Lord, what a joy in our hearts when we hear that whisper from glory—just a whisper: The King is coming soon.
Lord, we come to You this morning. Things are fast approaching a new age. We need to be ready, Lord. We pray that Your Word will strengthen us. We pray that Your Word will enlighten us. We pray, Lord Jesus, that Your Word will transform us into what is needed, that You might come soon.
Lord, we lift this time before Thee this morning, knowing that the words of man are futile, but the power of God is mighty. We ask, Lord, that You would anoint and bless as we hear Your Word this morning. In Jesus’ name.
Well, good morning, saints. My voice has changed. I have entered puberty. It’s amazing. Anyway, pray that my voice will hold out here.
Last time I shared, I shared on seeing the King. This time, I want to share this morning on serving the King in travailing prayer—serving the King in travailing prayer.
Now, before I begin this morning, there is something on my heart, and I need to share it.
You know, Ezekiel was transported by God to a valley, a valley full of dry bones. The Word says that the bones were exceedingly dry. The armies of Israel had been destroyed by the enemy’s armies. They had perished, their bodies had withered away, and their bones glistened in the sunlight—dried out, dried out thoroughly.
And the Lord looked at Ezekiel and said, “Can these bones live?” I’m sure Ezekiel was quite stunned at that. But he knew the mighty hand of God, and he said, “You know, Lord.” In his heart, I think he was saying, “I don’t think it’s possible, but You are God.”
And the Lord spoke His words to the dry bones. His words began to move these bones, and flesh came upon the bones. A mighty wind came and filled the bones with life. They were restored as a mighty army of God.
I share that this morning because I think there are times in all of our lives, in the battle that we are in, brothers and sisters—not only to make it through the day with all that we face, all the trials, tribulations, and just living life—the assaults of the enemy often take us down and put us down to the point that we are like those dry bones. We feel hopeless, helpless. There is nothing we can do.
Lost hope is a desperate situation. And yet, the Lord spoke His words, and the bones came alive.
Brothers and sisters, if today you feel like you are that dried, bleached, sun-bleached bone with no hope, hear the Word of the Lord. He can raise you up once again to be an effective instrument in the hands of God.
So, just that word of encouragement before we begin this morning.
Now, I want to begin sharing on this matter of serving the King in travailing prayer. I want to read a couple of Scriptures to begin with.
Revelation 5:8:
And when He had taken the book,
the four living creatures and the four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb,
having each one a harp,
and golden bowls full of incense,
which are the prayers of the saints.
Now let us go to Revelation 8:1-5.
And when He opened the seventh seal,
there followed a silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.
And I saw the seven angels that stand before God;
and there were given unto them seven trumpets.And another angel came and stood over the altar,
having a golden censer;
and there was given unto him much incense,
that he should add it unto the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne.And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints,
went up before God out of the angel’s hand.
And the angel took the censer;
and he filled it with the fire of the altar,
and cast it upon the earth:
and there followed thunders, and voices, and lightnings, and an earthquake.
Now one more Scripture: Nehemiah 6:3.
And I sent messengers unto them, saying,
I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down:
why should the work cease, whilst I leave it, and come down to you?
“I am doing a great work. Why should I leave it and the work cease? I am doing a great work. Why should I come down? Why should the work cease?”
I want to encourage us this morning in this matter of prayer. It is a vital, significant part of the Christian life. I want to hopefully encourage us to its significance, its necessity, in order to accomplish God’s will on this earth—that His eternal purpose might finally be fulfilled on this earth.
That is why corporate prayer is so needed in this day, particularly in this last hour. You know, in the life of the early church, in Acts 2:42, we see the way of life of the early church:
And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship,
in the breaking of bread,
and the prayers.
It was a way of life. It was not some organized way that they decided these were the things that were necessary. No, it just came out of the life that was in them. These are the elements of a vibrant church before the Lord: prayers, prayers born out of the Spirit, not out of man.
Now, this is not unconnected with my last message. My last message was on seeing the King.
