PROPHETS AMONGST US

 

PROPHETS AMONGST US

 

In this devotional teaching, I am going to speak about many things but with a special focus on the workers who will go out during the tribulation period.  As I’ve said many times, the church is an apostolic and prophetic entity that will go out into this world.  If you think of the prophet, the prophet has a message, and the apostle is sent out.  So, the church will be sent out with a message.  This teaching will be about what we can expect in this regard and what Father has opened up to me in the course of this week, as this has definitely been upon His heart.  This is not my word but the Father’s Word that He would like to speak to His children.

 

Who is the “Worker Bride”?  In Luke 10:2 Yeshua said we are to pray for the laborers when He said, “… The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into this harvest”.  He said this to His 12 disciples and the few others that followed Him, but we know now that there are millions of followers of Christ.  Not all have been called to be labourers, as He has prepared in this last hour a specific group of people who are a part of His Bride who will go out in the midst of the great tribulation and minister to the nations.  This continues in Luke 11 when the disciples are asking Yeshua what will happen in this time.  Let’s go there and read what He says, understanding that it is from an eschatological (end time) viewpoint.

 

LUKE 11

²⁹ And when the people were gathered thick together, he began to say, This is an evil generation: they seek a sign; and there shall no sign be given it, but the sign of Jonas the prophet.

³⁰ For as Jonas was a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of man be to this generation.

³¹ The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation, and condemn them: for she came from the utmost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here.

³² The men of Nineve shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.

³³ No man, when he hath lighted a candle, putteth it in a secret place, neither under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that they which come in may see the light.

 

As He speaks of Jonas in verse 30, we see that the prophet is a sign to the generation, just as Jonas was a sign to Ninevah.  Then He speaks of the Queen of the South rising as well as the men of Ninevah to judge this generation.  I speak at length of the Queen of the South in my teaching with the same name (“Queen of the South”), including her identity, which is the Bride of the King.  The King’s bride is His queen.  This Queen has her virgins, and they are under her as part of the Bride.  Both the Bride and the virgins in biblical times were to produce children unto the King; both were considered to be the wife of the King.  An example of this is Jacob’s wives, Leah and Rachel, and each had their own handmaidens who also produced children for him.  The same was true with Sarah who had Hagar, who was a virgin and produced a child for Abraham.  The Bride has her virgins following her, and the Lamb has His virgins, or eunuchs, following Him as well.  This Queen of the South represents the wife, or the Queen, of the King.  She was actually the Queen of Sheba who went to visit King Solomon.  She brought him spices, and she wanted wisdom from him.  That is the Bride, who comes to King Yeshua bringing spices, laying her life down as a fragrance, and she receives wisdom from Him.  She has her virgins, which are those whom she teaches how to be beautiful Brides, as well as to bring forth children.  These virgins are what the men of Ninevah represent, which is the Gentile Bride.  It is the Queen of the South who rises up with Jonas, the prophet, and comes in judgment.  She is as a prophetic entity sent out with judgment, with the men of Ninevah, to condemn this evil generation.  Overall, we have two entities in Luke 11 foreshadowing Christ with His Bride:  we have the prophet Jonas and King Solomon mentioned, together with the Queen with the men of Ninevah.

 

In verse 33 He speaks of the light of the candlestick. Very recently I added a video to my YouTube channel called, “A Light in the Darkness”, where I talk about the early Christians who were known as the “candlesticks of Christianity”.  These were those who were tortured as “Nero’s torches” as he set fire to them to kill them.  Here Yeshua is actually talking about these “candlesticks”, which is also a reference to Revelation 1:13 where Yeshua is in the midst of the lampstands, which represents the churches.

 

The Queen of the South is that light.  She is as Elijah or John the Baptist who was sent out to be a light pointing to the Light.  Elijah was a candlestick pointing to the Candlestick.  So does the Bride have the light of Christ in her, and the light shines in the darkness -- that time period of judgment -- and the darkness cannot overwhelm it.  What does light do?  It exposes that which happens in the dark.  This is what the Bride will do.  She will rise up as a prophetic voice, and that voice must do two things, which was the case with Jonas.  The first thing is to say, “You have not listened to His voice”.  She condemns, and what she condemns, she also judges.  She says, “Because you have not listened, this and this and this is what will happen; this judgment will now come upon this earth”.  She will be used as a prophetic voice to condemn this evil generation and will speak God’s judgment over it.  She will be given great authority to be able to do this.  

 

This devotional teaching brings out the highlights of what I would like to bring across overall. 

1.      The first is to understand the prophetic call, which I have just somewhat discussed. 

2.      The second is to differentiate between the office of the prophet and the gift of prophecy. 

3.      The third is what we are to expect in this time, as the worker Bride when we are rising up with Christ to judge and condemn this evil generation. 

