For today's study we will look at Ezekiel 8:3 for a very important understanding about the prophetic:

 

And He stretched out the form of a hand and caught me by a lock of my head;

and the Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven

and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem,
to the entrance of the north gate of the inner court,

where the seat of the idol of jealousy,

which provokes to jealousy, was located.

 

 

Here we see that Ezekiel was not caught up into heaven, but between earth and heaven. We call this the "second heaven," or the heavenly realm that Satan now rules as the prince of the powers of the air. If Ezekiel had been caught up into heaven itself he would have seen the New Jerusalem that is pure and spotless, the bride of the Lamb. Instead he saw the tragic state of the temple at that time. My point is that just because we see a vision, regardless of how supernatural it is, even if it is one that the Spirit lifted us up to see, it does not necessarily reveal God's will. It can reveal thepresent state of things, or even the future. It can also reveal the schemes of the devil rather than the will of God.

 

There are principles and there are laws. Principles often have exceptions to them. What I am about to share with you is a principle. When we are given a supernatural revelation of something that is bad, it is often given to us so we can prevent it from happening, not so we will prophesy it. We do not want to prophesy the devil's intentions.

 

For example, if I was shown that someone's marriage was about to break up, I would not prophesy this, but would ask the Lord for words of encouragement about how glorious their marriage can be if they will turn to the Lord and ask for His help. Likewise, if I saw a church that was about to suffer an attack, I probably would ask for words of wisdom to give them that would strengthen them against the attack. I do this because many times, warnings create fear rather than faith. As I said, this is a principle, not a law. There are certainly times to be straightforward with what you see.

 

The Scriptures are full of examples of how the future can be changed by repentance or intercession. For example, Jonah had a sure revelation that Nineveh was about to be destroyed, and it was true, and from the Lord. However, what Jonah did not count on was Nineveh's repentance. Because of it the Lord changed His mind and did not destroy Nineveh.

 

Almost every prophecy of judgment should be accompanied by "unless you repent." This is why, when the Lord revealed His intention to destroy Sodom that Abraham felt he could entreat the Lord to spare it if He found just ten righteous men there. The Lord would have then spared it, but He could not find ten.

 

The reverse is likewise true since almost every promise of God is accompanied by conditions that must be met. Was Moses a false prophet for telling the Israelites in Egypt that the Lord was going to take them to a land flowing with milk and honey, when all but two from that first generation perished in the wilderness? Of course not. It was God's intention to carry all of them to the Promised Land, but they disqualified themselves from fulfilling their calling by following their fears and becoming complainers, rather than having faith in God.

 

We must recognize the prophecies that come from "between earth and heaven" are changeable for either good or bad. This is grace from the Lord. However, there is a realm from which His unchangeable will is revealed. This is rarely experienced by those living on the earth because He is more concerned that we grow in faith, wisdom, and the knowledge of His ways which require faith.

 

Why does the Lord make these things so ambiguous? So we will grow in humility. He won't allow us to figure some things out because then we would not need Him. Remember, Satan grew in pride and fell. The Lord has so ordained that even the greatest prophets only "see in part" (see I Corinthians 13:9). Therefore, for us to have the whole picture, we must put our little part together with what others are seeing. This will require humility that will also lead to unity, and is why we are also promised concerning the prophets in Isaiah 52:8: "Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice; with the voice together shall they sing: for they shall see eye to eye, when the LORD shall bring again Zion" (KJV).

 

 

In due time unity will come. Then we will see the whole picture clearly. We will never see His whole plan until we realize how much we need each other.