At our home in Gonzales Louisiana my wife Marylee keeps a collection of about 40 ducks of several types in a large pen in the yard. We live on 3 acres, so we have the room. We have a hose running from the house to the duck yard to give them water when needed. And they usually had plenty to meet their needs. We live in a very rainy part of the country, so often the duck yard becomes a sea of mud. That is mud, mud, mud and more mud!. Why mud? Well, because ducks have a habit of thoroughly eliminating any vegetation in any area where they are penned up. They dig down into the mud and root out anything that even resembles plant life. One side effect of this is that they create lots of holes and ruts in the ground. It becomes very uneven due to all the holes and extra treacherous when the holes turn to slippery mud.
One afternoon, while helping Marylee with some chore in the duck yard, I considered the condition of the yard. It was hot and dry that day. The ground in the duck yard was hard and dry. It was full of holes and nothing grew there. The ducks and the heat had turned it into a small scale desert! I thought to myself that this ground will need to be plowed before being re-seeded. If we were to get rid of the ducks and take down the fence and return the pen to a normal lawn, it would need a complete plowing to make it level again.
"That's part of what it means to break up the fallow ground!" The Holy Spirit spoke to me just at that moment. And in that moment He opened up a couple of verses in the bible and related them to a series of scriptures relating this to the Church. Now I see that the duck yard is a figure for the Church. And even more that the damage done by the ducks to the lawn that was originally there, parallels the devastation that the enemy has wreaked upon the Church. And further, the means I would have to use to restore the lawn are a reflection of the means the Lord will use to restore his Church in these last days.
The key verses he showed me were these:
When he hath made plain the face thereof, doth he not cast abroad the fitches, and scatter the cummin, and cast in the principal wheat and the appointed barley and the rie in their place?
For his God doth instruct him to discretion, and doth teach him. (Isaiah 28:24-26 KJV)
7. Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain: and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it.
8. Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
9. The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also finish it; and thou shalt know that the LORD of hosts hath sent me unto you.
10 For who hath despised the day of small things? for they shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven; they are the eyes of the LORD, which run to and fro through the whole earth. (Zechariah 4:6-10 KJV)
Both passages speak of a portion of ground being made plain. They are made plain for a purpose! The plowman in the passage from Isaiah had the purpose of sowing seed. Zerubabel in the passage from Zechariah has the purpose of building the House of the Lord.
The background to all this can be found in Isaiah chapter 1:24-28
And I will turn my hand upon thee, and purely purge away thy dross, and take away all thy tin:
And I will restore thy judges as at the first, and thy counsellors as at the beginning: afterward thou shalt be called, The city of righteousness, the faithful city.
Zion shall be redeemed with judgment, and her converts with righteousness.
And the destruction of the transgressors and of the sinners shall be together, and they that forsake the LORD shall be consumed (Isaiah 1:24-28).
Here verse 27 is the key verse giving an understanding of the Lords plans.
What is Zion?
"Zion shall be redeemed with judgment, …".Zion is the Church. Redemption is the restoring and purifying the Church. Verse 27 elaborates on this. Judgment is the means of making this happen.
"…, and her converts with righteousness." This is the results of the redemption. Zion will have converts, the converts will have righteousness.
Therefore shall Zion for your sake be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of the forest Micah 3:12.
Here in Hosea the idea of breaking up fallow ground is related to righteousness. When the ground is broken up, the Lord will come and rain righteousness.
Back in Isaiah 28 we can learn something about the plowman by the way he is described in verse 26
Now in Zechariah 4 we find a reference to a great mountain becoming a plain.
In verse 9 he says " The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house …." A house can have a headstone. This is the house of God referred to in 1st Peter 4:17. That is the Church. So God is saying that the Church, seen as a plot of ground, or a mountain, must be broken up to receive seed. And this is the same as saying that the house of God must be judged so it can receive its headstone.
What is the Seed? And What is the Fallow Ground?
We know that the word of God is described as a seed, for example in the parable of the sower.
The fallow ground is our hearts. Either we break it up ourselves, or the Lord as the plowman will break it up for us. It must receive the new seed.
In Ps 119:11 we read "Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee." The word hidden in the heart is the seed received by the ground. The idea of breaking up ground and opening up your heart is found in Jeremiah 4:3-4 where it says
Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and take away the foreskins of your heart, …..Jeremiah 4:3-4
What is the Headstone?
