Dear
Present Truth Magazine Subscriber:
We
are glad to have you as a subscriber to our Present Truth Magazine. Below
you will find articles from individual authors who have written for our
magazine. Our prayer for all who
receive read these articles is that the Lord "...may give to you the
Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the
knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may
know what is the hope of His calling, and what are the riches of the glory of
His inheritance in the saints” (Ephesians 1:17-18).
My Gospel Of Peace
by A. Wilson Phillips
When Jesus Christ of Nazareth was born, God
dispatched an angel to some shepherds in the land of Palestine to
declare that the Savior had come to earth. This angel, along with a
multitude of the heavenly host, proclaimed that this Christ had come to
give the human heart peace with God and to bring peace among people.
For many centuries prior to the Savior’s birth,
God had sent His prophets to speak to His covenant people concerning
their Messiah. However, at the time of Jesus’ earthly ministry, division
existed among the spiritual leaders over who Jesus was—for He
declared Himself to be their Messiah, God incarnate in human flesh,
full of grace and truth.
By His sovereign grace, Father God revealed
to some credible witnesses in Israel that Jesus of Nazareth was the
“Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” However, the
majority of the spiritual leaders and His own people rejected Jesus’ and
His disciples’ claims.
Jesus did many miracles that were equal to, and
even surpassed, those of Moses and other godly Israelites. He appealed
to the doubters and told them to believe Him because of these
supernatural works, but they argued that His works and words
were not those that Moses wrote about. Their pride kept them from
seeing who Jesus was. They chose to believe the lie, which Jesus
said had come from their father, the devil.
When Jesus was about 33 years old, God led Him
to die a publicly humiliating death on the cross. The spiritual leaders
in Jerusalem who did not believe Jesus’ testimony had pressured a Roman
politician named Pilate to crucify Jesus. The spiritual leaders falsely
accused Jesus, claiming that He was a threat to King Caesar since He
said He was a king. Pilate found no fault with Jesus that would warrant
the death penalty under Roman law. However, he did a politically
expedient thing—he granted the spiritual leaders’ request. The
crucifixion was foreordained by God. Father God was in control, but
Pilate and the spiritual rulers in Jerusalem were responsible for their
words and actions. Jesus had declared that by their words they would be
condemned.
God fulfilled the prophet Isaiah’s words:
“It pleased the Father to bruise Him.” The crucifixion was the
purpose for Jesus’ birth. God placed on Jesus Christ of Nazareth the
iniquity of us all. Jesus was delivered up for our offenses and raised
up for our justification. Through one man, Adam, we all became sinners.
We needed a Savior. Justice was satisfied when Jesus became our
substitute on the cross. In the mind of God, we were crucified with Him.
God’s Word and Jesus’ blood cleanse our souls from sin. Our
co-crucifixion releases us from the power of sin and our old nature.
It gives us an equal standing with Jesus Christ before our heavenly
Father.
God raised Jesus Christ from the dead.
God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, not reckoning
men’s trespasses to them. The Father made Jesus, who knew no sin, to be
sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. We
become partakers of His divine nature; we are the divine offspring of
God.
For it pleased the Father that in Jesus Christ
all the fullness should dwell and that by Him all things would be
reconciled to Himself—by Him, whether things on earth or things in
heaven, having made peace through the blood of the cross. He
Himself is our peace because He is our life. We must believe
to see by divine revelation. Pride will keep us from believing and
seeing.
The word is near you, in your mouth and in your
heart (that is, the word of faith which we preach): 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 (made whole).
For with the
heart
one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made
unto salvation. Confession brings possession to the sincere
believer. God’s Holy Spirit testifies this is true.
Jesus came to give us eternal peace—peace that
is beyond natural human understanding. This is my gospel. Everyone has a
gospel. Some are good news, and others are not so good.
Peace to you and your loved ones at this
holiday season.
A. Wilson Phillips is the co-founding and senior
pastor of Abundant Life Covenant
Church.
Christ Our Gift
By Richard K. Clark
As a young boy, my greatest joy and greatest
grief were all rolled up into the Christmas holiday. My joy was in
seeing presents under the Christmas tree with my name on them. My grief
was in seeing presents under the Christmas tree with my name on them …
and not being allowed to open them until Christmas!
