THE SIXTH JUDGMENT
THUNDER
By Bill Burns
The seven thunders shall roar, and
the lightning bolts of the fire of the Word in the mouths of
God's servants will produce the spirit of burning, and will
strike the demon powers that rule over the waters of this world.
Ezekiel 36:6 tells us to prophesy
concerning the rivers. Ezekiel 29:3 says to speak against the
great monster who lives in the midst of His rivers.
Isaiah 11:15 tells us that the
Lord will utterly destroy the tongue of the sea of Egypt and with
His mighty wind (voice of the Spirit) He will shake His fist over
the river and strike it in the seven streams.
Demon powers have established
strongholds in the waters of this world for the purpose of
spiritually affecting people who live near the waters. In
Revelation 17:1, the harlot (Mystery Babylon) sits on many waters.
In verse 15 the scripture says that the waters sit over (have
power over) peoples, multitudes, nations and tongues.
In Revelation 10:1-2 the angel of
the seven thunders has his feet on the land and sea (waters)
declaring ownership over both. Psalm 89:8-9, "O
LORD God of hosts, Who is mighty like You, O LORD? Your
faithfulness also surrounds You. You rule the raging of the sea;
When its waves rise, You still them." Speaking
of the Messiah, Psalm 89:24-27 "But My
faithfulness and My mercy shall be with him, And in My name his
horn shall be exalted. Also I will set his hand over the sea, And
his right hand over the rivers. He shall cry to Me, 'You are my
Father, My God, and the rock of my salvation.' Also I will make
him My firstborn, The highest of the kings of the earth."
It is time for the kingdoms of
this world to become the kingdoms of our Lord. The Lord Jesus is
calling His prophets to come and strike the waters--to bind the
demon powers which rule from the waters, demon powers like
Leviathan. Psalm 74:13-14, "You divided the sea
by Your strength; You broke the heads of the sea serpents in the
waters. You broke the heads of Leviathan in pieces, And gave him
as food to the people inhabiting the wilderness."
Our Prophet, the Lord Jesus Christ, wants His prophets to
understand the power of striking the waters. First, we must
understand the mantle of the prophet. Chapter two of 2 Kings
tells us in verse 9 that Elisha asks for a double portion of
Elijah's spirit to be upon him. In this narrative, Elijah is a
type of Jesus and Elisha is a type of the Church. When Elijah was
taken up into heaven (v.11-13) his mantle fell to the earth, and
Elisha picked it up and struck the water of the Jordan River.
Elijah (a type of Jesus) had already received power over the
waters (v.8), and now Elisha would receive power over the waters.
In the same manner, the mantle of the Holy Spirit that came upon
Jesus in the Jordan River came upon the Church in the upper room
on the Day of Pentecost. Therefore, the mantle is the power of
the Holy Spirit. Elisha now has power over the water. In 2 Kings
2:19-22, Elisha healed the water with salt (a type of the church--Matthew
5:13) In 2 Kings chapter 5, Elisha sends Naaman to the Jordan,
and he dipped seven times, and Naaman was healed. The number
seven here could be a clue to point us to Revelation 10:7, "The
days of the sounding of the seventh angel, when he is about to
sound the mystery of God would be finished, as He declared to His
servants the prophets." God is about to reveal this power
over the waters to His prophets.
Again, in 2 Kings 6:1-7,
Elisha demonstrates his power over the water by causing an iron
ax head to float. Striking the waters (by the Spirit) brings the
victory over Satan's demonic powers who take authority over the
waters. Water gives life. In Revelation 22:1-2, God gives pure
water producing life. Jesus gives living water. John
4:10--Jesus answered and said to her, 'If you knew the gift of
God, and who it is who says to you, 'Give Me a drink,' you would
have asked Him, and He would have given you living water." The
living water that produces everlasting life.
Satan comes to
pollute the living water and set up strongholds in the waters of
the world to keep people from the living waters of God. The
mystery now being revealed is that he has assigned spirits to at
least some locations to dwell in the waters as a position of
spiritual authority from which to influence the people of the
world. This is why God judges the waters in Revelation 16:3-6.
Verse 5 refers to the angel of the waters. Most likely this angel
is God's angel of Revelation 10:1-2 taking authority over Satan's
angels bound in the waters of the Euphrates. In Revelation 16:12-14
when God's judgment is poured out on the great river Euphrates,
we see the unclean spirits like frogs go forth to deceive the
kings of the earth. This type and shadow is also seen in the
Exodus narrative (Exodus 8:1-6). Moses, through his authority
over the rivers, brought the very gods (frogs that the Egyptians
worshipped) upon the people. In Exodus 7:7 God strikes the waters
which are turned to blood--possibly a type of the blood of Jesus
which brings victory over Satan in Revelation 12:11. Again in
Exodus 14:15-22 Moses exercised the authority that God had given
him over the waters. Prophets, take note: God told Moses to stop
crying out to God and lift up his God-given authority!
