Benjamin was named Ben-Oni
(son of sorrow) by his dying mother, Rachel. However, his father Jacob
intervened for the first time in the naming of his children. Jacob then named
his youngest son, Ben-Jamin (son of my right hand) instead. Likewise, God also intervened
in this world filled with sins and sorrows. He sent Jesus to remove our sins
and sorrows so that we can be seated with Jesus at God’s right hand in the
heavenly places (see Ephesians 2:6).
Joseph was ‘a type of
Jesus’ in the Old Testament. Joseph was betrayed by his own kin, shamed,
suffered in prison, but later promoted to be the prime minister in Egypt in
order to save the twelve tribes of Israel and the Gentiles (those in Egypt
& nearby countries) during famine. Jesus was betrayed by His own people, shamed,
suffered to death on the cross but later resurrected so that the Jews and the
Gentiles who believe in Him shall be saved (see Acts 26:23). So, my friend, just
as Joseph favored his brother Benjamin (see Genesis 43:29-30, 34 & 45:22),
Jesus favors you!
The words ‘favor’ and
‘grace’ share the same Greek word, i.e. ‘charis’. ‘Charis’ means ‘acceptable,
benefit, joy liberality, gift, and pleasure’. Today, as believers in the
New Covenant, know that not only are you so blessed because you are living in God’s
favor and grace, you are also so blessed because you are living in this current
generation, the favored generation (i.e. the Benjamin generation/end-time
generation).
Why do I say this is
God’s favored generation? The answer can be found in the 5 meanings of the
word ‘charis’:
1.
Acceptable
You
are now already accepted by God. You are favored not because you are
sinless or flawless but as the result of the perfect work of Christ on the
cross for you. It is written in Romans 10:9-13, that if you confess with
your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him
from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto
righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the
Scripture says, "Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame."
For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all
is rich to all who call upon Him. For "whoever calls on the name of the
LORD shall be saved." Hence, in Christ, you can receive salvation and
righteousness by faith through God’s grace and not by self-effort (see Romans
10:9-10 & 4:4, 16).
2.
Benefit
You
are now reaping the full benefits of the Word of God. Jesus is the Word of
God (see John 1:1-5, 14-18). He became flesh, died for you and rose again so
that you’ll have abundant life in Him (see John 10:10). But what is abundant
life? Jesus proclaimed in Luke 4:18-19, "The Spirit of the LORD
is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has
sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and
recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to
proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD." You have abundant life
because in Christ, you are saved, restored, renewed, healed, delivered, and
assured of His providence. So, start digging into the living Word of God and meditate
on them, proclaim God’s promises over your life, and therefore enjoy the abundant
life in Christ.
3.
Joy
liberality
You
are now receiving the fullness of joy liberality in the Holy Spirit. In Christ, the Spirit of God lives in you, teaching
you godly values, guiding you with revelations, reminding you of the Word of
God when you need it, and praying the perfect will of God for you through your
praying in tongue/spirit (see John 14:16-18, 26; 1 Corinthians 14:2,4,18;
Romans 8:26,27). When you have the Holy Spirit with you as your Helper,
Counselor and Comforter, you fear no men or challenges. You live a liberated
life filled with peace and joy of the Holy Spirit (see 2 Corinthians 3:17). But
the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness,
goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law
(Galatians 5:22-23).
4.
Gift
You
are now gifted and anointed in Christ Jesus. You are in a generation where
individuals representing the members of the Body of Christ are endowed with
spiritual gifts. In the older times, only the prophets, kings and priests were
anointed with spiritual enabling. But in this favored generation, everyone
is anointed in Christ and has at least one (1) spiritual gift (see 1
Corinthians 12:1-7). But one and the same Spirit works all these
things, distributing to each one individually as He wills (1 Corinthians 1:11).
There are 9 gifts of the Holy Spirit
i.e. the word of wisdom, the word of knowledge, faith, gifts of healings, the
working of miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, different kinds of
tongues and the interpretation of tongues (see 1 Corinthians 12:8-10). For
those who have ministry callings, there are 7 ministerial gifts i.e. prophecy, ministry, teaching, exhortation,
giving, leadership and showing mercy (see Romans 12:6-8).
5.
Pleasure
You
are now seeing the pleasure of the Father as the Body of Christ is being
equipped and edified. How does this happen? Through the 5 spiritual offices! Ephesians
4:11-16 says “And He Himself gave some to be apostles,
some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers,
for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying
of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of
the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the
stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed
to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of
men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth
in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head --- Christ --- from
whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies,
according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes
growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love”.
Below
is the chart that briefly explains the general functions of the 5 spiritual offices:
Spiritual Office
|
If likened to building process
|
Equip the saints
|
Edify the Body of Christ
|
Apostles
(restored in 1990’s)
|
Break new ground, lay
foundation, plan building structure & assign works
|
Raise up new apostles & impart spiritual gifts to believers
|
Start new ministries accompanied with signs & wonders, plan the
structure of the ministries and assign spiritual leaders as directed by the
Lord
|
Prophets
(restored in 1980’s)
|
Confirm who, where, which, when & how to build
|
Raise up new prophets & impart spiritual gifts to believers
|
Prophesy to the Body of Christ with the revelations from God &
work closely with spiritual leaders especially the apostles as foundation
builders
|
Evangelists
(restored in 1950’s)
|
Bring in new bricks
|
Raise up new evangelists
|
Preach the gospel with healing, signs & wonders to expand the
Body of Christ with new souls
|
Pastors
(restored in 1960’s)
|
Build the wall with bricks piece-by-piece, repair & maintenance
|
Raise up new pastors
|
Shepherd, cover believers with prayers, restore believers with godly
counsel, feed & nurture believers with God’s Word
|
Teachers
(restored in 1970’s)
|
Paint the building for durability & colors
|
Raise up new teachers
|
Teach believers with God’s Word so that they receive spiritual
understanding & reach spiritual maturity
|
Despite
the stagnancy of the Church during the dark ages, all the 5 spiritual offices above
have started to be recognized and restored, but only as recent as the decades
of the 1950’s-1990’s. In fact, the Body of Christ is still discovering and
learning the full functions of all these spiritual offices today. Each minister
may also have different blend/combination of spiritual gifts, calling and mandates
as well.
All
in all, each of us in the Body of Christ needs to acknowledge that we need the work
of the Holy Spirit in our lives more than ever before in this end-time. When we
allow the Holy Spirit to take control, the result is that there will be
such powerful manifestation of the Holy Spirit like we have never seen before.
This is going to happen in this end-time!
It’s
when the whole Body of Christ (i.e. the Church or the Bride of Christ) is
equipped and edified that Christ will come again! People of God, can you see
how blessed and how favored you are because you are about to see all these
great works of the Lord in this generation?
Therefore
we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay
aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run
with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author
and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the
cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of
God (Hebrews 12:1-2).
You
are also a generation that is greatly ‘envied’ by all your predecessors. Therefore,
from now on, look past your flaws and weaknesses, and focus on the favor and
grace of God upon your life instead. His Spirit will then work in you, through
you, and for you in ways that you could never imagine in times past. Amen.