APOSTOLIC GENERATION
I would like us to direct our efforts in the study of the grace that God endowed upon Judah the fourth son of Jacob. The objective of this article is to put the life of Judah under a microscope in a quest to come to a place of understanding and assimilating the grace and anointing that God placed upon Judah. Genesis 29:35 “And she conceived again, and bare a son: and she said, Now will I praise the LORD: therefore she called his name Judah; and left bearing.” Bear in mind that names denotes nature. The name Judah simply means praise. I want us to look at the prophecy of Jacob concerning his son Judah as our point of departure.
Genesis 49:8 -10 “Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise: thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies; thy father's children shall bow down before thee. Judah is a lion's whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion: who shall rouse him up? The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.” It is evident from this text that Judah possessed an apostolic grace. To qualify my statement, I would like us to dissect this portion of scripture.
- Judah is a lion – A lion symbolizes kingship in as much as a lion is the king of the animal kingdom
- Judah is a king – The sceptre shall not depart from Judah
- Judah possesses authority – Thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies
Note that the genealogy of Christ is traced from Judah. Matthew 1:1 “The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.” Matthew introduces us to the kingship of Christ by indicating that Christ is the son of David, who descends from the tribe of Judah. In essence, Judah has the special grace of ushering the spiritual into the physical. Matthew 1:23 “Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.” The word Immanuel is a Hebrew word which translates in man God. According to John 1:14 “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.” Let us revisit the concept of the apostolic. The word apostle was transliterated from the Greek word “Apostolos“. The word simply means one who is entrusted with a foreign mission, with the authority of a delegate. Let us dissect this definition;
- One who is entrusted – It is axiomatic that an apostle is a divine steward
- Foreign mission – Apostles are the ambassadors of heaven in the earth realm. Therefore, they abide by the heavenly principles, even though they are operating in the earth realm.
- The authority of a delegate – Apostles are sent with the authority of heaven to properly execute their duties in the earth realm. They operate with delegated authority. It is evident that apostles are the sent ones. With that being said, it is of paramount importance to understand the three aspects of the apostolic;
- Sender-
- Message
- Messenger
I want us to view these aspects through the lenses of the book of Genesis. Genesis 1:3 “And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.” Let us decode Genesis 1
- God the father send the message – Sender
- God the Son is the message sent by God the father – Message
- God the Holy Spirit decoded and delivered the message that was sent – Messenger
Therefore, the apostolic has to embrace and incorporate the three aspects mentioned above. There is a parallelism between the account of creation and the conception and birth of the Messiah. This is what transpired. The Father sent the message (Son) into the earth realm. The Holy Spirit decoded the message (the son) to be received by the earth realm (Messenger). “Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Marry was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.” Matthew 1:18. It is evident from this text, that Jesus was the child of the Holy Spirit. The principle is that every seed produces after its kind. Simply put, Jesus Christ had the divine DNA (Divine Nature Activated) running through his veins because he was the child of the Holy Spirit. Characteristics of the apostolic extrapolated from Judah;
- Ability to incarnate the divine
The primary rationale for the Messiah to descend into the earth realm through the tribe of Judah and not any other tribe is because; Judah has the grace to incarnate the divine. John 1:14 ” And the word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.” Therefore, Immanuel (In man God) can only come from Judah. The primary mandate of the apostolic is to incarnate the Message (Christ) send from the Father (Sender). With that being said, the apostolic cannot carry out its mandate in the absence of the Holy Spirit. The fundamental role of the Holy Spirit is to decode and translate the message into the flesh (Messenger). Note that there is an intense fellowship between the “Sender,” “Message” and the “Messenger”. This fellowship is necessary for the divine mandate to be carried out effectively. With that being said, the apostolic has to fellowship with the “Sender”, the “Message” and the “Messenger.”
2. Judah is a king
The scripture says “The sceptre shall not depart from Judah”.Genesis 49:10. Judah has the pioneering and leadership grace. When we study the background of Israel, it is evident that the first King of Israel elected by God is traced from the tribe of Judah. David is the first king elected by God to sit on the throne. His kingship was fulfilling the prophecy released by Jacob in Genesis 49. Let us look at how David was chosen and anointed as the King of Israel as opposed to the Kingship of Saul who descends from the tribe of Benjamin. 1 Samuel 8:4-6 “Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel unto Ramah, And said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations. But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, Give us a King to judge us. Samuel prayed unto the Lord.” It is evident from this passage of scripture that the kingship of Saul came into being as the result of the elders of Israel and not the will of God.
The elders of Israel approached Samuel with a petition of getting a king to rule them. Samuel was displeased with the elders of Israel because he understood that the sceptre shall not depart from Judah. God ordered Samuel to anoint Saul as the king. Bear in mind that Saul is Benjamite; a tribe that God said nothing concerning the sceptre. 1 Samuel 8:11 “And he said, This will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you: He will take your sons, and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and some shall run before his chariots.” According to this passage of scripture, it is axiomatic that God gave Israel the king of Saul's calibre just to spite them because they despised His kingship over them.
