CHAPTER 10 - TABERNACLES - THE FEAST OF INGATHERING
And the Feast of
Ingathering, which is in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy labors out of
the field" (Ex. 23:16).
If the Passover was wonderful--and it certainly
was--how much more wonderful shall we expect Pentecost to be in its fullness? And if
Pentecost is wonderful, how much more shall we expect Tabernacles to exceed it in glory?
In the Passover we have but the Sheaf of Firstfruits by way of harvest, and not the
harvest itself. But Pentecost was the harvest. And what a tremendous harvest there was!
And so now the Feast of Ingathering must far surpass Pentecost, even as Pentecost
surpassed the harvest of the Sheaf of Firstfruits.
A GREAT ECLIPSE
The Cross and Pentecost--this was but the dawning of
the great Day of the Church. That Day has already extended some nineteen hundred years and
more, and the sun rises higher and higher and higher in the heavens of God's eternal
purpose. We are not inferring that the glory of the Sun continued to grow more brilliant
as it rose in the sky. It should have done so, but through the disobedience of the reapers
the sun was darkened, and the moon (even the Church) did not give her light. The history
of the Church is a history of darkness and sorrow and bitterness. What happened? Did the
Sun of Righteousness set in the heavens, and was the Church swallowed up in defeat? Ah no!
It was not the setting of the Sun, but it was a great eclipse that caused the darkness,
even the eclipse of the Dark Ages.
First there was the eclipse of the moon, the Church.
In her circuit about the heavens she was caught in the shadow of the earth, and the
corruption of the earth transformed her beautiful glow into blood and sorrow. And then
there was the eclipse of the Sun. The apostate Church in her circuit obscured the glory of
the Sun, so that earth-dwellers witnessed the eclipse of Truth himself. Truth perished
from the earth; and joy withered away from the sons of men. Hence the Dark Ages! A few
godly saints were left, for God has always had His believing remnant; and how they must
have thought the Sun had set forever upon the once-glorious Church! But no! It was just an
eclipse, and in due course--according to Divine pattern, the moon began once again to take
on her celestial glow, and the Sun began to shine brilliantly in the heavens of the Church
Age. The Reformation had started. Light began to dawn upon the darkened understandings of
men, and truth began to be restored to the Church. And the Reformation has not ended by
any means. Indeed, it too seems to have gone into partial eclipse. But rays of promise are
again breaking forth from the heavens. "The darkness is passing away, and the true
light now shineth" (1 Jn. 2:8, Literal).
"Who is she that looketh forth as the morning,
fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners?" (Song
6:10). She is the group known as the overcomers. She is the "undefiled,"
"the choice one of her that bare her." As we mentioned before, there are many,
many groups in the Church, according to God's plan and purpose; and we are not attempting
to make any particular distinction between them. "There are threescore queens, and
fourscore concubines, and virgins without number. My dove, my undefiled is but one"
(Song 6:9). There is a place for all God's people in His great House; but shall we not
seek after that intimate place of fellowship and communion with Him in the very
"secret place of the Most High?" Says Paul, "In a great house there are not
only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honor, and
some to dishonor..." All the saints have a place in God's Church; but one company
receiveth the highest prize. The challenge is therefore thrown out to the saints
everywhere, to rid themselves of the corrupting influences of the flesh and of the
natural, and to diligently seek the things of the Spirit of God. "If a man therefore
purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, and meet for the
master's use, and prepared unto every good work" (2 Tim. 2:20, 21).
THE CHURCH, THE GARDEN OF GOD
Jesus testified, "I am the true vine, and my
Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and
every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth (pruneth) it, that it may bring forth more
fruit" (Jn. 15:1, 2). The Church, the Garden of God! Surely this truth alone is
sufficient to establish the fact that the Church's day must end in great fertility and
unparalleled prosperity. If we constitute God's Garden, then nothing shall prevent the
great Husbandman from bringing His heritage to abundance and fruition. It is His
responsibility to look after it, and to see that it brings forth a harvest for His glory.
"For the Lord shall comfort Zion: he will comfort all her waste places; and he will
make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the Garden of the LORD;
joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody" (Isa.
