Holl-08 Israel's Death and Resurrection — Art Katz

The Prophetic Function of Disappointment

Good evening, Dutch saints. Be prepared to be disappointed, because I can see you have certain expectations. I'm being cued in and prompted to fulfill your expectation, which would delight you and disappoint the Lord.

So, you're privileged not only to hear about the prophetic calling, but to observe it as a human and religious disappointment. And you need that, because your romantic illusions need to be dispersed or destroyed.

That's the prophetic function. To bring the sense of things as God himself knows them and sees them. And nowhere more opposed than in the religious realm. My brother is even being too strenuous. So, match my spirit.

Match my mood. Because my mood is not my own. As my words are not my own. So also the mood of the speaking. So also the feeling of speaking itself is not for me. So Lord, disappoint these people, but delight your own soul.

And those that are around the throne of heaven, that there might be a rejoicing there, for the heavenly reality to which the church itself is called as a prophetic entity in the world whose life is not its own, whose words are not their own, whose mood is not their own, the expression of yourself, the testimony of Jesus, the spirit of prophecy.

So I invite you not only to proclaim and set it forth, but to demonstrate it. For the prophet is the thing in himself. For the prophet is the thing in himself. And the life of Israel will depend on it one day.

In the mystery of God. Bring the church to this reality. And dispel our own fanciful expectations. And dispel our own fanciful expectations. Make us sober. In reality. For the world is dying for the want of it.

And we thank you and give you the praise. In Jesus' name. Amen. So I have not had a good night's sleep since I have arrived in Holland. I don't know how to explain it. I'm just up after three hours after I put my head on the pillow.

So I'm continually tired. And weak. And in a strange mood because of that. And you would say, well that's just circumstantial. But I would say it's the sovereignty of God. Who does not think it too extravagant to disturb a prophet's sleep.

In order to affect his condition. So that he is almost beside himself. He is too tired to be in control. And simply has to trust. Whatever will be expressed. Through that fatigue. In keeping with the mind of the Lord.

For this once and for all occasion. That shall not be given again. Now if we just examine that statement. For three sessions. We would have a full opportunity to examine the prophetic reality. God uses the daily circumstance of the prophetic man.

The grit of his experience. Which seems accidental. But is divinely calculated. To express something in particular. Given of God. For a moment that will not be given again. What kind of mentality is that?

Can we have this occasion again next year? Never. This is a once and for all. And more than that. Eternity is hanging in the balance. Brother. You are a supreme egoist. You think that this occasion is that important?

Yes. Every occasion is that important. Eternity is always at stake. And you mean that's as true for us as it is for you? To the degree that you are prophetic? Well if that's so brother. Who is sufficient for these things?

Oh I'm glad you ask that. Because you have not yet ever asked that before. Up till now. You have been only too sufficient. And you have already demonstrated and exhibited that tonight. You know how to do it.

How to conduct worship. Arrange services. Set up a seminar. Give introductions. Pray admirably. You have a fantastic game. That's all very nice. Humanly speaking. But it does not affect eternity. The issue of eternity is the glory of God.

Not satisfying meetings. And who is sufficient for that? The spirit of prophecy is the testimony of Jesus. It requires his life. It shows forth his inimitable character. Even when he is not the subject.

He is still being demonstrated. And it's strange. Strange for the speaker. Because he doesn't know what his next word is. I have the smile to myself. They have it all nicely laid out. Topic by topic. Of what the prophetic thing is.

And I probably could perform it. But we will have missed it. Because it's unpredictable. It has nothing to do with our control. It's not an instruction. It's an event. See, one day, you're going to be required to raise Israel from the dead.

Or you didn't know that. If you knew it, the whole character and substance of what you are about every week would be radically altered. But you have not considered your own prophetic destiny. And if you had, everything would have been calculated to obtain it.

Everything would have been calculated to a climax. You would have been careful to avoid anything that you could perform. You would have been conscious of your inadequacy. Because the day is coming when Israel is going to be stone-cold dead.

Israel's Death and Resurrection

Yes, the present nation with all of its present vitality and impressiveness. High-tech civilization. Impressive Israeli defense forces. Will be as dry bones. And they themselves will say, we are cut off.

We are without hope. We are as dry bones. Have you ever heard a Jew admit that? Have you ever heard a Jew admit that? Can you imagine Israel admitting that? I want to prophetically predict with a complete confidence that that will come to pass.

And the factors that will bring Israel to that death are presently now being worked. And the factors that will bring Israel to that death are presently now being worked. The State of Israel is on its way to death.

