Then He said to me “Have you seen this O son of man? Is it a trivial thing to the house of Judah to commit the abominations which they commit here? For they have filled the whole land with violence; then they have turned to provoke Me to anger…” (Ezekiel 8:17)
Today the Lord gave me Ezekiel 9 and 10 to study. I ask you to please read both chapters but for this post I’ve made a paraphrased version of Chap. 9 below. Please pay attention because the prophecy itself is contained in the text (i.e. it speaks for itself.)
EZEKIEL 9
Then God called out loudly in my ears saying: “Let those in charge of this city come to me, each bringing a weapon in his hand.” Suddenly six men came from the upper gate area, each carrying a battle-axe, but one among them had a linen garment and a writer’s inkhorn at his side. They entered and stood by the bronze altar. Now God’s glory moved from the cherubim where it had been before and went to the temple threshold, and God called the one wearing linen who carried the writing inkhorn. He said to him: “Go now throughout the city, through all of Jerusalem, and mark the foreheads of every man who sighs and cries over the evils of the city and the abominations that are done in it.”
To the other five men God said: “Go behind him and kill; don’t look with pity at anyone or spare their lives. Kill old and young, virgins, women and little children, but DO NOT TOUCH ANYONE WHO RECEIVES THIS MARK. Start your purge from my sanctuary (the church).” So the men went out, and started to kill, beginning with the elders (leaders) who stood before the temple.
Then God said: “DEFILE THE TEMPLE! And fill it with dead bodies. Go and do it!” And they went out and killed in the city.
So it happened that while they were killing I was alone with God; I fell on my face and I bitterly wept saying: “Ah Lord God! Will you totally destroy even the remnant of Israel, by pouring out your fury on all of the city (Jerusalem)?” Then He said “The wickedness of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great, and the land is full of bloody deeds, the city is full of perversity and this what they’re saying: “God has abandoned this place! And he doesn’t see anything anyway!” Therefore as for Me, my eye will not have pity nor will I spare them. I will pay them back for their deeds upon their own heads.”
At that very moment the man in linen with the inkhorn came back and reported that he has done everything the Lord told him to do.
Okay. Welcome to The Master’s Voice.
This is the second or third time I’ve shared Ezekiel 9 on the blog. When God keeps giving the same word over and over I know it’s like the repeated dreams of Pharaoh: It’s a serious word and not likely to be reversed. God saying something over and over means “Prepare”, it means “I’m serious”, and it means “This is coming.”
In Chap. 9 God sends judgement by violent death over a city, an entire land. They’ve been sinning a long time and God is very upset. In Chap. 8 He asks Ezekiel “Is it right for people to be so sinful in front of Me? They set up idols at the gates of My city and bring every kind of abomination into their houses- all the leaders are corrupted by worshipping these things, and even the religious leaders have started eastern meditation and sun worship. The land is filled with violence and the church is filthy! Do they think I cannot see them?!”
Of course Ezekiel wisely didn’t answer because… what’s he gonna say? God is working His way to a conversational point in chapter 8, and in chapter 9 He gets to it. JUDGEMENT.
God calls for 6 men. 6 represents man and all things to do with man in Bible symbology- the most famous 6 is the 666 of the Antichrist but another one we might remember is how God made the world in 6 days (for Man), then took a day off to show man how to rest. In Ezekiel 9 God summons 6 men with weapons of destruction but one of them is a scribe. He carries an inkhorn to take notes and is not equipped for death like the other five. This man is an instrument of mercy at God’s command. Instead of being sent to kill he’s told to go out and mark the forehead of every man who’s so broken up about the sins of the city, that he (or she) is on their knees, crying, begging God to help the wicked city and forgive its sin. Those marked with this man’s ink will not be killed, no axe will strike them because they are INTERCESSORS.
Intercessors have been covered on this blog- these are people who stand in the gap between sinners and the judgement of God. They warn others, they pray for others, but mainly they cry out to God for revival to come (so sinners can be converted en masse to Jesus), or they pray long hours for people by name (so those people can be hit by the Holy Spirit, get born again, and stop sinning.) Hell is the reward for sinning, we all know this by now. If you keep sinning and die in that state you will have NO multiple choices as to your destination- you’ll be sent to Hell and that’s the end of it. Hell is like Heaven in that it lasts FOR-EVER. It has no breaks, no commercials and no end. It is permanent judgement and the worst of all punishments a soul can receive.
Therefore in God’s eyes intercessors are priceless people, because their work keeps Hell emptier than it ought to be. It also goes without saying that satan hates such people and tries hard to make their lives miserable so they’ll give up and stop praying, just to avoid having constant attacks on their lives.
Ezekiel 9 is a picture of judgement sweeping against a nation that deserves it, even as God begins to call His intercessors to arise. I hope we didn’t miss that- I said even while judgement is going out GOD IS CALLING PEOPLE TO ASK HIM FOR MERCY. He sends the messenger to seal them as a call to action- “REPORT FOR DUTY PRAYER WARRIORS!”– and the man goes out to spare the intercessors’ lives because their lives are USEFUL LIVES. People who provide SPIRITUAL WEIGHT in this world are sorely needed to BLOCK the rising wickedness of satan; they’re the ones whose prayers go out constantly for the whole world, so God can see little fires everywhere and show MERCY. (See this post for more on that: Command The Souls, Pt 2.)