4.      The last thing, is knowing how Father will provide in this time. 

 

These are very important points that we need to consider, take to heart, and take to Him as well.

 

With regard to understanding the call, I need to testify a bit of how this devotional teaching started.  It started a little bit more than a week ago just before I made the “Light in the Darkness” video.  I woke up one morning with such a deep sense of agony of spirit and sorrow in my heart.  I was crying much, and I didn’t understand why until after I posted in the video His words that He gave me.  There was such a sense that came over me wondering, “Do they really hear what you are saying Father?  Do they really consider?  Do they actually stand still and listen to what you have to say to them?”  There was such a sadness with this, but “sadness” really doesn’t define it well enough.  My spirit was broken in me, until I realized that the reason why I was crying so much was because I was burdened with His burden.  I was burdened with having heard His Word come to me, when His anointing comes over me and I start to write what comes into my spirit, and then sensing His heart with it.  I was burdened with receiving His Word and then taking this precious and beautiful thing and putting it on YouTube, knowing that people will likely not consider the weight and value of it.  In today’s age, there is a prophet at every corner and there are “words” a dime a dozen.  There are prophetic words and warnings that go out so often, with some of them true and most of them not true.  The point is that we have become so inundated with this type of thing that we see it, but are not arrested with the fact that God is speaking.  The Creator of all things speaks, and He wants us to listen, especially in the time that we are in.  

 

The other day I was at the chemist, and I was just looking at the people there.  I was thinking of the investment that God makes in our lives – His own personal investment in your life and mine.  The Word says He is like a refiner’s fire waiting for His image to reflect in the gold that is being purified.  I was thinking how patiently He waits over our lives and what He puts into us to form us and sanctify us – what great value He places on man’s life, those He died for and those He called.  He places such great value on His children.  I pondered much on the personal investment He makes in your life and in my life. This in turn then made me think of the investment He makes into a prophet’s life.  As I was thinking of this, I thought of the journey and path He has walked with me personally – how He has brought me to a place where I could receive these precious words from Him.  To consider the investment He has made in my life, along with the value of the words He gives me and from Whom it comes, and considering taking this precious gift and putting it out there for everyone to hear, I am jealous for His words, fiercely jealous.  I started crying, because I had this sense and vision of me walking down into the marketplace, having the view of the ground; and I took a bag of pearls and threw them down on the ground.  I could then see the people’s feet stepping on these precious pearls saying, “That’s a nice pearl… now moving along.  There’s another nice pearl… oh well, there’s more pearls to be had”.  That is how we have been treating the Word of God when it comes to us through His true prophets.  This saddened me immensely when I started thinking of the heart of God.  That is when I realized that what I was feeling was what He was feeling.  He subjects me to things that are in His heart.  He has allowed me to feel some of His indignation, frustration, and love.  What He allows me to feel, a physical body cannot contain it.  He has allowed me to feel some of what He feels, and it makes me break down.  In this case, He was allowing me to feel what He feels when we do not place the proper weight and consideration to the words He gives.  We have grown so used to it.  It made me think of the ten lepers that Yeshua healed, and only one leper came back and thanked Him.  His question was, “Where are the others?”. 

 

Are we truly grateful that He still speaks so clearly, or have we grown so used to it that we don’t even consider it?

 

The other day, I noticed He had become quiet and wasn’t speaking to me.  I went to my room and sat down with Him and said, “Lord, the only life I have in me is the Life you are in me; outside of you I have no life.  If you do not speak to me, I am as a plant that withers away.  I value and treasure your words when you speak to me.  Speak to me.  Speak to me, because unless you speak to me, I die and wither away.”  Yeshua said in Matthew 4:4, “… Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.”   It is by the words He speaks to us that we live.  It is not just the logos, but it is also the rhema – the revelation that comes by His Spirit.  Whether He does it by His Word or He speaks to our hearts, or whether He speaks through circumstances (as I discuss in my previous devotional, “When God Speaks”), we are to live by those very words that He speaks to us.  Unless He does, we wither away.  This is because we are called to be like the trees that are planted by the riverside where our leaves do not wither away, and regardless of the season we will bear fruit of which others will eat.  We will be planted in the river of God.  Water in the Word is a reference to the Word of God.  This is why when we have the river or water of God, the Word of God, in us, we become living testimonies, trees of life, and living epistles or books to read.  Unless He speaks and unless we hear – unless we value what He speaks – why must He continue if we are not going to listen?  

