Please turn to the Gospel according to Luke.
There was in the days of Herod, king of Judaea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abijah:
and he had a wife of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth.
And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.
And they had no child, because that Elisabeth was barren, and they both were now well stricken in years.Now it came to pass, while he executed the priest’s office before God in the order of his course,
according to the custom of the priest’s office, his lot was to enter into the temple of the Lord and burn incense.
And the whole multitude of the people were praying without at the hour of incense.
And there appeared unto him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense.
And Zacharias was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him.But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: because thy supplication is heard, and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John.
And thou shalt have joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice at his birth.
For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and he shall drink no wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb.
And many of the children of Israel shall he turn unto the Lord their God.
And he shall go before His face in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to walk in the wisdom of the just; to make ready for the Lord a people prepared for Him.
We are living in a time very much similar to the days of John the Baptist. At the time of John the Baptist, God was going to change the age. He was to conclude the dispensation of the law and the prophets and introduce into the world a new dispensation of grace.
The law and the prophets ended with John the Baptist, and from that point Christ came into the world. So we know that the time of John the Baptist was a tremendous time. It was a time of great change.
In a sense, brothers and sisters, we are living on the verge of another great change in time. We believe that God is going to conclude this age and introduce into the world the age to come. Even this present age of grace is coming to an end. A new dispensation—the dispensation, shall we say, of righteousness—shall come upon the earth.
When the Lord returns, righteousness shall rule over the whole world. The Lord is coming again, and He is coming soon.
The time of John the Baptist and our time are very similar in many ways. For God to make that change in time, God looked for a vessel.
Now, this is the way that God always works. Whenever He wants to do something on earth, He is going to do it; yet, in order that what He desires may be done on earth, He always looks for a vessel through which He can do what He intends to do.
At the time when God was going to change from the dispensation of law and prophets into the dispensation of grace, God found on earth a vessel. This vessel was John the Baptist. With this vessel, God was able to make that change and bring in His purpose.
John the Baptist, therefore, was an epoch-making vessel of God. We know that God has many vessels, but there is one kind of vessel which is of special value to Him and to His economy: an epoch-making vessel.
An epoch-making vessel is a vessel that can be used to make a change in time so that the plan of God may be brought closer to its final realization.
In the Bible, you find a number of people like John the Baptist who were epoch-making vessels. Abraham was such a vessel. Starting from the time of Abraham, God was no longer working merely with an individual. Through an individual, He was going to bring in a family, and through a family, to bring in a nation.
Moses was another epoch-making vessel, because through Moses that nation was finally brought forth. Daniel was another epoch-making vessel, because through Daniel the children of Israel in captivity were restored to the promised land, and the temple was rebuilt.
Thus, in the Bible there are these epoch-making vessels, and with these vessels God is able to change the time and bring in His purpose. Brothers and sisters, the ways of God and the principles of God always remain the same.
Because God is going to change the time, He is looking today for a kind of vessel like John the Baptist. But as we draw closer to the end of this age, we believe that whereas in the past an epoch-making vessel was an individual, such as John the Baptist, in our time the epoch-making vessel of God will be a corporate vessel.
It will be a people who have the same characteristics as that kind of epoch-making vessel. This is what God is looking for today.
Brothers and sisters, I feel it is of great urgency that God should find such a vessel upon the earth today. Without such a vessel, God’s plan, as it were, shall be postponed and delayed. But if He finds upon the earth a people whom He can use as an epoch-making vessel, then I believe that the change will come, and it will come very quickly.
For this reason, we would like to consider together this man, John the Baptist—not merely as history, but so that from him we may see what kind of person, or people, God is looking for to be His epoch-making vessels in our time.
First of all, we have to begin with his parents. There you find a man by the name of Zacharias. He was a priest in the course of Abijah.
We know that the priests served in the temple in twenty-four courses, and Zacharias belonged to the course of Abijah. He had a wife of the daughters of Aaron whose name was Elisabeth.
This couple were righteous before the Lord. They kept all the ordinances and commandments of the Lord blameless. In other words, you find a couple who walked before the Lord with godliness, piety, and honesty. They served the Lord together as a family.
Because of that, we might think that God would greatly bless them with many sons and daughters. According to the promises in the Old Testament, those who feared God and honored God would be honored with many sons, many daughters, and with physical and material prosperity.
