BLESSINGS OF THE AGE TO COME
(week 11/15)
OLUBI JOHNSON
Hebrews 6:5 NKJV: and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come,
The powers of the age to come are the powers of God that will be available to ALL men during the millennial reign of Christ, BECAUSE SATAN WOULD HAVE BEEN CHAINED AND SHUT UP IN A PIT (REV.20.1-3), SO THERE WILL BE NO SATANIC POWER IN THE AIR (EPH. 2.2) TO OPPOSE OR HINDER THE POWER OF GOD.
Consequently, the blessings of God, like the removal of the distorted beastly nature in animals, that are not normally or commonly seen in this age, will be GLOBALLY MANIFEST ALL THE TIME (24/7).
Isaiah 65:25 NKJV: The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, The lion shall eat straw like the ox, And dust shall be the serpent’s food. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain,” Says the LORD.
However, in this present dispensation, there will be a company of Christians who will attain the perfection and fulness of Christ and so inherit the power of the Spirit without measure and so taste of the powers of the age to come, bringing into physical manifestation NOW, SOME of the blessings of the millennial age to come.
In effect, they will be SIMULATING the conditions of the millennial reign NOW by the force of spiritual arms through the ministry of angels, effectively NEUTRALIZING THE POWER OF SATAN IN THE AIR, NOT GLOBALLY, BUT WHEREVER AND WHENEVER THE POWER OF SPIRIT WITHOUT MEASURE IS BEING RELEASED BY SPIRITUAL KINGS OF THE DYNASTY OF DAVID.
David in the Old Testament typifies this experience by enjoying the New Testament blessings of worshiping in the presence of the Ark of the Covenant WITHOUT A VEIL AND THE LEVITICAL FURNITURE OF THE HOLY PLACE AND HOLY OF HOLIES OF THE TABERNACLE OF MOSES (1 Chr.16.1).
WHAT then are these blessings and WHEN will we begin to see and enjoy them?
These blessings will start when God comes SUDDENLY to His church in His perfection and fulness, bringing JUDGMENT AND DESTRUCTION to the rebellious in the church (typified by Saul) BUT PRESERVES and brings these millennial blessings to the perfect church (typified by David).
Malachi 3:1-3 NKJV: “Behold, I send My messenger, And he will prepare the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, Will suddenly come to His temple, Even the Messenger of the covenant, In whom you delight. Behold, He is coming,” Says the LORD of hosts. (2) “But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner’s fire And like launderers’ soap. (3) He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi, And purge them as gold and silver, That they may offer to the LORD An offering in righteousness.
Malachi 4:1-3 NKJV: “For behold, the day is coming, Burning like an oven, and all the proud, yes, all who do wickedly will be stubble. And the day which is coming shall burn them up,” Says the LORD of hosts, “That will leave them neither root nor branch. (2) But to you who fear My name The Sun of Righteousness shall arise With healing in His wings; And you shall go out And grow fat like stall-fed calves. (3) You shall trample the wicked, For they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet On the day that I do this,“Says the LORD of hosts.
Zechariah 13:7-9 NKJV: “Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd, Against the Man who is My Companion,” Says the LORD of hosts. “Strike the Shepherd, And the sheep will be scattered; Then I will turn My hand against the little ones. (8) And it shall come to pass in all the land,” Says the LORD, “That two-thirds in it shall be cut off and die, But one-third shall be left in it: (9) I will bring the one-third through the fire, Will refine them as silver is refined, And test them as gold is tested. They will call on My name, And I will answer them. I will say, ‘This is My people’; And each one will say, ‘The LORD is my God.’ ”
We see this truth also typified in
Isaiah 65:8-25 NKJV: Thus says the LORD: “As the new wine is found in the cluster, and one says, ‘Do not destroy it, for a blessing is in it,’ so will I do for My servants’ sake, That I may not destroy them all. (9) I will bring forth descendants from Jacob, And from Judah an heir of My mountains; My elect shall inherit it, And My servants shall dwell there. (10) Sharon shall be a fold of flocks, And the Valley of Achor a place for herds to lie down, For My people who have sought Me. (11) “But you are those who forsake the LORD, Who forget My holy mountain, Who prepare a table for Gad, And who furnish a drink offering for Meni. (12) Therefore I will number you for the sword, And you shall all bow down to the slaughter; Because, when I called, you did not answer; When I spoke, you did not hear, But did evil before My eyes, And chose that in which I do not delight.” (13) Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: “Behold, My servants shall eat, But you shall be hungry; Behold, My servants shall drink, But you shall be thirsty; Behold, My servants shall rejoice, But you shall be ashamed; (14) Behold, My servants shall sing for joy of heart, But you shall cry for sorrow of heart, And wail for grief of spirit. (15) You shall leave your name as a curse to My chosen; For the Lord GOD will slay you, And call His servants by another name; (16) So that he who blesses himself in the earth Shall bless himself in the God of truth; And he who swears in the earth Shall swear by the God of truth; Because the former troubles are forgotten, And because they are hidden from My eyes. (17) “For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; And the former shall not be remembered or come to mind. (18) But be glad and rejoice forever in what I create; for behold, I create Jerusalem as a rejoicing, and her people a joy. (19) I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in My people; The voice of weeping shall no longer be heard in her, Nor the voice of crying. (20) “No more shall an infant from there live but a few days, Nor an old man who has not fulfilled his days; For the child shall die one hundred years old, But the sinner being one hundred years old shall be accursed. (21) They shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. (22) They shall not build and another inhabit; They shall not plant and another eat; For as the days of a tree, so shall be the days of My people, And My elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands. (23) They shall not labor in vain, nor bring forth children for trouble; For they shall be the descendants of the blessed of the LORD, And their offspring with them. (24) “It shall come to pass that before they call, I will answer; And while they are still speaking, I will hear. (25) The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, the lion shall eat straw like the ox, And dust shall be the serpent’s food. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain,” Says the LORD.
Isaiah 4:4-6 NKJV: When the Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and purged the blood of Jerusalem from her midst, by the spirit of judgment and by the spirit of burning, (5) then the LORD will create above every dwelling place of Mount Zion, and above her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day and the shining of a flaming fire by night. For over all the glory there will be a covering. (6) And there will be a tabernacle for shade in the daytime from the heat, for a place of refuge, and for a shelter from storm and rain.
In summary, the blessings of the age to come are INSTANT ANSWERS TO PRAYER, PERMANENT PROTECTION FROM SPIRITUAL AND PHYSICAL HARM, good health, long life with renewal of youth (Ps.103.5) as we grow older, spiritual, material and financial prosperity making the Zion (perfect Ps. 50.2) church the most powerful financial institution on the earth (Dt. 28.12, Is. 60.3-5)!
In our article next week, we will see WHY AND HOW these blessings will come.
