Pastors Jim and Marie Watt
EDITORIAL NOTE: This is the first of 12 Corporate Prayers based on the 12 Embryonic Revival Principles birthed by God out of His 1948 Visitation in North Battleford, Saskatchewan.
Sometime around 1997 Richard Long of Toronto suggested that I write a paper on each of these 12 principles - which I did in 2000. He ran them in his weekly newsletter at that time. My oldest son Jim made a Website for me and put them on it. People are still downloading these articles.
But in the Fall of 2001 The Rev. John Roddam and Pastor Joe McIntyre of the Seattle area launched us to form 40 Corporate Prayers for those in the Church who have an intercessory corporate burden for Revival principles. We have all but completed the first 12, which primarily cover the Feasts of the Lord in Leviticus 23. We trust to add them to our Website in the near future.
For the next 6 months we will be producing Corporate Prayer Outlines for these12 Revival principles from 1948. We believe that as individuals, families, home groups and churches use these helps, the speed-up of God's prophetic program for the return of His Son can occur. We will be placing this second series of 12 on our Website also.
For those interested in a context for these 12 Revival Principle Prayers, you might find it helpful to check out our Website for these articles that appeared at the request of Richard Long in the winter of 2000.
Day One. JEWISH ROOTS: “REUBEN” CONNECTION.
Genesis 29:31-30:24. “ADONAI saw that Le'ah was unloved, so he made her fertile, while Rachel remained childless… Le'ah conceived and gave birth to a son, whom she named Re'uven [see, a son!], for she said, 'It is because ADONAI has seen how humiliated I have been, but now my husband will love me'” (29:31-32). Numbers 2:10-16. “Those camping on the south are to be under the banner of the camp of Re'uven; they are to camp according to companies; by tribe and leader they are as follows: Re'uven, with Elitzur the son of Sh'de'ur as Chief - Number, 46,500” (2:10-12). Exodus 28:15-21. THE TABERNACLE: PRIESTLY GARMENTS. “The second row a green feldspar, a sapphire and a diamond” (28:18). Note that the names of the 12 tribes are inscribed on the 12 precious stones on the breastplate of judgment according to the order of the march of Numbers 2. Dr. A. W. Slemming of England is one of many who confirms this order. There are 14 different orders for the 12 tribes. In these prayers we consider the order of birth, the order of Jacob's prophetic blessing and the order of the March of Numbers 2.
The firstborn son in an Israeli family is blessed. First of all, he gets a double blessing - 2 parts instead of one that goes to the other sons. It is called the blessing of the firstborn and by default, it went to Joseph instead. The Priesthood by default went to Levi, and the Rulership went to Judah. Yet as we shall see in Day 7, Reuben did not lose all. He started out with such high hopes for his father Jacob, -- but because of unbridled lust he suffered a 3-fold loss. As the firstborn, the high hopes of Israel (his father) were with him, which explains his relationship with the nation of Israel and the Jewish Roots.
Note that the green color of his stone reminds us of the restless sea - its instability - and explains the harsh blessing of Jacob upon Reuben. (In “These Are the Garments” by Dr. A. W. Slemming, he has a chapter on each of the tribes, and points out the various facets of each in more detail.)
Day Two. JEWISH ROOTS: “DANIEL JUSTER” CONNECTION.
Jeremiah 31:31-40. RESTORATION THROUGH THE NEW COVENANT. “Here, the days are coming,” says ADONAI, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Isra'el and with the house of Y'hudah… It will not be like the covenant I made with their fathers on the day I took them by their hand and brought them out of the land of Egypt; because they, for their part, violated my covenant, even though I for my part, was a husband to them,” says Adonai… “For this is the covenant I will make with the house of Isra'el after those days,” says ADONAI: “I will put my Torah within them and write it on their hearts; I will be their God, and they will be my people… No longer will any of them teach his fellow community member or his brother, 'Know ADONAI'; for all will know me, from the least of them to the greatest; because I will forgive their wickednesses and remember their sins no more” (31:31-34). Few writers make clearer than Daniel Juster does the connection of Israel to her Jewish Roots. David Stern in his “Complete Jewish Bible” and other writings complements this emphasis by Daniel Juster. It is especially in the area of “covenant” that this emphasis shines forth. As we follow his teaching on the Noahic Covenant, but more especially the Abrahamic, Mosaic and Davidic Covenants - we find just how powerful and potent is this connection with Jewish Roots. But as we look at the New Covenant which was initially promised by God to Israel, we grasp how important is this whole concept. The Book of Hebrews throws wonderful light on all of this. We who are non-Jews - Gentiles - are by grace grafted into this New Covenant - but it was first a promise to Israel, not the church.