If you want to serve the King, particularly in this matter of travailing prayer, you are going to have to see the King. You are going to have to know the King, and you are going to have to know the heart of the King, or your prayers will be very lacking.
So it is important that we see that He is King and He is on the throne.
Now, you and I are both very familiar with the King and His humility when He came on this earth. Even the wise men—it was interesting—from the Far East, the Gentiles, came and said, “Where is He that is born King of the Jews?”
And when He rode into Jerusalem on the donkey in those very last days before He was crucified, He presented Himself as the King, as prophesied in Zechariah 9:9:
Thy King cometh unto thee:
He is just, and having salvation;
lowly, and riding upon an ass.
Brothers and sisters, this is quite a King that we have. We expect the King to come with His armies and overthrow everything that is against Him in the power of His might and with His sword. But our Lord Jesus came as King in humility.
In order to restore mankind, He offered Himself as a living sacrifice. He came as the Lamb of God and died on Calvary’s cross in order that He might capture men, in order that He might save men from their condition and from the plight that they were in.
For the Word of God says that the wrath of God is upon man even when he is born. The only way to avoid the wrath of God is to accept His great salvation and to be brought into His kingdom. He offered Himself as a Lamb.
But, brothers and sisters, John the apostle shows us something in the book of Revelation. John was familiar with this humble King. He was the one who was with the Lord for those three years. At the Last Supper, it says he was leaning against the Lord. He watched the Lord Jesus—the only disciple who watched Him at Calvary’s cross—dying there as a Lamb.
He saw the resurrected Lord Jesus for forty days, as the Lord showed Himself to the disciples. So John knew this King in humility.
But in the book of Revelation, it is John’s vision, given to him for us. We see the Lamb upon the throne, but, brothers and sisters, He is the King of glory now. He is in glory. He is the Lion of the tribe of Judah.
One day He is coming back, and we will see that King in all of His glory, all of His power, and all of His might, as He brings judgment to this world to reconcile all things back to Himself, that He might gain the full inheritance for which He is after.
His crown: Lord of lords and King of kings. Brothers and sisters, a mighty One—the King of glory.
Last time, as I shared, I wanted all of us to get a glimpse of this King of glory and the fact that the heavens do rule over the affairs of men. He rules over your life today. The King of glory rules over this United States. The King of glory rules over this earth. The King of glory rules over the universe which He created for Himself.
The heavens do rule. All authority has been given to Him. Brothers and sisters, He took the keys of hell and death from Satan. He went into hell and took those keys. He is the One who is the victor. He is the all-powerful One.
What was lost in the Garden of Eden through man’s disobedience and rebellion was regained by our Lord Jesus at Calvary’s cross, when He took those keys of hell and death and overcame hell, the enemy, the flesh, and sin.
When He ascended back to the throne, there was a man in glory—not just the Son of God in glory, but a man in glory. He had made it and overcome as a man, and He was in glory.
God the Father gave Him the deed book to the entire universe—the world and mankind. It was the deed book. The enemy had come in and usurped God’s authority on this earth. But I like the way Stephen put it: he is just a squatter. God never gave up ownership.
Now He is about to turn it over to His Son, that He might inherit all things that the Father created for Him in the first place. This deed book has seven seals, and He begins to open those seals.
We see that He is the God of creation. He is the God of everything. He is over all things, and, brothers and sisters, He intends now to bring all things under His feet and back to Himself. He is going to secure His full inheritance.
Brothers and sisters, we are entering into the last phases of our Lord Jesus securing all things back to Himself, just before we enter the kingdom age.
Last time we saw that one thing the Lord Jesus was to inherit was a bride for Himself, a helpmeet who would be with Him and serve with Him throughout eternity in the ages to come, beyond the kingdom age. A bride—we know it as the church.
While He was on earth, He said, “I will build My church; and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.”
In Revelation 21, we see from this revelation given to John that it is done. The Lord will secure it, because in Revelation 21 John saw the New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven as a bride adorned for her husband.
Brothers and sisters, we see from the book of Revelation that He will secure His inheritance—His bride.