51:3).
God always brings light out of darkness, life out of
death, joy out of sorrow, strength out of weakness, and fruition out of barrenness. We can
rejoice, therefore, as we see the desolation of Zion, knowing that her "desert"
shall become like the very Garden of the Lord. "The wilderness and the solitary place
shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. It shall
blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing..." (Isa. 35:1, 2).
WINDS OF JUDGMENT AND BLESSING
"A garden enclosed is my sister, my spouse; a
spring shut up, a fountain sealed... Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; blow upon
my garden, that the spices there of may flow out" (Song 4:12, 16). Both winds are
necessary for God's Garden: the blighting cold wind of the north to test and try the
saints; and the warm breezes from the south, to bring forth the fragrance of the Spirit.
We can be thankful, then, that in all the strife and bitterness of the Church's history,
God's sovereign purposes have been fulfilled. For God has reserved the time of the
"south wind" until now. "For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and
gone; the flowers appear on the earth" (Song 2:11, 12).
THE LATTER RAIN
We are looking forward with anticipation for the
coming of the promised "latter rain." The saints of God are thirsting for these
living streams from heaven. But how little do we realize that God is more anxious for the
"latter rain" than we are! And why? Because He is the Gardener; and He is
waiting for the Feast of Ingathering, when He might gather in the precious produce.
"Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long
patience for it, until he (it) receive the early and latter rain" (Jas. 5:7). God is
waiting for the hour when He shall bestow His latter rain, just as anxiously--and even
more patiently--than we are. James says, "Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the
coming of the Lord," for in a very real sense the coming of the latter rain
is the coming of the Lord into the midst of His people. That is exactly what the prophet
Hosea declared: "Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord: his going
forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain,
as the latter and former rain unto the earth" (Hos. 6:3). The time is at hand when we
may with all confidence expect the latter rain, for this is the last day, and God's
triumphant Church must be a glorious Church. However, it is not only the latter rain for
which we are looking, but the latter and former rain! What does this
mean?
JOEL'S PROPHECY
Let us refer to Joel's prophecy concerning the
former and the latter rain. This refers to the seed rain and the harvest rain.
God promised that His people should have both in due season as they walked in His ways:
"The first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy
wine, and thine oil" (Deut. 11:14). This is what James was referring to, and it is
that which Joel prophesied about:
"Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice
in the Lord your God: for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause
to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in
the first month. And the floors shall be full of wheat, and the vats shall overflow with
wine and oil" (Joel 2:23, 24).
Of course, this passage did have a partial
fulfillment at Pentecost, inasmuch as Peter declared: "This is that
which was spoken by the prophet Joel..." and we have already pointed out that
Pentecost is a harvest of Firstfruits. The fullness of the harvest, however, is the Feast
of Ingathering in the seventh month, when the wine and the oil were gathered in. You see,
Israel observed two different calendars: they had the Sacred Year which began with the
Passover in April, commemorating their departure from the land of Egypt, and their
beginning as a redeemed nation. But they also had what has been termed a Civil Year, or an
Agricultural Year, which began in October. This, then, was the first month of the Civil
Year, but at the same time it was the seventh month of the Sacred Year--the month of the
Feast of Tabernacles.
What Joel prophesied then, was this: "Be glad
then, ye children, and rejoice in the Lord your God: for he hath given you the
former rain moderately..." Dispensationally this was Pentecost, when God
first poured out His Spirit in copious showers of the former rain. Peter therefore could
testify: "This is that..." But it was only part of what Joel
had prophesied, for he continued: "And he will cause to come down for you the rain, the
former rain, and the latter rain, in the first month." The period from
October to April was the rainy season. Then followed the long summer months when no rains
were to be expected. The October and early November rains were called the former
or the seed rains--the rains which prepared the ground for the seed; then the
rainy season ended with the latter rains of April, or the harvest
rains--that which caused the grain to ripen; preparatory for the harvest.
Joel's prophecy, therefore, speaks of Pentecost--but
it goes on to embrace the fullness of Pentecost, even the Feast of Tabernacles. God did
give the former rain moderately--in the Pentecostal Age extending from the early Church
until now. But here is something very unusual. Right here in the
"first month" of the Agricultural Year (the seventh month of the Sacred year)
God has promised to do something most unusual; for He would give, not only the former rain
which belongs to that month, but He would give the former rain and the latter rain
combined!
