Do you know God's truth? Do you know His plan for salvation?
How many people do?
If you add up the members of all of the Churches of God, plus some scattered members who are not able to attend any fellowship right now, you might come up with an estimate of around 60,000 people who understand God's truth. There are more than six billion people alive on earth. That means each of us is one out of about 100,000 people on earth who understands the purpose of life, why God made us, what God's plan of salvation is, how we fit into that plan, and how we should be living.
God is not trying to save all mankind right now. Satan is the ruler of this world, and God allows Satan to deceive the whole human race about the most important issues of life (Revelation 12:9). Only the few God calls and draws can come to Christ (John 6:44). The world as a whole CANNOT know the truth at this time. Their chance will come later.
But God is calling a few. That is a lesson of Pentecost. Jesus Christ preached to thousands, but only about 120 disciples were there when the Holy Spirit was given to the Church on the day of Pentecost after Christ's death and resurrection (Acts 1:15, 2:1-5). Those called in this age will be blessed to sit with Christ on His throne during the millennium to help Him rule the earth and bring peace, justice, truth, happiness, and salvation to all mankind (Revelation 3:21, 20:4).
We in the Church are the first fruits, the smaller early harvest as pictured in the Old Testament Feast of Weeks, the day known as Pentecost in the New Testament (Revelation 14:1-5, James 1:18, Romans 8:23).
Only one out of every 100,000 people.
Is that something to be thankful for?
We in the Church have an awesome opportunity. This is something to keep in mind in our trials. We should be inspired to be thankful for the blessing of knowing God's truth.
Here are links to related sections in Preaching the Gospel:
Pentecost - the Gift of the Holy Spirit, Chapter 2
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment