Taking Cities for God
I will be leading us in Communion at the end of today’s post. If possible, pause your recording and/or reading and get some juice/wine and bread ready so you can join me. Communion is more than remembering and honoring; it is a declaration of, the release of, and celebration of victory!
A word I received from Chuck Pierce a few years back is applicable to the recent word regarding the overthrow of Baal’s hold on America.
“I’ve heard a word from God,” Chuck Pierce told me. I was excited. Chuck is a prophet, after all. What pearl of wisdom was he about to share with me? Directions for my future? A profound nugget of revelation? If nothing truly spiritual, perhaps at least something exciting, like who would win the Super Bowl.
Don’t laugh - he’s done that before.
I was expectant. We were in Israel, the place of Jesus’ birth and ministry. Chuck probably tapped into the timing of Christ’s return to Earth, or maybe who the anti-Christ is. Who knows what he had picked up from the revelation-filled airwaves of Jerusalem!
“I heard Holy Spirit say, ‘I’m going to pioneer Hebron again,’” he stated with a great deal of confidence.
I, in return, gave him a mix of “deer in headlights” and “you’ve got to be kidding” looks. “What does that mean?” I asked the prophet.
“I don’t know,” Chuck replied.
“What do you mean you don’t know? You’re a prophet, for crying out loud,” I reminded him.
“Well, I heard Holy Spirit say it, but I don’t know what it means,” he stated. “It’s for you. He’ll tell you what it means.”
Prophets can be annoying.
I wasn’t completely surprised. Chuck has done this to me before. God will sometimes give him only a word or phrase - just enough to bait me. I, then, have to dig and discern for myself what it means. It must be a game God and prophets sometimes play with us normal folks.
So…I locked in on Hebron.
The names of people and places in Old Testament times were important, their meanings often holding prophetic significance. Bethel, for example, where Jacob had a profound encounter with God, means “the house of God.” Jerusalem means “the city of peace or wholeness.” Hebron - the place Holy Spirit said He would pioneer again - means “friendship, league, confederacy, or federation.” Though the word doesn’t literally mean covenant, the concept is certainly there. Hebron is a strong alliance born out of a close relationship; thus, covenantal friendship. Because of this meaning, God made it the final resting place of Abraham, the covenant “friend of God.” In fact, Adam and Eve, Isaac and Rebecca, Jacob and Leah were all buried at Hebron. It is easy to see the significance of this place. With this meaning in mind, Hebron became symbolic of several things:
It is the highest city in Israel, showing us that covenantal friendship with God is the “highest” or the loftiest privilege we are afforded. It is also the thing satan most wants to steal.
Hebron was the city from which King David first ruled, demonstrating that authority is released as we walk in intimacy and covenantal friendship with God.
Hebron became one of Israel’s 6 “Cities of Refuge.” These were cities structured to house and protect individuals who had accidentally taken another person’s life. The unfortunate people fled to the nearest city of refuge in order to prevent a family member of the slain person from enacting revenge. It was inconvenient but better than vengeance killings. The New Testament tells us these cities of refuge became types or pictures of Christ, to whom we “have fled for refuge” (Hebrews 6:18, KJV). According to the Talmud, the best lambs for sacrifices came from Hebron. Therefore, this city pictures the salvation, safety, and refuge we find in Christ, the Lamb of God.
Satan hates geographical locations like Hebron that have become meaningful to God and His people. When possible, he seeks to defile these places using perversion, violence, covenant-breaking, idolatry, and the shedding of innocent blood. Hebron, as a picture of Christ our Lamb and refuge, and a picture of covenantal friendship with God, became a prime target for Satan’s hatred, and in the four centuries between Abraham and Joshua, demonized giants had overtaken and defiled the city. Arba, “the greatest of all the Anakim” (giants), made it his home and renamed Hebron after himself: Kiriath-Arba (which means “the city of Arba;” Joshua 14:15).
