The Last Days and Prayer

Today I have a revelation of the Spirit that came to me a couple of nights ago, some of which I was already familiar with, but much of which I was not. Anyone interested in what is going to be happening in the body of Christ in the end time should read this.

2 Kings 2 King James Version (KJV)

1 And it came to pass, when the Lord would take up Elijah into heaven by a whirlwind, that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal.

2 And Elijah said unto Elisha, Tarry here, I pray thee; for the Lord hath sent me to Bethel. And Elisha said unto him, As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. So they went down to Bethel.

3 And the sons of the prophets that were at Bethel came forth to Elisha, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the Lord will take away thy master from thy head to day? And he said, Yea, I know it; hold ye your peace.

4 And Elijah said unto him, Elisha, tarry here, I pray thee; for the Lord hath sent me to Jericho. And he said, As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. So they came to Jericho.

5 And the sons of the prophets that were at Jericho came to Elisha, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the Lord will take away thy master from thy head to day? And he answered, Yea, I know it; hold ye your peace.

6 And Elijah said unto him, Tarry, I pray thee, here; for the Lord hath sent me to Jordan. And he said, As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. And they two went on.

7 And fifty men of the sons of the prophets went, and stood to view afar off: and they two stood by Jordan.

8 And Elijah took his mantle, and wrapped it together, and smote the waters, and they were divided hither and thither, so that they two went over on dry ground.

9 And it came to pass, when they were gone over, that Elijah said unto Elisha, Ask what I shall do for thee, before I be taken away from thee. And Elisha said, I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me.

10 And he said, Thou hast asked a hard thing: nevertheless, if thou see me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so unto thee; but if not, it shall not be so.

11 And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.

12 And Elisha saw it, and he cried, My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof. And he saw him no more: and he took hold of his own clothes, and rent them in two pieces.

13 He took up also the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and went back, and stood by the bank of Jordan;

14 And he took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and smote the waters, and said, Where is the Lord God of Elijah? and when he also had smitten the waters, they parted hither and thither: and Elisha went over.

15 And when the sons of the prophets which were to view at Jericho saw him, they said, The spirit of Elijah doth rest on Elisha. And they came to meet him, and bowed themselves to the ground before him.

16 And they said unto him, Behold now, there be with thy servants fifty strong men; let them go, we pray thee, and seek thy master: lest peradventure the Spirit of the Lord hath taken him up, and cast him upon some mountain, or into some valley. And he said, Ye shall not send.

17 And when they urged him till he was ashamed, he said, Send. They sent therefore fifty men; and they sought three days, but found him not.

18 And when they came again to him, (for he tarried at Jericho,) he said unto them, Did I not say unto you, Go not?

19 And the men of the city said unto Elisha, Behold, I pray thee, the situation of this city is pleasant, as my lord seeth: but the water is naught, and the ground barren.

20 And he said, Bring me a new cruse, and put salt therein. And they brought it to him.

21 And he went forth unto the spring of the waters, and cast the salt in there, and said, Thus saith the Lord, I have healed these waters; there shall not be from thence any more death or barren land.

22 So the waters were healed unto this day, according to the saying of Elisha which he spake.

23 And he went up from thence unto Bethel: and as he was going up by the way, there came forth little children out of the city, and mocked him, and said unto him, Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head.

24 And he turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the name of the Lord. And there came forth two she bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of them.

25 And he went from thence to mount Carmel, and from thence he returned to Samaria.

Elijah and Elisha in this passage are symbolic of Jesus and the body of Christ. Elisha knew that Elijah was going away permanently, and he was not about to leave him until that happened. Elijah gave Elisha every reason to leave him, but he refused because he knew there was great blessing to be gained by staying with Elijah until his departure. Likewise Jesus gave those who followed him to the end as many reasons to leave him as he gave to those who did leave him. At one point he asked them if they wanted to leave, and that was when many who followed him had just turned and left. After they told him they would not leave him, he rewarded that by saying that one of them was a devil (Jn. 6:66-70). In another place he addressed Peter as the devil, rebuking him for saying that he wouldn't let Jesus be killed (Mat. 16:21-23). But those who were determined to get the blessing that comes from following Jesus faithfully were simply not going to leave him, like Elisha. When Elijah and Elisha came to the Jordan river, Elijah smote it with his mantle and parted the waters, after which he asked Elisha what it was that he wanted. Elisha asked for a double portion of the spirit that was upon Elijah, and Elijah said he had asked for something that would be difficult to bear, but that he would have it only if he saw Elijah go up to heaven. In like manner Jesus told his followers, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father" (Jn. 14:12). But like Elijah and Elisha, it was only those who followed Jesus all the way, and were with him and saw him when he ascended to heaven; whom he also commanded to go back to Jerusalem to wait for the baptism of the holy Ghost, that obtained that promise (Acts 1:4-12; Acts 2:1-4). Everyone since then are a direct result of their obedience, and everyone who has believed since then have been made partakers of what those first believers received at Pentecost, who saw Jesus ascend to heaven.