To some today the gift of Christ is similar to
my youthful Christmas experience. Jesus has merely given us an I.O.U.
that cannot be fully opened until a future rapture of the church. All
the real good stuff awaits us when we get our new bodies in heaven. The
problem with this view is that it robs God’s covenant people of the
fuller benefits of God’s gift in the now. The apostle Paul must have
cheated because he had already “opened” his gift in the first century.
Blessed be the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every
spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ
(Eph. 1:3).
Paul was experiencing the fullness of God’s
presence (Eph. 3:19) and urging his children to join him. Though he was
looking forward to the soon-coming of Christ (A.D. 66-70)—which would
entail a general resurrection of the dead, spiritual bodies for the
resurrected and those still living, the judgment, the eternal covenant,
and everlasting kingdom—he still preached the “now-ness” of Christ. He
knew that we don’t need spiritual bodies to be spiritual people, and we
don’t have to go to heaven to enjoy heaven’s best.
“For God so loved the world that
He gave His only begotten Son” (John 3:16). It was unto us that
this Child was born, and unto us that He was given (Is. 9:6). Jesus
solved our sin/death problem when He became sin and died for us on the
cross. His blood was shed and His body broken to cleanse us from our
sins and deliver us from our sin nature. He became our resurrected life
and divine life—the perfect, eternal union (covenant) of God and man. He
set up His eternal kingdom, and He continues to enlarge it through us in
each new generation. Jesus turned His world right-side up (John 12:19),
His disciples turned their world right-side up (Acts 17:6), and we are
empowered today to do the same with our world.
Now to Him who
is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think,
according to the power that works in us,
to Him be glory in the
church by Christ Jesus to all
generations,
forever and ever. Amen. (Eph. 3:20-21).
The mystery has been revealed, “Christ
in you, the hope of glory” (Col. 1:27).
Without question, Christ is our greatest gift!
Richard K. Clark is an associate pastor of Abundant Life Covenant Church.
The Final Revelation of Jesus Christ
By Benjamin Davis
In the minds of some, the God of the Old
Testament is different than the God of the New Testament. One scheme of
biblical interpretation, called dispensationalism, actually teaches that
God related differently to mankind and offered different plans for
salvation during different dispensations of history. I believe there is
a better view.
When God appeared to Abraham, He revealed
Himself to him as El-Shaddai, commonly translated “Almighty God.”
When Abram was
ninety-nine years old, the Lord
appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am Almighty God; walk
before Me and be blameless” (Gen. 17:1).
However, several generations later when
revealing Himself to Moses, God said:
“I am the Lord
(Yahweh/Jehovah). I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob,
as God Almighty (El-Shaddai), but by My name Lord
(Yahweh/Jehovah) I was not known to them” (Ex.
6:2-3).
God, who is the keeper and giver of all
revelation, has chosen to progressively reveal Himself throughout
biblical history. He established the law of Moses where animal sacrifice
was required for sin. This pointed to the need for a blood sacrifice for
atonement of sins. He later had David pen a psalm of repentance that
further pointed to the sacrifice of Jesus as a substitute for any
sacrifice we could offer.
For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it;
You do not delight in burnt offering.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit,
A broken and a contrite heart—
These, O God, You will not despise (Ps. 51:16-17).
Throughout the Old Testament, God continually
gave revelation of Himself that ultimately pointed to “Immanuel,” who is
“God with us” (Matt. 1:23). Through the incarnation of Jesus Christ, God
gave those whose hearts were loyal to Him the ultimate revelation of
Himself. “In Him (Jesus) was life, and the life was the light
of men. And the light shines in the darkness…” (John 1:4-5).
Jesus had full revelation from His heavenly
Father of the impact of His birth, life, death, resurrection, and
return. He then gave that revelation to His apostles.
And the glory
which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as
We are one (John 17:22).
The glory which God gave to Jesus was full
sonship and heirship with Him. Jesus passed that glory to us who have
received Him, making us full sons/daughters and heirs of Father God.
In Christ, we have God’s final revelation to
man. Many today are looking for another revelation through Jesus’ future
return and a future kingdom. That revelation has already been given. The
apostle Paul prayed
that the God of
our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the
spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of
your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope
of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in
the saints (Eph. 1:17-18).
God’s
apostles today are still praying the same prayer for God’s people. As we
come to a greater revelation of what God has accomplished for us in the
birth, life, death, resurrection, and return of Jesus Christ, God will
fulfill all His plans on the earth through His sons and daughters.
