As we discover the very great and precious promises that God has for this generation to inherit and step into, some of us may be asking, “Why? Why does God have so much in store for the End-Time generation?”
To answer this, we need to take an even bigger step back through Biblical history to see from the perspective of God’s overarching salvation and redemption plan.
Three Major Transitional Generations
God has ordained His redemptive story to include three major transitions on this side of eternity, corresponding to three generations:
- The establishment of the Old Covenant together with the birth of Israel as a nation — Moses’ Generation;
- The establishment of the New Covenant together with the birth of the Ekklesia at Jesus’ First Coming — the early Apostles’ Generation;
- The inauguration of and transition into the Millennial Kingdom at Jesus’ Second Coming — the End-Time Generation.
The generation we are living in, the End-Time generation, is one of the three major transitional generations in God’s overarching plan for the redemption of mankind.
The purpose of a transitional generation is to birth forth and bring forth the next major part of God’s redemption plan. The ones alive during that period of history have the privilege to participate in what God is doing in that generation.
There are a few common elements that characterise transitional generations:
- God breaks in through unusual ways in an unprecedented manner (plagues over Egypt during the time of Moses; outpouring of His Spirit at Pentecost);
- God releases an unusual level of power and glory (God’s pillar of fire and cloud; supernatural provision and direction in the early Church);
- God opens a door for His people to enter into a new dimension of relating with Him (God dwelt in the midst of Israel; the indwelling Holy Spirit is given to each believer).
For us who are alive today, the scope and reach for this participation go beyond one geographical region or ethnic lineage (unlike Moses’ and the early Apostles’ generations), but encompass all of His redeemed across the nations!
Wow!
Not only that, the Lord has called the End-Time generation the “best of all generations”. We will walk in love, character, maturity, and things of the Spirit that surpass all previous generations!
The Finest Generation
January 1979…
Bob Jones receives a vision (“The Sands of Time”) from the Lord about a generation of young people who would arise walking with the unprecedented anointing of the Holy Spirit.
Through this vision, Bob Jones is made to understand that unlike previous generations of saints who only saw by faith from afar, the fullness of the promises found in the Bible for God’s people will come to pass in our time, in the End-Time generation!
The Lord speaks that He will begin to draft leaders and “officers” of His End-Time army from across the nations at a specific point in time — when postage in the USA increases to 20 cents per letter. This happens on 13 October 1981.
In hindsight, it was in the 1980s and 1990s when many spiritual leaders of today were marked by the Lord and called into ministry and partnership with Him.
It would be these leaders’ children and grandchildren (whether spiritual or natural) — the Millennials, Gen Zs and Gen Alphas — who would walk in a measure of the Spirit that would far surpass previous generations.
The Lord spoke to Bob Jones, “Their children and grandchildren will possess the Spirit without measure if they walk in a life with no mixture. For they are the best of all the generations that have ever been on the face of the earth.”
There is coming a time when even children — the seven and eight-year-olds — will move in the anointing of the Holy Spirit that surpasses the book of Acts! This is where the authentic Church of Jesus Christ is heading.
The God of Generations
However, even though it is the younger generation that will attain the fullness, the Lord always works through multiple generations — biblically, three — walking together. He identifies Himself as the “God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob”. His Word is written to the “fathers”, “young men”, and “little children” (1 Jn. 2:12–14).
In God’s family, each generation is given a unique and irreplaceable role. Yet all three generations are dynamically related!
The leaders, who are the first generation, were drafted in the 80s and 90s to fulfil a vital role — to lay the right foundations and disciple their spiritual children and grandchildren who will arise as the End-Time army of God. The young people of today are called to lead the charge in boldly laying hold of and stepping into the reality of the prophetic promises that are coming to pass.
Without the previous generation’s perseverance in labour and faithfulness, the young generation of today would not be able to fully step into all that God has for them in this hour.
But wait — lest we think that it is now time for the older generation to “take a backseat” and fade into the background, the Lord has ordained something different.
In this hour, there is, more than ever, a crucial role for the fathers to equip, disciple and guide the younger generation with the governmental authority that has been given to them. And from the younger generation, there is a response God requires of them to take heed and give ear to the godly wisdom and experience of the older generation.
Truly, each generation is vital and significant to God’s purposes for this hour. He is calling all three generations to run together so that there will arise a people who will perfectly represent His Son in the End Times, and who will enter into the fullness of His promises!
A Call to the End-Time Generation to Respond
Without a shadow of a doubt, God has laid up a great inheritance for the End-Time generation. We are truly living in exciting times because we get to carry and express God’s glory even in the most challenging of hours.
However, entering the promises of God is never automatic. In fact, it is presumptuous to assume that there is no requirement to respond.
The Lord spoke to us, “It is foolish to live within the fulfilment of God’s promises, but to not have comprehended. It is tragic and sad to live within the divine moment of God, yet to not have taken hold of it.”
Surely, an ordinary response will not suffice for such an extraordinary generation!
If this is so, how then should we live?
The life of John the Baptist gives us a clear prophetic picture (Matt. 11:7–18). He was a young person who lived in a transitional generation. He was one of the last Old Covenant saints. He was given the privilege to participate in what God was doing in his time — to prepare the way for Jesus’ First Coming.
How did John the Baptist live his life?
His life was one of wholeheartedness unto God and holy violence for the things of God. For us, this translates into:
- A radical pursuit of Jesus and the fullness of God’s purposes and promises for our generation (Gen. 32:26; Matt. 11:12);
- A refusal to compromise even when it is difficult, costly and counter-cultural (Matt. 11:7);
- A refusal to settle for the comforts of life or accept any alternative narrative (Matt. 11:8);
- A zeal to remove every hindrance and obstacle to fullness (Josh. 3:5; 2 Cor. 7:1).
In Matthew 11:16–19, Jesus brought an indictment upon the generation then who would neither respond to the “wedding song”, which represents the promises of His glory, nor the “funeral song”, which represents the warnings of shakings and judgement-to-come.
Through it, Jesus is also making a strong generational appeal, especially to the End-Time generation, to guard against indifference, passivity, casualness, self-entitlement and self-justification (v17–18). He is exhorting us to respond to Him in a manner that is worthy of Him and His calling for our generation. If John the Baptist had lived in such a radical manner in his time, how much more for us in this darkest and yet most glorious hour of human history?
Hence the question is:
In this Sovereign Appointed Time, will we live wholeheartedly and radically for God?
May we respond in a way commensurate with the glory and power that is coming, so that we may enter into the fullness of God’s inheritance for our generation and our lives!