Can we not see from this what God has promised His
people in this great hour? Not only the fullness of a great and glorious harvest, as in
Pentecost. And not only the wonderful harvest of Tabernacles, the Feast of Ingathering.
But all the glory and power of the early Church combined with all the glory and power
which rightfully belongs to the triumphant Church of the last days! All her former glory
combined with all her latter glory! Truly we cannot begin to imagine the great and
tremendous things which God hath prepared for them that love Him! "And he will cause
to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain, in the first
month,"--Or, "in the beginning of the season." It is the promise,
not only of the early and latter rain in the hour of the Feast of Tabernacles (the
"first month" of the Civil Year, but the seventh of the Sacred Year)--but it is
also a promise of the great day of harvest. "And the floors shall be full of wheat,
and the vats shall overflow with wine and oil" (Joel 2:24). The normal procedure is:
the early and the latter rain, then the harvest which culminates at Pentecost, then the
long summer months of dry weather, and then the final ingathering at the year's end. And
that indeed is the way it has happened dispensationally in the Church: the former
rain at Pentecost, but only moderately-- producing only a
moderate harvest, and followed by a great period of drought for century upon century. Now
the Lord will do a quick work in the earth. This is the focal hour of Church history. Now
we shall have not only the great and mighty harvest of the seventh month, the Feast of
Ingathering, but the former and the latter rain combined! A veritable
deluge of rain from the gates of Heaven! No wonder the prophet prophesied, "The glory
of this latter house shall be greater than of the former..."
THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT
"And the floors shall be full of wheat, and the
vats shall overflow with wine and oil." Or, literally, "New wine and oil,"
beautiful symbols of the fruit of the Spirit in the saints. Said Paul, "Be not drunk
with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit" (Eph. 5:18). And the
oil, as we know, is a symbol of the anointing. "The anointing which ye have received
of him abideth in you..." (1 Jn. 2:27).
This great ingathering is the harvest for which the
husbandman has been waiting ever since the foundation of the Church. Gifts of the Spirit
are really no evidence of spiritual attainment; God bestoweth His gifts freely by His
grace upon whomsoever He will. But with fruit it is entirely different. Fruit must grow;
and God has never intended that the Body of Christ should ever bring forth fruit except
through a continual Divine growth in the Spirit of God. The Ascension gifts that we
mentioned are for the purpose of adding growth to God's Garden, that we "may grow
up into Him" (Eph. 4:15). God will not come to us looking for gifts, but for
fruits of the Spirit. He gave us His gifts freely by His grace, and all we had to do was
to receive them and use them. What God wants now is fruit, because that
is something which He can receive from you. That is something which must grow
upon you by your patient and continual walk with God and your appropriation of His Spirit.
Until now the Husbandman has come into His garden, pruning, cultivating, watering--without
expecting anything in return. But now the harvest time is approaching, and soon He shall
visit His garden for one purpose and for one purpose only: seeking for fruit, and trusting
that His tender care over the vine has produced genuine fruit of the Spirit.
Let us never forget that the fruits
of the Spirit, and not the gifts of the Spirit, constitute the real test
of spiritual life; for the latter are given to produce the former, and it is the
fruit that is the embodiment and expression of Christ-likeness within the heart
and soul. That is why Paul exhorted, "Follow after love, and desire
spiritual gifts..." (1 Cor. 14:1). Gifts are absolutely necessary, for they
are the means to the end; but Love is the end, the consummation, the fruit for which God
is waiting. Love is the Ultimate, because "God is Love," and it is His purpose
to conform the saints even unto "the image of His Son, that he might be the firstborn
among many brethren" (Rom. 8:29). Love is the End: but it is an End which knows no
beginning or ending, for it is God himself; and when we become thoroughly united with Him
we are in a realm which is eternally progressive.
