"THE DECREE"

“THE DECREE”

(Zephaniah 2)

Pastor Carolyn Sissom

September 3, 2011

Zeph. 2:2: “Before the decree bring forth, before the day pass as the chaff, before the fierce anger of the Lord comes upon you, before the day of the Lord’s anger come upon you.”

In May 2011, the President of the United States made a decree that Israel should return to the 1967 borders before the Six Day War.  On September 21, 2011, the United Nations are scheduled to vote on this decree which will result in splitting Jerusalem.

In Biblical theology, man’s sin is always seen as having cosmic consequence.

According to Fenis J. Dake, Chapter 2 of Zephaniah is an unfulfilled prophecy.  Other commentators have their theories.  We must keep a perspective that a dual and sometimes triple interpretation of scripture is usually valid.  As to what it meant then, what the Rhema for today is and what it will mean as predictive.  

Dake carefully lists 26 prophetic predictions which are unfulfilled.  For those us who are watchman of the present world events, it would seem to me that we are watching this prophecy fulfilled before our eyes.

Zeph. 2:1: “Gather yourselves together, yea, gather together, O nations not desired; before the decree bring forth…”

Shameful nations or “not desired nations” is usually a Gentile designation.  There are three designations of people in the earth as described in 1 Cor. 10:32:  The Jews, the Gentiles and the Church of God.  “Don’t give offense to Jews, or Gentiles or the church of God.”   In the Old Testament there were only two groups, the Jews and the Gentiles.  I would suggest the Rhema Word for today could very well refer to the gathering of the United Nations and their decrees designed to "throw Israel under the bus".  

Matthew Henry suggests “not desirable” to be people “not having anything which might recommend them to God”.  He further suggests that the approaching judgments were not to frighten people out of their wits, but to frighten them out of their sins.

It is a summons to a national assembly, examine your consciences; look into your hearts, search and try your ways; enquire into yourselves; that you may find out the sin by which God has been provoked….”(M.H.)  Rick Perry as Governor of Texas recently used his authority to call a prayer gathering to seek the Lord for these purposes.

Zeph. 2:3: “Seek you the Lord, all you meek of the earth which have wrought His judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness; it may be you shall be hid in the day of the Lord’s anger.”

The Hebrew word, ‘nawin’ is sometimes translated ‘meek’, denotes strength of faith-commitment to Yahweh that spurns self-assertion; God will vindicate their cause. 

If the land is to be saved, it must be by the intercession of the pious few, the meek of the earth, or of the land.  They must seek the Lord, seek His favor and grace.

Then perhaps these will be hid in the Day of the Lord.  “Escaping God’s notice”, “especially of escaping His judgment”; “to hide as treasure in order to protect”.  There is no question of self-concealment.   “They shall be hid (as Luther says) aut in caelo, aut sub caelo---either in heaven or under heaven, either in the possession of heaven or under the protection of heaven.”

At Wednesday prayer, the Lord gave us this scripture.  I told the prayer group, the people of this church have been taught righteousness and to be humble, so you are without excuse.  Now all we have to do is pray that we will be hid on that Day.

What is to happen on that Day?

Zeph 2:4:  “For Gaza shall be forsaken, and Ashkelon a desolation; they shall drive our Ashdod at the noon day, and Ekron shall be rooted up.  Woe to the inhabitants of the sea coast, the nation of the Cherethites! The word of the Lord is against you O Canaan, the land of the Philistines.  I will even destroy you that there shall be no inhabitant.”

The nations listed in this chapter are the nations of the Middle East and Africa who are enemies of Israel.  Any taunt against Israel is to affront the glory of the Lord. 

(2:8): I have heard the reproach of Moab and the reviling of the children of Ammon, whereby they have reproached My people, and magnified themselves against their border.”

Throughout the Bible, the Lord has revealed Himself as a land-owner and has set the border and boundaries of not only the sea, and continents, but nations.    The people of Moab and Jordan are both charged with reviling the people of God and triumphing in their calamities.  They have spoken big---they have spoken great things against their border and against those of them that bordered upon their country; they spoke big against the people of the Lord of Hosts---but the God heard them. 

(Vs.9-11) “Therefore as I live, says the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, Surely Moab shall be as Sodom, and the children of Ammon as the Gomorrah, even the breeding of nettles, and salt pits, and a perpetual desolation; the residue of My people shall spoil them, and the remnant of My people shall possess them.  This shall they have for their pride, because they have reproached and magnified themselves against the people of the Lord of Hosts.  The Lord will be terrible to them for He will famish all the gods of the earth; and men shall worship Him, every one from his place even all the isles of the heathen.”