 

This is what He brought upon my heart.  Then He started to build on this and said He wanted to speak to His children and the workers that will go out in this time.  He wants us to have an understanding that when we go out and speak the words that He wants us to speak, they will not listen.  What I sensed and felt, and what He wants to say about it, is also what you will have to bear on your shoulders.  That burden… the burden of the Lord that His word is not heard.  He who is the Word became flesh and now dwells in us – that Life – will not be heard.  John 1 says, “1 In the beginning was the Word…” and “4 In Him was life; and the life was the light of men”.  Christ is the Life in you, and when He speaks His word through you and you are not heard, then He will cause you to bear the burden of not being heard… what He feels.  You will not just carry that weight upon you, treasuring the weight of the words He speaks and not being heard, but you will also be persecuted.  You will come to an evil generation that hates God, and they will see the manifestation of God in you and will hate you for it.  Your heart will be broken, because they will not consider the judgment that will come upon them because they come against His prophets.

 

You will remember in my last devotional, “Overcoming Eagles”, that I said that the Smyrna group, the Priscillas and Aquilas who are the eagles of God, are the prophetic connection to those being sent out.  And in this case, also the Queen of the South.  They will be persecuted.  We must understand that they will lay their lives down for these very people who will come against them.  Let’s read in Romans 1 about the type of people we will be sent to.

 

ROMANS 1

²² Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,

²³ And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.

²⁴ Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:

²⁵ Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.

²⁶ For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:

²⁷ And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.

²⁸ And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;

²⁹ Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,

³⁰ Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,

³¹ Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:

³² Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.

 

This is the evil generation that the Queen of the South and the workers will be sent to, to condemn and judge.  They will speak of the judgment of God.  Can you consider the audience?  Can you consider God’s burden on His heart over the judgment that will come upon these people?  The Word says that it is not His will that any man would perish.  This burden, His burden, will be upon His Bride’s shoulders.  It will not be a case of us walking down the street calling out to everyone that if they don’t repent they are going to die.  This is about reaching out to the lost and crying out, because there won’t be another chance.  There will not be another 2,000 years.  We are at the end of the age; this is the last generation.  What urgency and earnestness would God want us to have in crying out to the lost?  What is on His heart?  

 

We need to understand is the difference between the office of the prophet and the gift of prophecy.  In 1 Corinthians 14:5, Paul said that he desires that everyone would prophesy, or prophesieth, using the word from the KJV.  The word prophesieth means to exhort, to teach, to comfort.  This is not the same as the office of a prophet.  The gift of prophecy is to minister amongst one another, to be guided by the Spirit how to comfort and teach one another, and to bless one another.  That is called the gift of prophecy, under the unction of the anointing of the Holy Spirit.  

 

The office of the prophet is different.  First, to have the office of prophet, this person must be called by God, with a specific day and calling over that person’s life.  Then upon the call, God’s preparation of this person becomes evident, even though He was preparing them before the call.  As He said to Jeremiah in 1:5, “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations”.  He prepares the prophet, and how He does this by absolutely bringing that person to dust in every area of their life – not one area of their life is untouched.  He is fiercely jealous over His true prophets, and He shares them with no one.  This is why you will find that even though they were married, they were lonely.  The prophet is a lonely sojourner; he walks alone with God.  God sets him aside for a specific purpose, and that purpose is to know His heart.  The teacher who is in conjunction with the prophet has the responsibility to break open the Word of God and bring revelation, where the prophet comes alongside him and breaks open the heart of God.  This is why you will always find that the prophets cried out, always emotional and descriptive people, being writers and scribes.  Although they had scribes, they wrote and sang songs.  They were at times to act out a prophecy; they were a sign – just as Jonas was a sign.  Ezekiel was told that he would be a sign, and I believe Jeremiah was also told this.  They are a sign by how they live.  When God prepares a prophet, He works in their life and strips them of absolutely everything, and they hold on to nothing but Him.  They live by the words that God speaks to them.  They do not take His words lightly, because they know the cost involved to get to the point to receive His words.  They also consider the cost of not speaking that Word.  In all, God reveals His heart to them.  Why does He do this?  Because He can trust them; because He worked in them that disposition where He can trust them with His heart.  That is why there are so few true prophets.  Many operate in the gifts of prophecy but are not necessarily called to the office of prophet. We need to know this difference.  The church in this time, the worker Bride, will go out as a prophetic entity to speak the judgments of God over this evil generation, and He will reveal His heart to them.  Why?  Because they have already laid their lives down.  He has come and worked in them that disposition that they will lay their lives down as the candlesticks of Christianity, as the Smyrna group who lay their necks on the line.  As a result, He will reveal His heart to them so they may take His heart into battle.