And it must die. How else can there be a resurrection, if it has not been dead first? Or did you not think that a resurrection was necessary? You were impressed with the present state? You thought it could improve?

And get better? And be more impressive yet? Shame on you for such shallow understanding. What, you only wanted Israel to succeed? You thought that they deserved to succeed? You thought that they deserved to succeed?

That they have learned enough already? That they will have their own state? Their own security? That is a very beautiful human thought. But there is only one thing wrong with it. It falls short of the glory of God.

You are in error. Because you do not know the Scriptures. Nor the power of God. Israel's future is not to overcome. It is to glorify God. And to bless all the families of the earth. And as you ought to know, that can never be performed humanly.

That can never be performed religiously. Or culturally. Even by Jews. It can only be performed by the life of God himself. When his life has become the life of the nation. Upon his resurrection from the dead.

Upon his resurrection from the dead. You do not have much prophetic insight of the great mystery of the age. Towards which we are moving. The great conclusion of this age. The fulfillment of this age.

And if we were to be painfully truthful, and if we are not painfully truthful, how are we the church? But if we are truthful, we would have to say, Brother, I do not even think in those terms. I do not think in such grandiose terms.

The conclusion of the ages. The great mystery of God. The consummation of all things. Why don't you? That is prophetic thinking. That is prophetic anticipation. That is prophetic perspective. And if you lack that, how are you the church?

You see why I have to be tired? Because when I am tired, I am careless. I am too tired to be correct. It does not matter if I offend. Because a man who does not offend is not prophetic. Not that we want to be offensive.

But it is inherent in the call. So what do we read in Ezekiel 37? The great prophetic book. Which we have not really studied. We will run to Toronto. And we will run to hear some current day prophet. Especially if he has a personal word of prophecy for us.

Are you so fascinated with things prophetic? You will run to hear these men? What have you done with the prophetic texts? I am suspicious of your motives. It smacks of spiritual self-interest. Looking for a titillating experience.

And neglecting the great prophetic texts. That indicates that Israel must die. That indicates that Israel must die. So how will God fulfill Israel's destiny? Has he not said that you will be a nation of priests and light unto the world?

Has Paul not said that the gifts of God are irrevocable? Has God not spoken and made promises and closed a covenant? And does he now promise that this nation will die? Yes, only on the basis that these words will be fulfilled.

Not on the basis of what people can achieve from themselves. But what the power of his own life will bring forth. When the nation itself is brought to a newness of life. And given a new name. And called the ministers of God.

And will say with one voice. The Lord our righteousness. Oh, that will bless all the families of the earth. In the day of that resurrection. The first national resurrection. An entire nation. Who are these slain?

These are the whole house of Israel. And they themselves acknowledge. We are without hope. We are cut off. We are as dry bones. All that we had hoped for. In the establishment of our own state. Has come to nothing.

The most painful disappointment. In what we had hoped to illustrate to the world. Is the most painful failure. And we had to see that and know that. And we had to see that and know that. Because such an adventure can have no success.

Without God. So how will God raise this country from the dead? Because this nation will have the obligation to make him known to all peoples. How shall we say that we know God? If we don't know him as the God who raises the dead.

And we ourselves don't know him as we ought. And we ourselves don't know him as we ought. Yes, we know the doctrine of resurrection. But until we ourselves are raised from death. How shall we testify of him?

In that authentic and penetrating witness. That is available only to those who have passed from death to life. By his power. So you know what the first task of the prophet is? To kill. To bring death.

His word slays. Pluck up, uproot, destroy. And then build and plant. The first function of the prophetic proclamation. Is the word that brings death. And will you bring it? Will you be obedient and faithful?

Isaiah, Samuel, and the Cost of Prophetic Speech

Do you remember the call of Isaiah? Who saw the Lord high and lifted up? A man of unclean lips. God touched his mouth with a cold from the open. And he heard the Lord say, who shall go for us? Send me.

Okay. Say this. In hearing you shall not hear. Your heart shall be hardened, you shall not understand. Until you are saved. The word that you are going to speak when I send you. Is a word of judgment.

And because you speak it. Israel will be made deaf. His heart will be made hard. That it cannot understand. That it cannot be saved. You still want to be a prophet? How long Lord? Until. The cities be without inhabitants.

And the whole land be destroyed. And all its inhabitants be cast out. That's how long your judgment will remain with that nation. Because you speak it. It becomes an event for Israel. Of a judgment. That will remain.

Until a final devastation. And then there will be a return. How about Israel's first prophet Samuel? A boy. And the Lord called him. And he thought it was the old man calling him. And he ran back again to the old man.