Also, He wants to restore the nation of Israel. He promised Abraham many promises that have not yet been fulfilled. But, brothers and sisters, we found out last time that He is working with the nation of Israel.
He has already restored them nationally to a state. They were obliterated. They were scattered among the nations, with no hope, and only God could move. Then, we know, at the end of World War II, after the great Holocaust and the great suffering that nation went through because they had rejected their God, God had mercy and began to restore them.
We know that today many have returned to Israel. Now, they are not believers. There are some who have become believers, but for the most part they still have not returned to their God. But God is going to work, and He is going to return that nation to Him.
We see that in the kingdom age from the book of Revelation. They will be a nation of priests in the kingdom age, and they will go throughout the kingdom preaching to the nations there of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Finally, in that New Jerusalem, which we do not see until after the end of the kingdom age, there are twelve gates. They have the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. He has secured back that earthly testimony: the nation of Israel.
Finally, brothers and sisters, we see the nations. He will bring all nations to His feet, and they will have to confess that He is Lord of lords and King of kings.
We know from Matthew 25:31 that in the end there will not only be a judgment seat for Christians, to determine our place in the kingdom, but there is also going to be the judgment of the nations. It is interesting: the nations themselves will be judged.
It says the sheep nations—those that have been helpful to Christians and to Israel, those that have been friends of the Christians and Israel—will go into the kingdom age and populate the kingdom age as an earthly people.
At the end of that millennial period, there will be a testing. Satan will be released for a period of time. Brothers and sisters, after living in a perfect environment for a thousand years, Satan will be released for a little while, and he will create a rebellion.
It says the number in that rebellion is as the sands of the sea. So even a perfect environment cannot change men’s hearts, brothers and sisters. Only the Lord Jesus Christ can.
Thank God, obviously some will come to Him, submit to His authority, and love Him. They will populate the new heaven and the new earth. The church will rule with Christ in the new heaven and the new earth.
Brothers and sisters, this is the great work. You know, we come and live our lives, and we think they do not amount to much, but God counts our lives as very important.
Is there a part of it in our lives? Is it our personal needs and desires that we want, or is it that we want what God wants? These are the things God is after, and we need to join with Him in what He is after.
We need to be those who have a heart for the things of the Lord and for what the Lord is doing. This is what He is doing.
I think it is very interesting. We know our God is a sovereign God, self-sufficient. He does not really need us to accomplish anything He wants to, but He has chosen to need us. He has chosen to make us a part of this great work that He is doing, brothers and sisters—an active part, not a passive part.
This is why, in the opening of the book of Revelation, we see our Lord Jesus in the midst of the seven churches. He keeps crying out; the message in every church is, “He who overcomes.”
Those who overcome will sit with Me on My throne, brothers and sisters. How important it is that, in our lives as Christians before the Lord, we begin to prepare ourselves for the coming age and learn to live an overcoming life. That is done by the grace of God and in cooperation with Him—an overcoming life.
There is something very critical in this overcoming life that we live, and that is prayer. It is prevailing prayer—not merely prayer for the things that we want, necessarily, or prayer for this and that.
It is prayer involving the Lord’s heart, prayer involving the Lord’s purpose, prayer involving this great work of bringing everything to His feet: the church, the nation of Israel, and the nations.
He has the deed book. He is already, in my view, opening the seals. At least we have seen the first four seals—the four horsemen of the Apocalypse: one coming with deceit, another with war, one with famine.
Brothers and sisters, the four horsemen have already been loosed. The four seals have been opened. God is moving. He is on the move. Are we on the move spiritually?
Brothers and sisters, it is a great work, and we cannot afford to abandon it.
This brings me back to Nehemiah, because he is the one who said, “I am doing a great work. I cannot come down. I cannot let the work stop.”
So I want to begin with an example of this matter of prevailing prayer to help us understand what it is. Let us look back at those days in the nation of Israel, in Nehemiah.
Actually, this matter of the great work begins when the Babylonian Empire—Nebuchadnezzar—came in. They destroyed Jerusalem. They destroyed the temple. They destroyed everything of the testimony of God on this earth, and they carried away the people of Israel into captivity.
