Isaiah 40:3 KJV

The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord , make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

We start a new series of messages which were inspired by a conversation I had with a dear brother on Facebook. The Lord spoke through me. I have been searching the Mind of the Lord concerning the season we are living in today. In the midst of world terrorism, turmoil, injustices,  world opinion, health issues.  The Lord took me to a theme which for me is prophetically significant.

The scripture cited above is a turning point in the book of Isaiah. It marks the beginning of the Messianic prophecies.

The revolution started in the desert. Away from politics, from invasions; from the mechanics of the Temple and Synagogue of the day.

What can we learn?

1. Life comes from a dead womb;
Elizabeth was a old woman when the Spirit came on her. She conceived in the same way as Sarah. Both she and Zacharias became part of a creative miracle. So when all appears dead and passed usefulness becomes the focus of a new demarcation in God’s dealing with Israel.
2. The priestly order becomes superseded by the prophetic;
Zacharias was a priest before the altar of incense. This speaks of intercession.  It is in this place God speaks through the angel Gabriel. His response was of unbelief and prisoner of limitation. But God was to symbolise that as Elizabeth’s womb was the state of the spiritual life of God’s people. So when God is about to move He chooses a vessel strategically placed. A person who was to learn the priesthood but was in it, to be taken out, so that in being out can be sent in with a word which cuts to the core.

John marks the end of 400 years where God would send His Word yet in those 400 years the prophetic word fell silent. Many false prophets came and went, the Romans came in and invades and dominates the whole world. Herod the Great tears down Zerrubabel temple. He builds a house which the Bible is silent. Revolution, uprising,  false prophets arose in that time. But God sent no prophet. No clear prophetic word was heard.

But John was anointed with the same Spirit as Elijah.  It was to TURN a nation to God.

When you see the scripture in Isaiah you see where the change starts: in the desert.

When you analyse it no one lives in the desert. You are isolated, and deprived. You live in extremes; the heat by day and cold by night.

Only a Called person chooses Isolation and Deprivation.

But the isolation and deprivation moulds the powerful voice which would break the 400 year silence.

The ministry of John must have only lasted months up to a year. When Jesus appeared this must have marked the end and John knew this. Brief moment to prepare a people who were prepared through hardship and confusion to hear the Call of God.

It must have been powerful because the scripture tells us that the people went out into the desert to John.

I believe we are living in a silent time and a clear prophetic voice is not being heard right now. God has taken a generation into the desert to prepare them for a powerful and brief crucial transition. As John prepared the people for the coming of Jesus, this new generation is being prepared to usher back the Glorified Messiah.

The cost and sacrifices mark this kind of prophetic ministry.

But when you consider that John turned his back on his natural profession, following his father into the priesthood; he exchanged the Temple for the desert.

What do we need to exchange?

The prophetic silence is strategic to prepare a vessel. It is also strategic to take a nation through hardship so that from the most unexpected place the nation would recognise the voice of change.

Shalom! !!