Apostles
Jesus spent three years, most of His adult life in this world with twelve men, men He chose, simple men, fishermen and others. One was a traitor who was later replaced by another, an enemy that He converted into His strongest ally, the Apostle Paul. He prepared this entirely unqualified group of the most common people for a task. What task? Why the task of converting the mostly pagan world of that day to the Christian faith.
Our Lord prepared these twelve men, taught them what they needed to know and, after they were indwelled by the Holy Spirit, sent them out into an extremely hostile world with a task. They were told to go out into the unbelieving and extremely hostile world of that day with a message. They, just twelve men, were to convert the pagan Roman Empire, the fourth and last world-wide empire, to the Christian faith! Could He have asked anything more impossible, more ridiculous of these weak individuals, men that deserted Him when He was taken by the Jews and crucified a few weeks before?
What, though, was the result of this seemingly impossible exercise? They obeyed Him; they went out into that hostile environment and did as He commanded. They appeared to have had very limited success but the seeds they planted took root and grew and grew and grew. Two centuries later, the Roman Emperor ???, the absolute ruler of the world, was forced to declare the Christian faith to be the official religion of the Roman Empire! Subsequently, a later emperor, Justinian ??? revised Roman law extensively to bring it into close conformity with God’s Law.
The true faith took root and it spread through all of Europe, which came to be known as Christendom, Christ’s kingdom! And He was indeed King; the Christian faith reigned in every country. The titular rulers of the nations, counties or fiefdoms, whatever they were called were restricted by the faith of the people. The obedience of twelve men resulted in all this; an entire continent conquered for Christ. To God be the glory! He and He alone is able to do so much with so few!
But where are we today? There are millions that consider themselves to be God’s chosen, born-gain Christians, in America today. Here we are, not just twelve but millions of Christs supposedly born-again, recreated apostles. Yes, all Christians are called to be apostles, God’s chosen witnesses to an unbelieving world. Where, though, is their message? What are they doing in response to God’s calling?
Just as Jesus’ twelve faithful disciples were given a task, so also all His faithful, His born-again creatures in the world today, have been given the very same task. As His chosen and so very highly blessed people, we today have been given this responsibility. Yes, our Savior commands us to teach the nations to obey all God’s commandments:
And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen. (Matt. 28:18-20, emphasis added)
The nations of the world are to made God’s nations, ruled by His Word and not man’s word. The disciples did a great job but not the whole job. Their earlier successors did their part; much of the then civilized world was converted to Christ and until recently remained Christian at its core.
All this has changed, primarily in the 20th century, and, although there are still many Christians in America today, the power to govern is no longer in their hands. It is atheistic unbelief that now holds the reigns and governs in this once strongly Christian nation.
How this sad situation came about is a long story that goes back a century or more to the introduction of an entirely new interpretation of God’s Word known as Dispensationalism.[1] It taught, over a century ago! And still teaches today that we were then in the last days and that Jesus would be returning very, very soon. Of course, He didn’t return and won’t, until we Christians, God’s chosen people, have completed our God-given task. This is the very same task He gave His apostles when He was here. Yes, every Christian in the world today has the responsibility to do all he can to spread the Gospel message and teach the nations to obey all God’s commandments.
This false and Satan-inspired doctrine, Dispensationalism, has demonstrated through the failure of its predictions, that it is utterly false. Not just forty years, but more than a century has passed and Jesus has not returned as it predicted. As we see in the above passage, Jesus gave His apostles (including every Christian in the world today) the task of doing all he can to convert the nations and peoples of the world to the Christian faith. It need not be very much, but it must be something. To do nothing is to disobey and join the ranks of the unbelievers, leading to hell’s fire. Many today that believe they will find themselves in heaven when the die, will be horribly disappointed:
Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. (Matt. 7:21-23)
Dear fellow child of God, unbelief is widespread and much remains to be done before our work in this world is completed. As His servants, servants of the King of kings, we have our marching orders and must return to diligent obedience. The nations, and in particular our nation, must be taught once again the meaning of obedience to the true King of this world
It is by no means an impossible task. To the contrary, it is entirely feasible and easily accomplished by even a small but faithful constituency. Those that say it is unrealistic have lost the true faith. They are serving Satan and not Christ.
Our failure thus far to obey Christ’s command has surrendered much power to the evil one. The final power, though, is not with man or with Satan but with God and we as His servants, are empowered by Him. All we need to do is obey!
The apostles could do miracles but we can do today many things that were utterly impossible for them. We have the Internet, God-given technology. a voice that can reach around the world instantly to millions or even billions of ears. We have much more than they in every respect but one. We sinfully, lack the will to serve the God that has given us the greatest gift anyone could ever receive, eternal life with Him in heaven.
What is wrong with us? Why can’t we see the obvious truth? We have allowed ourselves to be deceived, to believe a lie, the lie that takes God’s clear command to teach all the nations to obey Him, and reduces it to “tell people about Jesus.” Actually, we don’t even do this! If God’s people took God seriously and really told people about what we believe in our hearts about Jesus, the world would change.
Jesus spoke to His disciples and they took His message to the world of their day. Our responsibility, fellow believer, is to take it to our world today, a much simpler task. There were only twelve of them and are millions of us. They dedicated their lives and we do nothing or next to nothing. Why? It is because we lack true faith, the faith that God will keep His Word. When God’s so very highly blessed people begin to obey His commandment, He will surely reward that obedience.
[1] See the article “A Lost Century” on this website.