Now, of course, in the New Testament it is spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus. Yet here you find something rather strange: a couple walked before the Lord in such a blameless way, and yet they had no child.
For this reason, I believe they must have prayed to God many, many times, year in and year out, asking God to give them children, asking God to fulfil His own promise, asking God to vindicate them, and asking God to vindicate Himself. Yet there was no answer.
Until they were both advanced in years, it was humanly impossible for them to have any child. Perhaps at that point they gave up praying. They thought it was simply useless.
But the wonderful thing was this: they were not offended by God. They continued to serve God as faithfully as they had before.
You know, dear brothers and sisters, how easily we can be offended by the Lord. Peter said, “Everybody else will be offended, but certainly I will not be offended by Thee.” But, strange enough, we who are the redeemed of the Lord can be offended by none other than the Lord Himself.
We may think that people in the world will offend us, of course, because they do not understand. Even our brothers and sisters may offend us because they do not really know us. But certainly, we think, the Lord will never offend us, and we would never be offended by Him.
Yet, dear brothers and sisters, there are times when the Lord does not seem to deal with you in the same way that He deals with other people. There are times when the Lord seems to delay, or not to fulfil His promise to you, as He does for many other people.
There are times when you go to the Lord, lay hold of His promise, and fully believe that He will honor His word; but He does not. Then you begin to wonder whether the Lord really cares for you, whether He really loves you, or whether He is righteous.
Even John the Baptist had this problem. When he was in prison, he sent his disciples to the Lord and said, “Art Thou He that cometh, or look we for another?” The answer of the Lord was, “Blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in Me.”
The Lord may not explain why to you. He expects you to believe in Him. He expects you to trust in Him and not be offended.
Dear brothers and sisters, I believe that in our following of the Lord, times will come when we will be tested in this way. How many are offended by the Lord and turn away from following Him because He does not meet their expectation.
Of course, the Lord has His reasons. The Lord knows how much we can stand. The Lord knows how much He can test us. So you find that He tested Zacharias and Elisabeth beyond their natural measure, and yet they trusted in the Lord.
They did not understand. No explanation was ever given, but they continued to believe in God and to serve God as faithfully as they had before. They were not offended. God knew how much they could stand.
God did this for a special reason. He was looking upon this earth for an epoch-making vessel. Where would this epoch-making vessel come from? It had to come from somewhere.
There you find that God laid hold of this elderly couple and tested them, bringing them beyond their natural ability. Yet they trusted in God. Therefore, God was able to bring in that epoch-making vessel.
One day Zacharias was serving in the temple. I believe it was near the time of his retirement—perhaps even the last time. It happened that the lot fell upon him to burn incense in the temple.
Before the day dawned, before the door of the temple was opened, the priests serving in the course of that day gathered together in a room in the temple area, and their lots were cast to decide who was to perform what service during the day.
Some would serve at the brazen altar; others would serve at the candlestick. But of all the services of the priesthood, the noblest service that could ever fall upon a priest was to burn incense at the golden altar of incense.
Why? Only the high priest could enter behind the veil once a year with blood and incense, just to be before the ark, and then quickly retreat. Therefore, for the priests, the nearest place to the mercy seat was the golden altar of incense, because it stood right before the veil, before the ark and the mercy seat.
It was considered the highest privilege of a priest to burn incense at that altar. Many priests served in the temple for life, and this chance never came to them. According to Jewish custom, once you had the privilege of burning incense at the golden altar, you could not repeat it. It was once for a lifetime.
Here you find Zacharias serving God in the temple and knowing that he was retiring. Thank God, at the very last minute the lot fell upon him. So he entered into the holy place to burn incense at the altar.
At the time when the priest burned incense at the altar, nobody else was in the holy place. Everybody was in the court praying, and he was the only one in the temple proper. He was representing the whole nation, burning incense and offering prayer to God. It was the most sacred moment.
While he was burning incense at the altar, suddenly an angel appeared on the right side of the altar, and he was frightened. The angel said, “Zacharias, fear not. Your supplication has been heard, and you shall have a son, and his name shall be called John.”
This is most unusual. When Zacharias was burning incense at the altar, he was offering prayer to God; but the prayer he offered at that moment could not have been a private, personal prayer. He was there in a representative capacity.
He was representing the whole nation, and he was praying the prayer of the nation. What was the prayer of the nation of Israel? “O God, send the Messiah. Send the Messiah.” That was the prayer of the nation.
