Before Jesus was born Anna the prophetess fasted and prayed for His arrival for many years. Others also were waiting for the appearing of the Messiah. That waiting was not passive at all, but they were pleading and asking and declaring according to the Scriptures.
They knew that the Word of God promised that the Messiah would come via a virgin in Israel. Just as Daniel the prophet knew that Judah would only be in captivity in Babylon for 70 years through reading it in Scripture. Because the they saw these things in Scripture God birthed prayer in their hearts to bring forth His will into the earth.
It was through Daniels prayers and fasting that Judah were returned to their land when Cyrus came to power.
It was through Anna’s prayers and fasting that Jesus was born in Bethlehem.
So what is next on God’s prophetic agenda?
The First resurrection!! The next great thing God will do is to raise the dead in Christ. He has spoken of this throughout Scripture. Therefore there are people that must birth His will into the earth.
It is our job to call upon God to raise up the dead in Christ as immortals
A few years ago the anointing came up in my spirit and I found myself groaning and weeping. The Lord brought great anguish up in my heart for the need for His presence to come. In that time of intercession a passage of scripture was highlighted in me.
I wept that we had accomplished nothing and had only brought forth wind…we had not brought any deliverance in the earth. I was devastated with His anguish over this failure.
We have had 2000 years of walking with the Holy Spirit yet we have not converted the world. Ohh how I groaned with Him and pleaded with Him to bring revival.
Then yesterday I had another one of those kinds of prayers rise in me. I did not realise it but the Lord was again speaking to me out of the same passage of Scripture. I was declaring to the dead in Christ that they arise and live. I was commanding the graves to open and the dead to rise so as to rule and reign with Christ on the earth…NOW!!
You may say–“How stupid!”
But as I said above, Anna and others prayed for the arrival of the Messiah for many years WITH EXPECTANCY. They prayed in faith that what they said would be. They fully believed that their prayers would be answered and were indeed answered. It was no surprise to them when Jesus was shown to them by Miriam and Joseph.
Luk 2:25 And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and this man was just and devout, waiting for the Consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him.
Luk 2:26 And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.
Simeon was such a man. He was waiting for the Messiah. It means “by implication to await (with confidence or patience)..”
Luk 2:27 So he came by the Spirit into the temple. And when the parents brought in the Child Jesus, to do for Him according to the custom of the law,
Luk 2:28 he took Him up in his arms and blessed God and said:
Luk 2:29 “Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace, According to Your word;
Luk 2:30 For my eyes have seen Your salvation
Luk 2:31 Which You have prepared before the face of all peoples,
Simeon was a prophet of sorts..an ordinary man..but with a heart after God. His task was to pray in the Messiah and when it was done, he could die. Beautiful!!
His name Simeon means- Hearing, obedience, to proclaim, ect. This is what characterises those who are a part of this prayer arm of the Lord. They are gifted to hear and to proclaim what they hear. They obey (by grace)in their spirit to declare the things they hear. This what they did to work with God to bring forth Messiah.
Then there was Anna. You will find if you look it up that her name was Hannah in Hebrew. Hannah comes from a root word to make supplication, to pray, to beseech. This woman was a prayer warrior all her life. It was her calling. She had been set aside by God to pray in and nurture and birth the Messiah.
Just as her namesake-Hannah had cried out to the LORD Yahweh for a child and He had heard her prayer and given her a son- Samuel…God hears…Who was a mighty prophet who also anointed David as King(a type of Christ). Hannah/Anna birthed through prayer and prophetic declaration the arrival of the Christ of God-The messiah, the son of David – Jesus of Nazareth.
Anna or Hannah was the daughter of Penuel – which means the face of God. This is the name that was revealed to Jacob when he wrestled with the Angel of the Lord.(Gen 32:30) Anna was the daughter of “the face of God”. It was her destiny to see His face and she did when she saw him as an 8 day old baby in Jerusalem. It was her reward to see Jesus’ face on the eighth day. This is the reward of the Overcomers. Stephen Jones word here. Anna was also of the tribe of Asher of whom Moses said that they were most blessed and shall dip their foot in oil–which speaks of the anointing of Jesus. (Gen 33:24)
We are to hear and declare His words to bring forth Christ into the earth again. When I say Christ I am speaking of His Overcomers. The sons of God that must be made manifest in order to deliver all creation from the bondage of decay.
Rom 8:18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
Rom 8:19 For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God.
Rom 8:20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope;
Rom 8:21 because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
Rom 8:22 For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.
Rom 8:23 Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.
Paul in verse 18 speaks of the glory that shall be revealed in us….but the us he speaks of is not all believers at the one time….but only the Overcomers. This why he says elsewhere many times things to do with attaining something he has not yet attained. Or being disqualified from something he is aiming at. It is not HEAVEN! It is the right to be in the First resurrection.
Paul will be one of those who are dead in Christ who shall be raised to life again soon through the prayers and groanings of those like Simeon and Anna.
