The Jubilee Anointing

Nita (LaFond) Johnson

Jan. 2009 New Orleans Revival Services

God is getting ready to do something extraordinary in the Body of Christ! He is in the process of preparing Himself a body of believers—His purified Bride—to present her to the world. He has been preparing a leadership for many years to guide His Bride in the steps that she must take to become all she can be to this world. Heretofore, however, we the Body of Christ have walked so far below where we are called to walk.

Once, while in prayer, the Lord came to me. Feeling very courageous, I asked Him:, "Lord, what is the one thing that hurts your heart more than anything else?" I thought He might say it was all the people who are dying and going to hell. We have all these images in our mind of what God might say if we were to ask Him critical questions like this. He shocked me with His answer. "The one thing that hurts Me more than anything else," He said, " is the fact that My Church has never entered into full stature as depicted in Ephesians 4:12-13":

His intention was the perfecting and the full equipping of the saints, (His consecrated people), [that they should do] the work of ministering toward building up Christ’s body (the Church). [That it might develop] until we all attain oneness in the faith and in the comprehension of the [full and accurate] knowledge of the Son of God, that [we might arrive] at really mature manhood (the completeness of personality which is nothing less than the standard height of Christ’s own perfection), the measure of the stature of the fullness of the Christ and the completeness found in Him.

These priceless words of Scripture, revealed through the apostle Paul, depict the process of coming into the full measure of the stature of the Son of God.

The thing that brings the Lord the most sorrow is that His Church has never come into the full stature of walking in the completeness that is found in Christ. In other words, it is the failure of His Body to come into the full stature that made Christ—the Son of Man—who He is in God. Of course we will never be God. However, in Christ’s own union with the Father as perfect man we find the picture of our ultimate calling. We are to walk in that same fullness of mature sonship in which we radiate the virtues of Christ, emanating the very life of God Himself. In that place we exhibit the life of God because we have died to the world, to ourselves, and to our flesh. Christ lives His life through us. The thing that has hurt our Lord the most is that the Body has never come into this place of stature.

I can remember a time, about twenty five years ago, when Jesus appeared to me while I was in prayer. Suddenly before me stood the Lord. He showed me in a vision a great gulf fixed between where we as the Church walked and where we were called to walk as sons of God. This gulf seemed to be the size of the Grand Canyon. We were on one side of this canyon. God’s purpose and plan was on the other. Between us was this huge canyon. When I realized where we were and where we were supposed to be, I cried out to Him in desperation. Finally, He said to me, "With God, nothing is impossible." Despite the pain we as a Body who have never come into the full stature has caused Him, He is not angry with us. It hurts Him badly, though. He’s hurt because He wants so much for us, yet has to settle for so little. I was feeling very depressed, as you can imagine. I was in need of encouragement. So I said, "Lord, what is the one thing that brings you the greatest joy?" He looked at me, smiling radiantly, "The Jubilee Anointing as depicted in Isaiah 61."

 THE SPIRIT of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed and qualified me to preach the Gospel of good tidings to the meek, the poor, and the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up and heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the [physical and spiritual] captives and the opening of the prison and of the eyes to those who are bound, To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord [the year of His favor] and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, To grant [consolation and joy] to those who mourn in Zion –to give them an ornament (a garland or diadem) of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of a heavy, burdened, and failing spirit — that they may be called oaks of righteousness [lofty, strong, and magnificent, distinguished for uprightness, justice, and right standing with God], the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified. (Is. 61:1-3, Amplified)

The Jubilee Anointing which is to come fills the Lord with unbridled exuberance: I’m going to pour this out of my Church. I am going to do for her what she cannot do on her own. We are so far away from where He wants us. He has a plan and the power to bring us into the full stature of mature sonship through the Jubilee Anointing and this is going to bring Him the greatest joy.

