Numbers 10:5 “When you sound the trumpet to move on, the tribes on the east side of the Tabernacle will break camp and move forward. 6 When you sound the trumpet a second time, the tribes on the south will follow. You must sound short blasts to signal moving on.
I believe that the trumpet has sounded! The time for camping has ended, its time to rise up and move forward.
God has been moving his bride forward since the day of Pentecost; there have been times of rest and times of moving forward.
Since 1900 the Lord has been moving ahead at various speeds to restore the gifts of the Spirit to His Church. One cannot deny the impact of this move, with the Pentecostal revival now numbering over 600,000,000; worldwide.
The trumpet has been blown again, its time to move forward in a new level of Glory. After all the scripture says we move from Glory to Glory. We are not saved to remain in the same Glory we entered into, but rather we are saved to enter into the very image of Christ. A new glory awaits those who will heed the sound of the trumpet and arise.
Isaiah 60:1-2
1 Arise, shinea; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee. 2 For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee.
The Hebrew for Arise ZARACH means Burst forth
When I was a Child and living on a farm in rural NZ, my friends and I used to build dams to block off streams flowing across our farm. It was fun! But our flimsy dams were no match for the power of the water, and eventually the force of the water would cause the dam to burst forth. All our structures would be washed away in seconds, and the stream had re-established its authority again.
In order to build our dam, we would use mud, straw, sticks and branches to block the water way. None of those things reflect the light.
When we stop for any length of time in a camp, we build structures that make us feel comfortable, We have amazing programs, we have amazing buildings and inside these walls there is a kind of feeling that makes us think that we are making a difference, because the water is backing up, its an amazing sight. But when the trumpet blasts, the Glory of the Lord re-establishes the way of the Lord again. He bursts forth into our stream and the flow of the Spirit is seen again.
It’s called revival! The flow of the Spirit was never meant to be confined to a program or behind four walls. But rather allowed to find His own course and level in the community, thus extending the Kingdom!
The water reflected the light and can be seen for miles. Isaiah 60 says Arise, Shine!
Shine means to “Be enlightened” to reflect the Glory shone upon you! The moon shines but its only a reflection of a greater glory.
Man is called to reflect the greater Glory of the Son!
Hebrews 1
Long ago God spoke many times and in many ways to our ancestors through the prophets. 2 But now in these final days, he has spoken to us through his Son. God promised everything to the Son as an inheritance, and through the Son he made the universe and everything in it. 3 The Son reflects God’s own glory, and everything about him represents God exactly. He sustains the universe by the mighty power of his command. After he died to cleanse us from the stain of sin, he sat down in the place of honor at the right hand of the majestic God of heaven.
Hebrews 6
2 You don’t need further instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. 3 And so, God willing, we will move forward to further understanding.
The trumpet has sounded and its time to Burst forth, to shine and to spring into life.
Job 14:7-9: "For there is hope for a tree if it is cut down, that it will sprout again and that the tender shoots of it will not cease. Though its roots grow old in the earth and its stock dies in the ground, Yet through the scent of water [the stump of the tree] will bud and bring forth boughs like a young plant."
If the tree can sprout again at the very "scent of water", so too can we! When we pursue His presence with fire and passion in our heart. We will literally be able to recognize the "scent of the water of the Holy Spirit" being rained down upon us from His presence!
So when the trumpet blows and we don’t feel like moving on, what’s the problem?
1) Put away strange gods!
1 Sam 7:3-4
3 Then Samuel said to all the people of Israel, “If you are really serious about wanting to return to the LORD, get rid of your foreign gods and your images of Ashtoreth. Determine to obey only the LORD; then he will rescue you from the Philistines.” 4 So the Israelites destroyed their images of Baal and Ashtoreth and worshiped only the LORD.
These are the mud and the sticks that block the dam!
gods that distract us from the flow
They might not be as blatant as wooden idols but they are equally as destructive to the flow of the Spirit. Religious Spirits and false yokes cause us to fall down before strange gods. Wanting us to settle before altars of our own works and images that reflect our own glory.
Programs that glorify the sticks and not the stream!
I was recently in a leadership meeting where one of the senior members of a denomination said, “We need programs that will be essential to the community, so that if we were raptured tomorrow the world would notice we were gone!”
I just about fell out of my chair in amazement! I think if the world was suddenly left bereft of the Holy Spirit as reflected in His people the world would notice that His reflected Glory was missing. It’s not the programs it’s the Holy Spirit in the saints lives that’s important. Otherwise the programs become strange gods!
2) Be clean
The thing about flowing water is that it is usually clean, as opposed to stagnant
We are called as vessels of Living water, not stagnant water.
That’s why the Lord is blowing the trumpet to move on!
Revivals stop when the flow is restricted. The flow is restricted by blockage in the stream. Or lack of obedience, put bluntly SIN.
It’s easy to fix put it right 1 John 1:9 and move on!
The thing about stagnant water is that it just slowly starves the living organisms in the stream because of a lack of Oxygen.
The only thing that cleans up a stagnant pool is getting the flow going again! Often in a stagnant pool many look for ways to manually clean it up, running around like headless Chickens trying to clean up one mess after another. Only the blood of Jesus can cleanse us! Let his blood burst forth and smash the dam. Be clean in Him!
Isaiah 61:10
10 I am overwhelmed with joy in the LORD my God! For he has dressed me with the clothing of salvation and draped me in a robe of righteousness. I am like a bridegroom in his wedding suit or a bride with her jewels.
The trumpet has sounded! Its time to arise into a new Glory.
IAN JOHNSON www.papelim.org.nz
