Redeeming The Time

Spring  1999

By Martha Lucia

On December 26, 1989, while in Greenwich, England, I stood straddling the meridian line of time with one foot in the east (yesterday-the past) and one foot in the west (today-the future).  I heard the Lord say, "I have dropped My plumb line.  When the time-line hits My plumb line, time is reversed."  In Isaiah 28:17 God says, "Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding places."  I believe the Lord was saying that He had dropped His plumb line of righteousness and judgment, a kairos time.  At that moment chronos time gave way to kairos time.  Nine years later in March of 1998, praying with a group of people on behalf of the land at the site of a large sun dial, I had a vision of time running around the outside of the world, hitting at Greenwich and reversing itself.  In this I believe the Lord was saying the kairos time of righteousness and judgment had begun.  I believe we entered a new time zone with God, the age of the "Church of the Lord Jesus Christ" when we, as His agents, must execute His written judgments.  One scripture that shows us how we execute judgment can be found in Hebrews 11:7.  By Noah’s simple act of obedience, he executed judgment on an unbelieving world.  This year, 1999, is the Jewish year 5759, the "year of redemption and salvation."  I feel it is God’s timing for redemption and salvation to be blown to the ends of the earth!  Even the timing at which I heard God speak these words is significant.  It was nine years after hearing the word at Greenwich, when the Lord showed me His plumb line.  The number nine has to do with redemption and light and is linked to the hidden judgments.  It is significant that even now as we are writing on redemption, it is ten years after hearing the Lord at Greenwich.  The number ten is the number of the redeemed Church, the Church living in the fullness of time.  As we stand in this last year of the century, we need to be blowing the ram’s horn, calling forth redemption.  As watchmen we need to watch for the kairos times to pull forward the future times and also restore the past, bringing them both to the plumb line of God’s righteousness and judgment.

The prime meridian line in Greenwich, the zero longitude, represents the place on earth from which every place is measured in terms of distance east to west, as well as the point from which chronological time is measured.  From this location thousands of observations have been collected to build an accurate map of the sky.  It was from here in the late 1800's that a standard time was set; the prime meridian at Greenwich became the center of world time.  God has used the "map" of the sky as a sign to man since the beginning of creation.  Gen. 1:14 says, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years."  Thousands of years before Greenwich was established as a scientific observation point, wise men (astrologers) saw the star in the east pointing to the sign fulfilling the prophecy of Jesus, the Messiah.  In Joshua 10:12-14 God caused the sun and moon to stand still while Joshua completed God’s plans.  God has plans to do these same acts again (Is. 28:21).  In Isaiah 38:7-8 God turned the sun dial back 10 degrees as a sign to Hezekiah.  God also uses a plumb line to adjust or test things, examine minutely and critically, to show what is exactly true.  In Amos 7, God used a plumb line to test and examine Israel.  On two other occasions, 2 Kings 21:13 and Isaiah 28:17, God used a plummet (mishqeleth) for testing.  Genesis 1:1-2 states, "In the beginning God created the heaven and earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters."  From the beginning of time, God’s creation was formed using His plumb line, aligning the earth with His righteousness and judgment, calling forth order out of confusion and chaos, fullness out of emptiness, and light out of darkness.  Today as His line of judgment and righteousness has been dropped again, we are returning to that point of departure that came with the fall of man.  To get there, the effects of the fall must be reversed; all things satan has stolen must be redeemed: the land, the soul of man, and time.

In our past issues we have been writing on different aspects of redemption.  Each part, the land, the soul, and now time, are individual puzzle pieces that must be brought together for God’s plan of redemption to be fully understood.  As different parts of this picture are forming and the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ joins together in unity with the Father, the redemption of all things is drawing nearer to completion.  You will recall from the first issue of The Watchman that God is looking for a man among them to stand in the gap before Him on behalf of the land.  God strategically places watchmen to see His course and the course of the enemy.  The watchman must cry out what he sees: what is happening in the land, what is occurring in the heart of man, where the seasons and times are pointing.  These are all pieces of the puzzle of redemption of which we must have understanding in order to keep the Church headed in the right direction. I n Ecc. 3:1-10 the Word says, "To everything there is a season (zeman), and a time ('eth) to every purpose under the heaven."  Zeman comes from the root word zaman meaning to be appointed, to be determined, to be fixed.  'Eth means the right time, the proper time, and a season.  It describes regular events, an appropriate time for non-recurring incidents, and a set time.  The Greek equivalent is kairos. God has set appointed times to complete His purposes that will propel us into eternity.  As the Holy Spirit reveals to us the times and seasons which the Father holds in His own power, then we will know how to pray in order to legislate the heavens and the earth to accomplish the purpose of that time or season. God’s full redemption is when everything, all of creation, is as it was in the beginning.  I pray God will bring enlightenment to your spirits as you read and connect all these thoughts, so that together we can join God in calling out for His redemptive plan to be completed.

