(#40 5984) Day 5 - Acts of the Holy Spirit (From Jerusalem to Rome)

FIRST POSTED ON 15 MARCH 2020.

Shalom Aleichem and welcome to my Shabbat blog!

Let us consider the first 70 years of the Church, during which time the entire New Testament was written.

Christianity actually began as a Jewish religion. The first believers were Hellenistic (Greek-speaking) Jews present in Jerusalem for the Pentecost who heard the Gospel in their own dialects. At that time, there was a wider shift in influence in Jewish society from Hebrew to Greek-speaking Jews. These Hellenistic Jews, who came from outside the Promised Land, were even more “Jewish” than the native-born Jews in their insistence on Temple worship and following to the Jewish customs. They were the ones who stoned Stephen, the first martyr or believer who was killed for Christ, for undermining traditional Judaism. The Apostle Paul was one of these Jews, born in what is today South-Central Turkey, who actively participated in Stephen’s death and led the subsequent persecution of the Church. Even among believers, these Jews would later become the “Judaizers” that harassed the Gentile Christians, insisting that they be circumcised and become Jewish converts before they could be accepted into the Faith.

Looking back however, we clearly see the Spirit at work in the growth of the early Church, for had it not been for the persecution then, the Church would not have been scattered and forced to bring the Gospel throughout Judea, Samaria and beyond. Even then, we see the Apostles staying put in Jerusalem, while Philip the Evangelist only went as far as Samaria - the Samaritans being half Jews - and to the Ethiopian eunuch, who was likely a Jewish convert (References). It took the conversion of Paul - “a Hebrew of Hebrews” and therefore one most qualified to challenge the Judaizers - to fulfill Jesus' commandment for the Gospel to go beyond Israel and the Jews to those living throughout the known world then. Paul became God’s Apostle to the Gentiles - His chief evangelist and theologian of this new and distinct Christian faith (References).

The next major development in Christianity was the convening of the Jerusalem Council in 50 AD. As Paul embarked on the first of his missionary journeys to bring the Gospel across the Roman Empire, many Gentiles came into the Faith. However, they would soon be harassed by the Judaizers mentioned earlier. The Jerusalem Council overruled these Judaizers and upheld the central Christian doctrine that we were all saved (justified) by grace through faith in Christ alone and not through circumcision or following the laws of Moses as a Jewish convert. As a result, Christianity broke out of its Jewish shell to become a distinct faith that will one day transform the Jewish people and nation according to God’s eternal plan and will. This truth - justification by faith in Christ alone - would also rescue the Church during the Protestant Reformation from spiritual bondage.

A final significant event that shaped Christianity was the destruction of Jerusalem and the Jewish Temple in 70 AD. This marked the end of Israel as a nation and the beginning of the “Times of the Gentiles”. It set into motion God’s timetable to bring in the summer harvest of the fullness of the Gentiles as the Spirit, through the Church, moved across the nations. But now that God has brought Israel back to life in 1948, we can expect the end of the summer harvest soon.

What remained were the events that marked the closing years of this Age of the Apostles, a time of persecution under the Roman authorities and emergence of false doctrines such as Gnosticism, which denied that Christ really came as a human being and advocated instead salvation through the pursuit of Gnosis or “special knowledge.” This period gives us a taste of what it will be like in the end times as widespread tribulation and apostasy sweep over the Church and the world with the rise of the end-time Babylon/Rome and Rule of the Antichrist seen in the book of Revelations.

As we reflect on these early developments in the Church, we are reminded of how God is always sovereign and His will is always done often in spite of our weaknesses and failings and even our outright disobedience and rebellion. It was so with Israel, and it remains so with the Church. May this knowledge comfort us as we faithfully await the return of our Lord and King.

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(#39 5984) Day 5 - New Life in the Spirit & Body of Christ

FIRST POSTED ON 1 MARCH 2020.

Shalom Aleichem and welcome to my Shabbat blog!

In our last session, we saw how no one could enter the Kingdom of God unless they were born again in the Spirit. On the night before He was to be crucified, Jesus prepared His disciples for His soon departure, promising them that He would not leave them as orphans but would send them “another advocate … the Spirit of truth.” Jesus reassured them that He would come to them - because the Holy Spirit is none other than the Spirit of Christ Himself.

The Holy Spirit - from the Hebrew words Ruakh (meaning breath/wind/spirit) and Hakodesh (meaning Holy) or the Greek word Pneuma (which also means breath/wind/spirit) - is the third person of the Holy Trinity after God the Father and Jesus. The Holy Spirit is the very breath or spirit of God.

Now, the Holy Spirit is not new or the result of Jesus’ finished work on the Cross. He is mentioned in the Old Testament and is the channel through whom God most often worked in history. In His Spirit, God initiates and accomplishes His will through men. In fact, we cannot please God apart from His Spirit working in us to do so.

Jesus was conceived, baptised and ministered in the Holy Spirit (References). In Jesus, the Holy Spirit accomplished God’s divine will where Israel had earlier failed (References).

And now, through Jesus, we receive the Holy Spirit and are born again into the new life as promised by God in the Old Testament (Ezek 36:25-27). This new life marks the start of the Fifth Day of Creation.

It is worth noting that the Fifth Day of the original Creation Account concerned new life in the water and sky. Throughout the Bible, we see the Holy Spirit described in relation to these two elements - as living waters (here, we have the words baptism/cleansing/pouring out of the Spirit), wine (to contrast against the infilling of the Spirit), or oil (symbolic of the anointing of the Spirit), and as wind or breath (making up forty percent of all Old Testament references to the Holy Spirit; being born again from above, the wind in Pentecost), tongues of fire or dove. It is only on the Sixth Day of Creation that we speak about life on earth - the earthly rule of Man (being literally formed from dust) in contrast to the divine rule of the Spirit.

