VISION BY FIRE
I think the Lord has been making it quite clear that the church is in labor big time—and about to give birth. Labor hurts (that’s an understatement), and any woman who has given birth without anesthesia knows the full extent of that. So the comparison God gives of the last days being as birth pains is quite appropriate (of course it is—because God is the one who gave the analogy and created birth pain). I think the church is feeling something of what I did when I gave birth to my firstborn son. The contractions were intensely painful all night with absolutely no letup between them. Furthermore, at the time of transition, a long time went by in which the nurses and midwife could see my son’s head starting to birth, but then, he would go back in. They kept telling me to push longer and harder, but I had never before felt so intensely tired. Harder and longer—with what strength? This leads me to Isaiah 36:1, 13-16...