It is interesting that it is written in two places about the restoration of the tabernacle – in Amos and Acts, that is, in Old and New testaments. The Apostle speaks of it differently than Amos does:
“On that day I will raise up the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down,
And repair its damages; I will raise up its ruins, and rebuild it as in the days of old;
That they may possess the remnant of Edom, and all the Gentiles who are called by My name,” says the Lord who does this thing. “Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord, “When the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him who sows seed; the mountains shall drip with sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow with it. I will bring back the captives of My people Israel; they shall build the waste cities and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and drink wine from them; they shall also make gardens and eat fruit from them. I will plant them in their land, and no longer shall they be pulled up from the land I have given them,” says the Lord your God. (Amos 9:11-15)
‘After this I will return and will rebuild the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down; I will rebuild its ruins, and I will set it up; so that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord, even all the Gentiles who are called by My name, says the Lord who does all these things.’ “Known to God from eternity are all His works. (Acts 15:16-18)
Apostles used such a type of sermon as quoting from the Old Testament and interpreting it. We see how the took Joel at the Pentecost and interpreted it up to their day. Jesus started this, when His first sermon was from Isaiah 61, when He preached in His town of Nazareth in a synagogue: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me…” , then He said, “Now this Scripture has been fulfilled”. That is, He took the Scripture passage that was once spoken by the prophet, pulled it out into the present and said what would be in the future.
This is what a prophet does, do you see? He takes that prophet and becomes a prophet himself. That is, a prophet makes a reference to a prophet, takes his words and prophesies into the present and the future.
It’s interesting that the Apostle adds interpretation. Amos says, “I will raise up the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down, and I will close up its gaps (CJB); I will raise up its ruins, and rebuild it as in the days of old”. Apostle says, “I will return rebuild the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down; I will rebuild its ruins, and I will restore.” Different verbs are used. Who gave Apostle the right to correct the prophet? The Apostle takes it and interprets it into the present time and brings it into reality, into Kairos, the time moment, when it’s revealed and explodes and disperses in the given territory, at the given historical moment.
When the power of God pours out, it pours out at the moment of the open heavens. And this Kairos moment, this point in eternity, happens where there’s a messenger of the Lord of Hosts. It’s amazing that there were different verbs used. I realize that the Old and New testaments were written in different languages, and there may be shades of meaning, but nevertheless the meaning remains relevant.
And why, what’s the purpose of it all? Prophet Amos says “that they may possess the remnants of Edom”, but Apostle says “that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord”. Can you imagine? Today religious people would say that he distorts the Word. But he interprets it, and we find these things, when a prophet can allow himself to attach a prophecy. I think, he speaks this not from the mind, but from the Holy Spirit. At first it may seem a great difference, but this is not a difference, but interpretation: how can you possess the remnants of Edom – only through leading them that they may seek! You possess them, because they become your people.
Do you see the prophetic work with the Scripture? This is an incredible discovery. We know that theology was built on Aristotle and his system, because Greeks held philosophy, philosophical instruments on how to convey thoughts. And when there was a need to interpret a prophecy, they used Aristotelian style of logic consistent statement. But today we are transiting to the prophetic, and we need new tools, new terminologies, new approaches, prophetic and apostolic approaches.
Today they use hermeneutics, which teaches that while preaching one should have and introduction, then at least three points of interpretation and a closing part with a call. From the psychology point of view, this sounds not bad. But if to take Peter – he is an “E” student in that, so is James and John, because they don’t observe the hermeneutics technology.
But I think they were led by the Spirit. And today we need to learn from the Holy Spirit. I heard brothers say that one may preach under anointing of the Holy Spirit, but one may preach from the Holy Spirit, which is not your anointed thoughts, but FROM the Spirit. As there’s prayer to God and there’s prayer from God, when the Holy Spirit speaks through you or prays crying out, Abba Father!
