The Third Day

"After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight" (Hos. 6:2).

Hosea was speaking of millennial days. We are now in that third day. That third day is very interesting.

"Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.
"Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days?
"But he spake of the temple of his body" (Jn. 2:19-21).

God has ordained some neat things for the third day - patterned, I believe, after the resurrection of Jesus Himself. I think Jesus' resurrection wasn't the event (as phenomenally important as it was) but the pattern!

By the way, the temple IS about to be rebuilt... in the third day...

So what happened on the third day of literal creation? Two things: God divided the earth - the land from the sea, and he created seed which sprouted... all in one day. God spoke seed into being, and it was, then it sprouted, then it bore fruit bearing more seed... all in one day. That's productivity. That's the prosperity of the unadulterated word of God.

Jesus was the seed of Life, which when planted in the ground for three days bore the Fruit of Spirit and the seed of the Church - a million times more than Satan thought he'd killed. The third day was a good day. But I'm telling you... it's only a pattern of what is still to come! He was the First Fruits! He was the down payment! Watch out... we are in THE THIRD DAY. We don't have a CLUE what is about to transpire!

A Second Touch

Mar 8:22-25
(22) They came to Bethsaida, where some people brought a blind man to Jesus and begged him to touch him.
(23) Jesus took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village. After spitting on the man's eyes, Jesus placed his hands on him and asked him, "Can you see anything?"
(24) The man looked up and said, "Yes, I can see people, but they look like trees walking around."
(25) Jesus again placed his hands on the man's eyes. This time the man looked intently, his eyesight returned, and he saw everything clearly.

We go to a place every year that we refer to as 'the Mountain'. It's a special place where guys can be real, honest, and open to the working of the Holy Spirit. Every year we see miracles happen in the lives of men. They get set free of horrible things - some which they've been carrying their entire lives. We have seen men freed from depression, rage, physical ailments, self-worth issues... you name it. But some guys, as much as they want to be free, still leave with needs that have not been addressed. Perhaps they got free of lust, but remain entangled in unforgiveness. They need a second touch.

The Christian walk is one where God continually calls us to the next level - the next click. There is no 'arrival', as we've discussed before. Holiness is a process that we walk in - as God molds us into the likeness of His Son. So, too, is being freed of bondage. Sometimes God touches us and we are free. But sometimes we need that second touch to see clearly. Once you are freed by the Son, however, you are free. Indeed. Keep going to the mountain. Keep striving for holiness. Abide in Him and He will not let you leave half-healed.

Past the Point of No Return

Mar 8:1-3
(1) Not long afterward another large crowd came together. When the people had nothing left to eat, Jesus called the disciples to him and said,
(2) "I feel sorry for these people, because they have been with me for three days and now have nothing to eat.
(3) If I send them home without feeding them, they will faint as they go, because some of them have come a long way."

These people literally followed Jesus beyond a point of safety. Some had come from long distances and had not brought enough food. Perhaps they were expecting to be able to buy food. Perhaps they had heard how He had fed the 5,000 and had hope that He would again provide.

He did.

Do we follow Jesus past the point of safety? Past the point of 'good judgment'? Jesus took a special notice of these who had come from a long distance. He had no intention of leaving to their own devices to get back home.

I wonder what became of the ones who left early because their bread had run out? I wonder if they heard the story of the miracle He did 'right after' they left. I wonder how often I left early and missed the miracle in my own life.

Peace and Safety

From an article posted yesterday, Netanyahu made this statement to President Obama:

Obama, Netanyahu Agree on Peace, Differ on Priorities

"We're ready to do our share. We hope the Palestinians will do their share as well. If we resume negotiations, as we plan to do, then I think that the Palestinians will have to recognize Israel as a Jewish state, will have to also enable Israel to have the means to defend itself. If those conditions are met -- Israel's security conditions are met, and there's recognition of Israel's legitimacy -- its permanent legitimacy, then I think we can envision an arrangement where Palestinians and Israelis live side by side in dignity, security and in peace," he said.

I picked that up off the live news broadcast and it gave me a bit of a chill. When the news anchorwoman broke away from that story, the first thing she said was, "Security and peace, indeed."

