Crossing the Threshold: An Isaiah 66 Season
We have approached the appointed time. On December 15, I felt a door crack open in the spirit, and we have stepped over the threshold into a new season, just like that. I woke up the next morning and felt the Lord say strongly:
“‘Shall I bring to the point of birth and not cause to bring forth?’ says the Lord; ‘Shall I, who cause to bring forth, shut the womb?’ says your God.”
We serve the God who opens and shuts wombs, who brings life forth, who causes deliveries and brings fulfillment, the Lord of open and shut doors.
“And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: ‘The words of the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens. ‘I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.’”
God is faithful to bring to completion, that which He started. He has given you the keys you need to step through the door to this next season. It is a door only He could have opened for you. I feel a strong pull to Isaiah 66 at this time. I started reading, and this question from the Lord stood out to me greatly:
What is the house that you would build for me, and what is the place of my rest?
This whole year I have felt the Lord call His people to the work of building His temple, building His church, returning to the Sabbath, and returning to rest. The word over my church this year has been “brick by brick” and that is the work the Lord has been doing in 2023. He’s been laying the foundation for the next generation. The next season. A firm foundation that can withstand any storm. The building has been painful and hard—but the Lord had to be the one to build the house.
A Season of Abundance, Enrichment
“Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad for her, all you who love her; rejoice with her in joy, all you who mourn over her; that you may nurse and be satisfied from her consoling breast; that you may drink deeply with delight from her glorious abundance.”
I felt the Lord speak over 2024 the word abundance. I began seeing the words “enrich” and “enrichment” everywhere—a season of enrichment, abundance, fullness, multiplication, and greatness. When looking up places of abundance in the Bible, I was drawn to 1 and 2 Chronicles and the building of the temple.
David has a heart to build the Lord a temple, but God answers him that he’s seen too much war and bloodshed. Instead, God promises him that his son, Solomon, will build the temple because he will be a man of rest. The Lord is looking for a place of rest, and so it must be built with the heart of rest and peace, not warfare.
“Behold, a son shall be born to you who shall be a man of rest. I will give him rest from all his surrounding enemies. For his name shall be Solomon, and I will give peace and quiet to Israel in his days. He shall build a house for my name. He shall be my son, and I will be his father, and I will establish his royal throne in Israel forever.”
In preparation for this, David gathers all the materials Solomon will need, even though he won’t see the fulfillment in his lifetime. “David says, ‘Solomon my son is young and inexperienced, and the house that is to be built for the Lord must be exceedingly magnificent, of fame and glory throughout all lands. I will therefore make preparation for it.’ So David provided materials in great quantity before his death” (1 Chronicles 22: 5).
While reading, I felt the Lord say, “Prepare for the abundance!”
In the same way David prepared, believing God was true to His word that Solomon would build the temple, David carried out his faith, preparing the materials needed. He didn’t leave it to chance. He gathered 38,000 Levites, gave Solomon all the plans for the temple from the Lord, 3,000 talents of gold, 7,000 talents of silver, along with great quantities of building materials. The leaders of the houses also gave freewill offerings to the building of the temple, and they slaughtered thousands of animals in preparation for it. Talk about an abundance! (You can read all about how Solomon finishes the temple in 2 Chronicles.)
“Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.”
Those who labor for the Lord, do not labor in vain. So prepare for the abundance that God has specified in your own life. And get to work, knowing that God does not do or say anything in vain.
What is the house that you would build for me, and what is the place of my rest?
Remember, you have to let God start the building process and be obedient when He calls for preparation. Otherwise, you will experience a delay of your own making. If David hadn’t prepared for Solomon, it would have taken much, much longer for the temple to be built, if at all.
Do not build from a place of warfare or striving in 2024. God is looking for children of rest to pour out His Spirit on.
A Renewed Fear of the Lord
“But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.”
For too long, our generation and the Church have fallen asleep, become complacent and apathetic, and have grown familiar with the Father. No longer. Whether through mercy or severity, the Lord is reclaiming His throne in our lives. Whatever He has to do to rearrange your priorities, He’s going to do it. He will tear down idols, send His children into the wilderness, and do whatever else necessary to realign His Bride into all purity.
“Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you too will be cut off.”
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of all wisdom (Proverbs 9:10). And in this next season, we will all need heavenly wisdom, not worldly wisdom, to be overcomers. What is the fear of the Lord practically speaking? It’s putting God in His rightful place as the maker of the heavens and the earth. It’s treating Him and His Word and His Church with reverence and honor. It’s honoring His covenants and laws. It’s obedience and surrender. It stems from a place of deep love, rather than crippling anxiety.
