As John, one of the apostles, wrote toward the end of the apostolic age, “Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father” (1 John 2:24).
Today, if we go back to the teaching of the apostles and use that as our template, the congregations that you and I worship with will resemble congregations in the New Testament in the very same ways that those congregations resembled one another.
God can’t be other than what He is. He couldn’t reconcile Himself to us in simply any way that “felt good” to Him; it would have to be in a way consistent with His divine attributes, which are fixed and very definite: hence, “the Way” (Acts 9:1,2).
God’s people “bear” His name. In a sense, God has put His reputation in the hands of those who are “a people for his name.” Knowing that the world is watching, we live so as to reflect favorably on God’s character and His power (Matthew 5:13-16).
“I will be their God” had reference in the old covenant to Israel, but in the new it would encompass people from every nation. And amazingly, even this had been anticipated in the Jewish prophecies of the Messiah’s reign, like Daniel 7:13,14.
Reconciliation can only be through the atonement of God’s Son, Jesus Christ. But in Christ, let us not undervalue what it’s possible for us to be: a people set aside for God to possess. There is no higher privilege than to be a part of this people.
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The truth is, we can’t help ourselves where we need help the most. Yes, we can “science” our way out of some of life’s lesser problems, but the potential of ...
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Are we willing to accept God in general matters like love and faith, but when it comes to His instructions in the Scriptures about how these principles are to be ...