God has always had His followers. From the moment the dust coagulated around the creative Word in Genesis and Adam was formed, God has always had a following. From the ark of reeds carrying baby Moses to Solomon's Temple, God has always had His followers. From the boldness of John the Baptist to the secret seeking of Nicodemous, God has always had His followers. From the day of Pentecost to the third millennium, God has always had his followers. From the largest television gospel presentation to the smallest Chinese house church, God has always had His followers. And when years and days are no longer observed, and when time is swallowed up in eternity, God will have His followers. And God's Name is Yahweh, Jehovah, Yeshua, Joshua, Jesus, and an innumerable amount of attribute revealing names. Jesus steps into earth at Bethlehem, walks as a man for thirty three years, completes His eternal work in six hours, returns to the Father from Jerusalem, and all of history will forever be His entourage out of which He has gathered and separated for Himself a bride. Jesus always had and always will have His followers. But why?
What kind of man is this that can even command the wind and the waves? And most of the evangelical world, much less the world, are unaware that Jesus Himself was the Creator and is the sustainer of the entire universe. Look at your hand, Jesus created it. The mind you are using to read right now, Jesus made it. Jesus Himself proclaimed, "All power is given unto me, both in heaven and in earth". There is no power but Christ's power, and His power is unimaginably absolute. Jesus doesn't have the greatest power, no, He has all power. And although creative power is awesome and mind boggling, power over death is ultimate. The Scriptures rightly observe that man has always had a fear of death, and all the spurious religions of the world try and give false hope to a darkened world. But Jesus has power and authority over death itself, and especially the second death which is eternal death. Sometimes a person becomes so fearful of his coming judgment, and so frightened about his eternal destiny, that the Holy Spirit can lift up the powerful Christ as the only Refuge and Rock that is strong enough to hold eternally. And it would be safe to assume that legion are Christ's followers who have embraced Him in part as their powerful Rescuer.
No one becomes a follower of Jesus unless the Spirit draws him. The work of regeneration is exclusively a work of the Spirit, and the works of man are not only irrelevant, they are poison. Anyone who is truly born again can recall a strange and different mental and emotional aura that came upon him or her before salvation. I can recall in the days leading to my conversion everything seemed to remind me of the Person of Christ. A bumper sticker, a cemetery statue, a radio program, and many other little "coincidences" that would only have been significant to me because of the progressive revelation ministry of God's precious Spirit. No one is smart enough, no one is clever enough, and in reality no one is even interested enough to pursue Jesus Christ apart from the gracious calling of the Holy Spirit. (And all the reformed group said Amen!) In the end we all owe everything to the Spirit of God who called to us generally and eventually gave us personal attention in leading us to Christ. We have become followers by the Spirit.
His Word
We have become so used to accepting an earthly definition of the "Word". Ink on paper or the sound of vocal chords vibrating as the air rushes over them, those are to the earthly mind a word, and with all the different translations and interpretations I fear we have compromised the essence of God's Word in our own minds. But God is His Word, and the Word existed before there were angels, mankind, or creation itself. I had heard Bible verses before I was saved, but when the Spirit began His mission of love to me I began to hear these verses differently. You see, I began to see and hear Jesus in the Bible verses I was hearing, and it wasn't until after I was born again that I learned that Jesus was the Word. And even He said the Scriptures speak of Him. The Word is like a Sword of lightning that cuts within the human heart, slices it wide open to its repulsive sin, and upon the first sign of repentance and faith, the Word Jesus rushes in to take up eternal residence in a brand new heart. To say it is a glorious mystery is to infinitely understate the eternal power of the Word of God, Jesus.
"Follow Me"
Speak Lord, your servant obeys.
2 comments:
Rick,
That was so beautifully worded. Thankyou.
Cristina
I fear that most "Christians" are simply religious people who worship a jesus of their own making. In other words, they don't know the real Jesus that you so richly and expertly described in this post. Not only is He, but He will always be and will never change as you have described Him. I think it is tragic that masses of Christians just know their religion instead of their saviour. Their shepherds are the culprits!
In Christ
Mike Ratliff
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