A Wake-Up Call

By Hazel Holland
9/26/01

As I was watching the evening news several days after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center Towers and the Pentagon, I was startled to see a particular snap shot of New York City and the bay. It was identical to the scene I had been shown in a very vivid dream that I received five years ago back in December of 1996.

At the time God gave me the dream I didn’t fully understand it and felt no anointing to write about it like I had other dreams I had received around that time. It wasn’t until 1999 that God began to give me the interpretation of this dream and prompted me to share it with my intercessor friends. Some of them encouraged me to try and post it on several prophetic web sites so that a wider audience might be reached. Unfortunately those web sites informed me that this word was either too long or too negative.

Since the recent terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center Towers and the Pentagon, on September 11, 2001, the Lord has impressed by to send this word out again. I believe God is bringing us an urgent call to REPENT. God is calling us as “priests unto the Lord” to hear the cry of His heart for His children. We are being called to stand in the gap and intercede for those who are asleep. It is time for God’s children to fall to their knees in crisis intercession!

In the dream I was an observer, standing on the shore of a sandy beach with my back to the ocean. Stretched out in front of me were hundreds of people crammed together on the beach. They appeared to be either sitting or lying almost on top of one another as they relaxed in the summer sun. In the background off to the right stood the outline of a large sprawling city. Its distant skyscrapers reached up like grasping fingers to the heavens, while the water of the bay lapped at its feet.

Suddenly a long, black missile appeared to drop out of the blue sky, headed straight for the city. Within seconds the doomed city exploded in a huge ball of fire. No one present on the beach saw the attack or heard the explosion.

As I watched in horror and stunned disbelief, another missile unexpectedly came from the right. Instead of flying vertically towards the earth as I had seen the other missile do, this one flew horizontally a few feet over our heads. Instantly pandemonium broke out. But before the startled people could run very far, another missile tauntingly zoomed over our heads from the opposite direction.

From the moment the first missile appeared over the beach, I saw a manifestation of God’s sovereign power displayed in the sky that immediately removed my fear of death. Blazing in large, gold, flashing letters above me were the words, “Jesus is your High Priest!” This same message appeared in several different languages, one of them being Spanish.

Although God was sovereignly intervening to assure us of His Son’s intercession, no one but I saw the writing in the sky. Totally ignoring the fearful sound of the screaming missiles, I called out to the fleeing people, begging them to stop running and look up! But no one heard my pleas. No one paid any attention to my words. Panic had gripped their hearts. They were beside themselves with fear as they stumbled over one another, running hysterically in every direction. I stood there alone, my eyes focused on God’s words in the sky. With tears of thankfulness in my heart, I lifted up my hands in praise and thankfulness to God as I interceded for the people. Immediately I woke up and knew that God had given us a word of warning, along with a message of hope.

Interpretation

Although I had this dream in the middle of winter, I believe the season of the year in which I witnessed these events was summer. Summertime always reminds me of harvest time, because of the abundance of produce during this season of the year. As I reflected on these thoughts, the Lord brought the following words of Scripture to my mind. “The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.” (Jeremiah 8:20).

As I read these words of the prophet Jeremiah in context, I saw that he was weeping and mourning over the devastation and horror that he experienced as he watched his people become crushed and destroyed by the enemy. God had told Jeremiah to prophesy to His people that He would take away their harvest because they refused to repent of worshiping worthless idols. God would remove His protective hand from them, and cause their enemies to triumph over them, because they had corporately as a nation forsaken their Spring of Living Water (Jeremiah 8, 9). In tears of anguish Jeremiah cries out, “The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.” (Jeremiah 8:20).

I believe God is calling many of His children like He called Jeremiah to weep and mourn and intercede for our nation so that we return to the Spring of Living Water.

The Church at Ease

The people in this beach scene who appear to be so focused on their own comfort and pleasure, reflect the attitudes of many of us within the Laodicean church of today. Unfortunately, much of the theology of our western world today appears to be self-centered and self-seeking. We want God to bless us, prosper us, heal us and protect us. Instead of seeking His face to know what is on His heart, we are more inclined to seek His hands with a list of things that we want Him to do for us.

Although the once famous city of Laodicea had hot springs, a natural source of water that took care of people’s physical needs, it did not satisfy their spiritual needs. We in the church today are in much the same spiritual condition as that church back in John’s day. We have forgotten the Living Spring! We fail to come to Him to have our thirst quenched (Isaiah 55:1). Instead we have chosen to rely on empty cisterns—the pleasures of this life. As a result, our love [agape] has grown cold and indifferent because we are not filled with the Holy Spirit (Matthew 24:12).

The dream reveals that many of us in the church are so preoccupied with our selfish desires that we are oblivious to the real needs of others around us [the people in the city]. The urgency of the hour is upon us. While many of us in the church have had our guns pointed at one another, instead of the real enemy of our souls, the real enemy has been busy gathering troupes into his kingdom.

