I Lift My Cup
Ezekiel 9:3-4 3 Now the glory of the God of Israel had gone up from the cherub, where it had been, to the threshold of the temple. And He called to the man clothed with linen, who had the writer’s inkhorn at his side; 4 and the Lord said to him, “Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and cry over all the abominations that are done within it.”
I had a vision this past women’s rally, which was rich in blessing and Spirit of God. Sis Waterman did a great Job in the Ministry of the Spirit.
The vision with no interpretation is thus. I saw myself dressed in Priestly robes. I saw the Presence of God leaving the temple. It paused at the threshold of the temple (Ezekiel 9:3). I saw this in the Spirit realm. I did something I see plainly in verse 4. I held a cup up to the Lord to say please don’t leave I need what you have, I know I have nothing if you leave me; please fill my cup one more time.
So, I ask those who are in this house tonight can you get beyond yourself tonight and lift your cup to Jesus. In a few minutes I am asking you to come to the Altar lifting your cup to Jesus. One hungry soul can make a difference.
Ezekiel 9:4 And the Lord said to him, “Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and “put a mark on the foreheads” of the men who sigh and cry over all the abominations that are done within it.”
Throughout Scripture one hungry vessel has often become the reason mercy lingered.
What I saw in worship carries the language of intercession. A priest lifting a cup before God is a picture of hunger, surrender, and invitation. It is saying, “Lord, if everyone else is satisfied without You, I am not. Do not pass me by.” Can one person make a difference?
Yes, one person absolutely can make a difference.
In Ezekiel 9–11, the tragedy is not merely that judgment came; it is that very few were grieving over the departure of glory. Something is missing in the Modern Church. Where are the mourners, the weepers, the tear warriors?
Please hear what I say! “God marked the ones who sighed and cried over the abominations in the city”
“Set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry” (Ezekiel 9:4)
Notice that. Before judgment fell, heaven identified the mourners. “Grieving hearts” mattered to God.
This vision parallels many moments in Scripture where one yielded person altered “spiritual history”.
- Abraham stood before God interceding for Sodo Genesis 18:16-33
- Moses stood in the breach when wrath was kindled against Israel. Exodus 32:30-32
- Samuel kept a lamp burning in dark priestly days, 1 Samuel 3
- Elijah believed God when a nation bowed to Baal, 1 Kings 18
- Anna waited in the temple until Christ appeared, Luke 2:36
Revival history is almost always the story of a remnant cup lifted toward heaven.
In the Vision “the cup was raised while departure was possible”. That is priestly burden. It is standing between God and people saying, “Lord, there is still room in me. Pour here. Stay here. Move here.”
The cup itself is important symbolism in Scripture. A cup can represent wrath, suffering, covenant, blessing, or communion. But an empty lifted cup especially speaks of dependency. God only fills what is willing to admit emptiness.
Psalm 81:10 comes to mind, “…Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.” I feel the depths of rejection and resistance to the Holy Spirit. I feel the wounded of the Dove, the sorrow I feel over the loss of glory in the modern church.
Many no longer realize the cloud is absent because activity replaced hunger. But if one person truly longs for His Presence it becomes a landing place for glory.
Could one lifted cup have changed Jerusalem in Ezekiel’s day? We cannot fully know. National judgment had already matured. But we do know this, God has always responded to hunger. Even if judgment still came, the hungry one would have carried Presence through the darkness.
Look at Jeremiah. He could not stop Babylon, but he carried the heart of God in the middle of collapse.
Look at Daniel. He lived in Babylon, yet heaven still opened over his life. (Daniel 6:21, The Lion’s Den)
Look at Ezekiel himself. Though the glory left the temple, the glory still came to the prophet by the river Chebar. Ezekiel 1:3
That is powerful: when corporate hunger dies, God still searches for an individual cup.
This vision I was given sounds like the cry of mourning in Ezekiel 10:4.
I hear the mourners who are sick of the sin of Babylon: “Lord, if You are leaving this place, pass by me before You go. Fill my vessel. This heart still burning.”
In Joel 2:17 (NKJV):
Let the priests, who minister to the LORD,
Weep between the porch and the altar;
Let them say, “Spare Your people, O LORD,
And do not give Your heritage to reproach,
That the nations should rule over them.
Why should they say among the peoples,
‘Where is their God?’
The prophet Joel reveals one of the deepest pictures of true priesthood found in Scripture: “Let the priests, who minister to the LORD, weep between the porch and the altar.” The location itself is prophetic. The porch was the entrance of the temple facing the people, while the altar was the place of sacrifice, fire, blood, repentance, and consecration before God.
The priests stood between the porch and the altar because they were standing between a holy God and a broken people. This is the true position of intercession. They were not there to entertain crowds, protect reputation, or maintain religious appearance. They were there carrying the burden of reconciliation, feeling both the holiness of God and the spiritual condition of the nation at the same time.
The command was not for the priests to perform but to weep
“Their tears revealed hearts that understood the tragedy of losing the Presence of God”.
They cried, “Spare Your people, O LORD, and do not give Your heritage to reproach.” Their concern was not for personal comfort or ministry success but for the testimony of God among the nations. They understood that if the glory departed, Israel would become empty religion without divine reality.
This is why they prayed, “Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’” The deepest burden of true priesthood is not merely that people fail, but that the world can no longer clearly see God through His people.
This passage reveals the cry of wounded holiness.
The priests sensed the danger of a form of worship that continued outwardly while the heart drifted from God inwardly.
Like Ezekiel watching the glory depart from the temple, Joel’s priests understood that the greatest judgment was not enemies on the outside but the withdrawal of divine Presence on the inside.
Their tears became a cry for mercy before judgment fully matured.
They stood in the gap saying, “Lord, do not leave us to ourselves. Spare Your inheritance. Let Your Presence remain among us.”
There is also a divine pattern revealed in Joel 2. Before the outpouring later in the chapter “I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh”:
- First comes Repentance,
- Brokenness,
- Fasting, and Travail.
Before Pentecost came, the upper room tarried.
Before fire fell in Elijah’s day, the altar had to be repaired.
Before restoration comes in Joel, priests must first weep between the porch and altar.
Heaven responds to brokenness that longs for God more than religious performance.
The porch speaks of access, while the altar speaks of sacrifice.
Between them stands a weeping priest holding the burden of the Lord. This is the place of intercession, where a man cries not for fame, recognition, or success, but for the Presence of God to remain among His people.
It is the cry of a heart saying, “Lord, if no one else desires You, I still do. Fill my cup. Spare Your people. Do not depart from us.”