O what a grand and glorious day awaits the Church in
the Feast of Ingathering! The Day of the fruit of the Spirit! Because we do not have the
fruit of the Spirit in any degree of fullness, we cannot appreciate its glory. Before the
gifts of the Spirit were restored to the Church we had a faint conception of what they
would be like, but what a revelation it is as we see them gradually unfolding before our
eyes! So with the fruit of the Spirit. We know what they are: "Love, joy, peace,
long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance" (Gal. 5:22). But
we shall never appreciate any measure of their real glory until the fruit of the Spirit
becomes visibly manifest in the saints of God.
(*(*(*(*(*(*(*(*(*(*(*(*(*)*)_*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)
The Presentation
Every so often things happen.
In the Melchizedek Order.
We're not talking humanly organised.
We're talking God's agenda pad.
John 7 is one interesting chapter. You see every year the Jews celebrated their Feasts. Jesus said to his brothers, "Your time is always with you". Originally it didn't seem Jesus was even going to turn up. He did turn up. He virtually took over the show. The Spirit kind of exploded through Him on the day of the Outpouring of Water, which was part of the Feast of Tabernacles, that HE WAS THE WATER OF LIFE.Every year the Jews held their Feasts. But at other times God held His events.
The birth of Jesus had its own choral event combined with angelic announcement.Nobody knew or particularly cared about the birth of the Messiah. Well they cared about their idea of the Messiah. The one that would lend strength to their egos as Sovereign of the Jewish master Race. It was promised you know.
But the real Jewish Messiah, the one recorded beforehand in Isaiah 53 and Psalm 22, only the shepherds cared about.And in particular because they were greatly honoured to be especially told about it.
There's a generation today like that. They are about to be told. But no one from Judaism or Christendom will know about it, because they still have an alternative Messiah to the real one. But those honoured to be told at all, they'll be there. That every mouth be stopped.
That grace just be grace.
You see everything is wheels within wheels.
Cycles within cycles.
Every year we have Spring Harvest. The Call. Soul Survivor. Music events. Denominational events.
But then, every few decades and accelerating, there are the God events.
Just like Simeon and Anna happening to be at the Temple just about the time Jesus was presented to the Lord, and being on hand to prophecy sovereignly over His life, and the life of mankind.Every so often, there's the fruition of years.
You see God has a seed. The Seed of His Son.
Sown as people receive the Passover message.
Confirmed and anointed as people receive the Pentecost Message.
Then manifested like a "coming out" ball in completeness at Spirit directed Tabernacles events. Part of Tabernacles is the Feast of Ingathering, what people call revivals. Except for those pioneering the moves, this is no revival. This is Jesus coming out of them, fullgrown.
People think the Welsh revival came in 1906. That was just the end product- the Feast of Tabernacles presentation. But the Seed was sown in the previous revivals in the 1800s, and 1850s. These were Melchizedek order groups, nursing the seed as it grew, until the Coming out Debutante Ball !!!
In 1970s, Watchman Nee had willingly sown his life into a Communist jail where he had his tongue cut out , and he died. He did this as an intercessory act for China and the West.But simultaneous to this a prophetess called Jean Darnall directed Britain, in poor shape spiritually, to hold a Festival of Light as a prophetic declaration using all the old Beacons throughout Britain. Then culminating in two London Festivals. One in 1971 and then the one I was present at in 1972.
This was the era when denominations were hearing the message about the Baptism in the Holy Spirit. Initially the Word was coming in the framework known as Fountain Trust. Within a year or so we were hearing the prophetic message that God had so much more. And it was coming through two groups of men to us Brits.
The housechurch leaders. These held significant meetings in London.
And from the States we received input from a group that became localised at Fort Lauderdale Florida.
Don Basham was used sovereignly and from his point of view totally unplanned in our hometown of Amersham. A whole houseful were baptised in the Holy Spirit in my friends's house.It was reported that they had had an orgy. (Clearly someone had noticed them all hugging each other....this was Britain 1967 remember!!)
The point I am trying to make, well several...are God's sovereign timing...HE IS IN CHARGE
The cyclic nature of the preparation lasting decades, hopefully accelerating.
The nature of progressively greater vision.
