The King's Mission

This was really encouraging to me this morning as I was reading/journaling.  I'm posting it exactly as I wrote it in my journal entry.

“Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, ‘Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.  You are witnesses of these things.  And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you.  But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”  (Luke 24:45-49, ESV)

The Christ, the rightful God-appointed King, the Savior Messiah, must suffer, die, and then rise from the dead, according to Jesus and according to the Scriptures.  The kingdom of God is to be led by a completely triumphant king, conquering even death itself!  (Now that’s a powerful ruler, one to make even the Marvel and DC comic writers envious!)  This Christ has specific instructions and specific purpose in the earth:

1.       That repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name.  This king has the power to forgive sins, and He has the boldness to call us to turn away from our sin and to turn to Him.

2.       That this news is to go to all the nations.  People all over the world are to be invited into this supernatural kingdom!

3.       That His followers are witnesses, testifiers to the good news of Jesus the Christ.  They are  representatives and living illustrations of His kingdom.

4.       That the “promise of my Father” will come upon His followers, clothing them with “power from on high,” the necessary power for global-sized mission and kingdom work.

What a Christ!  What a King!  What a kingdom!  What a mission!  What a privilege!

Rebel Planet

This morning I read about the day we became a rebel planet.  It was the day a crafty snake convinced a man and his wife to pursue being like God apart from the very instruction of that God.  He stirred doubt and confusion in their hearts with words like, "Did God really say...?"  This cunning serpent suggested that God was somehow holding out on this couple, and that there was a better way, a way for them to really know things.  It just wasn't God's way.  They ate the forbidden fruit and mankind fell.

Though mankind has fallen to the deception of the serpent, the awesome plan of God continues to unfold.  Throughout the pages of Scripture, the Sovereign God of the universe will advance His kingdom of righteousness, peace, and joy, while the lesser, albeit crafty, enemy wreaks destruction and wickedness on our rebel planet.  God will win the day (and if you're a Christian, you know He already has)!

Still, the enemy who opposed the rule and reign of God that day is real.  His deceptive, slippery words are still crafted to stir doubt in the very ones God is commissioning to bless the earth.  If he can continue to convince the chosen ambassadors of God's kingdom to act outside of their commission, to violate the word of their Maker - if he can break the trust and relationship between man and his Lord - then this antagonist could destroy the plans of this God he so hates.  Or so he thinks.

Today, although the Deceiver may beckon with alluring words that drip with rebellion, our Creator King is extending a call through His ambassadors that rings across the rebel planet:  "Grace to you and peace from God our Father!"  Could this be true?  Could God really be extending peace to the rebels?  Could His favor once again rest on a fallen race?  This is the gospel message of hope to a deceived and dying world.  I pray that the church across my city, my nation, and my world will resound with this good news!