 

I would like to share an experience I had about two years ago.  In my last devotional, “Overcoming Eagles”, I spoke about my friend Chantel’s dream about how the Scorpions (similar to the SWAT teams in America) came to their house and wanted to confront them.  About two years ago, I had the Scorpions phone me, which was of course quite abnormal.  It was a lady who called and asked me if I knew “Bruce”, as she was trying to see if my number was his.  Of course, I told her it was not his number and that I knew no one named Bruce.  She then just said goodbye and the call was over.  Immediately after this, Father brought my attention to Ezekiel 2:3, which we will look at.  The Scorpions are those who sting with their mouths as they judge and accuse and slander -- those from Romans 1 who will want to stone the prophets.  When I got this phone call about Bruce, I thought I must look up the meaning of the name.  The only meaning I found was tied to Robert the Bruce, who known as Braveheart.  It wasn’t William Wallace who was Braveheart, it was actually Robert the Bruce.  During that medieval time, the companies would meet halfway and ask, “Are you for Collins or are you for Bruce?”.  They wanted to know which king they fell under.  So, it was if the “scorpion” was phoning me to ask, “Which king do you follow?”.  I researched Robert the Bruce more and found that he was supposed to go into battle but never did and felt quite bad about it.   On his deathbed, he asked his friend James (another name for John) to cut out his heart upon his death and take it into battle.  This way he could still go into battle with them when they went out.  Through this, Father was saying to me, “Take my heart into battle with you.  In this time, my worker Bride will take my heart amongst the scorpions.  She will know and understand my heart, but they will not listen.”  Let’s now look at Ezekiel chapters 2 and 3 and get a deeper understanding.

 

EZEKIEL 2 & 3

¹ And he said unto me, Son of man, stand upon thy feet, and I will speak unto thee.

² And the spirit entered into me when he spake unto me, and set me upon my feet, that I heard him that spake unto me.

³ And he said unto me, Son of man, I send thee to the children of Israel, to a rebellious nation that hath rebelled against me: they and their fathers have transgressed against me, even unto this very day.

⁴ For they are impudent children and stiffhearted. I do send thee unto them; and thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God.

⁵ And they, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear, (for they are a rebellious house,) yet shall know that there hath been a prophet among them.

⁶ And thou, son of man, be not afraid of them, neither be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns be with thee, and thou dost dwell among scorpions: be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house.

⁷ And thou shalt speak my words unto them, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear: for they are most rebellious.

⁸ But thou, son of man, hear what I say unto thee; Be not thou rebellious like that rebellious house: open thy mouth, and eat that I give thee.

⁹ And when I looked, behold, an hand was sent unto me; and, lo, a roll of a book was therein;

¹⁰ And he spread it before me; and it was written within and without: and there was written therein lamentations, and mourning, and woe.

¹ Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, eat that thou findest; eat this roll, and go speak unto the house of Israel.

² So I opened my mouth, and he caused me to eat that roll.

³ And he said unto me, Son of man, cause thy belly to eat, and fill thy bowels with this roll that I give thee. Then did I eat it; and it was in my mouth as honey for sweetness.

⁴ And he said unto me, Son of man, go, get thee unto the house of Israel, and speak with my words unto them.

⁵ For thou art not sent to a people of a strange speech and of an hard language, but to the house of Israel;

⁶ Not to many people of a strange speech and of an hard language, whose words thou canst not understand. Surely, had I sent thee to them, they would have hearkened unto thee.

⁷ But the house of Israel will not hearken unto thee; for they will not hearken unto me: for all the house of Israel are impudent and hardhearted.

⁸ Behold, I have made thy face strong against their faces, and thy forehead strong against their foreheads.

⁹ As an adamant harder than flint have I made thy forehead: fear them not, neither be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house.

¹⁰ Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, all my words that I shall speak unto thee receive in thine heart, and hear with thine ears.

 

The first few verses are very telling and point to the Jonas figure, Yeshua, the Son of Man, and His heart of not being heard.  It also points to His worker Bride who will be with Him during this time.  When the Father spoke to me and gave me this burden and allowed me to feel what He feels when His Word is not heard, He was telling me, “Pietra, I am sending you out, and understand, people will not listen.  This is part of your call, to bear that burden of not being heard.”  It is very painful when God speaks a word to you and the weight bears hard on you.  It is too precious to go and share with the world and then not be heard.  It breaks your heart.  He wanted me to understand that this is part of the burden.  In verse 3, think of the Romans 1 group; this rebellious nation means a bitter nation.  I did a devotional teaching called, “Laying the Axe to the Root”, where I talk about how rebellion and bitterness are linked together.  Continuing in verse 4, He is sending him out with a word of judgment to this nation, and there is no guarantee they will hear.  In verse 6, briars and thorns pierce, like words.  He tells him not to be afraid of their looks, and this word “looks” is the same word for face or a person.  When Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses, they said that God also spoke to them in dreams and visions.  God then said to them that He speaks to them in dreams and visions, but to Moses He speaks face to face (Numbers 12:6-8).  He was saying to them that He speaks to Moses person to person, because he knows His heart.  Also, they needed to know the difference between the gift of prophecy and the office of prophet.  He speaks to a prophet person to person, because He has dealt with that person in the wilderness.  Moses was 40 years in the wilderness, and God dealt with that man in order to bring him up to that acacia bush on Mount Horeb to hear Him speak to him.  He had to prepare him to send him out as the apostle and prophet of God.  He spoke to him face to face.  Just as in Ezekiel 2, He is telling the prophets whom He is sending out not to look at the faces of the people, but to look at His instead; and not to listen to their words, but listen to His.

