"Now Elisha was fallen sick of his sickness whereof
he died. And Joash the king of Israel came down unto him, and wept over
his face, and said, O my father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and
the horsemen thereof. And Elisha said unto him, Take bow and arrows. And
he took unto him bow and arrows. And he said to the king of Israel, Put
thine hand upon the bow. And he put his hand upon it: and Elisha put his
hands upon the king's hands. And he said, Open the window eastward. And
he opened it. Then Elisha said, Shoot. And he shot. And he said, The arrow
of the LORD'S deliverance, and the arrow of deliverance from Syria: for
thou shalt smite the Syrians in Aphek, till thou have consumed them. And
he said, Take the arrows. And he took them. And he said unto the king of
Israel, Smite upon the ground. And he smote thrice, and stayed. And the
man of God was wroth with him, and said, Thou shouldest have smitten five
or six times; then hadst thou smitten Syria till thou hadst consumed it:
whereas now thou shalt smite Syria but thrice." (2 Kings 13:14-19)
"And Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz took again out of
the hand of Benhadad the son of Hazael the cities, which he had taken out
of the hand of Jehoahaz his father by war. Three times did Joash
beat him, and recovered the cities of Israel." (2 Kings 13:25)
In the above passage, the Lord established a pattern for
victory which he repeats again in the New Testament. The way to describe
or characterize this pattern is this. He grants three victorious campaigns
against the enemy. In this context they are historic military campaigns,
but they are also prophetic types of future spiritual campaigns,
against spiritual enemies.
There are three sets of three victorious campaigns. In
other words this pattern of three victories in the natural, is a pattern
to be fulfilled three times in the spiritual. Two of them are found in
the New Testament, the third is yet to come.
The first of these spiritual campaigns is found
in the three and one half year ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ, the forerunner
of the Church.
The second of the three is found in the three
missionary journeys of Paul, a type of the Church.
The third will be found in the end time harvest
of the Church.
Without going into exhaustive detail on the first two,
I just ask you to recall that many editions of the Bible will have maps
in the back. Most always these maps include the three journeys of Jesus
around Palestine, and Paul's three missionary voyages. Both of these represent
three victorious campaigns against enemy territory. The enemy territory,
in Jesus case, was the lands frequented by Jews of Galilee and Judea. For
Paul, it was the known world of Greek and Roman civilization.
For the Church of today and the end times we are entering
into, enemy territory is the entire world!
The Prophecy.
Just as ancient Israel enjoyed three victorious campaigns
against her enemies.
And just and the Lord Jesus carried out three victorious
campaigns against His enemies.
And just as Paul's voyages represent three victorious
campaigns against the enemy.
The Lord has shown me that His Church will experience:
THREE GREAT WAVES OF WORLD EVANGELIZATION during
the end time harvest.
This will represent the final set of three victorious
campaigns and will be the final fulfillment of the pattern set down
in 2nd Kings 13.