SET IN BATTLE ARRAY
by J. Leland Earls
[prophecy]
“Gather my saints together, says the Lord, those who have made a covenant with me by sacrifice. (Psalm 50:5). I say to you, the gathering is drawing near; and I will take out from the midst of my people a company of consecrated ones who have made a covenant with me to forsake all and follow after me. Yes, they have followed me as stated in Revelation 14:4, for wheresoever I have led them, they have gone. And they have heeded my Word, and have followed my way, and have not contaminated themselves, says the Lord. Therefore, says God, I will redeem them from the earth into a ministry on the other side of the veil, even as I shall redeem a company on the earthly side of the veil who shall be loosed into a ministry and into a battle for me in this last day, says the Lord. For they shall not be limited by that which they have known before; neither shall they be limited by the weaknesses and inabilities they have known before. For they shall be strong ones in the Lord to go forth with mighty power in this day. Yes, they shall be redeemed, liberated, into an end-time ministry of power, says the Lord. And those I am gathering to myself as one man (Body) shall go forth to do exploits in my name.
“Those that I shall gather to myself to be taken out of the earth, even as a firstfruits to their God (Rev. 14:4), shall also be liberated into a ministry and into a battle. For do you think I am to take them out just so they can have a time of ease and waiting. I say not! For they are redeemed from among men so that they may be fully liberated from all the limitations of the flesh in a battle which is taking place on the other side. For this is the standard that I shall raise up to my people when the enemy shall come in like a flood (Isa. 59:19). It shall be a standard of glorified ones who shall be used in the battle on the other side of Jordan, even in the realms of the Spirit, to bind and cast down to the earth the Satanic forces which dwell in the upper realms. I say, they shall be cast down (Rev. 12:10) and they shall be bound. And who shall do the binding? I say to you, my glorified ones shall bind the power of the enemy. Even so shall they be used mightily in the battle of the great day of Almighty God as the enemy seeks to send out a flood to consume my people on the earth (Rev. 12:15). But is it not written that the earth helped the woman in the wilderness? (Rev. 12:16). And who shall be in control of the elements of the earth at that time, that all of the forces of nature will be used to help those that are under the attack of the enemy? Yes, I say to you, those glorified saints, even that firstfruits company, shall be in charge. They shall have entered into the first stages of that which shall eventually be an absolute mastery over all the elements of the earth.
“So my people, listen! How shall I raise up a standard and protect you against the enemies’ flood? I will take out of your midst 144,000 of the choicest of my people, even those who have been faithful and have been perfected by me. And they shall be loosed away into that power and ministry awaiting them. For they have been faithful and they have walked with their God; and so like Enoch, they shall be taken, says the Lord. They shall be caught up to my throne (Rev. 12:5), and there they shall be invested with power to do only that which a tested and tried people can do, even those who have overcome in the flesh all the wiles of the enemy. Having overcome the enemy in the flesh, they shall be used to overcome him in his own realm and drive him out even to its borders, where he shall be hemmed in. Then as a roaring lion shall he go forth to consume and destroy on the earth. But those I have raised up to me, and have been glorified by me, shall then be used to stem the tide of anguish and destruction which he would bring against my people yet on the earth. For a mighty chain shall be used to bind the power of the enemy, and that chain which I will gradually ensnare him in and bind him with, is none other than the might and power which my glorified ones shall have. And then shall the battle rage in its fury as the maddened demons of the nether world see their domain being stripped from them, and the chains of bondage being wrapped about them. And in great fury shall they make their stand in that day, says the Lord.
“So you see, says the Lord, in that day of the battle of the Lord God Almighty, I will have two companies: even the one on one side and the other on the other side of Jordan. One on the west, corresponding to my glorified ones, even the firstfruits, who will be battling the enemy into submission in his own realm; and one on the east side of Jordan, which corresponds to my anointed company of overcomers who will still be on the earth. They too shall be given great power over the enemy to drive him out of the realms where he has operated heretofore, and they shall be helped greatly by that Standard which I have raised up, even my glorified saints, to myself.
“And shall I not be in that day as a wise military strategist who puts the enemy in a vise, even into a giant pincers movement, that I may crush him in between the two—one operating from the earthly and the other operating from the heavenly? Even so shall the enemy be overcome and defeated in the battle of that day, says the Lord.
