Blow The Trumpet in Zion #1 - Israel

[00:00:00] I would like first of all to thank everybody for praying for me on this very full and in one sense exhausting trip. [00:00:14] I believe the Lord has been greatly with us everywhere. [00:00:20] We have lived through a very significant times in the history of Israel. I was in Belfast of all places, which in itself has its own history of tragedy and of violence and of demonic and ferocious hatred. [00:00:42] And I'm very thankful to all of you who prayed for us that we have sailed through. We have been living in homes where people had the flu, all kinds of things in different places. [00:00:56] Possibly folks forgot to pray for them. But the Lord kept us wonderfully and I'm very, very thankful indeed. I want to turn you now to the word of God and I'm going to read in the prophecy of Ezekiel, and I'm going to read this word in chapter 13 in the new international version. [00:01:24] I don't normally use this version, but I'm going to use it to read this today. [00:01:34] Ezekiel, chapter 13 from verse one. [00:01:38] The word of the Lord came to me, son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel who are now prophesying. Say to those who prophesy out of their own imagination, hear the word of the Lord. This is what the sovereign lord says. [00:01:58] Woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit and have seen nothing. [00:02:05] Your prophets, O Israel, are like jackals among ruins. [00:02:10] You have not gone up to the brakes in the wall to repay it for the house of Israel, so that it will stand firm in the battle on the day of the Lord. [00:02:21] Their visions are false and their divinations a lie. They say, the Lord declares, when the Lord has not sent them yet, they expect their words to be fulfilled. Have you not seen false visions and uttered lying divinations? When you say, the Lord declares, though I have not spoken, therefore this is what the sovereign lord says. Because of your false words and lying visions, I am against you, declares the sovereign lord. My hand will be against the prophets who see false visions and utter lying divinations. They will not belong to the counsel of my people or be listed in the records of the house of Israel, nor will they enter the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the sovereign lord because they lead my people astray, saying peace when there is no peace. And because when a flimsy wall is built, they cover it with whitewash. [00:03:27] Therefore tell those who cover it with whitewash that it is going to fall. [00:03:33] Rain will come in torrents and I will send hailstones hurtling down and violent winds will burst forth when the wall collapses. Will people not ask you, where is the whitewash you covered it with? [00:03:49] Therefore, this is what the sovereign Lord says. [00:03:52] In my wrath I will unleash a violent wind, and in my anger, hailstones and torrents of rain will fall with destructive fury. I will tear down the wall you have covered with white wrath and will level it to the ground so that its foundations will be laid bare. When it falls, you will be destroyed in it, and you will know that I am the Lord. So I will send my wrath against the wall and against those who covered it with white. I will say to you, the wall is gone, and so are those who whitewashed it, those prophets of Israel who prophesied to Jerusalem and saw visions of peace for her when there was no peace, declares the sovereign lord, could we just bow together in a word of prayer? Beloved Lord, we just bow here in your presence this afternoon. [00:04:57] We have already explained to you, Lord, that we need you. [00:05:02] We bless you, Lord, that weve been able to enter into your presence with joy and with thanksgiving and with praise. [00:05:11] And now, Lord, when we come to your word, we pray together. Lord, will you grant. Grant that that anointing you have provided for the speaking and for our hearing may be manifest in this time today we stand by faith into it, Lord, we need to hear not human words, but we need to hear the voice of the Lord. [00:05:39] And, o Lord, we cast ourselves upon your grace and your mercy and upon the finished work of our Lord Jesus, through which you have provided everything we need. [00:05:54] Beloved Lord, let this be a time of meeting with yourself, a time of revelation, a time of illumination, a time that challenges us deeply, a time when somehow things get, and a time that enables us to see more clearly than we have ever seen before in these days of confusion and turmoil, both in Israel and in the church. [00:06:29] Hear us, o Lord, we pray, for we ask it all in the name of our Lord, Jesus the Messiah. Amen. [00:06:42] I want to add to that extraordinary prophecy in Ezekiel a quite different passage in Daniel. Daniel, the book of Daniel and chapter nine. [00:06:57] I will not read all of it, but I will read part of it from verse one of Daniel, chapter nine. [00:07:07] In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus of the seed of the Medes, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans. In the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood by the books the number of the years whereof the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet for the accomplishing of the desolations of Jerusalem, even 70 years. And I set my face unto the Lord God to seek by prayer and supplication with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. And I prayed unto the Lord my God, and made confession and said, o Lord, the great and dreadful God, who keepeth covenant and loving kindness, steadfast love with them that love him and keep his commandments. We have sinned, and have dealt perversely, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even turning aside from thy precepts and from thine ordinances. Neither have we hearkened unto thy servants, the prophets, that spake in thy name to our kings, our princes and our fathers, and to all the people of the land. O Lord, righteousness belongs unto you, but unto us confusion of fear face is at this day to the men of Judah, unto the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and unto all Israel that are near and that are far off, through all the countries whither thou hast driven them because of their trespass, that they have trespassed against thee, o Lord, to us belongs confusion of face to our kings, to our princes, to our fathers, because weve sinned against thee. To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against him. Neither have we obeyed the voice of the Lord our God to walk in his laws, which he set before us by his servants, the prophets. Yea, all Israel have transgressed thy law, even turning aside that they should not obey thy voice. Therefore hath the curse been poured out upon us, and the oath that is written in the law of Moses, the servant of God. For we have sinned against him. [00:09:25] Verse 15. And now, O Lord our God, that has brought thy people forth out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand and has gotten thee renown, as at this day we have