Chaziz (pronounced kauseez) is a Hebrew word which expresses many things, and it occurs in the first verse of Zechariah 10. Ask rain from the Lord at the time of the spring rain—the Lord who makes the storm clouds (chaziz); and He will give them showers of rain, vegetation in the field to each man. What does chaziz mean? In the King James Version it is called “a bright cloud,” or “a flashing cloud”; another translation reads “lightning” or “a flash of lightning.” In this translation (NASB) it is called “storm clouds,” with a marginal note “thunderbolts.” This is more accurate.
The Lord who makes the thunderbolts—the chaziz, the lightning flash—is going to give rain! The promises are like a cloud of blessing that is waiting. We stand and look at the cloud; we sing to it, “A double portion, Lord.” We admire it; we prophesy about it; but what we need is a thunderbolt to make it rain on us. That is exactly what God is talking about when He says, “Ask of the Lord rain in the time of latter rain, and He will make a thunderbolt.” Wham! it is going to rain the blessings of the Lord all over you! “And He will give showers of rain, vegetation in the field to every man.”
This word, chaziz, is also found in Job 38:25–27, where the Lord speaks to Job out of the whirlwind. He asks, “Who has cleft a channel for the flood, or a way for the thunderbolt;” (a way for the chaziz) “to bring rain on a land without people, on a desert without a man in it, to satisfy the waste and desolate land, and to make the seeds of grass to sprout?” This is God’s way of saying, “Who makes this thing work? Who makes the rains come?”
In Matthew 24:27 it talks about the lightning flashing from the east to the west. The word translated “lightning” in the King James Version does not mean lightning; it means a dawning light that comes from the east to the west. Lightning does not go from east to west; It goes up and down. We want those thunderbolts to come!”
Do you know what causes lightning? Positive charges from the earth build up, and negative charges from the clouds and atmosphere build up; this sparks off great electrical discharges, lightning. That is exactly what we are talking about in this passage. Ask rain from the Lord! Build this up in your spirit until it becomes like a cry of faith that reaches up to God. At the same time God will also be reaching down. Bang! You have a thunderbolt, and something is going to happen: the Lord will give those showers of rain!
The promises remain only potentials until your faith turns them into active things in your life. Remember that! The promises are only potentials until your faith makes them active in your life. You can quote them; you can make plaques and put them on the wall. You can do all sorts of things with the promises of God, and still you can miss it completely. They will comfort you a little bit and make you realize that God has spoken some wonderful truths. You may even be impressed with the beauty and poetic quality of the phraseology. But blessed is the man who looks at a promise of God and sees that it is like a piece of dynamite; it is like a mighty charge which comes from the divine potential in his life. You believe, you ask, and you seek in the name of the Lord, and the thunderbolts begin to come. Ask of the Lord!
Does it really mean that? I believe so. The preceding chapter in Zechariah says, This very day I am declaring that I will restore double to you. Zechariah 9:12. The Lord has declared a double portion.
Have you ever lost a blessing from the Lord? Do you know what it is to lose an anointing? Anyone who has gone through a period of rebellion and disobedience ought to read the book of Zechariah, because Zechariah was prophesying at a time of restoration. God was still holding in His mind and in His heart the fact of Israel’s disobedience and what He would do to them if they did it again. As you read it, you are deeply impressed with the judgment that is proclaimed.
Zechariah is also a prophet of restoration. He lived after the captivity. He was one of those who talked about things coming back—not back to normal, but to a double portion. He spoke a great deal about the anointing (remember the two witnesses, and the olive trees and the channel of oil that was flowing right into the candlesticks). He said, “ ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the Lord of hosts.” Zechariah 4:6b.
Zechariah was a great prophet in the Old Testament. Like the prophet Joel, he prophesied a great deal about the anointing of the Lord and what God wanted to do; but he does not say, “All right, seek the Lord, you rebels, and you might get back close to where you were; God might smile on you again. You might reach the place where every time you get down before God, your heart is not broken and grieved over what has happened to you.” He does not say that at all. He is talking to people who have gone through chastenings. In many ways, God seems to say, “I dished it out to you.” Isaiah was one prophet who saw this, and he wrote that God’s people had received double for their sins (Isaiah 40:2). God had laid it on them.
When you stop to think of it, you may agree, “That’s right. I have received double for everything I have ever done in disobedience.” That is how God treats His children. He scourges them; He deals with them. But afterwards, He says, “Instead of your shame, instead of your humiliation, you are going to have a double portion” (Isaiah 61:7). When He gets all through with you, something is in your spirit which was not there before you went into rebellion.
“Now,” He says, “I will give you twice as much as you had before. This very day I am declaring I will restore double to you.” He promises, …And I will make you like a warrior’s sword. Then the Lord will appear over them, and His arrow will go forth like lightning; and the Lord God will blow the trumpet…. And the Lord their God will save them in that day as the flock of His people; for they are as the stones of a crown, sparkling in His land. Zechariah 9:13, 14, 16.
In the tenth chapter, after the prophet talks about the thunderbolts bringing the rain upon the people, he says, “…For the Lord of hosts has visited His flock, the house of Judah, and will make them like His majestic horse in battle. From them will come the cornerstone, from them the tent peg, from them the bow of battle, from them every ruler, all of them together. And they will be as mighty men, treading down the enemy in the mire of the streets in battle; and they will fight, for the Lord will be with them….” Zechariah 10:3–5.