By the time the 12 spies of Israel were sent by Moses to surveil the Promised Land, three more giants, direct descendants of Anak, had inhabited Hebron (see Numbers 12:22, 28, 33). This holy place, representing friendship and covenant with God, was now ruled by giants and was a place of terror. It so terrified ten of the twelve spies, in fact, that they brought back an evil report of fear and unbelief to the entire nation of Israel. “There is no way we can take the land promised us through Abraham,” they stated. “The giants are simply too big and powerful.”
Caleb, one of the 12 spies, was indignant. Seeing that Arba and the other giants had defiled this holy city and desecrated the final resting place of Israel’s patriarchs, he was angry. His response was to ask Moses for this very mountain-top city as his inheritance. “We can conquer these giants and their fortified cities, guys,” Caleb told the fearful Israelites, “and I’ll take the biggest.” His appeal failed, however, and because of the Israelites’ fear and unbelief, Caleb had to wait 45 years for this opportunity.
After 4 decades of wilderness wandering by the unbelieving generation, and another 5 years of war, it was time. Faith-filled Caleb, now 85 years old, declared, “Give me my mountain!” (Joshua 14:12). In asking for Hebron, now called the City of Arba, this warrior was asking for more than a city; he was requesting the assignment of conquering the greatest stronghold of the land, ruled by the greatest giant.
Caleb did conquer Kiriath-Arba and its giants; he then renamed it Hebron. In the words of my prophetic friend, Chuck, he pioneered Hebron again. In that holy place, Caleb enjoyed a covenantal friendship with God. He also paved the way for it to become David’s first capital city and a picture of Christ, our Savior and Refuge.
When Holy Spirit declared through Chuck that He was going to “pioneer Hebron again,” He was announcing: “I am going to raise up and empower Calebs to remove spiritual giants ruling regions of the earth - places like America - transforming them into strongholds of life. They will transform spiritually dark cities and nations into places of salvation, refuge, and covenantal friendship with God; places from which the rule and authority of Christ - He who sits on the throne of David - can be seen.”
The church around the world is moving into this era. We will soon experience our finest and most productive season of harvest. The body of Christ will see at least a billion souls saved in the next 10-20 years, perhaps more than have been saved in the previous 2000! Portions of the earth that have been ruled by spiritual giants will be liberated. Evil forces have ruled some regions of the planet since Adam’s fall. But others, like America, have had covenants and friendships with God defiled, just as occurred at Hebron. Caleb-hearted, fearless warriors will pioneer these “Hebrons” again.
Pray with me:
Father, we have covenantal friendship with You through Christ. We have fled to Him for refuge and can now live at Hebron! He conquered the giant of spiritual death and freed us from its stronghold. Thank You for this word regarding Hebron, that we, through Christ’s victory at the Cross will conquer spiritual giants and pioneer Hebrons again. Baal’s hold on America will end.
You have shown us through Hebron, that the key to overcoming giants and moving in high levels of authority is covenantal friendship with You through Christ, the Lamb. We thank You for the salvation, refuge, protection, and covenant friendship with You we have found through His victory of Calvary. As we partake of the bread now, we celebrate and proclaim this victory..
We also know that our King and Redeemer gave us His warrior nature, that we, like Caleb, are more than conquerors through Him. We ask You for higher levels of this nature to operate in us, so that we would have a fierce determination to see people freed from sin, oppression, and every attack of satan. May we truly be liberators.
And we pray for America. We ask for the greatest revival in the history of this nation to burst forth. We pray for the youth, our schools, and universities. Come to them with your power and love. We pray for inner cities and places overrun with poverty and hopelessness. We ask You to be the Hero of these without hope. Save them.
And we ask You for revival in the church. Send us your fire. Let the greatest renewal that has ever hit the Body of Christ come to the American church in this hour. And may we see our destiny as a nation restored. We will be Your Calebs taking the gospel of Jesus Christ and His kingdom to the ends of the earth. We decree that this is so through the covenantal blood of Christ. Amen.
Portions of today’s devotional were taken from my book Giants Will Fall.
Click on the link below to watch the full video.
Comments