CHRISTIAN FINE ART GALLERY > JOHN THE BAPTIST ARTWORKS SERIES 2 > Lion of Judah: Until You Are Enthroned Upon The Praises of Israel
PURCHASE THIS PRINT – Print Code: JTBA6
Print Sizes: S, M, L | Original Artwork: ONFS, Pen on Paper
This artwork of the Lion of Judah as a royal coat of arms lion was originally and image I saw within a dream God gave me. Within the dream, God warned of worldliness amongst Christians, the discipline of God to get Christians to return to him and the key to steadfast intimacy. The fundamental issue is about restoring true worship and the Presence of God in our midst. The Lord must be enthroned within our hearts, within our assemblies and upon our praises.
Artist’s Reflection:
“See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed.” (Revelation 5:5)
“Yet You are holy, O You who are enthroned upon the praises of Israel.” (Psalm 22:3 NASB)
This drawing is in an entirely different class of artwork than any of the other pieces I have done. While I always aim to do artwork that is about God’s heart (that is, I try to convey in visual form what, by God’s grace, I believe I have perceived of his heart in my own walk with him), this drawing is different in that I believe it is a direct revelation of God’s heart to his people.
With my other artwork, I have been more of an observer and recorder, and I choose to record in artwork whatever I want. This drawing is very different in that, although I have also “observed” it, I feel it is a direct revelation and transmission of God’s heart to me. It is something he wants to say to his people (rather than something I want to say to them, as with my other artwork). My role, therefore, is more of a “deliverer” of this message.
Because of this, I treat this transmission of God’s heart (of which the drawing is a visual symbol) as something of utmost importance. Likewise, I take my role as deliverer extremely seriously, and I aim to do so in the utmost fear of the Lord. However, I also realize my own human frailty, that I have many flaws in heart, action and speech; nevertheless, I have purposed in my heart to do my absolute very best to transmit, as faithfully as I can, God’s heart through this drawing, despite my human failings.
My earnest prayer is that the reader and viewer will, by the Spirit of God, hear, perceive, receive and respond to God’s heart through this drawing despite any of my own humanness that may also be present as I do my very best to accurately transmit God’s heart to his people in regards to this piece of artwork.
This drawing was an image I saw in a dream from the Lord. Due to the prophetic nature of this dream, I have felt to reveal some things and to conceal other things about it. Therefore, what I have written here is not an exhaustive explanation/revelation of this drawing. Furthermore, I do not feel that I yet have full revelation of God’s heart in regards to what this image represents. I have prayed for much greater understanding and revelation for over a year. God has increasingly granted this in part, but I know there is still more to be revealed. I have wondered if I should wait until I have full understanding of it before releasing this image publicly and speaking about it, but after much prayer, I feel now is the time to release the image, along with the limited revelation that accompanies it.
This was my dream:
God showed me a group of people at a church (or churches). They were the professing church, and they all attended church regularly. However, it was not immediately apparent that they were Christians, for their conversations, though not sinful, were totally secular and godless. They were happy and laughing, but their conversations had nothing to do with God.
Their godless conversations became a snare to other Christians who, at first, feared the Lord and earnestly sought to live holy, worshipful lives unto him. But since there was nobody at their church talking about the things of God, they slowly, reluctantly and eventually began to join in the godless chatter until they were completely ensnared by it. Tragically, they became more and more godless and earthly minded the more they indulged in godless talk with others (Colossians 3:1-4). These peoples’ thoughts and hearts were not on God; they were unspiritual.
“Avoid godless chatter, because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly…Nevertheless, God’s solid foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription: ‘The Lord knows those who are his,’ and, ‘Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness.’” (2 Timothy 2:16, 19)
God spoke to them gently to turn their attention back to him. He lightly disciplined them through some small, unfortunate mishaps which briefly disrupted their godless talk. At least one of these disciplinary measures was hail striking their church building, from what I remember. However, even though they knew God was speaking to them, sadly, they just ignored him. It was easy for them to block him out and not respond to him because their godless chatter was louder. It was as if Jesus was outside, knocking on their door, but they deliberately did not answer or open the door to let him in their company. (Revelation 3:19-20).
