Weighed in the Balances
In the first week of November, during my time with the Lord, He spoke a phrase to me which set me off on a journey of discovery.
“Saturation and compensation”
He spoke it as if He was announcing actions that would be carried out. We are entering a period of saturation and compensation—in that order. Saturation can refer to a pouring out of anointing; an imbuing until completely filled. It is what we would normally think of first off the bat, as the remnant awaits the glory outpouring within. However, I think the Lord also meant something else, as I will explain further on.
To get to grips with the second part of the phrase, I began by looking up the meaning of the word ‘compensate’ to get a clearer understanding of what He was saying. The dictionary says it means ‘to recompense, to receive due wages’, but in the 1640’s when it was first widely used, it meant ‘to be equivalent’ and in the following decade, its meaning became ‘to counterbalance, make up for’. It originates from the Latin ‘compensare’, meaning ‘to weigh one thing against another’.
In other words, it is very clear that a scale and balances are involved in the action of compensation. You are weighed in the balances and compensated accordingly, one way or the other. Obviously, this can be both positive and negative, depending on what the scale shows. Compensation time speaks of ‘JUST DESERTS’ (getting what you are due and justly deserve)!
Once this was clear in my mind, the Holy Spirit referred me to the parable of the harvesters in Matthew 20. They were employed in 5 waves:
6am, 9am, 12pm, 3pm, 5pm
It is almost as if the Owner of the field wanted to saturate the area with harvesters as He sent forth a final wave of workers for the last hour before nightfall. As they plunged into the standing wheat with their scythes in their hands, they must have been only too aware how little time they had left to get something constructive done to earn their wage. After this, night was coming where no man could work and the Owner’s desire was to bring in as great a harvest as possible in the remaining time.
Mat 20:8 When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, Call the workmen and pay them their wages, beginning with the last and ending with the first.
This verse holds a key because it explains that when night comes, at the beginning of the first watch of the night (6pm), wages are handed out, just deserts received. This parable was spoken by Jesus to describe ‘the Kingdom of Heaven’. This is how it operates. When night falls, wages are handed out. And they are issued not according to the calculations of man but according to what was agreed upon with the Owner of the estate or what HE feels is fair and just. Only the 6am ones were told exactly what they would get – a denarius. All the others were told they would receive what was just. So the 9am, 12pm, 3pm and 5pm workers went forth, confident in the good character of the Owner of the estate.
Then Jesus said something strange; the last workers shall be first to be paid or compensated. One can picture those workers who were hired at the beginning of the daylight hours. Firstly, they were probably irritated because they should have received their pay first. They watched all the other workers get what they had been promised and they must have thought to themselves, “Surely we will get a bonus because we have worked the longest in the heat of the day!” And they complained when they received what they had agreed upon.
Why did He pay the last workers first? Perhaps it was to reveal the hearts of the workers. Imagine the gratefulness of the 5pm laborers as they received what, in those days, was considered a whole day’s wage!
WEIGHED IN THE BALANCES
Now let’s look at the scales and balances part of the word ‘compensation’. Do you remember the Lord said to me that 5781 is year of the black horse?
Rev 6:5 When He broke open the third seal, I heard the third living creature call out, Come and look ! And I saw, and behold, a black horse, and in his hand the rider had a pair of scales (a balance).
Did you see that? The rider has a pair of scales. What is a pair of scales used for? Working out due COMPENSATION—yes, 5781 is the year where great famine will be seen in the world, but the Scriptures hold many layers and as the Holy Spirit linked the parable of the laborers with the Scripture about the rider and the scales, we can understand that 5781 is ALSO the year of people being weighed in the balances and receiving compensation accordingly.
Now, bear in mind the parable in Matthew 20. To the natural mind, the amount of work done by the harvester is weighed and the corresponding amount of wages should be put in the other side of the scale to make the balances equal. But this is not how the Owner of the Estate weighs things. The first wave of harvesters agreed on what they considered to be a fair wage for a day’s work. The last wave of workers agreed to go because of the lateness of the hour and the fact that the job was not complete. They did not even ask what their wage would be. To be honest, they could have looked at the time and thought, “It’s hardly worth us breaking a sweat and the day is almost done.” But they saw that the Owner of the Estate was urgent about getting the maximum harvest in before night fell and no more work could be done. They went into the field because of the distress of the Owner at the harvest not being complete. Perhaps that’s why He ordered that they be paid first…
Jesus said at the conclusion of this parable, “Many are called, but few are chosen”. This statement in itself gives the impression of people being weighed in the balances before being chosen. The 11th hour workers are the kind that would be chosen; those who carry the heart of the Owner, as opposed to those who must be told what’s in it for them, like the first workers hired.