No doubt that was the prayer Zacharias prayed at that moment. Yet the angel said, “Thy supplication hath been heard, and thou shalt have a son.” While he and his wife prayed for a son, there was no answer. When he stopped praying for a son and prayed for the Messiah, the answer came: “You shall have a son.”
Brothers and sisters, what is the connection? You pray for one thing, and God answers you concerning another thing. The connection is that the son given to him was related to the Messiah.
When they prayed for a son for themselves, there was no answer. But when they prayed for the Messiah, God said, “You shall have a son, because this son shall be the forerunner of the Messiah.”
Is it not true that oftentimes we pray and pray and pray for something for ourselves, and there is no answer? If you are a new believer, there will often be an answer. But when you are an older believer, sometimes you pray and pray and pray, and there is no answer.
Then you begin to wonder, “Why is it that when I was a new believer, whenever I prayed, God came rushing in and supplied my need? From now on, no more. Why is it that my prayer is not answered?”
You may have every legitimate reason to ask God for that need. You may say, “Lord, not for me, but for Your own vindication.” But actually, it is for you too.
Brothers and sisters, you may be praying, praying, praying, and there is no answer. Sometimes you wonder whether God has changed. Are you offended?
If you are not offended, do you know that God is trying to draw you out of yourself and draw you into His need? Sometimes we always see our own need, and we do not know God’s need.
God has a need for a son—an epoch-making vessel to prepare the way for His beloved Son. Yet you are praying only for a son for yourself. God considers you spiritually mature enough not to answer your prayer, and He expects that you will not be offended.
Until you begin to see that His need is more important than your need, you may continue to pray for yourself. But when you begin to forget your need and think only of His need—“O, send the Messiah to us”—then God says, “Yes, I will give you a son, and he will prepare the way of the Messiah.”
Brothers and sisters, I believe there is a very necessary lesson we need to learn if we want to see that epoch-making vessel of God come into being. God has to draw us into His need.
Most people know only their own need. But those who are growing up in Christ ought to begin to realize that God has needs too, and His need has to become ours. Unless we are willing to pray His prayer, to be burdened with His burden, and to travail, as it were, in prayer—through hardship, failure, and puzzlement for His sake—God’s need cannot be met.
Are we willing to be people like Zacharias and Elisabeth? God was able to bring in John the Baptist. Now we would like to see a few things concerning John the Baptist—those things that made him an epoch-making vessel of God.
First of all, John’s name was given by the angel. His name was not given by his father or mother.
When John was born, on the eighth day they circumcised him, as was the custom, and they gathered to give him a name. His mother said, “His name shall be called John.”
But the friends and relatives said, “No, no, no. You do not have that name in your family.” According to Jewish custom, they would look back into the father’s family or the mother’s family and find a name there—perhaps a favorite uncle, aunt, or grandmother.
They thought that perhaps the boy should be called Zacharias, Jr. Then they turned to the father. Because of his unbelief, he had become mute. They made signs to him, asking what the boy should be called. He asked for a tablet and wrote, “His name is John.” Then his tongue was released, and he praised God.
The name was given by the angel. What is the meaning of the name John? John means, “The Lord is gracious.”
In the very name of this boy, you see the grace of God. Or, to put it another way, John is an embodiment of God’s grace. If it were not for the grace of God, there would have been no John.
His father and mother were both advanced in years, and they could not bear a child. God brought them to death, as it were, and even beyond that. They were completely without possibility. God exhausted their natural strength so that it was absolutely impossible for them to have a child. Then the grace of God began to work and brought in that epoch-making vessel.
This is always the way grace works. The grace of God cannot work while your natural strength is still available.
The reason why we do not know more of the grace of God is because our natural strength is so strong. If there is still a tiny trace of natural strength in us, God says, “I have to wait.” If He were to act then, we would share His glory. We would think that we had done it.
You remember when the Lord Jesus raised Lazarus. The sisters sent a message to the Lord, saying, “He whom Thou lovest is sick.” They fully expected the Lord to rush back, but the Lord stayed where He was.
He did not arrive until Lazarus had been in the tomb for four days. In other words, death had thoroughly done its work. Martha said, “Lord, by this time he stinketh.” But the Lord arrived at the time when resurrection could work.
Dear brothers and sisters, if we only saw this basic principle: when will grace begin to work in our lives? It is when our natural man, our natural strength, and our natural energy are fully exhausted.
