In some ways, I think we have overestimated what sermons can do. They are more limited than we realize. We think, “Boy, that was a good sermon; it ought to have changed the world!”
But the Living Word, as it is coming now, can change the world. God could bring one word and change the world. God has been speaking to us all week, but this is a keynote message in the special sense of belonging to the whole year that is before us and of what is going to happen. This one message could condition us for the coming year. It could change all of us.
Every once in a while I look in a mirror to make sure I’m still me because my responses are different and I’m beginning to look at things in an entirely different way than ever before.
I wish I could convey to you, by impartation, the very same thing that I am feeling in my spirit. God has His ways of speaking to us, and I think that for the past several days, even weeks, He has been lifting me off of a human plane.
In this message we are going to talk about the dragon’s jaws, how the dragon is ready to devour the manchild as soon as it is born.
The dragon’s jaws are ready to snap, and the manchild, when it is born, is to recognize only one course of action.
I’d like to set before you some practical guidelines of what you are to do in the face of the coming assaults and persecutions that will soon be upon many of the Lord’s people.
First, you must get a word from the Lord.
And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars; and she was with child; and she cried out, being in labor and in pain to give birth.
And another sign appeared in heaven: and behold, a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads were seven diadems. And his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven, and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her child.
And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron; and her child was caught up to God and to His throne. And the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God, so that there she might be nourished for a thousand two hundred and sixty days.
And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. And the dragon and his angels waged war, and they were not strong enough, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. Revelation 12:1-9.
This passage seems to mingle together things that can have an interpretation from the past. Some have said, “The woman is Israel and she gives birth to Jesus,” but that interpretation won’t hold when you really study all the details.
If we let the Holy Spirit give us a guideline for the present, we will see that the manchild is being born out of the Church. The Church is giving birth to a manchild. Now, what Church is that? It is the Church that is really open to God, the blood-washed saints.
Out of them comes a remnant, and this remnant is our concern. You can draw away from this fact and talk about all of the Body being one, but the truth of the matter is that most churches have been in travail and they have been spewing you out just as fast as they can. That’s what is taking place.
What happens in the Charismatic movement? The churches get stirred and the little groups that are filled with the Holy Spirit are spewed out. Next, they become the spewed-out of the spewed-out.
her child was caught up to God and to His throne. The child is born to rule the nations. This remnant (which we call the manchild) is coming forth, destined to rule over the nations. It represents the kings and priests you read about in the book of Revelation, those who God has ordained will move into the governing, ruling, spiritual force of the Kingdom.
This has to be very carefully understood. The dragon is constantly being cast lower. Every year Satan’s devices are becoming less subtle, less sophisticated, and on a lower plane—coming down, down, down.
Expect that we’ll begin to take dominion over principalities and powers. Expect to move in the area where they once held sway. There will be no vacuum in the spirit world. We’ll not see these powers cast down with no one to take their place.
Rather we’ll see people beginning to come into the responsibilities of deity. As we come forth as sons of God, we’ll have responsibility to move as sons of God, to move into the realm that God has set before us to move in, and to bring down the principalities and powers.
As you are born a part of the remnant that God would bring forth in the earth, as you literally come forth from the Church age into the Kingdom age, the first thing you do is submit to the Lord’s catching you up to a higher level. You are caught up to the heavens and caught up to His throne. That’s a position of authority.
How I long to get through to people—especially the ministers—that they’re not going to get a few gifts of the Spirit to keep the old church order alive.
It isn’t the old program as usual! Not where we’re concerned. Thank God He’s still turning loose enough blessing for some of these people to limp along and hang on. I pray for them. I don’t despise them, for out of them, through travail, will yet come those who will enter into this company which is to rule—this remnant that is to be caught up to the throne. He is constantly dealing with our hearts, to enter into a worthiness, a prepared worthiness. We enter into it by the impartation of His righteousness, by His calling, and by virtue of the ministry we have.
Our position will change a great deal this year and I feel that we must not give way to these outside pressures. We must not hear the cry of Sanballat from the wall, “Come down, come down and conspire with us. Don’t you know what they’re saying about you? Don’t you know what they’re going to do to you?” But Nehemiah said, “We perceive that it is all a lie. We are doing a great work and we can’t come down” (Nehemiah 6).
We can’t come down to that level either. Our weapons of warfare are not carnal. I feel that God has given me the word, “We’ll battle this situation along spiritual lines.”
There is no point in our coming out at the enemies enticement to struggle in battle against him in the manner of his choosing. Those snapping jaws of the dragon can be very vicious.
Our victory is in rising up in a full assurance of the authority God has given us. We have that authority. We’re being caught up to the throne. The saints of God, joining together and binding the forces of evil, will be far more effective than any television coverage or anything else of that nature.
