Lift Up Your Heads O Ye Gates

By Dr. Royce L. Woods

Lift Up Your Heads Oh Ye Gates is a timely clarion call to both leaders and laymen alike, those spoken of in Acts 2:17 (KJV), "And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall d

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trilogy Christian Publishing
• Release date: May 26, 2022
• ISBN: 9781685564216

Dr. Royce L. Woods

Royce L. Woods is the senior pastor of Holy Trinity Worship Center International, located in Washington, DC. His biblical studies began over thirty years ago, when he was ministering to prison inmates, drug rehabs, and on various platforms spreading the Gospel of Christ to both Jew and Gentile alike. He is an author, teacher, counselor, speaker, and community organizer.

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Lift Up Your Heads, O Ye Gates

Dr. Royce L Woods

Trilogy Christian Publishers

TUSTIN, CA

Trilogy Christian Publishers

A Wholly Owned Subsidiary of Trinity Broadcasting Network

2442 Michelle Drive

Tustin, CA 92780

Lift Up Your Heads, O Ye Gates

Trilogy Christian Publishers,

A Wholly Owned Subsidiary of Trinity Broadcasting Network

2442 Michelle Drive Tustin, CA 92780

Copyright © 2022 by Dr. Royce L. Woods

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations marked KJV are taken from the King James Version of the Bible. Public domain.

Scripture quotations marked MSG are taken from THE MESSAGE, copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without written permission from the author. All rights reserved. Printed in the USA.

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Trilogy Christian Publishing/TBN and colophon are trademarks of Trinity Broadcasting Network.

Cover design by Jeff Summers

For information about special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact Trilogy Christian Publishing.

Trilogy Disclaimer: The views and content expressed in this book are those of the author and may not necessarily reflect the views and doctrine of Trilogy Christian Publishing or the Trinity Broadcasting Network.

Manufactured in the United States of America

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.

ISBN: 978-1-68556-420-9

E-ISBN: 978-1-68556-421-6

And the LORD answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.

—Habakkuk 2:2–3

Dedication

This work is dedicated to all the faithful servants of Christ, many worshiping together in what are being called underground churches, who, despite living under constant threats of physical harm or worse, continue to embrace that which God has sown into their hearts. May their trumpets be sounded from one end of the earth to the other, as their unwavering commitments truly deserve the highest degree of honor and reverence.

Acknowledgements

To my loving parents, John and Mary Woods, whose contribution to this work goes without saying. The unselfish love they shared with us during our formative years is unsurpassed by any challenge I have ever encountered in my life.

All glory, honor, and praise belong to the one true and living God, who is the Creator of both heaven and earth.

Through Him and Him alone, have we received two infallible gifts:

an idea and a solution…

The idea is love. The solution is blood.

Without love, there is only sorrow, sickness, suffering, and pain. And without blood…there is no life, only death.

With His love, God has validated us, and with His blood, He has…

vindicated us.

—Dr. R. L. Woods

God is up to something new. It’s bigger than Messianic Judaism. It’s bigger than Gentile Christianity. Both have been used mightily by God, but this new move will not look like a traditional synagogue, a traditional church, or even a Messianic synagogue, although it will have aspects of each. It will not be the one-man show, but the one new man. It is Jewish and Gentile believers holding the baton together. The two have been made one in Jesus.

—Sid Roth

The Race to Save the World

So we are in a time of mutual awakening and a time of mutual activation. It is a time to make a stand and a time to move out and win new territory.

Tasks lie before us. Whether we are Jewish or Gentile, it is time to pray and proclaim, to give and receive. For some of us, it is time to take radical action.

God promises help, prosperity, and provision to those who formally set themselves against His name and His people. Of course, for everyone, a choice is involved. Everybody can choose to accept the offer or not. Those who accept will have a front-row seat as the final drama unfolds.

—James W. Goll

The Coming Israel Awakening

Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.

