Seven Lamps Burning Bright Will Guide the Way Through the Night
I see the seven lamps they are burning bright, fed with the oil crushed and pressed in the night. Holy Spirit have your way, as all creation was birthed in six days. What incredible power you hold, yet we often look only for small works to unfold. Every day is a wonder that you sustain, let us not let it pass by in vain. Let Your Bride shine brightly in the dark, let her step out and into Your adventure embark. And let our young be the Enoch generation, captivated by loving devotion and not living in stagnation. Pulling from heaven your resources, to overtake the darkness forces. That many may come to know and see, Your Kingdom come in all its glory.
Jesus promises over and over again throughout Scripture that He will return for us. His Kingdom will fully come in all its glory as He comes riding on a cloud of glory. All eyes will see and be stricken with grief and repentance. The Bible says that it is just after a time of great wrath where we experience consequences for sin and cleansing through suffering.
Paul notes that our suffering, persecution and trials we are to endure with perseverance. This, Paul says in 2 Thessalonians 1:5 is evidence that God’s judgment is right and we are county worthy of the Kingdom of God.
Paul goes on to say that the Lord will punish those who persecute Christians as He returns. He says, “This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with His powerful angels. He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His might on the day He comes to be glorified in His holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed.” (2 Thessalonians 1:7-9)
This Scripture talks about those shut out from the Kingdom of God. They are forever away from His presence as they experience torment and chaos. Their destiny is eternal destruction because they have refused faith in the Lord for a different way.
This is why it is so important that we share Christ. It is not an option but an eternal destiny. People who choose not to receive Christ live in torment and chaos. Their destiny is eternal destruction. And by bringing just one to come know the Lord, they can bring many others who bring many others and on and on.
When the deceiver is fully taken out of the way, there will no longer be this vail over people’s eyes. The deceiver will no longer be able to be hidden and convince others that there is a better way or a different option that is for them.
So how does it look when He comes with a shout and raises the dead?
Paul says in Acts 24:15, “I have the same hope in God that these men have, that He will raise both the righteous and the unrighteous.”
There are actually two resurrections of the dead. In the first one, those who had martyred are raised from the dead. These are faithful ones that “had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They are raised to life to reign with Christ a thousand years. Also, those which were seated on thrones and given authority to judge.
Revelation 20:6 says, “Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years.”
I wonder what this scripture really means. Living in a ‘everyone gets a juice box world,’ perhaps through Christ paying the full price and being martyred, all who have received Christ before death are in this group.
Revelation 1:5-6 says, “To Him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by His blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.
But the Lord’s ways are not our ways and His thoughts are not our thoughts. He is no respecter of persons and everyone gets rewarded according to their own deeds. Those who have diligently sought the Lord their whole lives and never bowed to an idol, living so loudly for Christ that they are martyred will be rewarded accordingly.
So, more likely, it is speaking of these precious folks that were martyred for their faith having a special assignment of reigning on earth with Jesus for a thousand years of His Kingdom rule. After these thousand years, the devil is completely defeated and thrown in the lake of fire, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. (Revelation 20:10)
Revelation 22:14-15 says, “blessed are those who wash their robes [repent and be clothed in holiness and righteousness], that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city. Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.”
Here, it paints a picture of this beautiful city, where it says the
gates are always open, that the righteous can partake of and enjoy. While outside there is darkness and gnashing
of teeth as those who are unrighteous dwell.
It reminds me a little of the picture of the rich man who was in the place of torment but could see Lazarus, who he treated so poorly, on the other side in Paradise in the lap of Abraham but could not cross over in his unrighteousness. Although the gates are always open and welcoming, It says that no one who is unrighteous can enter.
I have watched shows of people who have experienced death and believed they went to hell, when they went there and repented, asking God to save them, they crossed over into new life. They experienced unconditional love. While they barely escaped through the fire and all their works are destroyed in the fire, they themselves are saved (1 Corinthians 3:15).
All that to say that God is so gracious that perhaps there is an
opportunity even after death to still change your mind and receive Jesus. Perhaps this is why the gates to the city are
flung wide open in love to receive anyone who wants to cross over.
In Jonah 2:1-7 we hear him cry out to the Lord, "In my distress I called to the Lord, and He answered me. From deep in the realm of the dead [some translations say hell], I called for help, and you listened to my cry."
It is easy to imagine in this story, like the cartoons, that the inside of a whale in the ocean would be filled with air and livable. Really? Let's get real. Jonah, in his sin and rebellion, had drown in the ocean and been swallowed by a whale. He was dead and condemned to hell. But he cried out to the Lord in His spirit and the Lord not only heard him, but resurrected him and gave him another chance.
Jesus told people that the only sign He would give is the sign of Jonah in the belly of the whale three days. This was fulfilled as he spent three days in the depths of Shoel, blew open the gates, and set captives freed.
1 Peter 3:18-20 says, "For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit, 19in whom He also went and preached to the spirits in prison 20who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built."
It is after this first resurrection and thousand-year reign that we see the second resurrection. This is the one spoken of in Acts 24:15. It is where the dead are raised and stand before the great white throne and the books were opened, along with the book of life. The dead, even those who had went to a place of torment, are judged according to what they have done. (Revelation 20:11-13)
It is at the time of judgement. And, right before this judgement and the second death, it says that death and Hades are thrown into the Lake of Fire. So everything false and evil is destroyed and totally defeated. There is no longer any curse or blinded eyes. It is then, as they see the One on the Great White Throne, that the book of life is opened.
