I was standing beside a very large and
handsome young man who was obviously the angel of the Lord. He was
very gracious in his demeanor, yet his posture was as one who stood
ready for battle at all times. When he first greeted me he said,
“You are invited to stand before the Great Assembly.”
That
was the beginning of a dream I will never forget. After hearing his
words, I was instantly transported in the spirit to another place. I
could sense that I had entered a realm that was separate in time,
yet parallel to the dimension of the present. I was outside the
confines of man’s habitation. I was in the spirit.
As I opened my eyes, I walked into a large tent with sawdust on the
floor. Many were cheering and enjoying what looked like a revival
meeting in progress. I heard radio and television announcements of
the great and coming attractions. “Come and be blessed! Tonight God
will heal the sick.” The tent was filled with a carnival and festive
atmosphere. There were lots of songs, singing, preaching and
excitement.
Even though there was a great crowd it was apparent that something
was not right. As I walked inside the large, red and white striped
tent I could see that it had been roped off in sections with many
long lines. The lines were used to keep the people moving in a
controlled and ordered fashion. Many people, however, were becoming
frustrated, even bitter with despair because they had to wait so
long in the lines.
On the platform everything looked good, even perfect, but you could
tell that behind the scenes something was in disorder that was
causing the leaders of the tent meeting to leave their positions of
service. This lack of leaders made the lines even longer.
On the ground in front of me, covered by sawdust and wood shavings
was a large old Bible. I was amazed that no one noticed it as they
walked by. Others even stepped on it as they entered the long lines
of waiting. Every time someone would start to look at the Bible they
would instead be attracted by an advertisement of blessing. In my
heart I was grieved that people didn’t notice the Word but were
continually diverted by all the sights and sounds. “Right this way,”
the ushers would shout. “Come and be blessed,” was heard throughout
the tent. Then I heard a loud angelic voice declare, “This is not
the great assembly. Transitions in time.” The show was over.
The Room Of Preparation
Suddenly I was transported to a building the angel called “The Room
of Preparation.” Once again, it was full of many distractions. It
was the place where one’s heart is prepared to reach the great
assembly. The angel of the Lord showed me that unless ones’ heart is
prepared, then their ministry couldn’t come forth in fullness.
I looked around and saw many who were in the room of preparation.
Some, however, that had made it past the tent meeting were in the
room of preparation for the wrong reason.
There were several other people present whom the angel revealed had
been divinely called and also assigned to the great assembly. I
tried to communicate with them but they were being distracted by the
sounds of various events taking place at the tent meeting.
Unfortunately, those whose hearts didn’t break away from the show in
the tent were pulled out of the room of preparation and put in the
back of a line in the tent. The angel of the Lord told me it was
because they had their hearts fixed on their own ministries and
walked away from their time of preparation. Then the angel said,
“This is not the great assembly. New times and seasons! On to the
next place.”
The Great Debate
After leaving the room of preparation I was taken to the next place,
where I saw a beautiful white church building. It had a very large
steeple and, atop some slate steps, giant wooden double entry doors.
As the doors swung open I could hear the sound of an old organ
playing softly in the background. As I crossed the threshold into
the sanctuary there was a musty smell in the air. I could tell that
I was entering a very old church building.
It had dark, heavily ornate wooden paneling on the walls and massive
stained glass windows. A man greeted me at the door and said, “Hymns
lad.” He continued, “Silent. Reverence please. The great debate is
about to take place.” Then an usher, dressed in black with white
gloves approached me and escorted me to the front of the church. I
could hear the squeaking of the old wooded floor under my feet as I
looked at thousands of people who were assembled inside the
building. “Is this the great assembly,” I wondered?
The usher pointed to a row in the front of the church where I was
seated directly in front of the pulpit. There was no one preaching
to those who were assembled. The congregation was completely silent.
Off to my right, and next to the platform, was a place of special
seating with hundreds of religious leaders from various
denominations. There were many religious theology books on these
leaders’ laps. They were turning the pages of their books as if they
were in a frantic search for some vital information. I heard one
ask, “Where is the grace to move forward?”
