[from journal entry, 7/20/2003]
“I will do a new thing,” says the Spirit (Isa. 43:19). At the beginning of every new major movement of God in this earth, God has appeared to a person or persons, chosen only by God Himself. All through scripture, God has literally come down in His human form and has stood and spoken to man.
He has appeared unto one of His elect and has manifested Himself to him; He has revealed himself intimately to chosen vessels. We call them prophets and apostles. God has used these elect, these chosen ones, to speak through down through history. He would fill them with the sight and sound of Him and detail it in a vision to them.
At these appearances, the patriarchs and prophets at first were dumbfounded. In many instances. they thought that they had died–so great was the glory of God manifested to them. They would be struck dumb, blind, and, in general, they would experience a life-changing event. They had seen and heard Him! These revelations propelled them on to fulfill their ministry for that time. First, God got their attention by the revelation of his glory to them. Then He would relate to them what He wanted done or said.
Yahweh Always Does It This Way
Should we believe that He would do His end time movement any other way? He said that He was the same “yesterday, today and forever” and “I change not…” (Heb. 13:8; Mal. 3:6). He will move the same way as He did through thousands of years; He will appear to those He chooses to do His work in the earth.
From the Garden of Eden to this very day, Yahweh has made a special visitation to the remnant of His people. He gives them power and encouragement through His presence in their lives. All the major players in the Bible have received a supernatural visit from Him. I believe that this is the reason that they and their stories grace the pages of the Bible. His appearances bolstered their faith to accomplish the tasks that He would have them do.
Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob/Israel, Joseph, Moses, Gideon, and David, and all the prophets—all were visited by our Creator. They heard His voice and saw His form. The apostles walked with Him daily for three and one-half years, and He appeared to Paul several times (I Cor. 15:3-8; Gal. 1:11-12).
Moses
Take Moses, for example. He waited in the desert tending flocks, waiting and waiting for forty years after His expulsion from Egypt [see the Book of Jasher]. And then it happened—the burning bush and the voice of God calling him to the work ahead. Later, Yahweh spoke with Moses “face to face” along with seventy elders of Israel who “saw the God of Israel. Under His feet was something like a pavement made of sapphire, clear as the sky itself” (Ex. 24:10 NIV; Ex. 33:11). Who was this form? Who was this God that came down and visited the men of the nation of Israel/Twelve Tribes? The Father is an invisible Spirit, so the form that appeared to them must be who? [Tell me your thoughts in the comment section.]
All these men and women in the past laid up spiritual treasures of wisdom and knowledge for us. Even greater exploits are awaiting our slumbering faith as we begin to open our eyes and see that “that which has been is now, and that which is to be has already been, and God requires that which is past” (Ecc. 3:15).
Yahweh is doing a “new thing” in the earth. Appearing to one person is not new. The new thing is this: He will appear to thousands of His followers, thus, empowering them to preach the everlasting gospel of the Kingdom of God before the Great Tribulation begins in earnest. He always sent a warning to the people through His prophets/mouthpieces. He will come to His first-fruit company of thousands of sons and daughters.
Christ said that we would do “greater works” than what He and the apostles did. I believe that Yah will make appearances to His elect, not just one or two at a time, but thousands during our era of the “latter rain.” How else are we to get on the same page? How else will we be loosed from the sullen chains of doubt? Yahweh is coming to His elect.
Yet the doubters say that no one can be like the early apostles, much less like Christ. Doubt is sown from the pulpits. This unbelief stymies spiritual growth. Don’t listen to them. They will harm you in your walk with God.
The Spirit is still crying, “Come out from among them” and purge out the old leaven teachings soaked with falsehoods about Yahshua, the Anointed One—if we desire to be visited by our Maker and be a part of the greatest move in the history of this blood-soaked earth. Yes, Yahweh is doing a “new thing.” That we all may be one…
Kenneth Wayne Hancock