coming out of the pit 1

The Lord has continued to minister to me on the liberating of those who are bound as a result of the roar of the Lion of Judah, and He showed me that some of those who are wise have had great onslaughts of the enemy against them, as a result of their stand for Truth. He led me to the account in Jeremiah 38 and began to reveal that there are many prophetic messengers who have received similar terrible backlash as a result of faithfully delivering the word of the Lord to those it was intended for. It has brought them into a position of darkness and struggle, where they are unable to free themselves.

Jeremiah prophesied that the people needed to flee the city or face destruction, but this was not well received by the ‘princes’, the upper echelon in the ruling hierarchy. The city in this case is the organized religious system; ‘churchianity’ for want of a better word. Let’s look at Jeremiah’s word:

Jer 38:2  Thus says the Lord: He who remains in this city shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence, but he who goes out to the Chaldeans shall live; for he shall have his life as his only booty [as a prize of war], and he shall live. Jer 38:3  Thus says the Lord: This city shall surely be given into the hand of the army of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it.

Well, that sounds like a passionate warning from someone concerned for the welfare of those living in the city but it was not well received. In fact, Jeremiah was seen as a trouble-maker because he didn’t bring a ‘prosperity prophesy’. Immediately he became persona non grata, even though he was a true messenger of the Lord:

Jer 38:4  Therefore the princes said to the king, We beseech you, let this man [Jeremiah] be put to death; for [talking] thus he weakens the hands of the soldiers who remain in this city and the hands of all the people by speaking such words to them. For this man is not seeking the welfare of these people, but [to do them] harm.

So great was the dislike of these princes for the prophet that they asked for the death penalty! And the person in charge gave them permission to carry it out.

Jer 38:6  So they took Jeremiah and cast him into the dungeon or cistern pit [in the charge] of Malchiah the king's son, which was in the court of the guard; and they let Jeremiah down [into the pit] with ropes. And in the dungeon or cistern pit there was no water, but only mire, and Jeremiah sank in the mire.

Do you feel like you have been struggling in the mire of words spoken against you? Are you in darkness, sinking under the weight of the onslaught against you. The power of life and death is in the tongue and words of death and judgment have power. Sometimes the faithful servant of the Lord who brings a warning from the Lord that runs at cross- purposes to the church program or the leadership doctrine, ends up being thrown in a pit! They used ropes to lower Jeremiah into the depths of that dark prison. The Hebrew word for ‘rope’ also means ‘a measuring line; a noose; also ruin, pain, snare, sorrow’ amongst other things. Sounds like those ropes were a decree released after Jeremiah was measured and found wanting in their eyes. Have you, as a bringer of a word of warning, been subjected to the measuring line of those in established leadership or positions of authority and then had judgments and decrees of death or ruin released against you? Have you been battling in a prison of pain? It’s quite likely that demonic decrees are behind your current situation.

The root of the word for dungeon means ‘to examine, to declare’. So the dungeon or pit is formed of the words that have been spoken after examining you; the declarations of death and destruction and failure that have been made after measuring your performance. The accuser of the brethren has fashioned this waterless muddy pit as your tomb. He wants you to die there, after starving to death waiting for words of affirmation or bread from above your head.

We learn in verse 7 that there is no bread in the city; nothing nourishing is available in that famine-stricken place It is a famine for the word of the Lord and yet they have thrown the one who was bringing the true word of the Lord into the pit because they measured his words and didn’t like the sound of them. It sounds like a total crisis but God has a corporate man, Ebed-melech, who is at hand:

.Jer 38:7  Now when Ebed-melech the Ethiopian [a Cushite], one of the eunuchs who was in the king's house, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the dungeon or cistern pit; and while the king was then sitting in the Gate of Benjamin, Jer 38:8  Ebed-melech went out of the king's house and spoke to the king, saying, Jer 38:9  My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet, whom they have cast into the dungeon or cistern pit; and he is liable to die of hunger and is [as good as] dead in the place where he is, for there is no more bread left in the city.

Ebed-melech means ‘bondslave of the king’. Our God has His bondslaves who are prepared to stand in the gap for those who are unable to speak up for themselves. These faithful ones plead for the life of the true prophets in a time of famine. Bring them forth into the light! Overturn the enemy’s scheme to silence them forever. Note where the king is positioned when the case is presented to him! The bondslaves of the King present your case in the gate of Benjamin, the place of the sons of the right hand. This is a spiritual picture of the gate where decrees are issued by the sons of the right hand and judgments made. Intercession is made and a royal decree of release spoken.