There may be times when we’ll be thrown into these things, times when we’ll be called before magistrates. The Word tells us not to give any thought to what we will say, for the Lord will give us a mouth of wisdom and in a prophetic response we will give the answer and what we are to say in that hour.
We’re finding an answer right here: caught up to the throne! Oh God, catch me up to the throne! Let me sit upon that place of authority with Christ, to bind these things in the name of the Lord!
We’re going to find it very difficult to get along with government, but that’s all right. I know what we have done. We’ve prophesied and seen the end of a dynasty here in the United States. We’ve prophesied and we’re going to see an exposure of political corruption.
We may do everything the hard way, for they may not give us any little favors—that’s their prerogative—however, they’re going to be stripped naked and found standing in their corruption, because God is going to rip the lid off. How is it going to be done? Not by undercover work or some Watergate method, but by the fact that there are a people holding this nation before God to see the corruption stripped from it.
This thing that has happened to cause the confidence of the American people in the government to be shaken is a good thing, one of the best things we’ve had happen.
From now on our weapons are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds (2 Corinthians 10:4). We’re going to see them come down. We’re going to see the thoughts of men’s hearts made captive, made subject to the Lord Jesus Christ. We’re going to see it happen!
There is a call to the sons of God, “Come up higher. Come up to the throne. O daughter of Zion, get out of the dust. Put on your beautiful garments and sit upon your throne” (Isaiah 52:1, 2).
We are not fighting, and will not fight, on a carnal basis. The persecutions will come, and as they spread throughout the earth, stopping them will be like trying to stamp out an oil fire. Let them come.
But we need to be very careful not to be stupid. Young people, use your head, so that in your zeal you do not deliberately do things that cause a reproach.
Be sure that when you suffer, you are suffering wrongfully, not because you were stupid or because you deserve it. The persecution will come without your help, and there won’t be any reason for the things that will be said against you.
The Word says, when men … say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake, rejoice, and be exceedingly glad … for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. Matthew 5:11, 12. We believe that God is going to help us do that.
Are you aware of the significant place you are to fill in the future? It is not the number of people, but the quality of their spiritual walk that is important.
We are not desirous of an exposure that could pull in a lot of light-hearted adherents. That would be disastrous. It would be disastrous to the Walk, at this point. We still need the isolation God gives us. We need to be sheltered for a while longer as God continues to work us over.
It is the purity of this Walk with God that is going to count. It is the quality of our anointing that is going to determine our effectiveness. We were not raised up to be hot-shots or supersalesmen.
We were raised up to rule and reign with Christ. We were raised up for the ministry of judgment in the earth. We were raised up to take authority and dominion in the resolution of the great conflict of the ages. We’re going to be there—the determining factor.
The old dragon is right at the womb of the Church to swallow up anything that would come forth.
Do you say, “I believe all of that. I’ve heard sermons like this before, but what do I do now? This word is all very good, but how am I to relate to it? What am I to do right now? Here I am. How do I get up to that throne?” In the first place, it’s not a matter of distance. You will not need a pole in order to pole-vault there, nor are you going to need a specially built elevator. This is not a matter of distance; it’s a matter of spiritual planes.
There are two things that will count most in helping the saints through troubled times. First of all, they are to love one another like brethren. They are to sacrifice and refuse to let one another go. They are not to judge one another. They are to feed one another when hungry and help one another when attacked.
The unity of the Body will be an outstanding characteristic. One thing that exceeds even the unity is the quality of spiritual perception, the need to carefully learn the voice of the Lord. They need spiritual sight and become easily led. So when something disastrous happens, they will be led by the Spirit to escape it.
Satan is going to catch a lot of Christians, without any difficulty, because they will try to maneuver on his plane and thus fall into his trap.
But we’re not going to do that. We’re going to see what’s behind it. Many times one prayer can bind a situation more effectively than all other efforts put together.
Didn’t you rejoice when you came into a walk with God that the day of program was over? Remember the elaborate programs that you always had facing you in the old order of things? Now we have God’s program, just what God says to do. But before we run off to do it, we stop to evaluate things, being careful to learn how to be effective in the Spirit.
We don’t want to just do good things; we want to carefully evaluate everything, over and over and over again, to be sure that we are doing the perfect will of the Lord on the level and plane that He wants it done.
We’ve had periods like this before, but the big housecleaning of our hearts is coming up. You will have to determine whether or not the good things you are doing are on a lower plane and not really what the Lord wants you to be doing. If they’re not what He wants you to do, you’re going to find a real rebuke.
I have a feeling that we’re going to back off from many projects because they’re not the best, not what God really wants. We’re going to have all we can do to devote ourselves completely to the Spirit; doing only what the Lord wants us to do, speaking only what He wants us to speak. But as a result, this year we’re going to see changes in the world—in the whole world.