1Th 5:1-4
(1) But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that ye should be written to,
(2) for ye know perfectly well yourselves, that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief by night.
(3) When they may say, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction comes upon them, as travail upon her that is with child; and they shall in no wise escape.
(4) But *ye*, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day should overtake you as a thief:

This is a last days prophecy. We don't know who 'they' are, but we know the cry is 'peace and safety'. We are to be watching while we are about our Kingdom business, that we would not be ignorant, but would have understanding of the times and a motivation to warn a lost world.

Falling Fire

In the Old Testament, how did they know that the sacrifices were accepted? History says that fire actually fell from heaven and consumed the sacrifices - totally - and that was the indication of acceptance. Our clearest picture of that is when Elijah offered the bulls on Mt Carmel. The fire of God came down in a violent display, leaving no question as to whether or not the sacrifice was acceptable.

As Christians, many of us want to see the fire of God in our lives. We want it to fall on us, personally! Whenever I see a man who literally has the fire of God upon him, I refocus my own passions upon God. There is only one way to obtain the fire of God in your life.

Rom 12:1-2
(1) Therefore, brothers, I call on you through the compassions of God to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, pleasing to God, which is your reasonable service.
(2) And be not conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, in order to prove by you what is the good and pleasing and perfect will of God.

If there is no fire falling in your life, look to see if there has been any sacrifice.

Depth of Earth

Jesus said this in the parable of the sower:
Mar 4:5(5) And some fell on stony ground, where it had not much earth; and immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of earth:

As if to say, if you have no depth, you may rise too fast. Or... without proper training, preparation, education, maturity, or patience, you develop no roots and you spring up because you have no other direction to go. And yet... you cannot stand.

Compare to Jesus. When He died He was buried. How far down did He go? All the way! Scripture says this:
Eph 4:8-10(8) Because of this, He says, "Having gone up on high, He led captivity captive," and gave "gifts to men." But that He went up, what is it except that He also first came down into the lower parts of the earth?(10) He that came down is the same who also went up above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.

The Lord is the master gardener. He will plant you where He wants you, water you, feed you, PRUNE you, and you will spring up at just the right time.

Point of Acceptance

Sometimes as believers we just need to realize that God is God, He is Holy, and He does not have to share His glory with us at any point. I know I dwell, often, on the state of our nation and the world at large. It seems like such a downward spiral - it can easily grab your focus.

But my focus should be on Him. He's the reason. He sets up kings and brings them down. He promotes His children, and demotes them, as He sees fit to mold us.

He has a plan. None of this is happenstance, or out of control - as chaotic as it looks. I do believe He allows us to coast for extended periods of time upon His wave of grace, and I do believe we can prolong - or avoid altogether - judgment by simply repenting. Yet most of the time we as a culture do not. We push Him further and further away.

Godlessness shows up in our beauty pageants. In our legislation. In our foreign policy. In our churches. In our TV shows.

God, on the other hand, has no choice but to show up in everything else. If we'd honor Him with TV, He might not have to show up in the earthquake. If we'd honor him in our foreign policy, He might not have to show up in a hurricane.

God told Elijah that He was not in the violent shaking of the earth, the fire, or the wind... but rather a still small voice - to Elijah. Elijah belonged to God. Elijah honored God. For a world that does not know Him, or honor Him, I believe very often the only way He can grab attention is through quakes, fires, and floods.

Prophecy Unfolding

Below is from Pastor Mark Biltz. Highly interesting stuff... It reminds me that if we are not watching, we are not in obedience. If we are not praying for the Peace of Jerusalem, we are not in obedience.

Blair: New Mideast Peace Plan Unveiled in Weeks

An interesting quote from it is this:
President Barack Obama is holding separate meetings at the White House this month with the Israeli, Palestinian and Egyptian leaders to hear their views. Once those meetings are over, the Quartet is to convene in Washington to discuss and present the new strategy, Blair said. The Quartet includes the U.S., the United Nations, the European Union and Russia. "I think that within the next five to six weeks, you will have a very clear picture of what the plan is," Blair said.

