Jerusalem of Gold
"The Bowl is Tipping Over"
15 Sivan 5780 (07/06/20). You can also watch and listen along to this Word on our YouTube channel. It is divided into two short videos for ease of listening.
This morning the LORD gave me this Bible verse to complete a prophetic word which I believe He is bringing about what is coming; which, in the beginning, will not be recognised or accepted as coming from Him, except by His Bride. I will discuss why later:
“Early in the morning Jesus was taken from Caiaphas’ house to the governor’s palace. The Jewish authorities did not go inside the palace, for they wanted to keep themselves ritually clean, in order to be able to eat the Passover meal.” (John 18:28)
A little Jewish background to the above verse:
In the Jewish faith it is tradition to thoroughly clean one's house of physical yeast (leaven) - which Jesus said represents sin - before Passover: “Let no yeast be found in your possession in all your land for seven days.” (Deuteronomy 16:4) This is why the Jewish authorities did not want to enter the palace, a non-Jewish house. They wanted to keep themselves “ritually clean”, which tells me that they had already cleansed their house of every breadcrumb ready for Passover. To this day, the Jewish Orthodox community put all their pots and pans through fire to make sure there are no breadcrumbs - no "leaven" - in their houses before Passover. In fact, the week immediately after Passover is called the Feast of Unleavened Bread. For seven days, orthodox Jewish community still to this day eat no leavened bread, only flat unleavened bread, like matzah. They also thoroughly sweep their houses of every single bread crumb.
So, in the above verse, the Jewish authorities were ostentatiously observing the Word of God. Yet their spiritual blindness is staggering. Why? Because of this little detail in the above verse: “They took Jesus out of Caiaphas’ house.” So, wait a minute! They'd spent much time meticulously searching out the leavened crumbs from their house but then took out The Unleavened One - The SinLESS One -from their house!
They took out the right part (the humility of Yeshua) while keeping in the wrong part (the pride of man). They refused to see past their own self-righteousness and their own way of doing God. Yet, all this was hidden within the appearance of their ‘godly’ behaviours.
Today, there is both a verocious and comfortable religiosity that preaches a gospel without repentance, grace without holiness and discipleship without death to self. It is far from real obedient humility in Yeshua to God's Word and very, very close to the self-virtuous pride of man! This is why I believe Yeshua gave me this verse to underpin this Word for the churches; particularly the unbiblical churches in America and a form of ‘christianity’ which is exported from there into the veins of churches worldwide. It is an unholy false gospel. It shows up in a fake self-righteousness which masquerades as 'love', yet is a deception. It presents as ostentatious people-pleasing, just like the Pharisees. On social media and online it is often accompanied by 'virtue signalling' (which is explored in more detail in another next word.)
The people had The Perfect One literally in their presence. If they had embraced and worshipped Him as their King, He would have cleansed their entire ‘houses’ of leaven - sin and pride in self - and yet they didn't recognise Him! They were so busy picking up their breadcrumbs, they missed The Unleavened One standing right before them and actually pulled Him out of their house!!
Leaven - or chametz (חמץ) in Hebrew - means: sour, fermented, grieved, to be cruel, embittered, oppress, ruthless, harsh. This is how the self-righteous spirit behaves towards Jesus. It oppresses His Full Character as God. In Luke 12:1 Yeshua declares: “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.”
There is a hypocrisy to the current counterfeit christianity that believes it is very loving; while not teaching about obedience, repentance and the Holiness of God. In many ways their human hearts have made Him a powerless god. Many, many churches do not preach the full Word of God for fear of man and this can only create a church powerless against sin, spiritual attack and make her ripe for deception in a luke-warm faith.
Why do I believe the LORD is giving this word right now?
I believe the LORD God is saying that many, many churches, in their religious approach, are going to miss His Presence in what is coming, because they are so stuck in their way of ‘seeing’ God. (Just like self-virtuous pharisees.) Through their diluting of, and disobedience to, His Word they have also escorted Him out of their houses, their churches, their teachings, in their ostentatious acts of being 'virtuous' and 'loving.'