We’re going to go over every message so that only the best of what God uses to speak to people is published. There’s no point in doing even one thing that God sets before us, if it is not really the best.
The unity, that holding together, and coming into spiritual perception with the ability to be rightly guided, are the two very important things that will carry us through the years just before us.
The little churches coming up can be strong, vigorous churches, not because they have a special way of outreach, but because they are really perceptive enough to know the will of God and their function—the thing they are to be doing—and they enter into it.
I think some churches will probably find themselves literally falling apart. God will deal with some of them and they may even cease to exist as churches.
No church has a right to exist when it does not have perception and revelation adequate to help the people be what God wants them to be.
When a church is thinking like humans, reacting like humans. They’re in danger of the Lord removing the candlestick from out of that place!
We can work and work and work to preserve churches, but what for? Some of them can rightfully be called New Testament Churches. Others should be labeled “Nursery” and others, “Incubator” if that’s all they’re going to be.
In that case, why did God raise them up? God is putting us through so much for one purpose: that we might rise up to the throne and be a preserving saving force in the world as things unfold. We need to grow up into the wisdom and spiritual perception to see what we are to be and how weare to relate to the perfect will of God.
What must we do then? First, we start to cultivate, in every way we can, the prophetic vision. We’ll have to listen more to God with spiritual ears to hear. In that prayer of listening we focus on God.
We’ll have to learn to prove all things. I think one trick of Satan may be that he’ll start allowing us more good things than we can walk in, and how distracting that could be!
I’m all through looking for good things; I want only the best. In time we become discriminating. When I was young I had an amazing appetite. When I went to a smorgasbord or buffet I wasn’t discriminating; I’d pile everything on my plate and eat it all. But as we get a little older, we don’t eat so much. I think our metabolism changes and we become more selective; we want only the best. The same is true spiritually.
As far as I’m concerned, of all that can be set before me, I want only the best, the perfect will of God. I’ll bypass every thing else to get that walk with God. Others can be busy about a lot of things—I won’t criticize them. Let them do their thing. I’ll pray for them; I’ll bless them. I’m glad they’re willing to do it, but as for ourselves, I say, “We have a job, a very simple little job.”
“What are we going to do? We’re going to wait on the Lord. We’re going to be caught up to the throne. And from that throne we’ll speak God’s Word to the earth. We’re going to speak the Word of God to this generation.”
We’re going to walk on a spiritual level. We will not live down on a carnal level. We’re not going to respond as human beings. In everything we’re going to condition ourselves to respond as sons of God. We’re going to think like God. We’re going to feel like God feels. His very nature will come forth in us. We are no longer going to react as human beings.
We must shake off, like an old snakeskin, the limitations of human thinking. This is a responsibility we have. Paul said, “I could not speak unto you as spiritual. You’re walking like mere human beings. One says, ‘I am of Apollos,’ another ‘I am of Cephas,’ or ‘I am of Paul.’ Are you not carnal and walk as mere men?” I don’t want to walk as a mere man, do you? I don’t want to walk like a man; I want to walk like God. I want to walk with Him. I want Him to be working through me.
A walk with God is to have an increasing awareness, so that even as we look at the human limitations we seem to have, we will remember that they are being put off day by day, and that at no time in all of God’s dealing with His people has it ever been so evident that His people can change and throw off their limitations.
Do you believe in miracles? You are all miracles. The rate of change will accelerate. I think we’re going to change even more rapidly. As His glory is revealed even more, day unto day, we’ll be transformed more and more into that same image.
Our ways of learning and acquiring knowledge are not going to be those same tedious routes of the past—so frustrating, so full of discipline, so full of failure. Our learning is going to be acquired as God pours out upon us the ability to do things.
Let everyone rejoice in their heart, saying within themselves, “This is true, I’m going to be a different person. I’m going to shake off my heredity if necessary and let God give me a new heredity. I’ll shake off my stupidity and let God give me His wisdom. I’ll shake off my old temper and let the Lord give me longsuffering.”
Piece by piece we’re going to change the old Model T Ford. We’ll replace each piece with the best possible part, omitting nothing, leaving nothing unchanged—not even the radiator cap—and when it’s done, we’ll have a brand new Cadillac.
That’s what God is doing with us—making us into the best. First we appeared to be a souped-up Model T. Then after a while we seemed to be a little better than that, and as we look at ourselves we ask, “Well, God’s worked us over, but what will we be like when we’re finished?” Don’t you know? Whom He foreknew He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son (Romans 8:29). God will never stop working on you until you’re just like Jesus, just like our blessed Lord.
He’s bringing many sons to glory. This is the way we should be thinking. In all of our efforts, in all of our struggle, we should be lifting ourselves up to the throne, caught up to the throne.
The snapping jaws of the old dragon nip at us, but God will catch us up to a place of immunity and total victory, and that is where we are heading, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ!