The Lord said that new wine should be put into new wine skins. He also said that those discipled into the ways of the Kingdom must be prepared to bring forth things new as well as things old. It was therefore not unexpected that back in January 1972 I should receive two rather humorous visions.
In the first I saw a man draw up at a modern Gas Station in a vintage Ford Model T from the 1920s. But the pump attendant warned him that to put high octane fuel into cars with low compression engines would cause damage.
In the second vision I saw a man in full armour on horseback charging a Chieftain tank. On impact his lance splintered, and he crashed against the side of the tank and regardless of his armour, he suffered injury. The men, emerging from the tank were highly amused.
The Lord says, “The nature of human life has changed over the last 2,000 years, and so also has the nature of spiritual life. Principles remain the same, but applications must identify with the present. There is a lot of difference between a volley of arrows shot from a phalanx of archers, and an Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile. But both are sent into the air to land elsewhere. So also in the spiritual life, seek to know the wiles of the Devil today, and how to combat him. Paul’s Panoply in Ephesians still stands, but you may visualise it differently to ancient armour. Seek my face, and the Holy Spirit will guide you.”
I was alerted to the fact that many ancient prophecies had either to be updated, or even withdrawn. Evangelical Christians may take offence at this, but the warfare of Ezekiel 39, assuming such warfare could take place today, will certainly not provide Israelis with fuel for seven years. Arrows burn, but shells don’t. Likewise the Temple structure of Ezekiel 40 et seq. will not be built, but even if it is, there will certainly not be blood sacrifices there. The New Jerusalem in Revelation is spiritual.
These and many other examples of prophecy require updating. Thus prophecy is seen to be fluid, not set in stone, because the prophetic word is basically a statement of the Divine Mind, rather than a prediction. God speaks to people AS THEY ARE, and uses language appropriate to the time in which they live. He will therefore speak to us today in terms we can understand, connected with life as we know it.
