Every year is a unique gate of time for certain purposes (good and bad) to find expression. The Bible is Light and is a solid guide to understanding the direction of each year.
How can the Bible help me to understand the direction of 2023?
There are, at least, five Biblical patterns for discerning the year 2023 – what the Lord wants to do, what the kingdom of darkness is planning to do, how people will behave, and what the Lord expects His people to do. Each of the five patterns has a unique contribution; and together, they help us to get a complete or broader picture of the season. Seeing the big picture is great but you must run with only the part and pattern the Lord stirs in your heart. The 5 Biblical patterns are:
1. The mention of “the 23rd year” in the Bible
2. The narrative of the second day of creation in Genesis 1: 6-8.
3. The second of the seven prophetic divisions of the fourth book of the Bible (Numbers 7-11).
4. The 23rd book of the Bible (Isaiah)
5. The 23rd chapters of the Bible.
A. “THE 23RD YEAR” IN THE BIBLE
Since 2023 is the 23rd year of the 21st century, it is important to see what the Bible says about ‘the 23rd year’. It is interesting to know that the “the twenty-third year” is mentioned four times in the Bible (2 Kings 12 :6; 2 Kings 13: 1; Jeremiah 25: 3; Jeremiah 52: 30). Those four passages reveal, at least, four things about this numbered season – the 23rd season:
1. THE 23RD YEAR IS A SEASON OF ‘NO MORE DELAY’. IT IS A SEASON TO REPAIR THE TEMPLE WITHOUT DELAY.
2 Kings 12:1-10 : “In the seventh year of Jehu, Jehoash became king, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Zibiah of Beersheba. [2] Jehoash did what was right in the sight of the LORD all the days in which Jehoiada the priest instructed him. [3] But the high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places. [4] And Jehoash said to the priests, “All the money of the dedicated gifts that are brought into the house of the LORD-each man’s census money, each man’s assessment money-and all the money that a man purposes in his heart to bring into the house of the LORD, [5] let the priests take it themselves, each from his constituency; and let them repair the damages of the temple, wherever any dilapidation is found.” [6] Now it was so, by the twenty-third year of King Jehoash, that the priests had not repaired the damages of the temple. [7] So King Jehoash called Jehoiada the priest and the other priests, and said to them, “Why have you not repaired the damages of the temple? Now therefore, do not take more money from your constituency, but deliver it for repairing the damages of the temple.” [8] And the priests agreed that they would neither receive more money from the people, nor repair the damages of the temple. [9] Then Jehoiada the priest took a chest, bored a hole in its lid, and set it beside the altar, on the right side as one comes into the house of the LORD; and the priests who kept the door put there all the money brought into the house of the LORD. [10] So it was, whenever they saw that there was much money in the chest, that the king’s scribe and the high priest came up and put it in bags, and counted the money that was found in the house of the LORD”.
When the king saw the priests had been receiving money to fix the temple but had done nothing by the 23rd year, he took action, changed strategy and insisted the right thing be done. The 23rd year is a season of action and a time to end procrastination. It is a time of awakening to resume delayed or abandoned kingdom projects. It is a season of ‘no more delay’.
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE TEMPLE IN A 23RD SEASON
The temple of God is the House of God and the House of prayer. It is necessary to repair the temple in the 23rd season because the house of prayer is a great need in this season. Hezekiah needed it in the 23rd book of the Bible. He prayed in the temple against Sennacherib in Isaiah 37. It is a place to dwell in the 23rd season. Psalm 23:6 says, “…And I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever”. Jehoiada the Priest needed the temple for the crowning of the king’s son in Second Chronicles 23. The House of Prayer is a backbone and lifeline in 2023. It is the power-house of the season. The House of God is also the target of the enemy and the wicked in the 23rd season.
2. THE 23RD YEAR IS A SEASON TO WATCH AGAINST THE TOUGH CONSEQUENCES OF DOING EVIL AND SUPPORTING EVIL MEN AND LEADERS
2 Kings 13:1-3: “In the twenty-third year of Joash the son of Ahaziah, king of Judah, Jehoahaz the son of Jehu became king over Israel in Samaria, and reigned seventeen years. [2] And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, and followed the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who had made Israel sin. He did not depart from them. [3] Then the anger of the LORD was aroused against Israel, and He delivered them into the hand of Hazael king of Syria, and into the hand of Ben-Hadad the son of Hazael, all their days”.
The rising of evil leaders in this season provokes judgment. Change in the 23rd year should be one that advances the will of God and honours Him. Otherwise, judgment could follow. In Second Samuel 23, King David indicates that this season calls for just and God-fearing leaders.
2 Samuel 23:3-4 says, “The God of Israel said, The Rock of Israel spoke to me: ‘He who rules over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God. [4] And he shall be like the light of the morning when the sun rises, A morning without clouds, Like the tender grass springing out of the earth, By clear shining after rain.”
Unjust leaders are a major reason for judgment in the 23rd season.
In Second Kings 23, King Josiah destroyed priests who worshipped idols and taught the people to do the same. Isaiah prophesied against unjust leaders in the 23rd book of the Bible. In Jeremiah 23, the prophet pronounced judgment on spiritual leaders that misled the people. In Matthew 23, Jesus denounced the religious leaders of His day for their hypocrisy and superficiality.
3. THE 23RD YEAR IS THE TERMINUS OF DIVINE SILENCE AND THE BEGINNING OF REACTIONS. IT IS FOR BREAKING DIVINE SILENCE.
Jeremiah 25:1-11: “The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah (which was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon), [2] which Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the people of Judah and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying: [3] “From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, even to this day, this is the twenty-third year in which the word of the LORD has come to me; and I have spoken to you, rising early and speaking, but you have not listened. [4] And the LORD has sent to you all His servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, but you have not listened nor inclined your ear to hear. [5] They said, ‘Repent now everyone of his evil way and his evil doings, and dwell in the land that the LORD has given to you and your fathers forever and ever. [6] Do not go after other gods to serve them and worship them, and do not provoke Me to anger with the works of your hands; and I will not harm you.’ [7] Yet you have not listened to Me,” says the LORD, “that you might provoke Me to anger with the works of your hands to your own hurt. [8] “Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts: ‘Because you have not heard My words, [9] behold, I will send and take all the families of the north,’ says the LORD, ‘and Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant, and will bring them against this land, against its inhabitants, and against these nations all around, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, a hissing, and perpetual desolations. [10] Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones and the light of the lamp. [11] And this whole land shall be a desolation and an astonishment, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years”.
Heaven breaks silence in the 23rd season. The silence of God does not mean He is pleased with the ways of men. The people of the world do not know that.
Ecclesiastes 8:11 says, “Because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil”.
God may keep silent and seemingly ignore evil and wickedness for a long time but He certainly breaks His silence in the 23rd season.
God broke silence in the 23rd book of the Bible. God made heaven and earth and man in the first book of the Bible. Man chose to go his own way and besides the divine reaction in the Garden, in days of Noah and at Babel (all in the first book of the Bible), God did not address the failure of man till the time of the 23rd book of the Bible. In the 23rd book of the Bible, he called heaven and earth to witness against man.
Isaiah 1:1-7 says, “The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. [2] Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth! For the LORD has spoken: “I have nourished and brought up children, And they have rebelled against Me; [3] The ox knows its owner And the donkey its master’s crib; But Israel does not know, My people do not consider.” [4] Alas, sinful nation, A people laden with iniquity, A brood of evildoers, Children who are corrupters! They have forsaken the LORD, They have provoked to anger The Holy One of Israel, They have turned away backward. [5] Why should you be stricken again? You will revolt more and more. The whole head is sick, And the whole heart faints. [6] From the sole of the foot even to the head, There is no soundness in it, But wounds and bruises and putrefying sores; They have not been closed or bound up, or soothed with ointment. [7] Your country is desolate, Your cities are burned with fire; Strangers devour your land in your presence; And it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers”.
Since the beginning of the 21st century, the world has not heard the Voice of God as it is purposed to sound in the year 2023. The Lord will confront the church and the nations in 2023.
4. THE 23RD YEAR IS THE SEASON OF ‘THE THIRD AND LAST’ BLOW. IT IS A SEASON TO COMPLETE DIVINE TASKS AND PROJECTS
Jeremiah 52:28-30: “These are the people whom Nebuchadnezzar carried away captive: in the seventh year, three thousand and twenty-three Jews; [29] in the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar he carried away captive from Jerusalem eight hundred and thirty-two persons; [30] in the twenty-third year of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive of the Jews seven hundred and forty-five persons. All the persons were four thousand six hundred”.