Benjamin Davis is an associate pastor of Abundant Life Covenant Church
A Cleansed Conscience
by Jonathan Clark
…how
much more shall the blood of Christ…cleanse your conscience from dead
works… (Heb. 9:14)
The book of Hebrews is a transitionary book for
God’s covenant people, contrasting the greatness of the new covenant
with the limitedness of the old covenant. Perhaps one of the greatest
and more miraculous differences between the covenants is in regard to
the conscience.
Conscience is that part of the inner man that
acts as a moral compass, indicating right from wrong. Everyone has one;
not everyone has a good one. Nevertheless, as the great reformer Martin
Luther pointed out, it is dangerous to violate one’s conscience.
Under God’s covenant with His people before
Christ, guilt and a remembrance of past sins was the natural consequence
of committing sins. God ordained a system of sacrificing the blood of
animals to “cover” past sins committed, but the conscience had a
continual remembrance of sinful pain and hurt, as Hebrews 9:9 points
out:
…in which gifts
and sacrifices are offered which cannot make him who performed the
service perfect in regard to conscience…
What did God have to say about His new covenant
atonement system, enacted by the blood of Christ? “Their sins and
their lawless deeds I will remember no more” (Heb. 10:17).
God made a decision that He was not only going
to forgive sins under the new covenant, but He was also going to forget
them! But what about the individual believer’s conscience under the new
covenant? Would they be perpetually tormented by the pain/guilt/shame of
past sins as were their counterparts under the old covenant?
Hebrews 10:2 says, “For the worshippers,
once purified, would have had no more consciousness of sins.”
Forgiven and forgotten! Man, by the quickening
power of the inner Holy Spirit, has the assurance that he is forgiven of
past sins as well as freed from the pain of a harassing conscience. This
does not guarantee that there will not be a memory of past actions, but
rather a guarantee of freedom from the sting and torment of painful
memories and emotions surrounding those actions.
The
cleansing blood of Christ has the ability to make me “consciencely”
unconscious of past sins:
…let us draw
near with a true heart in full assurance, having our hearts sprinkled
from an evil conscience… (Heb. 10:22).
Jonathan Clark is an elder of Abundant Life Covenant Church and a physician in
Springfield, Missouri.
Trusting a Perfect Plan
By Angie Gibson
When my brother’s best friend was deployed to
Iraq a few months before the war began in 2002, the Lord prompted me
many times a day to pray for him and his wife. I felt responsible for
him in the field and her at home expecting their first child. The Holy
Spirit spoke peaceful words to me about this situation one day through a
song:
...I know for sure all of my days are held in
Your hand crafted into Your perfect plan...
Take me, mold me, use me, fill me,
I give my life to the Potter’s hand.
God’s plan is perfect. Nothing happens without
God’s direction or permission.
“For I know the plans I have for you,” says the
Lord, “plans to prosper you
and not to harm you, to give you hope and a future” (Jer. 29:11.
NIV).
As a marine in a Special Forces Unit, my
brother waited for his call to go. A few months after the war “ended,”
it was my brother’s turn. My emotions wanted to worry, but God had
already prepared me with truth. The truth will set you free as long as
you humble yourself and accept it. So I chose to accept it. To further
solidify my faith, God used a Civil War quote from Stonewall Jackson:
My religious belief teaches me to feel as safe in
battle as in bed. God has fixed the time for my death. I do not concern
myself about that, but to always be ready, no matter when it may
overtake me.
Accepting the truth can be a battle in itself
at times. I had several opportunities to have serious concerns and fears
about my brother’s welfare. Other than the fact that he was in a
dangerous country, hearing words that he was involved in “severe
fighting” and “heavy combat” were not comforting to our family. (We
would not know how serious any of these battles were until my brother
received a Bronze Star for his role in a particular battle.) I cried for
him at times, but the words of truth and life were always there staring
me in the face. Would I trust Father God’s perfect plan? And would I
help him see it too? I had to yield my will of wanting him to come home
unharmed to the fact that God might have a different plan; and that
would be for good as well. This is where faith and trust are put to the
test—when things don’t seem to look very good, and when the soul (made
up of the mind, will, and emotions) doesn’t feel like things are very
good.
You shall not be afraid of the terror by night,
Nor of the arrow that flies by day,
Nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness,
Nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday (Ps. 91:5-6).
My brother returned after 8 ½ months in Iraq.
He returned a different man—for the better. God determined the things
that he faced and provided what he needed to overcome his circumstances.