The destruction of the city that goes unnoticed by the people on the beach illustrates the spiritual blindness and deafness that is causing many in the church to be self-sufficient and preoccupied with the cares of this life. Spiritual pride has blinded us to the true condition of our hearts. We are devoid of the Spirit, yet we know it not!

This message of warning given by the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, Jesus Christ is given in love. “Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent.” God is pleading with us to repent—to change our minds—to stop resisting the Spirit’s work. In essence, God is calling us to stop living for God by our own righteousness and to start living for God by the Spirit’s power (Revelation 3:14-22).

Unless we wake up, turn around and repent, we will not “see” the missiles of the enemy coming upon us until it’s too late. When we are faced with the taunting attacks of the enemy, we will fail to look up and see the hand of our Intercessor and Deliverer, Jesus Christ. Paralyzed by fear we will run blindly for cover, unaware that we are still clothed in our own righteousness. We have not received His clothing [His righteousness] to cover our nakedness. Unless we put on the wedding garment of Christ’s righteousness in exchange for our own filthy rags, He will not know us.

The good news of this beach scene is mercy! God is revealing His mercy in the midst of the roaring of the enemy. God is “holding back the four winds of the earth” [strife] until He has sealed all His children (Revelation 7:3). The fact that the missiles didn’t hit their intended target on the beach [the church] is because God is sovereignly in control, not Satan. Jesus Christ is interceding for His people and He is calling us to join Him in crisis intercession for He is not willing that any should perish.

The Doomed City

As I thought about the outline of this city I had been shown against the blue sky, there was not a dark cloud in sight that would indicate that an attack was coming. Judging by the height of its towering skyscrapers, glistening in the sun, the city appeared to be strong and indestructible. No one would have imagined that it was soon to be devoured in a roaring inferno. For those who perished in the flames, the summer ended, the harvest was passed.

What is God saying to us by this tragic word picture? I believe He is showing us the Enemy’s wrath that will be unleashed when God removes His hand of protection. I believe this doomed city is also a warning of how God’s wrath will finally fall on those who refuse His offer of mercy and grace. I believe the Lord is giving us both a literal and a spiritual application of what this city by the sea represents.

Two years ago in 1999 when I first shared this dream with some of my intercessor friends, I was hit with a very heavy prophetic shake that reduced me to deep groaning and loud ho-ing that lasted for over an hour. At that time I felt sure this dream was a warning to intercede for the people of a city on the East Coast of the United States, quite possibly New York. It seemed that the anointing of the Holy Spirit seemed to fall heavier upon me when I spoke about the East Coast as opposed to the West Coast. But I sensed that the West Coast was not except.

For the past several years, every time I have visited beach cities on the West Coast, like San Diego or Newport Beach, I have been hit [actually doubled over] with periods of loud ho-ing [cries of intercession] that have not been understood by most people. Now I know that God has been giving us a warning to intercede and cry out for these cities to repent because they are possibly going to become future targets of terrorist attacks.

Spiritual Babylon

I believe that through this surprise attack that I was shown in this dream God is bringing us a message that has a dual application—both literal as well as spiritual. We all know the literal and devastating results of how commercial airliners became guided missiles in the hands of terrorists. To some degree or other we are all experiencing the grief, pain and shock of being victims of this cowardly attack. We all know that God loves the people of New York City as much as He loves the people in every city. His unconditional love is for all peoples, whether they ever accept His Son or not. But that is not the main focus of this dream. What I feel led to concentrate on at this time is the spiritual application of what this city represents.

As I thought about this tragic word picture—this prosperous looking city so clearly outlined against the blue sky with not a dark cloud in sight that would indicate that an attack from the Enemy was coming, I knew God was showing us spiritual Babylon. Judging by the height of its towering skyscrapers, glistening in the sun, this city by the sea appeared strong and indestructible. No one would have had any idea that it was about to be devoured in a roaring inferno. The summer ended for those who perished in the flames. The harvest was past for those who were taken by surprise.

I believe this city symbolically represents spiritual Babylon—a union of the world’s religious and political systems that opposes God and His Son Jesus Christ. It is spoken of in the last book of the Bible—the book of Revelation.

The word “Babylon” means confusion, and dates back to the time of the Tower of Babel where shortly after the flood, people began to build a city with a tower that reached to the heavens (Gen. 11:1-9). Their object in building this city and tower was to make a name for themselves. However, God interposed and defeated their design by confounding their language and scattering them over the face of the earth. Hence the name Babel, means "confusion." Seeing “Babylon” in the context of “confusion” helps us understand why this false system of worship spoken of in Revelation is in opposition to God’s kingdom of righteousness. It is designed to make a name for itself, instead of worshiping and glorifying God’s name!