When multiple acts of gentler discipline did not succeed in getting their attention, God sent a much heavier act of discipline. God sent a heavy storm which tore their church building right open and destroyed part of it, and a number of people died as a result (Jeremiah 35:17). (This is in accordance with God’s Word in 1 Corinthians 11:30-32, although I did not see taking communion in an unworthy manner as being their direct offense, but rather, their persistent ungodliness). Some of the survivors, who wanted to deny the fact that they were sinning and being disciplined by the Lord, said that only 30 people died, but others, who were beginning to respond to God’s correction, said that these people were not being truthful and that they knew the real number of people who died was around 50-60.
When God sent this heavy act of discipline, some Christians started to wake up and sober up to the reality of their ungodliness. That small group of Christians I saw who, at first, feared the Lord and earnestly sought to live holy, worshipful lives unto him but were ensnared by the godless chatter at their church, were among those who were sobered up by God’s heavy disciplinary measure. Some of the original godless chatterers were realizing their ungodliness too and began to repent.
Though this small group of repentant people had originally hardened their hearts by ignoring God’s gentler acts of discipline, they were now deeply grieved that they had done so. They were very grieved at themselves that God had to go to this severe measure to get their attention. They were sad that they had hurt God, whom they had once loved with a pure, bridal, first love. They were also really angry at themselves for getting ensnared. They also really kicked themselves for being so foolish because they had known better all along. Now it would be a process for them to come back to that pure, bridal love they once had for Jesus, for their hearts had become clogged with idols through their progressive entrapment in sin via their godless chatter. Everything about their lifestyle, from their motives to their speech to their actions had become polluted by the sin they allowed to take up residence in their hearts. It would take time to cleanse the temple within (2 Kings 23).
This little group of repentant Christians began to pull away from the godless chatterers (a number of whom were still continuing in their godless ways despite God’s heavy discipline) and leave their company. They learned 1 Corinthians 15:33-34 the hard way, “Do not be misled: ‘Bad company corrupts good character.’ Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God–I say this to your shame.”
One repentant individual (from the small group of devoted Christians that had become ensnared), as they were leaving the godless chatter group, was attacked from behind by a demon. It jumped on the person’s back and began to taunt them, harass them, grab/wrestle them and hinder them. The person turned around to punch it (which I perceived was not a spiritual response but an angry, fleshly response), but as soon as they did, the demon backed away from them with great swiftness and moved out of range of their punch. The person was happy the demon was apparently gone and kept walking away from the godless chatterers. However, as soon as they tried to walk away again the demon jumped on their back again. The person got even angrier and turned around to hurl a flurry of punches at the demon, but it again eluded their punches with great swiftness. This happened again and again, and the person got angrier and angrier because they could not strike the demon nor get rid of it. Eventually the Christian flew into a fleshly rage at the demon. This was a terrible predicament for this person! They were already angry at themselves for getting ensnared, but now they were even more angry at this demonic problem and even angrier at themselves for their ungodly, unsuccessful response to the demon.
It is pure spiritual foolishness to allow oneself to be led astray into ungodliness–especially when one sees it and knows better.
As I watched this little repentant group separate from the godless chatterers and leave, I noticed another group of holy, God-fearing Christians. I had not seen them before because they had not been anywhere near the godless-chatter church. This new group of godly Christians was now coming onto the very outskirts of the scene of God’s discipline. I am not sure if the commotion of God’s discipline upon the church had caused them to come in alarm to see what was going on or if they were coming to meet and welcome the repentant Christians, who were walking their way and now joining them.
I clearly perceived a few very important things about this much smaller, godly group:
They had deliberately kept their distance from the godless chatter people, even though they professed to be Christians and were regular church attenders. The godly group did not feel obligated to keep “fellowship” with those who “…claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him” (Titus 1:16). God did not expect this of them either. I clearly perceived that this small, godly group had God’s favour, even though they didn’t go to that church (or churches).
