Beating salvation

Pulpit Reflections

Then [Jesus] opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.” (Luke 24:45-49, ESV)

Between Christmas and Easter, the beat of the Christian church shines through. Like the steady beat from a marching band’s drum, keeping the band in step, the beat of the church cannot be missed. Jesus! Jesus! Jesus! 

His nativity. His circumcision. His epiphany. His baptism. His temptation. His teachings. His miracles. His healings. His triumphal entry. His supper. His trial. His suffering. His dying. His burial. His resurrection. 

Jesus the Christ is the beat of the faith that the Holy Spirit called, taught and directs the believer. 

But Easter has come and gone. The third day has come and gone, but the beat goes on, just as it was thumped by Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.

After His Resurrection, Jesus continued to teach, to beat the old drum of salvation. All the things that he spoke and did, where in the same beat that the Lord spoke to the fathers, to the prophets, and to the song writers from of old. 

The beat of salvation was first heard when the Lord spoke to our first parents, and it continued. 

The first sentences of the letter to the Hebrews reads, “In many and various ways God spoke of old to our fathers by the prophets; but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.” (Hebrews 1:1-2 ESV) 

Though man sinned, and God’s very own people did what was evil in His sight, the beat continued. 

Though man sought to end His drumming, Jesus Christ came and fulfilled all things written. But the beat doesn’t stop.

Jesus instructed his apostles to continue the beat. His Church continues the beat by preaching “repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations.” And with Holy Spirit, the saving beat continues. 

But we are in a culture that adores those that march to the beat of a different drummer and marvels at drum circles, Christ calls His church to His beat. And so, “we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” (1 Corinthians 1:23-24, ESV) 

Until He comes again, the beat goes on. Jesus! Jesus! Jesus!

 

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