Kingdom Disciples

Paul links the bodily resurrection of believers to the New Creation. Both events are vital for our complete redemption – Romans 8:1-23. There is “ now no condemnation ” of anyone who is “ in Christ Jesus .” This happy condition exists because the “ law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set us free from the law of sin and death .” In his  Letter to the Romans , the Apostle Paul links our salvation to the inheritance of Christ and the coming  redemption of our bodies and creation itself .

The Gift of the Spirit is one of the covenant promises to bless the nations of the Earth through Abraham and his Seed . When Matthew’s Gospel declared that Jesus is the “ Son of Abraham ,” it was linking the man from Nazareth to the Abrahamic Covenant. The New Testament is filled with scriptural citations, stories, and apostolic teachings demonstrating that Jesus came to fulfill the Covenant though in many unexpected ways. He is the expected “ Seed of Abraham ” and the heir of all the Covenant’s promises, including the promise to “ bless all the nations .”

By his Death and Resurrection, Jesus formed one new covenant community - One New Man - based on faith in him – Ephesians 2:11-22. Paul is clear and uncompromising. Considering what Jesus accomplished on the Cross, no longer can there be divisions between Jews and Gentiles, “ for all you are one in Christ Jesus .” By his sacrificial death, he “ dismantled the middle wall of partition ” that separated Jews and Gentiles so “ he might reconcile them both in one body for God through the Cross .”

The Gift of the Spirit is essential to the New Covenant promised by God in the Hebrew Bible for His people . The New Testament connects the “ Promise of the Spirit ” to the “ Blessings of Abraham .” God would bless the nations through the Patriarch. The Gift of the Spirit is an integral part of the covenant promises given to Abraham, and this promise is fulfilled in the “ New Covenant ” inaugurated by the Death and Resurrection of Jesus. His sacrifice made the ancient promises of renewal and circumcised hearts a present reality.

The Spirit equips and emboldens the Church to bear witness to Jesus, especially concerning his sacrificial death and resurrection from the dead . At the start of the  Book of Acts ,  Jesus told disciples they would be “ baptized in the Holy Spirit not many days hence ,” and they would “ receive power ” enabling them to become “ My Witnesses  to the uttermost parts of the Earth .” Receiving the Spirit equipped his saints to proclaim his message and empowered them to bear witness “ with boldness ” despite opposition.

The disciples of Jesus are the heirs of Abraham. The future possession of that inheritance is secured by the Gift of the Spirit . Israel’s possession of Canaan was an earlier stage in God’s redemptive plan, which always envisioned something larger than Israel or a small plot of land in the Middle East. With the arrival of the Messiah and the outpouring of the Spirit, the covenant promises began to find their fulfillment in the true “ Seed of Abraham ,” and consequently, in his “ brethren ” and “ coheirs .”

The New Testament applies Temple language and imagery from the Hebrew Bible to the Body of Christ, the true Sanctuary of God . Apart from the contacts between Jesus and the early church with the priestly authorities, the New Testament shows minimal interest in the Temple complex in Jerusalem. More frequent are the applications of temple language to the community of believers inaugurated by Jesus and built by his Apostles. What the Temple and the Tabernacle foreshowed is coming to fruition in the “ Body of Christ .”

The jurisdiction of the Mosaic regulations over the covenant community reached its limit with the arrival of Jesus, the Seed of Abraham . In responding to claims that Gentiles must be circumcised, Paul appealed to the common experience of the Spirit received by the Galatians.  Did they receive the Gift through a “ hearing of faith ” or “ from the works of the Law ?”  Having begun in the Spirit, why did they seek the “ completion ” of their faith based on “ flesh ” by submitting to circumcision?

“Spiritual warfare” is an idea based on the Apostle Paul’s words to the Assembly in Ephesus - “ Our wrestling is not against flesh and blood but against the principalities and powers… against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places .” So, how do believers wage war against these unseen forces of darkness?