Although this godly group were not prophets, they reminded me a lot of “the company of the prophets” (2 Kings 6:1), who, during times of spiritual apostasy in Israel, banded together for mutual encouragement and fellowship. It also reminded me of the times in Israel’s history where God’s remnant people left their homes because of the idolatry and apostasy in Israel and went to Judah and Jerusalem in order to maintain their pure worship of the Lord (Read 2 Chronicles 11:13-17; 15:9).
The most important thing I perceived about this godly group was the *key* to their amazingly strong and consistent holy and worshipful lives. I perceived that their “secret” was to greatly invest themselves and the majority of their energy into their private, intimate relationships with God. This is where their spiritual health, vitality and consistency came from. This was their lifestyle. Their steadfast and heavy emphasis upon nurturing their individual intimate relationships with God above all else was their mainstay and safeguard. They were also very, very careful about who they associated with and kept withdrawn from the common professing church crowd. “The righteous should choose his friends carefully, For the way of the wicked leads them astray” (Proverbs 12:26 NKJV). Fellowship, though they had it, played a much more peripheral role in their spiritual lives. This is opposite to what many professing Christians practice, who view church as their spiritual mainstay, focus and safeguard and make their private, devotional lives with God an equal or more peripheral issue to “church”. In addition, they also have a tendency to look to their pastor and depend upon him (or other church leadership) as their functional head rather than directly looking to and depending upon the living Christ as their “Chief Shepherd” (1 Peter 5:4), as this small group of godly Christians did.
At this part of my dream, when the repentant group was leaving, I looked up and saw a gigantic poster on the wall of the godless chatter church. It took up nearly a whole wall from the floor to the ceiling. It was of a royal coat-of-arms lion, which was the dominating emblem on the poster, and it had a little bit of medieval or gothic embellishment around it. I knew the lion represented the Lion of Judah–Jesus (Revelation 5:5). The image was so greatly enlarged from the original drawing that you could see the minor printing distortions in the line quality of the print. It was an advertisement for a worship band that was coming to the church. Their worship ministry came straight from the heart of God; it was a direct extension of the heart of God. In my spirit I could sense it and feel it!! The purpose of their ministry was to call his straying people back to true, spiritual worship and to bring them back to intimacy with God. The band was of the same spiritual kin as the small, godly group.
There was something of God’s heart that deeply impacted my spirit when I viewed that drawing in the final, fleeting seconds of my dream. Knowing that it represented God’s heart, I found myself longing to be a part of them, longing to be identified with them, longing to be united with them in heart and purpose (Philippians 2:1-2). The heart of God, coming so clearly and strongly through their ministry, resonated so much with me that I wanted to stand in complete solidarity with them, for then I would be standing in complete solidarity with the desire of God’s heart for his people.
They were not a “Christian band” in the Christian pop culture sense of the phrase; instead, they were a worship ministry straight from God’s heart. They were sent to call his Bride out of these ungodly spiritual environments and to bring her back to the Bridegroom in worship and intimacy, for Christ’s heart is aching for her love.
When I woke up I knew exactly which group I wanted to belong to!
The dream obviously contained a strong warning to be careful about who I associated with in Christian fellowship. It also revealed the key to remaining steadfast in my Christian walk, but more importantly, the key to bringing pleasure to the heart of my God.
Upon waking, I could sense in my spirit the total dichotomy of these two groups of people who, in real life, I have become so familiar with over the years. Many of us are familiar with the godless chatter group because, sadly, it has become the “norm” in many churches today. As soon as the sermon is over, people are talking about last night’s football match or where they got their latest outfit. There is not much talk about God.