The haftarah portion from the prophets that is read around the world by Jews coming up June 6th is very significantly related. It is Zech 2-4. Here is the preface to it from Zech 1:

Zec 1:17-21 Cry yet, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; My cities through prosperity shall yet be spread abroad; and the LORD shall yet comfort Zion, and shall yet choose Jerusalem. Then lifted I up mine eyes, and saw, and behold four horns. And I said unto the angel that talked with me, What be these? And he answered me, These are the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem. And the LORD showed me four carpenters. Then said I, What come these to do? And he spake, saying, These are the horns which have scattered Judah, so that no man did lift up his head: but these are come to bring terror to them, to cast out the horns of the Gentiles, which lifted up their horn over the land of Judah to scatter it.

In Zechariah 2 we find Jerusalem is being measured. And then we find:

Zec 2:8-10 For thus saith the LORD of hosts; After the glory hath he sent me unto the nations which spoiled you: for he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye. For, behold, I will shake mine hand upon them, and they shall be a spoil to their servants: and ye shall know that the LORD of hosts hath sent me. Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion: for, lo, I come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith the LORD.

They Knew Him

Mar 1:34
(34) And He healed many who had illness of various diseases. And he cast out many demons, and He did not allow the demons to speak, because they knew Him.

Jesus, being the creator of the Universe, had a small problem once He came to walk amongst us. He came to set the captives free, give sight to the blind, heal the lame, cleanse the lepers, but most of all - to give Himself to judgment for the sake of all mankind. To accept such a wonderful gift, man must have faith in who Jesus was and is, and here is the problem. Much of creation knew who Jesus was. Jesus even said the stones would cry out in praise if nobody else did. The wind listened to Him. The waves obeyed Him. Creation knows its maker (Creation also knows His children, but that's another blog). Jesus had to take the necessary steps of making certain the faith-element was never removed. For truly, God does have the ability to remove all doubt that Jesus is who He said He is - He just has not chosen to convince us so.

A humiliating truth: humanity will believe in the demonic far sooner than heeding the voice of the Creator. Why? Perhaps we are more familiar with the demonic voice. Jesus did not allow the demons to speak.

When looking at the Greek for the word used here 'knew', the word is eido. It doesn't mean to know like we know our neighbor. It means 'perceive', or 'see'. The demons could SEE who He was. They could tell. Do you think the demons ever huddled up and tiffed about whether or not Jesus was the Son of God? Maybe they still argue that the Buddha is the threat, or perhaps Mohammed is the bane of their existence. Not.

They know because they see His works and they know His authority. They fear Him. We stand to learn a few things - even from the enemy.

Leaven

In the scriptures, leaven represents sin. In the spring before the Feast of Unleaven Bread commences, all Israelites are commanded to remove all leaven from their homes. It's a time of scrubbing, sweeping, and dusting. It's where we get the term 'spring cleaning'. Upon the Passover when Jesus was crucified, the Jews had until sundown to get all of the bodies off of the crosses and into the graves - they were unclean and could not be present during the feast week. Jesus also had to be removed - HE BECAME SIN. To expedite the process, the soldiers were to break the legs of those crucified so that they would die and 'get it over with' - so they could be buried and out of sight. Jesus had already given up His spirit, however, and not one of His bones was broken.

So leaven represents sin.

Mat 16:6
(6) And Jesus said to them, Watch and take heed from the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

What a strange warning. What is the purpose of such a seemingly cryptic statement? Leaven is yeast - or bacteria. It causes bread to rise. A little bit of leaven will spread into the entire lump of dough. In actuality, even an unleavened lump of dough will soon become leavened if left out in the open because leavening bacteria are in the air. Leaven spreads.
The Pharisees were a smart bunch. Very smart. They knew the scriptures. They practiced them - religiously. They were very religious. The Sadducees were government appointed officials - people of importance. They lorded their positions over the common folk, very often. The spirit of religion makes us feel as though knowledge trumps all else. The spirit of superiority makes us feel divinely elevated above others. Both of these are prideful spirits that work hand in hand to entrap us into a false sense of security. But Jesus never said knowledge was the key, nor position. He said to watch out for the sin that comes from these things.

I know some incredibly smart people, and some very elevated people, and they have no relationship with the God of Heaven. Leaven has done its work. They must now be rescued - and they don't even know they're perishing. That's the trap. They just don't know.

Meanwhile, the rest of us can be on guard against the leaven in our 'houses'. Work to keep it swept out.

