預言性的歷史正展開─啟示錄
現在我們來到啟示錄八章1-5節,揭開七印與七號:
羔羊揭開第七印的時候,天上寂靜約有二刻。
我看見那站在神面前的七位天使,有七枝號賜給他們。
另有一位天使,拿著金香爐來,站在祭壇旁邊。有許多香賜給他,要和眾聖徒的祈禱一同獻在寶座前的金壇上。
那香的煙和眾聖徒的祈禱從天使的手中一同升到神面前。
天使拿著香爐,盛滿了壇上的火,倒在地上;隨有雷轟、大聲、閃電、地震。
關於『天上寂靜約有二刻』 的說法眾多,其中一個最有道理的說法是,當人們燒掉他們的末世圖表時,顯然許多人將面對一個事實,就是事情並沒有按他們所預期的發生。很少有任何聖經預言是按著人們所期待的方式揭開,包括最流行的彌賽亞第一次到來,我們可以預期祂第二次再來也是如此。
啟示錄告訴我們念這書上預言的人有福了,研讀聖經預言是件很崇高的事。然而,因著我們的領受而自大與武斷便是愚昧。當時的法利賽人對彌賽亞有著最大的期待,當祂來時卻是反對最大的團體。在十九世紀預測聖靈大澆灌的偉大牧師與先知性聲音,卻拒絕聖靈。為什麼呢?
我們看見的有限,知道的有限,所預言的也有限。只停留在部分的了解卻無法帶出邏輯性結論,對任何人來說都是很難的,但這就是人驕傲的彰顯。於是我們開始過於看重我們的教義,並推測遠超過聖靈正在說或正在做的事,特別是與我們所期待的有所不同時。在我們的所有研讀中,我們必須持守謙卑,保有彈性並易於調整。
拘泥字句者看聖經的每件事都是字面上的意義,聖經大部分是字面上的意義,但若全都這麼看代表所有的草都會下地獄,主將為著綿羊和山羊回來。倘若我們無法分辨與詮釋比喻,我們將會誤解聖經的預言。這些可能也有字面上的應驗,其通常像是指示牌來告訴我們時間,但比喻卻是信息。自然界通常是用來反映屬靈界所發生的事。
號角通常是釋放出去之信息的比喻,香則表示禱告與代禱,正如舊約所解釋的。倘若我往後退一步,以整體性來看上述的經文,我的第一印象是此時是特別禱告與代禱的時刻。
目前我們擁有一些歷史上最偉大的禱告運動,當畢邁克開始了堪薩斯州的IHOP國際禱告殿,那時世界上24小的敬拜禱告中心很少。在過去20年間已經超過二萬間以上的24小時禱告中心,現在幾乎每個國家都有24小時禱告中心,有些國家甚至不只一間。
我們還有其他大型超過上萬人的聚集,就像由盧恩格(Lou Engle)所帶領的呼召聚集(The Call)。這和過去大型聚集的講道競賽有所不同,他們比較是以代禱與敬拜帶出先知性的宣告以及對時候的了解。
在華盛頓首府的守約者聚集(Promise Keepers)可能有上百萬人,同心在主前禱告與悔改。呼召聚集也在華盛頓首府聚集了數萬人,在許多城市也有成千上萬人塞爆最大型的體育館,一起代禱、敬拜和悔改。倘若這樣的事在聖經時期發生,早就被記載在聖經正典中了。想一想若在聖經上讀到像這樣的話:『有一百萬男子在王的殿前聚集,在主面前謙卑自己認罪』,不知何等有能力。這將會成為聖經上最驚嘆的故事之一,而我們卻在我們的時代見證此發生。
多數的禱告事工剛開始時都是枯乾且吃力的,忠心的人經歷曠野的乾旱而存留下來,直到這些祭壇充滿了火,不難想像煙往上升充滿在神的寶座。他們不單是得到地上的注意,更得到天上的注意。
從來沒有任何的禱告和代禱像現今一樣,在啟示錄這段經文的結果是地上代禱的火上到天上,然後再被倒在地上;隨有雷轟、閃電、地震或震動。有時雷聲在聖經中可比喻為神的聲音,閃電指的是啟示,在黑暗中隱藏的事如何被顯明出來。極大的震動說的是希伯來書十二章25-29節所指的時候:
你們總要謹慎,不可棄絕那向你們說話的。因為,那些棄絕在地上警戒他們的尚且不能逃罪,何況我們違背那從天上警戒我們的呢?
當時他的聲音震動了地,但如今他應許說:再一次我不單要震動地,還要震動天。
這再一次的話,是指明被震動的,就是受造之物都要挪去,使那不被震動的常存。
所以我們既得了不能震動的國,就當感恩,照神所喜悅的,用虔誠、敬畏的心事奉神。
因為我們的神乃是烈火。
我們的房子是否建造在不能被震動的國度上呢?
