“Behold, the name of the Lord comes from a remote place; Burning is His anger and dense is His smoke; His lips are filled with indignation And His tongue is like a consuming fire; His breath is like an overflowing torrent, which reaches to the neck, to shake the nations back and forth in a sieve, and to put in the jaws of the peoples the bridle which leads to ruin. You will have songs as in the night when you keep the festival, and gladness of heart as when one marches to the sound of the flute, to go to the mountain of the Lord, to the Rock of Israel. And the Lord will cause His voice of authority to be heard, and the descending of His arm to be seen in fierce anger, and in the flame of a consuming fire In cloudburst, downpour and hailstones.” (Isaiah 30:27–30, NASB95)

In a vision this morning, I was walking a few paces behind Jesus following His footsteps on a sandy beach close to the water.  I asked Him, “Where are we?”  Looking back at me, He replied, “I have something to show you.”

Within a short distance, we came to the end of the land where nothing but water lay ahead of us.  As He looked ahead, He stated, “This is the crossing point.”  I wondered how we were to cross over, and as I pondered the dilemma, the Lord changed in appearance.  The fire of His great wrath came from within Him and instantly He was transformed into a mighty warrior full of fury and ferocious anger, ready for war.

Instantly it became clear that the crossing point indicated that the severity of His judgment would increase dramatically and substantially.  He is moving from one phase of judgment to another, as He outlines for all to read in Leviticus 26:14-46.  He was revealing to me that the end of one phase of judgment was coming to an end, and that the demonstration of His judgments would reveal who He is – a mighty warrior who is strong in battle, full of rage and fury, who is about to increase His judgments against the nations and all those who have sinned by not listening and have rebelled against His voice (Le 26:14-16, 18, 21, 23-24, 27-28).

By the Holy Spirit, King David penned the following in Psalm 24:7-10 (NASB95) –

⁷Lift up your heads, O gates, and be lifted up, O ancient doors, That the King of glory may come in!  ⁸Who is the King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, The Lord mighty in battle.  ⁹Lift up your heads, O gates, and lift them up, O ancient doors, That the King of glory may come in!  ¹⁰Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, He is the King of glory. Selah.

Within these four verses, David reveals that the Lord is the King of Glory, who is strong and mighty.  But to what end?  The answer is that at the crossing point of His choosing, He is the Lord who is mighty, not just for might’s sake, but for battle and for war.

This is exactly what the Lord demonstrated when He commanded the Hebrews to move forward as they stood at Land’s End facing the Red Sea.  With Pharaoh’s army close and bent on destruction, the Lord demonstrated His mighty power to part the waters as Moses obediently lifted His staff and stretched his hand forward over the sea (Ex 14:15-16).  The Lord who is mighty in battle, commanded the angel of God to move behind Israel, in a position between Israel and the Egyptian army (Ex 14:19-20).  He then brought the Egyptian army into confusion (v. 24) and caused their chariots to swerve making them drive with difficulty (v. 25).

True to His promise to Moses, He hardened the hearts of the Egyptians so that they followed Israel onto the dry seabed with the waters towering on either side.  Once the enemy army was in position, He commanded Moses to “stretch out your hand over the sea so that the waters may come back over the Egyptians, over their chariots and their horsemen” (vs. 26), completely destroying Pharaoh and his army.

This is the Lord who wields great power that the Church of today knows nothing about, let alone the nations of the earth.  But they will know Him; He is the King of kings and the Lord of Lords, the King of glory.  He is the Lord who is strong and mighty, mighty in battle at the crossing point of Land’s End.

What great and terrible power are we to witness the Lord do in the days ahead that will be far greater than the plague of Covid-19 that circumvented the earth overnight, resulting in the global economic shaking and shortages, quickly followed by the war in Ukraine that has again shaken the entire world?  All of this is taking place as the Church and her leaders attempt to rise above it, falsely claiming that the Lord is not moving in judgment; they are the blind leading the blind and all have fallen into the ditch of judgment, with greater judgment promised by the witnesses of both the Scriptures and the revelation of His Holy Spirit who speaks today.

There is only one way to avoid the terrors of judgment from the Lord that will surely come by His hand.  We must repent of our sin of not listening to His voice and thereby, not following His Holy Spirit.  The sin of presumption is the destructive habit that has brought our ruin.  We must cry out for eyes to see and ears to hear what the Holy Spirit is saying to the Church and the nations and obey.

Mark Biteler