As a brief review, the Greek word for "redemption," exagorazo, means to buy or redeem from, as applied to our redemption by Christ from the curse and yoke of the law.  It generally conveys to buy up, to buy all that is anywhere to be bought, and not to allow the suitable moment to pass by unheeded but to make it one’s own.  Figuratively, it means to rescue from loss.  When redemption is related to time, it has a meaning of gaining or protracting, a pulling forward of time.

Two of the Greek words for "time," which we will look at, are chronos and kairos.  Chronos is a measurement of moments by a chronometer, an instrument for measuring time.  Chronos is a passing moment without any moral impact.  It has length as in a space of time designating a fixed occasion or particular period or interval.  It has no relationship to accomplishment.  Kairos, however, does indicate a time of accomplishment, an opportune time, an opportunity to do.  Kairos implies not the convenience of the season, but the necessity of the task at hand whether time provides a good, convenient opportunity or not.  Kairos is the appropriate time or season for necessary accomplishments to take place.  Chronos time embraces all possible kairos.  When kairos is used in conjunction with time (chronoi), it is a time when certain foreordained events take place or necessary accomplishments need to take place.  The recognition and redemption of the kairos time will propel the Church toward accomplishing God’s foreordained events.

Paul writes in Ephesians 5:15-17 "See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise (sophos), redeeming (exagorazo) the time (kairos), because the days are evil. Therefore do not be unwise, but understand (suniemi) what the will of the Lord is."  Derived from the Hebrew, one of the meanings of the word wise (sophos) in this passage is to be a watchman.  In order to see Jesus’ return, as watchmen, we are to walk diligently after the will of God.  When God’s will is understood (suniemi - collecting and putting together the pieces of the puzzle), we are able to join Him in exagorazo, pulling forward time and buying up the opportunities.  If, when God’s purposes are known in this time and season, we take the opportunity to buy them back (exagorazo), we will be joining Him in accomplishing the NOW time.  Today is the day of salvation yet the days are considered evil, malicious, perverse, tragic, and shrewd.  Psalm 74:16 says the days and the nights belong to God, therefore, we must redeem them.  For a day is coming when time will be suspended (Zech. 14:6-7).  Jesus says in John 9:4, "I must work the works of Him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work."   We must be about the Father’s business and seize every day. Take it by force!

In Col. 4:2-6, Paul continued to instruct the church at Colossae on the subject of pulling forward the opportune time.  We are to pray earnestly and be vigilant so God will o pen a gate where we can make known the secret truths of Christ, bringing forth revelation knowledge. We are to walk with wisdom (sophia - to be prudent with others and know how to regulate circumstances), gaining as much opportunity and time as possible in view of persecution and death.  In Mark 13:23 Jesus says, "But take ye heed (blepo): behold, I have foretold you all things."  Blepo stresses the need for earnest contemplation, to see, to perceive.  We cannot let the suitable time pass by unheeded; we must contemplate it, see it, perceive it, and own it.  In order to perceive things we must apply the words Jesus spoke in Matthew 7:7-8, "Ask (aiteo), and it shall be given you; seek (zeteo), and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened."  The Greek meaning of ask (aiteo) is a demand of something due.  "Seek" (zeteo) means to search for something hidden.  The battle is over the Word of the Lord and the fulfillment of that Word.  So as we put a demand on His Word and search for the hidden riches, seasons, and times yet to be revealed, He will open to us the revealed knowledge.  His Word is forever settled in the heavens and He says, "Ask and I will show you things not yet accomplished."

Jesus said in Matthew 16:3, "And in the morning, It will be foul weather today: for the sky is red and lowering. O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times (kairos)?"  The Pharisees and Sadducees were looking for a sign from heaven and the sign stood before them in the person of Christ Jesus.  These men were learned men, who had opportunity to have heard the prophetic word spoken by Malachi, "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD." (Malachi 4:6)   But due to their spiritual blindness and dullness, they failed to recognize the time of the visitation, the sign and fulfillment of prophecy.  Jesus confirmed that John the Baptist was the fulfillment of this prophecy.  From Matthew 17:11, we see that Elijah came to restore (apokathistemi) all things.  Apokathistemi means to restore lost dominion or authority, to be brought back again, or a restitution of a thing to its former condition.  The coming of Jesus to the earth to live among men was the beginning of the restoration of ALL things.  Through Him and His atoning blood sacrifice the plan of redemption was established.  Through redemption, exagorazo, ALL things will be brought back to their former state.