sinned. We have done wickedly, O Lord, according to all thy righteousness. Let thine anger and thy wrath. I pray thee, be turned away from thy city, Jerusalem, thy holy mountain, because for our sins and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and thy people have become a reproach to all that are round about us. Now therefore, o our God, hearken unto the prayer of thy servant and to his supplications and cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate for the Lord's sake. O my God, incline thine ear and hear. Open thine eyes and behold our desolations and the city which is called by thy name. For we do not present our supplications before thee for our righteousnesses, but for thy great mercy's sake. O Lord, hear, O Lord, forgive. O Lord, hearken and do defer not for thine own sake, o my God, because thy city and thy people are called by thy name. And while I was speaking and praying and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the Lord my God, for the holy mountain of my God, yea, while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation. And he instructed me and talked with me and said, o Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee wisdom and understanding at the beginning of thy supplications. The commandment went forth, and I am come to tell thee, for thou art greatly beloved. Therefore consider the matter and understand the vision. [00:11:46] I want in these two times to to speak with those of you who are prayer partners. [00:12:00] And if there should be amongst us those who are not such prayer partners, I pray that God will so touch your heart that you will become one. [00:12:11] I do not think there has ever been a time in the history of modern Israel. Where she has needed more genuine, powerful intercession than at present. [00:12:26] She, this beloved little nation in a caldron of trouble and hatred in the Middle east is at a crossroads, and only God can deliver her. [00:12:45] And I have absolutely no doubt in my heart that the key to this whole situation lies not with the government of Israel, nor with the people of Israel, nor with any other nation, superpower or otherwise. [00:13:03] But I believe it doesn't even lie with the whole church. It lies with the intimate. [00:13:13] If there are those who can stand in the gap and lay down their lives in costly prayer, then I believe God will answer us and deliver us and bring us through to a glorious fulfillment of his purpose for the jewish people and for Israel. And don't think that it's only Israel I'm concerned with today. [00:13:47] In the second session, I will talk much more about the church. [00:13:51] I do not believe that the church of God in the earth has been in such a condition of confusion and turmoil as at present. [00:14:02] Everywhere, everywhere. Division, misunderstanding, misinterpretation, inroads of darkness, shaking perhaps to the very foundations. [00:14:21] And the extraordinary thing is that the church is at a crossroads. [00:14:26] The whole world is entering into that period that is called in scripture, the judgment of the nations. [00:14:36] And if ever there has been a time when the church of God ought to be alive, at least in those who are filled and anointed with the Holy Spirit, alive and clear and united, to be able to stand in the gap for their nations to be able to call upon God to do something in their nations. It is now we therefore really need the Lord. Now I will come to Ezekiel in one moment, but first I want to just say something about dear Daniel. [00:15:18] I think most of you know that Daniel, considered in christian circles as one of the greatest of the prophets. Indeed, most people would think of Daniel as the epitome of being a prophet. [00:15:32] Everything about him is to do with being a prophet. He was the one who, after all, predicted the whole of world history by the spirit of God. He was the one who predicted the coming of the Messiah, giving actually extraordinary days concerning it. He was the one who has forecast the coming of the Antichrist in things that the Lord Jesus himself took up in his major discourse on his return, in Matthew's Gospel, chapter 24 and 25, and Mark's Gospel, chapter 13, and Luke's Gospel, chapter 21, things that we associate with the phrase abomination of desolation and standing where it ought not to stand and this kind of thing. Daniel, for most people in christian circles, is the prophet par excellence. But actually, in the jewish tradition, Daniel is not even found amongst the prophets. They have put him in the writings, and it has often been a question asked of the rabbis, why have you put Daniel amongst the writings and not amongst the prophets? Surely he, more than anyone else, is a prophet. Well, some people might say, well, he was a statesman, you know, but that doesn't mean anything with God. [00:16:57] I mean, statesmen are important, but it's not a very big thing with God. [00:17:10] The fact is that Daniel was an intercessor. [00:17:14] He was the greatest statesman of his day. He was the most powerful political leader, we would say, in his day, next to the emperor, he was the most influential and powerful person in one of the greatest empires in history, the babylonian, followed by the persian empire. [00:17:40] In fact, one could almost say that Daniel, being the head of the civil service of the imperial civil service, was actually more influential than the emperor himself, who spent most of his time in balls and banquets. It was Daniel who did most of the work with the civil service service. And it was Daniel who had his desk loaded high with all kinds of decrees and ordinances and regulations and laws that had to be explained to the emperor to get the seal of the emperor upon it. But it was Daniel who was, as it were, to go between the liaison officer between the supreme leader of the empire and the administration of it. [00:18:31] It is very interesting to me that Daniel is looked upon in the word of God not merely as a statesman nor merely as a prophet, important as that is, but as an intercessor. [00:18:47] And if there was one person in the whole persian empire who could, could have had an excuse and a legitimate excuse for not being in prayer meetings, or not being involved in prayer ministry, or not being involved in intercession, it was this one man. He could have left it to Shadrich, Meshach and Abednego. He could have left it to a whole lot of other older sisters who were scattered through the exiles, exiles everywhere in the persian and babylonian empire. He could have been forgiven for it. We would have all said, Daniel, we fully understand you will have a nervous breakdown if you get into prayer ministry on top of all the other things that you have to do. It's enough for you to be a prophet. At least you give us direction, at least we get some understanding from you. That's all we need. You don't have to get yourself involved in the prayer ministry. We'll all do that. [00:19:48] But Daniel was one of the greatest examples of an intercessor. [00:19:57] The intercessor is of all the callings that God can