This is what the flock was once like, and this is what it is like now: healthy and spreading wide. Even if it is not yet complete, it is moving toward completion with each new increase, and I prophesy that it will continue to do so. The Holy Spirit foretells this to me, if I have any prophetic gift at all and can see what lies ahead. I can also take confidence from what has already happened and know it by reason, since reason has long been my companion.
It was far more astonishing for the flock to grow from what it was then into what it is now. From its present state, reaching the height of glory would be less surprising. The One who gives life to the dead has begun to gather it together—bone to bone, joint to joint—and the Spirit of life and new birth has been given to the dry bones. From this beginning I know that the whole resurrection must be brought to completion.
So let the rebellious not exalt themselves. Let those who clutch at a shadow, a dream that vanishes when one wakes, passing breezes, or the wake of a ship on the water not imagine that they possess anything. “Howl, pine tree, for the cedar has fallen!” Let them learn from the misfortunes of others and understand that the poor will not be forgotten forever.
And the Godhead that is being cut apart and wickedly divided into ruler and ruled will, as Habakkuk says, not refrain from “shattering the heads of rulers” in fury. By being dragged down, the Godhead is insulted as deeply as possible, while creation is burdened by being given honor equal to the Godhead.