As intercessors are ‘marked safe’ in Ezek. 9 the judgement of death passes over them but it hits men, women and children- young and old alike are marked for death if they don’t get a seal of approval from God. Before anyone gets mad and clicks off the blog let’s be fair here. People sin (by this I mean everyone), but some make no effort to take advantage of the beautiful heart of God in terms of how willing He is to help us overcome sin. Nobody wants to hear about repentance these days, and nobody has time for Jesus. People don’t even believe God is real – I can confirm this. Saying you believe in God as an adult in the 21st century is somewhere close to admitting you have mental illness but you’re okay with it. There’s scorn, confusion, outright laughter and “so many questions”: “Ok, where is He then?” is one of the top 5, followed by “There isn’t any God there’s just us”, and “God is a symptom of the patriarchy” (a favourite with American women.)
However to somebody like me who God is constantly talking to, what can I say. I can’t argue. There’s literally nothing I’m going to launch into, to start dragging scornful somebodies over the threshold of belief in God. God is real, He shows Himself to all who genuinely search for him, and that is the truth. The way I see it is- He’ll be here soon enough, and that’s good enough for me.
Therefore I am declaring today March 27, 2020 that God has issued a call for the rise of the intercessors. All who know Jesus as King, all who can pray, all who can lift up a cry against pandemics and judgement and fire and hell- God is calling you to put up your hand so you can receive a mark in the forehead and become His property to pray as He tells you- in order to save lives. Intercession is needed now more than ever- judgements started long ago and are only now at the point where even those who don’t believe in God have started looking for Him. Now is the time to pray for people, now is the time to be ready to answer questions from those who are looking for answers in a world that doesn’t make sense anymore. To INTECEDE means to stand in the middle, to bridge the gap for. Jesus did it for us on the Cross, now God is calling His people to do it for others, so He can show mercy.
I pray that all who visit the Master’s Voice do more than just read and leave. These words are meant to stir the spirit at its base level, to touch even the sleeping depths of somebody who was never raised in a household with God. This blog is not entertainment, it is alive with the Word of God and as we see the posts roll to fulfilment in future let us be sober enough to pray about what we read here. Thank you for your support, have a blessed weekend.
– Celestial
Reblogged this on pomegranatesandchains and commented:
Now is the time to pray for people, now is the time to be ready to answer questions from those who are looking for answers in a world that doesn’t make sense anymore. To INTECEDE means to stand in the middle, to bridge the gap for. Jesus did it for us on the Cross, now God is calling His people to do it for others, so He can show mercy.
This is a clarion call for intercessors all over the world to arise!!! Some people might not Love the call of an intercessor, because it’s a call without the “spotlight” you’re not the Apostle, Pastor, prophet/prophetess, Evangelist with a center stage. It’s a “back stage” call that doesn’t get you applauses and praises but I urge every intercessor to remember that it is really a great honor to be an intercessor because that’s a position even Jesus still holds in Heaven till this day. You can operate in the 5 fold ministry and be carnal but it’s really hard to do that whilst being an intercessor, very very hard. That double life won’t cut it. Thank you Celestial for this wake up call that the Lord is sounding through you. May the Lord richly bless you and your ministry.
Reblogged this on Spiritual Abuse Sanctuary.
When I was first saved and had the baptism of the Holy Spirit, I seemed to naturally fall in to this type of prayer, not realizing it was ‘intercession”…the church I joined called it “standing in the gap”. Later, I joined with several other women and we met in my apt daily for “real church”. The older lady, who was a prophetess, I called my “spiritual mom” because she was very seasoned and experienced, and I learned a lot from her. We would gather and do prayer which we called, “travailing” in the Spirit. This lady was a seamstress, and she cut up a towel and made each one of us “crying towels”. Of course, after each session, they were always a mess and had to be tossed in the washer for the next meeting.
This is a hard job, but someone needs to do it. And for sure, I know all about the attacks of the enemy…they have been non stop against every aspect of my life, especially my health. As a result of that, and the pain that goes along with that and has escalated to the point of being excruciating. I have not been as faithful to that calling as I should have continued to be. However, now, even through the vicious pain I am experiencing, I feel the strong and urgent call, and know I must break through this barrier no matter what the cost. So, yes, sister Celestial, my hand is up, and I want to do what is so important right now. I’ve got my crying towels ready as always…(Viva paper towels) this time. Can’t get on my knees…or leave the house much, but can try my best to be like Anna, who stayed in the temple, serving the Lord with prayer and fasting.
I remembered Jeremiah ch 9 this morning and reread it….it goes right along with your post, and it is an honor to be called as a “mourning, wailing, woman”, even though I haven’t previously thought of it in that way.
Shalom shalom……..
Thank you, Celestial, for these words encouragement and caution. May God bless and continue to direct you wisely.
Thank you for visiting the blog, and I really appreciate your encouragement. I pray the Lord will keep His hand steering me, amen.