We Are Christ-Ones

"And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it." (Matthew 16:18)

When Jesus renamed Simon as Peter, it wasn't a random choice.

Peter means "the rock".

But it took a while for Simon to live up to his new name.

The account of Simon's life reveals him as a fisherman known for his rash ways.

Simon was a shifting-sand kind of guy.

Simon disagreed with the Lord Jesus Christ (Matt. 16:22-23), struck a man with a sword (John 18:10-11), and even denied knowing the Lord Jesus Christ (John 18:15-27).

But in the Book of Acts, we read that God worked in and through Peter to establish His church.

Peter truly became a rock.

Like Peter, we have a new identity.

We are Christians.

The name "Christians" means "Christ-ones".

We are now one of the Christ-ones.

This title lifts up who we are and calls us to become what we are not yet.

God is faithful. He will complete His good work in us.

Our Lord Remembers Us

“Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem:
“This is what the Lord says:
“‘I remember the devotion of your youth,
how as a bride you loved me
and followed me through the wilderness,
through a land not sown.'"
- Jeremiah 2:2 -

Christ delights to think upon His Church.

He loves to look upon her beauty.

From all eternity His delights were with His people.

Many a time before His incarnation, He descended to this lower earth in the similitude of a man.

On the plains of Mamre (Gen. 18), by the brook of Jabbok (Gen. 32:24-30), beneath the walls of Jericho (Jos. 5:13), and in the fiery furnace of Babylon (Dan. 3:19, 25), the Son of Man visited His people.

His soul delighted in them.

His heart longed after them.

Never were they absent from His heart.

He had written their names upon His hands.

We may often forget to meditate upon the perfections of our Lord.

But He never ceases to remember us.

Let us chide ourselves for past forgetfulness.

Let us pray for grace to bear Him in the fondest remembrance.

God's Ways

He stood and measured the earth;
He looked and startled the nations.
And the everlasting mountains were scattered,
The perpetual hills bowed.
His ways are everlasting.
- Habakkuk 3:6 -

What God has done at one time, He will do yet again.

Man's ways are variable, but God's ways are everlasting.

There are many reasons for this comforting truth.

(1) God's ways are the result of wise deliberation.

God orders all things.

Nothing happens that He doesn't know.

(2) God's ways are the outgrowth of His immutable character.

God's attributes are fixed and settle.

Unless God Himself can undergo change, His way must remain forever the same.

Is God eternally just, gracious, wise, tender?

Then His ways must ever be the same.

(3) There is nothing from without which could reverse the divine ways.

Nothing can stop God from marching forth for the salvation of His people.

(4) God's ways are the manifestation of the eternal principles of right, and therefore can never pass away.

The true and the good have about them a vitality which ages cannot diminish.

Let us go to our heavenly Father with confidence.

The Lord Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and in Him the Lord is ever gracious to His people.

Light Shines In The Darkness

In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. 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. (Acts 1:1-3)

Luke wrote the Acts of the Apostles.

He had written to Theophilus before, most probably the Gospel according to Luke. In that book, he had written an orderly account about the Lord Jesus Christ, to convince Theophilus of the certainty of the Gospel of Christ.

The Gospel of Luke is about all that Jesus began to do and to teach. It is about the coming of the Kingdom of God. It is about the work of salvation through the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary. It is about the work of the Holy Spirit in relation to our Savior. It is about faith and devotion to Jesus Christ, and the Cost of Discipleship. It is about the great Commission. It is about the fulfillment of the OT prophecies. It is about the love of the Father.....

The Lord Jesus Christ was taken up to heaven after His suffering and death on the Cross, after He had conquered death and Satan's hold of our lives. The Lord Jesus Christ was taken up to be with God the Father in Heaven.

The world is coming to the end.  The last Judgment is approaching. The Lord Jesus Christ will come again in Glory. He will triumph over all His enemies.

Meanwhile, the Holy Spirit is with us, guiding us into all truths, bringing us the blessings of Heaven, helping us in our spiritual battles, protecting us, teaching us, comforting us, proving our faith genuine, ......

Church leaders are to continue the work. The people of God are to be gathered. The Church of God is to be  established. Light must continue to shine in the Darkness. Missionaries all over the world are making disciples. The night of darkness is coming, when no one can work.

Light penetrates Darkness.

Be The Channel Of Grace and Truth

From the fullness of his grace
we have all received one blessing after another.
- John 1:16 -

Love that goes upward is worship; love that goes outward is affection; love that stoops is grace.

Christ came down from heaven.

The Apostle John describes Jesus’ glory as “full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).

The greatest in the kingdom of God is the one who serves.

Grace is Christianity’s best gift to the world.

Let us be like Jesus, full of grace and truth.

The Reasons For His Ascension

They were looking intently up into the sky as He was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen Him go into heaven.” (Acts 1:10-11)

*******

As the disciples watched Jesus depart into Heaven, they were confronted by angelic messengers.

They were told that Jesus would return in like manner.

The disciples came off that mountain and got busy doing what the Lord had called them to do!

*******

The world is going to Hell.

We too must be busy sharing the gospel.

*******

When Jesus returned to Heaven, He returned to accomplish several specific ministries for the people of God:

He Ascended As The Crucified One. He returned bearing in His body the marks of the cross. He went back as the crucified Lamb of God. He had accomplished redemption on the cross for all who will believe in Him by faith. He returned with His Own blood to present in Heaven as the perfect, eternal, once for all atonement for sin.

He Ascended As The Conquering One. Three days after He died, He arose from the grave in absolute victory! He had invaded the territory of the enemy, ransacked his position, spoiled him, and returned in victory to His Own City!

He Ascended As The Consoling One. When He returned to Heaven, He sent His Spirit into the world to indwell, fill, guide and comfort His people. He sent the Holy Spirit to bring gifts to them. And His gifts make their service to Him possible!

He Ascended As The Confessing One. He confesses His people before the throne of God. He is our Mediator. He is our Advocate. He expresses our heart and our needs before the throne of grace.

He Ascended As The Confirming One. His presence in Heaven is the guarantee of our presence in Heaven some day! He ascended into Heaven as our forerunner!

He Ascended As The Coming One. He would return in the same manner. When He comes the next time, it will be to receive His people unto Himself and take them to Heaven.

*******

We will see the Lord Jesus in His glory in Heaven.

Some of us may even see Him when He returns in the clouds above to take us home with Him!

*******

Praise God for His ascension and His work in Heaven for us!