Jer 38:10  Then the king commanded Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, saying, Take from here thirty men with you and raise Jeremiah the prophet out of the dungeon or cistern pit before he dies.

 So this group of 30 men represents something. Why 30? This is the gematria for ‘ten, Lamed, 12th Letter of the Hebrew alphabet, Judah’. So the 30 men represent the tenth or tithe company who were brought into the treasury/storehouse so there may be meat in the house (Malachi 3). They are those released with apostolic authority (represented by the 12th letter); emissaries of the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, and they are sent to bring the wrongly imprisoned prophets out of the waterless pit; to lift them out of the prison house. You could say they are the stars which are propelled on assignment out of the Lion’s mouth as He roars (see my last article, ‘Royal Roar Released’)

  Jer 38:11  So Ebed-melech took the men with him and went into the house of the king [to a room] under the treasury, and took along from there old rags and worn-out garments and let them down by ropes into the dungeon or cistern pit to Jeremiah. Jer 38:12  And Ebed-melech the Ethiopian said to Jeremiah, Put now these old rags and worn-out garments under your armpits under the ropes. And Jeremiah did so. Jer 38:13  So they drew up Jeremiah with the ropes and took him up out of the dungeon or cistern pit; and Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard.

Jeremiah means ‘Jah will rise’, not ‘I will rise’. That is important. It’s not about the prophet. The deliverance is not for personal ascension in the eyes of men or ascension in the ranks of political power within the church systems. Jeremiah is lifted out to declare the rising up of Jahweh and the overturning of demonic judgments against His anointed ones. This is why Jeremiah rose out of the waterless pit!! Without a word, he was a prophetic message.

Note also the mention of old garments used to cushion the ropes. They were sourced from a particular place: ‘So Ebed-melech took the men with him and went into the house of the king [to a room] under the treasury, and took along from there old rags and worn-out garments’. Those old garments were not in the bedrooms but in the basement of the treasury. They depict provision reserved and stored away in the deepest place of the treasury, where the most valuable things are hidden. These old kingly garments may look like rags to the untrained eye, but they are words that have been given by the Lord in the past to clothe and beautify the King’s household; words spoken by Him to His little company fondly referred to as His jewels. They are worn out now with wearing, favourite verses and words of endearment engraved in the deepest places of the heart, but the bondslave of the King goes into that basement below the treasury and brings them out into the light, bringing them to remembrance and using them to gently cushion Jeremiah as he is lifted out of that waterless pit!

The word for ‘cords or ropes’ also means ‘inheritance’. The ropes used by the bondslaves of the King are words spoken from the throne which outline your inheritance as a child of the King. Rehearse what He has said over you. You were thrown into the waterless pit by the words of judgment and the measuring and assessment of those who sought your death. But you are lifted out gently by the words defining your inheritance in the Lord. You are greatly loved. You shall no more be called ‘forsaken’ but you shall be known as ‘Hephzibah – My delight is in her’.

Jeremiah means ‘Jah will rise’ and I want to say that within you, Jah will rise. The Spirit of the Living God will quicken you with His resurrection power; the very same power which God used to raise Jesus the Anointed One from the dead is available to you (Ephesians 1:19,20). The enemy wanted you to die in that pit formed out of the decrees his henchmen made over you, but the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead dwells in you and you will be brought forth into the light and you will be called upon and sought out as someone who can hear the voice of the Lord. The time in the waterless pit was not Jeremiah’s last chapter. Later the king sought him out and asked for counsel. You may have been struggling and almost drowning in the mire of all the fleshly judgment spoken over you by ungodly men, but now you are being lifted to the light and Kings will come to the brightness of your rising and seek godly counsel.

 Those rags and ropes were to be placed in Jeremiah’s armpits. His whole weight was raised up using this part of his body. The root of the word for armpit means ‘to join; to separate; hence to select, keep, reserve’. The enemy had intended to separate you from contact with others, to isolate and slowly kill you, but the Lord of Hosts says that He reminds you of your inheritance in Him and He raises you up and separates you from those who would destroy you and closely guards you as the apple of His eye. When Jeremiah was lifted out of that pit, he was placed with the prison guard for his protection. God is placing you in reserve as His remnant because, in due time, there will be a call upon your gift and a need for fresh bread from Heaven and counsel and light. In the time of the famine of the Word, kings will seek you out. So He brings you out of the pit and places you under protection, separate and holy unto Him and His purposes. Yes, you as His prophetic messenger will speak His word again and yes, people very likely will not heed them, but you will be protected and provided for when others are going into captivity. And every bondservant of the King who has helped lift His servants and prophets out of the waterless pit shall be preserved in the time of trouble.