However, many of us are also familiar with the godly group. We have cherished their fellowship and have learned invaluable spiritual lessons from observing their godly lives. The “Lion of Judah” worship band came out of this kind of group of intimate worshipers. They are God’s true remnant Church and Bride. The Scripture exhorts us believers to unite ourselves with them:
“Join with others in following my example, brothers, and take note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you. For, as I have often told you before and now say again with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.” (Philippians 3:17-21)
When I look back upon the dream I notice that the vast majority of it was focused on what the godless group did. I also notice that the major message of the dream was both a warning (about who I should keep spiritual company with) and a word of wisdom (to greatly invest myself in my private, intimate relationship with God). But even though these were the “majors” of the dream and I took them very much to heart, it was actually the poster of the Lion of Judah worship band and all that it represented spiritually which kept coming back to me again and again over the coming months. I especially pondered the desire of God’s heart for his Bride to return to him in worship and intimacy, as revealed through the worship ministry of the Lion of Judah band. (On a side note, I never noticed a name to the worship band on the poster. I do not feel that the name of the band was prophetically concealed from me. Rather, I believe the band was either nameless or its name was irrelevant. I just call it the “Lion of Judah band” for the sake of clarity here.) Like my painting, “Home is Where Your Heart Is” (Praise and Worship Series), I found my spirit was constantly drawn back to that small group of intimate worshipers I saw in my dream. Over the coming months, I regularly pondered all of this because, for some reason, it was lodged in my heart and did not fade away.
Then, some months later, I was in private worship at the piano. I began to praise God to a song I had written several years earlier called, “The Lion of Judah Reigns”. It is a very powerful, warfare, highest-praises type song. God came in great power as I prayed and praised to that song, and once again I saw the image of the Lion of Judah band poster appear before my mind’s eye.
Though it is very difficult to explain spiritual impressions, for lack of better words, I felt like God was merging me into all that the Lion of Judah worship ministry represented spiritually, as if I was becoming a part of it myself (or a member in its movement). Beforehand, I had been an outward observer to the band’s ministry, but during this time of powerful worship, it was like God shifted me (and my vantage point) into the band or alongside the band. I was no longer observing God’s heart as an outsider, but rather, God shifted his heart inside of me. Instead of being a bystander, I became one who inwardly carried this specific burden of God’s heart to see his Bride return to him in intimate worship. It was like God was opening my eyes and giving me greater revelation and understanding of his heart in this matter from the inside out.
The following is what I perceived at that time:
God’s heartbeat is that true, spiritual worship would be restored in his remnant Church. His heartbeat is that he would be enthroned upon the praises of his people (Psalm 22:3 NASB), his true, spiritual Israel (Romans 9:6-8). So many things fight for the throne of our hearts, but what God wants is for us to enthrone him in our hearts individually and also corporately as His remnant Bride. As we enthrone him in our hearts, he will be enthroned upon our praises. He is a God whose name is Jealous. “Do not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God” (Exodus 34:14).
Beloved Bride, do you know just how much Jesus’ heart aches and longs for us, for our intimacy, for our worship and for our single-hearted devotion?
This inward burden which I now carried is what catalysed me into doing a drawing of the Lion of Judah band poster, which had now been set before my eyes twice.
I began to seek the Lord about how I should lay it out visually because although I have a fairly photographic memory, I could not remember every tiny detail in the ornate embellishments on the poster. The large, royal coat of arms lion was quite clear because it was so visually dominating and strongly impressed upon me. Yet, though it was a royal coat of arms lion, the poster itself did not seem to be an actual illustration of a coat of arms. Through much prayer I have relied upon God to help me fill in the gaps with the final layout of the drawing. The final subject matter expresses what I believe to be a summation of the revelation of God’s heart in relation to this image.
When I was privately worshiping to the song, “The Lion of Judah Reigns”, I had a very strong impression that God desires to be enthroned in our hearts individually and corporately and also enthroned upon our praises. Scripture says that God was enthroned between the cherubim above the mercy seat (atonement cover) of the ark of the Covenant: “…the ark of God, which is called by the Name, the name of the LORD Almighty, who is enthroned between the cherubim that are on the ark” (2 Samuel 6:2). Therefore, in my drawing, the Lion of Judah is properly “enthroned” between the cherubim angels in the drawing. This represents the reality in heaven which God wants to make manifest reality in the hearts of his people here on earth.
