Word of Salvation – Vol. 46 No.16 – April 2001

 

Christ’s Rule From Heaven

 

Sermon by Rev MP Geluk

on Lord’s Day 19A (Q&A 50-51 Heid Cat)

Scripture Readings: Psalm 113; Revelation 12

Suggested Hymns: BoW 72b; 520; 515:1,2,3; 68:9

 

Beloved in the Lord.

The ascension of Christ into heaven closed off the earthly part of His work as Saviour and it marked the beginning of His work as Saviour from heaven.  Christ’s ascension is really His coronation.  God the Father crowned Him with honour and glory.  From heaven Christ now rules over the whole earth to enable the church to preach the gospel and call sinners everywhere to faith and repentance.

To do this work Christ equipped the church with the Holy Spirit.  With Lord’s Day 19 (Q/A 50 & 51) we now want to hear what God’s Word has to say about:
CHRIST’S RULE FROM HEAVEN.

1.  The Opposition Activated by Christ’s Rule

Nothing much happened during the ten days between Christ’s ascension and the outpouring of the Spirit on Pentecost day.  The disciples spent their time in prayer, they replaced Judas with Matthias, and were left alone by the authorities.  But when the Spirit came, the church increased in size dramatically.  About three thousand converts were added.

The believers began to study the apostles’ teachings and church members shared each other’s possessions so that no one went needy.

Things went along nicely.  God was praised.  There was peace.  New members were being added daily to the church.  Peter and John preached about the Lord Jesus and His resurrection to people at the temple.

The Lord also used these two apostles to heal a cripple.  That caused the beginning of opposition.  Jewish leaders, many of whom had worked hard to have Jesus crucified, arrested Peter and John.  They were very upset that Peter and John were proclaiming the resurrection of Jesus from the dead and that they had invoked the name of Jesus when they told the cripple to stand up and walk.

They also questioned the man who was no longer a cripple, and these Jewish leaders could not deny that a miracle had taken place.  Worse still, they noted that Peter and John had been with Jesus before He died and now had to admit that Jesus was back in the work and teaching of these ordinary and unschooled men (Acts 4:1ff).

After questioning, these leaders had to let Peter and John go because a lot of people were praising God for what had happened.  But from then on things got worse for the church.  Opposition against Christians increased.  Yet, the believers never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Christ (Acts 5:42).  Sinners were converted and the church kept on growing.  Even a large number of priests became obedient to the faith (Acts 6:7).  It was all wonderful.

It was also at this time that Stephen was elected, along with six others, to supervise the food distribution to the widows in the church.  As you know, Stephen became the first martyr of the New Testament church.  A martyr is someone who is killed because of what he believes.

Stephen, being full of God’s grace and power, had irritated the same religious leaders whom Peter and John had upset earlier.  But what really happened was this: the ascended Jesus in heaven was doing great wonders and miraculous signs among the people through men like Peter, John and Stephen (Acts 6:8).  The cause, therefore, of the anger of these leaders was really Jesus.

Soon after Stephen’s arrest the Jewish council gave him permission to defend himself and he spoke for a long time about God’s dealings with His people, Israel.  It was a beautiful summary of Old Testament history.  You can read it in Acts 7.  Stephen’s closing words accused these leaders of being stubborn and always resisting the Holy Spirit.  And worst of all, Stephen said they were responsible for Jesus’ death.  He said all this fearlessly, without consideration for his own safety.

The Jewish leaders were furious with Stephen but, he, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.  “Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God” (Acts 7:56).  Stephen’s words were regarded as blasphemy and his accusers covered their ears.

They began yelling and screaming at Stephen.  With deep hatred in their eyes they dragged him outside the city and began stoning him.  While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”  Then he fell on his knees and cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them” (7:59,60).  Then he died.  And standing there, giving approval to his death was a man named Saul, of Tarsus.

Stephen’s testimony and subsequent death triggered a great persecution against the Christians in Jerusalem and they had to scatter for their lives.  They fled into the countryside of Judea and some went as far as Samaria.  But Saul began a systematic purge of Christians.  He hunted them down and dragged Christian men and women off to prison (8:1-3).