A chariot of fire came and parted Elijah and Elisha, and Elisha saw Elijah go up to heaven on a whirlwind, dropping his mantle down to Elisha, even as Jesus sent back the holy Ghost from heaven after he went back there. The first thing Elisha did was to part the Jordan river with the mantle of Elijah, and go back to Jericho, where they had last come from. So he began to go back by the same route by which he went with Elijah until he departed. Also the mantle of Elijah represents the holy Ghost, which in fact is the power of God that Jesus sent back from heaven, by which the works of Jesus are wrought by believers. By the same token, the body of Christ began to do everything that Jesus had done, after he went away and sent back his Spirit. In other words they retraced the steps by which they had arrived at Pentecost, fulfilling the things that Jesus did when he was with them, leading them to that point. We are told, "So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God. And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following" (Mk. 16:19,20). When he came back to Jericho, Elisha encountered something that the Spirit was showing to me represents the things to come in God's last move in the earth, which will prepare his elect for the Lord's coming, and bring in a massive harvest across the globe. In fact in the remainder of the chapter are things that the Lord was revealing to me that are yet to come. At Jericho the spring of waters had been corrupted, and had as a result produced death and famine in the land. Elisha healed the waters by casting salt into the spring; and said, "Thus saith the Lord, I have healed these waters; there shall not be from thence any more death or barren land." The spring of waters represents the 'living waters' that every child of God has been filled with (Jn. 4:14; Jn. 7:38,39). Sin and erroneous doctrine have muddled those waters in so many of God's children, that it has produced widespread works of death and spiritual famine in the body of Christ.

In regard to the salt that healed the waters, Jesus told us, "For every one shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt. Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his saltness, wherewith will ye season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another" (Mk. 9:49,50). Jesus also told us the following: "Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men" (Mat. 5:13). To this the apostle Paul added the following: "Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man" (Col. 4:6). So what it comes down to is that the salt, the fire, and the waters are all the holy Ghost; and the polluting of the spirits of God's people by sin has resulted in a drastic lack of the holy Ghost shining forth in the lives of the body of Christ. That is what has to be healed among God's people today in order for things to be restored to Pentecost, where people were first purified by the holy Ghost baptism that Jesus died and rose to administer (Mk. 1:8; Jn. 1:33; Acts 1:4,5). Jericho is where God's people first entered the promise land after the death of Moses when Joshua led them in (Josh. ch. 2). Likewise the baptism of the holy Ghost is our entrance into the body of Christ, and subsequently into the kingdom of God (Rom. 14:17; I Cor. 12:13). So what God is going to do is bring his people back to that place of entrance into his kingdom, and purify everyone by those living waters that they've received. And he will do it by casting salt into the muddled spring in everyone who is willing to be cleansed, and the salt is an outpouring of the Spirit. Thereby he will purify the entrance into the kingdom of God in all of his people who are willing, as well as those who come into the kingdom anew. Then there will be no more works of death prevailing in the kingdom, and no more spiritual famine among us.

After healing the waters of Jericho Elisha continued to retrace the steps of Elijah, and went to Bethel. Bethel means 'the house of God,' and the new testament house of God is not a building anywhere, but rather it is everyone who has been baptized with the holy Ghost by Jesus, as the apostle Paul noted: "Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit" (Eph. 2:19-22). And Peter told us the same thing: "Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ" (I Pet. 2:5). While Elisha was at at Bethel there were children sho came out and mocked him, and he cursed them with two bears coming out of the woods and killing forty two of the children. This represents God's judgment of the wicked in the house of God in the end time, who refuse to repent and follow the lead of his Spirit in those who will lead the way. The unrepentant in the body of Christ will mock and defy those who have been appointed to lead the way back to the purifying of the entrance of the kingdom. They will not escape the judgment of God any more than those children escaped God's judgment against their mocking and defiance of his prophet. Peter also gave us this: "For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator" (I Pet. 4:17-19).

The last thing we see in this revealing chapter of 2 KIngs 2 is that Elisha went from Bethel to Mt. Carmel. Mt. Carmel is where Elijah had the showdown with the prophets of Baal, and manifested the falsehood of Baal, as well as the truth and reality of the God of Israel (I Kin. 18). What this is saying to us is that in this end time a large part of the purifying of the entrance to the kingdom of God, both for those who are already in the kingdom, as well as those who come into the kingdom anew; will be the dismantling of all of the falsehoods that have reigned over God's people, in some cases for long centuries. The erroneous traditions and doctrines about the new birth will be dispelled, as well as the other falsehoods that have long confused and divided God's people. The basis of this will be the restoring of the truth that the baptism of the holy Ghost, with its accompanying sign of speaking in tongues, is the only new birth or remission of sins that has ever existed (Acts 10:44-46; Acts 15:8,9; Cor. 6:11; Tit. 3:5). So what God is going to do for us in this end time is retrace our steps all the way back to Pentecost, where the body of Christ was born, and where "they were all with one accord in one place" (Acts 2:1). The result will be the same result that they had from Pentecost, as it is written: "And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together... And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul... And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all" (Acts 4:31-33). Whoa!! I just wonder if anyone reading this article is feeling anything like I'm feeling as I've typed this revelation of the Spirit on my computer. In any event, these things will take place before the second coming of Jesus Christ back to this world. All we can do is be ready and willing to go with that mighty flow, because it is coming. The purifying of the entrance to the kingdom, which began at Pentecost, will surely be accomplished, and Jesus will surely be glorified in the earth. Amen.