A Nation Brought Out By Trial

A Prophetic Hebrew Word Study

Can you perceive the time and season we are in? For those with eyes to see and ears to hear, you know there has been a shift—in the world, in America, and in the Church. This is causing many to seek the face of God producing a shift in their personal lives.

Over the 4th of July weekend, the Holy Spirit led me repeatedly to Deuteronomy 4.

Or has a god ventured to go to take for himself a nation from within another nation by trials, by signs and wonders, by war, by a mighty hand, by an outstretched arm, and by great terror, just as the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?  You were shown these things so that you might know that the Lord, He is God; there is no other besides Him (4:34-35, NASB).

Jesus is pulling His Bride out of the world to be a Kingdom nation that knows Him and relies on no one else but Him. It is the beginning of preparations for His return. How are we being pulled out of the world? Deuteronomy tells us that He will do this through trials, signs, wonders, war, and by terror. God works in cycles. The Bible reveals how He did it in the past and points us to how He is doing it again.

If we describe the decade of the 2020s, these words in Deuteronomy 4 fit. We are in a decade of trial. People have been in great fear. Wars are raging in the spiritual and the natural, with more to come. But amid this, there are signs and wonders.

As I asked the Holy Spirit what He was specifically saying through these verses, I was led to look up the Hebrew words of each of these circumstances God is allowing. What are the deeper meanings of trials, signs, wonders, war, and terrors?

Trials is the Hebrew word maccah (H4531). The essence of this word is to be tested and proved in order to raise a standard. Isaiah 59:19 says, So shall they fear the name of the Lord from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him (KJV). The enemy has come in. He has come into every area of society, stripping people of identity, health, relationships, justice, and safety. Therefore, the Lord must raise a standard against him. The trials we are in are to equip us to be that standard. We are rising up out of the ways of culture to go a different way. That different way is God's standard that will lead many to Jesus in the coming days.

This Hebrew word for trials also means refuge. Many have felt the nudging of the Holy Spirit to build spaces of refuge to prepare for the shaking hitting our nations. Whether it be buying land, stocking items, planting a garden, learning how to make their own food, starting a business, or starting new ministries or churches, many have felt the call to build places of refuge that will be needed in this shift. The trials have pushed us to seek God for the new blueprints so we can thrive and equip God's people to thrive no matter what comes.

We are in a war climate. The enemy is attempting to start wars on all fronts—politically, racially, denominationally, generationally, and physically. God allows war when nations turn from Him to wicked ways of serving idols and other gods. We must be prepared as the army of God for this war decade. What is happening in the spiritual will manifest in the natural. The best way to prepare for this wartime climate is to be rooted and grounded in our faith and the love of God. To be rooted and grounded in our faith is to trust God so entirely that we do not fear no matter what our eyes see. If we understand what He is doing and why He is doing it, fear loses its hold on us. He is allowing war because a standard must be raised, and a godly people must come forth out of the mire of the world. Nations will perish under the weight of sin and wickedness if we do not come forth.

During the trials and the wars, we will see signs and wonders! Signs, the Hebrew word owth (H226), are miracles, warnings, and proof of God's existence. According to the Hebrew letters, a sign points to the power (aleph) of the cross (vav and tav). Similar to the meaning of the word signs are wonders. Wonders, mowpheth (H4159), are miracles and displays of God's power. Every letter of this word points to Jesus! The mem is the blood; the pey is the word, and the tav is the cross. Wonders will always display Jesus to the world and point to Him!

All these things will produce terror upon the people. Terror (H4172) can mean fear and dread or reverence and awe. What happens in our hearts will depend on our trust in God and our obedience to His Word. For the wicked and those following the world's ways, what they see before their eyes will produce fear and dread. For the righteous, reverence and awe will overcome them as we see God fulfill His promises and display the truth of His Word.

We are part of a Kingdom shift. One epoch of time has ended and a new one has begun. The shaking is the ushering in of a new paradigm on the earth. We will thrive in this transition as we remain close to the Lord, listening and obeying His instructions. Deuteronomy promises, So you shall keep His statutes and His commandments which I am giving you today, so that it may go well for you and for your children after you, and that you may live long on the land which the Lord your God is giving you for all time (4:40, NASB). We are becoming a standard. We are building refuges. We will be carries of signs and wonders. And we will see the awe of the Lord fall upon our nations, cities, churches, and families. The wheat and chaff are being separated. It is time for the Kingdom to thrive upon the earth!