Joseph Prince - God's Not Mad at You: Here's What He's Really Doing
Just felt like, you know, God wants to pour on you. How many are excited that you are in the presence of a God who really, really loves you, a God who really wants to supply, always wants to give? Praise God! The year is the year of the latter rain. And what does that mean? That means that God is emphasizing this and there is a time of the latter rain. And the amazing thing is that when God first gave me this, all I know is that in March, the guides there, the people there told me, and I actually visited the Sea of Galilee. They told me that the Sea of Galilee is very low, coming to a dangerous red line. And they said that because for nearly five years now, there is a drought, drought in Israel. Five years of drought.
Now, end of the year, no one can predict what happened and all that. All I know is that when God gave me this message, I do not know what happened in Israel. I really do not know. The first person I asked was last Saturday before I preached «The Year of the Latter Rain,» my friend Samuel Smadja. I said, «How has the rains been»? Okay? He said, «We had some very good winter rains». But now, this past week, I had an article sent to me, and let me show you the article, «Winter rains raise Sea of Galilee by 19 centimeters in 2 days». All right? «Downpours in northern Israel bring snow to Hermon». From Hermon, it rolls to the down the River Jordan and all that, right? It comes down. «End 5-year drought». Can you see that? It ends the five-year drought. Hallelujah! In the year of the latter rain.
Why Israel? Although news are always like that, «But Water authorities say climate change means problems won’t be solved by a year of plenty full precipitation». They’re always negative. But heavy rainfall… okay, you can read for yourself. It has broken a five-year drought. Can you see that? «Heavy rainfall across Israel over the past weeks means Israel has broken a five-year drought». Praise the Lord. Look up here. People, first the nation of Israel, then spiritual Israel, all right? I don’t want to use the term spiritual Israel, but I mean, you know, God’s Israel are like the sand of the earth. God says, «I’ll multiply your seed, Abraham, like the sand of the earth».
Naturally, you can touch and feel. And that is Israel. And the stars that you cannot touch. The heavenly ones. We are seated with Christ in heavenly places. That’s the seat of Abraham. We are also seated with Abraham in Christ, amen? Amen? So, whatever happens to them, happens to us. You know, we look at them and just like the time when they came back as a nation. Do you know right after that, 1948, they came back as a nation after 2000 years? In the '50s, there was an amazing outpouring of healing. It’s called the healing revival, amen? When they took back Jerusalem and Jesus said, «Jerusalem will be under the foot of Gentiles until the times of Gentiles be fulfilled,» amen?
Now, the fullness has not happened yet, but in a sense, Jerusalem came back into their hands in the Six-Day War in 1967, unparalleled in history except for Joshua and the walls of Jericho. They were surrounded in six days and on the seventh, it was theirs. God did it again in 1967 in the Six-Day War. And What happened after 1967 in the '70s? The charismatic outpouring of the Spirit. So, when something good happens to Israel, amen, the church can expect. So, now rain you see. And I didn’t know that. Praise the Lord. And we can expect showers of blessings. Can have a good amen? Hosea 2 says this, «'It shall come to pass in that day that I will answer, ' says the Lord. 'I will answer the heavens, and they shall answer the earth.'» So, God says, «'I will answer the heavens, the heavens answer the earth, and the earth will answer with grain, with new wine, and with oil.'»
They shall answer, Israel, «Jezreel,» which is God’s sows, God sows, or the sowing of God. What does all this mean, Pastor Prince? Let me just tell you. It’s a poetic language, but the truth here is amazing. God is saying, «I will respond. I will answer or respond. I will respond to the heavens because the heavens respond to the earth,» amen? You know how the earth responds? The earth answers with what? «Oh please, please, God please»! No, the earth responds with grain, new wine, and oil. And they will answer, «This is the sowing of God». Every time you take, you are sowing for the harvest of your healing and health. Imagine responding. Isn’t that what happened when Melchizedek came? The response was grain and wine. It’s a response, amen? To his love for Abraham. Abraham responded with tithe.
