Kingdom Projections for 2009

Last evening, I asked the Father if He had a Word about the coming year (2009). What I got was John 17:17,

Sanctify them in the truth; Thy word is truth.

This is part of Jesus' prayer just before He was about to be crucified. The term "sanctify" means to set apart for divine service. In the immediate context, the passage goes on to explain that the disciples were being SENT OUT even as Jesus Himself had been sent into the world with the Gospel of the Kingdom.

Essentially, this was like Jesus consecrating His disciples to do the work that He Himself had initiated. Jesus was praying for them so that they would be successful--not merely those specific disciples, but also those that respond to the Word of the Truth by their preaching (vs. 20).

This is a Word for us today. Jesus sent them out by the power of the Truth of the Word. We know it as the Gospel of the Kingdom. The Truth is what set them apart from all others. Without the Truth, their sanctification would have been meaningless. There would have been no point in sending them out into the world with another gospel.

In the bigger picture, we understand that the Church in the past 2000 years has been the Kingdom of God ruled by "King Saul." It has been an imperfect Kingdom, a Pentecostal Kingdom that is leavened (Lev. 23:17). We understand that the Kingdom under Saul has now concluded, and that we have entered into a new and greater manifestation of the Kingdom ruled by David. That is, Kingdom Authority has been transferred from the Church denominations to the Overcomers.

At the same time, authority is being transferred from the rulers of Babylon to the Overcomers. While "Saul" is not Babylon per se, they have one major factor in common: both were given authority legitimately by God, but both usurped their position and treated the throne as if it were their own. The only major difference is that Saul wants to rule God's world in his own way, while Babylon has disposed of Him altogether to create a world without God.

So both are in the process of being replaced, and it looks more and more like God is setting the stage for a soon-coming collapse of both the Church (under Pentecost) and Babylon. I honestly do not know how long this will take, but it appears to me that the critical year will begin on Rosh Hoshana, Sept. 19, 2009.

Meanwhile, however, God has sanctified His people with the Word of Truth and a sufficient understanding of the Kingdom to begin its reconstruction. For America, I believe that at some point God will be recognized as the Creator and Owner of all that He created, and that Jesus Christ will be recognized as our King and Law-giver. When that happens, men will recognize that they have no authority to make laws over that which is not theirs. They will only seek to learn the laws of the Kingdom that have already been given, so that they may apply them by the mind of our only King--Jesus Christ.