call anyone with the nearest to the heart of God. [00:20:13] And I understand that when the Lord said to him, o Daniel, man greatly beloved, there was something in the courts of heaven, in the halls of heaven, so to speak, that meant the very name of Daniel. There was a hush as if the whole angelic host, including the great archangels Michael and Gabriel, knew upon this man and upon his ministry, so much devolves. [00:20:54] I am very sad when I see so many men who feel they have, are too busy to be involved in intercession. [00:21:10] It is a tragedy. Now I am very thankful that the ladies prayer and Bible week folks are here and many other ladies I know are here. And I'm not devaluing you for one single moment. I mean, I know very well that the word of God says that you ought to pray and should give yourself to pray. I have no doubt about that at all. Where are the men that ought to be in the leadership of intercession? [00:21:36] Everyone talks about strong women and Ive always said, how can they be anything else when the men are weak? [00:21:46] I mean, im not making any excuse for women, im not for the ordination of women. Dont get me wrong on all those things. [00:21:54] Don't want to get into trouble on this at all with any of you. But what I'm trying to say is if the women are where they ought to be and the men are not where they ought to be, it is quite clear that the women look strong. [00:22:11] And the reason the women look strong is because the men are not strong. [00:22:17] But when you've got men who are strong in the Lord, the women can be as strong as they wish. [00:22:24] Do you understand what I mean? [00:22:26] Now, dear friends, what a tremendous lesson we learned from Daniel. [00:22:31] No wonder he has called man greatly beloved. [00:22:36] No wonder, as far as heaven was concerned, Daniel stood in a position so important to the fulfillment of God's purpose that. [00:22:48] That when Satan cooked up a conspiracy, a real conspiracy, if you look at the dating of these chapters, you will come to an extraordinary realization, and that is that the whole conspiracy to stop all prayer for a month was a conspiracy cooked up in the courts of hell, in the intelligence headquarters of Satan, to stop Daniel's ministry. [00:23:21] For when he started to open his windows towards Jerusalem, which is very interesting, for he had understood by the spirit of God the prayer of King Solomon, that if anyone, anywhere is to pray toward this place where you have caused your name to dwell, even in exile, even when it's in ruins, then hear from heaven and forgive their sins and draw them back. Daniel understood it by the spirit of the Lord. He understood what he had in those days of the word of God. [00:23:51] He didnt have as much as we have today, but what he did have, he understood by the spirit of the Lord. And he became the basis for his prayer ministry. And the interesting thing is this, that when he realized that and started to open his windows as a symbol that he was praying toward Jerusalem, which was in ruins, there was no house of the Lord, there was no temple, there were no jewish people in the land. [00:24:19] The Samaritans had begun this mix up, this mishmash of some jewish blood and a whole lot of gentile blood that we have come to call Samaritans. [00:24:33] This whole thing, he understood. He had to pray these people back. It is quite extraordinary to me. He understood by the books and the spirit of the Lord gave him greater understanding than some christian theologians and expositors, because the Holy Spirit revealed to him that this 70 years began with King Jehoiakin and not King Zedekiah, which brought it forward, back, as it were, by so many years. So then suddenly Daniel realized, potting it up. We're three, four years from. From the end of the captivity. Now, if he'd been a good charismatic, he would have had a banquet and a ball and a time of praise, a kind of glory time. He would have got Shadrach, Meshach and a bed. They go in, and all the others then say, now let's have a praise time. We're right near the end, we don't have to pray. The Lord's going to do this. He's all said it to the prophet Jeremiah. But instead we have a paraphrase of his prayer ministry. It is perhaps one of the most extraordinary prayer ministries recorded in the word of God. [00:25:39] Not in one single place does Daniel pray for the people as them. [00:25:48] It's always we. [00:25:51] We have dealt perversity, we have sinned, we have transgressed your laws, we have done this. And the extraordinary thing is you could have said, daniel, Daniel, Daniel, don't, don't say that. Absolutely. You are the one who wouldn't eat any non kosher food. [00:26:08] You were the one who wouldn't defile yourself with all those non kosher delicacies that the emperor provided for his imperial civil service. [00:26:22] This man was uncompromising. [00:26:26] He really obeyed the word of the Lord. He obeyed the law of the Lord. Yet he speaks as if he is himself the greatest sinner in Israel. [00:26:41] And when finally we come to his place, pleading with the Lord, it is extraordinary. [00:26:47] When Gabriel finally comes to him and touches him, does that mean that there is sometimes a right kind of exhaustion that comes in prayer ministry? [00:27:00] And Gabriel touches him and revives him and then he gives him a revelation that the key to this whole thing is not the rebuilding of Jerusalem, and it's not the return of the exiles merely, nor the rebuilding of the temple. [00:27:21] It is the coming of the Messiah. [00:27:26] I imagine that must have been an unbelievable revelation to Daniel, that suddenly he understood. That's what, why, that's what all this fury is about. That's what all this war is about. That's what all this conflict is about. The king is coming. [00:27:46] We have to go back. We have to rebuild the city of Jerusalem, or the Lord, and we have to rebuild the temple, for the Lord cannot possibly suddenly come to his temple if there is no temple. And we have to build Bethlehem, because Micah the prophet had already said, but thou, Bethlehem of the which art little amongst the thousands of Judah, out of thee shall he come forth that shall be governor or leader of my people Israel, whose goings have been from of old, from everlasting. It couldn't be fulfilled. Nor was there even a Nazareth or a galilee of the nations, that the prophecy of Isaiah, chapter nine, could be fulfilled, that he would live his whole life in connection, a large portion of his life in connection with the via Maris, the way of the sea. [00:28:36] Nazareth was just north of it. Capernaum was right on it. [00:28:41] And the Lord Jesus spent about 27 years of his life in Nazareth. [00:28:48] Well, and three of those years of those 27 in Capernaum. Now I'm only just explaining this simply because, because I want you to understand here is something tremendous. It is the mystery of intercession. People always say to me, well, why should we pray? If God's going to, if God has said he's going to do it, he's going to do it. He doesn't need us. Quite right. He doesn't need you. It's the first lesson we have to learn in prayer. [00:29:14] Soon as you think you're essential, your prayer ministry is finished. [00:29:20] You only think, oh, the Lord is dependent on me. [00:29:26] The Lord's not dependent on you. [00:29:29] Can well do without you. [00:29:31] Indeed, you're a load of trouble. [00:29:35] So am I. [00:29:37] It's the amazing thing is, in prayer ministry the Lord ever puts up with us all. Couldn't he do it much more simply? I often see, he said I can raise, Jesus said he can raise children from the stones. It would have been much simpler if he did, wouldn't it? [00:29:56] But the Lord somehow wants to introduce us into this whole business and in introducing us, he introduces a load of trouble. [00:30:09] We get in the way of the Lord, we misunderstand the Lord, our flesh rises up and takes us a 1001 things happen. And yet the Lord is so amazing, it's almost as if he says, I have said this and this will happen, but if you don't enter into it and pray it into being, I won't do it. [00:30:30] Well, you say, just wait. [00:30:34] Dear Lord, surely you're not going to sort of go off into a sulky and sort of just because we are not going to cooperate with you, you're going to sort of say, I'm not going to do it. [00:30:49] No, the Lord says, if you don't come in, I'll bring others in. [00:30:55] But in the end I will train a whole company of people who will reign with me in the ages to come. [00:31:07] And the first lessons in this instruction are basically in this whole matter of intercession. Now I want to say that really right at the beginning of this first time of these two times, that we will consider this matter. For you see, these times have been intended. Blow the trumpet in Zion. [00:31:37] Well, I reckon it needs to be blown in Zion just at present, both for Israel and for the church. [00:31:47] Sanctify a solemn assembly, said Joel. [00:31:53] In other words, come together, be still and hear what I'm saying and then pray it into being. [00:32:13] Well now, dear friends, I have read that passage in Ezekiel, chapter 13, and I've read it in the nib, because the dear brother and sister who had that as they prayed, it was given to them in this version. And indeed it is in its modern, contemporary language. It brings home to us something that happened in Ezekiel's day and is happening in our day in Israel. I cannot think of anything that is more apposite, more clear for us in our prayer for Israel. At this prayer, present time, in all her confusion and turmoil, than this 13th chapter of Ezekiel. I would like to say straight away, there are certain, before we talk about the problems and the need for prayer for Israel, there are certain certainties. You know them all, but still I'm going to go through them. Here is the first certainty, the coming redemption of the house of Israel. That is an absolute certainty. God, from the beginning of time, has planned the salvation of the house of Israel. All that we have seen in this century of the extraordinary recreation of Israel, her sudden reappearance on the stage, the world stage, upon the scene of the nations, and all we have seen in the incredible regathering of the exiles against overwhelming odds and difficulties, what we have seen of the recreation of the fertility of the land, the restoration of its national ecology, the only national ecology in the world that's been restored. What we have seen of the rebirth of its language, Hebrew, which in itself is an extraordinary chapter and miraculous chapter in God's dealings with the jewish people. After 1700 years, this language has not been used except in a liturgy in the synagogue. Then suddenly it's reborn as a living language, the spoken mother tongue of three and a half native born Israelis. It is quite extraordinary. There is no other example of it in the whole of the annals of world history. [00:35:03] Indeed, you will not find in the annals of world history, as many of you have heard me say all over the country, if you've been in any of those meetings, twice exiled, twice restored, if all these are coincidences, it is the most extraordinary set of coincidences in the history of, of mankind, and I say, requires more faith to believe that it is coincidences than that it is very simply the hand of God in history. [00:35:38] I say, since all the prophets have predicted this, since the patriarchs themselves predicted it, since Moses himself predicted it, I believe that we have nothing less than the fulfillment of God's own word in this people. But, my dear friends, do you really mean to tell me that God is only interested in restoring fertility? It is true. There is going to be the restitution of all things. [00:36:11] One day, the lamb and the lion are going to lie down together, and the bear and the ox are going to both eat. [00:36:20] We know that. But do you mean to tell me that God is only interested in restoring a national ecology and bringing to rebirth and the national mother tongue and regathering people from the ends of the earth in some political setup, restoring the state simply as a state, rebuilding national institutions merely as national institutions? No, my dear, it has to be the prelude to salvation. [00:36:49] And thats exactly what the Holy Spirit said through Paul. In this, Paul himself is not only an apostle, but a prophet, for he said, I would not. Brethren, brothers, have you ignorant of this mystery, lest you be wise in your own conceit that are hardening in part. In part hath befallen Israel until the full number of the gentiles become in. And so all Israel shall be saved, even as it is written, there shall come out of Zion a deliverer. He shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob, and this is my covenant unto them when I shall take away their sins. It is very interesting to me. Why did he put it like this? The Hebrew in Isaiah 15 puts it this way, and a redeemer shall come to Zion and to those who turn from ungodliness in Jacob. [00:37:48] We cannot even find this version in the Septuagint, the old jewish translation of the Old Testament into Greek. [00:37:59] So now we have a most extraordinary thing. We find that the apostle, by the spirit of the Lord, has taken a scripture and there is a slight difference in it. There shall come out of Zion. It is true that the redeemer in his first coming, the messiah, came to Zion and to a remnant that turned from ungodliness. And he saith they were the church, isn't it? So the whole early church was jewish. Every single thing about it was jewish. All those apostles were completely jewish, all those marvelous greek names of Palos and Stephen and Philip. And you know, you've heard me, some of you, all over the country, they're all jewish with wonderful greek names, all jewish. [00:38:54] Timothy had a jewish father and a gentile mother. And as I've always said everywhere, Paul had him done properly, which is rather interesting why he bothered. I say that Paul almost, if I can hear him saying anything and that this is speculation, so don't take this as speculation on my part. I can almost