Newsletter June 2024
God’s kingdom come
The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, until the day in which He was taken up, after He through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen, to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by [the apostles] during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. (Acts 1:1-3)
Luke begins his Acts of the Apostles by reiterating that Jesus who had been crucified rose from the dead and that those whom He had chosen were eyewitnesses to His resurrection, not just once but over a period of 40 days. During this time He instructed them from the prophetic scriptures concerning the arrival of God’s kingdom on earth and sent them to proclaim this good news not only among their own people but to all nations. Yet despite all that Jesus had explained to them, their focus was still on times and seasons. They wanted to know when God would restore the kingdom to Israel, but Jesus pointed them to the immediate task He had for them: you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)
Yes, Jesus had come into the world as the promised Messiah, the King of Israel, but for now He would return to His heavenly home. Nonetheless, God’s reign would be manifested through the presence of the Holy Spirit who would work in them to transform first them and then through them the whole world. Their witness would not merely be an account of what they had seen and heard, but a demonstration of their daily experience of God’s life-transforming presence. This is why they had to wait for the Holy Spirit.
As humans, we often struggle to wait for God’s timing and instruction. We see that something needs to be done and we look for solutions. This is true both in our own personal affairs and in our wider society. Whatever the problem may be, we focus on what we can do to fix it. Sadly, this is also true of the church. We, who know God and have His Spirit in us, all too often revert to our own ideas and come up with our own solutions rather than wait patiently on God for His direction.
Even during the short period of 10 days following His ascension, these followers of Jesus identified a need and came up with a solution of their own. Jesus had appointed twelve apostles and now, following Judas’ betrayal and death, there were only eleven. They determined what to do and decided to select two from among those others who had also been with Jesus from the beginning and had witnessed His resurrection, and then to allow God to choose between the two proposed candidates to fill the vacancy. (Acts 1:23) They cast lots to determine God’s will, and Matthias was chosen. Interestingly we never hear of Matthias again. While this does not imply that he lost his faith and abandoned the group of disciples, we hear in the course of the narrative about other individuals who suddenly appear on the scene as God raises them up and empowers them by His Spirit to proclaim His message and perform miracles in His name. The most prominent and at the same time unlikely of these individuals chosen by God is Paul. His encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus where he was heading to persecute the believers (Acts 9:3-4) resulted in him becoming an apostle to the Gentiles and the author of much of what we know today as the New Testament scriptures.
God is always looking for those who are available to be used by Him, often not the ones we have on our radar. He will enlist those who recognise that they are nothing but empty vessels without Him and fill them with His Spirit. Are you such a person? Is He perhaps calling you to something new? Are you ready to receive His anointing and serve in His kingdom, not in your own strength and ability but by the power of His Spirit? Will you seek His face and wait patiently for His instruction?