Revelation 1 gives us an insight into this reality. When you consider the persecutions of the first apostles you see that what is happening today is not so developed in a concerted effort to persecute the Church, I think we are on the threshold of an end time persecution which shall fill the "cup of iniquity" of the whole world. This shall be pivotal for the end. This series which I started just after the new year has the motivation of preparing the saints for what is coming. What is coming can only be walked through when we are duly prepared in the Word and the Spirit.
"I was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day." v10
This persecution of John the Apostle is quite something. According to contemporary history John was boiled in oil, but he would not die. He had a similar protection just like Daniel. The Lord refines John, through the persecution, and places him in the Spirit as he recounts in Revelation 1. What the experience taught him is that he is led to Jesus, the Ascended Lord. The story in this chapter is akin to Luke 2 when Simeon is "led of the Spirit" in the Temple at the time Jesus, the Baby, is presented. The Holy Spirit does not have His own mission! He leads us to Jesus!
There have been false revivals, which have led people to elevate movements, churches, people and are seen for what they are in this light of Scripture. When God pours out the Holy Spirit upon the Church for revival Jesus is Glorified. This is coming again, for John is confronted with a Jesus he was not acquainted with.
John is said to have fallen as a "man who was dead." I believe there is a process between chapters 1 and 2 for revival in our day. We are going to see what that process is, as God opens this Scripture out to us. We need first to be "in the Spirit," and we need to understand what will be needed for us to be brought into that place. For John it was a bodily persecution and a banishment to the island of Patmos. We in turn have been banished to the "island of lockdown." In that banishment is the pinnacle revelation of Jesus Christ.
The purpose of hardship is to bring us into making Jesus the center. Much of Church, particularly in the aspects of leadership have been mixing spirituality with an aspect of politics on many levels, and many leaderships have led things as though God needed help, or the lack of His presence has provided opportunity for entertainment and seeker friendly initiatives. Now the Lord is bringing us to Himself via the pressures we are now experiencing, to bring us into the same dimension where Jesus reigns and lives. We need to be there so that we may come face to face He who we paid lip service, who we shied away from in former times of great conviction.
Meeting Jesus Afresh
WE NEED TO MEET JESUS AFRESH BECAUSE IN MEETING HIM WE MAY BE MARKED WITH HIS SEAL AND BE GIVEN HIS WITNESS. There can be no witness without us being there where He is. Our spiritual vision must be given, and we must BEHOLD Him as He, to blow away our false theology and our false faith!
"…the seven spirits before His Throne…" v4
For us to be in the Spirit we must decipher this, for many have many interpretations which may have a denominational filter. However, John emphasizes the Sevenfold Spirit. If we need to go to Isaiah 11 we get what those are, and what their distinction is.
And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him,
The spirit of wisdom and understanding,
The spirit of counsel and might,
The spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord,
And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord. Isaiah 11:2-3
The state of being "in the Spirit" is no means a mystical experience, or one to be acquired by religious exercise. It is a preparation of the Lord, which Isaiah 11 tells you each of the Seven and what they represent.
Each is a baptism of fire, to come to the saints throughout their sanctification. They come to bring us the Spirit, our spirit being brought and trained into knowing the realm of the Spirit, and that same spirit "resting" upon a person. The Hebrew word is "nuach," which means "to settle," "to comfort," "to remain." There is coming an experience to the saints where the Holy Spirit will not just visit but He will inhabit His People. This will make His people a "Habitation of God in the Spirit." (Ephesians 2:20) The Church must transition from the momentary of visitation to the permanent state of habitation, so that there is manifestation. What is the manifestation? The Ascended Lord looking through the collective unified Church out to the world. This will bring terror and fear. So the "ruach" of the Spirit, becomes the "nuach." How the original languages bring a sense of depth of meaning. The Church is being prepared for this now. This is the first process so that the Church will be like the "Menorah."
There is coming a heavenly wisdom, the same that indwelt Bezaleel in Exodus 31, who fashioned to the design that Moses received on the holy mount. This wisdom and skill brought glory upon the tabernacle. We see this repeated in 2 Chronicles 5 to 7, when Solomon, receiving the plans from David, built exactly to divine design, the result is 2 Chronicles 7:1, where first fire came down and a cloud of glory filled God's house. There is a coming a wisdom on the Church that the heavenly design from that original Day of Pentecost will bring an alignment and adjustment. This alignment will bring a visitation of fire! Then a habitation of glory. The manifestation comes in verse 14, when prayer is offered, even in a time of apostasy. Brethren, the visitation we must expect is FIRE first, then we must expect a Habitation of Glory. This is a result of heavenly wisdom, and we see this when Solomon asks this of the Lord. Riches and lives of enemies was not asked for, and God gave riches and rest to him. So, the Lord through wisdom will bring riches and rest to His people!
