Joseph Herrin (01-17-09)

Two days ago I announced that I had written a post for the blog that I was postponing. I sensed it was the will of the Father that I postpone it, but I did not understand until this morning why. During a time of prayer and meditation the Father showed me that the article I had written was manifested in parable form through the US Airways plane that crashed into the Hudson River in New York on the 15th of this month. The crash occurred the day AFTER I had written the article which the Lord instructed me to hold off on.

On the evening of the 14th I wrote an article which I titled The All Consuming Desire. I had affixed the date of the 15th to the top of the article, for I expected to post it that day. The theme of the article was that God is at this time manifesting His Son in the hearts of those who have been called to shepherd His people through coming calamitous days. This manifestation of Christ in His servants is being revealed by a desire coming forth with great force that they do all the will of the Father. The will of the Father can be summed up in the words of Christ.

John 6:39
“This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day.”

Before I post the words of the article written on the 14th, I want to speak of how it was revealed in the US Airways crash on the 15th.

There were two pilots in the cockpit of the plane. These pilots are a symbol of those shepherds God has been raising up to safeguard His people through the wilderness experience the church must enter into. The pilot in control of the plane was Chesley Sullenberger III. He is being lauded as an outstanding pilot who did a “masterful” job of landing his disabled plane and protecting the lives of all those on board.

This pilot stands out from other pilots in that he has devoted himself to air safety. He has a private company that is focused on air safety. He has studied the matter extensively, and has provided advice to government agencies on improving air safety. He stands as a symbol of a good shepherd who has devoted himself to the safety of the flock.

On this day, Sullenberger, and his co-pilot, had 153 people to safeguard. This number included 150 passengers and 3 flight attendants. 153 is the number of the righteous, and it is mentioned prominently in the article the Lord had me write the day before.

The number 153 is mentioned in John’s gospel in an event that occurred AFTER the resurrection of Christ, but before He received His glorified body. This is a parable of those sons who will ascend to the throne, but will remain to shepherd the people through the wilderness. Yahshua appeared on the shore after the disciples had been fishing all night having caught nothing. He instructs them to cast their net on the right side of the boat and they encompassed a great number of fish.

John 21:11
Simon Peter went up and dragged the net to land, full of large fish, one hundred and fifty-three; and although there were so many, the net was not broken.

The significance here is that it is the Lord’s will that His servants lose NONE of those who are appointed for salvation. The fish represent men who are pulled from the sea of humanity. Even so, in the airplane crash, the 153 people in the back of the plane were all brought safely to shore. None were lost, and only one suffered a serious injury, having broken both legs.

There is much that is symbolized in the details of this event. The plane was a US Airways, and it represents the nation whose name it bears. The plane was headed to Charlotte, NC which is a large banking center and it had a number of employees of Bank of AMERICA and Wells Fargo among its passengers. What is symbolized here is the imminent crash of the American economy. The banking system will collapse, and many people will be cast into peril as a result. Yet God will have shepherds who will faithfully guide His people to a safe landing so that none will be lost.

The airplane was towed to Battery Park where it ended up resting on the shore. This is symbolic of the state of America in coming days. America will be battered. The battering will continue for some time, yet God will bring all His people safely through what is to come.

The pilot was reported to have over 40 years experience. This speaks of those who will be raised up to shepherd God’s people having already passed through a wilderness period to be prepared. This is seen in the life of Moses who spent 40 years in the wilderness as God shaped and molded him to be able to lead his people through a second 40 year period in the wilderness. Those who will be shepherds in coming days will be those who have followed God into wilderness places when most of their brothers refused to go. They will have the heart of Moses.

Hebrews 11:24-26
By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter; choosing rather to endure ill-treatment with the people of God, than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin; considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he was looking to the reward.

People of God, it seems that daily the Father is providing some further testimony of those things which are at hand. These things are not far off. The plane crashed 3 minutes after taking off, and I believe this symbolizes how soon these things will occur. America may appear to be ascending once more under the hope that comes forth from the Obama Presidency, but it will not get far before a great crash will take place. These events are near at hand.

That the crash took place on the 15th day of the month and no passengers were lost is symbolic of the fact that great grace will be loosed for the people of God in this day. 15 is 5+5+5, signifying a fulness of grace.

After the crash the pilot got everybody out of the plane safely, then he walked the length of the plane twice to make sure there were none who had been left behind. This is a picture of those shepherds whom Christ will manifest Himself in during coming days. These will search diligently for any who are left behind, making sure that none should be forgotten.

Following is the article I wrote the day before the plane crash.

The All Consuming Desire
Joseph Herrin (01-15-09)

John 6:38-39
“For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.”

The Spirit is testifying that there is coming an appearing of Christ IN His saints. This appearing of Christ in glory and power IN His people will result in a profound manifestation of one consuming desire in the hearts of this prepared remnant. They will be gripped with a passion to see the will and pleasure of the Father accomplished.

This must be so, for how can Christ appear IN His people without also manifesting the passion that was the most clearly evident in His life 2,000 years ago? The Son of God did not come to the earth of His own initiative. He came because the Father sent Him. He did not come to accomplish any personal goal or agenda. He was focused solely upon seeing all the desire of the Father accomplished.

John 4:34-35
Yahshua said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.”