hear Paul saying to Timothy, Timothy, you are a prophecy in yourself. [00:39:26] You've got to be fully circumcised, because I want everyone to know that there's going to come a day when the natural branches are coming back into their own olive tree. [00:39:41] Paul had no idea how long it would be 1900 years have passed, but now we are very near to this. So, my dear friends, here is the first thing I want to underline. I want to underline it as firmly as I possibly can. [00:40:01] There is a coming redemption of the jewish people, of the house of Israel, and the fury of the enemy. And everything that is happening, even the tragedies of Yitzhak Rabin's assassination, is all woven into this incredible purpose of God to save the jewish people. Every prop is being swept away, knocked away, so that in the end there will be nothing but the Lord left to the jewish people. Nothing but the Lord left to Israel. Then in that day, God will pour out his spirit. Is it not interesting that in the prophecy of Zechariah we are told that there will come a day when Jerusalem will occupy the center of the world stage again? And we are told that all the nations of the earth will be gathered together against it in battle? Isnt it? Three times he says this interesting? And if you go through to the end of this prophecy in chapter 14 and verse four, you will discover that in that day the feet of the Messiah will stand upon the mount of Olives. And we're told it's east of Jerusalem. So there's no way you can spiritualize it. It is a geographical location and happens to be the very point at which the Lord ascended to the right hand of God. Is it not so? Now if this is so, here is an interesting thing. Certainly the prophet says in that when Jerusalem is again at the center of the world stage, and when there are wars being fought over her status and destiny, her character, if you like, in that day I will pour out the spirit of grace and supplication upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And they shall look unto me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him as for a firstborn. And then it goes on about husbands and wives all being apart, you know, in the reference to jewish morning ritual. And then finally it says, in that day a fountain will be opened for sin and uncleanness to the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Now, my dear friends, what is this fountain that is going to be opened for sin and uncleanness? It is the same fountain that was opened for you. [00:42:30] Thats it. You have washed away your sin and uncleanness in that fountain, is it not so? [00:42:38] Then what does it mean when he says, and this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins as if the Lord is making another covenant. No, no, no, no. This is the covenant that Jeremiah spoke of and Ezekiel spoke of. It is the new and eternal covenant. And you have been brought by the grace of God into it. Do you understand? [00:43:02] You've been brought into it, and God has blinded our people. He has made them enemies of the gospel for your sake. [00:43:13] But in the end, he will take away the veil, and that covenant that was made to the jew first and then to the Gentile shall come into its own. For the jewish people, dear friends, this is worth praying for, because the apostle, again, prophetically, simply says, if the casting away of them is the reconciling of the world, what will the receiving of them be but life from the dead? I imagine we all recognize the need of the church of God to have life from the dead at this present time. Isn't it worth praying for this to happen so that there will be an outburst of life? [00:44:04] Resurrection life, resurrection power. Well, that's a certainty. I could go on and on about this, but I have to calm myself on it all. [00:44:16] I know that when we've gone all around the country, we've talked about this in greater detail. You know, even Ezekiel says it. He says, not for your sake do I this be ashamed, o house of Israel, for all your doings, for my great namesake, Dennis, in the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will build the cities and will plant the desolate places. Do you remember it? Ezekiel 36, from verse 32 onwards. Now, isn't this interesting? The Lord gives us a timeframe. He says, when you see the cities of Israel rebuilt on their ruins, when you see the fertility of the land of Israel recreated, when you see its national ecology restored, when you see forests covering its eroded mountains, when you see fruitfulness on all sides in its fields and in its gardens, then you know the time is coming when I will cleanse them from all their iniquities. Isn't this worth praying for? It is like Daniel suddenly seeing something in the world and saying this, we've got to pray into being. This is essential to the completion of the purpose of God. It is essential to the completion of God's purpose for the church. [00:45:39] It's not some luxury sideline that the Lord has wandered down something that sort of, some people call a diversion tactic of the enemy to get us away from the real purpose of God, which is to build the church. Of course, God's purpose is to build the church, but he cannot complete it without the jewish people. [00:46:02] If this was not important to any other generation, it is certainly absolutely important. [00:46:09] Its relevance can never be overestimated for our day and generation. [00:46:17] Here's another certainty. This will, I think, excite you. [00:46:22] I hope a little. Not necessarily more, but I think it should. [00:46:27] The king is coming. [00:46:31] That's a certainty. This king, this king, this Lord Jesus, this messiah, he's been at the right hand of God for 1900 or so years waiting to return it is this actual Lord Jesus. He still has signs of the marks in his hands and his feet and in his side. He hasn't changed. He hasn't gone through some metamorphosis, some as if he's someone different. Now he's kind of just spirit. We, you understand it is this Jesus, this same Jesus. [00:47:07] Hes been at the right hand of God. He never abdicated. [00:47:13] He is king of kings and Lord of lords. He is head of the church. He is the heavenly bridegroom. He is the savior of the world. He is the prince of peace and a thousand more titles. But he is also still king of the Jews, king of Israel. He has never abdicated and he has never been crowned. [00:47:33] Every jewish king of the davidic line was crowned in Jerusalem. [00:47:40] Jesus has never been crowned. He's coming back to Jerusalem. It's a certainty. [00:47:48] No wonder Satan hates that poor old city. [00:47:53] I mean, I mean, 14 times destroyed and 14 times rebuilt, 20 times occupied and 20 times liberated. Don't you think it is extraordinary? [00:48:08] I mean, Satan hates that city even though there's a lot of sin there. And the book of revelation actually calls it Sodom and Egypt, which is a very nice description. [00:48:27] And in spite of that, in spite of the fact that we have a mafia in Jerusalem, we have prostitutes in Jerusalem, we have pickpockets in Jerusalem, we have