Transitional Generation
I believe the most intense time in human history is right in front of us, the third transitional generation described in the Bible. Each transitional generation described in the Bible lives through an intense season. The response of that generation to the time they live in is really important to God.
The generation of Moses was the first transitional generation, it was the generation of the covenant of the law. This generation was born into slavery and were dramatically rescued by God. The intense persecution of those living in agreement with God was out-matched by the power of God visibly demonstrated on the earth. Rivers turning into blood, hail and pestilence, the splitting of an ocean so God's beloved could safely cross, 40 years of food literally falling from heaven, supernatural rivers of provision in the desert...this was an extreme time. No generation before, or after, saw the demonstration of God's raw power on the earth like the generation of Moses. Their response, one of dismay, regret, and faithlessness, was utterly displeasing to God. They had been given so much evidence of His power and presence, literally being guided day and night by the cloud of His presence, fed by His hand, yet they refused to trust Him. Their generation was called "rebellious":
Psalm 95: 8 “Do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion, As in the day of trial in the wilderness, 9 When your fathers tested Me; They tried Me, though they saw My work. 10 For forty years I was grieved with that generation, And said, ‘It is a people who go astray in their hearts, And they do not know My ways.’ 11 So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest.’ ”
Great intensity comes with a transitional generation. Great manifestations of power alongside great trial always mark a transitional generation. All generations are important to God, but the privilege of witnessing a transitional generation comes with responsibility to respond to the demonstration of power:
Luke 12:48 ... For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more.
A small portion of the second transitional generation, the generation of the covenant of Jesus' blood, understood this. Their response, the response of Peter, John, and rest of the 120 in the upper room...they understood the time they lived in and responded well! They pledged it all to Jesus. They died with Him on that cross, refusing to pick their own lives back up. Pouring themselves out like a drink offering at His feet, for HIS cause...that He might live through them. As they poured out their own will, their own dreams and desires, on the ground, and let Jesus live through them, the Holy Spirit was sent to them. He filled them with fire and a better dream. This was Jesus' promise before He left them: that He would send the comforter, the helper, the Holy Spirit, to everyone who died to themselves and lived in agreement with Him:
John 14:16 And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.
The living flame of love was sent to those who would make space for Him. Because of free will, we get the measure of Fire we make room for. Through their willingness to respond to the purpose of God, to live in agreement with God at the most intense time in human history to that point, the Fire of God consumed them from the inside out. Of the 120 in the upper room, each one's response to God made space for the Consuming Fire to come and consume them. Their fire caught, from person to person, like a fire is passed from branch to branch. As the heat of their fire increased, many felt the heat, poured out their lives, and spread the blaze, which now covers the earth. 120 people from the 2nd transitional generation changed the entire globe forever. We know the name of Jesus because of these men and women from this generation. But...
We live in a greater time. Greater intensity is brewing, greater manifestations will be released. Jesus said:
John 14: 12 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.
That promise poured out in small measures here and there over the last 2,000 years has been stored up to be released in full for this generation. This was a prophetic invitation which will be answered in full for the generation described in Matthew 24...I believe we are that generation.
There is SO much information about the third transitional generation in the Bible. Old and New Testament describe this time in great detail. A worldwide rebellion against the wisdom and plan of God will take place. The 1st and 2nd transitional generations saw this at a local level, we will see it on a global level:
Isaiah 34:1 Come near, you nations, to hear; And heed, you people! Let the earth hear, and all that is in it, The world and all things that come forth from it. 2 For the indignation of the Lord is against all nations, And His fury against all their armies; He has utterly destroyed them, He has given them over to the slaughter. 3 Also their slain shall be thrown out; Their stench shall rise from their corpses, And the mountains shall be melted with their blood. 4 All the host of heaven shall be dissolved, And the heavens shall be rolled up like a scroll; All their host shall fall down As the leaf falls from the vine, And as fruit falling from a fig tree.
The consequences for this last great rebellion will be the great tribulation of the Book of Revelation. But here is the promise for those who say yes to God, who empty themselves for Him and make space for the living flame of love to burn like a torch in the increasing darkness:
Psalm 37: 17 For the arms of the wicked shall be broken, But the Lord upholds the righteous. 18 The Lord knows the days of the upright, And their inheritance shall be forever. 19 They shall not be ashamed in the evil time, And in the days of famine they shall be satisfied. 20 But the wicked shall perish; And the enemies of the Lord, Like the splendor of the meadows, shall vanish. Into smoke they shall vanish away.
Recognizing the generation we live in is essential. Knowing what is possible for this unique time in history, both the negative and the positive, will draw us into agreement with God. Look at what Jesus prayed:
John 17:15 I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.
To be sanctified is to be "set apart." Set apart, not taken out...When you pour out a glass, it is empty. Only waiting to be filled with something else. This is Jesus' plan to bring glory to His name, to bring in the great harvest, and make all things new: that the lives of those who agree with Him would be poured out like an offering of liquid, and then filled with the fire of God to burn for all to see in the most intense generation to ever walk on planet earth! The intensity of this generation is going to increase in a way I cannot even picture, but the rewards for saying "yes" to Jesus in this generation are unique:
Daniel 12:3 Those who are wise shall shine Like the brightness of the firmament, And those who turn many to righteousness Like the stars forever and ever. 4 “But you, Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book until the time of the end; many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase.”