He also provided what I needed to overcome mine. This meant that my
brother and I could live an overcoming life of righteousness, peace, and
joy during this time of testing. This good life can only be lived when
we come to trust the One with the perfect plan—the Perfect Planner.
Angie Gibson is a
stay-at-home mom.
Peace On Earth, Goodwill Toward Men
By Cheryl Skid and Miriam Yatim
This story by a Jewish Christian and a
Palestinian Christian illustrates how true peace on earth can only come
from the Prince of Peace.
Cheryl:
I was born in Indiana in the late ’40s
to a Jewish father and a Gentile mother who eventually converted to
Judaism. It was difficult growing up during that era as a Jew. Blacks
and Jews were considered second-class citizens. Sometimes I heard
hurtful comments about Jews from my peers. I thought Christians were
crazy and mean-spirited. When someone handed me a Bible one time, I
threw it down in the street.
In 1966, I went to Israel to learn more about
my heritage. I grew to love the Israelis and their culture. I went from
being an American who was a Jew to a Jew who just happened to be from
America.
In May of 1967, government officials told
Americans in Israel to return home because the country was getting ready
for war. I decided to stay and continue my teaching job. One day in
June, as I took my two-hour walk across the sand to work, sirens started
blaring. I thought it was some sort of instructional drill, until I
noticed women running for cover. Arab nations were attacking my Israel.
The United States stated they were neutral
regarding the Six-Day War, and I resented them for not coming to aid
Israel. I was willing to die for Israel, because in my mind to die for
Israel was to die for God.
I eventually returned to the U.S. and continued
teaching. I was surrounded by Christians in my workplace.
One day in 1978 an art teacher tried to
encourage me and said, “Cheryl, greater is He who is in you than he that
is in the world!” I was furious. I knew he was nuts. However, as I was
driving home—much to my surprise—Jesus paid me a personal visit! He
appeared to me in my car and said, “I AM who they say I am,” and then He
proceeded to remind me of all the times I had denied Him. I wept and
made an instantaneous decision to follow Him. I knew what this meant. My
whole life would change, and my Jewish family and friends might not
accept what God was doing in me.
Over the years I grew in the Lord, but my heart
remained hard toward the Palestinians because I had witnessed the hatred
that they had for the Jews. Therefore, a couple of years ago when my
friend Debbie asked me if I would meet a Palestinian Christian friend of
hers, I told her I wasn’t comfortable with that idea.
Miriam:
I was born in 1964 in Bethlehem, the
youngest of eight. My family had lived on their land for 1200 years and
was part of the Greek Orthodox Church. Because of our Christian faith,
we were never taught to hate the Jews. However, we were extremely
frustrated with the Israeli government for occupying our land and
putting severe restrictions on us. We could not travel or say anything
against the Israeli government. When I was 12, I was put in prison. We
were constantly harassed and many times beaten.
Even with all the injustices happening,
sometimes the Israeli soldiers would show us acts of kindness. Many of
them didn’t like what was happening either.
In 1985 my husband John and I decided to come
to the United States to get away from the persecution.
When I was about 23 years old, Jesus made
Himself very real to me. I had a dream in which He came, placed His hand
on me, and told me He would never leave me. It touched me deeply, and I
knew in my spirit that His words were true. Eventually John and I and
our children attended a Pentecostal church.
At times my family and I have felt the pain of
rejection from prejudiced people. Some uninformed individuals think that
all Palestinians are Muslims and/or terrorists. The day the World Trade
Center was attacked, I had to have security escorts at my job. Ignorance
can be cruel.
Many of my family members still live in
Bethlehem, and I talk with them often. When the Israeli government
orders them to stay in their houses, they may go days without adequate
food, water, and supplies. Many well-meaning American Christians support
Israel without hearing about the suffering of the Palestinian
Christians. God continually has to help me deal with my frustration and
anger.
When my friend Debbie asked me if I would like
to meet a Jewish Christian friend of hers, I said that would be fine; it
wasn’t a big issue to me. She later came back to tell me that the Jewish
woman did not want to meet me.
One day my cousin and I went to the store and
was standing in the check-out line speaking in Arabic. The cashier asked
us, “Are you foreigners?”
I replied, “Yes, we’re from Bethlehem.”
A woman standing behind me asked, “Are you a
Jew or Arab?” I answered back that I was Arabic, and she sort of took a
step back. So I quickly told her I was Arabic, but I was a Christian as
well. She started jumping for joy and explained to me that she was a
Jewish Christian. We hugged and immediately felt the love between us. We
exchanged phone numbers, and within the week she was in my home.