Now let’s look again at the rider on the black horse in the light of compensation being dished out. The Holy Spirit is opening up something we have not seen before when reading this Scripture. What is said about the period when he rides?
Rev 6:6 And I heard what seemed to be a voice from the midst of the four living creatures, saying, A quart of wheat for a denarius [a whole day’s wages], and three quarts of barley for a denarius; but do not harm the oil and the wine!
There are different types of nourishment mentioned here; 1 quart wheat, 3 quarts barley, and lastly, oil and wine are mentioned together—5 portions in total. As I remembered there were 5 waves of harvesters receiving wages, I had to ask myself:
Is the quart of wheat likened to the ones employed at 6am,
the 3 quarts of barley the 9am,12pm and 3pm workers,
& the oil and the wine companies equivalent to the 5pm workers?
For many people, the color black has an evil connotation, but the Holy Spirit taught me long ago that when we understand the principles of light absorption and reflection, black displayed as an object’s color indicates that all the 7 colors of the light spectrum have been absorbed, and none is reflected. Therefore the object is full of light!! So black is not an evil color in God’s understanding. It has just been hijacked as a symbol of evil by those who do not worship God. With this background knowledge, the Spirit gave me understanding that when black is mentioned in a scripture, it represents God’s righteous judgments. The Rider on the black horse goes forth to execute God’s righteous judgments; the scales are to be used to weigh people in the balances and make decisions concerning just compensation. He rides to mete out just deserts.
Rev 6:6 says ‘Do not harm (or be unjust to) the oil and the wine who were employed at 5pm. They are given a full day’s compensation because their 11th hour labor is considered worthy of equal reward.
FOOD FOR A DAY
The workers in the parable all received a denarius, which was connected to different quantities of grain. The word translated ‘quart’ is ‘choenix’, which was considered the amount which would support a man of moderate appetite for a day. So, a denarius would purchase enough food for each harvester for the next day. Their compensation would be translated into their nourishment for the day that began at 6pm when their labor in the harvest field ended (because God’s days begin with evening and end with morning). In effect, they each received their food allowance, enough for the day that was about to start.
Pro 6:6 Go to the ant, sluggard; consider her ways and be wise; Pro 6:7 who, having no guide, overseer, or ruler, Pro 6:8 provides her food in the summer and gathers her food in the harvest.
Just as the ants gather food during harvest time, knowing winter looms, the workers in the harvest field were gathering their food in the harvest time; doing what they had been assigned to do in order to receive nourishment which would carry them for the day or season ahead.
‘The Day of the Lord’ is usually considered to be a period of time which unfolds, not 24 hours,and there is debate about what exactly occurs on that Day. Just like the Book of Revelation written by John is ultimately intended to be about the revealing of Christ, so too, the Day of the Lord is all about Him; what He is doing and saying. All eyes will be on Him on that Day. In the Book of Revelation, when the Lamb Who has been found worthy takes the scroll and begins to open the seals, ALL eyes are upon Him. He is rightly the center of attention—it’s His Day, the day He has waited for! And the breaking of the seals is just His opening act, leading to a grand finale—the whole performance being carried out on the Day of the Lord.
So, when the voice out of the midst of the living creatures in Rev 6:6 speaks of wheat and barley for a denarius, is He referring to bread for the Day of the Lord? Wisdom calls us to eat of her bread and drink of the wine she has mixed. Her bread is the meat of the Word and I can guarantee it is leaven-free. The Barley Company will minister the unleavened bread of the Word during the Day of the Lord. It will be chock-a-block full of heavenly wisdom.
I want to remind you of a portion of what the Lord spoke over 5781:
” Lord, You say do not hurt the oil and the wine’. What does that have to do with famine?”
“Everything, for those with My passion and compassion will feed many. The man on the Jericho road is a wounded world, left to die by those who ransack the nations for their own supplies. But My oil and wine[i] are the kind who pour themselves out for others and the Spirit of Elijah will multiply their flour barrels.”