(摘自喬納 word for the week,Week27, 2017)
Historical Unfolding of Prophecy—The Book of Revelation
Week 27, 2017
Rick Joyner
Now we come to Revelation 8:1-5, the breaking of the seventh seal and the seven trumpets:
When the Lamb broke the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.
And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them.
Another angel came and stood at the altar, holding a golden censer; and much incense was given to him, so that he might add it to the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar that 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.
Then the angel took the censer and filled it with the fire of the altar, and threw it to the earth; and there followed peals of thunder and sounds and flashes of lightning and an earthquake.
There are many theories about the “silence in heaven for about half an hour.” One of the most plausible is that this is when everyone burns their end-time charts. Obviously, many will face the fact that things did not happen the way they expected. Rarely has any biblical prophecy unfolded the way expected, including the most prevalent about the first coming of the Messiah. We can expect the same to be true about His second coming.
We are told in Revelation that those who just read it will be blessed. It is a noble thing to study the prophecy of Scripture. However, it is a foolish thing to become arrogant and dogmatic about our perception of it. The Pharisees were the group with the greatest expectation of the Messiah, and they were His biggest opposition when He came. Great preachers and prophetic voices in the 1800s predicted the outpouring of the Holy Spirit but rejected it when it came. Why?
We see in part, we know in part, and we prophesy in part. It is hard for any of us to stay with partial understanding instead of carrying it to what we consider to be logical conclusions, but that is a manifestation of the pride of man. Then we start to esteem our doctrines and predictions above what the Spirit is saying or doing, especially when it is different from what we expected. In all of our studies, we must stay humble, easy to be entreated, and correctable.
Literalists view everything in Scripture as literal. Much of it is literal, but to see everything as literal would mean that grass is going to hell and the Lord is coming back for sheep and goats. We will misunderstand the prophecies of Scripture if we are unable to also discern and interpret the metaphors. These can have a literal fulfillment as well—which is often a signpost that tells us the time—but the metaphor is the message. The natural often reflects what happens in the Spirit.
Trumpets are usually metaphors for messages that go forth. Incense speaks of prayers and intercession, as explained in the Old Testament. If I stand back and look at the text above as a whole, the first impression is that this is a time of extraordinary prayer and intercession.
At the present time we have some of the greatest prayer movements in history. When Mike Bickle started the International House of Prayer in Kansas City, there were only a handful of places on earth with 24-hour intercession and worship. In the last two decades, the number of these places has grown to over 20,000. Now there are 24-hour prayer meetings in possibly every nation on earth, and in most nations, more than one.
We have other major gatherings of hundreds of thousands of people at events like The Call led by Lou Engle. These are not like the preaching contests that some large gatherings tended to be in the past—they are much more about intercession and worship interspersed with prophetic proclamations with an understanding of the times.
The Promise Keepers gathering in Washington may have had a million people, all praying and repenting before the Lord. The Call gathered hundreds of thousands in Washington, and many hundreds of thousands more in multiple cities where they filled the largest stadiums for intercession, worship, and repentance. If something like that had happened in biblical times, it would have been recorded in canon Scripture. Think about how powerful it would be to read something like, “A million men gathered before the king’s palace to humble themselves before the Lord and confess their sins.” This would have been one of the most amazing stories in the Scriptures, and we’re witnessing this in our own times.
Most of the great prayer ministries that have been raised up started out dry and laborious. The faithful persevered through the wilderness of dry places until now there is such fire on these altars that it is not hard to imagine the smoke from them filling the throne room of God. They are not only capturing the attention of the earth, but of heaven as well.
There has never been a time of prayer and intercession like the present. The result in this text in Revelation is that the fire from the intercession on earth went up to heaven, and then was thrown back to the earth as thunder, lightning, and a great earthquake, or shaking. Thunder is sometimes a metaphor for the voice of God in Scripture. Lightning speaks of revelation, how the things hidden in darkness are revealed. The great shaking speaks of the time in such places as Hebrews 12:25-29:
See to it that you do not refuse Him who is speaking. For if those did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape who turn away from Him who warns from heaven.
And His voice shook the earth then, but now He has promised, saying, "YET ONCE MORE I WILL SHAKE NOT ONLY THE EARTH, BUT ALSO THE HEAVEN."
This expression, "Yet once more," denotes the removing of those things which can be shaken, as of created things, so that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.
Therefore, since we receive a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe;
for our God is a consuming fire.
Have we built our house on the kingdom that cannot be shaken?