mothers in Jerusalem, we have dishonest shopkeepers in Jerusalem, we have 8001 other things that all belong to the cities of the world in Jerusalem. Yet still there is something about that city that Satan hates because it's going to be the scene of the coronation of the king. That's why one of these days Jesus is going to stand again in the very dust going to stand in the very dust of the city of Jerusalem, walk through its ancient, old gnarled streets once more. He's going to be crowned. [00:49:17] It's worth praying for. [00:49:21] Then there is another certainty. Listen to me. Peace will come at last. [00:49:30] Real peace. Not this pseudo peace, not this cobbled together peace that somehow or other is dependent upon various superpowers offering to pour in millions of dollars that they haven't got anyway to put in bankrupting themselves in trying somehow or other to bring these various beastings. Of course we are all for peace. [00:50:00] It seems that some people think that half of Israel is for war and half for peace. It's absolute nonsense. [00:50:08] It's a tiny minority of oddballs that seem, generally speaking, to get on BBC television that hate Arabs and want to kill them all. It's absolute rubbish. [00:50:23] The majority of Israelis long for peace. They don't trust the Arabs, but the majority are of Israel's long. [00:50:36] But my dear friends, real peace will never come. People are always coming to me because this peace has such an emotive pull upon christian people. They say, well, we should be peacemakers, we can't pray for war. I always remember Dennis Clark saying, there are times when we should pray for war and the mouths of the Christians, you know what I mean? How could anyone say such a thing? Can't pray for war. It's disgraceful. [00:51:03] But there is a time for peace and there is a time for war. And sometimes peace is immoral and war is moral. Can you believe such a thing? I know some of you will get upset with me now. I'm bound to get a few letters from some of you on this matter. But the fact of the matter is that peace is such an emotive thing. Everyone stands behind someone like Neville Chamberlain. The whole church, all the archbishop, the two archbishops, the bishops, the leaders of the various denominations, all stood behind Neville Chamberlain. A man of peace, great christian gentleman. No matter that he sacrificed Czechoslovakia, cynically sacrificed Czechoslovakia to a monster and came back saying that Adolf Hitler was a gentleman. [00:51:50] All the Christians were behind him and all the Christians were horrified with that drunken Warmonger, Winston Churchill. [00:51:58] But it was Winston Churchill that God raised up to be the savior physically of the United Kingdom and indeed of the free world. [00:52:10] Now we have the wisdom of hindsight, I don't think that's any commendation. [00:52:19] I much respect those who saw right through the whole thing from the very beginning and saw it as an attempt to the powers of darkness to do something. And most of those people were people who were clear on the jewish question. They understood that Adolf Hitler was going to kill the jewish people and liquidate them. And therefore, like Rhys Howells, they knew it was evil, absolutely evil. [00:52:45] So, my dear friends, when you see, begin to see things like this, there is a certainty that peace is coming. When the prince of peace comes, peace will come. [00:52:56] And with it all the glorious results and effects of genuine peace. [00:53:04] There will even be peace between the lion and the lamb, between the bear and the ox, between the cobblestone and a little child, between a viper and a youngster. [00:53:20] That's the kind of piece I'm looking for. Well, dear friends, these are certainties. [00:53:26] Now, having said that, there's one other certainty, and then I'll just go on to talk about the prayer needs that there are that I think that you can note down. [00:53:37] The other certainty is that before that time comes, before Israel is saved, and even after, before the Messiah comes again, before this time of peace finally comes to this poor, poor, mismanaged, war torn, unhappy world, there's going to be much more conflict. [00:54:06] Don't let anyone deceive you into believing that, that we're going to have a wonderfully peaceful time. As far as the Middle east is concerned, as far as the church is concerned, as far as Israel is concerned, there's going to be war. Why does Zechariah, the prophet say, and all the nations of the earth will be gathered together against Jerusalem? That implies trouble. [00:54:30] Why does the prophet Zechariah say, in that day Jerusalem will be a goblet of wine into which has been secretly introduced a drug that implies trouble? [00:54:45] Why does the prophet Zechariah say, in that day I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone? All that burden themselves with it shall be sore, wounded. That implies trouble, does it not? [00:55:05] So I say we may have a period of peace. Because if I understand Ezekiel, the prophecy of Ezekiel in chapter 38 and 39, there has to come a period of peace when Israel will have unwalled towns and villages, dwelling securely and at ease, when everything is prospering. And so I understand that. But my dear friend, the long term thing is war. Already I have said everywhere, and I really, I believe that on the horizon a much more terrible war is already to be seen. That war is an islamic holy war. And I believe that in all probability Russia will get involved as well. This will be Ezekiel 38 and 39. If I had the time, I would spend more, but I think we've talked about it on one of the other sessions. I think it's on tape. [00:55:55] Now then, if before that day of the Lord comes, theres going to be an evil day or evil days sometimes then, dear friends, what should we pray for? For Israel? Ive listed down a few things. Here is one. The need of true leadership. [00:56:18] The need of true leadership. Mister Rabin was a good man. [00:56:23] He was a war hero. Don't listen to some of the things that have been said about him. They're not true. [00:56:30] Any person upon whom the whole safety and security of a country devolved is likely to have had a breakdown before the six day war. And they put a lot upon that, that he was paralyzed for two days, but so was Moshe Taylor in the beginning of the Yom Kippur war. I remember that very clearly, how Moshe Dayam was for three whole days. Golda literally boxed his ears. I mean, literally boxed his ears. Golda was the only man in the government. I mean, she boxed his ears and sent him out and said, get on with the job. And he did. [00:57:10] But you must understand that, whereas they always say about Britain, she loses every battle but the last one, you cannot say that about Israel. Israel has only to lose one battle and she's finished. [00:57:26] Remember this. And that's why our generals sometimes almost have breakdowns, because they are so concerned. They know one slip, one misinterpretation, one misunderstanding could be the end of Israel. [00:57:43] Now we need to pray for true leadership. A brother came up to me, I can't remember where it was. He said that as he'd been praying, he and the group he was in, praying for his. He felt he saw the Lord. I think I'm right in remembering that. You know, sometimes I'm so dazed after these meetings. I take in a part of what people say, but not always everything. [00:58:06] And on this occasion, I just remember he said, I feel as if the Lord is stooping down and he's going to pull up somebody that we don't even know the name of now, and he's going to be leader now. I know that my dear brother Derek, Prince and Ruth, his wife, have for sometimes said to we should pray for a genuine, true leader of Israel. [00:58:39] Take this on your heart. [00:58:43] Don't just let it go. Don't you think it is interesting that Ezekiel prophecy in chapter 13? [00:58:52] I mean, we know this happened in Ezekiel's day, and the Lord was speaking to him about a situation, but how like it is to ours. Lying, divination, false prophecy, false visions. [00:59:04] Our present government has a quite unbelievable vision for them. They believe that anti semitism, after three and a half thousand years is dying a natural death and that the whole Middle east is going to fall in love with us. It is extraordinary. And they are obsessed with this vision, this. Don't you think it's amazing, this flimsy wall they've painted with whitewash? You know why you paint a wall when you're going to sell a property? [00:59:37] Ah, I can see there's some dishonest people here. [00:59:41] You know why you paint a wall? When you're going to sell a property or you paper the rooms over the cracks, you know, because, oh, you don't want anyone who's behind the house to see the cracks. [00:59:52] Well, in the old days, there was this flimsy wall and they whitewashed it. And of course anyone said, oh, what a lovely wall. Strong, the Lord says, strong, I'll bring a wind against it and hailstones against it, and heavy rainfall, and the whole thing will collapse. And then they'll come and say, what about the whitewashed? [01:00:17] Dear friends, this came from a brother and a sister in Wales. [01:00:24] And the Welsh are an extraordinary people. [01:00:27] I've always said, don't have any welsh blood, so I'm not saying it because I'm getting paid. [01:00:33] I think the Welsh were an extraordinary people, along with the Irish and the Scots and the Cornish. [01:00:42] They're all the most extraordinary bunch of people, a whole lot of them. And I always notice wherever I go that they all always respond tremendously. Something within the Celts. But still, I'm not going to say any more about that. That takes us away from what we're trying to say. What I want, just to get over to you, is that in some amazing way, this couple got this scripture praying some week at least, before the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, and they were so confused. [01:01:15] He said to me, we just didn't really know how we ought to be praying for Israel. We feel such pain in our heart about your government's handling of things at present and this so called peace process. And he said, we got on our knees, we prayed, and the Lord gave us this example, extraordinary prophecy. Then he said, we became clear. [01:01:38] And the clearness in it was just on this matter that in this prophecy, the Lord says, and I will cause this flimsy wall that's been whitewashed to fall and its foundations laid bare. [01:01:53] Wouldn't that be interesting? [01:01:55] Would that not be interesting if the foundations of this whole thing were laid bare? Do you think thats something you could pray for? [01:02:06] Do you think youre on the right track in this whole matter? I say, yes, it says you did not go up into the gap or the breach and you did not build up the wall. Listen, that Israel might stand in the battle in the day of the Lord. [01:02:29] I think the deepest concern that I would have and many others like me in Israel is, is what is happening going to help us in the day of battle, if we know from the word of God that there are more wars to come, what is actually taking place now? [01:02:52] What does it really mean? [01:02:55] Well, I must watch the time now because. [01:03:01] Let me take you a step further. [01:03:04] We need to pray for a genuine leader. He doesn't have to be a believer in the Lord Jesus, but we at least ought to pray that God will raise up an Israeli who recognizes God's covenant, recognizes God's word and is prepared to be uncompromising over it. [01:03:33] I have to say this, and I want to be very careful because I don't want in any way to be misunderstood or misrepresented. But I have to say that our beloved Menachem began. [01:03:46] He believed in God. [01:03:48] He had a Bible study in his home every Wednesday evening. [01:03:55] And yet he gave away part of the promised land when he gave away yamit. And I remember that firebrand, Gaula Kohen going to him and saying, menachem, how could you do this? [01:04:14] Do you not know? She said that. The Talmud says that a curse comes upon anyone who sells any part of the promised land that's come into their possession to non jews. [01:04:27] Dear Mister Bacon said, I have to do it. There is no alternative. [01:04:33] Within months, his beloved Elisa died. [01:04:39] Within a few more months, his closest confidant, Simcha Elish, all through the years a staunch, loyal friend, fell dead with a heart attack. [01:04:52] And then the whole Lebanon war went wrong. [01:04:58] Suddenly one day, Menachem begin closed up his things, walked out of his office, never to return to the Knesset. He had gone as prime minister. He died of a broken heart. [01:05:16] Idzakrabin has given back part of the land. [01:05:21] I am not at all in any way happy or supportive of what has happened to Yitzhak Rabin. It is a tragedy that has come to us. [01:05:32] But the fact still remains that the Talmud says to give back any part of the promised land is to bring yourself under a curse. [01:05:44] Dear friends, we need leadership. I don't think Israel has ever needed clearer leadership than she does at present. Pray. Here's the second thing, quickly. There is a need of declaration. I won't spend too long on this, but you folks need to learn how to declare. I'm sure you do already. Declare the word of the Lord. Once the Lord has given you his word, declare it together like we did earlier. Declare it in your prayer times sometimes. We have now a little prayer meeting. We've found all the scriptures concerning Jerusalem. The Lord speaks about Jerusalem and we declare it over the city together. I don't mean we necessarily go round. We do it in my home, which is right outside the walls of the city, facing Mount Zion on the. I always say I have hinnom between me Zion on the other side. And I'm on the slopes of hell. I mean, Hinnom is where you got Gehenna from. [01:06:39] Gehinom or Gehenna in Aramaic, hell. [01:06:44] And I think it's interesting to have a, have an intercession ministry on the slopes of hell facing Mount Zion. [01:06:52] That's what all of you are actually doing as well. But I'm