"THE TRUTH IS..." The seventy years of Babylonian captivity were over. Wave after wave of refugees were released to return to Israeli soil and their beloved Jerusalem. Nehemiah and Ezra however had been inducted into the service of Cyrus, the Persian king who had liberated Israel, and in time, Nehemiah had became the cupbearer of King Artaxerxes I, successor to Cyrus’ throne. As cupbearer (butler) he had personal access and was closer to the king than anyone. However, there was a palace rule - one must never come into the presence of the king with a sad countenance. Artaxerxes absolutely forbid it and to break this rule was to risk severe punishment. Nevertheless, when one is overcome with grief and their soul is drowning in the inner tears of brokenness, one cannot put on a happy face. Such was the case one evening when Nehemiah brought the wine cup to the king. No mask on earth could have hidden Nehemiah’s quiet despair. His demeanor, his voice, the chalky lines of his face all betrayed him. The king recognized very quickly that this was no deceptive ploy to gain the king’s sympathetic favor. It was genuine, and his heart was turned toward his trusted servant. “Nehemiah, why are you so sad?” he asked. Genuine sympathy is like genuine grief - it compels one to open up and pour out. Nehemiah could not withhold and the words came tumbling, filling the ears of the king. The king listened, the king heard. Anyone else would have been flogged or imprisoned but divine intervention gave the king’s heart understanding and a new respect for Nehemiah who was boldly exposing his soul. The beloved city of Jerusalem was in ruins. Her walls were in shambles, the city gates burned, the streets and houses all but destroyed. The returning refugees were defenseless prey and needed help to rebuild the walls. The king was moved to immediate action. “How much time do you need?” he asked. Earlier, and in deep piety, Nehemiah had interceded and repented on behalf of his people. God had heard, and now God was answering. The king appointed Nehemiah governor of Jerusalem and commissioned him to begin rebuilding Jerusalem’s walls. Ezra had been released 14 years earlier to lead his people from Babylon back to Israel after which he was to rebuild the temple and train new priests and scribes. So Ezra was already there. But today, with the royal decree of Nehemiah’s commission, God’s clock started ticking and Daniel’s 70 weeks of years would begin... Once the walls of Jerusalem were repaired, the gates rebuilt and hung and the streets repaired, Nehemiah looked around him and knew that the houses needed to be rebuilt and living, social and economic conditions needed to be improved. A census was taken and genealogies and tribes recorded. Finally, with Jerusalem secure and reestablished, it was estimated that little more than 42,300 people dwelt in Israel’s cities, indeed a remnant 10th of her former strength. (Isaiah 6: 9-13 prophetic warning) On the first day of Nissan (March-April), Israel’s New Year, all of the people of Israel gathered together at the Water Gate in Jerusalem. They seated themselves on the ground where Ezra had set up a specially made wooden pulpit, made just for this occasion. Then Ezra, with the priests and the scribes around him, stood above the people so they could see him, opened the scroll of Gods Word on the pulpit and prepared to read. Then a remarkable thing happened... All the people suddenly stood for the reading of the scriptures. As the Word was read, they lifted up their hands and bowed their faces to the ground. Many wept... They were like dry bones. Captivity had robbed them of more than their homes and lands. Many of them were hearing God’s Word read in Jerusalem for the first time, having been born in captivity. A few were old in years and faintly remembered, but were as dried herbs that thankfully welcomed living waters. In later days and weeks, the priests would read aloud the laws of God and teach the people from the law and the prophets to give them understanding. Again they wept at the sound of God’s Word being read. It was while studying Nehemiah’s commission that God sent a new and wonderful understanding into my heart and spirit. Explaining it may not be easy. As you know, some things defy our limited vocabulary for they are spiritually discerned... With our lips we confess that the Word of God is living truth. We respect it, protect it, and embrace the undeniable spiritual power within it but we often fail to truly grasp the very nature of it’s existence. We all know that the Word was spiritually inspired by the Holy Ghost and points the way to Jesus, therefore we know it is His Holy Word. I think of it as God’s love letter to His children, giving us a portrait of Himself and His Son as well as the character of His relationship with men and nations past and men and nations to come. But, this beautifully written resume of His Glory could not be understood or appreciated by the human heart were it not filled with the many colored fires of the Holy Ghost. Consequently, God’s anointed are filled with Holy Ghost fire that originates from His