In last week’s blog posting, we saw that for the first time since the Fall in the Garden of Eden, God’s eternal purpose for man was
fulfilled. In God’s Court of Divine Justice, a man, Jesus Christ, was crowned to RULE OVER THE EARTH, AS KING OF ALL KINGS AND LORD OF ALL LORDS! When Jesus reported to God at the Ascension that His mission of saving mankind had been accomplished, Daniel and David had already prophetically told us what happened next:
“THEN TO HIM (Jesus) WAS GIVEN DOMINION AND GLORY AND A KINGDOM, That all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, Which shall not pass away, And His kingdom the one Which shall not be destroyed” (Daniel 7:14)
“The LORD (Jehovah – God the Father) said to my Lord (Adonai -Jesus Christ),”SIT AT MY RIGHT HAND, Till I make Your enemies Your footstool” (Psalm 110:1).
But wait just a minute! Jesus has just arrived in Heaven at the Ascension, and reported on His “Mission Accomplished” to God the Father. Daniel tells us that God promptly gave Jesus rule over the whole earth! Shouldn’t God the Father then tell His faithful, obedient Son, “Now that You’ve defeated Satan and taken the Kingdom back, We’ve got work to do! We are now ready to attack those Gates of Hell. Let’s go!”
However, that IS NOT God’s upside down, inside-out, illogical way to think and live. No, God’s way is that His ON-SITE RULERS over His earth be those of whom Romans 3:10-12 tells us: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”
Yes, God’s Word tells us that it is the dim-witted, disinterested, worthless, antagonistic sinner—the created, fallen descendents of Adam (not the Triune God) that will be the on-site RULERS OVER THE EARTH, just as we were created to be. The next two verses in Psalm 110 tell us how:
“The LORD (Jehovah God) shall send the rod of Your (Jesus’) strength out of Zion. Rule in the midst of Your enemies! Your people shall be volunteers In the day of Your power; In the beauties of holiness, from the womb of the morning, You have the dew of Your youth (Psalm 110:2, 3).
This makes no sense whatsoever! How can we, undeniably guilty of being “worthless” and never doing “good.” ever be eager followers of Jesus? How can we ever be sent out by Him as His VICE-REGENTS? That “rule” will have to be natural, spontaneous, and unconscious (NSU)! This supposedly will occur while Jesus remains seated at Father God’s right hand, as described here in Psalm 110? Impossible!
Amazingly, ten days after Jesus’ Ascension, THIS UNREASONABLE, IMPOSSIBLE, ETERNAL PLAN OF GOD BECAME REALITY! Among Jesus’ final instructions to His disciples, just before He ascended to Heaven on a cloud, was that they would be “baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” (Acts 1:5). His last words just before He left on the cloud were: “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8).
This “baptism with the Holy Spirit” did indeed happen to about 120 of Jesus’ followers (Acts 1:15), as they were gathered together in Jerusalem (Acts 2:1-4). Tongues of fire came upon each of the disciples, and they began to speak the gospel in other languages.
There were Jewish worshippers from all over the Middle East, gathered in Jerusalem for Pentecost, and those that heard the commotion also heard the gospel in their native tongue! This is the fulfillment of Jesus’ last words in Acts 1:8 quoted above, spoken 10 days earlier, as well as the kick-off of God’s bass-akward plan for redeemed, wicked sinner to rule over God’s world.
Peter eventually gave a powerful, impromptu sermon, explaining what was happening. This event on Pentecost was the delegation of God’s rule over the earth, just given to Jesus at the Ascension in Heaven. Now, 10 days later, at Pentecost, that Kingdom is delegated to sinful man! The Bible tells us the shocking result of this second and final delegation to us:
“Then those who gladly received his (Peter’s) word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them. And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles.
Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common,and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need.
So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved” (Acts 2:41-47
The church was born that day, as these earnest, religious Jews were converted and began to learn to live a brand new way. The Bible tracks for us the highlights of their journey, and how this brand new faith applies to real life. We will join them on their journey next week.
