Have you ever prayed for a prophecy that is in the Bible to be manifested in your generation? When my knowledge of the kingdom of God was very much limited, I thought that we should never pray for prophecy to come to pass because it is a declaration of God himself and will happen in due season. I compared it to the decree that God made to the sun, that, it should rise every day from the east, and set to the west, in different time zones, without anyone praying for the sun to rise. I was totally wrong because God himself tells us to remind him of his own word in Isaiah 43:26.
In the Bible we read about a prophecy that was spoken by Jeremiah concerning the duration of the captivity into Babylon. It is recorded in Jeremiah 29:10-14. When the 70 years of their captivity came to pass, a young man by the name of Daniel went before the Lord in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes, pleading with God that the set time had come, his people should be freed from the Babylonian rule. Today, Daniel’s fast has become a ritual for some and a tradition in Pentecostal churches. However, what many people do not realise is that Daniel fasted for a prophecy to be effected at the appointed time. He did not just fast “in order to be more sensitive to God” but for prophecy to come to pass. May this be an eye opener for you so that your next planned Daniel fast will not only skip meat and delicacies but will focus on praying for Isaiah 11:9 to come to pass. There are many prophecies to be prayed for in the Bible take time to look for them and do exactly as Daniel did – fast and pray.
A similar prophecy had been given by God in Genesis 15:13 referring to the descendants of Abraham that they would live in Egypt for 400 years. No one checked the times and for that reason no one prayed for their release when 400 years elapsed. Therefore, they suffered 30 avoidable extra years of further slavery.
Based on this information, I would assume that this young and intelligent man didn’t want a repeat of this failure in his own time. The same story could have inspired him to kneel down before God and pray for a smooth exodus out of Babylon without further delay and unnecessary punishment. Daniel researched and calculated the timeframes and discovered that 70 years of their punishment was nearly over and it was time for them to go back to their land. Daniel chapter nine narrates the whole story and prayer. After 21 days our faithful God sent his angel Gabriel with the answer. If prophecy was not to be prayed for, God would not have sent such an important figure like angel Gabriel to bring an answer to Daniel. He would have answered by simply effecting the prophecy without having a face to face conversation with Daniel. Furthermore, angel Gabriel referred to Daniel as a “highly esteemed” individual (Daniel 9:23). That title alone tells us that God received the prayer of Daniel as one unique and nearly unheard-of request among the sons of men, and as such wanted to show us his approval of prayers of that nature. Also, if there is nothing to hinder prophecies from happening, there would not have been any war between the angel of God, in this case, Gabriel, and the prince of Persia (Daniel 10:13). All these events inform us of the importance of praying for prophecies, for they can be delayed, interrupted, muddled up or stopped completely.
The book of Matthew, in the New Testament, has good examples of fulfilled prophecies. The writer himself, Matthew, tried in every way to show his readers, how the events concerning the birth of Jesus, aligned with the prophecies that were spoken by prophets in the Old Testament. In the same book, Jesus Christ also reminded his audience, a number of times by saying, “Have you not read that….” in a bid to unfold the fulfilment of an old prophecy (Matthew 21:16, 42). Elsewhere, he pointed out old prophecies that were made concerning the scribes and the Pharisees, in particular, their non-acceptance of him as the Messiah (Matthew 13:14-15 and 15:7-9). In all this, he wanted us to know that the prophecies in the Bible, specifically, those that have not yet happened, will, unquestionably, come to pass.
Now, my question is, how many of you, especially those that have done the Daniel fast, have ever bothered to look at the prophecies in the Bible, and to go before God in prayer and petition for that prophecy to come to pass? If Daniel did it, could we not learn and imitate him in our generation? Reading through our life guide (the Bible) we go through several prophecies, past, present and future. As I said earlier, it never crossed my mind that prophecies could be prayed for if we wanted to see their manifestation in our time, therefore, this book is my first prayer for prophecy. I have read the Bible back and forth, but that revelation or insight had not yet entered my mind until in recent years. It took me a great deal of time to end up putting this book together.
The first time I read Isaiah 11:6-9 it did not mean anything. It was just one of the many difficult stories that are in the Bible. The next few times I read the same text, I did not pay attention, until one day. There is always that “one day” when your inner eyes get opened. I read it and asked myself, how can this ever happen? It is an impossible situation. How can hyenas, lions, leopards, cheetahs and human beings live together without tearing each other apart?
There is a lot of controversy about this passage though, as some scholars of the Bible say that this will all happen at a place called Paradise. They argue that when people die they do not go to heaven straight away, but go to a place called Paradise, where they will live in this fashion, ferocious animals and humans living together in harmony. They make reference to the words of Jesus Christ on the cross, telling the repentant robber that he was going to be with him in Paradise, not heaven, but Paradise on that day. Others say that it will happen in time to come, maybe at the second coming of Jesus Christ. However, I kept on reading verse 9 with no answer coming forth – They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.
First and foremost, if this prophecy is for Paradise why is the earth mentioned in this verse, because Paradise is not earth, and Paradise is definitely not on earth. If it were, we could have discovered its existence by now. Secondly, if this Paradise or this prophecy is dependent on the earth being filled with the knowledge of God, it also means that in Paradise itself this prophecy has not yet manifested, simply because this earth is not yet filled with the knowledge of the Lord. So, either way, this prophecy cannot take place, wherever it is supposed to take place, for the earth, as it is of today, is not yet filled with the knowledge of the Lord. Yes, we the inhabitants of this planet, can all be filled with the knowledge of the Lord. This is surely an easy task for the Lord as the Bible tells us that, “He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe” (Ephesians 4:10). This calls for prayers, specifically for one thing, that God will fill every vessel that can be filled with the knowledge of the Lord by His Spirit.
In the New Testament we meet two people in Luke 2:22-39, one called Simeon and the other Anna. Anna had never left the temple but worshiped day and night, fasting and praying from the time her husband died after only seven years of marriage. I believe that this 84-year-old woman was praying for the Messiah to come, a prophecy that had been spoken by many prophets long before. Verse 38 tells us that she spoke to “all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem”, which means that they were praying for the prophecy of the Messiah to come to pass in their own time. Simeon, on the hand, was a righteous and devout man, we are told. God promised him that before he died, he would see the Messiah. I believe Simeon was praying for the prophecy of the Saviour to be fulfilled, and that is why the Holy Spirit assured him of that, and the Saviour did indeed come in his lifetime.
We also have another gentleman who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God (Mark 15:43). I believe too that he was praying for the Saviour to come. This is Joseph of Arimathea, who took the body of our Lord Jesus Christ and buried him. As we can see, Anna, Simeon and Joseph were all focussed on the Old Testament prophecy of the coming Messiah and they prayed for it to happen in their time and it did. At least we are getting an indication that whatever we want to see happening in our lifetime, we can request it in prayer. Which prophecy are you eager to see happening before you leave this earth? As for me, I want Isaiah 11:9 to manifest before I go to heaven.
In 1 Kings chapter 18 we meet a mighty prophet by the name of Elijah. God tells him to present himself before king Ahab because he was going to send them rain after 3 years of drought. He did as he was told. However, we see him climbing to the top of Mount Carmel, to pray for the rain to come. Seven times he prayed and seven times he sends his servant to go towards the sea and check if there was any sign of rain. He only leaves his place of prayer when his servant tells him that a cloud the size of a hand had appeared. To him that was the answer. Prophet Elijah heard clearly from God that he was sending rain, but he still prayed for that Word to come to pass – why?
In the book of Zechariah, we are taught to ask God for rain in the rainy season. “Ask ye of the Lord rain in the time of the latter rain; so the Lord shall make bright clouds, and give them showers of rain, to every one grass in the field” (Zechariah 10:1 – NKJV). This is not a prophecy, but, it is something we have to take note of concerning prayer. We all know that rain comes in the rainy season. The Bible talks about the former and latter rains which by nature have to come at the appointed seasons. However, God is teaching us that, it may not be business as usual. The time may be right, the terrain may be suitable but the rain or the expected, may not come except by prayer.