I say yes, Jesus. Show me how to pour out my own will...help me make more space for the Fire to fill. I want to burn bright!
The generation of Moses was the first transitional generation, it was the generation of the covenant of the law. This generation was born into slavery and were dramatically rescued by God. The intense persecution of those living in agreement with God was out-matched by the power of God visibly demonstrated on the earth. Rivers turning into blood, hail and pestilence, the splitting of an ocean so God's beloved could safely cross, 40 years of food literally falling from heaven, supernatural rivers of provision in the desert...this was an extreme time. No generation before, or after, saw the demonstration of God's raw power on the earth like the generation of Moses. Their response, one of dismay, regret, and faithlessness, was utterly displeasing to God. They had been given so much evidence of His power and presence, literally being guided day and night by the cloud of His presence, fed by His hand, yet they refused to trust Him. Their generation was called "rebellious":
Psalm 95: 8 “Do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion, As in the day of trial in the wilderness, 9 When your fathers tested Me; They tried Me, though they saw My work. 10 For forty years I was grieved with that generation, And said, ‘It is a people who go astray in their hearts, And they do not know My ways.’ 11 So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest.’ ”
Great intensity comes with a transitional generation. Great manifestations of power alongside great trial always mark a transitional generation. All generations are important to God, but the privilege of witnessing a transitional generation comes with responsibility to respond to the demonstration of power:
Luke 12:48 ... For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more.
A small portion of the second transitional generation, the generation of the covenant of Jesus' blood, understood this. Their response, the response of Peter, John, and rest of the 120 in the upper room...they understood the time they lived in and responded well! They pledged it all to Jesus. They died with Him on that cross, refusing to pick their own lives back up. Pouring themselves out like a drink offering at His feet, for HIS cause...that He might live through them. As they poured out their own will, their own dreams and desires, on the ground, and let Jesus live through them, the Holy Spirit was sent to them. He filled them with fire and a better dream. This was Jesus' promise before He left them: that He would send the comforter, the helper, the Holy Spirit, to everyone who died to themselves and lived in agreement with Him:
John 14:16 And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.
The living flame of love was sent to those who would make space for Him. Because of free will, we get the measure of Fire we make room for. Through their willingness to respond to the purpose of God, to live in agreement with God at the most intense time in human history to that point, the Fire of God consumed them from the inside out. Of the 120 in the upper room, each one's response to God made space for the Consuming Fire to come and consume them. Their fire caught, from person to person, like a fire is passed from branch to branch. As the heat of their fire increased, many felt the heat, poured out their lives, and spread the blaze, which now covers the earth. 120 people from the 2nd transitional generation changed the entire globe forever. We know the name of Jesus because of these men and women from this generation. But...
We live in a greater time. Greater intensity is brewing, greater manifestations will be released. Jesus said:
John 14: 12 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.
That promise poured out in small measures here and there over the last 2,000 years has been stored up to be released in full for this generation. This was a prophetic invitation which will be answered in full for the generation described in Matthew 24...I believe we are that generation.
There is SO much information about the third transitional generation in the Bible. Old and New Testament describe this time in great detail. A worldwide rebellion against the wisdom and plan of God will take place. The 1st and 2nd transitional generations saw this at a local level, we will see it on a global level:
Isaiah 34:1 Come near, you nations, to hear; And heed, you people! Let the earth hear, and all that is in it, The world and all things that come forth from it. 2 For the indignation of the Lord is against all nations, And His fury against all their armies; He has utterly destroyed them, He has given them over to the slaughter. 3 Also their slain shall be thrown out; Their stench shall rise from their corpses, And the mountains shall be melted with their blood. 4 All the host of heaven shall be dissolved, And the heavens shall be rolled up like a scroll; All their host shall fall down As the leaf falls from the vine, And as fruit falling from a fig tree.
The consequences for this last great rebellion will be the great tribulation of the Book of Revelation. But here is the promise for those who say yes to God, who empty themselves for Him and make space for the living flame of love to burn like a torch in the increasing darkness:
Psalm 37: 17 For the arms of the wicked shall be broken, But the Lord upholds the righteous. 18 The Lord knows the days of the upright, And their inheritance shall be forever. 19 They shall not be ashamed in the evil time, And in the days of famine they shall be satisfied. 20 But the wicked shall perish; And the enemies of the Lord, Like the splendor of the meadows, shall vanish. Into smoke they shall vanish away.
Recognizing the generation we live in is essential. Knowing what is possible for this unique time in history, both the negative and the positive, will draw us into agreement with God. Look at what Jesus prayed:
John 17:15 I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.
To be sanctified is to be "set apart." Set apart, not taken out...When you pour out a glass, it is empty. Only waiting to be filled with something else. This is Jesus' plan to bring glory to His name, to bring in the great harvest, and make all things new: that the lives of those who agree with Him would be poured out like an offering of liquid, and then filled with the fire of God to burn for all to see in the most intense generation to ever walk on planet earth! The intensity of this generation is going to increase in a way I cannot even picture, but the rewards for saying "yes" to Jesus in this generation are unique:
Daniel 12:3 Those who are wise shall shine Like the brightness of the firmament, And those who turn many to righteousness Like the stars forever and ever. 4 “But you, Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book until the time of the end; many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase.”
I say yes, Jesus. Show me how to pour out my own will...help me make more space for the Fire to fill. I want to burn bright!
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