was spring of that year when we made the decision to put our current house on the market. Houses were selling quickly, usually for their asking price. We felt confident as we went into “moving” gear and poured time and resources into updating and replacing to get it ready for sale. But it was a lot of work. Suddenly my HOP routines were stressed. My weekends and open weekday evenings went to working on projects. The finances had to be carefully weighed. It was not a simple affair.

The home we were going to move to was actually one that had to be built. So that also required time commitments. We had to make a multitude of decisions from style to every manner of inside details. Between selling our old home and setting up our new home while directing a small HOP and working full time, I felt like I had been run over by a truck.

Then the real pressure came. Two months before our scheduled move, the housing market went bust. Do we move forward or default and keep our current home? In the end we decided to move but it was a distressing time. We found renters but it was not the best situation. In the end, home values in our area dropped as much as 40 to 60% and when we eventually did sell the house, it was at a great loss. We are in the right place but the idea of moving was a far cry from the reality of “moving”.

You may be wondering at this point how this story fits into a consideration of the last days. The many generations leading up to the return of the Lord will have the normal challenges of a faithful church but once it becomes time for God to move His church into a new everlasting home, there will be an enormous set of other activities and obstacles that suddenly appear and challenge the last generation or two before His return. And of course Satan has no interest in God’s kingdom coming and will turn up the heat on top of everything that God is doing. It will be the perfect storm!

Business-as-usual Christianity, no matter how faithful and steady, will need to change and go into high “moving” gear as the Lord’s return nears. Many, again mostly in the West, are comfortable with church as it is. Embracing the end of the age “signs, wonders, phenomenal harvest, martyrdom, antichrist and massive disruptions” idea is only acceptable for many of us if it’s from a safe distance. To consider these things as possibly present in our lifetime is a much more sobering and unsettling thought. To embrace the “now” reality of God’s return in a generation or less, will cause our flesh, with the devil’s encouragement, to scream “no way”! Living in Egypt is challenging but doable. It works.

I would like to suggest that our confusion over the last days is more a heart issue than a theological one. The church in the West is living with “classic diabolical misdirection”. Jesus is returning and it is not a matter of centuries or distant future but decades and perhaps even years.

This, of course, is a personal belief but is also based on years of a commitment to live according to the Lord’s admonition in the verses listed above. An attitude and lifestyle of waiting, watching and being ready does not develop overnight. If the return of Christ is going to require different lifestyles of devotion or activity, how will you know when it is time to move from the idea of a new home to the reality of moving into a new home? If we are not going to know the day or the hour of our Lord’s return, should not the “times and seasons” stimulate us to ‘get ready’?

“Times and seasons” are everything!

In the West we are unusually preoccupied with “what works”. The scientific method is used all the time. It consists of posing a question, developing a hypothesis, testing it, analyzing the results and drawing a conclusion. And of course, refining the process until a desirable outcome is reached. Few are conscious of following this method or would ever use this language. Instead people will talk about “what works” or “getting things done”. This view dominates the business world and affects almost everything we do in this country and every sphere of our lives. It is like the air we breathe.

In an orderly universe, the scientific method is a marvelous tool. Once the incandescent bulb was created, it was possible to put this technology to work around the globe. Thomas Edison reflecting on light bulb’s slow development, famously noted, “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” Determination and the scientific method – repeated 10,000 times, gave the world the light bulb. In a “what works” world, times and seasons become less significant; perhaps even irrelevant.

The scientific method is both a boon and a bane. It is a boon because it works in an orderly universe. It is a bane because we want to apply it to everything. We believe that given a little more time and a little more experimentation, a solution will be found or a repeatable process will be developed. The problem will have been solved and we will have prevailed in our efforts. The discovery of the light bulb is a great illustration of this!

But God is much more than technique or process — to the dismay of many. The success in technique usually implies power over something and God rarely puts sinners or saints in a place where everything we touch is golden. Instead, God grants favor and success at various seasons even when the technique is not perfect. At other times we don’t see success when the goal is noble and the approach is flawless. Without God’s favor, perfect technique will not carry the day. And with God’s favor, even the poorest technique will work well enough. Our flesh cries out that this is not fair! However, that would be our flesh speaking.

In fact, forget success. There are times when God sends us into a wilderness of life for training and discipline. You can complain but you can’t escape. The concept of “what works” will be of no value to you. Suffering is rude and can’t just be ‘fixed’. Waiting for God is a refiner’s fire in our lives. The outcome is more valuable than gold – the ultimate symbol of our process-driven wealth and accomplishments.

⁶ In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, ⁷ that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ (1 Peter 1:6-7).

The timing for the hand of God is beyond our determination—which is usually our chief complaint. We cannot force Him to act according to our time-table and purposes. He may graciously tie our time table to His, but it is solely His sovereign choice. To ignore an orderly universe is dumb. To ignore God’s “times and seasons” is disastrous.

Undoubtedly there are many reasons why God makes sovereign choices and chooses to set aside “what works”. Humility is probably one. Success – doing it the right way with a desirable outcome, can be a source of temptation. The one with success is entitled and will look down on the one without success. They didn’t follow the recipe correctly. They lacked wisdom and couldn’t make the adjustments necessary for success. There was not enough obedience or not enough pursuit. They went to the wrong seminary or to no seminary at all.

The justifications for our successes are many and the focus tends to be on us. Pride stands at the door and knocks. And the one without success is equally tempted. He will either covet the success of the other or look for ways to discredit that success or bolster and magnify his own perceptions. Clearly dishonesty or some other form of vice made success possible. The one without success is entitled to recompense!