“And did I not portray this in my temple of old, even Solomon’s temple, says the Lord? For out in front of the temple I placed two mighty pillars—even pillars of brass, refined in the fires. So do these pillars represent those who shall be pillars in my end-time temple (Rev. 3:12), one on the one side (of Jordan) and one on the other (symbolically speaking). For the first was Jachin (1 Kings 7:21), and I will establish in power those I raise up to myself, and they shall be used to establish the Kingdom in power. And then I shall raise up Boaz (1 Kings 7:21), even those who have been left on the earth, and they also shall minister in power in that realm which shall be committed to them. Even so shall my purpose be accomplished, that THAT which I have ordained by pattern be fulfilled in this day, says the Lord. Now you understand why I must remove some from your midst, for the battle array must be set in order and prepared; and then shall I consummate all things even as I have determined from the beginning, says the Lord.
“Are you ready, says God? Are you ready to be used in the battle of the great day of God Almighty? I say, you shall be used if you will let me equip you now with my armor, and let me train you in my ways of warfare and if, like a good soldier, you will obey me implicitly; for this is what I demand of those who will be used of me to rout the enemy in these last days, says the Lord.” (end of prophecy).
[commentary]
The foregoing prophecy began with the statement from Psalm 50:5, that the Lord is gathering together His saints, even those who have made with Him a covenant by sacrifice. This gathering is two-fold. First, it is a gathering together into one the end-time Body of Christ, which is going to go forth on this earth to do exploits in His Name. Secondly, it Is the gathering, or taking out, of the firstfruits company just before the time of Great Tribulation. To each it is a “redemption” of a kind. To the “firstfrults,” it is a “loosing” from the earthly into the heavenly realm for a ministry and a battle “on the other side.” To that Body being joined together on the earth, it is a “loosing” from certain limitations, weaknesses and inabilities, into a ministry of power. In either case it can be said that we are to “look up, and lift up our heads; for our redemption draws near.” (Luke 21:28).
Jesus speaks in John 6:40, 44, 54, of those who are to be “raised up” in the “last day.” We usually take this to mean the resurrection of the dead. Certainly the thought of the resurrection is included, but we need not limit the meaning to this. There is a “raising up” from the earthly to the heavenly realm without the experience of death, even a translation or change from the physical to the “glorified” body. Such will be the experience of the firstfruits before the tribulation, because the Lord has a work for them to do on the “other side.” Translating them into the “heavenly” is a part of His strategy and battle plan. They are that STANDARD spoken of in Isa. 59:19 which shall be “raised up” at the crucial moment when the enemy begins to come in like a flood. And from their vantage in the heaven lies (Satan’s own realm), and with the newfound powers of their “glorified bodies,” they shall be able to “strike a death blow” to the forces of Satan. At the same time the Lord will empower His end-time Body still on the earth to go forth and “press the battle” from this side of the veil. And great victories will be won for the Lord because we will have the help and protection of the “glorified ones” on the other side.
These two end-time groups are symbolized by the two great pillars which stood in front of Solomon’s temple. We read about them in the 7th chapter of I Kings. They were cast out of brass. This reminds us of John’s vision as recorded in Revelation, Chap. 1, where he sees “one like to the Son of man “whose feet were like to fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace.” Also, the feet of the “mighty messenger” of Rev. 10:1, were seen by John as “pillars of fire.” And those who “overcome” are to be made “a pillar in the temple of my God.” (Rev. 3:12). “Brass” is a type of the physical or “fleshly” nature of man. Thus we see the picture of the purging, refining, and transmuting of the base characteristics of our “carnal nature” so that they might be cast into the image of Jesus Christ.
Reading the 7th chapter of I Kings, we notice that these two pillars were ornamented in a certain way. This ornamentation pictures that adornment and beautification with which the end-time Body of Christ shall be graced—the beauty of holiness, godliness, humility, glory, victory, boldness, overcoming power, etc. For it will be a “glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.” (Ephes. 5:27). We also see that on each “pillar” were hung the semblance of “pomegranates”—200 on each pillar. Even so, does this picture the fruitfulness which shall be brought forth by those who are “pillars” in the end-time church. The 200 on each pillar shows that separation (2 = division, discernment and screening) has done its complete work, reaching into the placement of SPIRIT. Are you willing to let the Lord make you “a pillar” in His end-time temple?