It is He] Who has qualified us [making us to be fit and worthy and sufficient] as ministers and dispensers of a new covenant [of salvation through Christ], not [ministers] of a letter (of a legally written code) but of the Spirit; for the code [of the Law] kills, but the [Holy] Spirit makes alive. Now if the dispensation of death engraved in letters on stone [the ministration of the Law], was inaugurated with such glory and splendor that the Israelites were not able to look steadfastly at the face of Moses because of its brilliance, [a glory] that was to fade and pass away, Why should not the dispensation of the Spirit [this spiritual ministry whose task it is to cause men to obtain and be governed by the Holy Spirit] be attended with much greater and more splendid glory? For if the service that condemns [the ministration of doom] had glory, how infinitely more abounding in splendor and glory must be the service that makes righteous [the ministry that produces and fosters righteous living and right standing with God]! Indeed, in view of this fact, what once had splendor [the glory of the law in the face of Moses] has come to have no splendor at all, because of the overwhelming glory that exceeds and excels it [the glory of the Gospel in the face of Jesus Christ]. For if that which was but passing and fading away came with splendor, how much more must that which remains and is permanent abide in glory and splendor! Since we have such [glorious] hope (such joyful and confident expectation), we speak very freely and openly and fearlessly. Nor [do we act] like Moses, who put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze upon the finish of the vanishing [splendor which has been put upon it]. (II Corinthians 3:6-13, Amplified)

Think about what this passage says and what you have read and learned in the Word about what occurred during the giving of the Law on Sinai. Angels were atop the mountain, and they looked like flames of fire to all of Israel. The thundering voice of God could be heard. The sound of trumpets was bursting forth. The mountain was shaking and trembling under the glory of the Father and the glory shone from the face of Moses. It shone so brilliantly. It did not just shine, it flashed. The glory emanating from the shining face of Moses radiated with such magnificence, and so abundantly, that the flashing glory covered his entire being. The glory of God was being manifested in the face of a man.

Picture yourself standing at the bottom of Mount Sinai. Now imagine seeing the fire of God resting on the mountain and hearing the angels and the thundering voice of God. Couple that with the intensity of the mountain shaking under His glory and the trumpets blasting. Then you see Moses coming down from the mountain. This is a man everyone knows—a mere man, albeit a great leader—but now he is clothed in the magnificent flashing glory and splendor of God. You have never seen such an utterly astonishing sight. This experience is so amazing you don’t know whether to stand, bow, or fall down on your face. You simply do not know what to do.

 You see, as God thundered the Law into the hearts of the people, His words came down from atop the mountain and the spirit of His words engulfed each person who was standing at the foot of the mountain. The words of God entered into their hearts, into their souls, so transforming them that they were thrust into the highest dimensions of spiritual reality. . What a display of the magnificence of God took place that day. The nation called by God was taken into such a deep spiritual realm that they could see clearly the kingdom of God. As the revelation began to dissipate, however, the people fell back down to their natural, carnal understanding of things. However, all Israel did experience a deep spiritual experience at the bottom of the mountain as God was thundering His Law into their hearts. The only one who didn’t come down from that experience was Moses. His countenance continued to shine with splendor, and it reminded Israel of what could also be theirs permanently. Simply awesome—imagine standing at the bottom of the mountain beholding and experiencing all of that!

The Bible says that the dispensation of grace must be accompanied by a glory and splendor greater than that shown at Mount Sinai. It must be, because time cannot end until that is fulfilled. We have yet to see this glory, this splendor, here on earth. It is not recorded in the Bible nor is it recorded in history; yet, here we are—and I don’t see anyone, including myself, radiating this splendor. It will be accompanied with a greater glory than took place so many millenniums before. The millions standing at the foot of the mountain back then had such a spiritual experience that they were lifted up—body, soul and spirit—into an experience of the reality of the coming Kingdom of God.

Imagine coming into a church service and seeing a minister speak with words so full of the power and splendor of God. Because he walks in the transcendent glory himself, every word he speaks carries the power to cause a translation, a transfiguration, to take place inside of you. The Bible says that a greater glory than what occurred that day at the foot of the mountain must be realized in this dispensation. I hear people, even prophets, say that the dispensation of the Church is over. But it is not over until the word of the Lord comes to pass. This is a glorious word about the Church that is going to display the magnanimity, majesty, splendor, glory, and wisdom of God. The world is going to be left shaking and trembling under the revelation of the Kingdom that it sees through the Church.