But look at this, «The earth will answer with grain, new wine, and oil». Answer who? The earth answers the heavens. And God listens to the heavens, okay? So here, in other words, it’s like saying God is responding to the heaven that responds to the earth, the earth that responds with grain, wine, and oil. And here is a secret God put down there. They will answer Jezreel. In fact, there is a valley of Jezreel in Israel today. It means the sowing of God. Wow! That is the first rain. The first rain is for sowing. The latter rain is for harvesting. I’m going to share with you a revelation that I don’t think I’ve shared before. I received this probably a number of years ago. I don’t remember sharing this, but I’m going to share this with you. But before that, I’m going to show you the sowing of God, okay? Look at what Jesus sowed for you and I, what Jesus did for you and I.
First and foremost, Isaiah 53, 53, «He has no form or comeliness; And when we see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him. He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief». Actually the word here, «grief,» is sickness. «And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him». This is all referring to Jesus when he was beaten, scourged, all right? Spat upon, his beard was torn, and you know, he was just suffering. All kinds of wounds, you know. Abrasion, laceration, incision, the crown of thorns. «They put a crown of thorns on him,» the Bible says. And after that, they hit him.
Now if they hit him on his head first, okay? He’s suffering enough already. Then they put the crown of thorns. But they put the crown of thorns first. And then they hit his head, the Bible says, thus embedding it even further, okay? The crown of thorns. He suffered so much, blood everywhere. And then he was lacerated, his back, the stripes. And all this for what? Remember what I said to you? The Levitical offering of which Jesus came, he’s the fulfillment of all the five offerings in the Bible, amen? Of which Jesus is the fulfillment of. You find that when they bring the lamb to the temple, the lamb is not tortured before it is killed. In fact, there’s a humane way of killing the lamb or the ox. They find a vessel, all right, and they slice it and he’s unconscious and he dies. That’s the Jewish kosher way. That’s why kosher food is actually, they give a brand when they are killed like that. Even chicken. They don’t make them suffer.
In fact, if you eat meat that the animal suffered, usually it’s bad meat. They release poison into their system. But they never tortured the sheep. They never torture it before they kill it. Never. Jesus, before he went to the cross, he was tortured. Why? The Bible says… tells us why. All right, drop down. Verse 4. «Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows». Very unfortunate here. I don’t know why they don’t use the Hebrew word. The Hebrew word there, as Young brings it out, «Surely He has borne our diseases and carried our pains». It’s confirmed in Matthew 8:17 that says, «Himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses». «Surely He bore our makob, our choli, diseases, and carried our makob, our pains. So, we esteem Him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted».
Everyone down there says, «Yeah, he’s suffering for his sins. He must have done something bad,» all right? But he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. «The chastisement for our well-being was upon him». This word is very beautiful. That means the punishment with a view to your well-being fell on him. I repeat, the punishment with a view to your health, to your well-being fell upon him. «And by His stripes we are healed». No trace, imagine, no trace of sin, not even a pimple. So, how do you explain this? There’s no beauty, it’s talking about when he’s suffering. His suffering is such that people turn their face away. When they look at him, it’s so horrible that they turn their face. Do you know how horrible it was? The context, the context.
This is Isaiah 53. Look back at Isaiah 52 in the closing verses. God the Father is talking. «'Behold, My servant shall deal prudently;» sakal by the way. «'He shall be exalted and extolled and be very high.'» Now, this word here, «He shall be exalted and extolled and be very high». A lot of people think that, oh, this refers to his resurrection and his ascension. But actually, why repeat with three words? And the three words here is this. The Jewish people know three different words are used for the cross. They will say, «Lift up»! That’s the first word, exalted. Extol! Raise it. And be very high! Put it in that hole. Boom! And the whole thing, you know, his body is shuddered with pain. Those are three words. His suffering. And when they look at him, you know what they saw?
