The book of Acts begins by telling us about a resurrected Jesus appearing to the apostles and speaking about things pertaining to the Kingdom of God for forty days. I would love to have heard these messages, what were they like? What would Jesus have spoken about? He would not have spent the entire forty days convincing them of His resurrection, which was taken care of quickly. What might these “things” be? Matthew 28 has the “great commission” which we have interpreted as getting people saved, but it appears that we have a “great omission”. We find that in making disciples of all nations, and baptizing them, that we ignore the teaching aspect of this commissioning. Jesus said to teach them to observe all things He commanded them.
On the road to Emmaus we know He expounded about Himself and how it was that He must suffer and rise again starting in Moses and going through all the prophets. The hearts of the disciples burned within them while He spoke.
He restored Peter on the shore of Galilee, calling him too feed the sheep, and to Mary, Thomas and the others He simply showed Himself alive.
His commandment just prior to His suffering was to love one another and believe that He was sent by God. His command after rising from the dead was to wait for the Holy Spirit and then be witnesses of His resurrection.
The message of the Kingdom is the King that was killed is now alive! The message of the Kingdom is that this King is in heaven right now, and is returning to take over the earth. It is the signs of power that accompany the message that prove the message.
Repentance is the automatic response of someone that believes. If you do not repent then you do not believe.
We have reduced the entire message of the Kingdom of God to the forgiveness of sins while eking out a pitiful existence. Repentance and forgiveness of sins is only the entranceway, the foyer so to speak. Hebrews tells us to not lay again the foundation of repentance from dead works and faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. It says we should leave the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ and move on to perfection. Yet we live as if these things are all there is, constantly living in the cycle of sin having dominion over us.
When He returns to the earth I wonder if we will have a clue as to who He is and how He does things or if we will be shocked and offended by what we see. Now is the season to learn of Him, who He is and what He is like so He can enjoy us and we can enjoy Him both now and in the ages to come.
Jesus is still alive, He is still speaking about the Kingdom, He is still returning. Give us ears to hear.
Very good article Keith. I commented to someone just a week or so ago that our time on earth is a special gift, one that we will never have again. Our time that we are given allows us to choose to actually seek to know Him as a friend. We can choose to keep it at the Father/son level or we can choose to develop relationship with Him, to know the sound of His voice, to recognize the little things, to hear His laughter and see Him in the eyes of others. It is the only time when we can choose Him over the things of this world. In heaven there are no worldy distractions. Just as our childrens childhood is a truly special time to develop relationship with them that we often don't recognize until we realize one day that they have grown up, this is a special time for us to develop relationship with Him that we will never have in the same way again.
ReplyDeleteI'm not quite sure how to sign in so I'm posting anonymous. :^)
Vicky O.