Category: Hezekiah’s Tunnel

Posts related to the Hezekiah’s Tunnel vision

Physical Realities

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Methusalech was afraid. This was his normal emotion every time King Hezekiah called him in for a progress report on the tunnel. It was not that the King made him feel that way, it was just that he seemed to be continually bringing him bad news.

The King understood the difficulty of what he had asked. No one had done anything like this before. Even the Egyptians with all their building projects hadn’t attempted something as peculiar as this. Methusalech spent a lot of time before the LORD praying for guidance as a result.

God’s faithfulness was shown in the continual flow of the spring which was named “Bursting Forth” (Gihon). It was an ancient name. The first book of the Torah said that one of the 4 rivers of Paradise was called the same. The people of Jerusalem liked to think that their Bursting Forth was somehow the same river as the one that watered Paradise like the Tigris and Euphrates were also thought to be somehow related to their counterparts. Methusalech thought all this unlikely considering how much the great Flood had changed the face of the earth since then.

The great thing was that it never stopped flowing and producing enough water for all their needs.

Then the King had his dreams and revelations. One of them warned him that the Assyrians were going to come and take over the land. The second told him to not let the Bursting Forth waters be accessible to just anyone. He had a picture of the spring being like the city’s wife, she shouldn’t be available to any stranger but only to the city itself.

Then he had a dream of a tunnel with gently flowing waters (Shiloah) in it. And that’s when he called in Methusalech.

They had been digging for 6 months now and things were not going well. The original plan was to dig a straight line through the bedrock with two teams. One team was to start at the place where they were to collect the water (the Pool of Shiloah). The other was to start at the Gihon spring itself.

The problem was trying to dig in a straight line.

Methusalech realised early that they were going to have problems direction finding when deep underground. There were no stars or landmarks to go by, nothing but a general sense that they were going in the right direction.

The team that started from the pool end had already gone through several changes of direction. In some ways it wasn’t so difficult for them since they were not going under the mountain to the same extent. In theory they should be able to hear the men at the top thumping their big instruments. But the ground carried the sounds in all sorts of strange ways so they kept changing direction as they heard it change.

The Team that started from the Gihon spring had been led by Ahimoah. He was a good man. The original intention had been to bring the spring waters straight to the other side of the mountain of Ophel and then go down from there. However it was taking too long and the mountain rock was too hard. So they decided to change direction and head south instead. It would have helped if they could know what south meant under that much rock.

Hezekiah’s Tunnel – Vision

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My friend Rory has written this fuller description of the word we believe God is giving to the church at this time through the Hezekiah’s Tunnel dreams and revelations.

We are in a spiritual war which has influence preventing the church of God, Body of Christ, on an individual and corporate level, from accomplishing Gods WILL on earth as it is in heaven.

God needs to work through his people, his vessels, by his Holy Spirit leading & guiding them into all truth for Gods purpose and will to be done.

Gihon Spring

The Assyrians – Spiritual parallel of the war against the church. Rob, kill & destroy – Anti-Christ in everything, deprive Gods children of every spiritual and material gift (John 10: 8-11). Beware of false people, doctrine, do not get distracted or fall away from God during tough times. Do not forget his promises.

The Gihon Spring (means “Bursting Forth”) is symbolic of the fivefold ministry gifts of God, there has been a silence and lull of the five-fold gifts in the body of Christ in general. The voice of God through the “various gifts” have been restricted, banned & does not flow for many reasons. They have been prevented from “bursting forth” into the body of Christ for many years, especially in Ireland. God wants to restore “ALL” his gifts to the body of Christ.

(Ephesians 4: 11-16) If God appoints, God anoints.

Who & basic job function – 5-Fold Ministry

  • Some as apostles (special messengers, representatives, church builders)
  • Some as prophets (who speak a new and relevant message from God to the people)
  • Some as evangelists (who spread the good news of salvation)
  • Some as pastors and teachers (to shepherd and guide and instruct)

Why these “SPECIFIC” gifts?

  • to fully equip and perfect the saints (God’s people) for works of service.
  • to build up the body of Christ (the church).
  • To supply, stabilise, sustain, secure, surround (the church).

For how long – to have these gifts?

  • until we all reach oneness in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God.
  • until we (growing spiritually) become a mature believer.
  • until we reach the measure of the fullness of Christ (manifesting His spiritual completeness and exercising our spiritual gifts in unity). 

Goal & purposes

  • So that we are no longer children (spiritually immature)
  • That we are not tossed back and forth (like ships on a stormy sea) and carried about by every wind of (shifting) doctrine.
  • So that we do not succumb to the cunning and trickery of (unscrupulous) men, by the deceitful scheming of people ready to do anything (for personal profit).