When a person is drowning, you cannot immediately rescue him, because if you do, he still has strength, and he will wrap his arms around you and pull you down with him. Those who know how to rescue people will wait. If they cannot wait, they may have to strike him so that he becomes nearly unconscious; then they can pull him up.
Brothers and sisters, is it not true that grace will not begin until the natural is fully exhausted?
How true this is of us. When we first believe in the Lord Jesus, how we try to accumulate merits, put forth righteousnesses of our own, and offer our natural fruits, thinking that by these we may appease God.
It is only after we have exhausted all our natural strength, means, and ways that we are helpless, just as we are. Then grace says that we are saved by grace through faith, and not of ourselves; it is the gift of God.
But, dear brothers and sisters, how easily we forget the lesson we learned. After believing in the Lord Jesus, we try again. That is the reason why we do not know more grace in our lives.
Remember, God can only use that which is of Himself. God cannot use anything that does not come from Him. Anything that is not of Him has to go to death, and God will only use that which comes from Him.
This is a very basic, fundamental, and essential principle. It has to be applied throughout our lives. It is not merely something to apply when we are regenerated; it must be applied throughout every step of our way.
God has nothing to do with the natural. Everything natural has to be dealt with, but it cannot be replaced by grace until the natural is fully exhausted. Have we learned this lesson?
If we have learned this lesson, then we have the first quality of being an epoch-making vessel of God: the principle of grace, all of grace.
Secondly, John was one of the few who were Nazarites for life. According to Numbers 6, if any man or woman desired to vow a vow of a Nazarite—to separate himself or herself unto the Lord and consecrate himself or herself to the Lord—he or she could do so.
When God first brought Israel out of Egypt and brought them to Mount Sinai, His purpose was that the whole nation should be a nation of priests. In other words, every Israelite was to serve God.
But while Moses was receiving the law on the mount, the children of Israel sinned against God by worshipping a golden calf. Thus they were disqualified from being priests and serving God.
Therefore, God took out of that nation one tribe, and out of the tribe one family—the family of Aaron—to be priests. The rest of the people could not serve God, even if they wanted to. They were disqualified. They lost that privilege.
Our sense of service is entirely wrong. We think that if we serve God, God is honored. Instead, we should think that when God allows us to serve Him, we are honored.
Yet God, being merciful, opened a door of service for them. If any man or woman of any tribe truly loved God and wanted to serve Him, even if they were not of the family of Aaron or the tribe of Levi, God gave them another opportunity: they could vow the vow of a Nazarite.
They could separate themselves for a month, six months, or a year, and devote themselves completely to the Lord, to live for God. Usually, a Nazarite vow was only for a limited time. But in the Bible, there are a few who were Nazarites for life. Samuel was one, and John the Baptist was another.
A Nazarite was not to drink wine or strong drink. John, therefore, was a Nazarite for life.
According to Numbers 6, a Nazarite had to abstain from three things:
Spiritually, when the Nazarite vow in the Old Testament is applied to the New Testament, it speaks of consecration.
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service.
—Romans 12:1
In New Testament terms, the Nazarite vow is consecration. Once we are born again of the Spirit and redeemed by grace, we should respond to grace with an action, and that action is called consecration.
We who are vessels of grace, we who are saved by grace, ought to be constrained by the greatness of God’s grace to offer ourselves back to God and say, “Now, Lord, I am Yours. I have no right to live for myself. I am willing to be separated and to live entirely for You—or, better still, to let You live in me.”
This is consecration. This is the Nazarite vow. Having made that vow, we abstain from certain things—not physically, but spiritually.
We abstain from all the produce of the vine. Why? Because the Lord said, “I am the true vine.” The vine represents what the world can give us. The world can give pleasure like wine, sweetness like raisins, and enjoyment like grapes.
But if we are constrained by the grace of God and offer ourselves to the Lord, we say, “Lord, from now on I will not draw my treasure, satisfaction, or strength from the world. You are my satisfaction. You are my strength. You are my pleasure. You are my resources.”
We abide in the true vine and enjoy all our resources from the true One. We do not go back to the world and try to find pleasure, satisfaction, and strength there. This is separation.
We do not allow the razor to come upon our heads—not physically, not physically. If we consecrate ourselves to the Lord, then we take Him as our Head. From now on, He is our Lord; He directs our lives. We are no longer our own masters.