 Jer 39:16  Go and say to Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will bring to pass My words against this city for evil and not for good; and they will be accomplished before you on that day. Jer 39:17  But I will deliver you [Ebed-melech] on that day, says the Lord, and you will not be given into the hands of the men of whom you are afraid. Jer 39:18  For I will surely deliver you; and you will not fall by the sword, but your life will be [as your only booty and] as a reward of battle to you, because you have put your trust in Me, says the Lord.

 Do you remember Jairus’ daughter who grew weaker and weaker, while waiting for Jesus to come and do something - and eventually was wrapped in a death shroud (Mark 5:41), because the enemy desired to wipe her out as she reached womanhood. Jesus just entered the room and simply said, “Talitha cumi – little girl, arise”. That death shroud the enemy has wrapped around you doesn’t stop the word of power raising you up. And it is not going to be a long complicated process. Just a word from the lips of the Anointed One. Just because people are wailing outside the door at your demise and absence from the community, it doesn’t mean your life and purpose in God is over. The voice of Jesus resounds over those whom the enemy has appointed for death and He says, “ARISE”. The grave no longer has a hold on you. I have led captivity captive and led away a train of vanquished foes and give you as a gift to My Body. Arise and be restored completely.”

The Greek word for ‘arise’ has a number of meanings: ‘to waken, rouse (literally from sleep, from sitting or lying, from disease, from death; or figuratively from obscurity, inactivity, ruins, nonexistence, to rise (again, up), stand, take up’.

Jesus says, “I lift you out of disease and death, out of inactivity and obscurity. Rise up, stand up. Take your appointed seat at the table. Take your place in the family. The grave has no victory. You are loosed from the decree of death birthed in the halls of Hell. The Sun of Righteousness arises with healing in His wings over you. Be released from the snare of death. Be loosed from the body bag that the enemy has zipped up round you. Oh yes, he has had his so-called ‘doctors’ examine you for signs of life and usefulness and declared there is no hope. It’s all over for you, they say. He has even signed the death certificate in a great flourishing hand ~ ‘The Angel of Death’, but he has forgotten who you are! And this is what the Covenant Maker says:

Zec 9:11  As for you also, because of and for the sake of the covenant blood, I have released and sent forth your imprisoned people out of the waterless pit.

The accuser has forgotten about the sound which emanates from the Covenant Blood. It has slipped his mind that you have been bought with a Bridal Price and your husband is the Lion of Judah, the conqueror! Your Bridegroom has not forgotten you!

 Psa 102:19  For He looked down from the height of His sanctuary, from heaven did the Lord behold the earth, Psa 102:20  To hear the sighing and groaning of the prisoner, to loose those who are appointed to death, Psa 102:21  So that men may declare the name of the Lord in Zion and His praise in Jerusalem Psa 102:22  When peoples are gathered together, and the kingdoms, to worship and serve the Lord.

 There is a decree issuing forth from the throne in these days to loose those appointed to death; to set free all those who have been imprisoned in some way, whether by sickness or forced obscurity; all those whom the enemy has thrown into a tomb or a waterless pit and slammed a gravestone firmly in place to keep them from functioning in their appointed place in God’s plans. The King of Glory, the Lion of Judah is issuing a decree to loose you from the prison house and the pit. Those words of death and destruction are broken over your life. The death sentence has been annulled over you. You are coming forth to a place of ruling and reigning, a place of sharing the wisdom and counsel you received in the prison days.

 Isa 105:20  The king sent and loosed him, even the ruler of the peoples, and let him go free. Psa 105:21  He made Joseph lord of his house and ruler of all his substance, Psa 105:22  To bind his princes at his pleasure and teach his elders wisdom.

 The Jeremiahs and the Josephs are being brought into the light and positioned for their part in the days that will shortly unfold. Even now, the sound waves of that Decree, “Loose Them” is galvanizing angels into action and very soon the prison door is going to spring open and you are going to emerge into the light of a new day; a day of protection and favour; a day of provision and prominence, a day quite unlike the many that you have endured in the last chapter. Rejoice in anticipation – the King has remembered you! You are the treasures of darkness, the hidden riches of secret places, the tested and tried company reserved for such a time as this!

Selah