It feels like a final choice opportunity for people to get their names written in the book of life if they are wanting to change course but only the Lord knows if there is a final opportunity. There is no denying Jesus is God at that point.
Paul says in Romans 2:6-10, "He will judge everyone according to what they have done. He will give eternal life to those who keep on doing good, seeking after the glory and honor and immortality that God offers. But He will pour out His anger and wrath on those who live for themselves, who refuse to obey the truth and instead live lives of wickedness. There will be trouble and calamity for everyone who keeps on doing what is evil--for the Jew first and also for the Gentile. But there will be glory and honor and peace from God for all who do good-- for the Jew first and also for the Gentile."
For those who are not found in the book of life, it is the second death. They, making a choice without being blinded by the devil and seeing the King on His Throne, at that point are thrown into the lake of fire and forever wiped from record and consumed by evil. (Revelation 20:14-15)
Revelation 21:7-8 says, “Those who are victorious will inherit all this [the Holy City, the new Jerusalem], and I will be their God and they will be my children. But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”
Ultimately, all is restored for those who receive Christ and they walk and talk again with the Lord in the Garden of Eden. They partake of the Tree of Life in the center of the Garden and are filled with His life to overflowing.
We were made for this kind of life of walking with God in the Garden. We are made as spirit beings that received a body of flesh because we sinned and lived under a curse. When we are saved, the Lord continues to work in our lives so that we can be presented fully mature in Christ. We were given the Holy Spirit, not to ignore Him but as our helper to bring us back to this place of walking by the Spirit in the cool of the day with the Lord.
In Colossians 1:10-12, prays for the believers to walk in this fullness, worthy of the Lord and pleasing Him in every way. It says, “bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to His glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of His holy people in the kingdom of light.”
This verse makes me think of some prophesy around my youngest. When we first got him, the Lord spoke that things would become easier and brighter over time and it has. When he first came to us, he was angry about being tossed around, had RAD and all kinds of other difficulty.
Over time, this boy has healed and is no longer my little steam pot. He, for the most part, is filled with joy. While he gives me a hard time at times, he is a great kid and I am so proud of him and love him very much. He has came so far and is becoming this incredible young man who loves athletics, football, and Jesus.
What I got from my struggles, now looking from the other side is this: I am incapable on my own to do well what God calls me to do. He beat the self-effort, people pleasing and self-wisdom out of me and caused me to lean into the Holy Spirit. It is only as I have His glorious might that I have great endurance and patience. His purpose for me to be tossed in this was to grow in dependence upon God. As I have learned to live out of this other Kingdom, freedom has come.
Looking back now, I am so happy that God put me in over my head with no way to get out with my own self-effort or hard work. I am so glad that there were difficult years that I had to learn to navigate. I am so glad for the testing and trials that taught me, not that I am naturally a good mom, but that that I can do all things well through Christ.
Like for Paul, who was Saul, who had a religious spirit and murdered people, it wasn’t that God showed Saul how to be a good person. It was that He showed Saul how to live by the Spirit. He threw him in heated places that caused greater dependence. It was in his weakness and God’s strength that he demonstrated the power of God. In living by the Spirit, Saul became Paul and rocked the Gentile world. He created such upheavals at times that people would riot. Here he sums it up, “To this end (presenting everyone fully mature in Christ) I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me.” (Colossians1:28)
The purpose of our walk is to not finally get it right. The purpose is to learn to live by the Spirit and take flight. As we surrender and lean into Him, we will find that we finally win. The power will roll down from above, to give us an anointing to truly love. Crushed and pressed we become like aged wine, leaning further into Him in suffering, our decanting makes us ‘fine.’
Revival and Ruin
We need his power for this era. I recently had a dream that work organizations were assessing how many of their employees drank and how much. The reason was that many were lost and looking for solace of escape into alcohol.
We just recently passed the date of 2/22 which felt significant. Lou Engle held a 222 event to pray and press in for unity and national revival. I received an email from a friend that forwarded a prophesy about a dream she (Christa Elisha) had on the way to the event. In it she writes about the sound of a million mothers in travail and the weeping and moaning turning into a roaring train engine. She said it was the sound of both ruin and revival with millions of prison doors unlatching.
There was much more but as she spoke about “the ground began to shake but this time it was a violent shaking that brought down a double edged sword to crack open the ground. I watched as corruption, like monuments and buildings began to collapse.”
It makes me think of the two great witnesses. As we have continued to see the ground shake with revival in many places as well as ruin (anguish), it feels like the time of the witnesses prophesying. It is ruin for those who are becoming overwhelmed trying to escape the anguish of the consequences for sin without Jesus. Hosea 4:7 says, "a people without understanding will come to ruin." And, revival power unleashing for the Bride of Christ and she steps out into the great harvest.
The lampstands are lit and shining bright as the anointing oil flows from crushing and pressing. One witness is speaking power and fire (Elisha) bringing the revival and the other is speaking wrath and judgement through the law for sin (Moses) bringing ruin to sin - purity, cleansing and freedom. Both are speaking repentance (sackcloth) as we must all turn out from the ways and complacency of the past and into the fullness of what God has for us. As gifts were given when they came to an end of their prophesy, it feels like it was painful and sorrowful repentance in making the turn. But in it, they were sustaining the Bride shining bright and on fire. And as the turn is made, the anointing flows freely for all God has for us.
Lord Jesus, thank you for the ways that you teach us dependence upon You with such patience. Thank you for working in our lives powerfully. Let our transformation not just be a trickle but an overflow of Your Spirit’s power to in You to live, move and have our being (Acts 17:28).
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