Words. Centuries of various grades of papyrus, paper and ink do not prevent power from breaking through because these are living words whose life cannot be extinguished by any means. Only doubt and unbelief can do that. There is power, life, deliverance, healing, knowledge, wisdom, and Holy Ghost fire in every Word. These are not words ABOUT the living God, these are the words OF God. They have been dictated right out of His mouth and transmitted through the Holy Spirit to faithful keepers of the times and events. It was spoken through a firestorm, the Holy, many-colored fires that are the Holiness of the Almighty. The fire that is the Word can never subside nor burn out for Jesus said, “ Heaven and earth may pass away but My Words will never pass away.” One cannot destroy spiritual fire, nor can one turn down the damper for the strength and life-sustaining power are in it’s never-ending substance. Heavenly fire is fed from the Throne of God, the truth giver. The fires of Hell are fed by men, the truth murderers. When believers are exposed to the explosive blasts, they find themselves consumed with faith, courage, boldness and power. This fire cannot consume the living waters of the Word, neither can the living waters put out the fire. Joined with the Blood, they are all three companions with a divine purpose. Tempered with mercy and kept alive by the fire, they convict, cleanse, save, teach, lead, instruct, and as needed, they burn up and wash out any miry thorns that hang on, revealing them one by one. And because these Words live within us, as does the Holy Ghost Himself, we too are equipped with the many-colored fires of the Almighty. The same God who spoke, “Let there be light”, also said, “Don’t you know that the same Holy Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead, dwells in you?” Resurrection power is fire power. Bound in paper or bound in leather, it is not the binding, but the Words between the covers that are flames of color that have burst from the mouth of God that flowed through the pens of Godly men. Jesus said, “He (the Holy Ghost) will take of the things of mine and show them unto you.” It is with privilege and joy that the Holy Spirit points us to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. He delights in exalting and lifting up Jesus and he encourages you and me to step into the warm fires of fellowship with Him. Fires, large and small, throw up many colors and each color represents the heat of that particular portion of the fire. While some flames are cooler than others, some are more intensely heated. Red, orange, gold, yellow, blue, purple, and white are the colors of flames we are familiar with. As we walk forward in these last days, we need to be aware of the color and intensity of our flames. We need to stir up those holy gifts within us and let the flames grow higher and brighter. We need to consume the work of the enemy with the unquenchable fiery swords of our faith through God’s powerful Word and we need to ask the Holy Ghost to turn up the heat on His anointing. Remember the burning bush Moses saw? It burned but it was not consumed. This fire reveals the holiness, the glory and the presence of God. A consuming fire fell on the false prophets who defied Elisha and is the same fire that consumed the water-drenched sacrifice on Elijah’s altar at Mt. Carmel. There are two types of fire from one source. One consumes, the other anoints and heralds His Glory. As you study this holiest of books, look for the fire, stir up it’s coals then bask in it’s healing warmth. Let it penetrate your being for it promises to strengthen your bones and heal your flesh. “Bless the Lord, oh my soul: and all that is within me, bless His Holy Name. Bless the Lord oh my soul, and forget not all of his benefits: who forgiveth all thine inequities; who healeth ALL thy diseases.” (Psalms 103) Listen carefully as it speaks to you through the roaring flames and the thunderous waters, taking you from joy to joy and from glory to glory through it’s many colors... Is the prophetic clock still ticking? Well, scripture splits the years in Nehemiah, Chapter 8, as seven, threescore and two (successive) weeks of years for a total of 69 weeks, or 483 years. The scriptural splitting is significant and can be defined as follows: The first seven weeks were the 49 years between the command to rebuild Jerusalem’s walls and the end of the prophetic voice in Israel. The recordings of the law and the prophets (Old Testament) were now complete. Four hundred years of silence would follow during which time no prophet walked or spoke in Israel. Four hundred years of upheaval and turmoil would draw near it’s close with the uncontested invasion and occupation of Roman forces and the rule of a cruel King Herod. Such was the scene at the end of this 449-year period. Yet there was one promised blessed event that would occur when a young girl entering her teens was visited by the archangel Gabriel. Her name was Mary and she was espoused to a man named Joseph. Gabriel closed this segment of time and his visit with Mary by telling her that her cousin, Elizabeth, who had been