John the Baptist came preaching repentance.  He was pointing to repentance as a means of seeing the return of the Lord and the restoration of ALL things.  Peter continued with this preaching in Acts 3:19-21,

"Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times (kairos) of refreshing (anapsuxis) shall come from the presence of the Lord; And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: whom the heaven must receive (retain) until the times (chronos) of restitution (apokatastasis), of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began."  

This passage clearly announces repentance is tied to the return of the Lord.  Peter strongly emphasized this by saying think differently (repent) and turn about (be converted).  Why is this necessary?  So the kairos of anapsuxis (revival or breath) can come from the Lord.  The kairos time of the breath of the Lord and revival must be discerned, redeemed, and restored.  Jesus will remain in heaven until that fixed time (chronos) of apokatastasis of all things, which God has spoken in His word since ancient times, is accomplished.  Every prophetic word spoken in the prophetic books of the Bible will come to pass.  Apokatastasis means a restitution of a thing to its former condition.  The apokatastasis of all things is to be understood as the day of judgment and of the consummation of the age when the Lord will return.

Long before John the Baptist and Peter preached the message of repentance, Isaiah prophesied to the Lord’s servants in Isaiah 42:22-23, "But this is a people robbed and spoiled; they are all of them snared in holes, and they are hid in prison houses: they are for a prey, and none delivereth (natsal); for a spoil, and none saith, Restore (shuwb). Who among you will give ear ('azan) to this? Who will hearken and hear (shama') for the time to come?"  Isaiah was crying out the heart of God: none delivers, no one defends, pulls them away, rescues, or frees them; and none say restore, no one says turn about, no one leads back to the point of departure.  Who will pay attention, and hear with obedience, for what is ahead?  Who will pay attention to the words of the prophets since TIME began so he can respond with obedience at the moment the word is manifested?  If we know what the Word says about the "things that must be fulfilled" and "until certain things are accomplished," we can ask the Holy Spirit to help us know the times and seasons which the Father has in His authority (Acts 1:7).  Although we may not know the date, we must be able to recognize the sign that is before us and seize the moment, fighting even as Jacob wrestled through the night to the point of victory.  We, as the Church of the Lord Jesus, must begin to recognize the fullness of time, the point at which the word spoken by the prophets is before us.  Unlike the Pharisees and Sadducees who did not recognize Jesus as the fulfillment of prophecy, we must depend and expect the Holy Spirit to help us discern the signs.  When we tie the prophetic words with the activities in the spiritual realm, we must then pray to pull forward time (the fullness of time) established on the earth.  If we don’t see the kairos time and seize the moment, chronos time will be prolonged until the kairos time for that event comes again.  God is waiting for a generation who will understand the redemption plan and begin to pull it forward, and put it into action, in order to hasten the day of His coming.  We should know the Word and be listening to the prophets and watchmen, taking what they say and interceding until we see the Word fulfilled.  Jesus said in Matt. 11:12, "And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom (basileia -the foundation of power, the foot) of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force (harpazo-pulling or taking)."  To be violent means we must press through until the victory is realized. There can be no more giving up.  Any way the enemy can prolong time, he will.  If we give up, we will be siding with the enemy prolonging the enemy’s rule over the world.  Peter describes the type of people we should be in 2 Peter 3:12: "Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?"  In this he is saying we need to watch and speed the coming of the day of the Lord.  In Matthew 24:21-22 Jesus said great tribulation is coming upon the earth and except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened. (Lord, show us how to pray in order to shorten the days.) Jesus continued in Matthew 24:42 saying we must "take heed, watch and pray for you do not know when the hour is."

God created man as an eternal being.  When Adam fell, eternity was suspended and time began.  Death ruled instead of life, shame covered us instead of glory.  Jesus, as the atoning sacrifice, bought back all things to make this world and all that is in it whole again with the blood He shed at Calvary.  We, the Church, are here as His agents to execute the redemption plan of the Father.  In Revelation 21 and 22, we find reference to a new heaven and a new earth, the river of the water of life, and the tree of life.  The Greek word for "new," kainos, means qualitatively new.  This implies that the earth and heaven as we know them now will no longer exist.  They will have different characteristics and attributes.  This newness will be a restoring of all things.  Eternity will be brought back and all things returned to God’s original intent.

 

"And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven, And sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that there should be TIME NO LONGER: but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets." (Rev. 10:5-7)  

When God’s purposes are completed, there will be no more need of time, we will have returned to the point of departure, back into eternity.