Having said that, I think it is time that the people of this generation work together towards the realisation of the prophecy outlined in Isaiah 11:6-9: “The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The infant will play near the cobra’s den, and the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea”.
You may perhaps have a very strong sense of opposition, whenever you imagine living next to a huge python – well, don’t you worry – relax, we are not going there yet. We will divide the prophecy into two parts. We pray for humans to live together without harming one another and once that happens, we then pray for part two. Maybe collectively we might find a solution for taming all the black mambas, cobras and puff adders and live side by side with them.
Surely this prophecy benefits the entire creation on earth – we will all live in peace and harmony without fear of anything (fire, flood, lion) or anybody (robber, dissident, murderer or dictator) – wouldn’t you like that? If other prophecies which are recorded in the Bible, really did happen because people prayed for them to come to pass, then this one will surely come to pass and surprise all the sceptics of the land.
One of you may say, Daniel prayed alone on behalf of all the people of his time and was answered. He did not call the entire world to pray, so why should we all pray? This prophecy requires everyone to come to the knowledge of the Lord first, therefore it requires a series of lessons to be given, coupled with prayer, and cannot be done by one person, but must be done by all of us, each one reaching one of the 7.8 billion people on this planet.
Knowledge comes through teaching and learning. We have churches in almost every corner, you may say, can they not teach everyone? To answer you on that one, I can say also, we have schools all over the world, non-fee-paying schools, but in every country under the sun we still find people who cannot read and write – why is that? It is because we have chosen one method of teaching, one place for delivery of knowledge, that is the classroom. Not everyone finds a classroom to be a conducive environment for receiving knowledge, and the same is true of a church building. To deliver the knowledge in Isaiah 11:9 to all people let us use other methods outside the church buildings.
The Bible may be too thick and intimidating for many, but this book might be a starting point. That is why this book is given free of charge, as an awareness builder, so that no one will ever say, “I never had the money to buy the book about the knowledge of the Lord”. It is my dream that the book will be translated into all languages and be given to all so that they can understand it better in their own mother tongue. This book should never be found in your home bookshelf. It should be in-circulation like currency, so it should change hands all the time. Remember, freely you have received this book and freely you should pass it on. Whenever you finish reading the book pass it on to your neighbour/colleague/friend to read it also. You can read it as a family in the evenings, skip one TV program and read one chapter per day. Discuss what you read and teach your children more as instructed by God in Deuteronomy 11:19. The Bible has 1189 chapters, why not take the Bible challenge and read 31/4 chapters per day? Then by the end of the year you will have completed the whole Bible! Or just read one chapter per day. In 3 years’ time you will have completed the entire Bible.
Just for a start, let us all pray that the prophecy in Isaiah 11:9 comes to pass in our generation so that, we may all “Live In Peace” (LIP). Currently, all we know is, “Resting in Peace” (RIP), and yet, none of us knows whether the people in the graves marked with “RIP” are actually resting in peace. We need peace in the land of the living for all human beings on this planet. With the full knowledge of the Lord, we can all help one another to get rid of violence and suffering permanently. It is also worth mentioning, that, there are, indeed remarkable similarities between the prayer of Daniel and the prayer we are embarking on as you will see throughout this book. Daniel prayed for an end of their captivity and suffering in Babylon. He prayed for a safe return to the perfect place, the city of peace, Jerusalem, and he was answered. This book’s campaign is to pray for everyone to be filled with the knowledge of the Lord so that, we can put an end to the suffering that this earth has endured since the devil was hurled down from heaven to this earth (Revelation 12:7-13). We are basically praying for the New Earth and the New Jerusalem (Revelation 21) where all our tears will be wiped away. Therefore, let each one of us do his/her part by kneeling down and reminding God of his own word and say, “Holy Father, the time to fill us all with the knowledge of the Lord has come. We position ourselves to receive from you. We kindly ask you to do your part. Through Christ Jesus, we lay our request before you. Amen.