Partners and Partakers
The understanding God wants to bring is the kind that Psalm 103:7 says, which distinguishes the type of role Moses had in contrast with Israel. Moses knew the ways of God but Israel saw His acts. Understanding causes us to intertwine with the ways of God on the end times. The Bible talks in Jude about the end time role of the Church, citing a prophetic word from Enoch, in which he spoke of a multitude of saints COMING WITH THE LORD in the end time to judge the world. The persecuted Church transitioned to become the prosecutor Church. This understanding and flowing with God's ways brings us involvement in the contours of God's works. Make us partners and partakers.
The Counsel of the Lord opens us to the purpose of God, which is the whole context of Revelation is the final purpose of God revealed through David in Psalm 2, when God finally completes setting His King on His Holy Hill, in fulness. So our adjustment is our focus, our devotion, our effort is to flow in that objective. To see established the REIGN OF THE KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS. So many are superimposing their own interpretation on the book of Revelation, being those negative things, deciphering the mark of the Beast, the false prophet and antichrist. Yet all these only serve to wind up the age. For us as a Church, prepared for this time, is a time of purpose.
The baptism of might is one which has been lacking, but once we understand the end time program of God, having met Jesus the Ascended King, so the seal and the witness shall enable us to move in the "spirit of might," which is power, and mastery over all evil. Revelation does not show the Church as the tail, rather in the persecutions and deaths, the Lord, God the Father begins to make His Church transition into her final state as the Bride of Christ. This is what closes this age, as she comes into total union with Christ. Jesus does not wed a Bride defeated and ragged with the persecutions, no the persecution causes Her to come into her final destiny, forever blood spilled out, every sigh, every cry, that cries out, there are two cries, one under the Throne, and one with the Holy Spirit, crying out for Jesus' appearing in Glory to bring also the Appearing of the Bride. Also. Evil has its moment, but is a moment!
The Spirit of Knowledge brings LIFE and LIGHT. This is what lacks in God's people at the moment, for the knowing is far more than knowing about, but an intimate interaction. God's end time people shall be known for INTIMACY with God. What that intimacy shows is a passion, for what? Passion for ministry? Passion for a pulpit? Passion for influence? NO. A passion that Jesus weds with His Church!!!
Our knowledge is not about ministry, not about even the Bible, our knowing is Him only. The Bible tells us "My people perish for lack of knowledge," if people perish for its lack, so people will prosper for its abundance. Those for whom the flames go up in the lamp of knowledge shall come into ever increasing intimacy with Him.
A New Shift
The Spirit of the Fear of the Lord divides us from sin, brings us into a pursuit of purity and intimacy with Him, knowing He is the King, powerful and mighty. Our posture before Him shall change and we shall know how to be in His presence. The priests could not minister in 2 Chronicles 7:1. It is time that earthly ministry ceases because the heavenly has come down!
Once we have this Sevenfold fire, we shall be able to withstand the evil fires of the end days.
What you see write in a book and send it to the seven churches…
God is going to cause people to have experience of preparation in the Spirit as we have mentioned, so that they can SEE, AND WHAT THEY SEE they will write. The 7 churches mentioned here correspond to the 7 Churches that John was apostle. This means that what is coming to apostles and many ministers is a seeing and writing, writing and preaching…the things which heaven shall show. The Word of Jesus to His Church in much time has been mixed with human opinions, with human wisdom, carnal mindsets. Jesus is about to speak through the witness He shall place on His apostles and prophets. And what these ministries shall see shall be the Word in its full counsel. A great alignment, a great encouragement, a great judgment shall come first to the House of God.
I am the Alpha and the Omega….
This is the key…to this new shift over the earth…Jesus is the I AM, He is the only One. He is the all in all, the beginning and the end. It is time to bring Jesus into the center, and become like John the Baptist, "that He might take preeminence."
I believe I will come back to this chapter of Revelation 1. I sense that God wants us to meditate on all this, and begin to pray this through. For in this message is a strong call, for us to place Jesus where He needs to be. We cannot be a Bride without the Groom, being where He should be in our hearts!
Maranatha! Come Lord Jesus.
Russell Durose
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