Daily Devotion
The Kingdom and its Witnesses
Created: Tuesday, 31 July 2018 18:40
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SCRIPTURE:
ACTS 1:6-8
The Jews were always vividly conscious of being God's chosen people. They took that to mean that they were destined for special privilege and for worldwide dominion. The whole course of their history proved that humanly speaking, that could never be. Israel was a little country not more than 120 miles long by 40 miles wide. It had its days of independence, but it had become subject, in turn, to the Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, and Romans. So, the Jews began to look forward to a day when God would break directly into human history and establish that world sovereignty of which they dreamed. They conceived of the kingdom in political terms.
How did Jesus conceive it to be? Let us look at the Lord's Prayer. In it, there are two petitions side by side. "Thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." It is characteristic of Hebrew style to say things in two parallel forms; the second repeats or amplifies the first. That is what these two petitions do. The second is a definition of the first. Therefore, we see that by the kingdom Jesus means a society upon earth where the will of God would be as perfect as it is in heaven. Because of that, it would be a kingdom founded on love and not on power.
To attain to that, men needed the Holy Spirit. Twice already Luke has talked about waiting for the coming of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit didn't just come into existence now. He always existed as God is eternally Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, but there came a special time to men when they experienced to the full that power that had always been present. The power of the Holy Spirit was going to make them Jesus' witnesses. That witness was to operate in an ever-extending series first in Jerusalem, then throughout Judea, then Samaria and finally this witness was to go out to the ends of the earth. The real witness is not of words but of deeds.
In the Greek, the word for witness and the word for martyr is the same (martus). A witness had to be ready to become a martyr.
Life Application: Have you received the infilling of the Holy Spirit? If not, you can and should. Just ask the Father for this experience. What a difference it will make in your life.
Praise/Prayer: My dear Father, I am so thankful that as a young man I received the infilling of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit has been my companion and guide. We have traveled in many countries of the world, and I have always felt His presence with me. I pray, Father if there is anyone reading this who has not received the infilling of the Holy Spirit that they will take time now to be filled with the wonderful third Person on the Holy Trinity. Amen!
