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Part 2 (Part 1)
Let Them Come Up
‘Proclaim this among the nations: “Prepare for war! Wake up the mighty men, Let all the men of war draw near, let them come up’” (Joel 3:9).
There is a mandate from God for leaders and pastors to wake up the prophetic warriors in the Spirit, the mighty men and women of the Church. Let them come forward and ascend into the place of ministry where they are supposed to be. Stir them up, encourage and release them to excel in their gifting and call. Intercede for them and provide a way, getting behind them like Pastor Nehemiah did!
These mighty ones will be a part of awakening the nations. Even if they aren’t being encouraged, but are walking closely to God, they will shoot forth and spring up regardless. Don’t quench them or try to squeeze them into a box where they don’t fit, but be open to the Spirit of the Lord and His move in this hour. Let them walk in their rank and on their highway. Understand and look after them; they could be a great asset for you and the House of God.
Don’t Resist what is Coming!
Individuals and even whole churches and movements can become fruitless when they resist a new move of the Spirit of God, not allowing change. Michal, the wife of King David, experienced this very thing, as the ark - which is a type of the presence of God - came back to Jerusalem with radical dance, music, and the prophetic sound. She resisted the very author of it, her husband David, who is a type of Jesus!
‘Then David danced before the Lord with all his might; and David was wearing a linen ephod. So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouting and with the sound of the trumpet. And as the ark of the Lord came into the city of David, Michal, Saul's daughter, looked through a window and saw King David leaping and whirling before the Lord; and she despised him in her heart’ (2 Samuel 6:13,15-16).
Remember the next time you sing, “When the Spirit of the Lord is in my heart I'll dance like David danced,” that he was naked like that of the base fellows! Hey, think about what you are singing. You could cause a stir in papers with naked people dancing everywhere on Sunday! I know you're laughing with me...anyway...
‘Then David returned to bless his household. And Michal the daughter of Saul came out to meet David, and said, “How glorious was the king of Israel today, uncovering himself today in the eyes of the maids of his servants, as one of the base fellows shamelessly uncovers himself!” So David said to Michal, “It was before the Lord, who chose me instead of your father and all his house, to appoint me ruler over the people of the Lord, over Israel. Therefore I will play music before the Lord. And I will be even more undignified than this, and will be humble in my own sight. But as for the maidservants of whom you have spoken, by them I will be held in honour.” Therefore Michal the daughter of Saul had no children
to the day of her death’ (2 Samuel 6:20-23).
Michal looked through a window of opportunity and got a glimpse of something fresh and new, but she resisted it. She was worried about what other people thought and she wanted to keep the status quo, so she turned away from the sound, and her womb – which could have birthed many creative geniuses with their fathers heart - became fruitless. There are churches and ministries that stand like this even today.
It’s Time to Come Up On the Wall
With the gathering of the musicians and singers for the dedication of the wall in the book of Nehemiah, we witness something profound and life changing for the city. With that change came a new portfolio, the ministry of governmental music! This was the day when the mighty men came up high, where they mounted up for war - the ministry of being an on the wall prophet musician!
‘So I brought the leaders of Judah up on the wall and appointed two large thanksgiving choirs, one of which went to the right hand on the wall to the Refuse Gate…and certain of the priests sons with trumpets…with the musical instruments of David the man of God; and Ezra the scribe went before them.
The other thanksgiving choir went the opposite way, and I was behind them with half the people on the wall, going past the tower of the Ovens as far as the Broad wall. So the two thanksgiving choirs stood in the House of God, likewise half of the rulers with me…The singers sang loudly with Jezrahiah as their director, also that day they offered great sacrifices, and rejoiced, for God had made them rejoice with great joy; the women and the children also rejoiced, so that the joy of Jerusalem was heard afar off’ (Nehemiah 12:31,35a,36b,38,40,42b,43).
The musicians led the way in this new move of God, like David the Psalmist king, dancing before the ark. The church was becoming a dedicated instrument in the hand of the living God. It was no longer disjointed and broken down, but working together. The prophetic voice was standing in its rightful place in the House, the church music being what it should be - big in the Holy Ghost!
Standing by the gates, a place of spiritual power and authority, a place of praise. Standing by the towers in warfare, a place of defence, watching for the enemy. The Lord Himself was their ‘strongtower from the enemy’ Psalm 61:3, a shelter, as in the days of Jehoshaphat, when the musicians played and the enemies were defeated - a solid wall of salvation for a tired world.
Gates of Heaven
‘Violence shall no longer be heard in your land, neither wasting nor destruction within your borders; But you shall call your walls Salvation, and your gates praise’ (Isaiah 60:18).