When you truly understand who God is, you can’t help but remove yourself from the throne and place Him there.
You’ll note in the story of Solomon earlier, that while he did finish building the temple to the Lord, he was eventually destroyed by his love of women and their gods. He placed other gods before God Himself and therefore did not receive the full promise of God, which was conditional on his obedience (1 Kings 11).
“Oh, fear the Lord, you his saints, for those who fear him have no lack!”
When you have a true revelation of the Lord, your heart will be aligned with His heart, and your will aligned with His. God can move through you fully, leaving no place of lack when you act according to His Will.
Glory, Glory, Glory
“For I know their works and their thoughts, and the time is coming to gather all nations and tongues. And they shall come and shall see my glory, and I will set a sign among them. And from them I will send survivors to the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, who draw the bow, to Tubal and Javan, to the coastlands far away, that have not heard my fame or seen my glory. And they shall declare my glory among the nations. ”
This is a time for God’s glory to go forth into the world, over His children, like never before. I feel a strong call to consecration and anointing during this time. This season of a “turnaround” will require you to venture deeper, to levels of purity unknown to you before. Often before every major battle, breakthrough, or victory in the Bible, the Lord brought His people into consecration:
The Battle of Jericho: In Joshua 5, The Lord commands all the sons of Israel to be circumcised before leading them into the land of milk and honey. In the next chapter, those same men take the city of Jericho using the Lord’s unusual methods of marching and trumpet playing.
Jesus and the Cross: Jesus was anointed by Mary at Bethany before He was sentenced to death on a cross in John 12. He was being anointed as if for burial by a costly price: a jar of pure nard.
The Fiery Furnace: In the first few chapters of Daniel, we learn about the three youths who would not be defiled by the king’s food and instead fasted. They were later thrown into the fiery furnace for not bowing to the king’s gods and escaped with their lives unharmed.
In the same way, let the Lord lead you to new levels of consecration. Anoint your homes, your cars, your personal belongings like your phone and laptop, yourself—everything you touch should be rededicated back to the Lord. Let everything within you and around you be used to channel the Lord’s glory. Be a clean and spotless vessel. Remove gossip and slander from your text messages, remove harmful people from your inner circles, remove numbing agents from your routine (think TV, food binging, streaming, video games, alcohol, drugs of all kinds, sedatives, pornography, etc.), remove curses and negative speaking from your mouth and mind—stop watching the works of the enemy constantly and restore your eyesight.
It’s time for a clean slate.
When the Levitical priests anointed something in the Bible, it wasn’t just a dab of oil like we tend to do today. Everything was dripping, shaken up, and running over with the oil of God (Luke 6:37-38). Anything that was anointed couldn’t help but get oil on other things. That was the point. It was set apart, and everything it touched would be anointed as well. In the same way, don’t be shy with your overflow. Let the anointing of God pour out over everything you touch, dripping down your garments, and leaving traces everywhere. You never know who it might touch.
We Serve the God of Restoration
Isaiah 66 ends the book on a call to restoration—and a warning for those who do not repent.
“For as the new heavens and the new earth that I make shall remain before me, says the Lord, so shall your offspring and your name remain. From new moon to new moon, and from Sabbath to Sabbath, all flesh shall come to worship before me, declares the Lord.”
When the Lord comes and restores all, creating a new heaven and a new earth, we will see new levels of worship in His holy city. God is always making things new. He is a God of Restoration, who makes rivers in the deserts (Isaiah 43).
The warning at the end of the chapter is this: “And they shall go out and look on the dead bodies of the men who have rebelled against me. For their worm shall not die, their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh” (24). Those who linger in rebellion, ultimately will be devoted to their own destruction.
We serve a God who loves to restore all things—and fully plans to. But whether or not you get to be in this restoration journey is all up to you. It’s your choice. God has given you the beautiful power of choice. Choose to let God restore your life, lead you into repentance, and begin to turn things around for His glory.
Don’t stay stuck in 2024. Stop running from the call of God on your life. Let Him breathe new life into you, and watch Him work to make all things new. He really wants to. And He really will.
Prepare for the abundance.
ELISE LAKEY
Elise is a writer, artist, and photographer based out of Nashville, TN. She’s the founder of Garden Theology and seeks to help all gardeners-in-training come to their full purpose in God. When she’s not writing, you can find her playing in the dirt, snuggling her cats, or weaving tapestries.
