First, look at these guys. Very Jonathan like aren't they. Regular guys standing before what seems insurmountable odds, with nothing other than the knowledge of the glory of God and His power within them. Yep - that's good enough.
But there's more to it. Here is the key question today (and it is the same one I am asking in my earlier post witness the kingdom), what is this salvation or kingdom message?
It's the same thing Jesus told John's disciples when they were sent to find out if He was the messiah. "Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosya are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor." (Lk 7.22) Jesus told us plainly what He was here to say and to do (Lk 4.18-19) and then He told His disciples to do the same (Mt 10.1ff, Lk 10.1ff, Mt 28.16-20).
It is unclear to me how we can read the whole of the Gospel and get from it that our role is one of telling others about Christ coming to earth as a man, dieing on the cross as a substitution for our sins, raising from the dead, etc., so that we can have life in heaven forever if we receive the free gift of His forgiveness and accept His leadership in our lives. While that in and of itself is a GREAT message and is clearly part of it, how do we read the Bible and come away with only this? The Kingdom of God is here!!!! Repent. Repent meaning not only to turn from sin, but to turn in our whole thinking toward our earthly existence. To move from the kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of Light. To experience His Kingdom on earth just as it is in heaven (Mt 6.10). To know His life in the already not yet. (Jn 10.10)
This my friends is the Gospel. This is the Kingdom of God. Glorification at the end of our earthly lives or at His return is only a piece of it. The Gospel is that our God reigns! Come, taste, the Lord is good. Enter into His rest. Enter into His Kingdom.
As Jimmy taught, it is worth everything. We cannot buy it and yet it costs everything. And having found it, we now must go out and demonstrate and proclaim it.
Back to Richard's lesson, are we going to be advocates or witnesses? The advocate argues or defends a person. The witness gives a firsthand account of something seen, heard, or experienced. The definition for witness I think Jesus has in mind is "one who furnishes evidence". Not simply telling about, but demonstrating. The redemption of the Kingdom encompasses our entire being and as that happens, that is the witness the fallen world needs.
1 Jn 1.1, "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life."
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