After completing his sermon, Peter summoned his audience to repent and be baptized “ in the name of Jesus Christ .” However, something more than just a call to accept the Gospel was transpiring in the passage. He concluded his sermon on a note of fulfillment and with a foretaste of things to come. It began with a citation from the Book of Joel , and it finished with a clause from the same passage, thus neatly bracketing the message.

Jesus is the Anointed Son of God, and from the start, his life was characterized by the empowering presence of the Spirit .  When  an angel  informed  Joseph that  the child carried by   Mary was  “ conceived   of the Holy Spirit ,” it indicated that something more than just a miraculous birth was about to unfold. From the beginning, the activity of the Spirit dominated the life of Jesus of Nazareth.  He was “ Jesus, the one called Christ ,” the “ Anointed One ,” the long-awaited Messiah of Israel.

The Apostle Paul referred to the “ Promise of the Spirit ” which he equated with the “ Blessing of Abraham .” Jesus subjected himself to the “ curse ” of the Law to redeem believers so that the “ Blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ, that we might receive the Promise of the Spirit through faith .” He wrote elsewhere that believers were “ sealed with the Holy Spirit of Promise, the earnest of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased possession .”

Jesus first appears in the Gospel of Mark when John baptizes him in the Jordan River. The account identifies him with his hometown, Nazareth, a village of no consequence, though its insignificance plays a role in the story. He is the “ Servant of the LORD ” anointed by the Spirit who does not conform to popular expectations about the Messiah.

John proclaimed a baptism in water “ for the remission of sins ,” and he announced the arrival of the “ Coming One .” He was sent as the Forerunner of the Messiah as promised in the  Book of Isaiah  - “ Behold, I send my messenger before your face… The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare the way of the Lord .” Moreover, he was the promised King of Israel who would baptize his people “ in Spirit and Fire .”

The Gift of the Spirit is part of the New Covenant. It is the first fruits of the New Creation and the gathering of the nations . The history of Israel includes national sins that caused her expulsion from the Land of Canaan. God foresaw her failures and determined to institute a new covenant  energized and characterized by His Spirit . It would include the salvation of the nations and culminate in the “ New Heavens and the New Earth .” With the outpouring of the Spirit on Pentecost, the Age of the Spirit commenced in earnest.

The history of Israel includes national sins that resulted in her expulsion from the Promised Land. However, God foresaw her failures and determined eons ago to institute a  New Covenant  that would be energized and characterized by His Spirit, and a people,  singular , that would include the Gentile nations. This covenant would culminate in the resurrection of the righteous dead and the arrival of the “ New Heavens and the New Earth .”

Jesus revealed the proper form and location for worshipping the Father to a woman in Samaria. With the advent of the Messiah, concepts and traditions about holy space and holy time have become irrelevant. The presence of the Messiah rendered the historical debate over the location of the Temple moot. From now on, the worship of God must be performed  in truth and spirit .

The New Testament links the “ Promise of the Spirit ” to the “ Blessings of Abraham ,” the promise that God would bless the nations through the Great Patriarch. The Spirit is the gift believers receive “ through the hearing of faith .” It is part of the covenant promises given to Abraham, and Peter connected this gift to the “ blessings ” for the nations during his sermon on the Day of Pentecost.

Overused by both the Church and the surrounding society, the English term ‘spiritual’ has become meaningless. To some people, it is synonymous with the word religion . To be religious is to be spiritual . To others, it refers to things that are not of this physical universe, things and beings that are supernatural, otherworldly, noncorporeal, invisible, and timeless.

Israel’s possession of Canaan was an earlier stage in God’s redemptive plan, which always envisioned something larger than Israel or a small plot of land in the Middle East. With the arrival of the Messiah and the outpouring of the Spirit, the covenant promises began to find their fulfillment in the true “ Seed of Abraham ,” and in his “ brethren ” and “ coheirs ,” the promised inheritance that would include bodily resurrection and New Creation.