Jesus said, “The Time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand, repent, and believe in the Gospel.” *
By that He meant that He had, after 4000 years of God’s preparation, come to establish His rule in Satan’s realm on the earth. His obedience to the Father would make it possible, and the message which conveyed that would be called The Gospel, the Good News that God’s way is better than Satan’s and it would be available to “whosever will.”
Man has a free will, meaning that we can choose our god, so that logically required his turning from his present life-source to the new one, which we call repentance.
The Gospel was much greater than simply making a way for man to escape hell when he died. It established a place for us to experience the very Life that we were created for, while still on the earth helping God build His Kingdom as we await our final reward.
TIMES
Each Time (a period of time with a specific purpose) is a special Time because history was composed of many specific initiatives of God as He moved His creation toward the end of time. Our time is as much a Time in God’s plan as 2000 years ago was.
Many Christians are so busy focusing on the world that they miss the grand vision of what God is doing in our Time as He prepares the world, and the Church, for End-Time events. This will include a Great Harvest that will require the painful purifying of the Church.
Many American Christians live in our tiny individualistic “world” which we try to shape to our own selfish liking. We know little, and care little, of the persecuted, powerful, and growing Church that Jesus is building around the world in our Time.
Many miss this sense of our Time and will continue to – and don’t even seem to care. They may go to church, but they show little evidence to having believed in the Gospel or having repented. Those who dare to question their religious shenanigans are charged with disturbing the peace and are vulnerable to being banished.
Hebrews 3:12-19 https://biblia.com/bible/esv/hebrews/3/12-19 shouts to us, as does Proverbs 1:20-33 https://biblia.com/bible/esv/proverbs/1/20-33
This matters.
*Mark 1:15 nasb
Ken Stoltzfus
Kidron, Ohio USA
June 10, 2022
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