—Titus 2:13

Contents

Preface ix

Introduction xv

Chapter 1. The God of Increase 1

Chapter 2. Seeing Through the Eyes of Promise 13

Chapter 3. When God is Not Enough 24

Chapter 4. Blood is Thicker Than Water 35

Chapter 5. A New Covenant 43

Chapter 6. A Call to Worship 52

Chapter 7. The Twain Becoming One 67

Chapter 8. The Intrusion of the Strongman 80

Chapter 9. An Engaging Destiny 90

Chapter 10. When the Spirit Speaks 102

Chapter 11. Identifying Symbols of Prophecy 113

Chapter 12. Lift Up Your Heads 127

Chapter 13. Quitting is Not an Option 145

Chapter 14. Forging Ahead by Faith 155

Conclusion 170

Bibliography 172

Biography 173

Preface

Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks; I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars: And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name’s sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted. Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent. But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, which I also hate. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.

—Revelation 2:1–7

Imagine living in a world where miracles and multiplied blessings are commonplace, where the kind of optimism that love and caring produce become the order of the day. This is the promised fruit of the candlestick (the Church, Revelation 1:20), which houses the anointed Word of God, being augmented or strengthened by the angel assigned to it. The advice in this letter is prophetic, forewarning present-day Christians of the snares that can lure us away from the faith. For this reason, without the presence of the candlestick—God’s Renascent Church—the dynamics that are currently at play in the earth, such as global warming, unchecked viruses, financial collapse, moral decay, and man’s continued inhumanity against his fellow man, will continue to go unabated and unchallenged. Today more than ever, there are so many people who are aimlessly and blindly walking around, totally devoid of divine direction; all their true purpose has been shrouded in darkness—mentally, emotionally, and most of all, spiritually.

That’s why there must be a profound word, one that can act as a beacon, a word foretold by God that offers foresight and allows navigation around those obstacles that normally would not be seen.

Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.

—Psalm 119:105

Both the apostles Paul and Peter take us more in depth as we explore this remarkable anomaly.

But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort.

—1 Corinthians 14:3

And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy.

—Acts 2:17–18

The apostle Peter, in quoting the prophet Joel, clearly spells out the season and time in which we are currently living, "the last days"; this verse and others like it have reaffirmed our Great Commission to prepare the way for the imminent return of the great I AM.

Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.

—John 14:12

However, there are other crucial components to this montage of believers that God has assembled for His purpose.

And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers.

—Ephesians 4:11

This book was written purely from a prophetic perspective, as our emphasis here is to further advance this amazing historical idea (love) and to better analyze this God-given solution (blood). As dreamers and visionaries, we also seek counsel from a Higher Power, One whom we believe has the profound ability to create, plan, direct, and alter global events. However, for His plan to manifest itself, we must first be willing to return to Him that which He has created for His own purpose—or, as the Bible puts it, His good pleasure.

Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

—Luke 12:32

This Kingdom that Jesus was referring to extends from everlasting to everlasting, although throughout time, only a select few understood the direct correlation between their very existence and future events. What an honor it must have been to recognize with a heightened sense of awareness, not only who they were, but also their relationship to God’s grand scheme of things.

Open to me the gates of righteousness: I will go into them, and I will praise the LORD: This gate of the LORD, into which the righteous shall enter. I will praise thee: for thou hast heard me, and art become my salvation. The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner. This is the LORD’s doing; it is marvellous in our eyes.

—Psalm 118:19–23

This Messianic psalm is all the verification needed to confirm that the dreams and prophetic visions those elders received were designed to spiritually carry them along an astonishing road, one that was fully intended to expose them to places and events that had yet to be seen or experienced. And just as with the psalmist in our text, all along this proverbial road, while being used to launch and sustain the Church’s history, there have been many Hebrew and Jewish gates (patriarchs) whom God would use to open doors for others ("…Joshua said to the people, Shout; for the LORD hath given you the city" [Joshua 6:16]), but only one Gatekeeper, whose blood-washed port of entry would be opened to all, Jesus Christ our Lord.

I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.

—John 10:9

Wherefore also we pray always for you, that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfil all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power.

—2 Thessalonians 1:11

This scripture clearly points out that there is power in our believing.

Introduction

Lift Up Your Heads, O Ye Gates highlights the four basic facets, or features, of the Christian experience.

When we think of these aspects, we don’t use terms like distinct or separate, because God’s work is not only masterful but also seamless, which means that in the end, it all intertwines into one Lord, one faith, and one baptism.

1. From the very beginning, the Bible clearly shows that Jesus