Should the Church Major on Prediction or Proclamation?

The Ascension of Jesus into heaven provided the disciples and the church with major insight.

As Jesus ministered to His followers during the forty days of His resurrection, He spoke to them about the kingdom of God and the Holy Spirit. He told them to wait. Their waiting provided amazing insights into who He was and who they were to be. He told them about the promised Holy Spirit (Acts 1:3-5).

During this time, they asked many questions. One of those most significant had to with the nation Israel and its restoration. They wanted to know if He at that time would restore the kingdom of Israel. The question contained a number of flaws. They emphasized an earthly kingdom which would be equated with Israel. They assumed Jesus would immediately act to restore Israel.

Jesus told them what not to do and then He told them what they must do.

First, He affirmed that the church does not have a ministry of prediction.  “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has fixed by his own authority” (Acts 1:7). To get into times and seasons, means that you are attempting to take over the place of God. Only the Father knows the time of the return of Christ. Christ will return (Acts 1:11), but it will be by the Father’s initiative and will.

When the church predicts, it often does not proclaim. Prediction becomes the emphasis instead of the proclamation of the Word. Much prophecy contains prediction but prediction for the sake of prediction does not lead to the strong proclamation of the Word.

Second, Jesus emphasized that the church must be witnesses of what it has seen and heard. The work of the church will always be to point to the work of Christ on the cross. “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8). Notice the concentric circles of concern. Begin where you are and go to the hard places (like Samaria) and to the very end of the earth.

Proclamation must be the ministry of the church. God’s work and purpose for all the people of the earth must be known.

We can never really be in the will of God until we are actively involved in the enterprise to take Christ to the nations. We must faithfully proclaim His truth.

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