And now, back to
Elijah. In 1 Kings chapter 18, we have some insight to Elijah's
conflict with the fake prophets of Baal. Notice in verses 32
through 35 that Elijah dug a trench around his altar and had it
filled with water. I believe that it is quite possible that
Elijah's intention was to not only show that God's fire was more
powerful than Satan's but that God's fire would destroy the power
of the prophets of Baal. The water must have been taken from the
Brook Kishon because when God's fire came, it licked up the water
in the trench (verse 38), and Elijah then took the powerless
prophets of Baal to the brook and killed them there. The word,
Kishon, means binding. Is it possible that the power of the
prophets of Baal was bound in Kishon?
Elijah then brought
the rain of God to the earth, and when the rain came, the hand of
the Lord came upon Elijah, and he received supernatural power to
outrun the horseman. Could it be that God is showing us that
first the powers of darkness must be consumed (spiritually) by
the fire of the Spirit before we will receive the abundance of
the latter rain that enables us to contend with the horses (principalities
in the heavenly places)? Jeremiah 12:5, "If you
have run with the footmen, and they have wearied you, then how
can you contend with horses? And if in the land of peace, in
which you trusted, they wearied you, then how will you do in the
flooding of the Jordan?"
We have the fire of
the Holy Spirit. Now, we must use it. John the Baptist said in Matthew
3:11, "I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but
He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire."
We are to be flames of fire pulling down the strongholds of Satan.
John the Baptist came in the spirit of Elijah to prepare the way
of the Lord. How did he do this? First he announced (prophesied)
the coming of the Kingdom (Matthew 3:2). He also prepared the way
for the Prophet (Jesus) to come by baptizing people in water (in
the Jordan, Matthew 3:6), as they confessed their sins.
Repentance breaks the power of Satan's control of the flesh.
Then, Jesus came to the waters prepared with repentance and was
Himself baptized--He who had no sin. Certainly Jesus validated
John's ministry and also confirmed water baptism as a symbol of
the new birth. The question is--why would Jesus have to be
baptized (a symbol of repentance) if He had no sin? I believe the
answer is in Matthew 3:15, "But Jesus answered
and said to him, 'Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting
for us to fulfill all righteousness.' Then he allowed Him."
In order for all righteousness to be fulfilled, the powers of
darkness had to be defeated. As Jesus descended into the depths
of the waters, in the same manner that He would one day descend
into hell itself, His statement must have been, "Satan, you
will now be defeated, your powers over this river are broken, and
the Jordan is now living water representing the anointing."
And when He broke through the surface of the water, the mantle of
authority in the form of a dove came upon Him (Matthew 3:16), and
He was driven by the Spirit into the wilderness testing (Mark 1:12-13).
Satan was not happy that the Son of God would now instruct His
church as to how to have victory over his demon spirits. I have
always found the account in Mark chapter 5 intriguing. Jesus cast
a legion of demons out of a demoniac, and they begged Jesus not
to send them out of the country but into the swine. Is it
possible they used the pigs to get back to their source of power,
the waters of the sea, where they could keep their authority and
later prey on others in their assigned area? Interesting at least.
Our Lord then from
time to time demonstrated His power over the waters. In Matthew
14:24-26 He walked on the water, proving that Satan is under His
feet. And, in Matthew 8:26, He rebuked the wind and waves, and
then He did the most remarkable thing--before He would go to
Jerusalem to endure the cross, He took His disciples to the
north, to Caesarea Philippi. But, one might ask, what does
Caesarea Philippi have to do with demons and waters? Caesarea
Philippi just happens to be located near the head waters of the
River Jordan. It was also a stronghold of demon worship. This is
the setting we find Jesus and His disciples in when Jesus reveals
the destiny for His church in Matthew 16:13-19. It is this
stronghold of Satan to which He would bring His church to two
revelations: First, that He was the Christ, the Son of the Living
God as revealed to Peter who momentarily walked on the water.
Secondly, that these gates (places of authoritative rule, such as
Satan had established at the head waters of the Jordan and thus
the whole river) would not prevail against His church. In verse
19 He said whatever you bind and loose on the earth will be bound
and loosed in heaven. Could it be that He was telling us to
strike the waters? Bind the power of the gates; loose the people
from the powers of darkness.
Is it not time, you prophets of
the Most High? I say, yes, it is time to pick up the mantle that
I gave on the Day of Pentecost. I say, pick it up and put it on
and wear the power of My Spirit, and then it shall be that I
shall reveal to you the hidden streams of Satan's power. And,
then My prophets, strike those waters by the power of the voice
of the Spirit, and many captive will be set free. Psalm
29:3-4, "The voice of the LORD is over the waters; The God
of glory thunders; The LORD is over many waters. The voice of the
LORD is powerful; The voice of the LORD is full of majesty."
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