By the gospel of Jesus Christ, all men shall be brought to worship Him who lives forever, everyone from his place; they shall not need to go up to Jerusalem to worship the God of Israel, but wherever they are, they may have access to Him.  Once we receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we become the Temple of the Holy Ghost and we are one with Him.

Verses 12-15 describe the judgment against Ethiopia, and Assyria.  Nineveh was so strong that she feared no evil.  (15) “This is the rejoicing city that dwelled carelessly, that said in her heart, I am and there is none beside me; how is she become desolation, a place for beasts to be down in!  everyone that passes by her shall hiss, and wager his hand.”

The effects of divine wrath are profound emotional crisis, loss of material possessions, cosmic upheaval, and the terror of invasion.

I believe the people of the United States of America have experienced all of the above in the past two decades.  The year 1990 was the beginning of great darkness, but also a Greater measure of the Glory of the Lord upon the earth.  The Lord stood by my bed in a vision in 1990 and spoke these words to me:

   Isa. 60:2 “Arise and shine for your light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon you.  For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people; but the Lord shall arise upon you and His glory shall be seen upon you.”

This is an excerpt from an interview of Chuck Pierce on the Sid Roth television show concerning the decree made by President Barak Obama.

… In effect, when President Barak Obama made the proclamation…
CHUCK: …in May
SID: …In May, which you knew three years from then.
CHUCK: It was very specific. It would be May 2011.
SID: And the proclamation was Israel should go back its pre-'67 borders. When President Barak Obama made that proclamation, what happened in the invisible world to America?
CHUCK: It pulled us back into the progress we had made spiritually. See, when you make a declaration like that...
SID: Could it affect racism even?
CHUCK: It will cause racism to rise up - back to 1967.
SID: Whoa!
CHUCK: See, it's going to cause things. But see, God saw it in time, so it will be in this age. It won't look like it was pre-1967. It will cause our nation to begin to have to process this age with that demonic structure; that we've already warred through, in measure. See, covenant, all nations reconcile around Israel. So if you're attempting to bring; and being the proponent or voice, to bring Israel back into a place where it is not progressing, but back where it loses a lot of what it's already worked for; you're going to do the same thing in your own freedom.
SID: Do you see a correlation of the following events? Right after President Barak Obama made that statement, in Joplin, Missouri, we were hit with the deadliest tornado; the deadliest in 70 years. Do you see a correlation?
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CHUCK: Well see, actually you had Alabama. Again, we're back to Alabama. Then you had Missouri. Both had deadly, deadly tornados. Alabama, I just came from there last weekend, here. Alabama went into, it lost almost 400 people, and then Joplin lost a whole city. I mean, almost a whole city wiped aside. Do I see a correlation? Yes, I see it releases a spiritual force that brings; because I believe God controls the wind; and I believe biblically from a prophetic standpoint; we see that winds can be adverse and controlled by the enemy, or winds can be sent by the Lord. I believe the enemy structure came into this land. And now what God is going to ask us to do now; we're coming into a place where we're going to have to war for our covenant alignment; and the roots of the covenant of this land, coming back into alignment with the God of Israel.
SID: You have so many revelations. Do you see a correlation, right after President Barak Obama released those words into the atmosphere; that Israel should go back to the pre-'67 borders? Do you see a correlation with what happened to the president of the IMF, International Monetary Fund?
CHUCK: Absolutely. Absolutely.
SID: And by the way, this was the man that was caught attacking a maid in a hotel room, and lost everything as a result of it.
CHUCK: See, I see all of a sudden. And it just wasn't Barak Obama. You can go back to President Bush, when he made certain statements that created a movement in the atmosphere, during the time of Katrina; the hurricane that hit America, and came up through New Orleans. You're going to start seeing a correlation. Why? Because there's certain scripture that talks about how we are in the process, when we won't listen to the voice of God, He has ways of speaking. He has ways of getting our attention.
SID: Now here's some good news. There are ways that you can be like the children of Israel, when they were slaves; and the curses came on the Egyptians, and they bypassed the Jewish people. And there's ways of…you can get out of the mess that's coming. In fact, Chuck Pierce saw what will happen over the next five years, in the United States of America….

