Wwm - Church of God of Prophecy

Behold, Kairos Reversals:
The Story of Hezekiah
As children of God, we are graciously
admonished that Biblical examples
“. . . are written for our admonition,
upon whom the ends of the world
are come” (1 Corinthians 10:11). The
story of Hezekiah’s illness, deliverance,
and tragic ending are glaring, biblical
examples of a kairos reversal.
Hezekiah, due to a serious illness,
received a prophetic word to set his
house in order because he was going
to die. His prayer to the Lord was one
of humility and supplication. “Remember,
O Lord, how I have walked before
you faithfully and with wholehearted
devotion and have done what is good
in your eyes. And Hezekiah wept
bitterly” (Isaiah 38:3 NIV). The second
prophetic word was that the petition
for deliverance from death was granted
with a kairos gift of adding 15 years to
his life. The kairos gift also included
a promise of divine intervention in
delivering Jerusalem from the hand of
the Assyrian king (vv. 4-6). The promise
of deliverance was confirmed by “I will
make the shadow cast by the sun go
back the ten steps it has gone down
on the stairway of Ahaz” (v. 7 NIV).
Great victories that ride the waves
of deliverance can also lead into a
euphoric state that can lessen the sense
of discernment. As the story of Hezekiah’s
deliverance unfolds, a second reversal
was pending, when the “envoys” of
Babylon arrived to ask Hezekiah “about
the miraculous sign that had occurred
in the land” (2 Chronicles 32:31 NIV).
When one is in a euphoric state,
some serious unresolved issues can
arise when critical decisions have to be
made. The envoys from Babylon came
on an exploratory mission to determine
what Hezekiah possessed, which was
more than great riches. Hezekiah also
possessed a heart that had trouble
with pride (2 Chronicles 32:25, 26).
Although, Hezekiah had repented of
the pride of his heart, it appeared he
had dormant pride, for in a euphoric
state of complacency, “. . . God left
him to test him and to know everything
that was in his heart” (v. 31 NIV).
The primary root of the Hebrew
word yada (know) is “ascertained by
seeing.” 2 When God departs from one,
the real person stands up. Actions
reveal the heart. The second reversal
was pronounced by another prophetic
word by Isaiah “And some of your
descendants, your own flesh and blood
who will be born to you, will be taken
away, and they will become eunuchs
in the palace of the king of Babylon”
(Isaiah 39:7 NIV). Arrogance and pride
are kin to self-centeredness and they
go before a fall.
Hezekiah’s words in response to the
reversal of good fortune were amazing
for “. . . he thought, there will be peace
and security in my lifetime” (Isaiah
39:8 NIV). In kairos visitation, reversal
can be negative or positive. When
divine intervention arrives, it does not
only affect the present generation,
but it becomes trans-generational.
In essence, Hezekiah was willing to
sacrifice the future on the altar of the
present. What price glory!
Kairos Discernment
“Then suddenly the Lord you are
seeking will come to his temple”
(Malachi 3:1 NIV). “But when the time
had fully come, God sent his Son,
born of a woman, born under the
law” (Galatians 4:4 NIV). The greatest
kairos visitation was the arrival of the
incarnate Son of God, Christ Jesus who
was announced prophetically in the
canonical text. Israel was not ignorant
of the prophetic words of the coming
of the Messiah, but kairos visitation
without the Holy Spirit is a formula for
tragic results.
It is interesting to see how in the
Lucan corpus the author posits the
essential elements of the guidance of
the Holy Spirit. A graphic example of
the need for discerning guidance by
the Holy Spirit is when Christ visits
the temple.
A certain Simeon, a righteous and
devout person who was waiting for
the consolation of Israel, to whom
it was revealed by the Holy Spirit
that he would not see death until he
would see the Lord’s Christ come to
the temple, “Moved by the Spirit,
he went into the temple courts” and
took the Christ child in his arms and
stated, “For my eyes have seen your
salvation, which you have prepared in
the sight of all people” (Luke 2:27, 30
NIV). What did Simeon see? There was
no visible miracle that the Christ child
was performing. There was no outward
manifestation that the text reveals.
In kairos discernment one sees and
senses what others miss.
In like manner, a second witness of
the Christo-kairos visitation is recorded
in the person of Anna the prophetess who
“never left the temple but worshiped
night and day, fasting and praying,
which also, “spoke about the child
to all who were looking forward to
the redemption of Jerusalem” (Luke
2:38 NIV). What did Anna see? There
were no outward signs, but Anna saw
something in the guidance of the Holy
Spirit. Are we not seeing the kairos of
God because we are only looking for
signs and wonders?
In kairos discernment, some
individuals begin to see and sense a
shift, a different sound, a different
rhythm, a different encounter. The
Lord’s first advent to visit his temple
was ignored by the priest and
worshipers. All continued to perform
their duties and practices, oblivious
to the fact that “…the Lord you are
seeking will come to his temple”
(Malachi 3:1 NIV).
Routine dulls the senses in
perceiving the guidance of the Holy
Spirit. Christ’s first advent to his temple
created two sets of individuals: one
walking in systematic, routine rhythm,
and those who were moving in the
kairos rhythm by the guidance of the
Holy Spirit. I believe that a present
danger in the COGOP is that the global
constituency is not fully aware of the
kairos visitation. Routine complacency
will not assist this group of believers to
receive the full impact and benefits of
God’s kairos. I endorse the embracing
of the core value of biblical leadership
development to engage the harvest,
with the caveat that leadership
development must be holistic in
dealing with the kairos visitation.
WWM AUGUST 2011 7