The headstone is the one that caps off the building. Ephesians 2:20 says:
Isaiah tells us, in the same chapter 28 where we read of the plowman,:
What is the Judgment?
The Judgment is accomplished by setting the Headstone in place. When Jesus takes his proper lace as head of the Church, He will judge the Church. Jesus is the judgment.
But this will be an occasion for great praise and rejoicing. The text in Zechariah says "he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it".
Verse 9 and 10 speak of Zerubbabel laying the foundation…:
For who hath despised the day of small things? for they shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven; they are the eyes of the LORD, which run to and fro through the whole earth. (Zechariah 4:9-10 KJV)
The historical Zerubbabel is an ancestor of Jesus, figuratively he is a type of Jesus. It is Jesus [Zerubbabel] who builds the house. Recall that Jesus was a carpenter, one who built houses, and ships. Verse 10 says for they shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel. Once again we see rejoicing. Notice that Zerubbabel has in his hand a plummet. That is a plumb line, the instrument of a carpenter! A plummet, or plumb line is used to determine if something is truly vertical or upright. The line or measuring rod is used to see if something measures up to a standard. This is the same plummet seen in Isaiah 28:17 where it says "Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet …":The one who lays the foundation and wields the plummet is Isaiah 28 is the same one doing it in Zechariah 4. The Master Builder, the Lord Jesus Christ.
The historical Zerubbabel was the one who built the second temple, a type of the end time Church, in the book Ezra. This was a time of great rejoicing in Israel. It is prophetic of the great rejoicing and great revival to follow God's restoration of the Church in the days ahead.
And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put for his pillows, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it. Genesis 28:17-18
Jacob is acting as a type of the Father in this passage. It's the Father who sets the headstone in place and who imparts the anointing. It's the voice of the father crying Grace, grace! It is the Father setting up the Kingdom of God in His Church on the earth; putting the Lamb upon the Throne and saying "Rule thou in the midst of thine enemies! It is God arising and coming to his resting place. It is the fulfillment of the prayer "thy kingdom come".
We see it further illustrated in Psalm 133.
2 It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments;
3 As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the LORD commanded the blessing, even life for evermore.
Unity
And so the result is UNITY!
The brethren dwell together, in unity. And because of this, the Lord commands
a Blessing.
This is the blessing mentioned also in Haggai 2:16, from this day will I bless you.
The same concepts are covered in the book of Ephesians. In chapter 1 we read that He is the Head of the Body
Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all Ephesians 1:22-23.
That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;
But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:
From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love. Ephesians 4:13-16:
In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord:
In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit. Ephesians 2:20-22
The foundation is the Lordship of Jesus. Since the foundation is the Head the Church must be built from the top down, just as illustrated in Psalm 133. There the body comes under the anointing from the top down as the oil is poured on the head. When it reaches the hem of the garment we can expect to see a release of healing power!
Instruments of Judgment
Notice that in these passages, the carpenter, the wise master builder, is never shown with hammer or nails, cement, saw or chisel. These are instruments of construction or assembly. This carpenter is shown using instruments of measurement or judgment. The passages in Ephesians indicate that once the building is 'fitly framed' or once the body is rightly joined to the head, it will grow automatically! Once the Church gets right it can't help but grow! People will be attracted to the presence of the Lord!
What is the Result of Breaking up the Ground?
He shall come down like rain upon the mown grass: as showers that water the earth. Psalm 72:6
Then shall he give the rain of thy seed, that thou shalt sow the ground withal; and bread of the increase of the earth, and it shall be fat and plenteous: in that day shall thy cattle feed in large pastures Isaiah 30:23.
For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring. Isaiah 44:3:
Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness: let the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together; I the LORD have created it Isaiah 45:8.
Thou visitest the earth,
and waterest it: thou greatly enrichest it with the
river of God, which is full of water: thou preparest them corn,
when thou hast so provided for it.
Thou waterest
the ridges thereof abundantly: thou settlest the furrows thereof: thou
makest it soft with showers: thou blessest the springing thereof.
Thou crownest the year
with thy goodness; and thy paths drop fatness. Psalm 65:9-11
And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more
O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the LORD Isaiah 2:2-5.