God’s people will be like a tent stake that holds things in place. “From them will come the bow of battle.” From them will come all that God is going to do in the earth. The rain He wants to bring will strengthen them for the work ahead of them. It will bring them into something they have never had before.
He will restore us: “…And I shall bring them back, because I have had compassion on them; and they will be as though I had not rejected them, for I am the Lord their God, and I will answer them…Indeed, their children will see it and be glad, their heart will rejoice in the Lord.” Zechariah 10:6, 7. This is the Shepherd talking about the scattered flock, the judged flock. In verse 8, He says, “I will whistle for them to gather them together, for I have redeemed them.” Like a shepherd, He knows how to whistle, and the sheep all come running together; God said, “All you people who are wandering, I am going to whistle for you and bring you together in unity!” “And they will be as numerous as they were before. When I scatter them among the peoples, they will remember Me in far countries, and they with their children will live and come back.” Verses 8 and 9.
All of this has happened in a measure in the physical plane with natural Israel, but it is true also on a spiritual plane. We see how God’s people are scattered today among many nations, with many governments, many Babylonian denominations, ruling over them. The Lord is beginning to whistle for them; He is beginning to call them together. And it is just starting. We are at the beginning of the restoration, and we are going to hear that whistle! It will be like the fine whistle used for dogs; no one else will hear it. It will be a whistle for sheep, tuned to a level that the goats will not hear!
The Lord is whistling for you. He is saying, “Come on, come on; ask Me, ask Me. Come on, ask Me for rain. I will make a thunderbolt, and it will start raining on your soul. I will give you a double portion. I will do it for you.”
Do not say that such an experience is not for you simply because you have never experienced anything like it. This is the time to start; this is the time to receive it. If God were passing out thousand-dollar bills, some people would hide behind the door. Some people are afraid of anything, even a simple blessing. Oh, how much fear goes with “fundamental” faith. Lord, loose us!
Ask rain of the Lord! Say, “Rain, Lord! Send me the rain! I see the promise; it is so great! I see all that You are going to do with me! You are going to give me that double portion. I will be a part of Your remnant, a part of the army of the Lord. I’m going to be a part of the great restoration. I’m ready; are You ready, Lord?”
This is a wonderful walk with God, but you may become so intent on watching where you place your feet, that you forget the important thing. With every breath you should say, “I’m walking with You, Lord! I’m walking with You, Lord!” Do not worry about where your feet are going; just realize that it is a walk with Him. Reach up to Him and say, “Send that rain, Lord! Send it upon me today. Send it upon me now.” Cry to the Lord! Ask of Him rain until He makes those thunderbolts.
Are you discouraged? There is no reason for discouragement with the word God is speaking. Are you hungry? Lift your hands and worship the Lord. Worship with anticipation; let the Spirit fill you again. Speak in tongues, sing in tongues, sing in the Spirit. Rejoice in the Lord. And when your heart says, “Well, that’s about all I can get,” you answer, “You lying heart; there’s twice as much.” Look for a double portion.
Let me explain something that may be a little key for you. When I am seeking the Lord, I find that it is very necessary to change. After singing awhile, the loudness can take over and cause the Spirit to diminish. Your worship can increase up to a point, but when you find it diminishing, then be silent before the Lord. The Spirit will continue to move even heavier. Then when you become distracted in the silence, go back to singing. Learning to get a rhythm in your seeking of the Lord is important. I wish the people were more obedient, so that the leader could simply snap his fingers and everyone would be quiet before the Lord, or everyone would sing out and worship. We are not making puppets out of you, but we want you to be aware of the Lord’s moving. Sometimes, because the people are a little dull of hearing or not as sensitive as they should be, the Spirit changes and they do not change with the Spirit. Then they wonder why they are not quite breaking through to what they were believing to receive.
Be sensitive. He woos you, and He draws you out. Sometimes you have to erupt. It has to be an agony; it has to be something so violent that it tears loose every restraint. Other times those restraints are off and you simply stand and drink in the Spirit.
Some are so busy talking, “O God, talk to me. O God, give me a word; O God, lead me.” There comes a time when you must shut your mouth and listen. The flow must go both ways. The children of Israel cried to the Lord, and Moses received the word of the Lord, “Stand still. See the salvation of the Lord” (Exodus 14:13). So they stood still. After a while Moses cried to the Lord, and He said, “What are you crying to Me for? Go forward. It’s time to move now” (Exodus 14:15). There is a time to stand still; there is a time to move. Otherwise you will invariably drift into a soulish realm. Only in the realm of your spirit will you constantly be led by the Holy Spirit.
Let Him breathe on you. If your worship goes into tongues, fine; if it flows into tremendous blessing, fine. No matter what He wants to do to you, be open. This is a good principle to follow: restrain everything that is of the soul and just breathe. Let there be an openness—but a desperate openness—a reaching out and a drawing in. It is like a little baby sucking at a mother’s breast.
Open your mouth wide; the rain is falling. You do not have to ask. Just take it; it is all yours! Breathe deeply and fill your spirit. Chaziz—that is what we want! thunderbolts! flashes of lightning! plenty of rain! a double portion!