Jeremiah saw all of this. Jeremiah was a weeping prophet. If you have read Jeremiah, you know. He never was taken back to Babylon, but he was in exile.
He had such a heart. He had warned the people. He said, “If you do not repent, if you do not get back to the Lord, if you do not follow Him, we are going to experience a great destruction.” He even prophesied of the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple, which the people could not believe.
He was there when the Babylonians conquered it. He was there when the temple was destroyed. He was heartbroken—not for himself, but for the people, for God, and for God’s work, His testimony on this earth.
He was devastated, brothers and sisters, in his heart. He went before the Lord, and as he was in prayer before the Lord, the Lord gave him a prophecy. He comforted Jeremiah with this, and He wanted His people to be comforted with it.
He said to Jeremiah, “The captivity will last seventy years.”
That came out of Jeremiah’s burden for the things of the Lord, for the Lord’s work. The Lord shared His heart with him. He said, “This is not going to last forever, Jeremiah. It is for seventy years, and then I will restore Israel.”
So this burden was actually the Lord’s burden. He had to do this in order to bring His people back. He had to let them hit the bottom. He had to let them lose everything that was valuable. Everything spiritual in their lives was gone.
Brothers and sisters, the only hope they had was the Lord. They just did not know it.
So the Lord gave Jeremiah this prophecy as he travailed before the Lord. Then Daniel—Daniel was a young man, probably in his late teens, maybe early twenties—and he was taken back to Babylon as part of this captivity.
You can remember the story of Daniel and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They were faithful young men. They would not bow before the great statue that had been erected. They said, “We can only bow to God.”
They were thrown into the fire. Remember the story? The king had heated that thing up to seven times its normal heat. Even the guards around it perished from the heat. He looked down in there and said, “I see a fourth man in the fire.” There was not even the smell of smoke on these young men.
God preserved them. They were faithful young men.
Daniel—you remember the story of Daniel in the lions’ den? They threw him into those lions. Those lions were hungry, but they did not touch Daniel. He was sleeping on the lion. He was faithful. He would worship his God and not the statue.
Brothers and sisters, he was a faithful young man, concerned about God’s testimony, concerned that God be obeyed in His people.
Daniel began to search. They were in captivity. Now, Daniel was in a fine place. He was the primary adviser to the king, kind of like our vice president today. He had a high position, but his heart, brothers and sisters, was in Jerusalem.
He was searching the Word of God, and as he searched the Word of God, he ran across Jeremiah 29:10. The captivity would last seventy years. This was just a few years, perhaps a couple of years, before the seventy years were up.
Let us read Daniel 9, beginning with verse 2:
In the first year of his reign I, Daniel, understood by the books the number of the years
whereof the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet,
for the accomplishing of the desolations of Jerusalem, even seventy years.And I set my face unto the Lord God,
to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.
And I prayed unto the Lord my God,
and made confession, and said,
Oh Lord, the great and dreadful God,
keeping covenant and lovingkindness to them that love Him and keep His commandments,
we have sinned, and have dealt perversely, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled,
even turning aside from Thy precepts and from Thine ordinances.
Confession and repentance—not only for himself, but for the whole nation. That is what overcomers do.
Now verses 18 and 19:
O my God, incline Thine ear, and hear;
open Thine eyes, and behold our desolations,
and the city which is called by Thy name:
for we do not present our supplications before Thee for our righteousness,
but for Thy great mercies’ sake.O Lord, hear;
O Lord, forgive;
O Lord, hearken and do;
defer not, for Thine own sake, O my God,
because Thy city and Thy people are called by Thy name.
Prevailing prayer.
Now, the interesting thing I want to point out about prevailing prayer is that the burden was actually given through Jeremiah. Daniel, in his search in the Word of God, ran across this Scripture and said, “This is the Lord’s heart. This is the Lord’s burden, and I am going to pray now that it be accomplished.”
In other words, this is enlightened, intercessory prayer. He was enlightened because of the Word of God. He knew that the seventy years were about up, so he laid hold of the Lord and said, “Lord, do it. Do it.”
