The Mystery of the Ages

The Presence of God As a young pastoral student many years ago, I was taught by a senior pastor that we need to pray the “Invocation” at the beginning of the church service. In this prayer, we are asking the Lord to be with us during our worship, praise, and prayer time. We would say something like this: “We come into Your presence in the name of Your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.” The Old Testament would find this prayer to be appropriate, but the post-Pentecost believers were called “saints” who possessed the presence of the Lord twenty-four/seven! The Power of God Dr. Oswald J. Smith, the missionary statesman and founder of the Peoples Church, Toronto, was also a writer of a multitude of poems, hymns, and books for Christians that have been translated into a host of languages and provided as a gift to missionaries around the world. I had the tremendous privilege of having my office at the Peoples Church right beside OJ Smith! We had many conversations and prayers at the beginning of a day of ministry. He also made sure that I received most of his books for my own blessing and growth! In his book titled The Enduement of Power, he wrote, And let me say that it is not a question of our getting more of the Holy Spirit, but rather of the Holy Spirit getting more of us! We allow Him to occupy one or two of the rooms, but we do not hand over the key and give Him access to every part. He must possess all for He is not the guest, but the Head of the home! Victory in Christ An unknown Christian wrote two books: one on prayer and the other on Christian victory titled How to Live the Victorious Life. In it, he or she wrote, Jesus Christ has won the victory for us. “I live” says Paul, “yet not I, Christ liveth in me.” So we come back to the same theme: The secret of Victory is the indwelling Christ. Victory is in trusting, not in trying. “This is the victory that overcomes the world”—and sin—“even our faith” (1 John 5:4). Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. 1 John 1:7–9 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses (keeps on cleansing—present tense) from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Walking as a Believer in Ephesians Ephesians 4:1 “Walk worthy of the calling with which you were called …” Ephesians 4:17 “That you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles, in the futility of their mind …” Ephesians 5:2 “And walk in love (agape), as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us …” Ephesians 5:8 “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light …” Ephesians 5:15 “Seen then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” The Transition 1) The disciples were doing their best to think like, speak like, act like, and react like the Master, the Lord Jesus Christ! But they could not reach that level of holiness. Furthermore, they could not understand His parables, His decisions, and His responses to the scribes and Pharisees who tried to catch Him in an error! 2) First Corinthians 2:14 explains their blindness, deafness, and confusion over spiritual truths. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. 3) Why didn’t Jesus simply redeem His disciples and allow them to possess the indwelling Spirit to illuminate them? Answer: Jesus could not save anyone until He had died on the cross. The first convert to the Gospel was the thief who was dying on the cross beside Jesus! Remember that Jesus gave him a delayed promise! He said, “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise!” Within a few more hours both men had died on their crosses, and both of them rejoiced in their heavenly home. As observed previously, the word “disciple” ceased being used in the New Testament from Acts 21:16. Why? Not because their failure to understand the teaching and preaching of the Lord, resulting in the removal of disciples totally, but that this role was advanced to a higher position. The twelve disciples who were chosen by Jesus after a whole night of prayer became known as the apostles (excluding Judas Iscariot, who was replaced in Acts 1:15–26 by Matthias). The Transformation The disciples of Jesus, excluding Judas Iscariot, were baptized by the Spirit into the body of Christ, and the Godhead took up permanent residence within their bodies and souls! The fearful followers of the Lord were empowered to leave the upper room and proclaim the Gospel to the unbelieving Jews that had come from all over the world to be in attendance in Jerusalem for the Feast of Firstfruits. Three thousand unbelieving Jewish men came to life and to receive the gift of salvation through faith in their Messiah, whose name was Jesus! The New Testament church grew in massive numbers: 120 in the upper room evangelized in Jerusalem and three thousand unbelieving Jewish men were converted to faith in Jesus Christ alone for salvation. The Lord added to the church every day as the crowds of people were saved through His death, burial, and resurrection. As Peter and John continued preaching the Gospel, the number in Jerusalem grew to five thousand men (Acts 4:4)! As this movement of the Holy Spirit touched thousands of hearts, the numbers were no longer added to the church but multiplied, including both men and women (Acts 5:14). The number of disciples was multiplied greatly (Acts 6:1), and even a great number of Jewish priests “were obedient to the faith!” (Acts 6:7). When Paul returned to Jerusalem from his missionary trips, he observed the many thousands of believers who were all zealous in keeping the laws of God in their new faith in Christ (Acts 21:20). In our next chapter, we’ll examine the new terminology applied to the disciples (and apostles), all of the crowds of disciples that followed Jesus, and the believers that came to Christ through the ministry of the writing called the New Testament!