In Jeremiah 5:1 God said, "Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man, if there be any that executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth; and I will pardon it."  God has established a plumb line of righteousness and judgment (Is. 28:17) and has built His kingdom upon these principles.  God is still looking for those who will execute judgment and seek truth in order to complete His works and acts on the earth.  The psalmist writes in Psalm 149:6-9 about it being an honor for the saints to execute vengeance on the nations, punishment on the peoples, and to bind the kings with chains and the nobles with fetters of iron.  We, the Church, must recognize this honor and be about the business of dividing satan’s kingdom and taking the spoils.  The victory of the cross forever sealed satan’s fate and forever revealed God’s justice.  We must rely upon the leadership of the Holy Spirit to know the truth and execute judgment.  In John 16:8 Jesus said the Holy Spirit came to reprove the world of sin, to bring righteousness, and to execute judgment.  Jesus Himself was the plumb line when He paid the price of sin, judged the prince of this world, and established the kingdom of righteousness.  By Jesus’ act of obedience, He executed judgment on satan and his kingdom. The Holy Spirit is here carrying out the plumb line that Jesus laid.

We are at the end of the age when the judgments of God are being revealed and an age when the Church will demonstrate these judgments against satan and his works.  Paul writes in Eph. 3:10 that through the Church, the complicated, many-sided wisdom of God in all its infinite variety and innumerable aspects might now be made known to the angelic rulers and authorities (principalities and power) in the heavenly sphere.  He goes on in verse 11, "This is in accordance with the terms of the eternal and timeless purpose which He has realized and carried into effect, in [the person of] Christ Jesus our Lord." We have moved into a new age, the age of the "Church of the Lord Jesus Christ." The gates of hell will not prevail against the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. In this age we believe the glory of the Lord is rising on the Church and the Spirit of the Lord God is upon us as Isaiah wrote in Isaiah 60 and 61.  In the Old Testament the day of the Lord’s visitation was a time when God brought judgment. Jer. 8:7 says "Yea, the stork in heaven knoweth her appointed times; and the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming; but my people know not the judgment of the Lord."  We must be a people who know the times and the season of God’s judgment.

As the watchman stands at the place of the plumb line (zero) and cries out "Redeem the time for the days are evil," we are to buy up and pull forward every opportunity before us and redeem everything behind us to the point of zero, when time will be no more.  God watches over His Word to see that it is performed.  In Isaiah 45:19, God says He has not spoken in secret, He speaks the truth and declares what is right. He goes on to say, "Declare what has been told long ago."  God has made known the end from the beginning and from ancient times things, which have not been done.  God’s purposes will be established and He will accomplish all that He pleases.  The Lexical Aids to the Old Testament in the Hebrew Greek Key Study Bible say of the ancient times (H6924) that the Hebrews "backed into" time, i.e., they saw the past as "before" them and the future was "behind!" In Isaiah 58:1, Isaiah 61:4, and Amos 9:11 the Word speaks of rebuilding the old waste places and raising up the age-old foundations that have been devastated for generations.  As we re-walk the old waste places, the ancient foundations, and generations of desolation, we must redeem them, pulling them forward to zero.  The future events, yet to take place, must also be pulled forward to the point of zero.  The point of zero is the point of departure, the place of origin, the meridian line, if you will.  God promises in Joel 2:14 that He will restore the years that the enemy has devoured.  These are aspects of the past which must be restored.  As we, the Church, move into the future with the re-establishing of the foundations laid by the apostles and prophets, we are beginning to restore the ancient foundations.  We must have one foot in the future and one in the past pulling together all things to the plumb line of God’s righteousness and judgment.  We must go to the places where God’s foundations were destroyed and once again declare His word.  These destroyed places of the past are in our future until they are redeemed.  Chronos time will take us to that zero point, that point of departure from God’s righteousness and judgment, and as we declare God’s purposes, the kairos time is seized. Ecc. 3:15-16 says, "That which hath been is now; and that which is to be hath already been; and God requireth that which is past. And moreover I saw under the sun the place of judgment, that wickedness was there; and the place of righteousness, that iniquity was there."

In the days ahead (or perhaps already upon us) there will be time, times, and half a time as described in Daniel 7:22-27, Daniel 12:1-7, and Rev. 12:14.  Although we may not completely understand all the meanings, the Word clearly says it will be a time when the enemy will speak against God; he will attempt to wear down the saints; he will try to change the times and the laws; and scatter the power of the holy people.  All his efforts are an attempt to prolong his time on earth.  We must be prepared to stand and over come by the blood, our testimony, and love not our life unto death in order to thwart his plans.  This is a time for the wise (watchmen) to shine and turn many to righteousness (Daniel 12:3) and a time to find the place in the wilderness that has been prepared where we will be nourished (Rev. 12:14).  God has already declared the end from the beginning and has plans and places prepared for His Body as he continues preparing His Bride.

The decisions made in time will determine eternity! God is saying, "Everything you redeem I will fill with my Glory!"

In our next issue we will share the words that we have already received from many of you who receive this newsletter.  Additionally, for those who have not already shared with us what the Lord is showing you, we would like to hear from you.