Pastoral Letter 14 Feb 2021

My dear readers,


Signs BEFORE the Second Coming of Christ (2)

Matthew 24:14: “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.”

The gospel of Jesus Christ was first preached by God in the Garden of Eden when man needed it most. Man had just fallen into sin and plunged humanity into instant spiritual death. Years later, 930 years to be exact, man’s first parent, Adam, experienced physical death. During his time on earth, Adam, like all mankind, needed to believe in Jesus Christ as his personal Lord and Saviour or else he would die in his sin and find himself thrust headlong into the abyss of hell. The gospel that God gave to Adam was very basic compared to the complete one of today; but still it was sufficient to save all who believe. God said to the serpent before Adam and Eve in Genesis 3:15, “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” This was the first gospel.

Since then God has added more and more information to the content of the gospel by way of progressive revelation. For example, by the time of Noah, when God destroyed the world by a watery judgment, we know that Noah was definitely chosen as part of the Messianic line. Then it was his son Shem. Through Shem, we are introduced to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob whose name was changed by God to Israel. Through these revelations it culminated with a national witness to bring the gospel of Jesus Christ to the rest of the world. This was God’s sovereign will. The spiritual nation Israel was born with every aspect of her birth ordained by God. These included dietary laws, moral, civil and religious laws, guidelines on farming, materials for clothing, etc. The place of worship known as the dwelling place of God (the Tabernacle and then the Temple) was the most significant of all, for the whole system of worship pointed every worshipper to Jesus Christ as the future Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world. All worshippers who brought their animal sacrifices according to the Holy Scriptures by faith would be saved, for without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins.

The national witness replaced the individual godly home witness depicted by the godly homes of Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Job. This was how the gospel of Christ spread throughout the world. This culminated in the first coming of Jesus Christ when He was born of the virgin Mary. Jesus Christ came to live, suffer and to die for the sins of the world. However, the people of Israel rejected Jesus of Nazareth as the Christ or, in Hebrew, the Messiah. The LORD then replaced the national witness with an ecclesiastical or church witness. The twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ were sent by Christ to begin this new witness. The blue print of the constitution of this church witness is found in Acts 1:8: “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” It began with an event known as the Pentecost. Pentecost was the time of thanksgiving for the Jews who came from all the parts of present day Europe, Turkey and the Middle East to worship and thank the LORD for their harvest. It was during this gathering of thousands of Jews that the LORD filled the Apostles with His Holy Spirit and they preached their first gospel message after the death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ. About three thousand Israelites were saved. However, the Sanhedrin Council which was the representative of the people of Israel rejected and crucified Jesus of Nazareth for blasphemy. By their rejection, the national witness came to an end. The national witness was replaced by the church witness.

The foundation of the first local church, which began the church witness for Christ, was made up of Jewish believers only. They had the written Word of God in the Old Testament. They faced persecution almost immediately. They needed the written Word of God to help them persevere through these adversities. The persecutors were the same ones who persecuted and crucified the Lord Jesus Christ. They were the powerful Sanhedrin Council made up of the high priests, Pharisees, Sadducees, scribes and elders. Through this fire of persecution, the first and only church in Jerusalem at that time was strong and pure. Only true believers joined the church, for the price of salvation was immediate ostracism, loss of jobs, properties, freedom and even their lives. Yet many believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, for after Peter’s second sermon, 5,000 souls were saved. From Acts 8 the gospel reached the Samaritans, and in Acts 10 it reached the first Gentile. The local church became more complicated with Jews and Gentiles living and worshipping together. She faced new problems from within and without.

The LORD added to the 12 Apostles a special Apostle named Paul to reach out specifically to the Gentiles. The LORD saved the greatest persecutor of the Jewish Christians the early church ever encountered and called him to fulltime ministry. He became the greatest preacher of the Word of God in spreading the gospel to Turkey and parts of Europe in his lifetime. The gospel began in Jerusalem and reached Rome by the time Apostle Paul was martyred for the faith around AD 62-64, just before Emperor Nero burned Rome and blamed it on the Christians.

Today, the gospel has reached the world many times over through technology such as the internet, radio and television. What the LORD said in Matthew 24:14 seemed an impossibility 2,000 years ago as the world then did not have any of today’s modern modes of transportation and communications. But the LORD knew! The LORD did not say that the world would be converted into Christianity but that “this gospel of
the kingdom shall be preached in all the world.”

 
This end-time sign has been fulfilled. A prophecy by our Lord and Saviour Jesus, that seemed impossible 2,000 years ago, has become a reality! Even so, come, LORD Jesus. Amen.



Yours faithfully in the Saviour’s Service,

Rev Dr Quek Suan Yew
Advisory Pastor


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