I believe the Lord is saying to the church and to our nation that whenever we try to make a name for ourselves instead of lifting up His name, we are destined for confusion! I believe God is using this word picture to send out a warning message to those of us who are still living in spiritual Babylon. He is revealing to us the dark places in our hearts that He wants to immerse in His River of Mercy. Although Satan is coming with all the fury of hell to take captives, God is also coming with all the power of His love to release captives from spiritual Babylon.

Although we may have literally left the “city,” the city is still very much alive in many of our hearts. Like Lot’s wife we are still clinging to our idols. Our focus is still centered on ourselves instead of on those who do not know Jesus Christ. Unless we heed the call of His Spirit and come out of spiritual Babylon, we will eventually be destroyed along with those who are caught up in her false system of worship.

The Scriptures clearly teach us that spiritual Babylon will eventually be destroyed by fire when those who once supported her, turn on her, and bring her to ruin by withdrawing their support. “Therefore in one day her plagues will overtake her; death, mourning and famine. She will be consumed by fire, for mighty is the Lord who judges her” (Revelation 17:16; 18:8).

Just as Lot and his family were warned to leave Sodom before it was consumed by fire, and Christians were warned to leave Jerusalem before it was destroyed in AD 70, so God is calling His children to come out of spiritual Babylon. “Come out of her, my people, so that you will not share in her sins…” (Revelation 18:4). “I will keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come upon the whole world to test those who live on the earth” (Revelation 3:10).

Urgent Call to Repentance

This word picture of unexpected destruction is an urgent call to repentance. God is “not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:8). However, He knows that many of us in the church today, like the people in Jeremiah’s day, are caught up in the world’s religious systems, and are involved in many subtle forms of idolatry. We have forsaken the Spring of Living Water, and instead are relying on polluted water. We have a form of godliness, but many of us have no Holy Spirit power. If we choose to remain in our sins [in Babylon] we are going to perish in our sins. “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord”(Romans 6:23).

In a similar way that sudden destruction took the people in this coastal city by surprise, so sudden destruction will take people who are at ease in the church by surprise, along with many in the world. “While people are saying, ‘Peace and safety,’ destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.” Then Paul adds, “But you, brothers, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. You are all sons of the light and sons of the day… So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be alert and self-controlled… putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet. For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ”(1 Thessalonians 5:3-9).

In Wrath Remember Mercy

Just as redemptive judgments fell upon Judah because of her rejection of God, so they will eventually fall upon those of us who continue to cling to our idols, who continue to be clothed in our own righteousness. Having a profession of godliness, but denying the Spirit’s power and the all-sufficiency of Christ’s sacrifice will not protect us in the days ahead unless we are sealed by the Spirit of the Living God.

In the same way that God called the prophet Habakkuk to pray on behalf of his people who had been unfaithful, God is calling many intercessors in the body of Christ to do the same today. As we remember God’s fame and stand in awe of His marvelous deeds, let us cry out to God, “Lord… in wrath remember mercy”(Habakkuk 3:2)! Although Habakkuk saw that God was sending the Babylonians—a nation more evil than Judah—to take them captive, he knew that they [the Babylonians] would “exhaust themselves for nothing.” For he remembered God’s promise: “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea” (Habakkuk 2:13-14).

Eventually the day of calamity would come on the nation invading Judah (Habakkuk 3:16). Eventually God would win and the enemy would loose. Therefore, in spite of the dismal outlook, Habakkuk still chose to rejoice in the Lord, and live by faith (Habakkuk 3:17-19; 2:4). We in the church are called to do the same. “For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: ‘The righteous will live by faith”(Romans 1:17). We are being called by the Spirit to live by faith in Christ’s finished work for us.

Just as Jeremiah, Habakkuk and many other prophets stood in the gap for their people, so God is calling forth an army of intercessors in the body of Christ today to stand in the gap and intercede on behalf of those who are at ease in the church and the world. We are being called to “wake up” and see the fields are ready for harvest. The promise that the “earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea” is a promise for us today. The Amen tells us that all of God’s promises are yes.

In order that we may be found in Him when He shall appear, let us buy gold—faith and love refined by the heat of trials so that we can become rich. Let us put on Christ’s robe of righteousness so that we aren’t naked. Let us receive the eye salve of the Spirit so we can see. Let us acknowledge and confess our true spiritual condition. Let us hear what the Spirit is saying to the church and REPENT!

We are called to be sons and daughters of the Light—sons and daughters of the day! Let us arise from our Laodicean slumber. Let us get on our faces and REPENT! Let us be led by the Spirit to boldly declare the praises of Him who has called us out of darkness into His wonderful light (1 Peter 2:9). How beautiful are the feet of those who bring Good News!”(Romans 10:14-15).