This comes from poor or partial Biblical teaching regarding the Full Character of the God of the Bible. It will be their pride which will stop them recognising the Ways He works salvationally. I believe He is about to show His Power, which at first will not be recognised as 'loving' by Him. When pressure comes, when very difficult times come, it will not be immediately apparent that it is the LORD trying to help people into such a state that they will come to the end of themselves and finally recognise that they are not god. It will be soul-saving, world-shaking Perfect Love driving Him; it always is. But sometimes real love disciplines and purifies and it can feel very, very tough. The ripping away of all our idols hurts, including the idol of ourselves. But it is like the shaking off of an illusion to face a life-saving and life-changing reality. The weak and false church assume He will move in the way they expect Him to look when He saves souls. This is because they have taught partial truths for so long – because they love themselves more than they love Him and want to be liked and popular – that they themselves no longer know or recognise the full Character of God.
But the LORD is bringing judgment, He is bringing pressure on the arrogant sins of the world by lifting His Hand of General Grace. This is all laid out in the Bible, in the Prophets and in the End Time writings of the Word of God. But that is never easy to teach, so many churches miss it out and don't prepare their sheep. The Bride hasn't missed it out because she listens to His Voice above all others, and she has often suffered rejection from the disobedient churches because of this. Although she is often sadder at sin, more weary, more hidden and alone, she is also more at peace in the storms, more joyous in Him alone, more awake to His prophetic clock and more prepared for this time. He has been calling His Bride to purify herself and “to come out of Babylon” for some time. (Revelation 18:4)
A Messianic brother describes it like this: “Coming out of Babylon first involves dealing with an identity crises among the people of YHVH. Once they learn who they are supposed to be in biblical terms and embrace this vision in their hearts and minds, they will automatically begin coming out of Babylon by first putting the leaven of Babylon out of themselves!”
Notice the word leaven again.
I made a note of a short conversation with Yeshua last week which started with the words: "But many, many, most churches aren’t listening."
Here is a conversation Yeshua had with me about the mainstream church's inability to physically meet during lockdown. Yet this meant she was receiving the invitation to spend more time with Him in greater intimacy in His Word at home:
Yeshua: “They’re not awake Jennie, they want to get back to their churches, not get back to Me.
Because I’m right here with them.
But they want to escape My EXACTING GAZE.”
Me: “Why?”
Yeshua: “Sins.”
Me: “But we all sin and You say You forgive sins.”
Yeshua: “Only if you’re trying to stop them. They love their sins. They love themselves.”
I grieved at how He called them "their" churches, not His - because He has been escorted out of the building when His full character in His Word is rejected.
During the global lockdown this April, several friends noted that we had the first Passover since the original Passover when all the Jewish people and His believing Bride were once again commanded to stay in our houses. Nothing to distract us from His Word, not even synagogue or church meetings. During that week, the LORD specifically impressed upon me to keep His command to only eat unleavened bread. Every time I did I heard Him moving my spirit to ask: “LORD, what is the leaven in me? Where is the leaven in me? Find it, tell me where it is hidden, take it out of me.” He gave me several areas and specifics with which I needed to deal. He also spoke in general terms of the spirit of Babylon being in everything from movies, music, arts (much of which I have loved and enjoyed) as well as debts and our identity in our non-kingdom careers, and especially idolatry. Idolatry means to worship any other ‘god’ other than the One True God. He spoke to me about how mixed Christianity has become with other religions that young people don’t even realise they are consuming it and re-posting it on social media. During Passover, the LORD also reminded me through the second Jewish Passover reading in 2 Kings 23:5 of the “idolatrous priests.” This is the same spirit of the priests found in our first verse in John 18:28 and it is the same spirit found in the ungodly churches today. We as the Bride need to allow Him to be Fully Himself in our lives and not question or be surprised when He shows His Power through Justice and Judgment, rather than our human concept of Grace. Besides, to give warnings and increased waves of justice and judgment before the final judgment is to Personify Grace, so as to save the soul; even while the physical human comforts are taken away. Otherwise, we have made an idol of Him in our own limited image. To tell God He cannot be fully Himself is truly ironic in these times!