SID: I've always been intrigued with, in the Gospel of Matthew, the 25th chapter, there's a separation between goats and sheep. There are goat nations and sheep nations. A goat nation has a mind of its own. A sheep nation follows the shepherd. And in Matthew 25:40, we know the one sin that causes a nation to be a goat nation or a sheep nation. The one sin is, "As you have done onto the least of these, my brethren," and in the Greek, the word "brethren" means "those from the womb". "As you have done onto the least of these, my physical brethren from the womb, it will be done unto you." Now I have a question for you, Chuck. You see a division of the states in the United States. And will this be the issue that will release the judgment of God on some states, and have other states walk in blessings? Explain this.
CHUCK: See, Sid, I think God is a God of restoration. He wants to restore us back to His original covenant plan. The earth is the Lord's in the fullness thereof. He wants the blessings of Heaven to align with Earth. He wants us to produce the garden that He intended in the earth realm. But in the midst of it, I think we'll rebel against that. And with that, in America, the real issue is going to be each state's relationship with Israel; not just a nation relating to Israel, but each state. I think you will start seeing how states are blessed based upon their relationship with Israel. Right now, Texas, for instance, has an economy that's growing. Texas has made a proclamation that it is aligned with Israel. You'll see its economy shift differently than other economies.
SID: Now I'm even seeing countries based on their position with Israel. For instance, Canada has done some pretty good things in reference to Israel recently.
CHUCK: God sent me to Canada with a tallit. I had a double tallit from Israel.
SID: A prayer shawl.
CHUCK: A prayer shawl. And He said a new prayer mantle needed to come across Canada. This was five years ago. He said, ‘you start in Vancouver.’ I gave it to David Damien. He took it all the way across Canada. The government changed. In this May issue, Canada stood and said, "We will stay focused and aligned with the Nation of Israel." The unequivocally said, "We are aligned with the God of Israel and this nation will be aligned."
SID: And, you know, curses can change. For instance, take Germany. Germany was under a horrible curse. Look what happened to them.
CHUCK: The worst curse that the world has ever known probably.
SID: Six million Jews. But now they're being blessed. Why?
CHUCK: Well they’ve made proclamation. First of all, they went back and they restored wealth back to Israel that had been taken from people. Wealth that they had documented was sent back. Then they have made the statement, "We will align with Israel as opposed to other nations that are anti-Israel."
SID: What did God show you about China?
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CHUCK: God showed me that China is going to be our most influential nation. Now China, yes, is a communist nation, and we all know that. But what China will do is it will have the greatest movement toward Israel. Economically, it will align with Israel. It will align with Israel for a season; now for a season, and get military technology from Israel. It will have an incredible alignment. That is going to cost China. And when God showed me this in '86, I said, by 2016, China becomes the most incredible economic power in the world. IMF said it would be 2032. They have come back, three months ago, and said it will be 2016.
SID: They should have checked with you.
CHUCK: Well they should have checked with God, I tell you.
SID: Okay. Now you talk a great deal about, we, the believers in this country, as we see things getting so decadent; that our spirit is going to be vexed. Explain that.
CHUCK: See, the environment around you, the atmosphere around you, like Lot, righteous Lot's spirit was vexed. The atmosphere around you can vex your spirit man. That causes it to be annoyed and controlled by the environment around you; conformed by the environment around you. Romans 12:1-2 says that. So what I see happening is you have a choice. And I see Christians coming into an understanding of the concept of where we began: one new man. God's plan of fullness: Jew and gentile; and a triumphant remnant rising up with their spirit man free. "The spirit of man will withstand its infirmity." That's what the Word of God says. And all those things that are attempting to weaken us, we rise up, and we become a remnant with a voice that is powerful; doing supernatural exploits, as Daniel 12 says.
SID: I tell you what; I'm just getting so excited as I hear him share what's about ready to happen. It's going to be the worst time in the history of Planet Earth, and the best time in the history of believers. But Chuck, there's something separating people from the blessing that you and your family received; that I've received, that my family has received; and that is there is a curse of anti-Semitism. Lead us briefly to repent for any anti-Semitism we have as individuals.
CHUCK: Now all of you out there that's listening, you have to understand; He is the Father of our spirits. No matter what your bloodline is, no matter what your bloodline has done, you can bring your blood under the Father of your spirit and your blood cam be cleansed by His spirit. I decree right now in the name of Jesus, Yeshua; the one who came to shed his blood; that your blood will be set free of anti-Semitic rules. Where you have resisted the prophetic, you will start hearing God in a new way. Where you have come against and tried to dominate and manipulate others; you will begin to love others in a way you've never loved them. I decree that anti-Semitism will not rule you, and a hatred for the God of Israel, who had created a first-born nation and made covenant with them; so we would understand the Covenant of God; you will start now understanding the Covenant of God. I repent on behalf of American mindset, and I say now our minds will begin to change; and know God's covenant plan and His blessing, and take a stand on that behalf…” (End of Quote)

Preached by:  Pastor Carolyn Sissom

Scripture from K.J.V.; Quotes from Matthew Henry’s Commentary; Dake’s Annotated Reference Bible; F. F. Bruce Bible Commentary-Victor A. S. Reid; Chuck Pierce at Sid Roth's Television program