His Followers

Eph.5:1 - Be ye therefore followers of God...

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?

His Will.

Above everything in the universe is God's will which is God's Word. When God has willed something it is etched in stone waiting to be unfolded in reality at the time stamped upon that spoken Word. God's Word is reality and everything else is a pretender no matter how it appears. Appearance is a poor player who struts across this event horizon masquerading as reality, but appearance is the bond slave of the Word of God. The blue skies were the appearance but in obedience to God's Word the flood was the coming reality. Sarah's womb was the appearance but in obedience to God's Word Isaac was the coming reality. The tomb holding the body of Jesus was the appearance but in obedience to God's Word the resurrection was the coming reality. When God's Word manifests itself man made appearance is consumed with the brightness of the celestial power of God's immutable Word. God has spoken before the creation of the universe that Jesus would have His followers, His bride, and nothing in heaven or earth could ever come between that Word and its fulfillment. So God willed that His Son would be glorified with followers.

His Love.

God's love is so deep and powerful that it defies definition. It usually is defined by its accompanying and revealing acts, but its essence is beyond us. The Scriptures declare that God actually is love, and that love inherently draws followers to itself. People are invisibly drawn by love to joyously become followers of the Lord Jesus. Well said the song, "Oh the love that drew salvation's plan", and that same love pulls upon the hearts of men to follow the One who so loved He "gave Himself a ransom for many". What kind of love creates when He was self existent and sufficient in Himself? What kind of love creates this race with the full knowledge of awaiting treason and rebellion? What kind of love leaves the splendor of the divine throne to be found in the likeness of one of these accursed creatures? What kind of love accepts the label scapegoat, and willingly becomes the sacrificial murder victim for His very killers? This love, my friends, demands followers.

His Power.

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.

His Spirit.

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.

His Nature.

To say that Jesus has many different natures is to confine His glorious Personhood. Of course He is perfectly kind, merciful, patient, and all the other attributes that we can understand on an earthly level, but He is infinitely more than those. Jesus is divine, holy, and without sin. And after a meditation on that fact, His incarnation becomes all the more a staggering condescension that cannot help but fully speak to the selfless and loving nature of the Savior. The cross. Just the words remind us of the nature of our Lord. And if you take all the mercy of Christ, and all the grace, and all the longsuffering, and all the compassion, and all the sacrifice, and all the love, and you took all the attributes of His majestic nature and distilled them all down to one fine point, you would have an eternal treasure chest that sparkled with blinding glory. And all over that divine chest would be the Names of God from Alpha to Omega and everything in between. And if perhaps you became overwhelmed by the sheer splendor of this treasure chest of God's glory and nature, and in a state of pure worship an angel whispered, "Would you care to open the chest and see the very heart of God", and you replied, "yes, if I may". And as you were granted this privilege you reverently and respectfully opened the lid. And when you gazed over the side and looked into the inner chamber of God's heart, you would see engraved in living and eternal gold leaf..."His Followers".

Now you know, Jesus will always have His followers.

"Follow Me"
Speak Lord, your servant obeys.