Intercession for the Church: Part 4

There are many miracles taking place around the world even now. The Holy Spirit has always been active in the world, and some of these things have even been reported in the news. So all this talk about a COMING revival can elicit scoffs from those who have seen or experienced such things already.

For this reason I want to clarify one main point. Our intercession for the Church has NOT been done for the purpose of bringing to the world another Pentecost. It has NOT been done for the purpose of bringing more miracles to the world. We are more than happy that miracles are being done, of course, and are especially happy for those who have benefited from such miracles.

But I am looking for something greater than this, something that has not been done in the past, something that is lacking in Pentecost. Though some have been offended in the past by my reminder that Pentecost is only an earnest of the Spirit (that is, a downpayment), I must insist that the Apostle Paul said it twice. See 2 Cor. 5:5 and Eph. 1:14.

Being "filled with the Spirit" through Pentecost only means being filled to one's present capacity under Pentecost. In the Pentecostal experience of the past 2,000 years, God has been filling small cups to the brim. Our capacity has been limited, our vision is too small, and all that we have received in the past moves of God has proven to be inadequate to the task of bringing all things under His feet.

One might say that the problem is man, not God. That is certainly true. But it is equally true that part of the problem is Pentecost itself. It is a leavened feast (Lev. 23:17). It was never meant to carry us all the way INTO the Kingdom. Pentecost is a feast for the Church in the wilderness (Acts 7:38) until such time as Moses steps aside and Joshua the Ephraimite leads us all the way into the Kingdom.

Most have been taught that we left Moses 2,000 years ago and were then led by Jesus (Joshua) into the Kingdom. That is only true in a limited sense. Jesus (Joshua) came of the tribe of Judah 2,000 years ago, but the biblical Joshua who led Israel into the Kingdom was of the tribe of Ephraim (Num. 13:8). Caleb was of Judah (Num. 13:6).

Thus, there was a double fulfillment in the Joshua type. He had to come twice, once from Judah and once from Ephraim (i.e., Joseph). I covered this in my book, The Laws of the Second Coming. So in one sense Moses died 2,000 years ago, but in a greater sense, we are only now seeing the prophetic death of Moses and the transition toward the rule of Joshua, the Ephraimite.

It is this greater fulfillment that we are anticipating today, for it is associated with the greatest outpouring of the Spirit that the earth has ever seen. Pentecost has been good, but it was leavened and inadequate to bring us the FULLNESS of God. Paul had been "filled with the Spirit," and so had the Ephesian Church, and yet Paul prayed that they would be filled with all the fullness of God (Eph. 3:19). This is the factor that is needed to come into the fullness of the stature of Christ (Eph. 4:13).

Our present intercession is focused upon this goal. More miracles will not do the job. If miracles could have produced faith, Moses would have had no problems with the Israelites in the wilderness. They saw the ten plagues on Egypt. They saw the Red Sea parted. They saw daily the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire. They were fed by manna daily. Yet they still lacked the faith to enter the Promised Land (Heb. 4:2).

We need more than miracles, which are mere evidences that God has done something momentarily. People have been healed, only to die in the end. People have even been raised from the dead, but they died later. Even Lazarus himself did not live forever, though Jesus raised him from the dead. Lazarus became a missionary to Gaul (modern France) and died in Marseilles. Even he was not raised to immortal life. He was, however, a sign of something greater yet to come.

Expand your vision, your horizon, your expectation. Look for something permanent, not temporary. Do not be so elated with Pentecost that you cannot be just a little bit dissatisfied with it as well. Understand that Pentecost is a feast celebrating Mount Sinai's experience, where God came down like fire and spoke to the people in their own language. That was the greatest day the world had ever seen up to that time. But it was not the Promised Land.

Mount Sinai is Hagar (Gal. 2:25). It is in Arabia. It is the inheritance of Ishmael. Anyone who camps there will miss the true inheritance that God intends for us to possess.

When you study the Feast of Tabernacles, you will see this is the real goal of the Kingdom of God. It is the equivalent to entering the Promised Land.

The next great move of God will be the greatest of all time. It will be based upon Tabernacles and will be accompanied by the WORD of Tabernacles. All true revivals of the past have been founded upon a particular revelation of the Word. These have all been stepping stones, laying foundations for the Word that is about to be revealed now. Martin Luther taught Justification by Faith in the 16th century. Wesley, Finney, and many others taught holiness. Parham brought Pentecost in 1901.

The Latter Rain movement brought the beginnings of the feast of Tabernacles in 1948-1952. But because the reign of Saul (Pentecost) was not yet completed in those days, they only brought a foretaste of Tabernacles to the table. They were men born out of season. And yet with George Warnock's classic book, The Feast of Tabernacles, published in 1952, this present generation was given enough truth to prepare itself for a greater outpouring of the Spirit that was yet to come. They spied out the Promised Land and gave us a good report, but, like Israel of old, we ourselves were not yet ready for it.

With the advent of the 120th Jubilee from Adam (1986-1987), God began to move in a new way, preparing us and teaching us what we would need to know to intercede for the Church. He began preparing a people with a Kingdom message, based upon an understanding of the feast of Tabernacles, and with a love and a vision of God's purpose for all creation.

This led to the great "Battle of Jericho" from 1993-2006. The first six years fulfilled the Jericho march, a year for a day, in which Israel marched around Jericho blowing trumpets. We called it the Jubilee Prayer Campaign. On the seventh day, they marched around Jericho seven times, and this spoke of the seven years from 1999-2006. Israel made 13 trips around Jericho. See Joshua 6. We are now in that final year's march around Jericho.

The overthrow of Jericho is an Old Testament foreshadowing of the overthrow of Mystery Babylon in the book of Revelation. The seven trumpets, with the seventh trumpet defined by the seven bowls (or "vials" in the KJV), is a direct parallel to the overthrow of Jericho under Joshua. In that sense, Jericho is Babylon.

It has been a long journey, but along the way we have seen many signs following, by which God has confirmed the revelation of His Word. What will happen after the seventh bowl is poured out on October 7 this year? No one can say for sure, but judging from previous patterns, we will be watching for the fall of Babylon by the end of 2007.

According to our best understanding, we believe this will be accompanied by a great outpouring of the Spirit that is rooted in the feast of Tabernacles. This is our prayer. We do not know at present if there will be another intercessory work to follow this one before we see all things fulfilled. We know much, but we must always be humble enough to know the limits of our understanding. We know what we know, but we do not know what we do not know.