Manifesting The Unknown Thing

Today we continue our reflection on the last two components of the "elementary things" from Hebrews 6:1,2: resurrection of the dead and eternal judgement.

God specializes in doing things that, in our estimation, are impossible. Let's think about two things He has done in Christ:

"Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel" (Isaiah 7:14). God's physical presence, in the earthly ministry of Christ, begins with the impossible. But this is the power of God, to even bypass His own system for the creation of human life; this is the power of God, to send a word by an angel to this perplexed young woman Mary. In the eyes of the world, Mary was a disgrace because she was pregnant before her marriage to Joseph was finalized. But God, in that situation, was bringing fulfillment of the prophetic word from Isaiah.

My friends, somtimes the fulfillment of the promise of God does not appear in a way that makes us comfortable. But I hope that you will have the same answer as Mary: that once you have received the revelation of 'how this will be', your answer will be 'May it be as You have said' (see Luke 1:26-38).

"In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent... He has given proof of this to all men by raising him (Jesus) from the dead" (Acts 17:30,31). As Pastor Sam mentioned in Sunday's sermon, there were previous accounts of Jesus raising people from the dead (most notably Lazarus, who had been dead for four days). But, the day came where Lazarus once again died, and that was the end of his life. The distinctive feature of the resurrection of Jesus is that Jesus rose from the dead and has been alive ever since (see Revelation 2:8). How is that possible? Well, the answer was given by the angel who spoke to Mary: "For nothing is impossible with God" (Luke 1:37), and reiterated by Christ during His earthly ministry: "Everything is possible for him who believes" (Mark 9:23); "With men this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God" (Mark 10:27).

So, this is the One we serve- the One for whom nothing is impossible. Perhaps if we keep that thought at the forefront of our minds, we'll take a different perspective on what can be accomplished in our life and ministry.