Babylon is Falling Down, Part 4
May 24, 2013
Have you been noticing how the pace of events has quickened in the orchestration of the Holy Spirit? Have you seen in your spirit how, as the darkness of the age increases, the Holy Spirit reveals the heart of the Lord Jesus Christ all the more? Many have and are seeing and experiencing some of the most profound revelations in the Holy of Holies — in the place of intimate worship. But this is only a foretaste of all that the Lord Jesus has purposed. Consider Isaiah 60:1-2.
"Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee."
No Scripture could more accurately describe where we are today. The ever-growing scandals that plague the White House and the current administration only reflect the degree of darkness that has been creeping over this nation. We love to pounce on the Obama administration for its leadership failures and the flagrant abuses of our nation's Constitution, but let's face it , folks! This administration is in power only because many people who name the name of Jesus Christ and call themselves Christians have been lulled to sleep, having been deceived by the darkness that calls itself light or "enlightenment." A majority of the evangelical body of believers (and I use that word rather cautiously) supported the administration and voted to keep this administration in power. Their spiritual discernment was virtually nonexistent ... or compromised!
Why? Because of Babylon. Because of the darkness and the treachery of the spirit of Babylon. The deception and manipulation which are part and parcel of Babylon create a false sense of security and blind people to the truth of what is actually taking place. But this is no time for commiserating over past failures and stupid decisions. The darkness and gross darkness Isaiah describes are ripe for the invasion of the Glory!
We've never been at a point like this in history -- for reasons I'm getting into as we progress with this series. We've never been at such a place for the Glory of the Lord to literally explode before this darkening world, and this increasing age of darkness. The Lord Jesus Christ is preparing to put on a display of Himself in His people such as the world has never seen!
Buckle your seatbelt! We've got a little more groundwork to lay as this picture of Babylon unfolds before you. We wrapped up last week talking about the importance and the significance of Tyre and Sidon, and Ezekiel's prophecies concerning them.
Tyre and Sidon were two of the principal cities of the Amorites. The Amorites had as their primary characteristic -- and it was central to their onoma -- the need to be in control, the need to be in power, at any cost. They used deceit, treachery, manipulation, enticements, witchcraft -- whatever they could find -- to gain control and mastery over literally everyone with whom they came into contact. They purposely identified themselves with Godly leaders in order to gain influence.
Although this has been discussed in much greater detail in the series that I did on the Seven Nations & Seven Letters, for the sake of a brief review, consider Adonizedek, the Amorite king whom Joshua overthrew at Makkedah. "Adonizedek" was a title -- an appellation -- he took for himself when he subdued the Jebusites who had occupied the citadel Shem (the son of Noah) had built in Canaan. Shem had called the citadel, "Salem."
Because of Shem's acts, his powerful presence in Canaan as a symbol of righteousness, and the military might and strategy he employed, the Canaanites gave him the name and/or title, "Malkiy - Tsedeq" (a royal identity we have come to know as, "Melchizedek, the King of Salem"), which meant, "The King of Righteousness." For hundreds of years ("without beginning, or end of days," was the way he was known and described) Shem was revered in the land as a righteous leader -- a true representative of God Almighty.
After Shem's death (which occurred in the year Joseph was 17 years of age, and sold into slavery in Egypt), the Jebusites gained control of the citadel he had built and occupied for something close to 500 years. The Jebusites renamed the citadel, "Jebus." Some years later, Adonizedek, an Amorite king, subdued the Jebusites at Jebus (later to be known in David's time as Jerusalem). He established an altar for Baal (or Marduk) in the citadel, and became both King and high priest of Baal-worship. He took for himself a title which gave him name association with Shem (and the esteem to go with it), "Adoniy - Tsedeq," the Lord of Righteousness.
In so doing, he usurped both the name and the image of the righteousness of God. His reign was short-lived, however. He was one of the first targets the Lord directed Joshua to strike as he began his military campaign to take the land of Canaan. Adonizedek was overthrown, along with four other Amorite kings, and killed at Makkedah.