The priest who was on his way out. And the priest knew that this was the Lord calling him. If you hear your name called again. Here's what you ought to say. Speak Lord. Your servant is hearing. And the boy became a man.

When the Lord spoke. And said tell this old priest. That a judgment is coming. And he will be brought down. And his priesthood ended. And generations will suffer because of his sin. Because he was unable to control his sons.

So in the morning. The old priest said to Samuel. What did the Lord say? And Samuel did not withhold. Not a single word. That God spoke in judgment. And in that day. A prophet came to Israel. This is more than an accident.

This is a pattern. It's a paradigm. That the true prophetic calling. Begins in our having to speak. What we would least desire to speak. Say that again. It begins with our having to speak. What we least desire to speak.

The word that will offend men. The word that will disappoint men. The judgments of God. The word of death. And we ought to speak the words of life. That will raise Israel from the dead. We have first to be obedient.

To speak to things that are painful. So the day comes when Israel is dry bones. It's on its way now. This crisis of violence in Israel. Is the beginning. It will not get better. Maybe for a moment. But in the end.

The Palestinian and Islamic hatred. Will have its satisfaction. And Israel will be ground to powder. And defeated and humiliated. And brought to a death. And then God will turn to a son of man. To prophesy to these bones.

That they might live. He'll not speak it himself. No. He has got to employ a son of man. A trembling prophetic human being. Who has not even the faith to believe. That those bones could live. Son of man, could these bones live?

Lord, you know. Some prophet that is. What kind of faith is that? It's a faith that has its limitations. But needs to break into a deeper dimension. The faith of the son of God. That alone believes that those bones can live.

For the prophet will be brought to that place. Where you can't tell where the prophet ends. And where God begins. For the Lord's word is his word. The Lord's faith is his faith. And it's a faith that even works by love.

Not sentiment. The love of God. For the prophet is in union with God. For the spirit of prophecy is the testimony of Jesus. And when that prophet speaks. Those bones will be joined bone to bone. Flesh will be added.

The Ruach will be given. And Israel will become an exceedingly great army. I'm describing your destiny. And my own faith is failing. Can I believe that for you? That you can speak with one voice? The word of the Lord.

When he shall command it. With prophetic authority. Sufficient to raise the dead. A resurrection word itself. As a church that is the church of the resurrection. That has passed through its own deaths.

And has experienced the power of God's life. And moves and lives and has its being in him. That's the consummation of the age. A restored nation raised from the dead. Through a church that has come to an ultimate place in God.

A prophetic place. Where you cannot say where the church ends and where God begins. It's more than charismatic. It's more than Pentecostal. It's more than full gospel. And such a prophetic church is not made in a day.

Psalm 82 and Psalm 83: A Cosmic View of Prophecy

Well, I hadn't planned to say any of these things. I told the brother I was going to speak from song. Psalm 82 and 83. And I don't know if we should even begin this now. But will you do your homework?

Will you read these two psalms? Which were my psalms for today. What do you mean by that? What do you mean your psalms? Because I read the psalms every day. It's my devotional reading. And what is today's date?

This is the 12th day. And so Psalm 82 came up for me. And then my eye fell on Psalm 83. This is typically prophetic. That God will use the raw material of the life of the prophetic man. His experience, the things that come before him.

Arriving in Amsterdam and his luggage doesn't arrive. And so he's got to spend time filling out a report for his lost luggage. The first time. In all the trips to Amsterdam, the first time, no luggage.

And there's a train to catch in order to get out to Northern Holland where a brother is waiting for me. So I had to miss that train and take the next an hour later. And that train never got to its destination.

We stopped. And we're waiting. I thought, is this typical? Finally, the men, the conductors came through the train. Take your luggage. Everyone off the train. There's a gas leak. And so I had to take everything.

My books and my roll-on and with a bad cold and not having slept through the night and carry that all through the length of the train out to the platform waiting for a bus. You know what a prophet knows?

Nothing is an accident. He has a complete confidence in the total sovereignty of God. And if the train has been interrupted which I should not even have taken if my luggage had come in then this is the day of the Lord.

Something is being divinely ordered for which we need patiently to wait and not to be exasperated but wait for the unfolding of the Lord because you believe all this is for you and is not circumstance.

So I'm waiting on the platform for the bus to come I don't understand a word of Dutch. I hardly know what they are explaining. But my eye catches a man with a cell phone and he's talking on a cell phone to someone to explain why he's being delayed and my spirit leaps.