Juxtaposition of the kingship of Saul and David
- Saul's kingship was orchestrated by the people
- David's kingship was orchestrated by God
- Saul was a king after people's heart
- David was a king after God's heart
- Saul was anointed from the vial of oil
- David was anointed from the horn of oil
- Saul was from the tribe of Benjamin
- David was from the tribe of Judah
- Saul could not defeat Goliath
- David defeated Goliath
- Saul was anointed once
- David was anointed three times (No 3 =divine perfection)
- Saul did not understand and care about the ark of the covenant
- David understood the significance of the ark of the covenant hence, he brought it back from Gibeah to Jerusalem
- Saul failed to understand the power of praise and worship. He attributed his victories to his own strength
- David lived to praise and worship God and therefore, he pioneered a pattern of praise and worship
It is evident from the above juxtaposition that David had the legal rights to sit on the throne of Israel and not Saul. Principles of the apostolic extrapolated from the kingship of David;
- Apostolic is after the heartbeat of God and not of man
- Apostolic is not man-made but it is God-made; not anointed from the vial of oil but from the horn of oil. Note that a vial is man-made whilst a horn is God-made
- Apostolic has the authority and the anointing to defeat the giants- Goliath. Now “Goliath” is every man-made system, stronghold, imaginations, and every high thing that seeks to exalt itself against the knowledge of God. 2 Corinthians 10:4-5.
- Apostolic affects the three aspects of mankind; spirit, soul and body (perfect man)
- Apostolic has been mandated to build a spiritual habitation for the Lord (Church). Whatever they build on the earth realm should conform to the divine pattern (Christ).
- Apostolic understands the power of praise and worship. Worshiping God is acknowledging his kingdom. When we worship God, his throne is established in our lives. It is noteworthy that there are three aspects of a kingdom;
- Throne
- King
- Domain
According to Matthew 6: 9-10 we should follow the following pattern of prayer “Our father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven”. When we acknowledge God as a King, we usher heaven in the earth realm. Heaven is not a geographical location, but is where the Throne of God is established.
Apostolic embraces the Ark of the Covenant- the presence of God. The very first thing on the agenda of David as a king was to bring back the Ark of the Covenant from Gibeah to its original place which is Jerusalem. The apostolic understand that there is nothing that can be done without God. It places reliance in the presence of God. The principle is that, everything that is done outside the parameters of the presence of God is “Ichabod” (the glory has departed). 1 Samuel 4:19& 21 “And his daughter in law, Phinehas's wife, was with child, near to be delivered: and when she heard the tidings that the ark of God was taken, and that her father in law and her husband were dead, she bowed herself and travailed; for her pains came upon her.
And she named the child Ichabod, saying, The glory is departed from Israel. The principle that we can extrapolate from this text is that, where the presence of God is, that is where the glory (Chabod) of God is. Everything that is birthed outside the presence of God shall reflect the nature of mankind and everything that is birthed in the presence of God shall reflect the nature of God. The mandate of the apostolic is to build in accordance with the divine blueprint. It behooves us therefore to be soaked in the presence of God to such extend that we are overshadowed by the glory of His presence.
Exodus 31:1-4 “And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, See, I have called by name Bezaleel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah: And I have filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship, To devise cunning works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass.” Let us interrogate and dissect this passage of scripture.
- Bezaleel is from the tribe of Judah
- The name Bezaleel simply means in the shadow of God
- Bezaleel had the spirit of wisdom, understanding and knowledge
- Bezaleel was the chief artisan in the construction of the tabernacle of Moses.
Bear in mind that names denotes nature. The name Bezaleel translates in the shadow of God. The name denotes an intimate relationship and fellowship with God to such extend where God is in us and we are in Him (inseparable). Apostolic is married to the cloud of the presence of God. Note that there is a difference between being under the shadow of God and being in the shadow of God, the latter denotes a place of deep intimacy and fellowship with God. It's a secret place where we are compelled to be conformed to His nature. Note that Moses downloaded the pattern, but however, the Lord appointed Bezaleel from the tribe of Judah to build the pattern (Christ). God is raising a Bezaleel company that will be married to the cloud of His glory.
I see God equipping and imparting them with the spirit of wisdom, understanding and knowledge to bring the spiritual into the physical. God is calling this company by name; He is sanctifying them to be the master architectures and chief artisans in this epoch. Rise Bezaleel, Rise Bezaleel, Rise Bazaleel. I hear the name of Bezaleel reverberating in all the earth. Romans 8:19 “For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.”
Apostolic Blessings,
Pule Thobejane
Email: [email protected]