It was around 73-75. I have reported in my Demi Lune post
http://080808onnowto.blogspot.com/2009/02/its-here-we-planned-world-takeover.html
I reported how we had read of this huge vision outlined in Isaiah. But how on earth did a little two-bit Old Town Amersham Baptist Church tie in with it?
And then we heard about the Bible Weeks. And heard the Ern Baxter message from Kansas City in 1975.This is the point i want to make. We were denominational but Spirit-filled Christians. The only thing we knew about was receiving the Holy Spirit's power in order to share with other people we knew about the salvation offered inJesus Christ.
What we didnt know when we gathered in Dales Bible Week Harrogate Yorkshire in a huge cowshed used for agricultural shows was that when God does one of His sovereign presentations everything changes gear.
Melchizedek order events are not man made. God sets them up decades before. He chooses and anoints (quite often) totally unknown hidden people.
David Duplessis of the charismatic move was chosen through prophecy through the mouth of Smith Wigglesworth in 1946, some 20 years before he was really used as figurehead throughout Africa and the world.Melchizedek order events are always hugely bigger than anyone can imagine. Not only numerically, but in substance and in vision. With each unveiling, or "apocalypse" (same word for transfiguration), each cycle is amost frighteningly bigger and all encompassing.
None of us expected anything like the Dales. It blew us right out of our denominational mentaliities.That's when we became Kingdom people.
These events are bigger , more substantial for these reasons.
God says about prayer, and waiting upon Him.....don't heap up words as the gentiles do with their prayers. Unbelieving Anglicans heap up the Lord's prayer each week as a meaningless ritual. They have absolutely no idea what they are reciting, apart from a parrot fashion lipsync.Instead we are to go into our inner room and meet with our Daddy Father in secret. We listen out for Him. We love on him. We commune with His heart. Which is huge. We listen to His heartbeat. We capture His vision. We receive the DNA infrastructure of His next Melchizedek events. Small and large. Whatsoever we hear in the secret place, shall, down the road be shouted loud from the rooftops, over P.A systems in stadiums. At the next big events.
These events are more substantial because each generation is standing on the last, and Jesus continues to "come" stronger and stronger in His saints. Saints literally have MORE of the substance of Christ, which like concrete is being laid thicker and thicker inside the saints.
Then put all these secret place whispers, of all the 12 tribes,in thicker and thicker concentrations into one gathering place, and the step change is, to begin with almost too much for everybody. The presence of God corporately is almost frightening. You see all of us tend to live in our small family units, or at best meet in our local church, but Melchizedek events are a bit like Close Encounters of the Third Kind . Quite often with little advertising, everyone knows, maybe by virtue of the sort of gathering it is, or the sort of hungry people who are going to be there, or by virtue of the Lord's dealings that we know about among the people that will be there....
For whatever reason, when we actually arrive, we're a bit breathless. How on earth did these other guys hear about it?
This was so for the Holy Spirit instructed teach-in on evangelism and the Baptism of the Holy Spirit in my friend Rachel's house in April 1972. it was in South Bucks for heaven sake. How did those teenagers from Noth Bucks know about it?
Melachizedek events really are like the building of Solomon's Temple. Previously hewn in secret quarries, all the pieces appear to come together perfectly and pretty seamlessly, yet totally beyond human planning. To a certain extent this happens with every Spirit Church meeting....but nowhere is it more obvious than in the larger Melchizedek events.
Lastly, these events are more substantial because of the new vision level that the Holy Spirit chooses to unveil. All God's vision requires the FAITH OF JESUS CHRIST HIMSELF to bring it to pass. As little denominational or new housechurch people, the KINGDOM vision that was presented was so vast, because it encompassed the whole world, we thought how on earth can these things be? All we'd known at Dr Challenors Grammar School ,Amersham UK was attempts to close us down, to hush us up, to render our little Christian union absolutely useless and ineffective in the larger school. Looking back it is very like the legitimacy of the Catholic Church at the end of the Roman empire. Sure we had our meeting place, but we had various strictures placed upon us, that as naive schoolboys we probably took on board far too swiftly. This was and is how Communist China deals with Christian churches. They formed the 3 self Movement, which is a government policing, emasculating the spread of the gospel. Ofcourse the house church movement (illegally) expands more and more.Yet God knows the end from the beginning. He knows what He calls us to and how it is to be fulfilled. He knew about things we didnt know or couldnt envisage. The Power of the gospel itself was far greater and deeper than we knew through Billy Graham. Although we saw signs through Wurmbrand that this was one heck of a power coming out of a human. Then we knew nothing about 3stages of growth, sattellite TV. Home PCs. And here it is.