Yet, in spite of such fierce persecution, Christ ruled from heaven and enabled the church to grow from a few believers to several thousand.  The church was doing what Jesus told it to do, witnessing and proclaiming the gospel.  At first it was all happening in Jerusalem.  But the Lord had also mentioned Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the world.

The church hadn’t got to that yet.  The Lord, therefore, used the persecution of the church in Jerusalem to scatter the believers to Judea and Samaria.  They took their faith with them of course, and that’s how the church spread.  It’s not easy to have to live with opposition and persecution, but Jesus comforted them by saying that all authority in heaven and earth had been given to Him and He would enable the believers to be faithful even to death.  The Lord will also protect the church to the close of the age.

Stephen had seen something of Jesus’ authority when he saw the Lord in heaven standing at the right hand of God.  It’s a place and position of power and authority.  It underlines what we are saying in this sermon – Christ ruling from heaven for the sake of the church.  That rule is not without difficulty for the church on earth.  The church making disciples, winning converts, having people turn away from sin and pagan beliefs to the living Christ and becoming obedient to Him, stirs up opposition.  Before it could catch its breadth, the church was embroiled in a holy war.  Christ’s rule from heaven activated opposition.

Now what were the Christians then, and what are Christians now, to make of such opposition and persecution?  With that happening, can we still speak of a rule by Christ from heaven?

2.  The Extent of Christ’s Rule

When Jesus ascended to heaven He stepped into the control room and God the Father began His reign on earth through the Son.  But how do we see this reign?  There is still so much crookedness in the world.  That causes some Christians to doubt the effectiveness of Christ’s rule.  There are even those who openly deny that Jesus is on the throne now.  They think it is a future thing.  They believe the devil is running the show at the moment.

In the face of these doubts and denials about Jesus’ rule, it is always helpful to try and see the big picture.  When you only look at what’s happening on a daily basis, then you can’t see the wood for the trees.  Revelation 12 gives us the big picture.  There are three main characters involved.  First, there’s an enormous dragon, which is Satan.  Second, there’s a pregnant woman, and she represent God’s people Israel in Old Testament times.  And third, there is the child born from the pregnant woman and He is the Christ.

As you know, God promised Christ very early in history, almost straight after the fall into sin.  According to His human nature, Christ came from the Old Testament church.  She brought forth the Christ and that’s why she was pregnant.  Satan was well aware that God was bringing Christ into the world to defeat him and break his power.  So, like a ferocious dragon, he threatened the pregnant women, ready to devour the Christ-child as soon as it was born.

Thus, it was the devil who caused king Herod to kill all the male children in Bethlehem, hoping the Holy Child was among them.  But God made Joseph and Mary escape to Egypt with the Christ-child and Satan missed out.  God was protecting Christ.

Christ grew up and brought the kingdom of God on earth in Israel and proclaimed the good news of salvation.  He finally died on the cross to pay for the sin of all the elect and rose from the dead to give those who believe eternal life.  Then Christ ascended to heaven, and from there He began to extend His rule over all the earth and told the church to go to the ends of the earth with the gospel and make disciples.

Not being able to destroy the Christ, the dragon then turned all his fury on the church left behind in the world.  And that’s what we see with the persecution described in the book of Acts.  Behind the Jewish leaders was the mind and influence of Satan.  That’s what we still see when the teaching and influence of the Christian faith is opposed and Christians are resisted and persecuted.

But having been reminded of the pig picture, to what extent, then, does Christ rule?  Well, the Bible repeatedly makes the claim that Christ rules over all earthly powers for the sake of the church.  Not just earthly powers that do not stand in the way of God’s kingdom but also over those who do.

From the Old Testament it is very obvious that God ruled over the world’s pagan kings and dictators in order to fulfil His will for His people.  Pharaoh of Egypt could not stop Israel’s exodus under Moses.  Cyrus of Persia was chosen by God to made decisions that allowed the return of the Jews to their home country in the time of Ezra and Nehemiah.  The early church in New Testament times suffered persecution, but Christ the Ruler caused the anti-Christian Roman Empire to become pro-Christian.

