Part 3: Burning Questions
Between the time of Jesus’ death and resurrection and the fall of the temple system in 70 AD, the Christian Church (Body of Christ) was growing while also being increasingly persecuted. At the same time, the Jews continued to follow the accepted, ingrained, and non-controversial Mosaic law. There was no mistake in this duality. The faithful Christians (in contrast, some left the faith particularly in order to escape persecution) perpetuated Jesus’ ministry with signs, miracles, and wonders following, while God continued to warn people of the coming judgment and destruction (still mercifully giving time for people to repent).
It was God’s intention that, in allowing the monumental finality of the 70 AD events to unfold, this would enforce the most important message of all: Jesus was the only “way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). Through Jesus, anyone (both Jew and Gentile) could come to finally know and appreciate God, be filled with His Spirit as a living temple of God (for God no longer dwelt in a temple made with man’s hands), and look forward to eternity with God in everlasting relationship. The gospel message was (and still is) this: “Jesus is King and His (spiritual) Kingdom has come.” Jesus paved the way for you to be set free, enter in, and follow the Way — so you can inherit all of God’s promises as one of His adopted children, and so you can be a beacon of light on this Earth to draw others to Jesus, too.
The overall picture (which should be our overall message) is that we all have an opportunity to be reconciled with God through Jesus and that something amazing will happen in the future when those who are in Christ will be rewarded — and those who have rejected Him will suffer the consequences.
John 3:36, "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him."
Proverbs 14:12, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.”
2 Corinthians 5:10, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether for good or evil.”
The Lord would not have us wrestle with all kinds of end times subjects only to miss the main point of life and freedom in Jesus. By all means, study the scriptures and ask the Holy Spirit to show you Truth, but don’t let yourself get carried away on tangents that will distract you from your purpose.
Some people even become so fixated on waiting for Jesus to “rescue” them from this world, or at least from the grave, that they lose sight of praying — and doing — according to what Jesus told His disciples: "Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven." How is this prayer fulfilled? Through mankind becoming the temple of God!
John 14:23, “Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.”
2 Corinthians 6:16, “What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, ‘I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”
Ephesians 2:19-22, “Therefore you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of God’s household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the cornerstone. In Him the whole building is fitted together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord. And in Him you too are being built together into a dwelling place for God in His Spirit.”
Let us not be sidetracked or weighed down by the things we are yet to understand about God. Let our focus be on today and how we can walk in the light, love, and power of Jesus for the purpose of growing His Kingdom. Let us embrace our mandate to overcome evil with good in the “now.” This is something we can easily discern from Scripture, and it’s something we can eagerly embrace.
Romans 12:12, “Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.”
2 Peter 3:16, “As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest,” (wrestle) “as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.
2 Corinthians 11:3, “But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.”
Matthew 6:33, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”