Og, who was another of those five Amorite kings killed at Makkedah, was the king of Bashan, a territory to the east of the Sea of Galilee. One of the primary Amorite cities of this territory was called Geshur.
Several centuries later, the King of Geshur, Talmai, sought to make an alliance with David, and protect himself from invasion by David and the armies of Israel. The King of Geshur gave his daughter, Maacah (whose name was also spelled, “Maachah”), as a present to David to become one of David's wives. It is a classic pattern of Satan’s tactic of contamination-by-compromise. It turned out to be one of David's most serious blunders.
David and Maacah had a son. His name was Absalom. Infected by the spirit of the Amorites which came through his mother -- in particular manifesting itself as treachery, manipulation and control -- Absalom rose up against his father, David, and attempted to take the throne away from him. This effort failed, and Absalom lost his life. Not before Absalom had a daughter, however, whom he named after his mother, Maachah.
Guess what? The spirit of the Amorites tried again to infiltrate the throne of David. This time, the plan succeeded. Patiently, the spirit waited until after the death of Solomon, who was Absalom's brother. Solomon, as we know, succeeded David to the throne of Israel, and ruled for 40 years as his father, David, had done.
When Solomon died his son, Rehoboam, took the throne. Wouldn't you know it, Rehoboam falls in love with none other than his cousin, Maachah, the daughter of Absalom, the granddaughter of Maacah, the wife of David.
Got the picture?
We are told (in II Chronicles 11:21) that "Rehoboam loved Maachah, the daughter of Absalom, above all his wives and concubines..." We have been told in one of the preceding verses (verse 17) that "for three years [Rehoboam] walked in the way of David and Solomon." Rehoboam had scarcely married Maachah when we are told (chapter 12, verse 1), "When Rehoboam had established the kingdom, and had strengthened himself, he forsook the law of the Lord, and all Israel with him."
Not only that, he abolished the ministry of praise and worship established by his grandfather, David, and dismissed the descendants of Asaph, Heman and Jeduthun from their place of ministry to the Lord.
See what the spirit of the Amorites does? It hates the true worship of God! It despises and fears an intimate love-relationship between God and His people.
Israel was divided immediately amidst civil war. Jeroboam came up out of Egypt and took ten tribes with him. Rehoboam was left with Judah and Benjamin, ruling for another 14 years.
Ahhh, but wait! The spirit of the Amorites is not through doing its dirty work on the throne of David. Watch what happens next.
Rehoboam and Maachah had a son, whose name was Abijah. Even though Abijah was not Rehoboam's firstborn son, he was made King in Rehoboam's stead, following his death. Abijah only ruled for three years. He survived long enough to make war against Jeroboam, who had divided the nation of Israel and taken ten tribes away from his father's kingdom. His mother, Maachah, continued on as the power behind the throne, being referred to as the "Queen Mother."
Abijah's son -- and Maachah's grandson -- Asa, took the throne of Judah. For another ten plus years, Maacah continued as the driving force behind the throne of Judah. True to her Amorite heritage, she raised up idols and images of Baal, and planted a grove of trees to conceal the abominable sexual practices which were perpetuated as a part of the worship of Baal. Not until the prophet, Oded, delivered the word of the Lord to Asa in his eleventh year as King of Judah, did Asa remove Maachah from being "Queen Mother." (see II Chronicles 15:16) Yet, the contamination of the spirit of the Amorites had done its work.
Twenty-five years later, following incredible victories which the Lord had given to Asa, the King of Israel (now, Baasha) prepared for war against Judah. Instead of relying on the Lord, who had given him such military victories as to gain fame for Asa throughout that entire region of the world, Asa turned instead to Ben-Hadad, the King of Syria, for military assistance. He raided the house of the Lord, taking silver, gold, and many precious treasures, and gave them to Ben-Hadad.
With his allegiance to Judah purchased with the treasures out of the house of the Lord, Ben-Hadad threw the weight of his military force behind Asa, and they defeated Baasha, the King of Israel. Asa was scarcely back in his palace when the prophet, Hanani, came to see him with the word of the Lord.
