Changes in Intercession:
Ezekiel 7 & 2Chronicles 7
Understanding
The outflow of seeking was understanding of two things, the first was the Lord opening my eyes to aspects of the scriptures I had avoided and tried to avoid with every breath of prayer. Scriptures that were absolute pillars of the Word of God about prayer, began not to say less, but to say more and were so very sharp they were indeed difficult to hear. One such word we all know,
2Ch 7:14
If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves,
and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will
I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land…
Now, your saying, this is blasphemous, “God said right there he would hear these prayers and you’re telling me your “experience” says he isn’t.” I understand why you would say that, but let’s take a look at the scripture and its sharpness, for this what God showed me and its meaning in this season more then all others.
2Ch 7:12-14
And the LORD appeared to Solomon by night, and said unto him, I have
heard thy prayer, and have chosen this place to myself for an house of
sacrifice.
If I shut up heaven that there be no rain, or if I command the locusts to
devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people;
If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and
pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear
from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
The best among us recognize the conditional nature of this verse, that the requirements are not just prayer, but humility, supplication, seeking God’s face, and repentance. Yet, God said, “then will I hear.” The implication is He is not hearing until these were accomplished. In addition, a pilgrimage needed to be made in order to be heard. In our modern times we could hop on a flight from the United States and arrive in Israel faster than some penitent travelers could have made the trip by foot. While this aspect is not specifically for us today, the reality is the same as our journey before the throne; for the journey is an act of contrition and humility.
So what s is the context? This scripture is not the exclusive domain of the prophetic intercessor: those who see the things on the horizon and hears the call for the Lord looking for someone to stand. The Lord removed this from the prophetic sense into the literal; is for a season after judgment has come and is seen in the land. It is only AFTER judgment has come, THEN God has says, “I will heal their land.” There is no healing if the land is not first wounded, broken and emptied: but if these things are only seen far off, there is no reason to heal that which is not broken.
The Second Change
Those who are given to prayer understand that something is different: now there is a pause, now there is a holding of the breath, now there is a silence in heaven as the seasons change and now there is sadness as we look into a coming day we would have laid down our lives to hold back. This is the second change.
It seemed like a simple change, but when the Lord was speaking of these thing He no longer was speaking, “is coming,” but He began to say, “IS COME.” As I talked about this change with friends and I found saying “is come” the best way to articulate the change. The intercession has ended, as a means of avoidance of the day, but has just begun over what is now come.
This week I was reading and I saw that more than just a grammatical change, more than just a useful descriptor; it was what the Lord said, what He has said it before and is presently speaking over our Land. This is more than just some long quotation, hear it:
Ezekiel 1-27
Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Also, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord GOD unto the land of Israel; An end,
the end is come upon the four corners of the land.
Now is the end come upon thee, and I will send mine anger upon thee, and will
judge thee according to thy ways, and will recompense upon thee all thine
abominations.
And mine eye shall not spare thee, neither will I have pity: but I will recompense
thy ways upon thee, and thine abominations shall be in the midst of thee: and ye
shall know that I am the LORD.
Thus saith the Lord GOD; An evil, an only evil, behold, is come.
An end is come, the end is come: it watcheth for thee; behold, it is come.
The morning is come unto thee, O thou that dwellest in the land: the time is come,
the day of trouble is near, and not the sounding again of the mountains.
Now will I shortly pour out my fury upon thee, and accomplish mine anger upon
thee: and I will judge thee according to thy ways, and will recompense thee for all
thine abominations.
And mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: I will recompense thee
according to thy ways and thine abominations that are in the midst of thee; and ye
shall know that I am the LORD that smiteth.
Behold the day, behold, it is come: the morning is gone forth; the rod hath
blossomed, pride hath budded.
Violence is risen up into a rod of wickedness: none of them shall remain, nor of
their multitude, nor of any of theirs: neither shall there be wailing for them.
The time is come, the day draweth near: let not the buyer rejoice, nor the seller
mourn: for wrath is upon all the multitude thereof.
For the seller shall not return to that which is sold, although they were yet alive:
for the vision is touching the whole multitude thereof, which shall not return;
neither shall any strengthen himself in the iniquity of his life.
They have blown the trumpet, even to make all ready; but none goeth to the battle:
for my wrath is upon all the multitude thereof.
The sword is without, and the pestilence and the famine within: he that is in the
field shall die with the sword; and he that is in the city, famine and pestilence shall
devour him.
But they that escape of them shall escape, and shall be on the mountains like doves
of the valleys, all of them mourning, every one for his iniquity.
All hands shall be feeble, and all knees shall be weak as water.
They shall also gird themselves with sackcloth, and horror shall cover them; and
shame shall be upon all faces, and baldness upon all their heads.
They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their
silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the
LORD: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the
stumblingblock of their iniquity.
As for the beauty of his ornament, he set it in majesty: but they made the images of
their abominations and of their detestable things therein: therefore have I set it far
from them.
And I will give it into the hands of the strangers for a prey, and to the wicked of the
earth for a spoil; and they shall pollute it.
My face will I turn also from them, and they shall pollute my secret place: for the
robbers shall enter into it, and defile it.
Make a chain: for the land is full of bloody crimes, and the city is full of violence.
Wherefore I will bring the worst of the heathen, and they shall possess their
houses: I will also make the pomp of the strong to cease; and their holy places
shall be defiled.
Destruction cometh; and they shall seek peace, and there shall be none.
Mischief shall come upon mischief, and rumour shall be upon rumour; then shall
they seek a vision of the prophet; but the law shall perish from the priest, and
counsel from the ancients.
The king shall mourn, and the prince shall be clothed with desolation, and the
hands of the people of the land shall be troubled: I will do unto them after their
way, and according to their deserts will I judge them; and they shall know that I am
the LORD.
America, as we have known it, is ended. If a new day is to arise after this I do not know, but “An end, the end is come upon the four corners of the land.”
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