 

When the Father brought this sense over me of His Word not being heard, I cried so much because my heart was broken over His heart.  This was not because I am not being heard, as I am nobody; I am nothing.  My heart was broken because He wasn’t being heard, and I got to the point that I told Him I didn’t want to do this.  I felt I didn’t want to do this anymore if it is going to break His heart, if He is going to be ignored so much.  He said to me, “You will do it; this is part of the call”.  He is saying in Ezekiel to the Son of Man that whether they hear or don’t hear, he still must say to them, “Thus saith the Lord”.  In verse 8, He is giving Ezekiel something to eat. 

 

What is this that he is being given to eat?  That which God is going to speak forth.  God gives His prophets a word to speak, and that word must become part of their being.  The lamentations, mournings and woes all become part of the prophet.  He has to eat it before he can speak it.  There is a death that takes place.  There is something that happens to the constitution of the prophet within his being, and he becomes one with the message.  This is so that when he speaks, he is so one with the message that he becomes the message; he becomes a sign unto the people.  It’s not just that he speaks the message; God has required that he take that word and make it part of himself before he is allowed to speak it.  This is just like Yeshua, His Son, and the way He lived and died was the message.  The same is so for the prophet; he is also the message.  This is what will happen to those He sends out to speak forth the lamentations, mournings, and woes.  They will eat the scroll and carry the burden and the weight of the word they will speak.  This cannot be taken lightly.  This is the relationship between the prophet and God… so to not listen to the prophet is to not listen to God.  In 3:8-9, He is saying that He has dealt with him in wilderness personally; He has dealt with his character and disposition and has been with him through many sufferings to the point that his face has now become strong against their faces and his forehead against their foreheads.  In the Strong’s, the word “strong” is H2389, and it means sharp, stout, mighty, hard, firm, courageous, to prevail, and resolute.  “Forehead” means the brow, like the part above the brow that a ram would use in battle against another ram.  It is H4696 and it means to be stubborn.  He says to the prophet that He has made him stubborn no matter who comes against him.  One of the words that Father gave me at the start of this devotional teaching was the word “resolution”, which means to be determined, resolute, to endure; in other words, nothing is going to stop you.  This is how He will make His prophets against those to whom He sends.

 

In 3:9, the word “adamant” is somewhat like the forehead and actually means diamond, or to cut.  In the Strong’s it is H8068, and it means a thorn, a hedge, flint, or a sharp stone.  Yeshua set His face like a flint to go to Jerusalem to be crucified.  This means nothing could deter Him; no matter what happened around Him, He would not stop.  You will remember in my devotional teaching, “When God Speaks”, I spoke of the fact that He will speak and show through dreams and visions many things that will happen in the spirit realm, but sometimes what we will see will be so great that it will be very difficult for us to deal with it.  I spoke about a vision I had of a mighty tree that came out of the Word.  I saw the Bible open up, and a mighty oak tree was growing up with birds sitting in the top part.  The Lord then took me to Matthew 14 where it talks about the mustard seed and how it is like the tree that grows so big that the birds come and sit in it.  When I looked up the words “mustard seed”, it means a thorn.  Then the seed is sown, and the word “sow” means to draw a sword.  He is saying that their forehead, the adamant, will be as a thorn that will pierce them as the Sword of the Spirit.  They will not have to stand back, because He will make them strong and resolute.  Although they will be strong, they are not to look at their faces nor listen to their words; but they should also know that the people will not listen to them.

 

We will now continue in Ezekiel 3 but moving on to verse 14.

 

EZEKIEL 3

¹⁴ So the spirit lifted me up, and took me away, and I went in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit; but the hand of the Lord was strong upon me.

¹⁵ Then I came to them of the captivity at Telabib, that dwelt by the river of Chebar, and I sat where they sat, and remained there astonished among them seven days.

¹⁶ And it came to pass at the end of seven days, that the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,

¹⁷ Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me.

¹⁸ When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.

¹⁹ Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.

