“Say to them, The days are at hand, and the fulfillment of every vision. For there shall never again be any vain vision nor slippery divination within the house of Israel.” Ez 12:23-24.
Oh, how we long for the days when every vision of the prophets of old will be fulfilled. Oh, how we long for the days when every promise of God is to be fulfilled.
Oh, how eager we are to run after every prophet, who promises new things. Oh, how often we are fooled by our inner cravings for something which brings satisfaction and a quick fix. Oh, how often we walk away disappointed from gatherings where “God’s man of the hour” has tried to rend Heaven and to have God to come down. Oh, how foolish our efforts. . .
Ground Zero – any place, any situation, where the testimony of the Lord has been reduced to rubble. Grounds Zero – our plans and efforts brought to a devastating halt for the sake of learning the necessity of being brought out to prayer ground, where man’s strength and resources are left behind. Ground Zero – where the testimony of Jesus Christ begins being formed in individuals as well as in the corporate body, the Church. The ground work of the Christian testimony begins amidst the rubble at Ground Zero, amidst the pain and the loss at Ground Zero. Ground work recovers testimony, ground work recovers hearing.
“Your prophets are like the foxes in the deserts. You have not gone up into the breaks, nor built the wall for the house of Israel, that it might stand in the battle in the day of the Lord.” Ez 13:3-4.
A radical component causing our Ground Zero, our testimony being reduced to rubble, is the many men and women who dare to compromise the Word of the Lord. Liberty is presented to every businessman and housewife to dream up their future and prophecy their own prosperity. They are all being brought in under the heavy judgment of the Lord, which aims at securing proper appropriation of the heavenly reality of the Word of God. They are all being brought in under the judgment of the falsehood among the vanity prophets. His Word, his promises have come under heavy reproach because carnality dares to mishandle them, trying to apply them to fleshly desires and to ambitions which stands without any relating to heavenly purpose.
“The days are at hand.” Days are at hand, when vanity will be confronted and the Word as well as the testimony of the Lord shall be restored. The ground work to be done at Ground Zero is one which contradicts the spirit if the age – the unwillingness for bridle, the unwillingness for discipline, the unwillingness for adherence. Our need, as Church, is to learn how to hear and how to interpret heavenly protocol. Ezekiel was introduced to the basics of the protocol of Heaven by these words: “Son of man, hear what I am saying to you. Do not be rebellious like that rebellious house.” Ez 2:8. The Hebrew word for hearing – shamah – implies diligence and discernment, comprehending and obedience, a hearing for the sake of becoming testimony.
This prophet was directed by the Lord to use a sentence, occurring some seventy times throughout the text – “Know that I am the Lord”. A small word, by no means insignificant, by no measure irrelevant – “yada”. “They shall know.” They shall come to a thorough and substantial realization. And how? By God being at work among his people, according to his Word, according to his promises of old, according to the purposes of Heaven. Even his servants shall “know” – not because of any new revelations, not because of any great ministry in exclusive operation, certainly not because of any generalized “prophetic” prognosis for the next ten years.
God is concerned with the accomplishing of something which is worthy of himself. He the Rock of salvation – reliability is one of his attributes. He does not change, the foundational values of Heaven are always the same. His Word cannot be used for carnal purposes. His redemptive operation is one of restoring trust – therefore he brings an end to the misuse of the Scripture, on a so called prophetic ground, in the modern Church. His redemptive operation is one of restoring adherence to his word, an adherence which includes obedience. His redemptive purpose in these final days is to bring the Church to maturity – therefore a through cleansing is under way to bring forth the gold, that which is prepared for Heaven.
Ground work at Ground zero builds for Heaven – never for carnal purposes. Ground work at Ground Zero calls for a hearing of the Word of God. Ground work at Ground Zero calls for corporate obedience. Ground work at Ground Zero recovers the ability to discern and to apply redemptive purposes. Ground work at Ground Zero returns to listening and waiting for the Lord.
Lars Widerberg
An excerpt from the notes to a Church in the City, the Big Apple – to Bronx, one of the five Burroughs of New York City.