There is also a banner that reads, “…Until you are enthroned upon the praises of Israel” (which is a reference to Psalm 22:3, “Yet You are holy, O You who are enthroned upon the praises of Israel.” (Psalm 22:3 NASB)). This phrase best captures the desire of God’s heart impressed upon me during that powerful time of revelation in private worship. Again, this phrase represents God’s desire to be enthroned upon our praises individually and corporately, and it also defines the mission of this worship band’s ministry. The word “Until” speaks of the band’s indomitable spirit to not give up or cease its ministry until the desire of God’s heart is completely satisfied and he is truly enthroned in our hearts and upon our praises.
In regards to this “indomitable spirit”, the impression I received is that the Lion of Judah band will run powerfully into battle and make war against everything that wars against the Lord being enthroned in our hearts and upon our praises. This worship ministry will not let up its warrior vendetta until they accomplish this. They will not let up until every individual of his remnant Church has enthroned him in their heart and until the Bride has corporately enthroned him in her heart, for this is the desire and intent of God’s heart, and this is the Lion of Judah band’s mandate and mission. They will be the instrument in his hands to bring this about on earth.
Whether the Lion of Judah band stands for an actual worship ministry that will arise on earth or whether it stands for a number of different worship bands that are united in solidarity for this cause or whether it stands for a general movement of God’s people returning to him in worship and intimacy (or perhaps all three or even something else), I am unsure.
Our Lord and God, our only King and Sovereign, may your kingdom come and your will be done on earth as it is in heaven!
As I was worshipping to the song “The Lion of Judah Reigns” there was yet another Scripture that came to me in quickened power, which relates to the ministry of the Lion of Judah band.
“The people rise like a lioness; they rouse themselves like a lion that does not rest till he devours his prey and drinks the blood of his victims.” (Numbers 23:24)
War is a dimension of the Lion of Judah band’s worship ministry. Its vendetta is to make complete war against all the things that come against the enthronement of God in our hearts and in our praises. In regards to this aspect, Numbers 23:24 came to my mind very specifically.
In all honesty, whenever I read this verse in the past, the “drinks the blood of his victims” part was a little bit repulsive and uncomfortable for me. However, as I worshiped to “The Lion of Judah Reigns”, this “drinks the blood of his victims” was actually the part of the verse impressed upon me the strongest.
Then I realized that this phrase is actually speaking of the total destruction of God’s enemies. This is exactly what we want! We want the total destruction of everything that would war against God being enthroned in our hearts. We are to utterly destroy such things! We are to “devour our prey” and “drink the blood of our victims”–everything that fights for the throne of our hearts. To “drink the blood of our victims” is a sign of total destruction of our enemies and total victory for the Lord! I can truly say I am no longer repulsed by this phrase, and, in fact, I can say I am wholeheartedly for totally destroying these enemies of intimacy and drinking their blood, for then they are no more!
Some time after this revelation, I believe God revealed yet a further element of his heart to me in regards to the Lion of Judah worship ministry. He revealed himself as the Bridegroom, and his heart was aching and longing for his Bride’s love and exclusive devotion. As a husband is distressed over his wayward, distracted wife who seeks after other things that have captivated her interest, so likewise I could perceive Jesus’ distress over the members of his Bride who have wandered away from him and whose affections have drifted onto other things. It was revealed to me that the very deepest, most intimate part of Jesus’ heart is desiring, longing and aching for his Bride. In addition to the warring dimension of the Lion of Judah band, it is also has a very tender, intimate dimension to it as well. It is a gentle messenger of the tenderest part of God’s heart, to bring Christ’s Bride back to him in intimate worship, love and exclusive, monogamous devotion.
As a side but relevant comment, the Lord desires both our praise and our worship. Praise can have a warlike dimension to it (See Psalm 149:6-9), while worship generally has a softer, more intimate dimension to it (Song of Songs 5:10-16). I see both of these encompassed in the Lion of Judah band’s ministry. Praise is a powerful exaltation of our King and Head while worship is a tender, intimate and humble expression of our love for him. Mary of Bethany, commended by Jesus as a true and deep worshiper and commemorated in the Scriptures as such, worshiped Jesus in totality, that is, in both the areas of praise and worship when she anointed him with perfume, which was an act of her worship. Both Matthew and Mark‘s accounts of this beautiful act (found in Matthew 26:6-13 and Mark 14:3-9) tell us that Mary poured the perfume on Jesus’ head. I believe that the apex of our exaltation in praise is like anointing Jesus’ head, for this act is declaring that only his head is worthy of a crown. We are exalting him and praising him as our King. John‘s account of the same event, however, (found in John 12:1-8) say that Mary anointed Jesus’ feet and wiped them with her hair. In contrast to anointing his head in praise, I believe anointing Jesus’ feet symbolizes “worship”, for when we anoint his feet and wipe them with our hair, it is the tenderest expression of loving and intimate worship in deepest humility.