Hanani rebuked Asa for his foolishness in buying Ben-Hadad's assistance, and reminded him, "For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward Him." Hanani then noted, "therefore, from henceforth thou shalt have wars." (KJV)
The spirit of the Amorites absolutely detests rebuke from the Lord, and this was no exception. Asa became angry with the prophet, Hanani, threw him in prison, and then took out his anger and frustration on some of the people of Judah in revenge for the word of the Lord.
Asa was given three years to repent. He did not. The result? "In the 39th year of his reign (Asa) was diseased in his feet, until his disease was exceeding great..." (KJV) The astonishing aspect of this incident, however, is a very clear visual of how the spirit of the Amorites infects the mind and reasoning of God's people, and gets them to accept substitutes for the very provision that God has made for their every need. II Chronicles 16:12 continues, "....yet in his disease, he sought not to the Lord, but to the physicians."
Allow me a momentary digression. Let me hasten to say, at this point, that I am not here to throw rocks at physicians. There are times when the Lord permits and even orders His processes through the hands of a physician. Furthermore, there are some very Godly physicians who absolutely rely on the Lord for instruction and wisdom from Him in their ministry to the sick and ailing. Even though reliance on doctors has become a societal norm, I do not believe, however, by any stretch of the imagination, that we should accept the medical society as God’s norm. It is not!
The real problem here is the patient who accepts a substitute in the guise of "good," or scientific human knowledge for the personal provision of the Lord. It is a deceitful tactic of the spirit of the Amorites to get God's people to accept "good" substitutes rather than get their health, their healing, or their provision in any realm directly from the Lord. After all, if we live under and in the New Covenant provided by the blood of Jesus Christ, our health, wholeness, strength, vitality, and long life have already been paid for on our behalf. It all belongs to us by right of being IN Christ Jesus!
We have been through a prolonged era in which the Lord has tolerated this because of the centuries-long contamination in God's people with the spirit of the Amorites. To those, however, whom He calls into the place of intimacy, those whom He calls to Himself as His Bride, He will neither accept, nor tolerate their acceptance of substitutes for His direct and very specific provision for them. We are being brought to the place where we live supernaturally normal lives in Christ Jesus -- NOW, in this present day!
With the death of Asa, and the ascension of his son, Jehoshaphat, to the throne of Judah, the influence of the spirit of the Amorites in Judah was broken -- if only for one generation.
We should pause to take a moment to consider the real significance of Ezekiel's prophecy to the Prince and King of Tyre and Sidon, and understand its significance to all of the foregoing.
As we have previously discussed, these were two of the principal cities of the Amorites. The reason why Ezekiel draws attention to them is because in (approximately) 850 B.C., the king and high priest (of Baal) of Tyre and Sidon was an Amorite named Ethbaal, whose name literally meant, "Living with (and enjoying the favor of) Baal."
Ethbaal, like Talmai, the King of Geshur before him, wanted to strike up an alliance with the King of Israel. He thereupon gave his daughter to the King of Israel to become his wife. The name of the King of Israel was, Ahab. Ethbaal's daughter was none other than Jezebel, who became Queen, and Queen Mother in Israel for a span of time which bettered Ahab by nearly a decade.
I don't have time to get into all of Jezebel's activities in this series -- they would fill a book -- and most of you are familiar with her ongoing battle against the prophet of the Lord, Elijah. We will pick things up next week to discuss just one event of significance in Jezebel's life which encapsulates the spirit that ruled her life.
Rich Hoffman is our webmaster. He is also a brother in the Lord who has prophetic insight. I had intended to incorporate a prophetic Word that Holy Spirit gave him at the end of this Coffee Break, but because of its length, it is posted separately in its entirety immediately following this Coffee Break.
Blessings on you!
Regner
Regner A. Capener
CAPENER MINISTRIE
CAPENER MINISTRIE
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A Tale of Two Brides is now available on Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/Tale-Two-Brides-Relationship-ebook/dp/B00BSV6HZC/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1363139096&sr=8-8&keywords=A+Tale+of+Two+Brides#_
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