The prophet Habakkuk is what we call a “minor prophet” but in reality is everything but a minor prophet, but a major voice in his time. This series which will be expanded over time, and adapted for a future publication, will investigate our times, and we will journey through the Word to understand what really our vision should be.

This affirmation of Habakkuk is a pattern of our view of God’s dealings with the generations, when we must define prophetically how God is dealing with world events. We have marked shifts in the last 100 years which have changed the way that the world relates to God and to society. The two world wars and the upheavals that have taken place, must be placed in the crucible of prophetic interpretation.

I began to verify from last October that a great refining in the prophetic dimension and how people have spoken from that place, but wrongly, and have misrepresented the Lord, and have shut down ministries, or have gone off into errors, is fruit of a great shift in the affairs of men.

The role of the prophetic must define the meaning of the now and then contextualise the now and how we get to the future

What people really need is not about the prophecies concerning the future. They need HOPE for the NOW. This is the role of the prophetic, the role of the teacher who understands prophetic scripture and the prophetic realm must map out through the Word what adjustments and alignments that must be made now. The Church has arrived at a point where the experiential will not suffice, but a grounding in the Word of God so that in the times ahead, there is a storm coming, and he who builds his house with foundations on the rock who is Christ, the Word made flesh, will withstand the storms of life. Many are dying at the moment spiritually because before the pandemic they were not prepared, they lost the personal contact of fellowship and pillars of their daily routine, the spiritual experiences brought on by celebrations and conferences, now all are locked into their residences.

The value of years of spiritual disciplines, such as deep study and prayer in context of that study and the insights that come from this activity will ground and will cause a foundation to be built. The prophetic ministry cannot be exercised, nor prophetic teaching, reading into circumstances without a personal interaction on many levels with Scripture. What we ascertain and comprehend in the NOW will give us keys for the days to come. We must know that the future is not to be taken for granted, rather it needs the interaction and collaboration of the Church and of Israel to accomplish those end time works of God.

Our eschatology is not at arms length for the future but is determined in the NOW…

We have interpreted the study of end times for the future, we have put our own end times interpretation and tradition in the mix. The first Scripture I verified in my search for end times preparation comes in Acts 3:19-21, He will send TO us Jesus Christ, who is retained in heaven UNTIL the restitution of all things is complete, so that refreshing shall come from the Presence of the Lord. We are seeing here a correction in our vision as a starting point. The “coming of Jesus” is not a far away reality…Jesus is coming TO the Church, and His people BEFORE He comes for her. This has been the situation for the last 2000 years. Jesus is in heaven to supervise every increment of restitution which is restoration. The effects of this polluted world are being restored until God brings to birth a new heaven and new earth from a deluge of fire. So what is He coming to the Church to do? He is coming to bring a greater revelation of Himself, because what the Church sees she becomes. This is verified by the Scripture of Isaiah 6, Joel 2, Acts 2, where what happened to those who saw, experienced an aspect of God began to flow in this reality throughout their lives. Isaiah was given a deposit of “Messianic Preparation” and he saw in vision in his spirit in detail the Mission of Jesus, the Messiah. The Apostles saw in Acts 2 a heavenly Jesus and His purposes in the earth. This level of understanding needs to be comprehended and as it is, it transitions into our lives in the form of authority. This transition is what the world fears, because as the Church realises who Jesus is, and who the Church is to Christ, so the Church becomes more and more like Him.

The prophets of this age must not prophesy good things only but also prophesy the negative, the difficult, the heart rending, the corrective Word from God

When the pandemic started the so called prophets began to speak and say it would all disappear, and God would pour out revival etc., etc., yet none of this happened, because the prophets had not spoken about the difficult processes that were needed. Coming back to Habakkuk we see him address the state of the nation, the state of God’s people and the wrath that was falling. And in this series we need to address and define what season we are in, verify the forms of wrath that are falling, and steer away from the costless prosperity happy go lucky type spirituality that has been propagated recently. The standard for old testament prophets was if their positive word came to pass meant they spoke for God, yet in the time of Jeremiah, there was no true positive word, rather that they would have Babylon carry them away for 70 years. The mark of the true prophet in the Old Testament is the true demand for holiness and repentance. I do not think the standard has changed, rather the mode has, where holiness and repentance can only be accessed through faith in Jesus’ Grace.

I sense God is cleaning house on ministry, and He is bringing in new generations where the words holiness and repentance will come back into people’s vocabulary, and this is not attained by the laying on of hands, as been understood until now, rather holiness has to be seen, understood and there needs to be a visitation from God, according to what I understand from Isaiah 6. For this holiness and repentance to be sought by God’s people what will it take? For the Captivity and the Restoration that came afterward the context was a work God was to transition His people into which was “I will write my Law upon their hearts…I shall substitute the heart of stone with a heart of flesh“. This took 70 years, 2 generations. What will it take now? This message is the true prophetic message that needs proclaiming!!!

Concluding words

This is a introductory message, to establish the true prophetic standard of what “In wrath remember mercy” needs to be understood. We cannot approach this verse with traditional or classical prophetic interpretation. We must understand the pain, the frustration of Habakkuk so that we can situate this verse in chapter 3. We also cannot look at this verse through filters of our denominational bias. For the adjustment that we must comprehend will do as Isaiah 6 relates, shaking the doorposts of the heavenly dwelling. We must approach these words of wrath and mercy in the right way to appreciate the insight God will bring us in the coming days!

Shalom!