We, the Christians, are called for declaring the name of the God of heaven and earth among our brethren. This is imitating Christ. In the present conditions it is of utmost necessity. Many have begun calling themselves Christians, although they do not have the crucial and the full knowledge of God. We are called to display them. We ought to do them by the works and words that are of His will. Christ Jesus our Lord came for this purpose “saying, ‘I WILL PROCLAIM YOUR NAME TO MY BRETHREN, IN THE MIDST OF THE CONGREGATION I WILL SING YOUR PRAISE’” (Heb. 2:12).
Jesus did not think of fulfilling His word to God apart from His will. Everything He did was by that which He received from Him. He taught His people and did works for them that they may see the life God offered in Him. This life was salvation from death and fear which provided confidence to live out their life successfully for God. Jesus began His ministry among His brethren. For this reason, God long ago chose the nation of Israel through Abraham. The question ‘why did God choose Abraham or Israel only?’ often arises in the Christian fraternity. It is so that Christ would have a people with His knowledge for the life He planned to offer all men. And Jesus came to His brethren to give life so that through them it is brought into all the nations. After the sin of Adam God had to begin somewhere to restore people to Him and He planned it perfectly when He found Abraham’s heart as favorable.
It was the condition of mankind that prompted God to take such an earnest step. So, Christ first proclaimed Him to the people He chose with all the power He availed Him. Even so we are called today to proclaim Him among our brethren. By it alone there is hope of life for them and to the world. For God through Christ chose you and me for it because of the condition they are in. He has called men for it before and continues to do so and we are of the called that serve Him by His calling. The gospel can reach the dying world only when the crucial and the full knowledge of God are in His congregation. This is possible when a person of God fulfills his calling, even as Jesus Christ. As it was the unmatched wisdom of God to send Christ at the right time to proclaim Him, it is the same when He called us through Him for it. So, let us rejoice in His calling. To proclaim the God with the highest authority is much more than serving any other power on this earth. All authorities are under Him. Faith in this truth removes all fear and fills us with confidence to imitate Christ. Then, we will bring many of our brethren to the knowledge of God. They will have life and will sow it among many others. They will have realized that the crucial and full knowledge of God is in obtaining His power and righteousness. For the apostle John in the Spirit said, “Then I heard a loud voice from the temple, saying to the seven angels, ‘Go and pour out on the earth the seven bowls of the wrath of God’” (Rev. 16:1).
There will come a time when that loud voice from the temple will have its fulfillment. Hence, Christ came into the midst of His brethren to proclaim God according to the word He gave Him. As His followers we are called to do the same among the brethren whom God gave us. God will exercise His power and righteousness when the time of His judgment appears. Those that continually denied them will be denied by Him at that time. But thanks be to God for giving us life in Christ that we enter heaven. For in saving us He has shown unfathomable love toward us. He demonstrated it by sending Christ to His brethren. Now, by His work through whom He chose, each one of us has become a representative of Christ for His sake to bring life into as many people as possible. Our life has been molded by Him to do exactly as He willed. He has already prepared every provision necessary to proclaim Him, that is, both the heavenly and the earthly, as He did for men like Paul. They were fittingly supplied with them and they faithfully represented Christ on the earth, saying, “But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised” (1 Cor. 15:13).
It was to the church that Paul was giving an explanation to the hope of life laid up for them in heaven. Some of them having paid no attention to the truth laid aside the crucial knowledge of Christ appearing among His brethren. It was His resurrection from the dead that makes us all alive with Him in the heavenly places. For His resurrection is the sign of the matchless power God owns. What does that power signify? That all things are possible for God; there is nothing that man can say He is unable to do. He gives life and takes it away; He is able to provide, do and create causing everything for His name sake. Christ Jesus, who had this knowledge, trusted Him to proclaim Him. Now, none of us have seen the Christ resurrected from the dead, except the blessed few. Yet, we who believed He did rise from the dead are blessed the same. Then, this belief ought to be sated with the power of God. This is the crucial knowledge of God. But, many churches have not yet come to it. What does it say? Their belief has not come to the point of possessing God’s power and righteousness that reveal His knowledge to perform and provide life. It was the same in the case of Israel who did not arrive to it by faith through the Law. Christ came to them to proclaim God; many believed. And we too are called to do the same. We may not impress the life which God supplies in Christ upon all. Neither did Christ nor the apostles. But we, like them, will save more than we may have imagined.
One thing is certain. God desires to use us for His name. It may not be right away. And our destiny to work for Him depends on the life we live for Him. Not all will have same works and same effects, but every effect will have a substantial impact for God’s name. For it is one God working in all for the giving of life to all. Some of us will be a channel for an unimaginable effect. Remember the parents of John the Baptist. “They were both righteous in the sight of God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and requirements of the Lord” (Luke 1:6). They were old and childless. Yet, they neither quit walking blamelessly before the Lord nor did God fail in His power to use them for His purpose. They knew they were missing the one blessing that all the married desire. Surely, they knew of Abraham and Sarah and how they bore a son in their old age. They must have trusted God to strengthen them for it. Yet, the only thing we read regarding them is they walked blamelessly before Him. (Walking blamelessly before Him is the outlay of those with God’s purpose or vision for His name). They knew God as one who is able to perform the unthinkable and waited on Him. Though they did not know when it is to be, by being blameless and believing in the promises and the works of God, they became the channel for an unimaginable effect, John the Baptist.
Listen, we are all called for producing an unimaginable effect for God’s name. Only some will be a channel to it while others the effect itself. So, let us leave to God the things pertaining to Him and walk blamelessly before Him trusting Him. In time, that is, at the right time He will use us blessing us with the provisions stored up for us. For it is of a promise. “And Jesus said to them, ‘Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men’” (Mark 1:17). When we begin to follow Him, He is already using us so that He could use us fully. Fishing is a skill that comes by training our minds and bodies. Fishing for the souls of men is a skill that comes by being trained in the Spirit and by the Word of Christ. So, when Christ made the promise, let us lay aside our thoughts and works believing He trains us for it. Then, we too will fulfill that which He said to God and fulfilled. When the disciples believed Him, they were able to imitate Him causing an unimaginable effect for God’s name. The people said, “And how is it that we each hear them in our own language to which we were born?” (Acts 2:8).
All that the disciples did was listening to Jesus. He told them to wait for the promise of the Father, which He said is the Spirit. They waited in Jerusalem praying in the upper room. The amazing thing here is they never knew how they would receive the Spirit or what He would bring. They did not know that God was waiting for the day of Pentecost. They simply trusted Him to fulfill Christ’s word in His time. What transpired on that day is well known to us. They astonishingly spoke in tongues of which they had no prior knowledge. That work of the Spirit upon them was the work God saw fit for that moment that His name is proclaimed to all the nations. They were called to be Christ’s representatives and their blamelessness before Him made them so. A total of sixteen nations heard the gospel. The crowd was certainly amazed by what they had seen, but surely the disciples too were as much amazed by the work of God in them; however, the latter knew why.
From then on they did not look back; had no fear, but with full confidence proclaimed God knowing that through Christ He will provide as He sees fit. Also, those who heard them on Pentecost became representatives of Christ for the sake of God among their people. How encouraging is their story to us, who are willing to do the same! “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” (Gal. 1:3).