After hearing her amazing testimony, I casually
mentioned Debbie and the Jewish woman who did not want to meet me. When
she heard Debbie’s name, she began to cry and say that she was the one
who had refused to meet me.
Cheryl and Miriam:
We recognize the miracle work that God
has done in our lives. He sovereignly saved us and then brought us
together to demonstrate the love of Christ. When we look at the problems
in the Middle East, we don’t know exactly how God is going to work
everything out, but we know that He is the answer.
For you are all
sons (and daughters) of God through faith in Christ Jesus…there
is neither Jew nor Greek (Arab)…for you are all one in Christ
Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs
according to the promise (Gal. 3:26, 28-29).
As we remain open to the Lord’s leading, we
believe God will open doors for us to share God’s truth, and we will go
through these doors hand-in-hand.
Cheryl Skid and
Miriam Yatim live in the St. Louis area.
Children Of Light
By Lisa Krueger
During a recent visit to the grocery store, a
couple and I began having a conversation. As we were talking, it came to
light that we were all believers in Jesus Christ. They asked me if I
home schooled my children. I said no, that my husband and I had faith to
send our children into the public school. They began to explain to me
that my children would get a much better education if I would
give it to them. They believed the public schools were anti-Christian.
While I did agree with some of the points they
were making, and I believe they were a very well-meaning and caring
couple, I still had to go back to the faith my husband and I have for
where our children are being schooled. God spoke to us, “Don’t isolate
them; insulate them.”
I am very involved in my children’s lives and
am thankful for the privilege of being a stay-at-home mom. With this job
comes great responsibility; I did not know this when I first took this
position. I had been an office manager of an automobile dealership with
six car lines and an additional four stores. That was an easier job. The
numbers and forms were so much more compliant than the three boys the
Lord has given me to raise.
The Lord has been faithful to show me how to
discipline, disciple, and teach my children. It is my, as well as my
husband’s, responsibility to obey and spend time with the kids. Jesus,
my perfect pattern, talked with the disciples, fed them, washed their
feet, comforted them, corrected them, and showed them how to live a
disciplined lifestyle. I am constantly being watched by my three
disciples; they “catch” more than they “hear,” although I also teach
them to hear my voice.
As we insulate our children with truth, they go
into the school system, and God uses them to light the darkness. When
Trenton (my seven-year-old) was in kindergarten, we were having our
daily devotions one day, and he began to tell how his class had been
talking about what they were going to do over winter vacation. I asked
him what his friends’ plans were, and he said some of them were going to
make cookies, see their grandparents, go shopping, etc. I then asked him
what he had said to his friends. He rolled his eyes, sighed “M-o-o-o-m,”
and then explained how he had told the class that we were going to
celebrate Jesus’ birthday.
I later went to the school to find out what the
teacher thought about Trenton’s statement. She was elated! She said she
loved having him in her class because he was always talking about Jesus,
and it gave her openings to share her faith. While not all of my
children’s teachers share her philosophy, God uses His willing servants
to speak into the lives of those who may not hear God’s truth
otherwise.
…now you are light in the Lord. Walk as
children of light (Eph. 5:8).
You are the light of the world…Let your
light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and
glorify your Father in heaven (Matt. 5:14, 16).
I try my best to insulate my children with
truth, stay active in their lives, and trust the Lord to watch over
them.
Lisa Krueger is a
stay-at-home mom.
Scripture Prayer
By Brent Gilstrap
The following is a
meditational prayer based on biblical truth.
Praise The Lord, all nations; laud Him, all
peoples! I praise You, O Lord! I thank You that Your lovingkindness has
prevailed over me, and Your faithfulness is perfect and everlasting.
Praise the Lord.1
Father, I present to You my body, soul, and
spirit—the totality of my being—as a living and holy sacrifice,
acceptable to You, which is my spiritual act of worship.2
I recognize that I belong to You. I am Your bondslave—a slave to live
righteously;
I make a conscious decision of faith to not be conformed to this world,
but I choose to be transformed by the renewing of my mind. And I believe
that I will demonstrate Your good, acceptable, and perfect will.I recognize that I am a new creation in Christ with my old ways
passed away and Your new ways have come into my experience.I acknowledge that You chose me before the foundation of the
world to be holy and blameless before You and have blessed me with every
spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.
