Three Prophecies Made Clear By Jesus
Abridge Worship Provided By: Rev. Jacob Shaw (Please note that this is not a verbatim account of our Sunday morning worship, but rather a condensed version for those at home to study and enjoy, Blessing)
Opening Prayer: Risen Christ, be present in our lives and in our worship. Help us recognize and celebrate your presence. Grant us the power of your Holy Spirit, that we may answer the call to be your disciples and bring your message of love to the world. Amen.
Scripture Readings: Acts 1:1-11 and Luke 24:44-53
Acts 1:1-11
Jesus Taken Up Into Heaven
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. On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with[a] water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”
Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”
He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.
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.”
Luke 24:44-53
He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.”
Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”
When he had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven. Then they worshipped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. And they stayed continually at the temple, praising God.
Reflection:
Right before Jesus is taken up into heaven, he does something that I think every theologian would give their life for, Jesus opens his disciple’s minds to the scriptures.
We can never know everything the disciples learned that day, (at least not until we are in the days of the new heaven and new earth), but we have this portion of the Gospel which tells us that Jesus spoke of three prophecies and gave clarification about them.
If you missed them the three prophecies were
- Jesus must suffer, die, and rise on the third day
- Repentance and Forgiveness of Sins being preached in every nation
- And that the Father would send the Spirit to the disciples to lead them in their continued work.
These truths are ‘very’ important, how important, first they are signified as prophecy. A prophecy is not just predicting something, but they are historical proof of the authority of God. Getting just one prophecy to be fulfilled in time and space is a statically like winning the lottery, Jesus is said to have fulfilled 300 hundred. The statistical odds of that are nearly unmeasurable. And, so if God says it will be done, it will be done, and if he says we are to participate in it, we ought to.
Second, we can say these truths are fundamental because Jesus felt the need to offer clarification to his disciples. You don’t clarify and ensure people have a correct understanding, if it wasn’t important to know and for them to be able to articulate forward.
Thirdly, we can also say they are extremely relevant because, the disciples preserved them in their records both in the gospel writing and within the writing to each other, which are in our bible as the epistles.
So now we have established that these are important, fundamental, and relevant. Now what…
Well, here is what I take from this, and some may disagree with me on this, but at least y’all will know where I stand. To be a follower of Jesus; there are things that make us different from a non-follower of Jesus. What makes a Christian as a Christian? I would say there are many possible markers, but I think these three ring true to the whole of the Gospel message.
One, we believe in Jesus; Crucified and Risen, not as a metaphor, not a mythology, but as something rich, historical, and true.
Two, we are to believe God calls us to repent of our sins and God, rich in love and mercy offers us forgiveness. A Christian believes in this reconciliation process. This means to understand repentance and forgiveness we need to accept that we sin and that we fall short to the glory of God, and not one human, (but Jesus) has ever been righteous. And that this is the explanation and the context to that whole Christ died and rose thing.
Three, we believe, as we live a life of faith we will be led by the Spirit to teach all of this everywhere God’s winds will take us, to every nation, to every community. We are call to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ.
This, in my opinion, this should be the common thread between all Christians. Now you can have a whole array of interpretations and nuanced theological expressions of those three staples, but they ought to be there.
Now why do I say all this? Well, here is why!
In my 36 years of life, I know that may seem young to some of you, but I have been involved with the united church, Anglican, unitarian, catholic, non-denominational, Baptist, and Pentecostal. And in every denomination I see people trying to take God, the Scriptures, and Jesus and trying to make it into something that serves their preference and even though this can be a bit of a natural occurrence, I believe we must always make sure that we return to Jesus’ teachings as a priority, because otherwise, we are not Jesus’ disciples, we are our own. Otherwise, Jesus isn’t our king, we are our royal authority. God is not our God, we are.
It’s one thing to experience the Objective reality of God through our subjectivity, but it is another thing to make our subjectivity our sole experience of our faith.
And when you return to the Objective, when you return to what Jesus taught, we find these prophecy, which tells us what Jesus did, and what he calls us to do.
So now knowing the importance and what can happen if we don’t return to Jesus first, let us think about what he spoke to the prophets about.
Jesus died for us, to pay the wage of our sinful short coming, so that God’s mercy can meet us in justice, and when we come to know that Jesus has done this for us, and God is not looking at us with condemnation but welcoming us with invitation, we can trust in that, we can repent and reconcile, we can find forgiveness, and we can trust in the Spirit of God help us share this good news with the world.
Oh the gift, of Christ’s clarification
Let us pray…
God in Heaven, we reflect about a threshold, the threshold into faith, were we come to believe, trust, and acclaim your eternal truth as our own. Were we trust and uphold that the head that once was crowned with thorns is nor crowned with all glory in heaven, the might victory over sin, death, and the adversarial forces. Let our heart be over joyed in our truth for your truth, and may we be willing to let go of our subjective for your objectivity. Amen.
Homework: Spend some time and think about what it means to trust in Jesus Christ, and specifically what Jesus commands us to do, and think he tell us to trust in. If you need help on this reflective journey email: minister@mountainviewunited.ca
Closing Prayer:
Go forth with Joy. Go forth with Hope. Go forth with Christ’s Love leading the way.
Amen.
Meme of the Week:
Thank you for joining us this week. If you have any thoughts, feelings, or prayers, feel free to leave them in the comment section below. Please be respectful of others’ posts and make room for all those joining us.
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