Neither success nor failure will keep us from sin. Moses reminded Israel.

³ “And He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD (Deuteronomy 8:3).

Israel had divine health. Their clothes didn’t wear out. They didn’t need to sow or harvest. The manna fell from heaven. They simply picked it up. God gave them streams in the desert and their enemies fell in battle. Yet they all died under judgment in the desert. They were not successful. They missed God’s “times and seasons”. They wanted to get back to “what worked” for them in Egypt.

God runs an orderly universe but He has a divine time table too. One of God’s great sovereign interventions is not far away but the church is in danger of missing it—being absorbed with “what works”.

Jeremiah told Israel about an amazing season that lay ahead.

²³ Behold, the tempest of the LORD! Wrath has gone forth, A sweeping tempest; It will burst on the head of the wicked. ²⁴ The fierce anger of the LORD will not turn back, Until He has performed, and until He has accomplished The intent of His heart; In the latter days you will understand this
(Jeremiah 30:23-24).

In the latter days when God is wrapping up natural history, the people of God will understand His heart. In that season, God will do something amazing. Israel will be brought back to the land.

⁸ “Behold, I am bringing them from the north country, And I will gather them from the remote parts of the earth, Among them the blind and the lame, The woman with child and she who is in labor with child, together; A great company, they shall return here. ⁹ “With weeping they shall come, And by supplication I will lead them; I will make them walk by streams of waters, On a straight path in which they shall not stumble; For I am a father to Israel, And Ephraim is My first-born (Jeremiah 31:8-9).”

God will carry the nation in the context of prayer. This is no ordinary prayer. In every generation, saints have offered prayer to God for these very things: provision (streams of water), wisdom and guidance (they shall not stumble) and revelation of the fatherhood of God. But the season of prayer that is coming will be like no other. His sovereign favor will be released to an unimaginable degree.

Jeremiah (Jer 31), Amos (Amos 9), Luke (Acts 15), John (Rev 6-22) and many others all looked ahead to the last days. It has been the ‘last days’ ever since the time of Christ. Every generation of believers has embraced the notion of the last days – just not now. Pursuing “what works” is very time consuming. We accept the premise of the last days but live like it is irrelevant to us. It is either too far away in time or an unknowable surprise. The effect is the same. The notion is only a notion. The church wants more time to pursue “what works”.

Is the day of the Lord as far off as we think? Could ours be one of the last generations? Are we entering into one of God’s “times and seasons”? Will an unprepared and distracted church miss this coming season and even want to go back to Egypt?

Jesus came to a synagogue in Nazareth and proclaimed to the people Isaiah 61:1-2a.

¶ The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, Because the LORD has anointed me To bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to captives, And freedom to prisoners; ² To proclaim the favorable year of the LORD… (Isaiah 61:1-2).  

However, He did not announce Isaiah 61:2b – “the day of vengeance of our God”. This was still future. Isaiah spent the rest of chapter 61 describing various millennial experiences that Israel would have. In chapter 62, Isaiah described the changing circumstances that would lead to the millennial experiences of chapter 61.

⁴ It will no longer be said to you, “Forsaken,” Nor to your land will it any longer be said, “Desolate”; But you will be called, “My delight is in her,” And your land, “Married”; For the LORD delights in you, And to Him your land will be married. ⁵ For as a young man marries a virgin, So your sons will marry you; And as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, So your God will rejoice over you (Isaiah 62:4-5).

Israel would be gathered. The land would no longer be desolate and Israel would again discover that God was a bridegroom with profound desire for His people. God had a plan.

⁶ On your walls, O Jerusalem, I have appointed watchmen; All day and all night they will never keep silent. You who remind the LORD, take no rest for yourselves; ⁷ And give Him no rest until He establishes And makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth (Isaiah 62:6-7).

God would appoint watchman or prophets (Hosea 9:8) who would not keep silent day or night. David began the house of prayer with 288 prophetic singers and 4,000 musicians who day and night sang and declared God’s purposes (1 Chr 23:4; 1 Chr 25:7; 1 Chr 9:33). God would again create an atmosphere of intimacy and encounter. The beloved could discover God’s heart and be captivated just like David was (Ps 27:4). The beloved would lay hold of God and not let go but cry out without losing heart. And God in turn would clear the way for this people.

¹⁰ Go through, go through the gates; Clear the way for the people; Build up, build up the highway; Remove the stones, lift up a standard over the peoples. ¹¹ Behold, the LORD has proclaimed to the end of the earth, Say to the daughter of Zion, “Lo, your salvation comes; Behold His reward is with Him, and His recompense before Him” (Isaiah 62:10-11).

His salvation and power would break out and so too his judgments.

¶ Who is this who comes from Edom, With garments of glowing colors from Bozrah, This One who is majestic in His apparel, Marching in the greatness of His strength? “It is I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save.” ² Why is Your apparel red, And Your garments like the one who treads in the wine press? ³ “I have trodden the wine trough alone, And from the peoples there was no man with Me. I also trod them in My anger, And trampled them in My wrath; And their lifeblood is sprinkled on My garments, And I stained all My raiment. ⁴ “For the day of vengeance was in My heart, And My year of redemption has come (Isaiah 63:1-4).

The bridegroom, king and judge will express Himself through the prayer room in ever increasing dimensions until Jerusalem is a praise in all the earth and God’s kingdom is established. It will unfold according to the Lord’s administration. It will have a Jewish attribute as Amos saw (Amos 9:11-13). It will have a Christian attribute as Luke saw (Acts 15:16-17). It will be one gripping reality.