Finally, beneath the title “Lion of Judah” is the phrase, “KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS”. This refers to who Christ is and references Revelation 19:16, “On his [Christ’s] robe and on his thigh he has this name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.” This title is enclosed within a musical staff, which bears reference to the worship ministry. Finally, the Hebrew words at the bottom of the drawing read, “Aryeh Yehudah”, which means “Lion of Judah”, while the Hebrew phrase written on Christ’s crown reads, “Yeshua Ha-Mashiach”, which means “Jesus Christ (the Anointed One)”.
So, if I could sum up God’s heart in a concise statement, as revealed through the ministry of the Lion of Judah band, this is what it would be:
Jesus, the Bridegroom, is aching in his heart for his Bride. He desires intimacy with his Bride, his remnant. He desires to be truly enthroned within each one of our hearts individually, and within his Bride’s heart corporately. He desires to be worshiped as King–truly King–King of each of our hearts and King in the heart of his Bride, His one, true, remnant Church.
Though this concisely sums up God’s heart, I feel there is more, by spiritual impression (which I have not yet mentioned) that I need to elaborate upon concerning the statement above.
While the drawing itself is a poster for a worship band, I believe it may also represent something much larger and beyond itself.
While the drawing also represents God’s heart, I feel it also indirectly represents the group of worshipers who stand in solidarity with God’s heart to see the Bride return to the Bridegroom in intimacy in worship and to see her enthrone him within her heart and upon her praises.
Indeed, these are the ones who have enthroned him in their hearts and upon their praises. This drawing is like a symbol of what we, as Christ’s Bride, hold very dear and precious to us, and that is our intimate, worshipful relationship with our King.
Jason Upton, a prophetic worship leader whose ministry I deeply respect and whose spiritual and prophetic worship always carries me into the presence of the Lord (despite his own human flaws and frailties) has written a song called, “Lion of Judah” (I have included a link to it at further down). I knew the song before I had this dream, but I do not believe it directly influenced my dream. I did not understand the meaning of his song prior to this dream, yet upon later reflection and much crying out to God for revelation, I believe I now understand it and marvel at how close its message seems to relate to my drawing. I believe that Jason’s song “Lion of Judah” is of the same vein, another facet and another strand in the same golden thread of this core revelation of God’s heart to his people which is also coming through my own dream and drawing.
The message of Jason’s prophetic song “Lion of Judah” is what elaborates on many of the further impressions I have of God’s heart concerning my drawing. (I am unsure if these impressions directly correlate to it, or if they are more peripheral details indirectly associated with it somehow, but in some way I do feel they are intrinsically connected to the same artery from God’s heart).
As I said before, I believe this drawing may represent something much larger and beyond itself, and that primarily does not have to do with the Lion of Judah band but with God’s remnant Church.
Though all the lyrics to Jason’s song relate very strongly to my other impressions, at this time I only want to focus on the chorus of Jason’s “Lion of Judah” song, which says:
Hear the sound of the Lion of Judah
See the fire and the fear in the enemy’s camp
From the sound of the Lion of Judah roaring again
There’s a new generation arising
A nameless, faceless, placeless tribe
All they fear is the fear of the Lord
All they hear is the Lion of Judah
There is a new generation arising now, and it is the Lord’s doing. It is a movement of the Lord, and my earnest prayer is that it will grow in power, gain momentum and extend worldwide.
This new generation consists of the men and women and children after God’s own heart. They are his Bride, his one, true remnant Church. They hear the roar of the Lion of Judah, “…Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord” (Jude 4). They have seen false christian religion and are no longer participating in it but are removing themselves from it (as I saw in my dream). They do not serve or promote man’s church, for they are consumed with a holy zeal for God’s house (John 2:17).
