Acts 1:3 After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God.
Jesus’ appearance was not simply wishful thinking on the part of the disciples. On the contrary, Jesus gave many convincing proofs that He was alive. Some of these are recorded in the Bible. He appeared to them on at least ten different occasions (including multiple times right after his resurrection, on the road to Emmaus, in Galilee, and before His ascension). They watched Him eat (which is something that figments of your imagination don’t do) (Luke 24:43), He appeared to over 500 people at one time (one person may hallucinate, but 500 don’t do it simultaneously) (1 Corinthians 15:6), and they even touched His risen body (Matthew 28:9, John 20:27, Luke 24:39, 1 John 1:1). Presumably, He wanted to leave no doubt and gave other proofs as well.
During the 40 days between Jesus’ resurrection and ascension, Jesus spoke about the kingdom of God. This is an expression that has fallen out of use in much of Christianity. Yet it is an expression that appears several times in Acts and was frequently used by Jesus. In fact, expressions related to the kingdom occur over 150 times in the New Testament. So what is the kingdom of God? It is not simply a reference to heaven, or eternal life, but it is any place that God reigns. It relates to eternity, but it also relates to how we, his beloved followers, live for Him and allow him to reign in our lives. If you think about kingdoms in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, or in The Lord of the Rings, it may help you get a picture of what the kingdom is. As Christians, we are subjects of the true King. We follow Him, and will someday reign with Him!
2 Timothy 2:12 If we endure, we will also reign with him. NIV
No comments:
Post a Comment