The word gates in the Hebrew is shaar, meaning an opening, a door, from the original sense of the word shaar (as a prime root), meaning to split, or open, acting as a gatekeeper. Their song and their sound literally split open the heavens; they were guardians of the gate of heaven and praise was the key. This sort of music opens the heavens allowing the ministering angels to ascend and descend. It unlocks the ladder to the attic - that mysterious place in a house - and the key to the turnpike so people can travel the road! Jacob got a glimpse of this as he slept under the stars at night.
‘Then he dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and its top reached Heaven; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it …Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.”And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!”’ (Genesis 28:12,16-17).
The gateway was right where Jacob was - on a journey out in the bush. Authority is in you, authority that has a covering power. This covered the Holy City with praise, so Heaven could ascend and descend into it, protecting the Lord’s people, creating an atmosphere that was heard for miles around. The proclamation of God’s voice! It was a constant victory war that was joyous because it set the city free!
Keys to Open Heaven
‘These things says He who is holy, He who is true, “He who has the key of David, He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens”’ (Revelations 3:7b).
Wall musicians are key of David musicians, who play with a Davidic heart knowing how to open the doors of Heaven over the wall - the church, the city and the nation. They enter into the very role that Lucifer once had as the government prophet musician in Heaven itself, protecting the throne of God with music. Like Heaven, their music speaks of God because God is in it by His very Spirit!
It was very distinctive music, having a sound all of its own, like the sound on the wall, a salvation sound with great hope. They were ready to bring it forth. Pastor Nehemiah was right behind them. He understood, and he let them lead the way.
Rejoice and Bless this Gift
‘And at the same time some were appointed over the rooms of the storehouse for the offerings, the firstfruits, and the tithes, to gather into them from the fields of the cities the portions specified by the Law for the priests and the Levites; for Judah rejoiced over the priests and Levites who ministered’ (Nehemiah 12:44).
The gift of the musician is a ministry that brings blessing and great joy to the Church when allowed to flourish in the House of God as it should. The music became very important in this move in Nehemiah’s day and was provided for with great diligence. The Lord has shaken up the Christian music business; the days of the fast buck are on the way out, for the discerning listener is hungry for more. The Lord wants His prophetic musicians to be facilitated, not just as another product on the conveyor belt of sales possibilities, but as contemporary prophets and ministers who are musically accessible and relevant in whatever context.
This is their hour. The wall is getting stronger; those willing to adjust will be blessed. There are companies and individuals even now who have sensed the call but have not been brave enough to take the risk to move on from MOR! Presently there is no category for the prophetic musician. It’s not general mainstream gospel, or light entertainment, but music from the Spirit Wind of God speaking to a final generation. If the existing machine won’t do it, the Lord will raise up someone else who will!
Major Support and Prosperity Coming
‘In the days of Zerubbabel and in the days of Nehemiah all Israel gave the portions for the singers and the gatekeepers, a portion for each day. They also consecrated holy things for the Levites, and the Levites consecrated them for the children of Aaron ...’ (Nehemiah 12:47).
Phew! This was major support of the musicians from the whole nation! The world manages to pay singers millions of dollars to do one performance for self-glory. People pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for any sort of music to be recorded, sometimes on all sorts of ungodly themes by all manner of ungodly people, some who even openly mock and chide Christ in various songs. Yet in the Church we have failed miserably to get behind the musicians and singers who will bring the glory of God to the world, and His people!
There is many a story of used and abused Christian artists who get embroiled in legal contracts and other industry business which ends up wounding them - deeply affecting their motivation and vision to touch the world. Perhaps they think that because they can’t make it in the business they have somehow missed it - which is sad and wrong. Most Christian musicians have it in them to touch the world; it seems to come with the gift. The Devil hates that. He doesn’t want anyone touching the world for God and affecting his kingdom. It is now time to do it God’s way and in future days this will all change.
Warfare for the Provision
When the musicians were successfully in place on Nehemiah’s wall-full-time everyday, covering the city in song, whom do you think the Devil attacked first? Was it the building program, the board or executive, the church social clubs, the Bingo games? No, he attacked the provision of the singers and musicians.
The attack came in the form of Tobiah the Ammonite - remember him!
‘Now before this, Eliashib the priest, having authority over the storerooms of the house of our God, was allied with Tobiah. And he had prepared for him a large room, where previously they had stored the grain offerings, the frankincense, the articles, the tithes of grain, the new wine and oil, which were commanded to be given to the Levites and singers and gatekeepers, and the offerings for the priests’ (Nehemiah 13:4-5).