I thank You, Father, for making Him who knew no
sin to be sin on my behalf that I might become the righteousness of God
in Jesus. Thank You for giving me your righteousness.
Thank You for multiplying to me grace and peace in the knowledge of God
and Jesus my Lord. Thank You for giving me Your divine power which
empowers me to live a godly life through the revelation of Him who
called me. I thank You that You have made me a partaker of Your divine
nature through Your precious and magnificent promises.Thank You that I am no longer a slave to sin, that sin no longer
reigns in my mortal body.I acknowledge and appropriate by faith the crucifixion of
Christ—I have been crucified with Christ; and I no longer live, but
Christ lives in me; and the life I live in this body I live by the faith
of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
Father, grant me a spirit of wisdom and
revelation that I might know Jesus better. Open the eyes of my heart so
that I will know what is the hope of Your calling, the riches of the
glory of Your inheritance in the saints, and the surpassing greatness of
Your power toward me as I believe.
Father, I thank You that I am Your workmanship, created in Christ Jesus
for good works which You have prepared for me to walk in today.May Your kingdom come. Your will be done, in my life as it is in
heaven.13 Father I recognize that this
is the day You have made, and I will rejoice and be glad in it.Appoint lovingkindness and truth that they may preserve me.
Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, my lips will praise
You. So I will bless You as long as I live; I will lift up my hands in
Your name.Be glorified in me and demonstrate Your kingdom through me. You
have established Your throne in the heavens, and Your kingdom rules over
all.
1. Ps. 117
2. Rom. 12:1
3. Rom. 6:18, 22
4. Rom. 12:2
5. 2 Cor. 5:17
6. Eph. 1:3-4
7. 2 Cor. 5:21
8. 2 Pet. 1:2-4
9. Rom. 6:6, 12
10. Gal. 2:20
11. Eph. 1:17-19
12. Eph. 2:10
13. Matt. 6:10
14. Ps. 118:24
15. Ps. 61:7
16. Ps. 63:3-4
17. Ps. 103:19
Brent Gilstrap is a
licensed counselor in private practice in Springfield, Missouri.
Co-Reigning In Our Father's Kingdom
By A. Wilson Phillips
When Jesus Christ of Nazareth, the Son of Man,
was circumcised, He was a part of the covenant that Jehovah had with the
nation of Israel under the Law of Moses. He also grew up to understand
that He was in His Father’s kingdom (Matt. 6).
At about age 30, the Father anointed Jesus with
the Holy Spirit and power. Jesus then began to teach, preach, and
demonstrate the kingdom of His heavenly Father. He was careful to
declare that His Father was greater than He (John 14:28). As the
Son of Man/Son of God, He lived in total submission to Father God and
did always those things that pleased Him (John 8:29).
As the Son of Man, Jesus challenged the chief
priests and Pharisees, telling them: “…the kingdom of God will be
taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it”
(Matt. 21:43). That nation would later be revealed as the “holy nation”
of new creation, covenant people (1 Pet. 2:9).
After His death, burial, resurrection, and
ascension, Jesus began to reign as Israel’s Messiah. The Holy Spirit
proceeded from the heavenly Father’s throne. From His messianic throne,
Jesus poured forth the Holy Spirit into about 120 followers in Jerusalem
at the Feast of Pentecost exactly 50 days after His ascension (Acts
2:1-4). Father God had transferred His kingdom power and authority from
old covenant Israel to Jesus, the Son of Man, during Jesus’ messianic
reign. It happened just like Jesus told the chief priests and Pharisees
that it would. Jesus’ apostles and their followers became that “holy
nation” who would bear the fruit of kingdom living.
During Jesus’ messianic reign, He appeared to a
Pharisee named Saul, who was trying to stamp out the “heresy” called the
Way (Acts 9). God sovereignly chose Saul (referred to as Paul, his Roman
name, in Scripture) and gave him revelation concerning what happened in
the cross event. Paul received this deep revelation by learning
obedience through suffering, just like Jesus of Nazareth did (Acts
9:15-16; Heb. 5:7-8).
Paul became an apostle under Jesus Christ’s
messianic reign and said his gospel was not taught to him by man—
…but it came
through the revelation of Jesus Christ… it pleased God, who separated me
from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, to reveal His Son
in me, that I might preach Him (Jesus) among the Gentiles…
(Gal. 1:12, 15-16).
Paul told the Roman Christians that the day was
coming when God would “judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ,
according to my gospel” (Rom. 2:16).