barren, was also with child and was in her sixth month. Mary left immediately to go to be with her. She herself was now with child, conceived by the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit. The 449 years had ended with Gabriel’s visit to Mary and at the end of the next 34 years the clock would stop... John the Baptist was the first prophet to be born in Israel in 400 years. He would be the forerunner of the Messiah, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, “Prepare ye the way of the Lord.” He was six months old when Jesus was born. Add that six months to the thirty-three and a half years of age Jesus was when he died and you have 34 years to add to the 449 years making a total of 483 years. When Jesus made his triumphant march into Jerusalem, just four days before his crucifixion, the clock stopped ticking and the timer would not be reset until God said so. In that four-day interval the Passover Lamb of God would be tested and examined for any impure or imperfect spots. This was part of the Passover ritual as each family would choose their lamb and pen it up for four days to be examined and tested for any instabilities. Pontius Pilate could not find any in Jesus for he said, “I find no fault with this man.” The blemish was in Pilate who feared the people and who, for the sake of his own political security, turned him over to the executioners anyway to be crucified. This would begin the New Testament, with a new blood covenant of reconciliation between God and man, an invitation extended to all by the testator, Jesus Christ. We have been in intermission for two thousand years, a suspended period of time known as the church age, an age of Grace. Because we are completely made in His image, and our spirits belong to Him, He loves us with an unconditional love and extends His love and grace (unmerited favor) to all. That is His attitude toward us. Our attitude toward Him is by choice also, and is everlasting, reaching into Heaven or into Hell. The 70th week, the last and final seven-year-week, will resume following this period of intermission in a time appointed by God Himself. It will be that seven-year period known as the Great Tribulation that will immediately follow the Rapture of the Church (Saints) from the earth. In the chaos that follows, a new but deceptive peacemaker will arise as the one-world ruler. Scripture calls him many names, the most famous being the Antichrist. He will sign a peace treaty with Israel, guaranteeing her seven years of protection. When he lays down his pen, the clock resumes ticking, with seven years to go... The consuming fires of war and hell will do battle with the fires of Heaven, the newly converted saints of earth and the still all-powerful Word of God. Fires clashing for the conquest of souls will result in many saints being tortured and killed for their testimony rather than bend to the fires of hell. God will turn up the heat and send great destruction upon the earth and the enemies of God. In the end the King of Kings and Lord of Lords will return with His saints for the battle of all battles and will vanquish Satan and the False Prophet to the pit for one thousand years. The fires that live forever will then cleanse the earth and in Heaven there shall be rejoicing before God’s throne of many colors... John tells us in Revelations 4:3 that he saw a beautiful rainbow around the throne of God, a reminder of earths past judgement, God’s Glory and never-ending mercy. This time, He will use the fire that proceeds out from the throne and when it is all over, and peace has returned to Heaven and Earth, the colors will change as the reds and oranges of spiritual warfare evolve into the softer and more beautiful hues of precious gems, filling Heaven and Earth with the brightness of His Glory. On earth, we will live and reign in our glorified bodies with Christ for one thousand years and there will be no need for sun or moon or stars for the universal light of His Glory will be all the light needed on the new planet earth. The Prince of Peace will rule with a rod of iron and justice and mercy shall be in His mouth It is hard to believe that in this setting there will be those born and living in that time that will not be happy under Christ’s rule and will want Him dethroned. Even with Satan in chains and in the pit, men will devise their own schemes and use their free will to create disharmony among their neighbors. The human heart again rebels in some, but not all... The rebellious hearts of men will necessitate turning Satan loose for a spell at the end of the thousand years, to test the hearts of men through one final battle after which Satan will be thrown into the lake of fire forever. Rebellion will be vanquished for all time as the earth is finally cleansed of her curse and all mortal followers of Christ Our King will be transformed into their glorified bodies. Now descends the New Jerusalem, with the Bride, the Old Testament saints, the tribulation saints, and the millennial saints. Eternity will begin and it will never end... Joan Krempel
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