Resurrection Life of Jesus Church

INTRODUCTION
There is no clear-cut doctrine laid out in the New Testament. Take salvation as an example. Jesus brings it up in His conversation with Nicodemus, but provides no further information than humanity must be born again. There are tidbits spread out across the New Testament, but no specific book and chapter explains it in detail.

The four Gospels inform us what Jesus did and taught His disciples. The Book of Acts is a running and limited timeline of the early church, the epistles are instructions for the independent churches and individuals, and the Book of Revelation reveals the future.

Luke’s introduction to the Book of Acts makes it clear that Jesus is ruling from heaven through the Holy Spirit.

“The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach,

Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen.” (Acts 1:1-2)

DEVELOPMENT OF MANKIND
For about 30 years after Jesus’ ascension, there was no written doctrine until the Gospels and epistles were composed. Unlike modern projects or products with clear instructions, the Bible provides scattered information without a clear timeline.

Things do not make sense unless we go back to the beginning and examine historical events of creation and what took place with mankind leading up to the crucifixion of Jesus.

• Adam received instructions from God of what to do and what not to do that he passed on to Eve.

• It turned into a free-for-all after the fall of man until it got so bad that God flooded the earth and exterminated humanity with the exception of eight individuals.

• This led to Noah receiving instructions from God with specific parameters on how to build the ark.

• The Tower of Babel caused God to scatter humans around the earth.

• Abraham was the next man to receive instructions from God.

◦ Isaac was a caretaker and did not accomplish much.
◦ Jacob was initially a rascal, but then he turned his life around. He fathered twelve sons; most of them were not nice, and they became the founders of the twelve tribes of Israel.

• Joseph was instructed a famine was coming and how to prepare for it.

• Moses was instructed by God about approaching Pharaoh and leading the Israelites to the Promised Land.

• Various men were activated by God to serve as prophets in the Old Testament. The messages they received were for the current time, the future, and even about the coming Messiah.

Then Jesus was incarnated and lived among humanity for thirty-three years. Why did He fail to set up clear instructions for the church? Why did He not stay longer?

The early church was born in fire on the Day of Pentecost, but it was rocky and struggled without Jesus being present.

“Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;

To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.” (Romans 3:25-26)

To whom is God the Father proving his righteousness? The Book of Revelation tells us that there was a war in heaven involving holy and unholy angels.¹ Lucifer’s side lost and he was sentenced to the Lake of Fire, and in his appeal, he accused God of being unrighteous for the harsh punishment of casting His creatures into everlasting torment.

This created a doubt within the angels, hence the reason for Paul’s wording, it is justification – to the angels and humanity – of God’s actions.

Jesus could have confronted the Sanhedrin after the resurrection and killed the ungodly renegades. Most importantly, He could have set up the church, organized it, and written all the doctrine.

However, Lucifer would have objected to such an action for the following reasons:

1. You are God.
2. You died for the sins of humanity.
3. You are resurrected, proving that death has no hold over you.
4. You’ve got all the power; you’re the Creator.
5. I cannot compete with you.

Jesus had to allow men and women to develop the church so that Lucifer could oppose it with a chance at winning.

The Son of God sent an angel to Cornelius, a Roman officer that believed in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, with the instructions that he send for Peter in Joppa and he will tell you what you need to know.

Did that angel know the Gospel? Yes, he did. He was aware that Jesus died on the cross and was subsequently resurrected three days later. This angel could have told Cornelius directly. Why did he hold back? Why involve Peter?

The answer lies in the fact that angels are not allowed to preach the Gospel because Lucifer cannot tempt them and therefore cannot derail them. This is why the propagation of the Gospel must occur with vulnerable men and women. We try to serve God and do what is right, but we are weak and the Devil comes after us.

Church history reveals that the apostle James was killed first. Stephen was next. Persecution was rampant and thousands were killed in the Roman Coliseum and other venues for sport. The blood flowed for 300 years as Lucifer threw everything at the early church in an effort to stamp it out. The only friend of the fledging church was the Holy Spirit.