physically on the slopes of it. [01:06:59] Now, dear friends, please remember this. I do not think it a strange or insignificant fact that this whole problem of peace process began in Jericho. [01:07:13] For it is in Jericho that the children of Israel first possessed the promised land. [01:07:20] Isn't that interesting? And do you know where they went next? You know, they took AI, that is, and then they went to Shechem, Nablu. [01:07:33] It is very interesting that these eight cities that are returning now to palestinian authority and we all agree that the Palestinians should run their own affairs. I have no problem about this. They should have had home rule years ago. [01:07:49] It's a tragedy. [01:07:51] But the fact remains that we are now discovering Shechem, where Abraham came. Where he sat under the yoke, where God spoke to him. Where Joseph's bones were buried. Shechem. [01:08:08] And then Hebron, where David was crowned king. Where the kingdom began. Where Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their wives, except for Rachel, are buried. [01:08:23] And then Bethlehem. Bethlehem and where Jesus was born. [01:08:30] Dear friends, I think it's interesting. I think it needs people who get hold of the word of the Lord and declare it. Declare it now. May I just say something else for the encouragement of you? If you all wonder, well, you know, what does he quite mean on this income? [01:08:49] I have been as much confused as many of you. [01:08:56] I find the Lord quite extraordinary. [01:09:01] Possibly I'm a little more honest than some of you in my what I would say about the Lord. [01:09:09] It says in Isaiah 40, there is no searching of his understanding and talks about being weary and fainting. [01:09:18] And one of the reasons is we find it very difficult to wait for the Lord. [01:09:23] Why doesn't he get a move on? [01:09:26] Why doesn't he do something? We think so. We get exhausted in our minds, waiting. Come on, Lord. Come on, do it. And he doesn't. [01:09:38] Very difficult, very, very difficult to wait for the Lord. We all wait for the Lord for a while, dont we? And then we dash in. [01:09:47] You know, im always saying when we see someone, you know, we feel they should be baptized and theyre not baptized. And we wait. We say, lord, speak to so. And so we wait, Lord, speak to so they dont get baptized. Then we shove a little book in their hand, or we arrange conversations with testimonies at a table. It's all flesh. [01:10:17] Gets us into an awful lot of trouble. But still, I mean, that's. By the way, what I'm saying is I find, I think to myself, Lord, what are you doing? Why do you wait? You've got such power. One word from you and the whole thing will change. [01:10:30] And then the Lord just waits and we get exhausted because we all, we want to, we want to get our hands on the fulfillment, as it were, get it done. [01:10:47] Here's a word that may be of encouragement to some of you. [01:10:51] In the end, the Lord will get every single thing that he said in his word. [01:10:57] Everything. Lord, come back this way. [01:11:01] Have any of you ever asked yourselves why all the nations come against Jerusalem with a government like our present government? I imagine they're all in love with them. Do you understand what I'm trying to say? In other words, it seems to me there may be here inferred or implied that a change of government is coming. [01:11:23] And then the nations of the world will be extremely, extremely irritated with Jerusalem. For the Vatican is very, very interested in getting back to Jerusalem. That prophecy that some of you heard about in my update, you remember when I asked people to write to me, I think is true. They believe the papacy will move. It will have a second seat to Rome, Rome and Jerusalem, the twin cities. And there is talk in Jerusalem that, that already there's been an unofficial agreement that the Vatican will administer the old walled city. [01:11:59] Well, I have questions about this because the Orthodox Church will never accept it. So we'll have another war in Jerusalem, this time nothing to do with us. I mean, because the orthodox church believes it's the mother church. [01:12:14] And it also has had ancient prophecies that the patriarchate will find. See, they've all got to be there to receive Jesus. [01:12:22] Do you understand? [01:12:24] I mean, how can the Jesus come to the Jews? [01:12:32] I mean, obviously the papacy has to be there to receive him. [01:12:36] I mean, all the Orthodox Church has got to be there to receive. So now you have, you have actually four groups, all of them interested in Jerusalem. You have the Vatican, you have the Orthodox Church, you have the Muslims, and of course, you have earth. [01:12:55] The only lot that are not very interested is the Protestants. [01:13:04] May God save them. Well, the, the fact of the matter is that something has to be done as far as Jerusalem is concerned, dear friends, we need to declare the word of the Lord over this. It seems to me that if all the nations of the earth are going to be gathered together against Jerusalem. It implies, in my estimation, that there is a government in situ in Jerusalem that doesn't please the nations for one reason or another, and therefore sanctions will be enforced, and therefore there will be conflict and war of different kinds. Dear friends, think about it. Here is grist for your prayer mill. [01:13:48] Well, I better finish. [01:13:54] I think there is a danger of civil war, a real danger of civil war at times of crisis in our nation. We have fought each other. It happened in 66 ad, when finally the city was destroyed in 70. And I think that there's a tremendous possibility of civil war. The nation is polarized almost down the middle, and this polarization of israeli society is tragic. [01:14:29] Most of you know quite a bit about it, so I will not say anymore. Fourthly, in praying for Israel, pray for the messianic community, because they are the key to so much. And, you know, just a few months ago, there was a prayer meeting. Most of you will have heard of it in Petatikva. It was the largest single prayer meeting we know of, of messianic Jews in an extraordinary manifestation of oneness and unity in praying about this peace process, and that God would in some way deliver Israel. But at the same time, there is much confusion in the messianic community, from north to south and from east to west, division and confusion. And. And I believe that we need people who will bear up all these kehilot, these fellowships, these assemblies before God, that God will deliver us from every inroad of the enemy. Remember, when the enemy comes in like a flood, the spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him. We need to stand on this, that God will deliver us from being weakened, divided, and finally, as it were, delegitimized. In a sense. May God by his spirit fall upon all the messianic community with new clarity, with new understanding, with a new discernment of spirits, with a new insight into to God's purpose for the nation and for Jerusalem. Thank you.