That is the meaning of no razor coming upon the head. We let our hair grow as a covering because we take Christ as our Head.
Neither do we draw near to any dead body—not physically, but spiritually. In Scripture, the dead body represents the flesh. The flesh always defiles. We will have nothing to do with the flesh. From now on, we must walk according to the Spirit and not according to the flesh.
What is consecration? Consecration is the response to grace. Consecration is to be separated for God. Consecration is to draw all our resources from the Lord instead of from the world. Consecration is acknowledging Christ as our Head and being covered before Him. Consecration is to walk, not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.
And this is for life, not just for a time. It is for life. Because of that, John would be great before the Lord.
Oh, dear brothers and sisters, we who have received so much grace, do we respond with consecration? Consecration is not something you do only once in your lifetime. It is something you begin once and then continue throughout your life.
That is why the burnt offering had to be offered every morning and every evening. We have to renew our consecration every morning and every evening. The fire of the burnt offering must never go out.
This is the second quality found in the epoch-making vessel: consecration.
Thirdly, John the Baptist was to walk before the Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah. John the Baptist was not Elijah; he was like Elijah because he came in the spirit and power of Elijah.
What is the spirit of Elijah? You remember Elijah’s disciple, Elisha. Before God took Elijah up to heaven, Elisha followed Elijah. Elijah tried to shake him off, but Elisha followed him all the way.
After they crossed the River Jordan, Elijah told Elisha, “God is going to take me away. Ask what you will, and it shall be given to you.” Elisha said, “Give me a double portion of thy spirit.”
Elijah said, “Thou hast asked a hard thing. I cannot give it to thee. But if thou seest me when I am taken up, then God will give it to thee.” As they were talking, a chariot of fire and horses of fire separated them, and Elijah was taken up by a whirlwind.
Elisha cried, “My father, my father!” Elijah’s mantle fell down. Elisha took it up, put it upon himself, and received a double portion of the spirit of Elijah.
Now, you may wonder what the spirit of Elijah was. You might say that Elisha was an ambitious young man, wanting to be doubly powerful as his master. But no, that was not so.
The spirit of Elijah is none other than the zeal of the Lord.
Elijah said to God, “I have been very jealous for Thee. I am jealous for Thy rights. I am willing to sacrifice my life if only Thy rights and Thy name may be maintained. But I am no better than my fathers. I am the only one left, and they have killed everybody else.”
But God said, “I have seven thousand yet.” That is the spirit of Elijah: the jealousy of God, the zeal of the Lord.
Elijah was a person literally burning with the passion of God. When he saw the nation so gone astray, and saw that God’s name and God’s rights were not honored, he burned within himself. He could not contain himself. He was willing to sacrifice himself if only the name and rights of God might be restored.
Because of that spirit, he was persecuted. Because of that spirit, he suffered a great deal.
Listen to Paul. Paul wrote to the Corinthian believers, saying:
I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy:
for I espoused you to one husband, that I might present you as a pure virgin to Christ.
But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve in his craftiness,
your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity and the purity that is toward Christ.
—2 Corinthians 11:2-3
Paul also said, “Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is caused to stumble, and I burn not?” In other words, the zeal of the Lord and the jealousy of God burned within Paul, and you see how Paul suffered.
Look at our Lord Jesus. At the beginning of His ministry, He entered into the temple and saw men buying and selling in the temple area, making profits and exploiting people.
The Lord Jesus could not contain Himself. He was consumed with the zeal of the Lord. He overturned the tables, drove out the cattle, and said, “Make not My Father’s house a house of merchandise.”
Zeal for Thy house shall eat me up.
—John 2:17
Because of this, He suffered. He was crucified on the cross.
What kind of vessel is an epoch-making vessel? It must be a vessel filled with the spirit of Elijah, a vessel literally consumed by the zeal of the Lord, a vessel that has the jealousy of God.
In the time of our Lord Jesus, thousands and thousands of people came to the temple every day. Buying and selling had been going on continually, and nobody seemed to be bothered by it. Then our Lord Jesus came, and when He saw it, He could not stand it.
Is it not true, dear brothers and sisters, that in the world today—and not only in the world, but in the religious world, in Christianity—things are done in the name of God that are sacrilegious? Yet we can come in and go out without feeling anything, as if everything were all right and everything could go on as usual.