The last batch of captives that went to Babylon from Judah (745 people) were taken in the 23rd year of Nebuchadnezzar. Judah also fell to Babylon in the season of the 23rd king (Zedekiah) counting from the beginning of monarchy in Israel. The year 2023 is a critical window of opportunity to cry out to God for the remnant that escaped COVID-19 and other destroyers released thus far in the 21st century.
B. THE KEY OF THE SECOND DAY OF CREATION (GENESIS 1:6-8)
Genesis 1:6-8 says, “And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. [7] And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. [8] And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day” (KJV).
What does the second day of creation have to do with 2023? The narrative of the second day of creation is key to understanding the mystery of the second year in every seven years. What God did on the seventh day is a pattern for the seventh season in every seven days, weeks, years or centuries. In the same way, what God did on the second day of creation is a pattern for the second in every seven. 2023 is a second day of creation year. It is the second year in the fourth seven years of the 21st century.
On the second day of creation (Genesis 1:6-8), God made the firmament to divide the water-bloc that seized all space. He did it so that other creatures could have room and breathing space. The firmament that divided the waters is called ‘heaven’. This means that the second season is a time to engage Heaven to make a way where there is none. In this season, God helps with wisdom, information, relationships and whatever the need is. God gave man a suitable help in the second chapter of Genesis. Moses found needed help in the second chapter of Exodus. In the second book of the Bible, Exodus, Israel received help, from Heaven, to come out of Egyptian bondage. Ruth found help in the second chapter of the book. Daniel received help to tell and interpret the king’s dream in the second chapter of his book. Esther became Queen of Persia in the second chapter. Jesus turned water into wine in the second chapter of John. The coming of the Helper, the Holy Spirit is recorded in the second chapter of Acts. Every second chapter of the Bible is a help-chapter. So, 2023 is a year of seeking and receiving Help from Heaven. It is a year to break through barriers and dismantle, or tear down, evil monopolies and space-blockers by a heavenly force. In this season, the rising of proud and boastful monopolies will pave way for the release of the monopoly-breaking anointing. This monopoly breaking anointing may be released via the instrument of legislation, or public protest or revolution. In the season of the 23rd President of the United States, Benjamin Harrison, the Sherman Anti-trust Act of 1890 was a legislative monopoly-breaker. 2023 is a year of Heaven-backed war against evil monopolies – in the sphere of politics, business and religion and so on.
C. THE KEY OF NUMBERS 7-11
The year 2023 is a Numbers 7-11 year. How? The fourth book of the Bible is a guiding light for the fourth 7 years of the 21st century (2022 – 2028). This means we should be able to locate each of the seven years in the fourth book of the Bible. This is only possible if we properly divide the 36-chapter book into seven parts – one part for a year. This second-division chapters of the book of Numbers are applicable to the second year in the fourth seven years of the 21st century. This season is about leadership, guidance and faith. Numbers 7 is about the offerings of the leaders that followed the setting up of the tabernacle. The leaders of the tribes and heads of families led in the offerings. The year 2023 is a season that demands exemplary leadership. God’s eyes are on leaders in 2023. Numbers 8 is about the spiritual leaders of Israel – Aaron and the Levites. Numbers 9 is about being guided by God. In this chapter, Moses needed to hear from God concerning those who missed the Passover in the first month. This chapter also revealed how Israel was to be guided by the Cloud and Pillar of Fire. Numbers 10 is about guidance through the sounding of the trumpets and the order of movement of the tribes from Sinai. In Numbers 11, Israel complained and were plagued after God gave them Quails to eat. God also gave Moses 70 supportive elders who were filled with the Spirit and prophesied – to lighten Moses’ burden of leading the people. We need servant-leaders in 2023. We need to be guided by God in 2023. We need to trust God (and not complain) in 2023. The implication of Numbers 7-11 is that leaders and people who choose to go their own way and do their own things in 2023 will not enjoy the presence of God and the blessings that go with it.
