The rise of the house of Joseph, part 12

God’s marriage proposal to America threatened the power and government of the golden calves as well as the entire satanic kingdom. The resurrection of Christ established the fact that the world as a whole would eventually be reclaimed for the Kingdom of God, but the marriage proposal brought this promise to the forefront.

A marriage proposal (betrothal) is not the marriage itself, of course. It is merely the promise and agreement of a future marriage. In large part, it marked the start of the final preparation of the Bride for marriage. Preparation implies that the Bride is not yet ready. Hence, much work yet needed to be done. Ultimately, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit is necessary to turn the hearts of the people so that they come to love their prospective Husband.

This marriage will not be an Old Covenant marriage, as many now believe, where the Bride is a bond woman who is obligated or forced by law to submit to her husband. This misunderstanding comes largely from an incorrect interpretation of Revelation 12:5,

⁵ And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron; and her child was caught up to God and to His throne.

The “rod of iron” is an unbreakable rod (scepter). John’s metaphor was meant to show that “in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed… it will itself endure forever” (Daniel 2:44). Daniel’s “stone” metaphor showed the crushing of the ungodly governments of men, but the scepter that John saw was an enduring government.

America, which has no monarchy as such, is largely unfamiliar with the idea of a scepter. One does not use a scepter to beat anyone over the head in order to enforce compliance. In the case of God’s marriage proposal—not only for America, but for all nations—it is based on the New Covenant. The best illustration is seen in Galatians 4:23, where Sarah, the “free woman,” is said to represent the New Covenant.

The marriage in Revelation 19 is based on the pattern of Sarah, not Hagar. Hence, this marriage is fundamentally different from Israel’s Old Covenant marriage at Mount Sinai.

This is also why June 19, 2001 was a New Covenant marriage proposal. It was also our 30^th wedding anniversary for my wife and I. We were married on that date in 1971 in a typical Old Covenant manner. Recall that we were remarried on August 22, 1997 with a New Covenant ceremony. It seemed good in God’s eyes to call us to walk out certain patterns in our own lives as types and shadows of greater things to come. So our Old Covenant anniversary was the date of the later betrothal of America, but not the actual marriage itself, which is yet to come, I believe, at the feast of Tabernacles at a future time.

The World in Non-compliance

When God makes a ruling in the Divine Court, it is normal for the loser to disagree with the Judge, because the losers had set forth the virtues of their own will rather than the will of God. In other words, these losers lack faith, because faith comes by hearing the word of Christ (Romans 10:17). If they had heard the word, they would have had faith, and if they had had faith, they would have known the will of God. If they had been in compliance with God and His law, they would have won their case.

But we have found that unbelieving men and satanic spirits have no interest in establishing the will of God. They have a different agenda that is self-serving. The law of God expresses His will, as Paul tells us in Romans 2:17, 18,

¹⁷ But if you bear the name “Jew” and rely upon the Law and boast in God, ¹⁸ and know His will and approve the things that are essential, being instructed out of the Law…

Paul went on to chide the Jews for claiming to follow the law while actually breaking it. Romans 2:23 says,

²³ You who boast in the Law, through your breaking the Law, do you dishonor God?

Paul did not criticize the law; he criticized hypocrisy. So is it today, where not only Jews but many Christians dishonor God by despising the law.

The point is that after God’s marriage proposal on June 19, those who oppose the plan of God immediately made preparations for war. They desired to defend their own plan and to oppose God’s plan. In their blind arrogance, they thought that when God authorized the “beast” empires to rule the earth for a season (described in Daniel 7), their rule should never end. But the law limited their rule to a period of “seven times” (Leviticus 26:18, 21, 24). Although the meaning of this is obscure, we know from Daniel and the book of Revelation that in long-term prophecy, it is a period of 7 x 360 years (2,520).

Because the kings of Judah had misused the Dominion Mandate, God took it from them and gave it to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon (Jeremiah 27:5, 6). Babylon held it for 70 years, after which time it was given to Persia, then Greece, then Rome and its “horn” (extension), as Daniel himself prophesied. There was an interruption in their rule over Jerusalem from 163-63 B.C., but the 2,520-year rule of the beast nations finally came to an end in 2017.

(604 B.C. plus 2,520 years comes to 1917, plus the lost century brings us to 2017.)

God’s marriage proposal in 2001 anticipated the soon-coming end of beast authority. Yet it is obvious that the marriage itself could not take place while the beast systems still retained their God-given power over the earth (and over America as well). Nonetheless, this marriage proposal put the beast empires on notice that their time was soon to end. If they had been in compliance with the will of God, they would have begun making preparations for the transfer of power to the saints of the Most High, as prophesied in Daniel 7:22 KJV.