Most of the religious leaders looked very old and were in poor
health. It seemed that they had entered a great debate over some
sort of religious doctrine. I looked down at the Word of God in my
hand and thought that they should look in this Book for their
answers. To my surprise it didn’t seem that anyone was interested in
it. It seemed as though there was an air of indifference concerning
the Word of God. After all, they had written their own theological
books.
I asked the angel of the Lord, “Am I supposed to sit in my assigned
section until someone calls on me to minister to the people?” “No,”
he responded, “These are all religious leaders of various
denominations.” I told him I didn’t belong to any denomination and
asked him where I should sit. The angel looking directly at me said,
“This is not where you are to minister. You are only to pass through
this place. These leaders are only ministering to one another. Soon
the doors to this place will be shut. You are called to the great
assembly.” Then, after a slight pause, he said, “Come now, the great
assembly is gathering. We must hurry.”
Ministry Success
From there we climbed through a winding maze of stairs and
corridors. It seemed that it would take forever to scale to the top.
Then finally, after a long struggle, a door appeared before us. It
had a little sign on it that read “Ministry Success.” As I opened
the door it seemed that I had finally arrived. I could sense the
overwhelming feeling of prosperity, success and achievement in this
room.
There before me were many great Christian leaders all having a
joyous time enjoying the fruit of their hard work. They were
laughing and talking to one another. Sharing stories of trying
times, hardships and how they had overcome so many obstacles to
their callings.
There were also people playing all sorts of interesting games,
watching sports, being entertained by pleasures of all kinds. It was
a place where there were no more ministry burdens, no heavy loads
and everything seemed so perfect. Was this the great assembly?
I approached many of God’s leaders, asking them if they knew where
the great assembly was. They responded, by saying things like,
“Don’t worry about that. You have arrived. Relax. Just enjoy
yourself. This is what you have worked for. You don’t have to
struggle anymore. You made it.”
Behind the wonderful delights
In a way, hearing those words of prosperity, success and achievement
felt good, but somehow I felt out of place. Every thing looked good
but I couldn’t see the great assembly. Then, off in the distance, I
saw another door. It was behind many wonderful delights. As I
approached the door someone tried to get me to play a game with him.
“Come on. You’ll have fun.” “I can’t,” I said pressing through the
delights toward the door.
I opened the door and proceeded up another set of stairs. Finally,
after reaching the top I saw yet another door that had nothing
written on it. As I pushed the door open I could see a great sports
arena. It looked like a giant coliseum. And just a few steps in
front of me a massive, yet empty, pulpit. There was no one standing
behind it preaching the Word of God to the masses. I could tell that
it had seldom been used.
Behind me to my left and right I could see many people sitting in
the seats of authority. I saw Absalom, Jezebel, Korah, Balaam and
hundreds of false prophets and apostles.
Across the great arena on the other side I saw myriads of people who
were hungry for the Word of God. They were a great crowd cheering me
on to approach the pulpit. “Come on! Come on,” they cried. As I
approached the pulpit I could see the disdain on the faces of those
sitting falsely in the seats of authority. They shouted, “How dare
he! Who does he think he is? Go back to the wonderful delights.” One
even tried to stop me, but as he came near to me he fell down at my
feet by the power of God.
Then as I approached the pulpit I could see hundreds of others break
through doors just like I had. They too were approaching pulpits in
front of them. When we lifted up our voices to preach the Word of
God we were hit by bolts of glorious lightening. As we all began to
speak proclaiming Jesus to the great crowds, the earth began to
shake. The more we preached, the more violent the shaking. Then
there was a great earthquake that opened the earth and swallowed up
those hindering false ones who sat in the seats of authority.
Then suddenly the heavens split open and there was a great voice
that said, “Come up here!”
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Jonas Clark shares a colorful prophetic dream about the narrow road to the Kingdom of heaven and the few who find it.