D. THE WITNESS OF THE 23RD BOOK AND 23RD CHAPTERS OF THE BIBLE.
The year 2023 is a 23rd book of the Bible year. It is a book of Isaiah year. It is also a 23rd-chapters-of-the-Bible year. The 23rd chapters of the Bible indicate 11 major things that are applicable to the 23rd year of the 21st century:
1. 2023 is a year to magnify God as Sovereign Lord and Way-Maker. In this season, proud men will rise who trust in themselves and their idols (what they can do and what they have) but they will be cut down. So, this is our season to boast in God. In Psalm 23, the psalmist boasted about his God. He expressed great confidence in the God of Israel. 2023 is a year to trust God and speak confidently about Him. God is magnified as Lord in the book of Isaiah – the 23rd book of the Bible. In that book, the Lord Himself says “There is none like Me” and “There is none besides Me”.
2. 2023 is for capturing the future through revelation and wisdom. Abraham purchased the future in Genesis 23. Sarah died there and Abraham bought and paid for a burial ground for his family. That gave him a stake in the Promised Land. Isaiah saw and spoke of the future in the 23rd book of the Bible. He spoke of the virgin conception, the rising and falling of kings and nations, the coming of the Messiah, the restoration of Israel and the emergence of a new heaven and earth. The 23rd book of the Bible captured the future like no other book of the Bible. The Lord will be granting revelations concerning ‘the future’ to His prophetic people in 2023. The year 2023 is a year to see and seize the future. It is a year to act with the future in view. It is a year to plant seeds for the future – seeds of reformation and change in the church and nations; seeds of a transformed earth. It is a year of breakthroughs in medical and scientific research that will shape the future.
Human history bears witness that the 23rd season is a season of change. I will illustrate with the United States. In the season of the 23rd President of the United States, Benjamin Harrison, the United States began to be a naval power. He admitted more states into the Union than any other president; and he was the earliest President to have his voice recorded (with phonograph wax). He saw the future. The story of Time Warner corporation is rooted in 1923 when both Warner Brothers and Time Magazine started as separate and independent ventures. In the same year, 1923, the 29th President of the United States, Warren G. Harding, died in office; turning over the presidency to Calvin Coolidge (the 30th President), who “demonstrated his determination to preserve the old moral and economic precepts of frugality amid the material prosperity which many Americans were enjoying during the 1920s era”. The 23rd seven years of the United States (1930-1937) were the closing years of Herbert Hoover and the first-term years of Franklin D. Roosevelt, the longest serving US President who was elected for four successive terms. He led the United States for the most part of WW2 till his death in 1945. The year 2023 is for securing the future by prayer, prophetic decrees and wise action. This is the season of visionary leaders.
3. 2023 is a year to expose and shame fakery. In Jeremiah 23, the prophet spoke out against false prophets and shepherds. Jesus denounced hypocritical leaders in Matthew 23. In Acts 23, Paul called the high priest “whitewashed wall”. Idols and those who serve them are mocked in 23rd book of the Bible. 2023 is a year to mock idols and idol worshippers. It is a year of war against powerless religion. It is a season to shake up empty boasters. The Lord will honor His Authentic Vessels in 2023. This is a year to prioritize authenticity. It is a year to get real with God and men. Hypocrisy will be exposed and confronted.
4. 2023 is a year of multi-dimensional prophetic anointing. The church will need Isaiah’s kind of multi-purpose prophetic mantle. The Isaiah mantle was an all-in-one prophetic mantle. The book of Isaiah is just a book in the Bible but every book of the Bible is also in Isaiah. The Bible has 66 books and Isaiah has 66 chapters. It is the miniature Bible. Each chapter of Isaiah is key to the book of the Bible that corresponds to it. Isaiah’s mantle is a mantle of fullness. 2023 is a year of the fullness. It is a year of All-In-One. It is a year of “I in you and you in me”. Isaiah was a prophet of woes and also a prophet of comfort. The Lord is looking for chosen vessels into whom He can pour His All in this season. Get ready!
5. 2023 is a year of judgments and woes. The word ‘woe’ is used in 70 verses of the Old Testament but in Isaiah alone it used in 22 verses. The same word is used in 33 verses of the New Testament but in Matthew 23, alone, it is used in 7 verses. The woeful tone of Isaiah changed after the 39th chapter. Pray that the judgments of 2023 will have a boundary (by the mercy of God) that must not be crossed.
6. 2023 is a year of ground-breaking prophetic revelations. Isaiah was a prophet of “that day”. There are over 50 references to “that day” in the book of Isaiah. The prophecies of Isaiah laid foundation for the life and ministry of John the Baptist, Jesus of Nazareth and the apostles. 2023 is a year to lay a prophetic foundation for a move of God coming upon the church and the earth.