The first recipients of the fulfillment of this covenant were all Jewish believers. It was a few decades later that God led Peter and then Paul by using the Keys of the Kingdom, to open the door to Gentiles also.
Day Three. JEWISH ROOTS: “ISRAEL” CONNECTION.
Romans 9:1-13. ISRAEL: BY THE PRINCIPLE OF REMNANT. “The people of Israel were made God's children, the Sh'khinah has been with them, the covenants are theirs, likewise the giving of the Torah, the Temple service and the promise; … the Patriarchs are theirs; and from them, as far as his physical descent is concerned, came the Messiah, who is over all. Praised be ADONAI for ever! Amen” (9:4-5). Romans 9-11 is NOT a “parenthesis”, but the HEART of Justification by Faith - to Jew first - then to Gentiles and non-Jews. Look at these 8 promises of blessing. God caused Israel to inherit all 8. Then we, who are Gentiles and wild olive branches, share with Israel as true olive branches. God has grafted us into the Jewish Root and Tree of Israel. The church has lost understanding of our Jewish Roots - especially from the days of Constantine in 325 AD through the Council of Nicea.
Day Four. JEWISH ROOTS: “BIBLE FESTIVALS” CONNECTION.
Leviticus 23. THE FEASTS OF THE LORD. “ADONAI said to Moshe, … 'Tell the people of Isra'el: The designated times of ADONAI which you are to proclaim as holy convocations and my designated times” (23:1-2). In 1935 George R. Hawtin begin to restore the observation of these feasts to the church, first by celebrating the Feast of Pentecost (Shavuot). Then George Warnock in his book, “The Feast of Tabernacles,” outlines all 7 of these feasts laid out in Leviticus 23. John Robert Stevens picked this up from him, and in California in the early
'50's started to observe all 7 of them. People came from as far away as Edmonton, Alberta, to join in these celebrations. Here we find perhaps the greatest blessing of all to Jew and Gentile alike - the Festivals of the Lord which He shared first with Israel 1400 years before Christ, and then especially after Acts 15, with Gentiles also
A Jewish missionary to her own people shared this great blessing with me in 1944. Since 1990 my wife Marie and I have been walking in the joy and blessing of observing these festivals with our Jewish friends. Nowhere in the Bible does God commend the observance of Christmas - but He does ask us to observe all 7 Festivals of Leviticus 23, especially the Feast of Tabernacles, the GREAT Feast of the Jews. Students and Scholars believe that Jesus was born at this time.
Day Five. JEWISH ROOTS: “2 PETER 1:5-7” CONNECTION.
2 Peter 1. THE TRUE KNOWLEDGE. “For this very reason, try your hardest to furnish your faith with goodness, goodness with knowledge, … knowledge with self-control, self-control with perseverance, perseverance with godliness, … godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love… For if you have these qualities in abundance, they keep you from being barren and unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah. … Indeed, whoever lacks them, is blind, so shortsighted that he forgets that his past sins have been washed away. ... Therefore, brothers, try even harder to make your being called and chosen a certainty. For if you keep doing this, you will never stumble. … Thus you will be generously supplied with everything you need to enter the eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Deliverer, Yeshua the Messiah” (1:5-11).
Had Reuben - the one so closely associated with our Jewish Roots - observed the 7 principles of 2 Peter 1:5-7 along with Fasting - he would no doubt have been able to live a disciplined life and not forfeited the 3-fold blessing that was rightfully his. Note that temperance or self-control is one of these graces to add to one's life. E. Stanley Jones walked in this discipline above that of most others. It is such a pity that Reuben did not walk in a similar path.
