This message is about the difficulty of seeing what God is doing in the end time and why He is doing it the way He is. Many times people have numerous questions; they are confused and never feet quite like they really understand what is happening. Perhaps if they had the whole picture in their heart they would be able to relate themselves to the walk and really enter into it.
The sixty-sixth chapter of Isaiah talks about events that are going to come to pass in the end time and the way God is going to move on the earth. Because God is moving differently today, it is very difficult for people to relate themselves to it without a multitude of questions. There will continue to be a great many questions, especially from the older generation. The first generation out of Egypt murmured against Moses. You are a first generation out of Babylon, and when you murmur against this walk you will either die in the wilderness or have a change of heart. There will be things that you do not see or understand and you will always be complaining about them. You may continue to question if you look through jaded eyes that are bloodshot from many false things you have seen and experienced in past years.
I almost feel sorry for the people who came, forth under a movement called “The School of the Prophets,” “Pentecost,” or “Latter Rain,” because they went through something that conditioned them. In spite of what they might think, when they come into this walk they are still the greatest complainers and the most disillusioned people in vision you can find. We are finding the pure vision coming forth in some of the young people. The young people come in and they’re prepared to accept something new. They haven’t had to follow one line of thinking and then quickly shift gears and follow another. A strength and an anointing is coming upon these young people because they are what you might call the second generation. They were converted into what was already established. The older generation sees that it is a new way, but isn’t easy to unlearn the responses and conditioning of many years.
So often people are conditioned to death, decay, and old age. They are committed to the monotony and ruts. People can come to the place where they have a battle over the apostleship. They shouldn’t—it’s been established for years. You are seeing it happen. You are watching God bless it. You shouldn’t have a battle over these things and over the revelation in this walk.
We read in II Peter 1:20, Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. How much more is the prophecy, which is far less infallible than the Holy Scriptures? Why shouldn’t we expect that there will be problems and that you will not understand it? People prophesy according to their own grammar, background, and what they see, and they may not see all of it. That should not cause any problem. Continue to listen; hide what you hear and see in your heart. It’s a marvelous day. I don’t know when things have ever been as great.
Perhaps the confusion comes when you see what God is doing in the earth. You are aware for the first time that God is going in two directions: He’s getting ready to pour both hell and heaven out upon the church. He is comforting you with the fact that He is doing two things. When He puts you in a corner and you find yourself weeping, confused, and distraught; maybe you’ll say, “I didn’t think God would ever put me in a corner like this.” You should thank God for it, because He is taking out of you that for which He will bring the tribulation on the rest of the church world. This is a time of victory, but it is also a time of vengeance.
It has to be understood that God is doing a unique thing in the earth, and you must be prepared for it. God isn’t blessing the Christian denominations today—He is destroying them. There are people everywhere who are saying, “O God, bless our church, bless our labors.” They are using all types of man’s machinery to keep something going, but God has already shut off the ignition. They’re just coasting. If you don’t believe this, watch and see. There are those who hang on to just a measure of anointing, and the Lord allows them to become hungry and thirsty. They have only enough spiritual food to keep them alive, until in their desperation they sit like the lepers in the gate of Samaria and say, “Why sit we here till we die, we have to make some kind of move” (II Kings 7:3). In desperation they break out so that God can meet them.
In the last chapter of Isaiah, which reminds us of the book of Revelation, God is trying to tell you what He’s going to do for you. He gives you some golden keys on how to make it, how to relate yourself to what God is doing in the earth. Beginning with verse 1 of Isaiah 66 we read, Thus saith the Lord, Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: what manner of house will ye build unto me? and what place shall be my rest? For all these things hath my hand made, and so all these things came to be, saith the Lord. God is saying, “are you trying to do something for me? I made it all in the first place. You will build a nice big church for Me? I already created everything you will work with.” That humbles us. But to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and that trembleth at my word. Here we see the difference. God hasn’t asked you to be anything. He only asks that you have that quality of contriteness in your spirit, that willingness to repent before God. You are not to be rebellious, but say, “Lord, this is the path You have given me to walk in. I am going to be repentant, contrite, and broken before You. I am going to tremble at Your word.” Then you will make it in your walk with God.
People have problems over various things, but the important thing is not the problem. Rather, has God said something to you that you believe? Has He set you in the Body? Has He created a relationship with you within the Body for your edification and strength and blessing? Has He ministered love to you? Has He blessed you and given you anything that is real? Then tremble before the Lord for every word that He has given you. Come before the Lord and love Him with all of your heart, your soul, your mind, and your strength. Give everything to Him and open up to the word to the extent that you can be submissive.
You may think you have a hard time; you do, but what were you expecting, a picnic? This is the day of the army of the Lord. This is the showdown and the devil isn’t throwing marshmallows. This is the day of heavy artillery. Satan wants to destroy what God is doing in the earth, because two things are happening. The whole blessing and release of what God is bringing forth is coming through the outpouring of a prepared people who have been made ready, down to the last response in them. You need not be strong or smart, only have a contrite heart and tremble at every word God gives. Just believe it, and He will bring out of you what He is finishing on the earth on His positive side. What about the other side? He is positioning them so He can pour out hell, because the day of vengeance is coming.