Paul’s gospel gave us the understanding that we
were crucified with Christ and, through the new creation, are born again
into Christ. We have been set free from the power of sin
and given a divine nature. The new life of Christ is imparted to us. In
Him we live and move and have our being. Both Jew and Gentile are new
creations in Christ as the spiritual descendants of Abraham (Gal. 2:20,
3:16, 18, 29).
Apostle Peter tells us that our heavenly Father
…has begotten
us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from
the dead…His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to
life and godliness… (we) have been given… exceedingly great and
precious promises, that through these (we) may be partakers of
the divine nature… (1 Pet. 1:3; 2 Pet. 1:3-4).
Paul, along with the other apostles, fulfilled
the great commission. Christ “was preached to every creature under
heaven” (Col. 1:23). Jesus was faithful to be with them to the end
of the age, the Jewish age. The gospel of grace to both Jew and Gentile
had been fully established. They became the true spiritual Israel of God
(Rom. 2:28-29, 9:6-8; Gal. 6:16).
Paul wrote to Timothy as he was about to depart
from this life:
I charge you
therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the
living and the dead at His appearing (parousia) and His kingdom”
(2 Tim. 4:1).
Covenant eschatology (the doctrine of last
things) holds to the idea that the “coming” or “par-ou-see-ah” of Christ
was a New Covenant Presence or arrival which fully replaced and
fulfilled the old covenant at the fall of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. Jesus did
return about 67 A.D. There was the arrival of His kingdom, a
resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment (Matt. 23:35-36,
27:51-53).
Jesus and His apostles judged the twelve tribes
of Israel as He told them they would (Matt. 19:28; Rev. 1:7). Christ did
reign until all the enemies were put under His feet.
Now when all
things were made subject to Him, then the Son Himself will also be
subject to Him who put all things under Him, that God may be all in all
(1 Cor. 15:28).
The Son of Man was still subject to the Father
when Jesus gave His apostle John “The Revelation of Jesus Christ,
which God gave Him to show His servants—things which must shortly take
place” (Rev. 1:1). The arrival of Jesus in judgment lasted 3 ½ years
(67-70 A.D.). All of God’s covenant people were gathered together unto
Himself, which is commonly called the rapture of the saints (1 Thes.
4:13-5:11). This all culminated by the fall of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. John
wrote these words from Jesus:
To him who
overcomes, I will grant to sit with Me (Jesus) on My throne, as I
also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne (Rev.
3:21).
Jesus’ prayer was fulfilled because He had
prayed:
And now, O
Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had
with You before the world was” (John 17:5).
Plainly stated, the plan of redemption of God’s
covenant people was completed by their substitute Jesus Christ of
Nazareth. Sin/death and Lucifer (the serpent, Satan, the dragon, the
devil) are history. “For this purpose the Son of God was manifested
that He might destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8).
Today, we co-reign with our elder Brother and
our heavenly Father as joint heirs with Jesus Christ. Apostle John says
that “Jesus Christ…the firstborn from the dead…has made us
kings and priests to His God and Father” (Rev. 1:5-6). This is the
gospel of the kingdom from the throne of God.
One day we will “put off our tent” (earthly
body) and transition into our “spiritual body” just like our elder
Brother has (2 Pet. 1:14; 1 Cor. 15:44). Today, we live in covenant with
our heavenly Father in His endless kingdom and endless covenant (2 Cor.
6:16-7:1).
A PERFECT PEACE
By Paul Gabbert
Cardinals all red and bright
Wing from tree to tree in pure delight
As softly fell the silent snow.
A winter’s walk, a winter’s
prayer,
My love for Christ all may share
In praise and adoration sing
Glory and honor to our King.
Through drifts of snow I
slowly wandered,
And as I walked, this thought I pondered
From His great mercy and His great love
Our precious Father from above
Has called us to His eternal life
To co-reign with His Son Christ.
From Adam’s death He set us
free
To live with Him eternally
For His life within, our eternal light
Oh Holy Day, Oh Holy Night!
As softly fell the silent
snow,
In His presence I yielded control.
In spirit, not flesh, I now could trod,
In praise and worship of my awesome God,
For my restless soul I have found relief,
In Christ our Lord a perfect peace.
Paul Gabbert
currently runs R & P Cleaning Service.
When
I was a kid, we had Christmas parties at school and a short Christmas
vacation. Today, my kids have a “winter” party and get a “winter” break.
