40 days - and speaking of the Kingdom of God
Posted: Thu Sep 20, 2012 11:05 am
Acts 1:3
To whom also he (Jesus Christ) shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs,
being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God:
Prior to Jesus' arrival on the scene, John the Baptist had been preaching for people to repent, because that the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand (Matthew 3:2).
Jesus is the final fulfillment of that.
When Jesus resurrected, He met with the apostles over the course of 40 days and spoke of the Kingdom of God.
And we might imagine what that was like.
These apostles were deeply soaked within the reality that the Messiah had come, all of the Old Testament promises are fulfilled in Him, and God's Kingdom was upon them - and on all who will simply believe it in faith.
It was from this experience, and from already having previously seen completely overwhelming things (John 21:25), that the apostles went forth to let the world know how to come out of the darkness which holds people in their suffering.
Of course the apostles had their own measure of faith, but they KNEW beyond a shadow of any doubt that God Himself had arrived.
They experience it and they were IN it - and had been deeply for 40 days.
So they willingly went to the brutal deaths as martyrs when that time arrived for each of them individually.
The god of this world HATES the name of Christ more than anything.
But nothing has stopped the Gospel movement and nothing can stop it.
The Kingdom of God is here.
To whom also he (Jesus Christ) shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs,
being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God:
Prior to Jesus' arrival on the scene, John the Baptist had been preaching for people to repent, because that the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand (Matthew 3:2).
Jesus is the final fulfillment of that.
When Jesus resurrected, He met with the apostles over the course of 40 days and spoke of the Kingdom of God.
And we might imagine what that was like.
These apostles were deeply soaked within the reality that the Messiah had come, all of the Old Testament promises are fulfilled in Him, and God's Kingdom was upon them - and on all who will simply believe it in faith.
It was from this experience, and from already having previously seen completely overwhelming things (John 21:25), that the apostles went forth to let the world know how to come out of the darkness which holds people in their suffering.
Of course the apostles had their own measure of faith, but they KNEW beyond a shadow of any doubt that God Himself had arrived.
They experience it and they were IN it - and had been deeply for 40 days.
So they willingly went to the brutal deaths as martyrs when that time arrived for each of them individually.
The god of this world HATES the name of Christ more than anything.
But nothing has stopped the Gospel movement and nothing can stop it.
The Kingdom of God is here.