Jesus spoke about the day of vengeance of our God to the hearts of the people. In Luke 4:18 we are told that He read from the scroll of Isaiah, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind. 61:1–2. He stopped just short of the phrase—the day of vengeance of our God! That doesn’t stop short now, because the day has come when the Spirit of the Lord is moving in the earth to bring forth the vengeance of our God. The days of tribulation are upon us and in this day we are going to see God deal with the world. Jesus Christ came the first time by the will of the heavenly Father to be crucified for the sins of the world, but in His second coming He will be admired in His saints and glorified in all them that believe.
This second unique manifestation of His coming in the Parousia and the subsequent coming of the Lord is not designed for Satan to put down—it is designed to put Satan down. You have to understand the distinct purposes coming forth. The judgments of God are going to be in the earth at the same time that Christ is coming forth in you. It would be wise for you to respect it, because the mercy and the grace of God are being extended. But Hebrews 6:4–6 tells us that it is impossible for those who were once enlightened and have partaken of the heavenly gift and of the powers of the age to come, if they shall fall away, to be renewed again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh and put Him to an open shame. This one thing the Father will never let you do. It was done once, and the Father then gave His Son a name which is above every name. You cannot put Him again to an open shame. You cannot find a place of repentance if Christ is coming forth in you and you despise it, and crucify Him afresh, and put Him to an open shame. You will be destroyed in it because the Father will never let it happen. Do you understand the seriousness of it?
The people who really stand in jeopardy in the world today are those to whom God has spoken. I would rather be an elder in the house of God than anything else I can think of. But I’d rather be anyone else on God’s earth than an elder, a deacon, or any other ministry of the church that becomes apostate from what God has deposited in them. They will face God’s judgment more than anyone else. Just say, “Thank you, Lord, for the word You are giving my heart. I’m going to walk in it. Thank you, Lord, if I’m having a rough time, because that means I’m a part of what You are doing. You are not letting me get away with anything. You will see that I make it. You will dig to the depths of my heart. You will lead me on.”
a couple, recently married, were telling a story about how they had received a word from the Lord to get married and they wanted to serve the Lord, but instead they had settled down and were falling apart spiritually. As overseers we teach them how to do the will of the Lord. We speak blessings over them, prophecies, and impart an anointing to do something far more than just settle down in a groove. These are days of destiny. Every relationship, every step we take, everything we do, should be designed to bring ourselves into the perfect will of God as effectively as we can walk in it with all of our heart.
God is setting things before us to walk in. Don’t wait for the circumstances to change, for that will make no difference in your life at all, unless God has worked a change in you so that when the change of circumstances comes you will seize it and take advantage of it. There’s no use destroying the birdcage if the bird is still in the cage as far as his heart is concerned. He still won’t fly. Something has to stir in him so that he wants to soar. God has delivered us, He has brought us forth, and it’s up to us to reach into everything He has for us.
Hear the word of the Lord, ye that tremble at his word: Your brethren that hate you, that cast you out for my name’s sake, have said, Let the Lord be glorified, that we may see your joy; but it is they that shall be put to shame. A voice of tumult from the city, a voice from the temple, a voice of the Lord that rendereth recompense to his enemies. Isaiah 66:5, 6. Where are the people who persecuted this move twenty years ago? None of them have moved on in the Lord. Many of you have come from a church where you would go all year long to get only a handful of bread. You had to strain and reach in every service to get something to bless you and relate yourself to. Can you remember a week in this church that you haven’t heard the word that challenged you, that stirred your heart? Sure, you’ve been in battle too. What did you expect? Relate yourself to it. Be involved with it. You’re in it—and you’ll die in it, or you’ll live in it. The Lord has thrown you into the great reservoir of His love and preparation for the end time. Swim or drown—it’s up to you.
Verse 7: Before she travailed, she brought forth; before her pain came, she was delivered of a man-child. Who hath heard such a thing? Do you know what’s happening? It’s as if the travail were coming afterwards. God has already given birth to the people; they’ve been around for a long time. But now He’s bringing forth the ministries. Shall a land be born in one day? shall a nation be brought forth at once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children.
In the womb of Zion God has prepared different vessels, and that is why some of you have gone through various trials and testings. God has been dealing with some of your hearts for a long time. He’s prepared you and you’ve taken shape and form under the dealings of the Lord. When the hour of travail comes—before she travailed, and when she begins to travail—the people whom God will use in the end time will come forth suddenly. This is what’s happening to you. Some people like to rush from one place to another. They like all the activities. If we would tell them, “How about settling down here just for a month and letting God deal with you, and see what is down in your heart and in your spirit?” they would be gone before the month was over.