The burden began with Jeremiah, and now, with enlightened prayer, Daniel prays that it might be accomplished.
Now, when these seventy years were up, Daniel was still serving in the court. The king of Persia overthrew the Babylonian Empire, and in the first year of King Cyrus, Daniel was still in the king’s court.
I believe—though I do not know—that perhaps it was Daniel who went to King Cyrus and said, “King Cyrus, you have come into power, but you need to know it was by God’s hand. It is by the God of Israel that you came into power.”
Let me read Isaiah 44:28. This prophecy of Isaiah was given one hundred and fifty years before Cyrus was born:
That saith of Cyrus, He is My shepherd,
and shall perform all My pleasure;
even saying of Jerusalem, She shall be built;
and of the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid.
Cyrus was so touched by this. He said, “This is God. God has set me up, and I am going to carry out God’s request and order.” He was a Gentile.
Now let us read Ezra 1:1-3 and verse 5:
Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia,
that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished,
the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia,
so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom,
and put it also in writing, saying,Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia,
The Lord, the God of heaven, hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth;
and He hath charged me to build Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah.
Whosoever there is among you of all His people,
his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem.Then rose up the heads of fathers’ houses of Judah and Benjamin,
and the priests, and the Levites,
even all they whose spirit God had stirred to go up
to build the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem.
Whose spirit God had stirred to go up. Now, there is something interesting in these Scriptures that you need to pick up on. It is God who stirred the heart of Cyrus.
Daniel could have shown him that Scripture, and he might have responded, but God stirred his heart. It was a sovereign move of God.
God stirred the hearts of the leaders of the people of Israel. He also stirred the hearts of some of the people who were still in captivity in Babylon, and between forty and fifty thousand returned.
But, brothers and sisters, this was only a small remnant of those who were still there. Only a small remnant had a heart for the Lord, a heart to return to build the house of God and restore the Lord’s testimony—the Lord’s work on this earth.
The Lord was able to capture the hearts of a few, and they went back to restore the testimony of Israel by restoring Jerusalem and the temple.
Jeremiah had the burden. Daniel was enlightened by the Word of God and began prevailing prayer that the captivity would end. The Lord even had the Persian army come in, take over the Babylonian Empire, and set up Cyrus as king.
Daniel was there—well, I think it was Daniel—to speak to the king. The king responded; his heart was stirred. It was a sovereign move of God.
There is a great spiritual principle in this matter of spiritual travail and prayer: travail precedes the birth. God finally moved, but it was preceded by prevailing prayer.
Now, you ladies who have had children understand what it is to travail. Fortunately, there are medicines today that can help, but it is a very painful process. What a joy there is at the end of that travail.
Brothers and sisters, in other words, it requires your heart—heart travail for the things of the Lord—that the Lord will bring these things to completion.
Now we come to Nehemiah. I think the principle we need to see in Nehemiah is travail unto completion.
Not only is there travail before the Lord acts sovereignly, but after He acts sovereignly, He continues to move. We need to travail with Him until His work is completed. So I worded this as: travail unto completion is needed.
It is a travail in the work of actually getting it done, in fellowship with God, until His purpose is completed.
We see this principle in Galatians 4:19. Listen to what Paul says to the Galatians:
My little children,
of whom I am again in travail until Christ be formed in you.
Paul, on his first missionary journey, had gone out. Many of those Galatian churches had been established through Paul’s ministry. He had travailed before the Lord, and these churches had come into existence through the Word of God.
But he said, “I am travailing again.” It is like the same travail, but now he was travailing that Christ would be formed in them. In other words, that the work of Christ would be completed in them. So he was still in travail.
Back to Nehemiah: it is interesting that in the thirteen chapters of Nehemiah, the word work is used twenty-one times. The work. Nehemiah is about the work, and it is mentioned twenty-one times.
The burden began with Jeremiah, continued through Daniel, and now we see Nehemiah coming in to complete the work.
