I would like to challenge Christians with this short essay to rethink who they believe Jesus the Christ to be and their relationship to Him. Do we REALLY believe and understand that Jesus IS the Messiah and what that encompasses? Do we believe that He truly was our Savior and secured victory over the world or do we still suffer from unbelief?
A very misunderstood doctrine today seems to be a proper understanding of Christ's true role as Messiah and King in the New Covenant era. Somewhere along the line since His advent on Earth we stopped believing Christ CAME and NOW reigns. We mouth the words, but in deed deny it.
For some reason Christians today have been deceived into no longer believing that Jesus the Christ is with us NOW. Sure, they will mouth the words or agree that He is here now, but they don't believe it. They believe He left us and is not coming back until some unspecified time in the future. This has become popularly known as Christ's "second coming". This doctrine has neutralized Christians and kept them from being the salt of the earth. It is proving them to be good for nothing and justly causing them to be trampled under the foot of man.
Christ not only came, died, resurrected, and ascended into Heaven but He has never left us. He said He would be with us ALWAYS, even unto the end of the world. (Matt 28:20) He is with us in Word (John 1:1,14) and Spirit (John 14:16-19, 26). He came and accomplished all that HE had to do. He showed us the Way. He gave us His Holy Spirit when we believed in Him, repented and were baptised for the remission of sins. (Acts 2:38). He seated us in Heavenly places with Him (Eph. 2:26) and granted the authority to carry out His will in His Name. He is waiting for us to do His Will on Earth as it is in Heaven. As His servants our job is to see to it that His will gets done, isn't it?
The King already died for us in our place for our transgressions, won victory from our enemies and the hand of all who hate us (Luke 1:71), and empowered us to do His will on Earth as it is in heaven. What else do Christians want from Him? Do we treat Him as our servant to do our will or as a King to be served? Perhaps the problem is we no longer love the King enough to have faith that He truly can "do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us" (Eph. 3:20)?
Why do most Christians believe that Christ has left and is not with us today while at the same time acknowledging that His Spirit is with us? Are Christ and His Spirit somehow different? Is God not one God? Is Christ and His Spirit not God? Yet somehow Christians believe that Christ abandoned us and wont come back again until sometime in the furture. As we have seen already, He is with us in Word and Spirit.
But what do the Scriptures say about His coming? Acts 1:3 states that Jesus personally showed himself to the disciples for "forty days." Only during the first eight days was He "not yet ascended." But after that He could, and did, ascend and come many times.
In Acts 1:2 it states that some time after this forty day period Jesus appeared to the apostles "through the Holy Ghost." This then is another coming of Christ. So the Bible does speak of a coming of Christ, but not a second coming or a coming again. These words have been added to support a doctrine that appeals to human nature.
This expression, 'coming again,' as it is called, is entirely false. Jesus never spoke of his coming again but only of his "coming" or the "advent" of the Son of Man. If we are keeping score, Christ has already appeared a THIRD time as we see in John 21: 13-14.
The word "again" implies Christ's advent is to occur or be like it was the first time. This was when God appeared in the flesh and dwelt among us. This however was a one time event to accomplish certain things and shall never occur again; thus there will never be an "again" in this the manner of his first appearance. He has already accomplished everything He needed to do to secure our redemption, salvation and victory over the world. He made it possible, but it takes two parties to complete the transaction. He has already done His part, He is now waiting on us to do ours.
This is why this essay is lamenting over the unbelief of the body of Christ. When are we going to truly believe that He is with us now? He is with us in WORD and Spirit. He has told us so. We need to read His Word and believe it.
Christ said, "Wherever two or more are gathered in My Name, there I am in their midst." Christ ascended, He accomplished His purpose and has been with us ever since. It only takes two... Why wont Christians let Christ be King? Could it be because they want it their way instead of THE Way, i.e. Christ's Way?
Christians today seem to be disappointed and dissatisfied with Jesus as Messiah and King, because when He appeared in the flesh upon the earth almost 2000 years ago, the problems of the world remained, and HE has not done anything about them. As a savior and deliverer, his acts almost 2000 years ago are incomplete (as some believe) because HE has not yet PERSONALLY (physically) saved His people.
These unbelieving Christians seem to think that to be a true savior Jesus must directly save these carnally minded people from worldly problems. Only then will He fulfill the role of Messiah and King. To them Christ has not yet done this, but Christians will give Him a second chance to satisfy what they want the role of Christ to be. They are going to give Him a second opportunity to appease their carnal nature and come and directly save them from the oppressions and evils of the world. Thus Christians have assigned to Christ a "second coming" or advent, not to satisfy and fulfill scripture, but their own carnal nature. In this second advent Christ will satisfy their heart's desire by:
Is it because Christians are so disappointed and dissatisfied with Christ's true role of Messiah and King, that they have concocted a second coming for Him to satisfy their human nature? This position is not new because human nature does not change. The desire that Jesus fulfill the role of a temporal king and deliverer is what the people wanted and expected at His time on earth, and even centuries before His birth.
Christians today are not satisified with Christ as their king. Their carnal nature has them wanting a temporal king to come and fight their battles for them and to do all the dirty work on earth. This is the manner of king they want Christ to be. Christians have cast Christ into the role of a type of super hero, a temporal savior, or that of a subject. In other words, they want the king to come and to do all the work in relation to the Kingdom - destroy enemies, execute laws, render judgement, etc. To support this humanist conception religious leaders had to devise false doctrines regarding a coming of Christ in temporal fashion. This is not the Jesus Christ of the Bible because this is not the role of a king.
God is a king, He is not a super hero who acts as a physical warrior-king, nor is He a temporal deliverer, though He did say he would fight for us, and deliver our enemies into our hand. Obviously He did not directly or personally do this Himself. He had a Joshua or a Gideon or some group of men do the actual fighting, leading the troops, etc. God commanded and directed such things to be done and gave support to the army as any king would do. God (Christ) is still a king and He has said that He has accomplished "salvation from our enemies, and from the hand of all who hate us." (Luke 1:71)
Again, Christ is waiting for us. He already did His part and is ready to deliver His enemies into our hand. He has given the command and is waiting for us to start obeying. Paul said it best, "We are ready to punish all disobiedience whenever your obiedence is complete". When we believe in Christ once again, what He actually accomplished for us, and the fact that He is with us NOW...then we might start seeking out His Will, "to be done on EARTH...as it is in Heaven." Then shall we begin to realise His Kingdom, come on earth in glory.
The King's Command: "...as to those enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and execute them in my presence" (Luke 19:27). We need to once again search out His Word and discover His will on how He would have this done. It will only be done His way, that is why we shall not achieve victory over the world "until our obedience is complete."
Christian Victory will only come when we once again believe Christ, believe that He is King, believe that He is with us NOW and ACT like we believe it! Then we shall be a light unto the world for His light will shine through us, because it is only for His glory and victory that we go forth as His soldiers!
Our faith will bring the victory that overcomes the world!
Parts of this article are based on the book:
The Kingdom of God in Perspective by Charles A. Weisman.
The single most prevalent message which Jesus conveyed in His
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Thus the subject of the Kingdom of God was to be a very
important matter in our lives here on earth.
The Kingdom of God was intended to be a simple concept so
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been confounded with erroneous arguments, such as when the
Kingdom of God is to be rather than what it is . This book explains
what the Kingdom of God is and also explains:
For a more detailed study into the subject of the Kingdom of God in
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Publications, 11751 W. Riverhills Dr. #107D, Burnsville, MN 55337, USA
This book unravels the simple truths of the Kingdom of God
that have been entangled in false doctrines and wrong arguments.