#222: The Chosen
"...and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth" Acts 1:8
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the LORD Jesus Christ as I welcome you to another monthly theme on the blog. Amen. Over the course of October, we will be studying the theme: The Witnesses.
Witnessing stands out as the core mission of every believer in Christ. We see it in the last words of our LORD to His disciples before He ascended. Today, this is known as the great commission (famously quoted from Matt 28:19-20). Since this is so important to our status as believers, by the grace of God this month will be used to equip us with victuals for this task. Amen.
John, the cousin of Jesus was the first witness of the Messiah. This is how he was introduced in John 1:
There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the Light, that all might believe through him. He was not the Light but came to bear witness about the Light. John 1:6-8
and a few verses later,
And John bore witness: "I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on Him. I myself did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, 'He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.' And I have seen and borne witness that this is the Son of God" John 1:34
It is important to note the last phrase in vs 34. John bore witness to what he saw. Actually, witnessing is a legal term to refer to the report of a witness - someone who has a first-hand experience of an event. Such a person is not speaking from hearsay but by his own personal experience, or as John would say in his letter:
That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life - the Life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us - that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. I John 1:1-4
Essentially, the very first people commissioned to be witnesses of Jesus were so commissioned because they had been with Him and experienced Him (heard, but not just heard, seen; and not just seen, even touched!). We cannot actually witness Jesus to someone when we have not experienced His saving grace for ourselves. Just like the witness of the woman at the well.
"Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did." John 4:29
But who eventually gets to experience Christ and subsequently bear witness of Him? These are who I refer to as "the chosen"
"You did not choose me. but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide..." John 15:16
Why did we get chosen? What do we do to qualify to be among the chosen?
"For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for His treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the LORD set His love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the LORD loves you and is keeping the oath that He swore to your fathers that the LORD has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the hand of Pharoah king of Egypt. Deut 7:6-8
Therefore, we are chosen by God's divine election. And chosen so that the Father can be revealed to us:
At that time Jesus declared, "I thank you, Father, LORD of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him...." Matt 11:25-27
So, we will look through the lens of the first witnesses of Jesus. How did their experiences with Jesus shape their messages and worldview? Some of the selected witnesses of the new covenant and their messages explored this month will include:
Join us every Sunday this month as we glean the stories of these witnesses as they will guide us to be witnesses of the same faith today.
Shalom.
This month's theme and more particularly today's topic were inspired by the tv series - The Chosen. The Chosen is a multi-season show of the life of Jesus; the first of its kind. His story is told and His life is portrayed through the eyes of those who met Him. It is a binge-worthy tv series that I highly recommend.
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