In verse 19 Paul says creation is eagerly waiting for the sons of God to be made manifest. Just like Anna and Simeon eagerly waited with patience and expectancy for the Messiah to come the first time. That waiting was not passive–but the groanings turn to prophetic utterances and prayers and declarations.
In verse 20 and 21 Paul is showing that there is different timing to when some receive the glory – the immortal body – and the rest receive it afterward. The Overcomers receive it first. This is the group Paul is saying shall have “the glory revealed in us”in verse 18. When he says the creation itself also shall be delivered — he speaks of all the rest of mankind who shall also receive their immortal bodies at their own time and order.
We groan to bring forth the first resurrection which is a raising to life of all the believers down through the previous ages since Adam who were obedient to the Spirit of God. It is not a resurrection of all believers, but only those who are “faithful and true”. These are the sons of God who shall set the rest of us free!! These are the many saviours who come forth from Zion! These are immortal and full of glory, having the fullness of the Spirit and the complete mind of Christ. These are the ones we groan to bring forth.
ARISE ARISE ARISE!!! Let the graves open wide and the dead in Christ arise!!
This is truly amazing!
I used to wonder about Jesus returning and what He would do…But now I see that it is through His many membered resurrected immortal body all over the earth that He shall deliver the poor from the hand of the oppressor.
Sons of God arise!! —Paul, Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, Daniel, Hannah, Peter, John, James, etc etc etc…We groan and travail that “…. Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the prophets:…” would come forth from the grave.
Who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. Women received their dead raised to life again. Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection.
A Better resurrection? Yes there are two resurrections. The first resurrection as I said will only include the Overcomers. This is their reward for obedience to the Spirit during their life of faith. The next resurrection is not for 1000 years afterwards when all the dead are raised–unbelievers and believers who were not in the first resurrection.
The words of Isaiah
Isaiah makes clear that through our prayers and intercession we birth deliverance into the earth. If you read this passage in the NKJV it will give the opposite meaning. It will say that we have not brought any deliverance into the earth. But this version, the Greek Old Testament, namely the “Apostolic Bible Polyglot” by by Charles VanderPool says that we do bring His deliverance out of the womb of prayer.
Isa 26:17 And as a woman travailing approaches to give birth, and over her birth pangs she cries out, so we were to your beloved.
Isa 26:18 Because of the fear of you, O lord , [in the womb we conceived], and travailed, and birthed the breath of your deliverance, which you did upon the earth.We shall not fall,but [ shall fall all the ones dwelling upon the earth].
Isa 26:19 [ shall rise up The dead], and [ shall be raised the ones in the sepulchres] and [shall be glad the ones in the earth], for the dew by you a cure to them is]; but the land of the impious shall fall.
Isa 26:20 Proceed, O my people! Enter into your inner chambers! Lock your door! Be concealed a little! as much as this , as much as that , until whenever [ should go by the anger of the lord].
Isa 26:21 For behold the lord [ from the holy place brings anger] upon the ones dwelling upon the earth; and[shall uncover the earth] her blood, and shall not cover up the ones being done away with any more.
We have drawn near the time of delivery for the sons of God to be born through us- the Woman. Do you see that in the above passage?! In the womb we conceived! This speaks of the S/spirit in us. In our spirit we were impregnated with His seed. We groan and we travail to birth the breath of His deliverance into the Earth.
It is not the same old deliverance through a Pentecostal minister who only has gifts of the Holy Spirit as good as that is….NO!! It is MANY SONS JUST LIKE JESUS raised from death to minister the fullness of the glory and power of God through an immortal body. Cannot be killed, cannot be arrested, cannot be imprisoned!
The First resurrection -Rev 20:4 – is God’s answer to those groans and prayers that for ages have been made to Him. Save us O God!
His answer is to raise the dead in Christ to stand again on this earth. Not just any dead in Christ , but those like Paul who fought the good fight of faith and won the crown of righteousness. Those who were obedient to their master in their earthly pilgrimage- who followed the Lamb wherever He led them. These shall be raised first.
As we see in verse 21 they shall begin to expose the wicked deeds that have been hidden just as Cain killed Abel and his blood cried out….and God said, “What have you done!!” The sons of God shall round up the wicked men and women who are deceiving the world and have committed many murders…many kings shall be executed it says somewhere in Scripture. Hopefully for them it will be a spiritual execution!
For surely a mighty revival is coming when once the sons of God are raised from the grave. They shall be immortal and just like Jesus. Healing in His wings! Justice for the poor. Deliverance for the captives, setting free all those in chains. The sons of God shall shepherd the church, who for the most part shall not be immortal yet. These are the shepherds with a heart like His who will gather the weak and feed His sheep with good food.
The earth shall rejoice when it sees and tastes the sons of God who represent Jesus Himself. It is our privilege to birth them through the womb of our heart into this realm–raised from the grave immortal. We shall see their face and in seeing it we shall see the Lord Jesus.
Maranatha! Come Lord Jesus