For the sake of His church on earth, Christ rules over every earthly power.  We, of course, see rulers and governments do their own thing.  They make decisions.  And Christ will hold them accountable.  But in the overall scheme of things Christ rules them so that His will for the church on earth is done.

And not just earthly powers but also spiritual powers.  These are the forces of darkness and, although invisible, they are very real.  They are the powers behind the earthly ones.  For example, why do some governments make laws favouring abortion and euthanasia?  Why do some rulers exploit the poor and the weak?  Why do some torture and abuse their own people?  Why do some sections of the church favour practices that blatantly contradict the teaching of the Bible?  The only explanation is the devil’s influence, the forces of darkness.

But somehow Christ rules over all these earthly and spiritual powers and continues to use the church’s preaching of the gospel, and the Christian living of the saved, to bring about the salvation of the elect.  They are brought to faith, gathered into the church, and when their earthly life ends, they are taken up to heaven to be with Christ.  How long this whole process will take, no one knows except the Father.  Only He knows the number of the elect.  Many may still have to be born.  But once they have all been called and saved then the end will come.  Christ will return to establish the new earth, and Satan and all evil will be completely overthrown, and paradise will have returned.

Until that time, Christ rules.  And He will fight and overcome every kind of evil force that tries to prevent God from fulfilling His plan of salvation.  Satan’s doom is sure.  Jesus’ cross and resurrection have already broken his power.  The devil still fights on but he does not have a free hand.  He is like a dog on a chain.  He has some freedom but is yet bound.  The fact that the church is there in the world indicates that Satan is not free to do as he pleases.

In the meantime, Christians must continue to serve Christ the King.  In His rule from heaven for the sake of the church, Christ uses the saved.  The Catechism says in Answer 51 that Christ pours out His gifts from heaven upon us, His members.  The Catechism, like Scripture, uses the idea of a body.  Christ is the Head and He is in heaven.  He is the brains behind everything the body does.  The body has arms and legs – it can do things.  But they need the head to think about what has to be done.  The head sends messages to the rest of the body to do things.  So whatever part we have been given in the body of Christ, He, the Head, is motivating us and guiding us in the doing of whatever Christ wants done.

Are we, therefore, willing members of Christ the Head?  Are we obedient to the calling He has given us?  There are many gifts.  They are all described in the New Testament.  And there is not one area where Christ does not want to rule.  Together, Christ’s church and kingdom cover all of life.  And we are His arms and legs.

3.  The Blessings of Christ’s Rule

For one thing, it does not exclude suffering and death.  Sometimes the Lord delivers His church from persecution, sometimes He does not.  There are times where we will clearly see the Lord’s intervention but at other times it does not seem to happen.  So we very much have to live by faith.  The Bible tells us that Christ rules from heaven for the sake of the church’s well-being on earth.  We’d better keep on believing that, even in times and situations when we can’t see it.

Look again at the early church.  Saul was there approving of Stephen’s death.  And then he put Christians in prison.  He probably was the cause of death for a number of believers.  Christians feared him.  Many would have prayed, “Lord, please stop this Saul.  He is a terrible man.”  The Lord stopped him all right.  He turned Saul into a Christian and then made him the apostle to the Gentiles.  We may pray for deliverance but we must also say, “your will be done.”  As it turned out, Christ’s will for Paul was to make him a great blessing to the church.

Paul is a classic example of Christ ruling from heaven for the sake of His church on earth.  And look how impotent it made Satan.  Before his conversion Paul was his number one henchman.  When Christ said it was enough, then Paul was made helpless.  Blind and frightened he staggered into Damascus.

Christ told Ananias to go and tell him what the Lord had in store for Paul.  Ananias wasn’t too sure about all this.  “Lord, he said, this man is evil.”  But Christ had Satan’s hatchet man singled out to be His chosen instrument to carry His name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel (Acts 9:16).  Yes, Paul is a wonderful example of Christ’s power.