Right now.
The next awesome stage is about to be announced.
The Third Level. The Third Feast. The Incarnation of Christ in the Believers. The Last Great Battle.
Music like you've never heard in your life.
Worship so intense you may be fooled that you are in heaven.
12 tribes worth of revelation streaming.
Healing and miracle power like your eyes will hardly be able to apprehend.
Some leaders you will recognise who know how to move with the Melchizedek order, just as Arthur Wallis and Derek Prince did. Many are totally new and unheard of by man, but totally and intimately known by God.
You are going to enjoy this, if initially apprehensive. Most responded to angels this way. The angels had to always say, Do not be afraid.
THIS.
THIS IS THE MELCHIZEDEK ORDER
THIS IS THE THIRD LEVEL.
In the Melchizedek Order.
We're not talking humanly organised.
We're talking God's agenda pad.
John 7 is one interesting chapter. You see every year the Jews celebrated their Feasts. Jesus said to his brothers, "Your time is always with you". Originally it didn't seem Jesus was even going to turn up. He did turn up. He virtually took over the show. The Spirit kind of exploded through Him on the day of the Outpouring of Water, which was part of the Feast of Tabernacles, that HE WAS THE WATER OF LIFE.Every year the Jews held their Feasts. But at other times God held His events.
The birth of Jesus had its own choral event combined with angelic announcement.Nobody knew or particularly cared about the birth of the Messiah. Well they cared about their idea of the Messiah. The one that would lend strength to their egos as Sovereign of the Jewish master Race. It was promised you know.
But the real Jewish Messiah, the one recorded beforehand in Isaiah 53 and Psalm 22, only the shepherds cared about.And in particular because they were greatly honoured to be especially told about it.
There's a generation today like that. They are about to be told. But no one from Judaism or Christendom will know about it, because they still have an alternative Messiah to the real one. But those honoured to be told at all, they'll be there. That every mouth be stopped.
That grace just be grace.
You see everything is wheels within wheels.
Cycles within cycles.
Every year we have Spring Harvest. The Call. Soul Survivor. Music events. Denominational events.
But then, every few decades and accelerating, there are the God events.
Just like Simeon and Anna happening to be at the Temple just about the time Jesus was presented to the Lord, and being on hand to prophecy sovereignly over His life, and the life of mankind.Every so often, there's the fruition of years.
You see God has a seed. The Seed of His Son.
Sown as people receive the Passover message.
Confirmed and anointed as people receive the Pentecost Message.
Then manifested like a "coming out" ball in completeness at Spirit directed Tabernacles events. Part of Tabernacles is the Feast of Ingathering, what people call revivals. Except for those pioneering the moves, this is no revival. This is Jesus coming out of them, fullgrown.
People think the Welsh revival came in 1906. That was just the end product- the Feast of Tabernacles presentation. But the Seed was sown in the previous revivals in the 1800s, and 1850s. These were Melchizedek order groups, nursing the seed as it grew, until the Coming out Debutante Ball !!!
In 1970s, Watchman Nee had willingly sown his life into a Communist jail where he had his tongue cut out , and he died. He did this as an intercessory act for China and the West.But simultaneous to this a prophetess called Jean Darnall directed Britain, in poor shape spiritually, to hold a Festival of Light as a prophetic declaration using all the old Beacons throughout Britain. Then culminating in two London Festivals. One in 1971 and then the one I was present at in 1972.
This was the era when denominations were hearing the message about the Baptism in the Holy Spirit. Initially the Word was coming in the framework known as Fountain Trust. Within a year or so we were hearing the prophetic message that God had so much more. And it was coming through two groups of men to us Brits.
The housechurch leaders. These held significant meetings in London.
And from the States we received input from a group that became localised at Fort Lauderdale Florida.