God is sharpening up His knives. The great Physician is ready to make some incisions and cut out the things that need to be taken out of your life. Don’t say, “I can’t have that; I’m too busy.” That was like King Herod when he heard John the Baptist. Of course John the Baptist thundered at him, “It’s not right for you to have your brother Philip’s wife.” That hit home. He began to bring all kinds of reform, civic projects, improvements in government and in the relationship between Romans and Jews until everything in Jerusalem was working fine. Mark 6:20 tells us, He did many things, and heard him gladly—except the one thing—he didn’t send his brother Philip’s wife home. He did everything except repent.
The word can come in this walk and tell you, “This is the way; walk ye in it.” People will get all stirred up and leave, and five years later they come back; they’ve run out of gas, and they want to start all over again. God could do a much quicker work if they would just hold steady for the days of preparation. Now that the time of fruitfulness is coming and we are being launched into it so fast, we must say, “O God, I wonder if my heart has really been prepared right. I wonder if it is really set now.” Here is one way that you can tell: if He’s still cutting deep—fine, you’re all set.
The time to start worrying is when there’s no more pressure, there’s no more pushing you toward the spiritual discipline that belongs to discipleship. If you are not being disciplined now, you’re in trouble. But if you find yourself uptight, with the pressure and the squeeze still there, then you’re on the Potter’s wheel and He’s shaping and molding you. Do you have the vision? You’re in the hand of God; He’s molding and shaping you. Did you have a hard week? Then God still loves you. You can still make your objectives, have your dreams, and see the will of God done. You’re still a person in motion and in formation.
Continuing in Isaiah 66, verse 15: For, behold, the Lord will come with fire, and his chariots shall be like the whirlwind; to render his anger with fierceness, and his rebuke with flames of fire. For by fire will the Lord execute judgment, and by his sword, upon all flesh; and the slain of the Lord shall be many. They that sanctify themselves and purify themselves to go into the gardens, behind one in the midst, eating swine’s flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, they shall come to an end together, saith the Lord. Those people who were insincere in their hearts will meet God’s dealings. The slain of the Lord will be many.
For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord. And they shall go forth, and look upon the dead bodies of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh Verses 22–24. What is the prophet trying to say here? Simply that the great problem is self-deception and hypocrisy.
Many people who hear the word and have the vision and a revelation of the restoration, still do not make it in this walk because they are filled with self-deception. They may be the only ones who won’t understand it when everyone else sees the picture clearly. They are self-deceived, they refuse to see certain things that God is trying to deal with, and they turn away. These are the ones God is going to deal with. These are the ones who walk through the garden with the old, abominable things. That’s why God is doing such a deep, clean work in digging Babylon completely out of your heart. The old order is filled with a lot of deception and there’s a deep hypocrisy in it.
One thing that will trip up a man or a woman in this walk is retaining the old way of thinking as they did in old order. People will have problems walking on with the Lord until their whole way of thinking is changed. God is doing everything He can to recondition you. You don’t dare respond or think as you did before, because God is doing a completely different thing in the earth today. You must come to the place where there’s only one thing you really desire and that is a walk with God. Find anyone who has lost out with the Lord and you’ll find they have a certain set way of reasoning that is deceptive, and they are deceived.
God is doing something in the earth, and when He is finished, the slain of the Lord will be many. We will find two outstanding things taking place. We read about it in Malachi 3:18, Then shall ye return and discern between … him that serveth God and him that serveth him not. This hasn’t been true in the past, for you couldn’t tell much difference between a person who walked with God and one who didn’t. But in this walk, if you’re a phony you don’t last too long. You can be up-tight; you can be in a corner and have all kinds of problems, but if you love the Lord and are sincere, you will make it because you are honest in your heart. There aren’t any hypocrites who can stay in this walk. They may deceive the whole congregation, but sooner or later if they are basically deceptive at heart, they won’t stay in.
God says He will make a difference between those who serve Him and those who serve Him not. I’m glad, because it means things are going to be resolved, and no more will the arrogant hypocrite appear innocent. No more does the man who serves God go through the tortures and the pressures without anything happening to vindicate him, but he will be loosed. It’s the refusal to be honest in your heart before God that He will deal with. Some people will stumble and falter all over the place, but God will rescue them and take care of them because down in their hearts they want to serve Him.
An apostle is not going to pastor a couple churches by lay an apostolic foundation in hundreds of hearts. In this message you are getting foundational words. I’m not interested in a few little expositions of Scripture to give you a little encouragement. I’m going to show you what God wants you to be, for the order and the plan He has for you. To people who say, “I don’t see it; I don’t see the order, etc.,” we’ll reply, “It was nice knowing you”; because you won’t stay with it long. Every church that comes up under this order will have revelation and prophecy to define and direct and commission the ministries. You will know where you stand and how to get with it. You will have words to answer for, and a commission and endowment, in the name of the Lord. Every one of us is going to move ahead in the Lord.