The Lion has Roared

For three weeks in August each year, we are in a place in the Jewish calendar called ‘Between the Straits’. This three-week period ends on 9 Av in the Hebrew calendar and August 13 in the Gregorian calendar.

Judah has gone into captivity, Under affliction and hard servitude; She dwells among the nations, She finds no rest; All her persecutors overtake her in dire straits. Lamentations 1:3

The root Hebrew word for dire straits is tsar. It means narrow, tied up, and cramped and can also be translated as distress, enemy, and adversary.

The same word appears in Isaiah 59:

When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him. Isaiah 59:19

In biblical history, the 8th of Av was the day the spies returned from assessing the promised land, 10 of them bringing an ‘evil’ report. The 9th of Av was the day the Israelites chose to believe the evil report and descended into complaining and grumbling against Moses…

But the men who had gone up with him said, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.” And they spread a bad report about the land they had explored among the Israelites. They said, “The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there were of great size. We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.” Numbers 13:31-33

Because of their unbelief, the people of God remained in the wilderness for another 40 years instead of entering, and they brought a curse upon themselves that has been re-visited upon them for millennia.

• 9 Av was the day of the destruction of the first and second temples.

• It was the day of the signing of an edict to expel the Jews from England in 1290.

• It was the day Himmler received approval for ‘the final solution’ from the Nazi party (to eliminate the Jews of Europe).

• 9 Av was the day the mass deportation of Jews from the Warsaw ghetto to Treblinka began.

A day of sadness, loss, and destruction. And here we find ourselves on the brink of another 9 Av with  Iran on the verge of launching a direct attack on Israel.

Between the straits is a time of pressing and squeezing. I’m not sure who else has been feeling this, but I certainly have. .. it seems like there is chaos in the spirit realm and pressure on every front. The temptation is to give in and crumble.

But as we stand here on 8 Av, let us not be like the children of Israel who brought an evil report, no matter what tomorrow and this month and the months that follow may bring. Let us not complain and shrink back in fear. New beginnings don’t require a launch pad of ease and comfort. In fact, biblically, new beginnings only come after death. If you are feeling hard-pressed, you are being positioned by the Almighty hand of God for a breakthrough! The only way is the way of the cross! What a gospel of good news! That as we pursue Jesus, it will be impossible for death to keep its hold on us!!!

But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him. Acts 2:24

8 is the number of new beginnings. I and many others have been seeing the number 8 everywhere, August being the 8th month in the Gregorian calendar and Av being the 5th in the Hebrew calendar (GRACE!) The promise of God is with us.

Beloved church, there are giants in the land, and in the days to come, the giants will loom ever larger, but we have the spirit of Joshua and Caleb. We have the spirit of the risen Christ. We are more than able.

‘We should go up and take possession, for we can certainly do it!’ 

The Hebrew word for ‘we can certainly’ (or well able to overcome) is yakol, which also means POWER!

In Christ, we have POWER to overcome by the blood of the lamb and the word of our testimony. We are more than conquerors. We each have a promised land: a potion of Canaan. What is this? It is our portion of the revelation of Jesus Christ and of the Kingdom magnified through us on the earth. It is the way Jesus speaks through us and shines through us. I can’t occupy your land, and you can’t occupy mine! It is bespoke for each of us, and we must enter into and take possession as individuals if we want to take possession corporately. The boundary lines have fallen pleasant places, but entering in will take faith and courage.

Sons of God arise! Prophets arise! The month of Av is associated with the constellation of Leo (the lion). This is not astrology. We are not worshipping the stars, but we look to them for signs in the heavens. The lion of the tribe of Judah is roaring over this month. (Judah is released from captivity!!!) This should be a month of celebration and praise! A month of declaring the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. In the genealogy of Christ in Matthew, we read ‘Judah begot Perez’ (Matthew 1:3). Praise gives birth to a breakthrough!

Come on, church. He has put His words in our mouths, so praise Him! Speak hope.

Prophesy life. We are not those condemned to die in the wilderness. We are called to breakthrough and to occupy!

‘Surely the Lord God does nothing without revealing His plans to His servants, the prophets. THE LION HAS ROARED. WHO WILL NOT FEAR. THE LORD GOD HAS SPOKEN WHO WILL NOT PROPHESY? Amos 3:9

Do not speak out of circumstance. Do not look to the earthly realm for hope that only comes from the God of all hope. Even if there are giants in the land. Even if there is lack. Even if there is peril and pressing and war. Rise up in faith and believe! Rejoice in the Lord your God. Join in with the lion of the tribe of Judah. Exult in the victorious God of your salvation! Arise and shine church. Your greatest hour approaches!

Though the fig tree does not blossom and there is no fruit on the vines, [though] the product of the olive fails, and the fields yield no food, though the flock is cut off from the fold and there are no cattle in the stalls, Yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will exult in the [victorious] God of my salvation! The Lord God is my Strength, my personal bravery, and my invincible army; He makes my feet like hinds’ feet and will make me to walk [not to stand still in terror, but to walk] and make [spiritual] progress upon my high places [of trouble, suffering, or responsibility]! Habakkuk 3:17-19