When I see him my spirit leaps and I go over to him and I say I need an act of mercy. Would you be so kind as to call this number on your cell phone and explain in Dutch why it is I'm being delayed I'll be happy to pay you the expense.

Oh no he said. And so he did it. And of course you get into conversation. He's a retired doctor they're on their way back from California where they have visited their son and they want to know who I am and where am I going and why am I here and I said you know I'm carrying a box of books it's my new book in Dutch.

I would love to give you a copy and I did. And then they said now follow us on the bus we have to get to Zwolle and then another train all the way to Beilen and we were together the whole train. And so I'm not sitting opposite but alongside him and there's a woman looking at me and I said would you like my book also?

Well yes what do you want for it? My gift. It is a small gift she's a psychologist from the Dutch Orthodox Church the Reformed Church and one word leads to another and she's interested in the Holocaust.

I said oh I have a book on that subject also but only in English but your English is good enough if you come to tomorrow night's meeting I'll give you a copy. More took place on that train than I could tell you and I said to this doctor I looked him right in the eye and I said to this doctor while I looked him right in the eye this breakdown of the train was for your sake I don't have any accidents in my life and it is not too extravagant from God to stop an entire train and inconvenience all those people and this servant also in order to bring before you something from which you will not be able to return.

I said you dear man 36 years ago I was a Jewish atheist and a Marxist and I was apprehended by God in exactly this way off the side of the road picked up by strangers for the so great eternal salvation for the so great need of the so great eternal salvation.

Pray for this doctor and his dear wife and this lady psychologist and the young man who is the bicycle maker sitting near her and on the bus to the next train in Zwolle two seats away from me an intelligent looking man.

I spoke right to him directly. I said so much for modern civilization. How often do you have these breakdowns. He said more frequently than I care to say. I said the whole world is coming to breakdown.

Can I give you a gift. Here is my book. The issue of eternity is so great it is not extravagant of God to stop a train. So read Psalm 82 and 83 tomorrow morning Lord willing I will speak from it. Read it as you have never read the scriptures because I know that you don't read as you ought ponder and reflect upon what is being said.

Because Psalm 82 gives a perception from the heavenly side of the issue of God's government the counsel of those that are called the sons of God in heaven. Psalm 83 is the outworking on the earth between these two psalms you can have the whole overview the dimensions, the boundary of a cosmic view of the faith which unless you have this and live out of such a perspective how shall you be prophetic.

You need to understand the heavenlies and the earth and the majesty of God in both places. The cosmic view of ultimate reality of the things that are not seen but affect every issue in the earth needs to come into your consciousness as the dimensions of your faith in which your life is being acted out.

In that context as the church that is more than a succession of services. Read these texts and tomorrow we'll pray and God will open them and enter you into such a dimension of understanding that will ruin everything affect everything.

And the church needs so to be affected. For it has a destiny that pertains to God's glory and we are at that threshold. So I want to pray for the church and the expression that you are in this locality in this great Holland that has always been a savior to oppressed peoples has taken in Jews in their flights from persecution has sought to save a remnant of them.

Even from the Nazi time will again be given opportunity to show its particular character in mercy to Jews not out of sentimental obligation but out of prophetic maturity to not only aid Jews but explain to Jews the prophetic meaning of their present life the prophetic meaning of their suffering in this time.

Prayer for the Church's Prophetic Destiny

Father, I pray blessings upon these children. What a beginning you have given us who could have ordered it. How disappointing. And yet and yet there is a certain excitement in our spirit that this is going to be a different time.

This is going to be something unpredictable with a beginning like this. Where will this end. Where will we be taken. What understanding will we be given. That requires the re-examination of everything that we thought to believe.

That requires the re-examination of everything that we thought to believe. But we want so we thank you Lord. You are the Alpha and the Omega of our faith. You have given us the strange beginning tonight because you know the end from the beginning and we trust you for that.

For we have not come to be entertained or even to be instructed. We have come to be transformed and be brought into a prophetic dimension that will enable our destiny to be fulfilled. Bless us through the night hours.

Grant us the spirit of prayer and supplication to intercede for this weak and tired vessel that you have brought. That you will bring forth through him those explicit things intended for this time. For there will not be another time like it.

It is a once and for all eternity is at stake. Delight your own soul and give us an event in God that is holy and appointed in time for the church of this nation. Thank you for the privilege and the responsibility that follows.

Seal tonight set in motion. What you will. A new kind of tension. A strange kind of anticipation not so comfortable and yet beyond words beyond our ability to define disappoint us if you will but open a new dimension for which we will be eternally grateful.

And we thank and give you the praise that we are so appointed because of your love in Jesus' name amen.