Where is the zeal of the Lord? Where is the jealousy of God? When you see the rights of God, the rights of our Lord Jesus, and the name of our Lord Jesus put to shame, can you contain yourself?
No wonder God cannot find that epoch-making vessel. An epoch-making vessel is a vessel of grace. An epoch-making vessel is a vessel of consecration. An epoch-making vessel is one in whom is the spirit of Elijah.
It is true: you will suffer if you notice. You will suffer if you burn with the zeal of the Lord. You cannot remain popular; you will be rejected.
But, dear brothers and sisters, it is that kind of vessel that God can use to change the time.
How easily we take things for granted. Because we have seen things so often, we do not feel anything anymore. But if you are filled with the jealousy of God, if you are filled with the zeal of the Lord, then when you see something contradictory to the Lord, contradictory to His character, or contradictory to His name, you cannot contain yourself. You cannot be quiet.
You may be a fool in the eyes of the world, but only such a vessel can change the time. This is the kind of epoch-making vessel.
Finally, what is the work of this vessel? This vessel is to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.
The Lord is coming. But when He comes, shall He find a people who are ready for Him?
Outwardly, the whole nation of Israel was praying for the Messiah to come. But were they ready? When the Messiah finally arrived, was the nation ready for Him? Not at all.
Even in Jerusalem, when they heard from the wise men that a child had been born King of the Jews, they were troubled. They were not ready.
But God must have a prepared people for the Lord. Therefore, He sent John the Baptist to do that one thing: to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.
That was the work of John the Baptist. And sure enough, when Christ came, all the early followers of the Lord were disciples of John the Baptist. John the Baptist had prepared them, so when the Lord came, they followed the Lord.
When they left John and went to the Lord, John said, “I rejoice. I rejoice, because this is what I came for.”
Historically, this was true. But, dear brothers and sisters, do you know why the Lord delays? Do you know why the time is changing, and yet it is so difficult for it to change?
It is because if the Lord should return today, would He find a prepared people for Himself?
The bride has to make herself ready. Then the Bridegroom will come to claim her as His bride.
The problem today is that God’s people are not prepared. We may say with our mouths, “Lord, come quickly,” but are we prepared? If He should come right now, are you ready for Him?
To be saved is one thing, but to be prepared and ready for Him is another thing altogether.
Are we like that wicked servant who says, “My Lord tarrieth”? Or are we that good and faithful servant who knows that He can come at any time and is prepared? He can come at any time. Are you ready for Him?
To me, the most urgent ministry in our time is the ministry of preparing a prepared people for the Lord.
I believe this is the most urgent ministry. Evangelizing the world is important, certainly. But I think the most urgent need today is a ministry to prepare a prepared people for the Lord.
Who can prepare such a people? If we ourselves are not prepared, how can we prepare others? We have to be prepared by the Lord, and then, in turn, we can prepare others for the Lord.
The bride has made herself ready. It is true that she was given the fine linen, bright and pure, which is the righteousness of the saints. She was given it, and yet she has made herself ready for the Lord.
Dear brothers and sisters, this should be the ministry of the epoch-making vessel. I believe this is the most important ministry in our time.
May we be raised up by the Lord as a prepared people. When the Lord comes, may He find a people ready for Him. They will be the epoch-making vessel that God can use to prepare His people for the Lord.
I believe, dear brothers and sisters, that we want the Lord to return. But are we ready for Him?
Heavenly Father, we praise and thank Thee because we know that it is Thy will to change the time and to bring in the King and His kingdom.
Lord, we do feel that Thou art calling for a vessel, an epoch-making vessel, whom Thou couldst use to do that work.
Lord, we humble ourselves before Thee. We know that we are vessels of grace, and yet oftentimes we do not know what grace is.
Sometimes we rely upon our own natural strength, thinking that we can do things for Thee. Lord, we ask Thee to show us what grace really is. We want Thy grace to have more opportunity to operate in our lives.
Lord, we desire that we may be a people who respond to Thy grace with consecration: a life given to Thee, acknowledging Thee as our Head and as our Lord.
We pray that the spirit of Elijah shall mark us out. O Lord, we cannot create it. It is only when we see Thee, only when Thou dost reveal Thyself to us, that we may be filled with the zeal of the Lord.
O Lord, may it devour us, that we may really be used to prepare a people for Thyself. O Lord, when Thou shalt return, may Thy bride be ready.
To Thee be all the praise and glory, in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.