If we don’t believe in Christ’s rule, then we will never see it.  If we are going to go only by what we see outwardly, then we will have faith only when Christ shows His hand but we’ll despair and doubt when Christ holds back.  There are many cases in the New Testament where there is suffering, hardship, persecution, and trials of all kinds, even death.  Read the last section of Hebrews 11, it speaks of believers not being delivered, not being rescued.  Yet, they hung on to God in faith and trusted that Christ knew what He is doing.  Our faith must never rest on visible proofs of Christ’s reign.  We must simply go by His Word and trust that Christ in His own way will save His whole church and that every elect person will be with Him on the new earth.

Personal peace and happiness are, of course, very pleasant and they make life nice and easy.  We may even pray for peace and happiness.  Then many good things can be done to establish the church and kingdom.  It was like that for a while in the early New Testament church.  And we have it still in Australia.

Churches can be built.  Christian schools erected.  Christian retirement villages receive government accreditation and financial support.  Other outward and visible things can be done.  We can talk to people about Christ, put Christian tracts in letterboxes.  We can have a Christian witness in government.  Wonderful.  A nation may even become Christian.

But Christ never guarantied these outward blessings.  Many times the church had to go underground.  It has happened in communist countries and now in countries under the control of Muslim fundamentalism.  But somehow the church survives.  In fact, persecution has even made the church healthier and stronger in faith.  Yes, Christ’s reign is often mysterious, but He is King and does what is best for His church and for every individual member of it.

Have you ever experienced opposition because you are a Christian?  Have you ever experienced people’s ridicule because you live Christianly?  I am not talking about Christians needlessly causing opposition by ticking others off in a confrontational way, or making it very obvious in an arrogant manner that Christians don’t do the sinful things the world does.  No, I am talking about normal Christian living, quietly obeying God’s commandments and loving Him and the neighbour.

If the people we are with a lot of the time have never noticed that the Lord is our King, have never become aware that He has put His stamp on us, cannot see any evidence in us that He has shaped the way we are and the way we live, then we might be closet Christians.  You know, of course, that closet drinkers are people who drink secretly.  They don’t want to be found out.  Similarly, a closet Christian keeps his faith and trust in God a secret.  If that’s what you’re doing, then you should stop with it.  You are protecting yourself.  You are afraid that others may shun or ruin you if they were to find out that you are Christian.

Have you seen the glory of Christ the King?  You have if you read the Bible because it is full of events that glorify Christ.  Well, then, do not be afraid to confess Him as Lord.  He is the Lord of lords and the King of kings, and at the end of the age it will only be His kingdom that stands.  All others will have fallen by the wayside.

Now your King and Lord has given you faith, eternal life and the Holy Spirit, and many more gifts.  He wants you and I to be His troops in the world, His fighting machine, His witnesses.  But He doesn’t want us to despise the enemy.  The Lord wants us to love those who hate Him.  He wants those who oppose Him to repent and change sides.  Remember what Christ did with Paul when he was still persecuting the church?  He didn’t kill him the first time Paul made a Christian suffer.  No, Christ won him over and changed his heart.

Don’t despise people who don’t like you because you are a Christian.  Be gentle and peace-loving.  Be firm in your commitment to Christ and don’t compromise where you mustn’t.  A Christ-like attitude might even make people dislike you more.  But that is already a sign that Satan is getting worried that he might lose another to Christ’s kingdom.  Pray for those who are lost.  Many have been won over to Christ by the godly behaviour of Christians.

So under Christ’s rule we see blessings when Christ’s light shines in the darkness and overcomes it.  We see it when sinners switched sides from Satan to Christ.  We see it when men leave off their evil deeds, repent of them and begin doing things that glorify God.  We see it when they start loving their neighbour and doing things for others that promote their well-being.  Yes, we see it, when people start growing in Christ.

But the blessings of Christ’s reign were not meant to give us a trouble-free run through life.  Their purpose is to glorify God.  Yet, if we, somewhere in that transformation of people, experience trouble and hardship, then we also look to Christ.  For He is our King and will defend and keep us.

Amen.