2012: YEAR OF DIVINE GOVERNMENT
(week 01/12)
Olubi Johnson
The year 2012 will be a year in which there will be manifestation of divine government in the Church and in the nations.
God has always ruled in the Church and in the nations, but hitherto the rule has been invisible and occasional, only taking place at strategic places and points in time while human rule is manifest most of the rest of the time; but now divine rule will be visibly manifest and will be prolonged for appreciable lengths of time, like the rule of David in Israel (2 Sam. 5:12) and that of Mordecai and Esther in Persia (Est. 8:8; 10:3).
This divine government will first of all be manifest in the Church by a ‘Passover‘ of the leadership of the Church from ‘Saul’ to ‘David’.
Then it will also be manifest in the outworking of governmental anointings that will help human governments, like Joseph, Daniel and Elisha helped the rulers of their times.
We discern by the Spirit that 2012 will be a year of divine government because of the signs of the times:
1. Sharp increase in the intensity and frequency of earthquakes, floods and natural disasters.
2. Economic distress of the nations (the current Euro-Crisis and its potential negative effect on the global economy).
3. Gross moral darkness in the Western nations: legalizing homosexuality and great increase in sexual immorality and perversion; also in greed, covetousness, and murder.
The Lord Jesus tells us that we should discern the time in the same way we discern the weather by looking at the signs:
Luke 12:54-56 KJV: And he said also to the people, When ye see a cloud rise out of the west, straightway ye say, There cometh a shower; and so it is. (55) And when ye see the south wind blow, ye say, There will be heat; and it cometh to pass. (56) Ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky and of the earth; but how is it that ye do not discern this time?
He also said that when we see these things begin to happen causing a distress of the nations, then we should know that our redemption or salvation, firstly in the coming of the Lord to His Church in the perfection and fullness of Christ, is near at hand:
Luke 21:25-28 KJV: And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; (26) Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. (27) And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. (28) And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.
We also have signs in the Church; but the signs in the Church are good: clearer revelation of the love of God that is the prerequisite for the manifestation of the fulness of God in the Church.
Proverbs 4:18 AMP: But the path of the [uncompromisingly] just and righteous is like the light of dawn, that shines more and more (brighter and clearer) until [it reaches its full strength and glory in] the perfect day [to be prepared]. [II Sam. 23:4; Matt. 5:14; Phil. 2:15.]
Ephesians 3:19 KJV: And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.
In 2011, we received two wonderfully clear revelations of the love of God:
1. Love is discerning by wisdom, desiring by compassion and doing by power what God would do in every situation because God is love; it is God who defines love and not what we think is love that defines God.
1John 4:16 KJV: And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.
2. Hope desires what Love (God) wants to give, faith creates it and then Love gives it; that is why Love is the greatest of hope, faith and love, since it is love that gives birth to and motivates hope and faith and is the ultimate goal of hope and faith!
1Corinthians 13:13 NIV: And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
These exceptionally clear and comprehensive revelations of the love of God coming in 2011 are signs that the fullness of God will be manifest in the Church in 2012.
Furthermore, 2011 was declared to be a year of perfection, unity and fulness and indeed we received a wonderfully clear revelation of the perfection of unity under covering and the fulness of God in 2011, laying the foundation for the experience and manifestation of these things in 2012.
In our article next week, we will see what we have to do to experience the manifestation of divine government in the Church and nations in 2012.