«Just as many were astonished at you, so His visage,» his face, «was marred more than any man». His face, marred more than any man. Can you imagine how terrible that is? No movie can portray it. How about his body? «His form more than the sons of man». Think of the love he has for you. Meditate for a while on that love he has for you. When you partake of the communion, don’t do it mechanically. «Oh, Pastor Prince says, 'Take, you’ll be okay.'» No! That’s taking grain and wine in a meagerly fashion. Plenty means what? With revelation. Think of his love when you partake. His face «marred more than any man». He doesn’t look human anymore. You know, when they beat him up and they scourged him, he doesn’t look human. Even his form. What form was that? They say, «The form is marred more than the sons of men». What kind of form is it? It doesn’t look like a man. No wonder they turned their face from him.
The Bible says, «The people turned their face away». There’s no beauty in him, to give you beauty so that our faces that are marred and our form that are marred will be healed. Do you love him? I feel like it’s raining inside here. Let me give you a revelation right now that I shared just now. For years, I saw this. That when you take communion, this is going to happen to you. Psalms 129. It says here, «The plowers plowed upon my back;» it’s a prophetic psalm by the way. There’s a lot of Messianic psalms in the Psalms. That’s why Jesus, when he walked with them on the road of Emmaus, you still remember? He stopped short. He expounded from Moses, the first five books, and the prophets. What comes after the prophets? The Psalms. But then that same night, he appeared in the upper room. He continued Moses, the prophets, and the psalms concerning himself.
So, one of the places I believe he touched on was this, «The plowers plowed upon my back; they made long their furrows». There are two kinds of stripes that the Roman people use. I was told usually it’s only two. One is a short one like an octopus tentacles, all right? And they hit you with it. Another one is a long one, which is the worst. With a hook. Because when they hit you once, it wraps around your body and it’s embedded and then they jerk it. Now I can prove to you that Jesus was the latter one, the long one from this verse. Scholars are saying, «We do not know which one». I’ll tell you, it’s the long one. Why? They made long their furrows. They made long their furrows. The furrows is what?
Listen, when I read this, «The plowers plowed upon my back,» the language he uses is amazing. And this came as a revelation from God one day. I was reading this and God says, «Don’t rush through. Meditate on why I use the word, 'The plowers plowed' and the word 'furrows.'» These are words of farming. When people farm, am I right or not? Ploughing. Instead of saying, «They beat my back. They scourge my back. They hit my back. They smite my back,» it says, «The plowers ploughed upon my back; and they made long their furrows». You know the long furrows is for sowing seeds. Am I right? Look at this. There’s a picture here of the furrows.
Now of course, this is a modern picture of a tractor making furrows, amen? And then the lines, this is how his back looked like. No skin left. But what I saw, what the Lord showed me was this. The whole thing is like farming. When his back was made into furrows, there was a seed for your healing from the high blood pressure. There was that healing for that tumor. There was that seed sown for that growth that you have in your body you are concerned about. There was that healing for your heart condition. There was that healing for your hernia. There was that healing for whatever condition you are suffering from. The seeds are all sown when they beat him and made long furrows. It’s a language of sowing. The beating was the ploughing.
But the question is, where is the harvest? The year of the Malkosh, the latter rain, when everything will be gathered. If you hear anyone preach this, okay? From now on, just know that you have listened to the original dealer who got it straight, okay? I’ve never heard anyone preach this. Why the farming term is used, all right? Because the seed for your child’s eczema was planted on his back. Seed means what? There will be a harvest. But before the harvest, the rains will come. The rains will come. Can I have a good amen? And the rains will only come after the cross. He was beaten before the cross. Remember before, Elijah said, «I hear the sound of the abundance of rain».
What happened? The fire fell on the offering up there on Carmel. If there is no offering being offered, if there is no fire falling, there’s a picture of Jesus Christ being consumed at the cross when he bore our sins. If there is no cross, there is no abundance of rain. But the cross is a glorious fact. And now, even Ahab was told, a person who doesn’t deserve the rain to fall on him, «Get up, go and eat. I hear the sound of the abundance of rain,» Elijah said. It’s the year of the harvest. Let me read to you another testimony. One? Okay, let me choose. There’s so many good ones. «My mother was ravaged by Alzheimer’s disease. She was debilitated to the point that she did not recognize her family members.