²⁰ Again, When a righteous man doth turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumbling-block before him, he shall die: because thou hast not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he hath done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at thine hand.

²¹ Nevertheless if thou warn the righteous man, that the righteous sin not, and he doth not sin, he shall surely live, because he is warned; also thou hast delivered thy soul.

²⁵ But thou, O son of man, behold, they shall put bands upon thee, and shall bind thee with them, and thou shalt not go out among them:

²⁶ And I will make thy tongue cleave to the roof of thy mouth, that thou shalt be dumb, and shalt not be to them a reprover: for they are a rebellious house.

²⁷ But when I speak with thee, I will open thy mouth, and thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; He that heareth, let him hear; and he that forbeareth, let him forbear: for they are a rebellious house.

 

It is very interesting that in verse 3, Ezekiel, the Son of Man, is saying that he is in sadness or bitterness and he simply was not up for the task.  He knew the heavy burden he would have to bear.  The bitterness that he felt is how I felt.  But the hand of God was upon him.  In verse 15 he mentions being in Tel Abib, and this word means mount of the flood.  The word “abib” is H24 and H23 and it means fresh barley, fresh young ears.  Abib is the ear-forming month of the year of the corn, so it is still green.  Green ears do not hear well.  He is sent to that place where they will not hear the words of God.  As he is there, he sits there astonished, or perplexed, devasted, and overwhelmed for 7 days.  This is much like when Paul went to Athens where the Word says that his spirit was moved within him, because the whole city was given over to idolatry.  This is the same as the Son of Man sitting in Tel Abib astonished for seven days.  The number seven means completion, so he has to look and see these people the way God sees them.  It can’t be the way he sees it; he has to sit there in silence watching and seeing…  apostolic sending and seeing.  He must see with the heart of God and be astonished, dismayed, and devastated over their state.  In verses 31 – 32, He speaks specifically of the warnings and the impact of the prophet carrying out these warnings.  He is first speaking of the man in wickedness, or the lost, and then He speaks of the one who was righteous but has backslidden.  The prophet is sent out to warn them.

 

As we move to verse 25, we see that He is speaking of the same thing Yeshua said when He told His disciples that some of them would be cast into prison.  John the Baptist was cast into prison, and the Smyrna group was told by Yeshua some of them would be cast into prison for 10 days.  In verse 26, we are reminded of Proverbs 9:8 that says, “Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee: rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee”.  God tells Ezekiel that he will not speak until He opens his mouth to speak with His words.  An interesting thing is that while I was reading this, my friend Simone who has dreams that she shares with me, left me a “good-morning message”.  She said that the Friday before, she had a terrible time because her daughter’s eardrum had burst.  Then the next day, my good friend Chris told me that she had a problem with her right ear.  This was after I was reading about Tel Abib and the green ears not ripe for hearing.  This nation, although they have ears, will not hear the judgment that will be spoken over them.  They will not have an excuse when this happens.

 

Earlier, I discussed Solomon in Luke 11 as well as Jonas.  Yeshua said that one greater than Solomon was there.  The other day, I found an interesting connection with Solomon.  Just after the last devotional teaching where I shared that the Lord told me I would be the mother of thousands of souls, I woke up at 5:01, and 501 means thousands in the Strong’s.  I’ve received this number many times, but this time I decided to also look up where this word is used in the Word.  It took me to Song of Solomon 8, and I would like to share the reference here.  If we consider that Yeshua said He is coming as Solomon, then we can see that He says He is coming as the Bridegroom.  He is not just coming as the Prophet, but He is coming as the King (Bridegroom) with His Queen (Bride).  He is coming with His Bride who has presented spices, like the Queen of Sheba, the Queen of the South.  The whole book of the Song of Solomon is about the Bride and the Bridegroom.  In Song of Solomon 8, it talks about her coming out of the wilderness – a wilderness experience with Him.  This all takes place in a garden, which represents her heart.  When she comes out of the wilderness, she is leaning on her Beloved.  She is close to Him, and as she is leaning on His chest where His signet ring is, she says to Him to set her as a seal upon His heart.  The kings often had their signet ring on a string hanging near their heart, and she is leaning on this.  She asks Him to let the impression of her be upon His heart.  Then she talks about how jealous this love is.  Let’s look at this now.

 

SONG OF SOLOMON 8

⁵ Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved? I raised thee up under the apple tree: there thy mother brought thee forth: there she brought thee forth that bare thee.

⁶ Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm: for love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave: the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame.

⁷ Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it: if a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be contemned.

⁸ We have a little sister, and she hath no breasts: what shall we do for our sister in the day when she shall be spoken for?

⁹ If she be a wall, we will build upon her a palace of silver: and if she be a door, we will inclose her with boards of cedar.

