Je­sus gave the dis­cip­les a mis­si­on task to bring the gos­pel’s mes­sa­ge of joy to all na­ti­ons. We can still be brin­ging forth this re­dee­ming mes­sa­ge through the po­wer of the Holy Spi­rit.

Be­fo­re his ac­ces­si­on in­to he­a­ven, the re­sur­rec­ted Christ gave the dis­cip­les he had cal­led a task to bring the word of sal­va­ti­on to the en­ti­re world. He pro­mi­sed to be with his own eve­ry day un­til the end of the world.

This pro­mi­se that Je­sus gave is still in ef­fect. It en­cou­ra­ges and strengt­hens us as we do his work of the king­dom. Je­sus’ own can be of se­cu­re mind. Je­sus says: “Do not fear!”

Per­mis­si­on to proc­laim the mes­sa­ge of joy

Je­sus has gi­ven the ser­vants in his king­dom the most im­por­tant task in the world: to proc­laim God’s gra­ci­ous and glo­ri­ous gos­pel for the sal­va­ti­on of souls. Je­sus en­cou­ra­ges us to go among the pe­op­le and pre­ach re­pen­tan­ce and the re­mis­si­on of sins. He ex­horts us to bap­ti­ze and te­ach what it me­ans to live as a child of God in this world (Matt. 28:19-20). This task is not done through the pre­ac­hed words of man’s wis­dom, but through the po­wer of the Holy Spi­rit (1 Cor. 2:4-5).

The re­sur­rec­ted Christ said to the dis­cip­les be­hind loc­ked doors: “Re­cei­ve ye the Holy Ghost: Whose so­e­ver sins ye re­mit, they are re­mit­ted un­to them” (John 20:22-23). This task of the priest­hood of the Holy Ghost has been ent­rus­ted to the whole of God’s cong­re­ga­ti­on, wo­men, men, child­ren and adults.

The mis­si­on task Christ gave is still in ef­fect. He sends his word and gos­pel of the king­dom whe­re­ver he wants. He shows his fol­lo­wers the time and place to pre­ach the word of life.

Ad­ver­sa­ries of God’s word

God’s king­dom’s proc­la­ma­ti­on of the for­gi­ve­ness of sins has al­wa­ys been op­po­sed in the world. This is how it was al­re­a­dy in Je­sus’ time. From the be­gin­ning of time, the we­a­pon for the ad­ver­sa­ry of God has been the qu­es­ti­on: Has God truly said this? (Gen. 3:1). The ad­ver­sa­ries of God’s word fall back on their own re­a­so­ning and ra­ti­o­na­le to try to make God’s word worth­less.

The po­wer of evil see­med to have won when the cru­ci­fied Christ was moc­ked. Even­tu­al­ly the dawn of the third day came, when Christ aro­se from the dead – vic­to­ri­ous.

God ent­rusts His po­wer to man­kind

God has all the po­wer. He has ent­rus­ted this po­wer to man­kind al­so. In his gos­pel, John tel­ls of the mee­ting bet­ween Pi­la­te and Je­sus. Pi­la­te said to Je­sus: “Kno­west thou not that I have po­wer to cru­ci­fy thee, and have po­wer to re­le­a­se thee?” Je­sus ans­we­red: “Thou coul­dest have no po­wer at all against me, ex­cept it were gi­ven thee from abo­ve.” (John 19:10-11).

Po­wer can be the aut­ho­ri­ty we are gi­ven wit­hin a spe­ci­fic task, pro­fes­si­on or in rai­sing child­ren. We are res­pon­sib­le to God for the use of this po­wer in the midst of man­kind. Do we use this po­wer in an en­cou­ra­ging or ens­la­ving man­ner wit­hin and out­si­de of the home?

The ari­sen Christ as­ked on­ce of Pe­ter: “Si­mon, son of Jo­nas, lo­vest thou me?” Pe­ter ans­we­red: “Yea Lord; thou kno­west that I love thee.” (John 21:16). God’s love cal­ls us to use po­wer in a res­pon­sib­le way and abo­ve all to love our dear ones near and far. The gre­a­test love is to tell a sin­ner of the Re­dee­mer and to proc­laim the mes­sa­ge of grace and for­gi­ve­ness.

Text: Jor­ma Nii­ni­kos­ki

Pub­lis­hed: Sii­o­nin Lä­he­tys­leh­ti 2/2013

Trans­la­ti­on: An­ge­la Hän­ni­nen

Teks­tis­sä kä­si­tel­lään seu­raa­via raa­ma­tun­koh­tia: Matt. 28:18

Jul­kais­tu eng­lan­nin­kie­li­ses­sä kie­li­lii­tees­sä 4/2014