These are very powerful things. And today I urge preaches, who preach the Word of God not preach your own thoughts, because often times it is “stuffy” in this kind of sermon. And you sit there having a big, wide open spirit, which is full, like a filled balloon that’s been pumped to its limit, and you come into this preacher’s world and you choke, because he communicates his own thoughts, often small and low, with a “subjective” sense of humor. And you choke, it’s impossible to breath there.
These are very powerful things, revealed word to new tools, apostolic prophetic advanced things.
Another Scripture relating another topic we speak, “Strange revivals”. We are accustomed to understanding revivals of classic type – crowds of people, lots of repentances, shaking bodies, people screaming they are going to hell… But even in Acts we read about more advanced revivals than those that we read of. I read much about them and was “infected” with revival. And I felt I was given a road where you have to get from point A to point B, which is revival. But I also could see that it was a winding road. They said that sinners were obliged to cry out and repent, ashamed of their sin; there must be prayer rise, the Word hunger etc. This is a winding road, it’s not the shortest to point B, but you have to take it, because there’s only one road. We’ve been on such roads where you have to go up by a winding way, though if you go up straight you can make it to the top about 20 times faster. And this winding road was made up by cowards, for the sake of the safety of those who can’t drive well. But for heroes there’s a different road, but it’s not there, and you simply have to “pump” revival the very way they recorded for you in the books. Do you understand?
Today the Lord will smash these things. He says He will go on tops of the mountains, not on planes and gorges. To go by gorges is the longest way, normally rivers flow there. And He says, no, “I will lay the road even in the wilderness” and “I will go on mountain tops”.
Let’s see about strange revivals with Paul:
“And many who had believed came confessing and telling their deeds. 19 Also, many of those who had practiced magic brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted up the value of them, and it totaled fifty thousand pieces of silver” (Acts 19:18-19)
This is interesting what was happening under the working of the Holy Spirit. Nobody taught them to compel people to bring books. People themselves realized this, gathered books and counted the cost. Today many books contain all sort of lies and tricks, but in those days those were real working witchcraft books containing some secret knowledge. It wasn’t any copy – thought multiplication industry like we have today. Those days had the original, and in order to have a copy of a book one had to hand write it. It was very expensive, and they marked the cost of the books – 50 thousand silver pieces.
“So the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed”– this includes economy as well. This is a strange revival, because it shifted the economy. They gathered those books and burnt them in the sight of all, thus they put Satan low. These are “strange” revivals, today we speak from the psychology point of view, it has dragged us into its territory, but then the power of the Holy Spirit smashed all those things. People were simply inspired to bring and burn them. It was an instant renouncement of those thing, a transition, reconsideration – they turned from idols to the living and true God! These are “strange” revivals, and we must be prepared for this kind of things.
I want us to liberated from the classic understanding of how revival must happen, because it’s rooted deep inside including myself until now.
Let’s look further:
“And about that time there arose a great commotion against the Way of the Lord” – an opposition against the sense of the Cross, because the Way of the Lord is the Way of the Cross! – For a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith, which made silver shrines for Artemis, brought no small gain to the craftsmen” (Act 19:24). – Well, today this may be a rich person who runs his silver industry with exquisite craft works providing income for many other – wow! And here come Paul and Barnabas, and they didn’t tell them “Smile, Christmas is at hand”… Their coming hit people’s pocket, and their covetousness burst out.
“He called them together with the workers of similar occupation, and said: “Men, you know that we have our prosperity by this trade. Moreover you see and hear that not only at Ephesus, but throughout almost all Asia, this Paul has persuaded and turned away many people, saying that they are not gods which are made with hands.So not only is this trade of ours in danger of falling into disrepute, but also the temple of the great goddess Artemis may be despised and her magnificence destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worship.” Now when they heard this, they were full of wrath and cried out, saying, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” So the whole city was filled with confusion, and rushed into the theater with one accord, having seized Gaius and Aristarchus, Macedonians, Paul’s travel companions.” (Acts 19:25-29)
“Strange” revival, isn’t it? It’s incredible how Apostles smashed it all! But theologians built it all and systematized – the wind came and they had to make a construction to show the way of the wind. But the wind was gone and will never take this route again, because wind never repeats its movement. This is very interesting. So there was this smashing of the occultists and shaking of unrighteous business. To smash wasn’t their purpose, they simply came and carries the Word in power.