¹⁰ I am a wall, and my breasts like towers: then was I in his eyes as one that found favour.

¹¹ Solomon had a vineyard at Baalhamon; he let out the vineyard unto keepers; every one for the fruit thereof was to bring a thousand pieces of silver.

¹² My vineyard, which is mine, is before me: thou, O Solomon, must have a thousand, and those that keep the fruit thereof two hundred.

¹³ Thou that dwellest in the gardens, the companions hearken to thy voice: cause me to hear it.

¹⁴ Make haste, my beloved, and be thou like to a roe or to a young hart upon the mountains of spices.

 

The kind of love in verse 6 that He has for this Bride is one where He will allow death to take place in her in order for her to understand this love.  He is so jealous over her that he will cause anything else that gives her life, to die.  This is so He will be the only life in her.  He is the Source of life.  Proverbs 10:11 says, “The mouth of a righteous man is a well of life…”, so she is so united to Him that she has no other form of life.  His words are her life, and He is so jealous over her that He is cruel in His jealousy.  He shares her with no one.  In verse 7, this love that cannot be quenched is the same love of Romans 8:35-39 where Paul says that there is nothing at all that can separate us from the love of Christ.  In verse 8, she begins to speak about her little sister, which can make us think of Leah and Rachel.  Leah as the older sister was married first, and Rachel was the younger sister.  Think of Leah as the old wheat and Rachel as the young wheat – the Tel Abib, the green, young ears that are not listening yet.  This little sister spoken of in verse 8 is an immature sister; she has not fully formed yet.  This palace spoken of is of silver, which represents righteousness, with a door of cedar, which represents the cross.  She is talking about her sister here, just as Leah would speak of Rachel not being fully formed or mature yet, like the younger or spring wheat.  In verse 10, she speaks of herself – this Queen of the South – and says that she knows she is a wall where she said about her sister, “IF she was a wall…”.  She is looked upon with favor.  Her breasts are like towers, and these towers represent rostrums.  Rostrums are the front part of a ship, specifically warships in the Roman period, where there was a podium from which Caeser or whoever would speak.  There was usually a figure of an animal in this front part of the warship, and there was also a pointed part that would pierce.  In verse 10, she is saying that her breasts are like these rostrums in the front part of ships.  If you look in the Strong’s for the meaning of the podium, it means to preach.  Her two breasts represent the two witnesses, but particularly, they represent the 144,000 – the worker Bride who will go out.  Yeshua said that the commission He has given them is to go out and preach the gospel.  Her breasts are fully formed; she is ready.  There is milk in her breasts, and she is ready to give the milk of the Word.  What is the Bride going to do?  She is the mother of His children.  She is ready to go and feed and pasture the flock to give them nourishment.  She is a walled city, just as Jeremiah was told that he would be a walled city, a pillar, and he would be fortified.  No matter how the people would come against him, they would not be able to overcome him.  This is the same with Ezekiel. 

 

The Bride will also be fortified, and the question is, how does she become fortified?  He takes her through suffering in her life in order to subject her body and her mind to suffering of such a kind that it leaves her completely weak so that the only person she can trust is Him.  He causes her spirit to be strengthened and her forehead and face to become strong.  She will become stubborn and enduring.  (There is another teaching specifically about this called, “Fortified”.)  Endurance is the name of the game, so our disposition to our suffering is so important.  What He is working in us is to establish us…  to make us a pillar, and a pillar stands alone to bear the burden from above and below, the foundation.  The pillar stands no matter what. This is what He is working in you right now.  This is so that when they come against these witnesses – the 144,000 – those who are called out – the men of Ninevah who rise with the Queen of the South in judgment, they will be stout.  They will be resolute; they will not give in.  The anointing and power of God will be upon them.     

 

Getting back to the scriptures, in verse 11 the keepers are mentioned.  Who are these keepers?  These are the workers.  Her vineyard in verse 12 is referring to her portion; the portion assigned to her by God to whom to minister and look after.  Matthew 25 comes to mind where the servants are sent out with their talents, which is very important.  She says that he will have a thousand and the keepers of the fruit 200, which means that the keepers, the workers, will get a portion, but He will get a thousand.  What is the fruit of a woman’s womb?  Children.  The Bride must bring in the children.  This is His heart.

 

I would like to now read a quote by Art Katz, my mentor.  This is from a teaching I was listening to, and once I heard this particular quote, the rest was history as they say.  He is speaking here of the relationship between God and the prophet.  Please understand that as I share this, I am not saying we are not to expose false prophets.  I am focused on the attitude towards the Word of God, now and when He will give it to us to speak judgment over this generation.