Day Six. JEWISH ROOTS: “JACOB AND MOSES” CONNECTION.
Genesis 49. ISRAEL: BLESSES HIS SONS AND TRIBES. “Re'uven, you are my firstborn, my strength, the firstfruits of my manhood… Though superior in vigor and power you are unstable as water, so your superiority will end, because you climbed into your father's bed and defiled it - he climbed onto my concubine's couch” (49:3-4). Deuteronomy 33. MOSES: BLESSING OF THE TRIBES. “Let Re'uven live and not die out, even through his numbers grow few” (33:6). Jacob and Moses each spoke prophetic words over the 12 sons of Israel who became tribes in Israel. History and archeology both confirm beyond the least shadow of a doubt - God's unfolding purposes for the 12 tribes of Israel going back 3400 years. It is wishful thinking and whistling in the dark that would lead the Arafats to deny the long history of Israel in Jerusalem and the land God has given them. Make no mistake - God is not mocked - what He has given is irrevocable. Read Romans 11, and know that when Jesus - the only begotten Son of God returns again, He as the King of Israel through King David shall rule the world from Jerusalem and the Temple Mount! Let the Hitlers, Hamans, Saddam Husseins and Arafats proclaim their falsehoods - He who sits in the heavens will laugh last!
Day Seven. JEWISH ROOTS: THE “MAN” CONNECTION OF GRACE.
Daniel 7. VISION OF THE FOUR GREAT BEASTS. “I kept watching the night visions, when I saw, coming with the clouds of heaven, someone like a son of man. He approached the Ancient One and was led into his presence... To him was given rulership, glory and a kingdom, so that all peoples, nations and languages should serve him. His rulership is an eternal rulership that will not pass away; and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed” (7:13-14, VISION: DOMINION OF THE SON OF MAN). Notice that Reuben has no animal associated with him in the prophecies. He should have been more like Jesus the firstborn of Mary - but he didn't discipline himself. Lust, Pride and Money - these are the chief temptations for man. Reuben fell through the first, and MANY others do also. The 2 Peter 1 passage with fasting would enable one to be an overcomer.
Notice Ezekiel 1:10, and the 4 living creatures, one with the head of a man looking straight ahead. This is a picture of Jesus, and is associated with the Gospel of Luke. Ephesians 2 speaks of “One New Man” in Christ Jesus, composed of Jew and Gentile, with the middle wall of partition broken down. See Reuven Doron's book of this title.
Reuben was not connected with an animal as were so many of the other tribes. He is one of the 4 leading tribes in spite of his fall. He led Simeon and Gad on the southside of the Tabernacle of Moses. Reuben could have been honored on a lower level than this Messianic prophecy pointing to Jesus. Jesus as man was tempted on all points like as we - YET - without sin. Where Reuben fell, Jesus overcame! When we let Him possess us through the Holy Spirit, we can live a triumphant life as seen in Galatians 2:20. We will NOT be sinlessly perfect till the resurrection, but we can be true overcomers according to Revelation 2 and 3.
So - God preserved Reuben as one of the 4 leading tribes in spite of his lapse. What grace!
CONCLUSION: The 12 revival principles of the 1948 Northern Canada Visitation, were perhaps not clearly perceived at the time. But in 1992 I received a heavenly mandate to take the 12 embryonic principles of 1948 - and with others - pray them into maturity and full understanding.
It is interesting that a true understanding of our Jewish Roots as associated with Reuben - is the first of these 12. It is my personal conviction that until the church recovers from the fallacy of “Replacement Theology,” and sees God's purpose of the primacy of Israel as recorded in Romans 9-11 - the other 11 revival principles will be unable to function in unity. Remember Benjamin in the latter part of the book of Judges. When his history was nearly snuffed out, the other tribes mourned - for they recognized all too well that Israel could only function effectively when all 12 tribes pulled together.
So with the church - only when all 12 of these revival principles are understood, walked in and practiced - only then will the fullness of God's purposes be realized. And the first principle is to see Israel as GOD sees her - not the United Nations - not United Europe - not the Islamic nations - not the United States - not even the present state of the church!
THIS is the first of the Last Days Revival principles. If we fail at this first challenge, what can we do with the rest?