When the remnant returned with Ezra, you can read the book of Ezra and find out about the sovereign move of God. They returned, and they began rebuilding Jerusalem. They built the temple.
There was a lot of difficulty, which we do not have time to go into, but they finally got that temple built. Then, after all the warfare and trouble of having to start new homes, new farms, and build their own houses as well as the Lord’s house, they were exhausted and tired. They began to settle down.
The work was not yet complete. Why? Because the wall around Jerusalem was still in rubble. The gates were still burned. There was no wall there.
Nehemiah is the one who was raised up to go back and build the wall. Now, the wall is important, brothers and sisters.
Spiritually, the wall speaks of separation from what is on the inside to what is on the outside. The wall is a clear testimony that inside, everything is Christ; outside is the world.
The wall is actually the character and nature of Christ in His people. That becomes the wall. That is the spiritual application.
The wall is a defense. Think about it: your defense is the character of Christ in you that is real to you—not merely what you know about in the Bible, but what has been made real to you of Christ.
That character of Christ, made real in you, becomes that wall in your life—that separation from the world.
Well, it was in rubble. In other words, the testimony that was there, the temple, was in danger of once again being destroyed because there was no protecting wall. So the wall was a great part of the testimony, and it needed to be completed.
Now, Nehemiah became cupbearer to the king. Isn’t it interesting how the Lord brings these believers to Gentile leaders, and they listen?
The cupbearer had a great position—other than the fact that if he drank something with poison, he would die, because that was his purpose. He had to taste everything and drink everything before the king did. But it was a great honor to be the cupbearer.
He had a plush life there in the palace, but his heart was not there. His heart was in Jerusalem.
He got the report that these walls had not been restored, and it broke his heart, brothers and sisters. He said, “I need to do something about this,” and he went into prayer to the Lord.
Let us read Nehemiah 1:3-7 and verse 11:
And they said unto me,
The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province
are in great affliction and reproach:
the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down,
and the gates thereof are burned with fire.And it came to pass, when I heard these words,
that I sat down and wept,
and mourned certain days;
and I fasted and prayed before the God of heaven,
and said,
I beseech Thee, O Lord, the God of heaven,
the great and terrible God,
that keepeth covenant and lovingkindness with them that love Him and keep His commandments:
let Thine ear now be attentive,
and Thine eyes open,
that Thou mayest hearken unto the prayer of Thy servant,
which I pray before Thee at this time, day and night,
for the children of Israel Thy servants,
while I confess the sins of the children of Israel,
which we have sinned against Thee:
yea, I and my father’s house have sinned.
We have dealt very corruptly against Thee,
and have not kept the commandments,
nor the statutes,
nor the ordinances,
which Thou commandedst Thy servant Moses.
Heart travail, brothers and sisters.
Now verse 11:
O Lord, I beseech Thee,
let now Thine ear be attentive to the prayer of Thy servant,
and to the prayer of Thy servants,
who delight to fear Thy name:
and prosper, I pray Thee, Thy servant this day,
and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.
For I was the king’s cupbearer.
The king granted Nehemiah permission to go back. He not only granted him permission, but he actually gave him supplies to help him go back.
In Nehemiah 6:15-16, it says:
So the wall was finished in the twenty and fifth day of the month Elul,
in fifty and two days.
And it came to pass, when all our enemies heard thereof,
that all the nations that were about us feared,
and were much cast down in their own eyes;
for they perceived that this work was wrought of our God.
In other words, it was built so well and so quickly that even their enemies were amazed at what they had done. This was Nehemiah, brothers and sisters.
This was travailing prayer. It was a daunting task, but it had been preceded by travailing prayer, and the Lord once again responded. The people were stirred up, and they built that wall. Even the enemies recognized God’s hand.
So the burden began with whom? Jeremiah. Daniel had enlightened travail once he saw through the Word of God that the seventy years were about up. In Ezra, we see the sovereign move of the hand of God. Now, in Nehemiah, we see the completion of the work.
It all happened through prevailing prayer.
This is an Old Testament picture of another principle that we need to be aware of. God is sovereign in all of His purposes, and His purposes are fixed. It is going to happen. He is self-sufficient.