Another Conversation with Yeshua: About five weeks ago, on 01/05/20, the LORD begun formulating this written word in me and had a short conversation with me about these modern-day "idolatrous priests":
Yeshua: “They think ‘love’ is to ignore unholiness. That is hate of the human soul.”
Me: “Why do they do that?”
Yeshua: “Arrogance.”
Me: “Explain it to them.” (the ‘idolatrous priests’)
The LORD: “You think you know better than Me what ‘love’ is? You think you know best what is good for your body? When I made your body?"
The LORD then let me hear what was in the hearts of the idolatrous priests. They replied to Him: “No, we just hate you ‘God’. We will make our own.”
At this point in the conversation the LORD gently turned back to me and said: “Can you hear it now Jennie?”. He meant, can I hear the spirit behind the idolatrous priests and why His judgment has to come on them and shake them to their core. This includes people who have ‘guarded’ the word of God inaccurately for so long, just like the Pharisees! It also includes all who profess to be christian, because His Word says believers are to be a "royal" and "holy priesthood." He then let me hear again what was in the hearts of the idolatrous priests, for they would not stop, their arrogance was ripe: “But we’ll hide our arrogance and hatred of God behind the word 'love'. And we’ll tell you you’re unloving for hating our sin. We’ll tell you your ‘god’ is unloving. Because we love sin.”
Encouragement for the Bride:
Many of you in the Bride of Christ have written or talked with me recently about how sad, distressed and angry you feel at the current arrogance of man, even represented in the COVID-19 marketing phrase: ‘We will get through this together.’ There is no reference to humbly relying on God or a call of repentance. The same is true of the current reaction to the death of a black man. The heart of justice wants to cry out in purity, humble self-reflection, repentance and obedience to the LORD about an oppression that has always been wrong. It is part of the sinfulness of man. But this is not what we are seeing. We are seeing waves of bitterness, rage, disorder, chaos, fake self-righteousness, highly selective morality, an Orwellian double-speak, total blindness to the stench of all but one kind of sin, increased hatred, lawlessness and a spirit of rebellion rising against all authority. But, in the face of this glaring omission of humility before God in these troubling times, the LORD brought me deep comfort by showing me a passage in Ezekiel 9 verses 4-6. It is a special mark of protection from a coming catastrophe, but only for those who are deeply distressed by evil:
“Go through the whole city of Jerusalem and put a mark on the forehead of everyone who is distressed and troubled because of all the disgusting things being done in the city.” The LORD then brings judgment in His Holy Righteous Anger on the people in the city but instructs His angels: “But don’t touch anyone who has the mark on their forehead. Start here at My Temple.”
I had never realised there was a previous description of His protective mark for His people, other than the one in the book of Revelation! Here is that one, which we probably all know well: “They were told not to harm the grass or the trees or any other plant; they could harm only the people who did not have the mark of God's seal on their foreheads.” (Revelation 9:4) There is a lot of discussion about the opposing mark of the beast from Revelation at present. That’s understandable. But here in Ezekiel the LORD is reassuring and comforting His Bride, by letting her know that there is an opposite mark from Him, which He puts on those who are distressed and troubled at the evil in these days. What a happy grief to bear, Bride! What a protection and covering of His Love! Your distress at evil is proof your heart grieves what He grieves, and so is proof you love and honour Him. You will receive supernatural protection because of it. And yet:
“For Christ’s sake we are fools; but you are wise in union with Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! We are despised, but you are honoured!” (1 Corinthians 4:10). For all the times you have suffered as the Bride of Christ, while the falling-away church remained popular, forgive and do not fret dear brothers and sisters in Yeshua. When the LORD’s judgment comes over this world in waves like pregnancy contractions, you, dear precious wounded, weary Bride, will be so, so happy that you have suffered for Him. The idolatrous priests in the worldly church will try to remain popular but will therefore remain surprised and weak at the LORD's next move. It will not look as they expect. It will be tough. It will bring enormous pressure on many, many, many people. We will hear news readers say to preachers: “Where is you God in all of this? How can a god let this happen?” Will they buckle, or will they speak the Truth about sin, repentance and true love?