My father told me she was even beginning to wonder who he was at times». I mean, the mother wondered who he was, the husband. «My parents lived with me so I could see the daily, moment-to-moment struggles and hardship. It was a miserable existence for her as well as for those of us trying to care for her. There were times I just missed my mom and I wished to see her well again». So, she’s been suffering this for quite some time, Alzheimer’s disease. Forget even her husband, forget her loved ones. «Then one day, my sister shared a praise report with me after following Pastor Prince’s teaching on the Holy Communion. So I immediately began to partake of the communion with my mother. Praise God! Jesus has healed her mind and set her free. My mother went to bed on the third night after receiving the communion and woke up the next day looking ten years younger. All,» listen, «all the things she had forgotten how to do, she’s doing again».
By the way, this lady is from Texas, United States as well. Good things come from Texas, yeehaw, like GRC. «She remembers who we all are now. She remembers who we all are now». You know, when I first read this, it’s like, «Get out of here,» you know? But this is a reality. Her name is right up there. «She remembers who we all are now. She has stopped repeating herself, something she used to do from sunup to sundown. And it’s a complete joy to be around now. She has stopped repeating herself,» Pastor Mark, take note.
«Something she used to do from sunup to sundown. It’s a complete joy to be around now. Praise Jesus for his finished work on the cross. We are still rejoicing that she’s back. I have asked her about her experience and the best she could describe was that she was lost and she felt trapped. But that’s all over now. I am so happy for my mom and family. I am writing so that others may have hope from what seems like a disease that offers no hope or recovery. Nothing is too big for the finished work of Christ Jesus, and I praise him for it. Now my mom will ask me if we are going to partake of the communion, so I partake of it with her every day. Thank you, Pastor Prince, for your teaching on the finished work of Jesus Christ. It has freed my mother».
Hallelujah! Thank you, Jesus. To God be all the glory and all the praise. Can I have a good amen? His visage was marred more than any man. That lovely face, those eyes that looked at Peter with love when Peter denied knowing him. Those eyes that saw the multitudes on the mountainside and they were weary, they were fainting, but he didn’t look at them judgmentally. He didn’t say, «Well, they are fainting because of guilt for their sinful life». No, «He saw them,» the Bible says, «as sheep without a shepherd».
And now his eyes could hardly look outside. It was deformed. But I believe the deformity, for it to be like his face was marred more than any man, his face and his form become so grotesque, you know? It’s all out of shape. I believe it’s because he bore our diseases. Every tumor, cancer, every disease, he bore it to the point that he no longer looked like a human. And friends, the way you partake is to have plenty of grain and plenty of wine. Do not just let this, you know, someone said that the tragedy with the church is that, oh, we do it once in a while. It’s not a once-in-a-while thing. The early church did it day by day, from house to house. They must have had a revelation.
«Apostle Prince, I took once and nothing happened,» all right? Wow, your perseverance amazes me. This is a sowing and a reaping thing. Did I start by telling you a sowing and reaping thing? Did I tell you that? Amen? You incrementally receive. You see, this is like Mark 11:24, for example. You must believe you receive everything, you’re healing right now from the crown of your head to the soles of your feet. Sometimes that puts pressure on some people, okay? But whereas, taking communion, you can believe. Your faith may be at the level, «I believe I’m getting better and better,» amen?
Yeah, I would to God you get instantly healed. I would love that to happen. Like in the gifts of the Spirit. Many a times, in the gifts manifestation, you find that people are healed instantly, but you can partake knowing you’re getting better. You’re getting better. You’re getting better. You partake for a chronic condition, amen? The doctor says you have prostatitis, you have a lung infection, whatever it is. You partake the first time, you still have the symptom, you partake the second time, you still have the symptom, but keep on partaking, amen?