This happened while Pastor Nehemiah was away visiting his old boss - the tax you to the max man, the King of Babylon, to whom he had promised to return after the rebuilding of the wall. Nehemiah returned to Jerusalem to discover what the evil Tobiah had done…while the cat was away the devilish mouse had come out to play. You can never afford to let your guard down!
Eliashib - one of Nehemiah’s associate priests - had been blinded by a false charismatic light: Tobiah.
This man had set himself up a pad right in the church - his own five-star dressing room with lights around the mirror. He defiled the ministry of music so much so that the covering song in the House and the whole city was completely quieted!
‘Then I commanded them to cleanse the rooms; and I brought back into them the articles of the house of God, with the grain offering and the frankincense. I also realised that the portions for the Levites had not been given them; for each of the Levites and the singers who did the work had gone back to his field. So I contended with the rulers, and said, “Why is the House of God forsaken?” and I gathered them together and set them in their place’ (Nehemiah 13:9-11).
The House of God Forsaken
The musicians went back to the clubs. Some backslid from their calling in God, others went back to work to make ends meet and pay the rent. They couldn’t record the Wall Live album they had been planning and looking forward to so much because there was no support. There was no time to wait on the Lord for earth-moving songs, no time to rehearse with the directors of music and do it properly, and develop a bond in the anointing. They played on Sundays but just made the most of the songs they knew, or stood with eyes glued to the song books containing the million and one songs they never really had time to learn. Any prayer and practice time was just a quick one before the meeting.
The people didn’t enter-in anymore like they used to. The children, who had begun to prophesy with their mothers, fell asleep at the front of church or played super-hero games. The fear of the Lord was replaced with hype, partying and performance. People began to leave, and question, wondering what had happened. Authority and warfare was replaced with recitals and items where people clapped and watched instead of participating like they used to. Chips and holes began to develop in the wall and it began to crumble, becoming another hollow auditorium with iron bars on a cold street corner.
Tobiah – Beware the Devil in Disguise
An unholy alliance had cunningly taken place with the leadership of the House. Tobiah was of Balaam, of the Devil, an Ammonite, one of the nations that had come against Israel, and was destroyed by Jehoshaphat’s army of musicians. Tobiah came into the heart beat of the church - talented, looking cool, popular, and famous! He appeared the picture of what they thought was Jehovah’s goodness. Instead of using wisdom and letting him sit down in the congregation for a year or so to settle in, the board’s decision was “Lets use him!” How quickly he got the star, dressing room treatment.
They sucked up to him big time! However he hadn’t paid the price, but what the heck? He was famous in the world.
(Religion once upon a time looked for a glamorous, finely clothed Messiah King, and they missed Jesus Christ - the real King - when He came along as a tradesman carpenter!)
Tobiah was a seemingly good person. He was wealthy and had all the right gear, but his heart was far from God. He had not travelled the journey; he didn’t know God. Suddenly the congregation felt like they were being performed to and entertained. It seemed like the music died at the edge of the stage, and slowly but surely the people found themselves watching, rather than participating. It was great… sounded good… very clever… but the world of the spirit above them was quiet, for a disguised pagan spirit was in authority and the Devil grinned like a fat Cheshire cat. Oh how Lucifer loved that room in the House.
Memories of the cloud of glory around the throne of Heaven licked at his inflamed mind. Oh how he loved the praises!
Nehemiah remembered a song; “You look like an angel, walk like an angel, talk like an angel, but I got wise. You’re the devil in disguise. Oh yes you are, the devil in disguise!” ‘Thus I cleansed them of everything pagan...’ (Nehemiah 13:30).
Pastor Nehemiah got tough after this experience. He wanted no compromise. He went on and restored what had been robbed. He knew he was in a spiritual battle, he was more vehement in his contention with the nobles of Judah than ever - probably the very ones who were aligned with the ways of Balaam, the ones who bowed to religious politics for the safety of position and power. “After all you don’t want to offend and lose Corporate Ken, he tithes a fortune, and I love my expensive ministry car!” Nehemiah wasn’t interested. He wanted the wall covered with the prophetic sound by the Lord’s set-apart ones - the prophet musicians, the Wall Band! They finally did their album after all. Perhaps the title track was
called, “Why is the House of God Forsaken!”
Chapter Excerpt from 'Prophet Musician' by Stephen Bennett, reprinted with author's permission. Originally from England, Stephen Bennett and his Australian wife Rebecca in the early nineties founded Awesome City Music Ministries (http://www.awesomecitymusic.com ) based in Sydney, Australia. Stephen’s gifting spans various creative fields and he is a creative prophetic and apostolic voice to a wide community of musicians, singers, artists and to the global Church.
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