Yet He has chosen that He will not act sovereignly until He brings a man into fellowship with Him—until He brings an instrument, a vessel, a people, into fellowship with Him in His burden and in His work. Then He moves.
If you read through Scripture, brothers and sisters, you will find this principle all the way through. He is waiting on a man. Kind of like David: a man after His own heart.
When the Lord decides to move, brothers and sisters, He waits until He finds that instrument of travail, that vessel willing to join in His heart to complete the work.
Now, let us get up to date. The Lord comes. He dies on Calvary. He is buried. He is resurrected and ascended. He has been given the deed book with seven seals.
Does He just start opening those seals? He has been given the deed book. The answer is no. I read it earlier: Revelation 5:8.
When He had taken the book,
the four living creatures and the four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb,
having each one a harp,
and golden bowls full of incense,
which are the prayers of the saints.
Not until those prayers are poured out does Christ begin to open those seals. He has man cooperating with Him, brothers and sisters. He does not start opening those seals until He has found that vessel of prayer for His work that He is about to do.
Then He starts opening the seals.
These prayers are poured out. What do you think these prayers are? What do you think they are? I have thought about it, and I do not know, because we are not told.
But I cannot help but think that those prayers are, “Lord, Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.” Is that not what He taught us to pray?
Thy will be done,
as in heaven,
so on earth.
Again, when we come to the seventh seal—seven seals are opened—when the seventh seal is opened, seven angels come forth with seven trumpets.
It says in the Word that there was silence in heaven for half an hour at that point. What is going on? Why this silence? Silence for half an hour when the seventh seal is opened, right before the seven trumpets?
It is because, brothers and sisters, a great transition is about to take place.
When the sixth seal was opened, there was a great earthquake that shook the entire earth. It says that in that earthquake it was so severe that men realized this was not just a natural catastrophe, but this was the hand of God.
They feared God—not in a good way—but they would not repent. They saw it was the hand of God.
In the sixth seal, the Lord also sealed one hundred and forty-four thousand Jews. The number may be symbolic, but, anyway, faithful Jews. He sealed them because they were about to go into Jacob’s trouble, the great tribulation.
There would be a great outpouring of God’s judgment on this earth. In the sixth seal, we see multitudes in white robes before the Lord. What do you think they are doing? I think they are praying.
Not only that, but in the fifth seal—the Lord opened the fifth seal—and He saw the martyrs under the altar. They were praying, “Lord, how long before You avenge our blood?”
So, you see, we have the martyrs praying, “Lord, how long before You avenge our blood?” We have these ones in white robes, these overcomers from down through the ages. Their prayers are adding up, and they are praying. There is a silence.
Why? Why the silence?
I say, I think, brothers and sisters, the Lord was waiting for those bowls of prayer to be filled—to be filled to the full. He was waiting. Saints were praying. The martyrs were praying. The bowls were filling up.
When those prayers had reached their fullness, the Lord began to have the trumpets blown. I do not have time to go into all that happens when the trumpets are blown, but it affects a third of the world.
The grass, the water, salt water, fresh water, the grass and the trees—even human beings—a third are destroyed. A third of the sun and the stars fall. It is a tremendous judgment.
This King of kings is bringing the nations to His feet. He is preparing Israel’s heart that they might receive their King. He is doing this.
Brothers and sisters, I pray that if there is anybody here who has never responded to the Lord Jesus Christ, please respond to His grace now.
There is a lot that is going to happen, and I think very soon. What the Lord does not achieve through grace, He will achieve in judgment. He is the King—King of kings and Lord of lords.
That being said, brothers and sisters, we need to apply this to us before we leave.
We are fast, I think, approaching the fifth seal, where we see the ones under the altar praying, “Avenge, Lord, our blood.” Now, I do not know that for sure.
But certainly, in the beginning, the prayer of these martyrs was, “Lord, forgive them. They do not know what they are doing.” But now the prayer has changed. I know people have been praying, “Lord, come. Come.”