As mentioned earlier, the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Christ in us, through whom we are born again into the new life. We receive the Baptism of the Holy Spirit usually at the point of conversion when we are convicted of sin by the Holy Spirit, repent and receive Jesus as Lord and Saviour (References).

Thereafter, as we grow in our spiritual walk with God, we continually experience the Infilling of the Holy Spirit as He cleanses, transforms and empowers us for His work and purposes (References). The Holy Spirit is our Comforter/Helper/Counsellor who leads us into all truth - teaching, bringing to remembrance Jesus’ words and glorifying/testifying of Him; who intercedes for us; who adopts us into God’s family - restoring our true identity; and who guards our salvation until the day of redemption (References).

But beyond being just individuals, we are also joined with the larger Body of Christ by the Holy Spirit, to be used by Him to bring the Body to maturity with the fullness of the Gentiles. I want to stress this very important point - our new life in Jesus’ Spirit cannot be separated from our new life in His Body the Church, regardless of its imperfections, challenges and failures, especially as Christ’s return draws nearer.

As we turn next to study the book of Acts, we will see how the Holy Spirit grew the early Church as He empowered both the Apostles and ordinary believers, baptising them into the Body of Christ and equipping them for service, building up the Church to be a fitting dwelling place for God, bringing about true unity, raising up leaders and commissioning and making competent those to be sent out (References).

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(#38 5984) Day 4 - Jesus Christ (The "Un-we" Message)

FIRST POSTED ON 15 FEBRUARY 2020.

Shalom Aleichem and welcome to my Shabbat blog!

Previously, we listed some of the key characteristics of the Kingdom of God as described by Jesus in His parables - how it is an unworldly Kingdom and not according to man’s wisdom and ways. In light of this, Jesus taught that those who followed Him would need to be:

Firstly, receptive in thought to His Word in order to be fruitful and a light for the Kingdom. We see this in the Parable of the Sower (References). Jesus also spoke of the need to have childlike faith, humility and persistence as seen in the Parable of the Persistent Widow (References A B C).

Next, repentant in deed - meaning to turn away from the world and follow Jesus, seeking first His Kingdom and righteousness. This involved handling wealth correctly, an important matter that Jesus stressed through several parables, and also understanding the very real cost of discipleship.

It also meant submission to God’s Kingdom rule and values in our lives as seen in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount and various parables. This can be summarised in terms of demonstrating love, forgiveness and faithfulness/readiness (References A B C D E).

Lastly, reborn in spirit - that is, to be born again in the Holy Spirit, without which we cannot enter the Kingdom of God. Jesus promised that those who believed in Him would receive the Holy Spirit and be fruitful (References). Through the Spirit, God “circumcises” our hearts, cutting off the hardened and sinful parts in us.

Coming back to our earlier discussion about the Gospel message, we see that the Good News of Jesus Christ is an “un-we” message - not so much about our personal salvation and God’s plan for our lives. It was, is, and will always be about JESUS and His Kingdom rule over all of Creation and Eternity.

As we close this section on the Gospel of Jesus Christ, I wonder if the Apostle John was aware of how prophetic his above words were, when we consider the numerous books, sermons etc - both good and bad - that have been written about Jesus since John’s Gospel. If we dare to be brutally honest about it, God’s Rhema in the Bible and the Gospel of Jesus Christ is in danger of being drowned by all these human voices and noises, especially in this era of the information age and rise of fake news. We see, hear, and read more about God and His Word (Bible and Jesus) than we see God Himself, hear directly His Rhema voice and read from His sacred word. If you ask any genuine, God-seeking Christian out there, many will admit that they are lost and perplexed as to where to begin in their quest to know God in a more truthful and personal way.

But don’t be dismayed. God is certainly aware of this situation and remains in full control. As Jesus told Nicodemus in Jn 3:8, the Holy Spirit moves as it pleases and we neither know where it came from nor where it would go to. I am sure that much of what has been written, said or shown are truly driven by God’s Spirit and for His glory, and even those that are not are permitted by God according to His will. As we had learnt a few sessions earlier, God had already warned us beforehand through the Creation Account that even as the Holy Spirit brings forth New Life characteristic of the Fifth Day of Creation, this will be quickly overtaken by the the opposing spirit of the Antichrist characteristic of the Sixth Day that we are living in today. This unholy spirit manifests itself in the rule/kingdom of man that is opposed to God’s kingdom, even within the Church. We saw how Jesus warned us of this earlier when He described the Kingdom of God on earth as comprising both good and bad, true and counterfeit.

But how then should we proceed? How do we discern?

The answer, as you might expect, can only be found in His Word. As we move on to study the New Testament Letters, let us re-discover through our examination of the early Church what it means to live the New Life in the Spirit and Body of Christ. Let us get back to the basics - to the simplicity of the Gospel preached by the Apostles, which we should not confuse with the simplistic Gospel mentioned at the start.

Most of all, let us get back to the “Word made flesh” - Jesus Himself. When we not only know the Word of God but the God of the Word, when we not only know of or about Him but have a personal and living relationship with Him, His Spirit - the Holy Spirit - lives in us. Through the Holy Spirit, Jesus the Greater Light illuminates our minds to His Truth and opens our ears to His Rhema voice. May we know that man’s wisdom is foolishness to God and our many words are fruitless and futile. Only God’s word never returns to Him empty but accomplishes His desire and purpose.

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