The reference to the flour barrels refers to the widow at Zarephath who fed Elijah and received in turn a miraculous bottomless supply of flour and oil. So here, the Lord is saying that the oil and wine company, the 11th hour workers who carry the heart of the Owner of the Estate are those who have made room for the Spirit of Elijah and have fed him with that which satisfies His need. Therefore in the day of famine, they will be satisfied. 5781 is a year that brings famine for many, but the seed of the righteous will never beg for bread.
WATER TO WINE
the quote from the ‘Word for 5781’ continues:
“Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink[ii]. 5781 – The Year of Water and the Year of Wine…”
“What do you mean, Lord?”
“The year the wine of My Word will be poured out by a few, but empty wine barrels will make a lot of noise. People will run from coast to coast just to get a drop to drink.”
Here we see that there will be people (barrels) who were known to contain fine wine during a previous season, but now in 5781, they are making as much noise as the prophets of Baal competing with Elijah, but producing no results. Their words are empty and do not come to pass. As Jude says, they are clouds without rain. One would assume a wine barrel contains wine, especially if it has a fancy label and a multitude of followers, but in 5781, many of the seasoned wine barrels are going to be filled with nothing but wind. And people will stop queuing up with their wine glasses in front of these empty barrels. Word will spread that they have nothing of substance to offer any more. Exposure and closure will be the order of the day for many of these ministries.
In contrast, there will be a FEW who are appointed to pour out the wine of the Word in a day when the wine has run out. They have been sitting at Wisdom’s table. Remember the wedding at Cana? People will be astonished at wine being poured forth from these vessels that up to now have only contained water. The oil and the wine workers will be pouring of their substance into the wounded world, ravaged by the wicked schemes of those who follow the wicked one. They will operate in the compassion of their wounded Savior and great miracles will take place as God confirms the Word with signs and wonders.
WEIGHED AND WANTING
Now, let’s look at the negative side of the season of compensation. It is possible to be weighed in the balances and found wanting. Then just compensation is the reaping of what has been sowed.
Dan 5:3 Then they brought in the gold and silver vessels which had been taken out of the temple, the house of God which was in Jerusalem; and the king and his lords, his wives, and his concubines drank from them. Dan 5:4 They drank wine and praised the gods of gold and silver, of bronze, iron, wood, and stone.
Dan 5:5 Immediately and suddenly there appeared the fingers of a man’s hand and wrote on the plaster of the wall opposite the candlestick [so exposed especially to the light] in the king’s palace, and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote.
Why was he found wanting? Because he misused and abused the vessels which were set apart for holy use and that was the last straw for God. Beloved, in the day when just compensation is handed out, it will be the gold and silver vessels which dispense the wine of His Word. Some will be pierced to the heart and repent, but others will harden their hearts and receive their just deserts. When king Belshazzar drank the wine poured out of the gold and silver vessels from the temple, it did not bring conviction of who was truly God and trigger repentance; his heart was completely hardened and defiant. Then judgment was decreed and executed that same night!!!
Belshazzar means ‘master of treasure’. It speaks of earthly power over others, and earthly wealth lying in the hand of a man. Daniel’s Babylonian name ‘Belteshazzar’, in contrast, means ‘him who lays up treasures in secret’. Daniel stored up godly wisdom and revelation in his treasury; the chambers of his heart. God saw what he did in the secret of his prayer closet and He rewarded Daniel openly. What a difference between these two men! Belshazzar was put to death that same night, but Daniel received honor and promotion and expansion of authority in the realm. Beloved, in this hour, Wisdom wants to fill your treasury and cause you to inherit true riches (Prov 8:21). God sees what you do in secret and just compensation is coming.
In 5781, the rider on the black horse is released to weigh in the balances and mete out just compensation. It is just judgment time, wages time, inheritance time—the hour for receiving from the rich treasury of His glory for those who are weighed and found worthy.
Isa 3:10 Say to the righteous that it shall be well with them, for they shall eat the fruit of their deeds. Isa 3:11 Woe to the wicked! It shall be ill with them, for what their hands have done shall be done to them.
Selah
[i] The oil and the wine are those who carry the oil of anointing and the wine of His Word in their vessels.
[ii] I had the sense He referred both to natural flooding and the waters being contaminated, and also to spiritual waters which did not quench people’s thirst for truth.