I have found the prayer arising in my spirit recently that Yahweh might fill me with a knowledge of His desire. There is within the Father a great yearning to bring forth mature sons after His image and likeness. He desires to have a purified people in the earth who fully manifest His nature and character who might be endued with the power of the ages to come. I want the desire of the Father to become imprinted upon my conscious thoughts. I want it to be the aim of my every action and word to see His pleasure accomplished in the earth.

Praying for such a heart to be revealed in me is tantamount to asking for Christ Yahshua to be fully manifested in me. When Christ is fully seen, then so too will be this burning desire to accomplish the pleasure of the Father.

The heart of Yahshua is the heart of a perfect Son. A perfect Son is consumed with the dreams of His Father, and He yearns to see them fulfilled. Christ always had in focus those things which were the Father’s will and pleasure.

John 6:39-40
“This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”

In the mind of the Father He sees the total number of those appointed to sonship. He has determined the precise number of the righteous who will attain to the first resurrection from the dead, being the firstborn among the creation. He does not want any of this appointed number to be lost, yearning that they might ALL be raised up on the last day of this present age.

Christ ever kept in mind the number of those appointed to salvation in this age, and He labored to not lose a single one of them.

Matthew 18:14
It is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones perish.

The Lord sought to instill this same passionate focus in the minds and hearts of His apostles. After His resurrection Peter and a number of the disciples went fishing. They had labored all night and had caught nothing. In the morning as they were some distance from shore they saw the Lord on the beach. He told them to cast their net over on the right side of the boat, and the nets surrounded a great catch of 153 large fish.

Earlier in the ministry of Christ the disciples experienced a similar event, and their nets began to break, and fish were lost. This time the outcome was different. Their nets did not tear, and they hauled every single fish in the net to shore, losing nothing.

John 21:11
Simon Peter went up and dragged the net to land, full of large fish, one hundred and fifty-three; and although there were so many, the net was not broken.

One hundred and fifty-three is a very precise number. It is not an estimate, nor is it rounded off. It is an exact tally of the number of fish in the net, and none were lost.

Christ was seeking to reveal to His disciples a profound truth. God has determined in His mind the exact number of His sons to come to maturity in this age. He has known them from before the creation of the earth, and has called each of them by name.

Jeremiah 1:5
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you…”

Galatians 1:15-16
But when He who had set me apart, even from my mother’s womb, and called me through His grace, was pleased to reveal His Son in me…

Romans 8:29-30
For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born among many brethren; and whom He predestined, these He also called; and whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.

In the eyes of the Father the glorification of a precisely chosen number of sons has been determined from the foundation of the earth. Yet these sons will not come to maturity apart from the labor of obedient sons whose hearts are given to seeing the pleasure of the Father fulfilled. Christ was focused upon not losing a single one whom His Father had chosen. He sought to instill this passion in the hearts of His disciples that they also might not lose a single one who was predestined to be drawn forth from the sea of humanity.

In this last hour, the desire of the Father will come to a final consummation. All those who are destined to rule and reign with Christ, all those who will comprise the bride of Christ, all those who will attain to the first resurrection, being firstfruits unto God, must be gathered in. These must be purged, purified, and refined. Yahweh will raise up ministers, infused with the life of Christ, manifesting His power and glory, and these must labor with the passion of the firstborn Son of God to see His work fulfilled.

John 5:19-20
Yahshua therefore answered and was saying to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner. For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself is doing; and greater works than these will He show Him, that you may marvel.”

In this last hour Christ will be manifested in a prepared group of ministers in such a way, and they will walk under an open heaven, that they will know what it is the Father is doing. They will know each one who is appointed to glory. They will know those who belong to Christ, those of His sheepfold, and they will leave the ninety and nine behind to find the one who is lost. In this way they will insure that not a single one of those whom the Father has set His desire upon shall perish.

These will act as true shepherds after the heart of David. They will risk life and limb to deliver the sheep from the lion and the bear. They will be fearless, for their only concern will be to safeguard all those who belong to their Father in heaven.

People of God, I have sensed even in the past few days an increased awareness that there are those around me who are appointed for glory. Some of these God has brought across my path. In each case I have desired to know the mind of the Father toward them. I desire to know what they need, what the dangers are in their life, what struggles they face, what enemies are standing before them desiring to devour them. As a shepherd I have experienced a desire to see them safely arrive whole and mature, reflecting the character of Christ, when that last day comes.

As we arrive closer to the manifestation of the manchild many will find such a desire and yearning increasing in them. As Christ is revealed in His saints so too will the heart of the Good Shepherd be formed in them.

John 17:12
“While I was with them, I was keeping them in Your name which You have given Me; and I guarded them, and not one of them perished but the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.”

Acts 20:28-31
“Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock , among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore be on the alert…”

This must be the heart of those who will shepherd the flock of God in the wilderness in these last days. They must be vigilant, alert, and courageous. They must guard the flock of God that none might be lost. Will not God give great grace to those shepherds that they might accomplish His desire and that none of His own should perish?

Let us seek to comprehend the desire of the Father that we might set our face to see that all His good pleasure is performed.

May you be blessed with peace and understanding in these days.

Heart4God Website: http://www.heart4god.ws
Parables Blog: http://www.parablesblog.blogspot.com

Mailing Address:
Joseph Herrin
P.O. Box 804
Montezuma, GA 31063