Final result & achievement

  • To enable us to speak the truth in love (in all things—both our speech and our lives expressing His truth).
  • To allow us to grow up in all things into Him (following His example) who is the Head—Christ. 

Corporate – Christ Achieved

  • From Him the whole body (the church, in all its various parts), will be joined and knitted firmly together by what every joint supply, when each part is working properly, causes the body to grow and mature, building itself up in (unselfish) love.

The Tunnel

Represents

  • The enabling of the 5-fold ministry & “ALL” other gifts of God, through the Holy Spirit to flow.
  • The tunnel is the “means” of re-connecting that has been lost, (All Gods gifts) restricted or removed, back into their rightful place in the church.

It takes tenacious, laborious, energetic & very hard work to build a tunnel, as it does require more than just human power to work for and with God as his vessels and temples. (Zechariah 4:6; Matthew 19:26)

  • God won’t do all the work, he expects us to meet him, to draw unto him, this is hard work.
  • The Word of God continuously reminds us how desperately we need spiritual spring water from God. (John 4:14)
  • Isaiah 55:6-7 admonish us, “Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.”

We do have to hunger and thirst for His way of life, as Jesus said in;

 (Matthew 5:6) Fulfilled & satisfied forever

Blessed (joyful, nourished by God’s goodness) are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness (those who actively seek right standing with God), for they will be (completely) satisfied.

 (John 7:37-39). Jesus – living water

37 Now on the last and most important day of the feast, Jesus stood and called out (in a loud voice), “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink! 38 He who believes in Me (who adheres to, trusts in, and relies on Me), as the Scripture has said, ‘From his innermost being will flow continually rivers of living water.’” 39 But He was speaking of the (Holy) Spirit, whom those who believed in Him (as Saviour) were to receive afterward. The Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified (raised to honour).

Conclusion

The tunnel restores and links man, back to God by streams of living water bursting forth through the gifts of God and the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

The pool of Siloam

Because the water is believed to be of God, (not man-made – hidden source underground), it had spiritual powers. It was from the pool of Siloam that the water which was poured out at the altar during the feast of Tabernacles, was used because it was pure and originated from God.

  • The pool corresponds to the “water works” mentioned in 2 Kings 20:20.

Reasons for the pool

  • The pool qualified for the use of ritual Jewish bathing.
  • The Jewish “Mikvah” – (“collection – of water”), in Judaism, one bathes for ritual reasons (mentioned below)

NOTE: Once the water arrives and is gathered in the pool, (centre of the church) the body of Christ will experience the move of the Holy Spirit in a very defining way which will bring, anointing, deliverance, healing, restoration, purifying & cleansing. HOWEVER, the church will need a belief, trust & faith in God and the move of the Holy Spirit.

(Hebrews 11:6)

But without faith it is impossible to (walk with God and) please Him, for whoever comes (near) to God must (necessarily) believe that God exists and that He rewards those who (earnestly and diligently) seek Him.

The City – Church of God

The place where the pool gathers – in the City (OA / Body of Christ / Church), therefore becomes very important for the final key to God’s WILL… will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.

The City – Church, is very symbolic today in as much it re-assures both believers and non-believers that there is refuge and strength in God.

The church will be a:

  • Place of security.
  • Place for society.
  • Place of trade & traffic, what one wants another supplies.
  • Place for unity and mutual fellowship.
  • Place of peace and common goals & values.
  • Place of freedom & liberty.
  • Place of freedom from guilt of sin.
  • Place of freedom from the wrath of God.
  • Place of freedom from the curse of the law.
  • Place of freedom from the present evil world.
  • Place of freedom from bondage of satan.
  • Place of order & regularity with constitutions and ordinances.
  • Place of rest and renewal.
  • Place of privileges (gifts etc)
  • Place of pomp & splendour because of the King.
  • Place of pleasure & beauty.

Conclusion for thought

By restoring the correct, proper & appropriate relationship, & connection between God & man, His plan, purpose, desire, heart & His will on earth for His Kingdom & His people…. Will be done.

  • Gihon spring = God bursting forth.
  • The Tunnel = Jesus death, burial, resurrection & salvation.
  • The Siloam Pool = Holy Spirit, FULL purpose & plan, plus “ALL” Gifts.
  • The City = Church of God.

(John 17:7)

7 But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper (Comforter, Advocate, Intercessor—Counsellor, Strengthener, Standby) will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him (the Holy Spirit) to you (to be in close fellowship with you).