I think we need to rise to the level of prophecy, we need to rise to the level of an apostolic message, apostolic boldness and directness. As you come to places, try to open your inner throat of the spirit and breathe fire, and to prove that Jesus is God. Open wide your spirit in your places, tear down all the constructions and start blazing with the fire straight from the womb. Take this dimension and start prophesying, like Jonah was speaking that after 40 days Nineveh shall be destroyed – such fierceness, he said exactly 40 days.
It is said in the Scripture, “Do not say, what is the cause that the former days were better than these?” It means that we shouldn’t turn to past, it’s like wind in the back. What we just read is the wind in our sails. The Lord will move in new ways, which are like these, but new ways, because the world has changed.
“Do not say, what is the cause that the former days were better than these? For you do not inquire wisely concerning this. Wisdom is good with an inheritance: and by it there is profit to them that see the sun” (Eccl.7: 10-11) Here it is clearly said that there must be an impartation. If there’s no impartation – there’s no heir who would receive the same DNA. Therefore, build up your inheritance.
There’s a classical understanding that the church is a prayer house. Well, this time is over, when we put buckets along the sea shore and pray for them to be full of fish, and see dreams and visions, and press against the sea with our spirit, so that it pushes the fish out into our buckets. What part of such prayers has an answer, for the church to be full on Sundays? Zero percent. How can this be, when you catch fish as you sail into the sea.
So we’ve got to wind up with this, especially after the pandemic, which transformed people – perhaps praise God for that – and it changed the church that turned unable to overcome this barrier. We pray diligently for people to come into church and do not see that happening.
What is happening? Some kind of spiritual depression is growing, when you pray only with hope, but not with faith. You pray with hope that somehow God will do it. But we must pray with faith, not with hope. Of course it doesn’t work, because we have no contact, we don’t understand the thoughts of God. The church won’t get filled if we haven’t met with people, if we haven’t persuaded them, if we haven’t experienced the power of God on themselves, if you haven’t released a breeze of Christ. God hasn’t touched him through you. And it’s not about him coming to church – you’ve got to connect him with God, first of all!
Therefore, open up your womb and release Apostolic dimension! Today is the time of directness, people want directness. Today is the time when the Gospel has to reveal the whole of man. We touched his spirit and salvation, but we didn’t touch his social part, his life, his deep private time, he only went to church, but never changed. But the gospel is universal, it penetrates and soaks into all of man, in order to transform the whole integral man, make him a wholesome personality including health, habits, life style, and all this does the gospel, the wind that brings changes.
We’ve been talking with the young people about the image of the new man of God, of new wine skins, often times we have no idea of his characteristics. We spoke that he must be a thinker, he must have literate speech. Even those who are medium motivated they have it by default, they look well, they take care of themselves, they are stylish contemporary people. They are well informed of what is happening in the world, they make their way and aren’t the last people in the society. But many believers lag behind, they don’t understand the time they live in, and often times an average Christian is a neglected person, who has job, family… – how can he be a man of new wine skins? How can this be a place where people are attracted? It can’t. Therefore, understand that this is a time of strong individuals, and the church should consist of interesting personalities, with whom you love to be and have things to talk about. But take a believer who is not attractive, he smells bad, you feel ashamed to be around with him. So we have to change the root of it all, look in the mirror, in the spiritual mirror and see what impression you make on people. This is very serious.
So we have to reconsider the image of a man of God of new wine skins in this modern time. We are speaking of a change of clothes. And we need to look in and work with the future and invest in it. We are speaking about leadership in your sphere, about being in the head, not in the tail, because leaders live in the head. So that we may create such worlds where our inheritance shall live as leaders. These are princes of God.
And we speak that we should create an idea not for a Bible study, but for the ones seeking higher goals. Then you will be honest, because you are a man who seeks higher goals, and they are your co-workers, co-seeker on the same journey of higher goals. And you are doing this with the Lord our God!