MERCY FOR NEW BEGINNINGS
(week 07/16)
OLUBI JOHNSON AND ANDREW AKINTAYO
1. To preserve them from destruction (Lam.3.22).
2. To enable them to be faithful (1 Cor. 7.25).
3. To enable them to triumph ALWAYS (Jas.2.13, 2 Cor. 2.14).
2016 has been declared to be a Jubilee year of New Beginnings:
The years 2014-2015 were the years of the blood moon tetrad that synchronized with the Jewish feasts of Passover and Tabernacles. Furthermore, 2015 was a 7thShemitah year of release (Dt.15.1), so from the day of Trumpets (Lev.23.24) of 2015 (Sept.14 2015), we entered into a Jubilee year.
So NOW in 2016 we are in a Jubilee year; In the Old Testament, the year of Jubilee was when the inheritance of all Israelites was released or returned back to them:
Now, in the New Testament today, our inheritance is the manifestation of the Spirit without measure.
We are going to need the mercy of God in our individual lives to experience this new beginning of the manifestation of the Spirit without measure just like Abraham and Sarah, Hannah, Ruth and Naomi experienced new beginnings by the supernatural births of Isaac, Samuel and Obed by the mercies of God.
It was the mercy of God SUPERIMPOSED on the faith of the running and willing of Abraham, which FINALLY enabled him and Sarah to receive supernatural strength to conceive Isaac.
Recall that after getting out of the will of God, by the birth of Ishmael, both Abraham (Gen.17.17-18) and Sarah (Gen.18.12) wavered in their faith, but God’s MERCY stabilized their faith AFTER GOD IN HIS MERCY APPEARED TO THEM when Abraham was 99 years old and Sarah was 90, and about 9 months later Isaac was born supernaturally (Gen.21.1-7).
Isaac was now used by God to give birth to the Nation of Israel.
In the same way today, as the fulness of Christ is birthed in our souls and physical bodies (Gal.4.19), we will bring forth a new spiritual nation:
1Peter 2:9 NKJV: But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;
This same truth is further typified and confirmed by God’s mercy superimposed on Hannah’s wavering faith when Eli prayed for her and the subsequent supernatural birth of Samuel (1 Sam.1.1-20) who started a new priesthood after the priesthood of the house of Eli had been rejected:
1Samuel 2:34-35 NKJV: Now this shall be a sign to you that will come upon your two sons, on Hophni and Phinehas: in one day they shall die, both of them. (35) Then I will raise up for Myself a faithful priest who shall do according to what is in My heart and in My mind. I will build him a sure house, and he shall walk before My anointed forever.
This truth is finally established by a 3rd witness typified by the birth of Obed, through Ruth and Boaz. It was from Obed that David descended and started a dynasty of spiritual Kings who would fulfill ALL of the will of God.
Ruth 4:22 NKJV: Obed begot Jesse, and Jesse begot David.
Acts 13:22 NKJV: And when He had removed him, He raised up for them David as king, to whom also He gave testimony and said, ‘I HAVE FOUND DAVID THE SON OF JESSE, A MAN AFTER MY OWN HEART, WHO WILL DO ALL MY WILL.’
It is instructive to note that it was the MERCY of God that caused Ruth to ‘hap’ upon the field of Boaz (Ruth.2.1-3) at a time when the faith of Naomi was wavering (Ruth.1.19-21) and that of Ruth was just budding (Ruth.1.16).
So Abraham, Hannah and Naomi were ALL given new beginnings by the MERCY of God; in the same way God’s mercy will give us new beginnings in this year of new beginnings!
Now, just as it took the MERCY of God to overcome the great difficulty, Abraham had to believe God could renew his and Sarah’s physical bodies (Rom.4.19-21) to give birth to Isaac; God’s MERCY superimposed on our faith will enable us to experience the birth of the FULNESS OF CHRIST in our souls and physical bodies (which are presently experiencing weakness and decay (2 Cor.4:16)) in this hour!
Doing this, will fulfill,
Proverbs 20:28 KJV: Mercy and truth preserve the king: and his throne is upholden by mercy.
Observe that it will take BOTH MERCY AND TRUTH: the application of God’s Word (Jn.17.17) in prayer (Eph.6.17-18), confession, meditation and action (Josh.1.8) to PRESERVE (Lam.3.22) us as we grow to becoming spiritual Kings; and then AFTER we become spiritual Kings it is the MERCY of God that continues to uphold us as spiritual Kings as we sit on God’s throne (Rev.3.21), which is the mercy seat (Heb.4.16).
Exodus 25:21-22 KJV: And thou shalt put the mercy seat above upon the ark; and in the ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee. (22) And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel.
It is instructive to note that the mercy seat was ABOVE the tablets of the commandments that were put in the Ark of the Covenant, with symbols of the two cherubims.
This symbolizes the fact God releases His mercy upon our faith: running and willing to do His Word THROUGH the ministry of angels.
We see this fulfilled in how the prayers of the Lord Jesus were supplemented by the mercy of God through ministry of an angel in Gethsemane:
Luke 22:41-43 KJV: And he was withdrawn from them about a stone’s cast, and kneeled down, and prayed, (42) Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done. (43) And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him.
In this same way, as we run and will diligently in prayer and the Word God will supplement our efforts with His mercy (Rom.9.16) through the ministry of angels to give us new beginnings in this time of Jubilee and New beginnings!