Don Basham was used sovereignly and from his point of view totally unplanned in our hometown of Amersham. A whole houseful were baptised in the Holy Spirit in my friends's house.It was reported that they had had an orgy. (Clearly someone had noticed them all hugging each other....this was Britain 1967 remember!!)
The point I am trying to make, well several...are God's sovereign timing...HE IS IN CHARGE
The cyclic nature of the preparation lasting decades, hopefully accelerating.
The nature of progressively greater vision.
It was around 73-75. I have reported in my Demi Lune post
http://080808onnowto.blogspot.com/2009/02/its-here-we-planned-world-takeover.html
I reported how we had read of this huge vision outlined in Isaiah. But how on earth did a little two-bit Old Town Amersham Baptist Church tie in with it?
And then we heard about the Bible Weeks. And heard the Ern Baxter message from Kansas City in 1975.This is the point i want to make. We were denominational but Spirit-filled Christians. The only thing we knew about was receiving the Holy Spirit's power in order to share with other people we knew about the salvation offered inJesus Christ.
What we didnt know when we gathered in Dales Bible Week Harrogate Yorkshire in a huge cowshed used for agricultural shows was that when God does one of His sovereign presentations everything changes gear.
Melchizedek order events are not man made. God sets them up decades before. He chooses and anoints (quite often) totally unknown hidden people.
David Duplessis of the charismatic move was chosen through prophecy through the mouth of Smith Wigglesworth in 1946, some 20 years before he was really used as figurehead throughout Africa and the world.Melchizedek order events are always hugely bigger than anyone can imagine. Not only numerically, but in substance and in vision. With each unveiling, or "apocalypse" (same word for transfiguration), each cycle is amost frighteningly bigger and all encompassing.
None of us expected anything like the Dales. It blew us right out of our denominational mentaliities.That's when we became Kingdom people.
These events are bigger , more substantial for these reasons.
God says about prayer, and waiting upon Him.....don't heap up words as the gentiles do with their prayers. Unbelieving Anglicans heap up the Lord's prayer each week as a meaningless ritual. They have absolutely no idea what they are reciting, apart from a parrot fashion lipsync.Instead we are to go into our inner room and meet with our Daddy Father in secret. We listen out for Him. We love on him. We commune with His heart. Which is huge. We listen to His heartbeat. We capture His vision. We receive the DNA infrastructure of His next Melchizedek events. Small and large. Whatsoever we hear in the secret place, shall, down the road be shouted loud from the rooftops, over P.A systems in stadiums. At the next big events.
These events are more substantial because each generation is standing on the last, and Jesus continues to "come" stronger and stronger in His saints. Saints literally have MORE of the substance of Christ, which like concrete is being laid thicker and thicker inside the saints.
Then put all these secret place whispers, of all the 12 tribes,in thicker and thicker concentrations into one gathering place, and the step change is, to begin with almost too much for everybody. The presence of God corporately is almost frightening. You see all of us tend to live in our small family units, or at best meet in our local church, but Melchizedek events are a bit like Close Encounters of the Third Kind . Quite often with little advertising, everyone knows, maybe by virtue of the sort of gathering it is, or the sort of hungry people who are going to be there, or by virtue of the Lord's dealings that we know about among the people that will be there....
For whatever reason, when we actually arrive, we're a bit breathless. How on earth did these other guys hear about it?
This was so for the Holy Spirit instructed teach-in on evangelism and the Baptism of the Holy Spirit in my friend Rachel's house in April 1972. it was in South Bucks for heaven sake. How did those teenagers from Noth Bucks know about it?
Melachizedek events really are like the building of Solomon's Temple. Previously hewn in secret quarries, all the pieces appear to come together perfectly and pretty seamlessly, yet totally beyond human planning. To a certain extent this happens with every Spirit Church meeting....but nowhere is it more obvious than in the larger Melchizedek events.