I believe, very genuinely, that the next powerful move of God will be in the form of God’s justice against evil and judgment of sin. Specifically, I believe it will involve severe food shortages. The reason is not just because of what I read of destroyed crops but because of the details in this leading verse: "they wanted to keep themselves ritually clean in order to eat the Passover meal." They expelled the real Unleavened Sinless One so they could try to consume their own Passover meal. So I think this verse is a code for what they will lose, or how God's justice and judgment on their arrogance and idolatry will come. They will lose their meals. Spiritual humility is only gained through true repentance in relationship to Yeshua as God, Saviour AND King.
So I don’t think it’s going to look as ‘pleasant’ and ‘joyful’ as the unbiblical church wants to associate with a move of God. But to those who hate evil and know that the LORD often brings pressure on the complacent to reach for Him, it is a beautiful strange work He will do. And His Bride will also rejoice that evil is being humbled. But she may need to occasionally bury her face in His chest and stay very focussed on the full body of His Word to bear it. We must remember that we do not see all evil, thank the LORD. But He does! We underestimate it, even as we grieve the evil and arrogant pride of mankind that we can see. But He can see it all and it must be the most hideous foul mocking vile thing to witness.
And whereas the Bride will instantly recognise this next move of God, is preparing and prepared, and will grow supernaturally and gloriously in Him through it, I think the compromsing church are going to miss it. Why? Because on the whole the idolatrous churches have not been distressed and troubled over evil. They have not been distressed and troubled about all that comes against the Word of God in this very lost society; at how sin dishonours God's Love. They have compromised their message for the sake of themselves. Which means many within the churches will not have the loving mark of God put on them to keep them protected through heart breaking troubles. They think the LORD will only work through ‘love’, not ‘judgment.’ Because they do not know the full Word of God, they do not comprehend that love is actually part of judgment and judgment is part of love. They only think ‘virtue’ looks one way. Just like Caiaphas and the Jewish authorities who thought – arrogantly – that an ‘unleavened’ person could only look like themselves, not like Yeshua Himself! Many churches will be just like Caiaphas, who took the very move of God right OUT of his house, just before a history-making move of Salvational Love! And in the above passage in Ezekiel, where did God say to start His judgment? “Start here at My Temple.”
“For it is time for judgment to begin with God's household; and if it begins with us,
what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God?”
(1 Peter 4:17)
Did you see that? The gospel of God is not just to be believed but to be obeyed! Let's keep repenting for where we have not obeyed His unchangable Word. This is an urgent message!!
Footnote: After I wrote this down I sat and cried, because it is so, so, so heartbreakingly sad to me that people will not repent and that their pride and love of sin stops them accepting the love of God. Why would they prefer self-destructive behaviour over healing? Why would they mock and humilate God's outstretched Hand of True not False Grace? I do not understand why they won’t change their ways. It literally makes me feel so sad. Even we as His Bride are going to see things that we will only have the strength to endure if we cling to Him and His Word. Bride, if you have deposited years of deep, often hidden, real love for Him into your hearts at cost to yourselves you are about to reap the protection, strength, nourishment and shalom of what you have allowed Him to sow into you, as it will come back out of you under pressure. Rejoice at what you have sown, for what is in each heart will show itself in the days to come. When people ask you from where you get your hope, peace, strength and blessings, tell them: Yeshua! Lead them to Him, not to ourselves and all will be well with their souls, whatever their earthly circumstances.
** I believe very specifically the next wave of judgment will spread out from America with severe food shortages. For a word given about America on 18/05/20 - seven days before the murder of George Floyd - please click here. That word refers to much more than civil unrest.