What do you think the prayers are—the ones right before the trumpets blow? I have thought about this, and once again, I will not be absolute, but from Revelation 14:7 and Revelation 16:7, these two things are said and declared:
The hour of Thy judgment is come.
Righteous and true are Thy judgments.
I wonder if this is not the prayer of declaration of these saints as the bowls are poured out.
Brothers and sisters, the number of martyrs is quickly being filled up. We see this in the last century. Millions of people have been martyred, and now they are being beheaded because they believe in Christ.
It appears that things are developing very quickly in this age. How long will the Lord wait before He avenges their blood?
The Lord is looking for those to join Him in travailing prayer. He is looking for us to join Him in prevailing prayer.
Brothers and sisters, I think it is very simple. He wants us to pray that His church will be built. We need to pray for His people, for His church, for this testimony to be built, for overcomers to be raised up, and to be able to join in travailing prayer with our Lord Jesus Christ.
Pray for the nation of Israel, that they will be prepared to receive their King. Hopefully, they would receive Him now and join the church. But many will not, and they will not have their eyes truly opened until the Lord comes and puts His feet on the Mount of Olives.
But, brothers and sisters, He has got to get them ready.
When our Lord Jesus rose from the dead and met the disciples, Thomas was not there. They saw Him and believed in Him, and they told Thomas about it. Thomas said, “Look, I will not believe this until I touch His wounds—His side, the scars in His hands.”
Of course, the Lord accommodated him. He said, “Thomas, come. Touch the wounds in My hands, My feet, My side.” He believed.
I think Thomas is representative of the nation of Israel today. They just will not believe until they see Him and the wounds in His hands and feet. Well, that is another story for another day. Israel needs to be prepared.
And the nations—there are going to be nations that will go into the kingdom age. They will not all be believers who go in there, believe it or not.
But because the nation itself has enough people praying, I believe the Lord considers it a sheep nation, so that the governments of those nations will be friendly to the Christians and the nation of Israel. I do not see too many, brothers and sisters.
They will go into the kingdom age. We need to pray for this nation, brothers and sisters. We need to be in travailing prayer.
Let me sum it up this way. John, the apostle John, received this prophecy just as Jeremiah had. John revealed that to us.
Now we can pray with enlightened, travailing prayer because we know what is going to happen. We need to enter into that, and we are waiting for the Lord to sovereignly move.
Now, I have to say—and this is just me, brothers and sisters—I think He is sovereignly moving on this nation, a nation that was turning away from God, away from the principles of God, away from God’s order.
Now we have a government in place apparently very friendly to Christians and reversing, at least, outward edicts that were detrimental to the moral fiber of this nation. Now it seems to be recovering.
But, brothers and sisters, those outward reforms, those little documents that are signed, mean nothing unless the hearts of the people of this nation are changed.
I think we need to pray for this nation, for the people in this nation: a mighty move of God in this last hour that will sweep those last ones into His kingdom and restore this nation to the point that it might be a sheep nation in the end.
God is waiting for a vessel—a prayer vessel—to join with Him, to accomplish the work, to complete the work.
All the marvelous work that He has already done, particularly Calvary, is now being brought into completion.
May the Lord be merciful to us and open our hearts and eyes.
Lord, we come to You this morning. It is a great work. Lord, we confess readily that we are not up to that great work. I think that is why I had that thought about the dry bones, Lord.
You need to breathe on us, to bring us back to be Your army—to be those who will stand for the Lord in these last days, who will pray, “Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven,” and be able to say, “Lord, You are our Lord, Lord of lords and King of kings.”
I did have one other thought, just to make it practical. With the transition in government we have had in the United States, those words, “He is not our president,” you know, I could not help but think that when God begins to bring His judgments on this earth, and the people know it is God’s hand against them, you know what they are going to do?
They are going to shake their fist and say, “You are not our King.”
That is the attitude of the world. Brothers and sisters, He is King of kings and Lord of lords. All that stands in His way will be swept away.
Well, Lord, once again, I come to You. I ask Your blessing. I pray Your words will really encourage us, Lord, to be a people of prayer. In Jesus’ name.