7. 2023 is a year of comfort for God’s people. The first 39 chapters of Isaiah are chapters of judgments and woes but the last 27 chapters are about restoration. They are like the New Testament side of the book of Isaiah. Pray that the year 2023 will end with comfort and restoration. Of the 71 verses where the word ‘comfort’ is used in the Old Testament, 14 of the verses are in the book of Isaiah and 12 of those verses are between Isaiah 40 and Isaiah 66. 2023 is a year to speak comfort to God’s people because the evil one will want to harass people this season.
8. 2023 is a year of recovery and restoration. Isaiah’s ministry sparked off “in the year that king Uzziah died” and ended with Hezekiah, the man whom God helped against his enemy and death. The book opens with divine displeasure and ends with God standing with His people against their foes.
9. 2023 is a year to humble the proud. 2023 is a book of Isaiah year. The book of Isaiah is the 23rd book of the Bible. The ministry of Isaiah began in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah, who died a leper because of pride. Isaiah records the fall of Lucifer (Isaiah 14) and Sennacherib, the Assyrian king (Isaiah 37). Isaiah also spoke of the fall of Babylon (Isaiah 21). In 2023, “The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day. On that day a man will cast away his idols of silver and his idols of gold, which they made, each for himself to worship, To the moles and bats, [21] To go into the clefts of the rocks, And into the crags of the rugged rocks, From the terror of the LORD And the glory of His majesty, When He arises to shake the earth mightily” (Isaiah 2:11,20-21)
10. 2023 is a season of finding sufficiency in God. It is Psalm 23 year. It is the year of the Great Shepherd Who leads, guides, feeds, protects, fights for His sheep and delivers them. The 23rd book of the Bible also speaks of God as the Shepherd of Israel. Isaiah 40:10-11 says, “Behold, the Lord GOD shall come with a strong hand, And His arm shall rule for Him; Behold, His reward is with Him, And His work before Him. He will feed His flock like a shepherd; He will gather the lambs with His arm, And carry them in His bosom, And gently lead those who are with young”.
11. 2023 is a year of revolutions and overthrows. In Second Chronicles 23, Jehoiada overthrew Athaliah and enthroned Joash. Leaders who are nothing more than space-blockers are at the risk of being thrown out.
On June 9, 1923 (in the 23rd week of 1923), a military coup in Bulgaria ousted Prime Minister Aleksandra Stamboliyski. He was killed the following week on June 14.
On June 13, President Li Yuanhong of China abandoned his residence because a warlord commanded forces to surround the mansion and cut off its water and electric supplies in order to force him to abandon his post.
Germany was shaken by revolutions in this season.
On September 30 in Küstrin Putsch outside Berlin, Major Ernst von Buchrucker, the leader of the Black Reichswehr, attempted a putsch by seizing several forts. They later surrendered.
Hitler attempted a failed coup (Beer Hall Putsch) in his country in 1923 (November 8-9).
In 2023, people in different nations will dare the powers that be in their countries.
HOW TO LIVE JOYFULLY IN 2023
1. Be confident in God like the psalmist in Psalm 23
2. Be prayerful. Seek prayer-support also
3. Be sincere and authentic before God. Put off hypocrisy
4. Be far-sighted in your decisions and actions. Isaiah was a far-sighted prophet.
5. Preoccupy your heart with thoughts of the loftiness and sovereignty of God.
6. Speak as a prophet. Words are powerful in the 23rd season. The future is in your mouth in this season. The 23rd book of the Bible is the beginning of prophetic books in the Bible. The 23rd year of the 21st century is the beginning of a new prophetic season!
SCRIPTURE FOR 2023: “God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?” (Numbers 23:19).
The Lord will do it and make it good for you in 2023!
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To God be the Glory. Thanks for visiting this site.
What an insightful write up.
More grace sir.
Thank you, Sir, for visiting this site and also sending this gracious feedback. Blessings!
I have read this prophetic significance. I do believe and receive it. I would like to translate it in our national language so as to share it with my fellow Christians.
May God Bless You,
Dear Patricia,
Thank you for visiting this site and for sending feedback. Please, feel free to translate it to your native language for your people. God bless you too. Happy New Year!
Who is rich person n like how certain people’s bost on their riches n yet not interesting of God temple or kingdom