Something is happening inside of me, even now. There is a glory coming so great you are not going to know what to do with it. It is coming, and it will transform you into something you never thought you could be. It is going to be so great that the world is going to have to admit that Jesus Christ truly is God! Because I see it in His Church, all of the negativity is going to be stripped from your mind—the fears and the anxieties, all the foreboding and guilt, all the times you should have and didn’t and all the things you did, when you shouldn’t have. It is all going to be stripped away and in its place is going to be the faith, love, glory, righteousness, holiness, justice, and splendor of God. Not only is it transforming you, but it is moving out like ripples into the world touching and transforming any who will. The glory and the splendor must transcend the days of Moses, and we have yet to see it.

The time is coming when the Church will no longer be concerned about the house they live in or the car they drive, about whether or not someone down the street thinks that they’re valuable because they live in the same economic bracket. These things are no longer going to matter. I can promise you, pinned under the weight of the glory at the bottom of that mountain, the Israelites were not worrying over Jacob, Joel, or Jonas, sandwiched among the multitudes around them, being garbed in finer tunics or numbered among the more famous tribes of the sons of Israel. The millions at the scene, one and all alike, were not worried about such things. The only thing that mattered at that moment in time was their hearing the glorious, thundering voice of God that was transforming their very being. They suddenly realized that the world wasn’t what they thought it was nor the destination of their destiny where they thought they were headed. The things they thought were so important in Egypt all of a sudden carried no weight in that one glorious moment. They lost their lustre in the light of what was happening inside them. And O to think that the glory that is coming—the splendor all transcendent—is going to be far greater than what has ever been seen!

Many fear that it could come and they might miss it. The truth is all they really need to do is get in the way of the River with a heart that is willing to let go of, and give up, all that the River wants of you. It is critical that we let go of the things which hinder: the need to be important, the need to be famous, the need to keep up with the Jones’s, and the need to surround oneself with material things. We need to let go of the need to have our own way—even our rights and privileges as our own person. Now that sounds pretty dramatic. But you will understand when Jesus comes in to dwell and live His life through you to the point that He owns you the way you were created to be possessed. It’s not about you any more—it’s about Him, which is how it was supposed to be all along. That was the plan for Adam, but he forgot. For one brief tragic moment, it became more about Eve than about the One who created him. And from that point on, the sin of rebellion and betrayal has ever remained with us. Doesn’t the whole of history attest to that?

But there is a people who God is calling back to the pre-fall state, where they would be walking in the same kind of glory that Adam, Eve, Moses, and Enoch walked in. He’s calling His Church to rise up and come higher and He’s going to provide the anointing for it to happen. Now, of course, Jesus had publicly revealed that He was walking in the Jubilee anointing, though He did not specifically call it by that name. As He rolled up the scroll of the prophet Isaiah, having just read the passage in 61:1-2, he added, "Today the Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing" (Luke 4:21). We, however, have yet to experience what He was walking in then. But we are reminded that He also said, "Greater things than I do, shall ye do" (John 14:12). So we know that there is something so great that even the Son of God stood in awe of it and yet, although promised for these last days, has not come to fulfillment. People want to take that Jubilee anointing and wrap it around healing. But, honestly, that is the least important function of it. That anointing is going to transform your souls when it comes; it is going to make you what you can’t be without it; it’s going to make you what you were created to be. Your call is to let everything go that could hinder your flow in the River, because that River is coming. And I’m going to tell you where it’s going to start—right here in New Orleans!

When I say in New Orleans, I’m not necessarily saying that the first transfigured person is going to come from out of here. Nor am I saying that it couldn’t be so. What I am saying is, God is going to start the move of His glory in New Orleans. He’s going to do it and it will go from glory to glory in ever-increasing power and majesty. But it is going to start here. There is an awakening that has been assigned to this city and no other city can have it first. It has to start in New Orleans. Why? Because, for whatever reason, God has decreed it. That is not to say that revival will not break out in other places. However, this great move of which I now speak will begin here. My dear brothers and sisters, the day is coming when we must lay down the flesh if we’re going to ride in the glorious River and stay afloat. We must put down the flesh and, while doing so, we’ve got to throw the world away, because the weight of that is heavier than the flesh. The day is coming, and it is here. The Lord is calling us to go the next step higher in this life. He has called us to walk in the Spirit, closer to Him, in all His ways.

