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(Photo: Was sent for an errand, so I diligently protected myself that a state of continued safety shall be abundantly ministered unto me and my Wifey! Do keep safe; may these tumultuous days be over soon. Amen) |
https://www.facebook.com/sing.f.lau/posts/10216370147661769
May 2, 2020
#An_Entrance_Abundantly_Ministered
#Experienced_Through_Your_Diligence
2Peter 1
10 ¶Wherefore the
rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if
ye do these things, ye shall never fall:
11 For so an
entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom
of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
A few thoughts
crossed my mind:
i. Apostle Peter,
the apostle to the circumcision, was writing to the Jewish believers - who were
strangers scattered through Roman provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia,
Asia, and Bithynia - a few years before the momentous event that would take
place in 70AD, see Mt 24:21.
ii. Those Jewish
believers had been deeply rooted in the old covenant with all its trappings in
the earthly theocratic kingdom of Israel; they were never completely set free
from those trapping, having been born into and grown up in the very system.
iii. The time has
come for the complete destruction and abolition of that earthly theocratic
kingdom of Israel. Apostle Peter wrote to warn the Jewish believers to move on,
to make a complete break with the old, and to diligently enter the new, the
everlasting kingdom established by the promised Messiah Jesus Christ.
- The unbelieving
Jews, the zealous adherents to the old covenant, with the state powerful
machinery behind them, had been persecuting believing Jews, as well as
attempting to bring the Gentile believers under the bondage of the old
covenant. Apostle Paul, the apostle of the Gentiles, fought tooth and nail to
protect the Gentile believers' liberty in Christ.
iv. The everlasting
kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ has been ushered in by the
redemptive work of Jesus Christ, the Lord and Saviour of His people - all those
given to Him by the Father - thus fulfilling all that was foreshadowed by the
old covenant.
v. Their faith in
Jesus Christ shows that they are already made members of the everlasting
kingdom of their Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, all by the free, sovereign,
gracious activities of the Triune God.
- BUT, in the nature
of things, many of them as still quite stuck with the old earthly theocratic
Israel, of which the fiery end was fast approaching; that explained Peter's
urgency.
vi. These Jewish
believers were called to exert diligence to make their calling and election
sure. Why?
- That they shall
never fall...
- That an entrance
shall be abundantly ministered unto them into the everlasting kingdom of their
Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
- Their calling and
election are wholly and completely bound up in the person and work of the
promised Messiah, Jesus the Christ. He has established His everlasting kingdom.
- Making their
calling and election sure, they will experience the fullness of joy, hope,
peace assurance, comfort, strength, etc. in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
vii. The everlasting
kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is NOT NOT NOT the same as the
eternal heaven - for obvious reasons; if you don't know, inquire. It's popular to equate the two in that
manner.
- (Please don't
equate everlasting as eternal! Why? Even the everlasting kingdom of earthly
theocratic Israel came to an end! Everlasting means it lasts as long as its
appointed time lasts. When the appointed time comes, its time is up!)
viii. As long as the old theocratic earthly kingdom of Israel existed, it was casting its MENACING shadow upon the believing Jews, and its adverse effect upon the Gentile churches. But their redemption was drawing near. In 70AD, that wicked nation was all its religious trappings were destroyed.