JESUS AND THE HOLY SPIRIT
Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit, not just to the early church, but to us as well thousands of years later. This promise was exclusive to believers in Christ.

“If ye love me, keep my commandments.

And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;

Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. (John 14:15-17)

Even though He was ascended and sitting at the right hand of God the Father, Jesus would nevertheless come to us through the Holy Spirit.

I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.” (John 14:18)

Jesus is the redeemer of mankind, but it is the role of the Holy Spirit to draw people to Christ, enabling them to repent and believe in the God-man as the Messiah

“No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him…
And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father.” (John 6:44a, 65)

THE GOSPEL PLAN
The four Gospels reveal the Son of God was incarnated to redeem mankind on the cross, reinforce spiritual principles, and even lay down some new ones. This plan predated the Garden of Eden and even the angels. It dates so far back that we can only refer to it as “eternity past.”

“And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” (Revelation 13:8)

The angels – holy and unholy – were ignorant of this plan that was only known to the Godhead.

“But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory:

Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.” (1 Corinthians 2:7-8)

It was necessary – according the plan formulated by the Godhead – for Jesus to do His part and then the Holy Spirit would replace Him on earth. That is why the God-man stated He needed to leave, so the next phase of the plan could go into effect.

“Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.” (John 16:7)

When Jesus was on earth as the God-man, He could only be in one place at a time. The Holy Spirit is omnipresent; the third person of the Godhead is present in heaven, the entire universe, and on the earth simultaneously. Even more remarkable, He is also able to live concurrently inside each believer in Christ.

APOSTLES NOT READY
The four Gospels are full of Jesus’ teachings, many of them privately to His disciples, but even so, there was yet more the Son of God wanted to impart, but He knew they were not ready and this is why the God-man limited His teachings to general spiritual truths.

“I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.” (John 16:12)

The disciples were driven by an overwhelming Kabbalistic doctrine that was reinforced in the synagogue system:

• A militant Messiah to drive out the Romans.
• Israel restored to its golden age as it was with King Solomon.
• For the Jews to rule the world and subjugate the Gentiles.

This mindset is brought out in their questioning following the resurrection.

“When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6)

SPIRIT OF TRUTH
Jesus referred to the third person of the Godhead as the “Spirit of truth” who would reveal what the church needed to know. The Holy Spirit would prove to be the best friend of the early church and down through the ages.

“Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.

He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.” (John 16:13-14)

The Holy Spirit dictated the doctrine of the early church – when allowed – and sometimes the apostles created their own doctrine out of prejudice based upon the Talmud.

Case in point? Their limited fulfillment of the great commission. The early church was Jewish and their preaching only targeted Jews because they saw no value in the Gentiles.

It took divine intervention by Jesus through the Holy Spirit to reverse this discriminatory trend and open the eyes of the apostles that Gentiles had just as much value as Jews in God’s eyes. Acts 10:1-48; 11:1-18

The irony is that the council in Jerusalem failed to convey the Mosaic law to the Gentiles – omitting the sacrificial part of the law fulfilled by Jesus – and instead gave them neutered instructions such as abstaining from pollutions of idols, fornication, things strangled, and from blood. Acts 15:19-20; 28-29

As I stated earlier, Luke’s introduction to the Book of Acts makes it clear that Jesus is ruling from heaven through the Holy Spirit.

“The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach,

Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen.” (Acts 1:1-2)

It must have been frustrating for Jesus, trying to get His church of redeemed sinners to line up with the program of the Godhead.

SUMMARY
The Holy Spirit ensured the writings of the apostles and other writers were compiled into what we call today the New Testament. The doctrine is not written in chronological order, nevertheless, everything you need has been recorded in the sixty-six books of the Bible.

The goal of this message was to make it easy for you to understand who Jesus is and the role which the Holy Spirit plays in the New Testament after the ascension of Jesus.

¹ Revelation 12:8-9