Lastly, these events are more substantial because of the new vision level that the Holy Spirit chooses to unveil. All God's vision requires the FAITH OF JESUS CHRIST HIMSELF to bring it to pass. As little denominational or new housechurch people, the KINGDOM vision that was presented was so vast, because it encompassed the whole world, we thought how on earth can these things be? All we'd known at Dr Challenors Grammar School ,Amersham UK was attempts to close us down, to hush us up, to render our little Christian union absolutely useless and ineffective in the larger school. Looking back it is very like the legitimacy of the Catholic Church at the end of the Roman empire. Sure we had our meeting place, but we had various strictures placed upon us, that as naive schoolboys we probably took on board far too swiftly. This was and is how Communist China deals with Christian churches. They formed the 3 self Movement, which is a government policing, emasculating the spread of the gospel. Ofcourse the house church movement (illegally) expands more and more.Yet God knows the end from the beginning. He knows what He calls us to and how it is to be fulfilled. He knew about things we didnt know or couldnt envisage. The Power of the gospel itself was far greater and deeper than we knew through Billy Graham. Although we saw signs through Wurmbrand that this was one heck of a power coming out of a human. Then we knew nothing about 3stages of growth, sattellite TV. Home PCs. And here it is.
Right now.
The next awesome stage is about to be announced.
The Third Level. The Third Feast. The Incarnation of Christ in the Believers. The Last Great Battle.
Music like you've never heard in your life.
Worship so intense you may be fooled that you are in heaven.
12 tribes worth of revelation streaming.
Healing and miracle power like your eyes will hardly be able to apprehend.
Some leaders you will recognise who know how to move with the Melchizedek order, just as Arthur Wallis and Derek Prince did. Many are totally new and unheard of by man, but totally and intimately known by God.
You are going to enjoy this, if initially apprehensive. Most responded to angels this way. The angels had to always say, Do not be afraid.
THIS.
THIS IS THE MELCHIZEDEK ORDER
THIS IS THE THIRD LEVEL.
Cliff Gableman Very blessed to read, and as I read the Witness came with exclamation..we are on the precipes of a move that will totally engulf the nations......the living stones are being brought together and bonded together with HIS elastic LOVE........and these living stones, these nobody's that have been in the waiting room for decades, will be at the forefront as the true manifested sons of the true priesthood.
Yesterday at 00:24 · ·1
Craig Castleman Wow, Chris. Bring it on! I can't wait, ha. Thanks SO MUCH for sharing, bro.
Yesterday at 01:36 · ·
Joan Reilly exhilarating, exciting, thrilling beyond anything I've ever contemplated.
Yesterday at 02:59 · ·
Daniel Yordy
The overwhelming intensity you speak of was the same in the move under Sam Fife from about 1967 to 1979, the urgent gathering together, the outpoured anointing, the clarion word from the throne. I caught the tail end of it. But you know, I ...See more
Yesterday at 11:07 · ·
Chris Welch Daniel we cant all live in the centre of his will like we do in the UK!!!! No only joking....What seems to happen so far here is that....you say something....a few months later I get it, am gripped by it, put it out, then Annalize says she has bookshelves on the stuff already!!!
Yesterday at 15:04 · ·
Chris Welch
You can certainly borrow this. Sam Fife was on a totally different plane in what he was sharing to what we heard in the 70s. i can understand my friends Pete and Judy Ashton being quite insular at the time in Fishers Pond Colden Common Sout...See more
Yesterday at 16:55 ·
Chris Welch Joan so glad you liked this. You are going to be so glad you met the bathroom floor. Obviously I don't know details, but right in the thick of it as we start to experience the very mists of glory starting to become visible to the naked eye, you're going to think......wow.....when I was hanging below the toilet seat, kind of vaguely face down....I never dreamt that God would bring me to this....and on earth too!
3 hours ago ·
Chris Welch And you'll look round and see a whole load of countless folk all with startled bathroom expressions....and you'll all laugh hysterically at how brilliant Jesus is.
3 hours ago ·
Chris Welch Yes.....it's a great bunch of verses that just about suits the FB Joy post I put up.
2 hours ago ·
Rich Novek One of my favorite passages, God gave me this when i was in my 20's, just before I moved away from my home town the first time with a wife and new baby. I moved to Seattle in 83, and it turned out being the most amazing time, especially in regards to my relationship with Christ! it's REAL Christianity in a nice compact nutshell!
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