This remnant tribe is nameless. They have not divided themselves and called each part by a different name (1 Corinthians 3:3-9), for they do not desire to make a name for themselves (Genesis 11:1-9). They only seek to glorify the name of the Lord (Isaiah 26:8), who will not yield his glory to another (Isaiah 48:11). “…your name and renown are the desire of our hearts” (Isaiah 26:8).
This remnant tribe is faceless. The remnant tribe is faceless because it has no human leader, no mortal man at its head (Matthew 23:8-12), for Jesus Christ alone is their Head. Christ is not their figurehead, as he is in the false church, but he is their true functional and authoritative Head. This remnant tribe does not seek its own fame by promoting its “face”, for they only seek the renown of their Head (Isaiah 26:8).
This remnant tribe is placeless. They are a spiritual body, dispersed throughout the earth and yet united as one in spirit (Ephesians 4:4-6). They are not bound to any physical place or religious organization, nor does their allegiance lie with such. They know “the Church” is not a place or a manmade religious structure, but the spiritual body of Christ.
All they fear is the fear of the Lord. They do not fear man (Proverbs 29:25) but worship unashamed (2 Samuel 6) in spirit and truth (John 4:23-24) and in the fear of the Lord (Hebrews 12:28-29). They live in this spiritually pure way because they are not swayed by the praises of men (Mark 12:14) nor are they incarcerated by the fear of man, for, “…the righteous are as bold as a lion” (Proverbs 28:1).
All they hear is the Lion of Judah. This remnant tribe is not intimidated nor ruled by the many voices and pseudo authorities in Christendom who would threaten them to dethrone Christ in their hearts individually and collectively (Acts 4:1-31). “This is what the LORD says to me: ‘As a lion growls, a great lion over his prey–and though a whole band of shepherds is called together against him, he is not frightened by their shouts or disturbed by their clamor–so the LORD Almighty will come down to do battle on Mount Zion and on its heights” (Isaiah 31:4).
This new generation that is arising is God’s remnant Church, his Bride, who is coming out of the ways of false christianity and is returning to true worship and intimacy with her Bridegroom. In doing so, she is soothing Christ’s aching heart for her. She is revoking her submission to the pseudo authority of man’s church, and as a beautiful Bride, she is once again submitting herself wholly and exclusively to her Lord. She is coming back under the sole authority of her husband, Christ.
Even now she hears Christ’s voice calling to her, and she knows she cannot stay where she has been, discontent and shackled within man’s church. She hears her Lover’s voice calling to her, and she leaves that place…to be with Him.
Yes, Lord, may we, your Bride, arise and wholeheartedly return to you in intimate worship! We enthrone you in our hearts and we enthrone you upon our praises! O Lord, bring the full number of our people back to you again in pure worship!
I earnestly pray that what I have described above will become a massive, global movement of God. I pray that Christ’s Bride will come out of ungodly company and will return to him in intimate worship and that he will be enthroned in our hearts and enthroned upon our praises. I pray that God would raise up the Lion of Judah band, whatever that may represent, and that they will minister powerfully in his purpose. I also pray that God’s people will stand in solidarity with the Lord’s heart in this movement.
I believe this drawing may represent more than just the ministry of the Lion of Judah band. I believe it may also reach beyond the ministry and represent God’s people who stand in solidarity with them for the Lord’s cause.
Perhaps this drawing may be a royal standard of God’s nameless, faceless, placeless tribe…
For those who want to hear Jason’s prophetic song, “Lion of Judah”, here is a link to a video of it done live:
Here is a link to Jason Upton’s ministry website
See also:
Restoring The Tabernacle of David (John the Baptist Artworks Series 2)
Elijah Rebuilding The Altar of The Lord (John the Baptist Artworks Series 2)
Coming Out of The Confusion of Babylon, Back to The Way of Zion (John the Baptist Artworks Series 2)
The Bridegroom With His Bride (John the Baptist Artworks Series 2)