We fight Him though, for it is extremely hard to humble ourselves under the discipline of God. We don’t realize that God is trying to squeeze us like grapes to get that old wine out so He can put the new wine in. My brothers and sisters, this new wine is so glorious—the fragrance, aroma, and color is so glorious—that it is worth all the squeezing to get the old wine out so there is room for the new. You really want it no matter how much you may resist and fight it. You want it and need it to walk with the Son of God. He is setting that table before you; anyone who is willing to pay the price can walk with the Father like the Son of Man walked with Him. This dispensation cannot end until it has moved into the glory exceeding the days of Moses. It must come to pass because it is in the Word, and it has to be fulfilled because it was spoken from the mouth of God.

Where will you be? Are you going to stand to the side dipping your toe in the River, afraid of the frigidity? Are you going to stand there and say, "Well…, umm…, those people look kind of crazy dipping around in all that glory… it is not coming the way I thought it would… they are just kind of humble and act a bit too holy… I mean they walk around like a bunch of people emptied of self… I don’t know if I want to go into that River." Is that where you’re going to be?

Please jump into the River even if it is over your head. Please dive right in. Take note, you will not be able to—if you do not begin preparing today. The fear of dying will stand between you and the River. It will make you stay on the side of the River looking at all that glory. Dying? How? Dying to the flesh and to the world, on the cross. The fear of dying can be overwhelming because the River is so new and the present so familiar. Leaving the present to go into the new, especially when you know you have to cross over death to get there, is extremely frightening. Yet that was what Israel had to do—cross over the Jordan River, an action that could result in instant fatality, and which therefore aptly symbolizes the dying to self. They had to cross the river and they were frightened by it. But they had been taken through enough of the discipline of the Lord that they overcame their fear. They went into the Jordan because they knew that was the only way into the Promise Land.

We must be willing to die to self and the reward is a glory that is greater than in the days of Moses. What can be greater than what the Bible tells about the days of Moses?—the utterly incomparable transfigured life no less! Jesus took three men up to the mountain and was transfigured before them because He wanted mortal man to know what he was called to. He wanted all humanity to grasp the immense reality of their calling to become much more than they knew they could be! It was critical that human eyes see the transfigured state of the Lord Jesus Christ so we would know where we are headed.

He makes us more than we can be. To be sure, not everyone will walk around with the glowing light of His glory, though there will be some that will. Nevertheless, those not called to emanate the light in that transfigured state, but who do in fact walk in the transfigured state, will emanate the virtues of Christ. In the eyes of God, and all of heaven, they will be as beautiful as those who are walking in the manifested glorious light.

The Church will come to walk in such humility that to see one who has been transfigured will be like seeing the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. All the beauty of the virtues of Christ will be evident in the lives that are being transfigured. These will not don two-thousand dollar suits nor dangle fifty-thousand dollar rings from their fingers, nor will they palanquin themselves in expensive automobiles. They will simply not live an extravagant life-style. If they do, you will know immediately they are not one of "them," because no one who walks close to Jesus will do that. You will know them because they will stay humble in the eyes of man. You look at them and you will think… Well, she looks rather ordinary. And so she is—along with all the other transfigured ones. No one will be able to fault them in their lowliness, however, for the beauty of Christ will emanate from them. They will walk in power and authority because of the glory of His virtues in them. Christ will be living His life out through them and they will walk in His authority as the Son of God. And for these who walk in the authority of the Son, nothing will be impossible. They will have overcome the devil, the flesh, and the world. Further, many will have overcome even death itself.

Can you believe all this? Do you have the faith for it? If you don’t, you need to get into the Book (The Bible) and prayer and get the faith for it, because it’s coming in our lifetime. The glory of God is going to visit His Church and, through His Church, He is going to visit the world. The world has to have the demonstration, and they have to see the revelation of Christ, for by it they will be judged whether they are worthy of the Kingdom or not. But in these last days, because the darkness will be so intense, God is going to bring forth the light and intensity that has never been seen before—He must, for the sake of His Church and for the sake of the lost. The Church must go up because she has gone down so far. In humility, the Church will go up. When she starts to walk so deep in love, all distinctions will vanish and the light of the glory of Jesus Christ will reign supreme. In the glorified Church, no one is going to care about your nationality, race, denomination, or beliefs. Your heart is going to be so filled with the Gospel and everything you are and everything you say and do is going to reveal the Gospel through you! This must be. He cannot close the pages of time until this transpires. But you must prepare for it. It’s not going to sweep over you by accident. You must prepare for dying today, being willing to let go of that ugly pride. Every chance you have to either humble or lift yourself up, you must make the choice, carefully, remembering that the meek of the earth will be the glorified ones.

