This message is key to the season we are in right now. The Scripture in the title is the sum total of prophetic preparation from various prophets who were present in the process of the Captivity.

Jeremiah: warned of the Captivity

Ezekiel: was with the Captives in Babylon with a open heaven

Daniel: Was in the Palace with the Kings moulding their direction in regard to Israel.

Nehemiah: Was in the Palace of Artaxerxes to organise the rebuild of Jerusalem.

Ezra: Called to restore the Priesthood.

Haggai: Called to stir up the builders in their priorities

Zechariah: Called to see a heavenly perspective of the Captivity and the Restoration in preparation for the Messiah.

As you can see the Prophets of God were with the whole process of Captivity. They brought revelation, warning, direction and encouragement. We can somehow take the lessons of the Captivity to 2020 as it seems that the lockdowns and the pandemic is a captivity of our own. Churches are closed and ministries affected.

In studying the Edict of Cyrus you see from Ezra 5 it comes in the first year of his reign. It is however the product of a process.

The Edict is the start of a process of intercession

The background to the Edict is found in Daniel 9, as he understands the prophetic promise of Jeremiah 29 being exactly 70 years. Somehow history seems a bit confusing that Daniel begins to pray in the first year of Darius, yet the Edit comes out in the first year of Cyrus, which according to history only came to the throne 530BC, which takes Darius before that. This means therefore the Captivity could not start in 586 BC. There seems to be an overlap here in the chronological events of the Persian dynasty. It may mean that Cyrus was Darius too. I can only come to this conclusion, or the whole of historical data falls apart with suppositions.

On realising that 70 years had come up, and no sign of changes in the hearts of the king of the empire, Daniel set to pray. We see there is war in the heavens. I have been meditating today that we are in a war right now. This war has a foundation, called technology. It is in this realm right now that our spiritual war rages.

The spiritual war denotes a decline and an arising in Daniel 9, and if we ascertain the spiritual war now, we can see that the Kingdom of Truth is being replaced with the Kingdom of Lies and Deceit. The tenet of the incoming configuration is: You will own nothing and be happy. God is our possession so that is a lie. A configuration designed deceitfully and through robbery in a deceitful utopia. And the vision Daniel finally was given was this war, the war first was to stop the revelation going forth. There is a war right now on the prophets, those called to revealed, as they are earnestly praying through that which God has promised. There seems to be no sign of its manifestation. It shall appear, but for it to appear it must come with context, the panorama is far bigger than we realise.

We seem to fight our own wars, without being conscious that our own wars are in the context of a wider war. The wider war is to extinguish the capacity of rational and autonomous thought, for a technological uniformity. Daniel hit this in his own prayer of 21 days. He wept, fasted, as he saw the answer not forthcoming. How many of us now are praying, weeping, interceding, because our answer seems to elude us. However this hard intercession will pave the way to turn things towards God’s own objective. It is foundational. Prophets are coming under fire right now in the USA, but it is time for prophets to call a time of intense intercession because this will be foundational for the changes God wants to bring forth. The changes, the edicts, the declarations will only come through an intense engagement in the spiritual realm. The intercession God is calling for is to change the hearts of governments and rulers throughout the world. Their measures have hurt the progress of God’s Church. The Edict that God wants to see brought forth is for a foundational work.

God is bringing about a shaking in the heavenlies

The vision revealed to Daniel that armies of heaven were warring for keeping back forces behind kingdoms. There is no doubt that there are princes in the spiritual darkness that are steering the main players in our world in 2020.

The armies of God are going to push these back in the face of the Glory coming before them. Isaiah 60:1 is clear, that there is an arising, because the Glory has come forth. There will be Kingdoms today which are declining to make way for new ones, and those new ones will serve the purpose of God. God desires to reveal this to His prophets. It is not about a President only, its about what spiritual armies are steering in a nation.

The adjustment in the heavenlies will bring about a return and a rebuild

God is about to shake every government throughout the earth because God is about to bring His People out. The Edict specifically commands the rebuild of the Temple. God has to bring His People out to fulfil His end time purpose. It shall not be fulfilled by us being closed up in our homes. Now God is about to build a new foundation. It is a restoration at every level. As I read the accounts in Nehemiah, Ezra, Ezekiel, Zechariah and Haggai, I see threads that correspond with what needs to happen now.

A return is a revival of faith

We read in Ezra about that first passover. We read the covenant that is made before God, on that foundation, which has only the Altar on it. It is symbolic of the Church which needs only the Cross of Christ upon its new foundation. I see that God is speaking to a revival of His Word, and a new commitment to it.

The rebuild of foundations will be the strength of God’s end time purpose.

Zechariah 4 reveals the unveiling of the foundation, where Jesus, the Headstone is brought out. Isaiah 28 tells us that God will lay a foundation stone in Zion. We might say it has already happened, yet it has to come to fulfilment. The oil shall flow from the Covenant as we understand it. God will light a new Lampstand in the midst of the Church.

The return from Captivity was preparation for Christ’s first coming, this return of ours is preparation for Christ’s next Coming

This is the whole purpose of the work. The key is in the depth of our intercession to flow into the vision of heaven that He gives us. What I am assured that God is about to renew His Priesthood in His people, and there shall again flow spiritual sacrifices. The “Temple” shall function again. This in preparation for Jesus’ coming, to bring to fulness His Kingdom. It is up to the praying people to grasp this in the place of intercession!

Shalom!