(Mathew 6:33)

33 But first and most importantly seek (aim at, strive after) His kingdom and His righteousness [His way of doing and being right—the attitude and character of God], and all these things will be given to you also.

The “foundation” scripture versus – “Gifts of the Spirit”

1 Corinthians 14:26-40 (Gifts of the Spirit)

Conduits and Channels

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I was watching a film on Netflix recently called “The Boy who Harnessed the Wind.” It tells the true story of 13-year-old William Kamkwamba who built a wind turbine to save his Malawian village from famine. From a combination of corporate exploitation and greed, Government corruption and a failed rainy season, the people of William’s village and surrounding areas were starving.

What was significant to me was that the village had a well which was not dry, there was enough water in it to supply all their needs. However, because there was no pump they could not draw enough of it quickly enough to irrigate their crops. And so they were starving.

Back in King Ahaz and Hezekiah’s time, Jerusalem faced a similar problem. There was an abundant supply of water in the Gihon spring but it was located outside the walls of Jerusalem. This meant that it had to be laboriously collected in buckets day by day. Its location also left the city vulnerable. If there was a besieging army it was easy for them to prevent the people getting to the spring.

King Ahaz lived around the time Isaiah was prophesying. He started to build a tunnel from the spring into the city and his son, King Hezekiah, probably completed it. You can read more about the inscription found in the 19th century and Isaiah’s softly flowing waters of Shiloah in my other blog on the subject.

This tunnel would have had a significant impact on the lives of the people of Jerusalem at the time. The water from the Gihon spring flowed through Hezekiah’s tunnel into the Pool of Siloam (Sent). Later on Jesus sent a blind man to that pool who returned seeing (John 9).

According to the understanding I have been given (hopefully by the Lord – I will let you be the judge of that) the following is what is represented by the spring, Hezekiah’s tunnel and the pool of Siloam (Sent):

  1. The Gihon spring represents the 5 fold ministries and gifts of the Body of Christ, His Church. Powerful and upwelling these gifts and ministries supply sustenance and support for any living church. Without them any church will die – or was never living in the first place.
  2. The tunnel represents a means of enabling the 5 fold ministries and spiritual gifts to function or be channelled into a church. I believe Paul has shown us how this is done using the model of church meetings he describes in 1 Cor. 14:26- 40.
  3. The Pool of Siloam is the healing place for the saints in the midst of the church. The 5 fold ministries and spiritual gifts are functioning in it and people are being healed, set free and delivered.

The literal tunnel in Jerusalem runs for 500m under the wall of the city and the waters emerge, gently flowing, in the centre of Jerusalem. However the work required to build it took two teams of workers coming at it from both directions and meeting in the middle. They didn’t have tunnel boring machines so this was wielding pickaxes and sledgehammers, blow by blow at the rock that underlaid the city’s foundations. There was risk involved. No doubt many said at the time it was too dangerous. Perhaps some lives were lost. But the results made it all worthwhile.

It wasn’t long after the tunnel was built that the King of Assyria arrived with a horrific army and a reputation for flaying people alive. All he could do was lock Hezekiah and his inhabitants up inside the city. He knew the water supply and no doubt tried to block up the tunnel but who knows how much valuable time Jerusalem gained while the waters still flowed. In the end not even the spring could save them but God intervened.

Without Him we can do nothing.

But with Him anything is possible.

The Gently Flowing Waters of Siloam

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Isaiah compares the governance and work of the Lord in Jerusalem to the gently flowing waters of Shiloah in Isaiah 8.  Shiloah is generally recognised as being the same word that is translated Siloam or “Sent” in John 9. It is the place Jesus sent the man blind from birth to wash and come back seeing.

The gently flowing waters of Siloam refers to the ebb and flow of the waters that passed through a tunnel in the very centre of Jerusalem. This tunnel had been dug during Isaiah’s time.  An inscription has been found dating from the period which uses the same Hebrew word “ ” that Isaiah used to describe the waters flow.  The lengthy inscription explains that the tunnel was built from both ends at the same time.  One set of workmen started at the Gihon spring and the other started in the centre of Jerusalem.  The workmen met in the middle –  which wasn’t easy to do.

In the very heart of the City of God there flows a river that makes the Lord glad (Psalm 46:4).  It is a gently flowing river of healing and it needs to be directed and revealed by the work of godly men.

Our churches are places of  healing but it takes the work of godly men to reveal that.  The healing streams are there, we just need to dig and work hard together to meet in the middle so they can be revealed and everyone be refreshed.