 

ART KATZ – GOD AND THE PROPHET

 “God has a deep identification with that which is prophetic, and for someone to touch that is to touch Him.  To abuse that is to abuse Him.  It may well be that the greatest enmity against God is visited upon the prophets for exactly that reason. To assault a prophet is to assault God.  How shall I say that without making it sound self-serving or personal?  I know that it is true. There is something that the world hates.  The world hates God.  The world is at enmity with God.  But the prophet is the visible manifestation of elements central to God’s own being that the world has the opportunity both to identify, hate; to despise, and to do evil.  The testimony of a prophet is a statement of God, not only when He is speaking; often even when he is silent.  Their presence is an abomination and an offense to a world that despises God.  You cannot separate the ministry from the man; he is a message himself.  The man himself, the investment of God, the shaping of the character and the life is more pronounced than other callings, with the exception of the apostle.  What the man is, is an offense as well as his message.  If he is not the message, you may expect that what you have is not a prophet, but a false prophet.”

 

In order to give and be the message there has to first be a death in the prophet.  There is always a price to pay in order to be a mouthpiece for God.  There has to be a death that takes place in that prophet every time He gives a message, and usually, that word will require a death in the hearers as well.  Art goes on further to say:

 

“You pay a price when you reject, disregard, let alone violently reject him, who God sends in that prophetic mantle, because it is so the essence of God Himself in His own being.  They stoned the prophets sent unto them, which made the judgments necessary to come.  Why?  Because to reject them is to reject the Word of God.”

 

We will now go to Isaiah 66.

 

ISAIAH 66

⁵ Thus saith the Lord, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest?

² For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the Lord: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.

³ He that killeth an ox is as if he slew a man; he that sacrificeth a lamb, as if he cut off a dog's neck; he that offereth an oblation, as if he offered swine's blood; he that burneth incense, as if he blessed an idol. Yea, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delighteth in their abominations.

⁴ I also will choose their delusions, and will bring their fears upon them; because when I called, none did answer; when I spake, they did not hear: but they did evil before mine eyes, and chose that in which I delighted not.

⁵ Hear the word of the Lord, ye that tremble at his word; Your brethren that hated you, that cast you out for my name's sake, said, Let the Lord be glorified: but he shall appear to your joy, and they shall be ashamed.

⁶ A voice of noise from the city, a voice from the temple, a voice of the Lord that rendereth recompence to his enemies.

 

Verse 5 is about the workers and how their brethren will hate them and reject them, thinking that they are doing a service unto God.  In verse 6, He is speaking of those who become His enemies, because they reject the prophets and in turn reject Him who is the Word being spoken through that prophet.  Then we know there will be a famine of the Word that comes.  In Jeremiah 23, it talks about the false prophets and how they are the burden of the Lord, because they do not listen to His burden.  Therefore, they become a burden unto Him.  And because of this, they will no longer receive a Word, and there will be famine in the land.  The famine of bread, the written Word, is a manifestation of closing the ears to the spoken Word of God.  This is why there will be famine in the last days as well, because the earth no longer wants to listen to its Creator. 

 

Today I want to exhort you to consider this word and His words, to not pass words given out by true prophets, but to sit with those words and ask the Lord what He is saying to you.  Ask Him what must transpire in you to receive this word, and what is your disposition towards this word and the person speaking.  Also ask Him what must you do and what have you failed to do with the words He has spoken to you before and is now speaking again.  I exhort you to stop yourself from going from one word to another word, from one prophet to another prophet, and eating up one word and the next word and the next word.  How cheap we make the Word of God, and how lightly we esteem the Word of God when we deal with it so frivolously and so flippantly.  If we esteem the written Word so lightly, how much more the spoken Word.  We have the written Word with us daily, but when the true spoken Word comes, it should have so much great value.  There is great cost to forming a pearl, and we esteem that lightly.  How we break the Father’s heart who sent His Word to die for us.

 

Father, thank you that I can bring every person reading this, those workers who will be sent out.  Many desire that you will speak to them.  If we are faithful Father to the little that you give us, you will give us more.  Open their eyes Father, and open their ears to hear.  Open our hearts to hear what is on your heart, to be able to minister to one another.  Let your Word have its proper place in our hearts.  Forgive us Father for jumping from one person to another, for being spiritually malnourished -- overfed in a way with junk food, that we are not willing to put the necessary work into a word spoken.  We are not willing to sit with your Word, even a single word spoken, and allow you to break that word open to us.  We take your Word so lightly, and there will be a famine.  Father, inscribe your Word on our hearts, and give us the grace to memorize it and treasure it and to love it, like Psalm 119 where David loves your Word.  I pray Father that you will work that conviction in our spirits.  I pray this in the name of Yeshua.  Amen.