I think the most incredible thing that the Bible says about Moses is not that the glory emanated from his face but the fact that this once-upon-a-time haughty prince of Egypt became the meekest man on the face of the earth. He walked with God and God walked with Him. Because Christ lived in him, he was consumed and possessed by the living God. He was no longer his own nor did he desire his own will. Thus he stayed with the Jewish community for forty years, tolerating their infighting, grumbling, complaining, and murmuring. He might have been broken by it all, but he was so meek, and he loved Israel so much he offered up his very life and moreover, his very soul if he must, lest God would give up on His people. No doubt his journey to the perfection of his soul took some time. Hence Moses is not known by the forty years he spent in the palace, but by the forty years he spent in the desert getting prepared to walk with God.

It is not a crime to suffer for the sake of the Gospel. It is actually an honor to be diminished— especially when the Church and the world are looking on—because God is preparing you and cutting away all that flesh that you may be increased in God. Do not worry if people do not like what they see you are going through. That is okay. You are not thinking about today, you are thinking about the days that are coming, when this flesh He is carving away is going to be wrapped in His glory. In a very short time, the glory is going to flow and it can flow through you! In a very short time you can know the Father like Jesus did. The world may not understand, but the call is not to worry about those things. The call is to come and die that He might live and be glorified. The call; that you might be glorified and live in what He is going to do and become a vital part of what He is doing. Forget those things which are behind, forget them like Paul said, and press on towards the mark of the prize of the high calling of God in Jesus Christ. That is what we are called to do and the way in which we are called to walk. Sufficient is the evil for today. We are not supposed to carry yesterday on our shoulders nor are we to carry tomorrow. We are to carry one thing and one thing only—and that’s the glory of the living God.

So, my dear friends, rise up out of the past, present, and flesh. Rise up and seek God because He’s coming. In times past, the Spirit of the Lord kept speaking to Israel… A deliverer is coming… Egypt is being very tough on your flesh right now… that’s okay, because the deliverer is coming, and he is going to free you from the bondages of Egypt… the deliverer is coming… get ready and don’t wait. The Spirit of the Lord kept saying these things through the prophets… Don’t worry about all of this, but get your eyes focused because your Father is about to do something… the deliverer is coming. And when he finally came, in the person of Moses, what did Israel say? "Who sent you?" They were not ready, were they? The deliverer stood right before their faces and they were saying: "Why should we believe you? What do you have that we do not have? What makes you so important?" So God had to show them, through the deliverer and his spokesman, the signs and wonders. These were the very people that the Spirit of the Lord had been trying to prepare for over four hundred years for the coming of the deliverer they had been asking for. It sounds somewhat like what happened with Jesus. He was out healing and raising people from the dead, and the leaders of the people were standing back, saying, "Show us a sign." Casting the demons from the demoniacs, opening blind eyes and deaf ears, limbs suddenly appearing wherever they were needed—yet they still said, "Show us a sign."

It’s amazing how the people of God are so rarely ready for God’s promised deliverer. Yet God even now is getting ready to send the Deliverer of all nations, peoples, tongues, and tribes to His people living in the twenty-first century. He is preparing to bring them out of spiritual Egypt and into the glory of the Promised Land of glorious transfiguration. How many are ready? Get ready! Get into the Word. Read, study, and believe it! Don’t read it and say, "Well I don’t know about that," like so many theologians do today. Read it, study it, believe it, and obey it. That last item is the big one—obey. Pray to God that He will give you the grace to believe, the wisdom to prepare and be changed, so that you will be ready for the River when it comes and be able to walk in the transfigured state. Pray: "Lord, I want to die that You might live in me!" Now, that will get His head turned! When He is walking down a path in Heaven and hears those prayers He will immediately turn around and see where they are coming from—for He wants badly to dispatch His angels to help those willing to enter into the place that He has created for them. I’m telling you the truth: I’ve not only seen it, I’ve experienced it. I know what I’m talking about. I’m telling you what I’ve heard, what I’ve lived, and what I’ve known and personally experienced.

Seek Him today!

Nita Johnson