Trading It All In

John 3:34 LITV
(34) For the One whom God sent speaks the Words of God, for God does not give the Spirit by measure.

Our pastor tells us that if we have a measure of the Holy Spirit, it is us who set the measure, not God. He also says that we can have all the Holy Spirit we want. It's really true. The precept applies to many aspects of our lives.

We hear the fabled love stories of men and women who wait to kiss until they are married. That wedding night, for them, is magical. But we trade that in for premarital sex, unfaithfulness, or other types of quick gratification.

Many of us want very much to carry the anointing of a great bible teacher or evangelist but we trade study and preparation in on TV.

Prayer is traded for sleep. Dedication is traded for recreation. Love is traded for apathy. Hot is traded for luke-warm. We end up making peace with mediocrity in everything. That junky mindset grows like mold and pretty soon we have a stale existence that shuns change and classifies anything more as fanaticism.

I need more than that. I've tried much of the above - and it's lousy. It's empty. It's lifeless. I've traded the eternal for the temporal (birthright for beans, basically) more times than I care to recall and I reject that now in the name of Jesus. What I need is more of Him.

Prepare the way of the Lord!

Ezekiel wrote of the Glory of God departing from Israel and the description bears out that His Glory departed towards the east, through this gate.

Interesting. Remember which way man was driven from the Garden of Eden because of sin?

Gen 3:24
(24) And He drove the man out. And He lodged the cherubs at the east of the Garden of Eden, and the flaming sword whirling around to guard the way of the Tree of Life.

Eze 11:1-2
(1) And the Spirit lifted me up and brought me to the eastern gate of the house of Jehovah, the gate which faces eastward. And, behold, at the opening of the gate were twenty five men. And I saw among them Jaazaniah the son of Azzur, and Pelatiah, the son of Benaiah, leaders of the people.
(2) And He said to me, Son of man, these are the men who plot evil and advise wicked advice in this city,


It's the judges that sit at the gates. Corrupt judges bring the judgment of God. Does that scare anyone else? Thank you GOD for the judges YOU have placed in our nation!

God tends to shut down that which refuses to operate within His guidelines.

Eze 44:1-2
(1) And he brought me back the way of the gate of the outer sanctuary, facing east. And it was shut.
(2) And Jehovah said to me, This gate shall be shut; it will not be opened. And a man shall not enter by it, because Jehovah, the God of Israel, has entered by it; so it shall be shut.

Then Ezekiel sees another vision of this gate, only the Glory of God is returning! This, by the way, has not yet happened. Hence... the shut gate.



Eze 43:1-4
(1) And he made me go to the gate, the gate that faces eastward.
(2) And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east. And His voice was like the voice of many waters. And the earth shone from His glory.
(3) And the appearance of the vision which I saw was as the appearance which I saw when I came to destroy the city, and as the appearance that I saw by the river Chebar. And I fell on my face.
(4) And the glory of Jehovah came into the house, the way of the gate facing eastward.


There is a Spirit of Antichrist that John talks about that denies the Deity of Jesus Christ. YET, this hypocritical spirit takes such precautions as to lead men to create a cemetery in front of the Eastern Gate - for one reason and one reason only - to prevent the High Priest from returning through it (for it would make Him unclean, according to Jewish law). I will be there when those tomb stones dissolve and the ground heaves violently - creating a 'clear path' for the Lord to travel.

Not For The Squeamish

There is so much joy in Kingdom work. Lives change and people find what really matters in life - peace through Jesus. It's work though. I really never knew how much work it could be until this past weekend. With our mountain-top experience, we battled fatigue, storms, and sleeplessness on top of the usual spiritual warefare that goes on. Never before in my limited ministry experience have I seen the enemy so intent on ruining the atmosphere of worship. The enemy just couldn't contain what the Lord wanted to do, however. He didn't have the resources to see it done.

A couple of days later, I'm back to the drudgery of damage control at work, grocery shopping, and chores. What I feel has to be kin to post partum syndrome. The Lord really did birth much on that mountain. I feel a tremendous weight of answered prayer off of my shoulders. On the other hand, I feel new burdens and I'm glad to take them on knowing that just as God delighted to show His might last weekend, He will do it again.