Criteria For The Last Move Of God In His Church
In our last post we spoke on the significance of the Man Child, today, what I want to do is show us what we need to do to transit from ‘The Woman’ (of Revelation Chapter 12) to the Man Child. To do this I have to expound on the significance of the attire of the Woman – the ‘sun, moon and 12 stars’.
Clothed with the Sun.
Like we said before, the Sun is the glory of the Father, each time the Woman surfaced on the earth, she was clothed with the glory of the Father. In Israel before Moses was born, it was the Blessings of Jacob upon his twelve sons, in Mary, it was the Power of the Holy Spirit that overshadowed her. Therefore, it is of uttermost importance that this generation be clothed with the glory of the Father if we must take the leap from being the Woman to being the Man Child.
In the early Nineteen Hundreds, there was a revival of the baptism of the Holy Spirit and Power. This revival spread across the world to cloth the universal Church with the glory of the Father.
The core sign of this endowment is not signs and wonders. That’s why Israel was not known for signs and wonders neither was Mary, although they were clothed in the glory of the Father. The core sign of this glorious clothing of the Father on the Woman is the Blessing of God’s Presence, and that was the key thing that the Pentecostal revival had – the blessing of the baptism of the Spirit. In spite of the great miracles experienced by ‘the Woman’ movement in this last days, it did not qualify as a type for the Man Child because it was experienced or ministered primarily by leaders of the Church not by the members also. When we make the transition into the Man Child, miracles will be the norm for both leaders and followers alike. This is not to say no disciple of Christ in the pews is operating in the miraculous, far from it, there are believers today as well as in the early days of the Pentecostal revival that operate in the miraculous, but it hasn’t been as wide spread as it has been amongst the leaders of this great movement.
The Moon under her feet.
After the Pentecostal revival came, revivals focused on sanctification and holiness (like the S.U revival), and this revival spread across the world too. And that’s what it means for the Woman to have the moon under her feet – it means she has crucified the flesh and died to the world.
Those who pioneered this movement were deeply entrenched in the Pentecostal revival before being used of God to pioneer the Holiness movement. So in essence, they did not lose their clothing of the sun – the glory of the Father – but simply added the moon under their feet.
The flesh must be crucified before we can birth the Man Child, but not before we walk in the Spirit. Like the scripture says, ‘Walk in the Spirit [first] then you will not be able to fulfil the lust of the flesh’, or as the Lord put it, ‘Watch and pray, and you will not fall into temptation’. Because it is by ‘the law of the Spirit of life that we are set free from the law of sin and death’. Many times, we try to kill the flesh so that we can live in the Spirit, and we think this to be scriptural but it is not. An attempt to kill the flesh before we can live in the Spirit is legalism and not grace. That’s why the Pentecostal Movement came before the S.U revival.
The Crown of Twelve Stars.
The crown of twelve stars are not just symbolic of the authority of apostles, on the contrary, they represent the authority of the 12 apostles of the Lamb. There is a significant difference between the authority of the 12 and the authority of other apostles. The 12 are a unique set of apostles – ‘the apostles of the lamb’ (see Revelation 21:14). To appreciate the significance of the 12, we need to see how they differ from other apostles.
Imagine a scenario in the first century Church where the message of Jesus is put on trial by a sincere Sanhedrin seeking to know the truth of His message, who do you think would be considered a more credible witness by all, Peter or Paul? Your guess is as good as mine – Peter!
What do you suppose would give Peter superior credibility over Paul in the face of an inquisitive Sanhedrin? After all, both are genuine apostles of Christ and both have seen the resurrected Jesus. To the Sanhedrin, only one thing can be verified, only Peter has met with the Lord in the days of His flesh, and this fact is known by all, believers and un-believers alike. You can question anyone’s claim to have witnessed the resurrection of Jesus even if you are a Christian (remember ‘doubting’ Thomas?). But no one can deny a person’s claim to have been a student and now an ambassador of Christ in the days of His flesh, not even if you were a Pharisee because all His students were known by all (remember the Pharisees were the ones who testified that ‘these men had been with Jesus’).
What’s my point? The distinctive factor between the 12 apostles of the Lamb and other apostles is their witness of His ministry on earth. Both class of apostles have seen the resurrected Jesus, but only the 12 witnessed His earthly ministry. And if you can remember, that was the criteria for choosing a replacement for Judas.
21 “Therefore, of these men who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, 22 beginning from the baptism of John to that day when He was taken up from us, one of these must become a witness with us of His resurrection.” Acts 1:21-22
Why is this criteria so important? It is very important, because in the face of an argument over what message the Lord came to give mankind, we only need to measure the argument against the argument of the initial 12. If it doesn’t tally with that of the 12, we know the argument is false and that of the 12 remains true!
Interestingly, Paul was not part of the initial 12, but had superior revelation knowledge to the 12. So what happens when a superior revelation does not tally with that of the 12? We don’t need to speculate an answer, for we have an example in scripture in the dispute between the teachings of the great apostle Paul and the teachings of mere disciples from Jerusalem (disciples of the 12). What happened there? The church had to take the matter to Jerusalem – to the 12 – for a verdict. Isn’t that surprising, that the words of the great apostle Paul was brought into question simply because mere disciples of the 12 had contrary views? However, because Apostle Paul’s ‘superior revelation’ was from God, God gave the 12 the ability to discern the accuracy of Paul’s message. In fact, it was later revealed to Paul that for his message to receive wide acceptance and even have God’s approval, he would have to present it before the 12 at Jerusalem for scrutiny and validation.
And I went up by revelation, and communicated to them that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately to those who were of reputation, lest by any means I might run, or had run, in vain. Galatians 2:2
Without the validation of the 12, Paul would have preached his ‘superior revelation’ in vain. The validation of the 12 is like a NAFDAC number, without it, even valid goods become illegal. That’s why Paul needed the Twelve so much. With that understanding, you can better appreciate what the crown of 12 stars mean. It is access into the full and accurate mystery of the Word of God.
When we combine ‘the sun, moon and 12 stars’ of the Woman, what we have is an error free Church – a church that knows the scriptures and the power of God. (See Matthew 22:29; Mark 12:24)
It is time to be established in the accuracy and depth of the word of God so that we can see the Man Child in full bloom. The great need of the Church for better understanding and greater depths into God’s word is one major drive behind this blog, the books I’m writing, and the Pagemaster Project which I started last year. I am using these platforms to impart wisdom and knowledge so that God’s people can receive stability and strength.
Wisdom and knowledge will be the stability of your times, and the strength of salvation; the fear of the LORD is His treasure.
~Isaiah 33:6~