Instead, they prepared for war. God, of course, anticipated this and began to call forth a new army of prayer warriors. This army was patterned after Gideon’s army (Judges 7). Recruitment began as soon as I had sent out the New Covenant marriage proposal on May 18, 2001, which was 32 days before the actual betrothal on June 19. The number 32 is the biblical number of covenant, as I showed in my book, The Biblical Meaning of Numbers from One to Forty.

A New Gideon’s Army

Sunny Day had been given revelation to gather certain Kingdom representatives in Coer d’Alene, Idaho on the weekend of May 18-20, 2001. Its theme was Ascension. The name of the city means “Heart of the Awl,” and so the first order of business on May 18 was for the representatives to present themselves as voluntary, perpetual slaves to God, according to Exodus 21:5, 6,

⁵ But if the slave plainly says, “I love my master, my wife and my children; I will not go out as a free man,” ⁶ then his master shall bring him to God [elohim, God or the judges representing God in the Divine Court], then he shall bring him to the door of the doorpost. And his master shall pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall serve him permanently.

The principle behind this law is to show the difference between unwilling slaves and voluntary slaves. An unwilling slave is one who follows his master because the law compels him to do so. If he had a choice in the matter, he would not do so. Many Christians today fall into this category. When someone suggests that God will not torture people in a burning hell forever, they often respond, saying, “Well then, why should I follow Christ. I should just live for myself and eat, drink, and be merry.” That response reveals their true heart. If it were not for the threat of torture in hell, they would not voluntarily follow Christ. They have confessed that they fear Him, but they do not love Him.

A voluntary slave is one who is motivated by love. He needs no threat of eternal torture to ensure that he continues following Christ. He has learned that he is better off leaving his own inheritance and serving his master permanently. Psalm 40:7, 8 says in a prophecy of Christ,

⁷ Then I said, “Behold, I come; in the scroll of the book it is written of me. ⁸ I delight to do Your will, O my God; your Law is within my heart.”

This describes Christ Himself, as we read in Hebrews 10:7, but the principle also applies to all New Covenant believers in whose hearts the Law is written. They obey their Master, not because they are forced to do so by any external law, but because the law has been written on the hearts and has changed their very nature by the power of the Holy Spirit.

This describes a voluntary slave. Paul himself knew this law, for he identified himself in Romans 1:1 as “Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle.” Voluntary slaves, whose ear has been opened by the awl of God, are the effective apostles that God raised up, beginning with the prayer campaign called He is Building Effective Apostleship (March 22-24, 2001).

So on May 18, 2001 God launched a new Gideon’s army of effective apostles. They met at the “Heart of the Awl” to present themselves as voluntary slaves who love their Master and who serve Him not because of threats but because they are in agreement with Him. On the first evening, we prayed in agreement for our ears to be opened by the awl of God, nailed to Christ Himself, who is the Door (John 10:7).

The next day we took a cruise on the lake, where we issued a petition to unite the sons and daughters of God according to the principle in Galatians 3:27-29,

²⁷ For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. ²⁸ There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. ²⁹ And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise.

This, of course, reflects the law of impartiality, which ran counter to Jewish thinking in Paul’s day and which runs counter to much Christian thinking even today. Whereas the Old Covenant distinguished priests from regular people, qualifying only the lineage of Aaron as priests of God, the New Covenant priesthood, beginning with Christ who was of Judah, is open to all people regardless of their genealogy.

The same is true with men’s status as a slave or free man, male or female, Jew or Greek. We are all children of God, and this status is not based on fleshly criteria.

So on May 20, 2001 we were also led to release 32,000 angels assigned to Gideon’s army. This corresponds to the number of volunteers who responded to Gideon’s call in Judges 7:3. (This revelation had been given to me a few days earlier on May 16.)

In the days of Gideon, his army was reduced to 22,000 and later to just 300. But in our time, this was modified. The new Gideon’s army included 32,000, though perhaps most of them remained unaware of their role in the coming prayer battle. Nonetheless, their angels were commissioned to fight the battles on their behalf, because their hearts were in agreement with the will of God.

This is the case with virtually all spiritual battles in the heavens. The condition of our hearts determines which side of the battle we fight for. While a few are made aware of their role in these heavenly wars, most fight blindly by their actions on earth, and the way they live in their daily lives indicates whether or not they strive lawfully. Paul said in 2 Timothy 2:5 KJV,

⁵ And if a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned except he strive lawfully.

There is constant warfare going on in the heavens. We are all participants in that war. When we follow the leading of the Spirit and are in agreement with the will of God, we fight the good fight of faith even in the smallest matters in our daily lives. An awareness of this can motivate us to take the little things more seriously.

As we overcome daily, we show whether or not we are part of the house of Joseph, called to rule the world in the government of Christ in His second work.