Isaiah 2:2-4

God-Created Community

INTRODUCTION

Let me tell you a little about the birth of my daughters. In January of 1999, we learned that we were going to be parents. We started making preparations – selling my truck, preparing the baby’s room. Rachel was careful what she ate. She exercised and drank lots of water. We started going to the obstetrician regularly and Rachel started taking pre-natal vitamins. We had ultrasounds done although we did not want to know the gender. Jewell was born at 6:19 p.m. on a Friday night on October 29th in Glasgow, KY. We brought her home in a UK nightgown. Eric and Stephanie Welch, on our mission team, were at our house to welcome us home.

After moving to the mission field in July of 2000, we learned the following summer that Rachel was pregnant again. So we again started making preparations. This time the preparations were a little different since we were living in a foreign country. We were going to be with Rachel’s family in Georgia when this baby was born. Ana was born a week before my birthday, on a Sunday afternoon at 3:52 p.m. on March 10th in Canton, GA. We brought her home in the same UK nightgown.

Now, let me tell you about the preparations God made to create His own family – His own community.

Precedents in the Old Testament

Genesis 12:3. God has always wanted a “people for His own possession” (Titus 2:14). God loves the individual and salvation is an individual matter but salvation also puts the individual into a group, a community. That’s where God’s people grow and develop.

After the nation of Israel divided and split, God expresses His interest in rejoining that nation (Jer. 23:5-6; Amos 9:11, 14; Micah 5:2-4). Jeremiah spoke of it (33:7-8) as did Ezekiel (37:15-28). But this united nation was not just for the divided Israelites but also with the Gentile community (Zephaniah 2:11). That’s what Paul tells us in Ephesians 2:11-17.

The Isaiah 2:2-3 (Micah 4:1-2) passage pictures much of what we are dealing with here. Isaiah is talking about a new covenant between God and man – that is brought into effect by Jesus Christ – and the preaching of that new covenant all over the world.

Prerequisites for the Church

Before the church of Christ could be established, there were certain things that God had to bring about.

  1. The crucifixion. Right after Jesus promised to build His church in Matthew 16:18-19, He tells His disciples that He must die (Matt. 16:20-21). The new covenant that brings forgiveness required Jesus to shed His blood (Matthew 26:28). The church is the community of the saved-through-the-blood-of-Jesus (Acts 20:28).
  2. The resurrection. Acts 2:36 shows that Jesus is declared Lord and Messiah through the resurrection. And, it’s His resurrection that allows our resurrection (Colossians 1:18).
  3. The coming of the Holy Spirit. This, too, was part of the OT promise of the future kingdom (Ezekiel 36:27) but Jesus teaches in John 7:38-39 that the Holy Spirit could not come until after Jesus was glorified.
  4. The commission for the church’s purpose.  Our purpose is found in the words of Jesus in Matthew 28:19, Mark 16:15-16 and Luke 24:47. The apostle Peter did that very thing in Acts 2 – proclaimed Jesus as the Savior, offered the forgiveness of sins and the giving of the Holy Spirit – and this brought the church of Christ into existence.

Pentecost was the Beginning

Acts 2 is called “the beginning” (11:15) for several reasons:

  1. The beginning of the age of the Holy Spirit. Luke 24:49 and Acts 1:8. The Spirit was a promise from God and He brought power through which the disciples were to be witnesses.
  2. The beginning of the public preaching of Jesus as Savior. Again, this is in fulfillment of Jesus’ words in Luke 24:46, 48 and Acts 1:8. The apostles were to tell people what they had seen and heard.
  3. The beginning of the preaching of the gospel. The Gospel, preached in its fullness, with all the attendant blessings and requirements began in Acts 2.
  4. The beginning of the offer of forgiveness in Jesus’ name. Jesus said it would be done – Luke 24:46 and that was offered in Acts 2:38.
  5. The beginning of the new covenant. The content of the covenant would be the forgiveness of sins (Jeremiah 31:31-34) and the Spirit of God in the heart (Ezekiel 36:27). Acts 2:38 brings those two together in the preaching of Peter.
  6. The beginning of the gathering of the church. Jesus told His disciples that they would make disciples by baptizing in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit and then they would continue teaching those disciples (Matthew 28:19). In Acts 2, we have that being fulfilled – 2:41, 42, 44.
  7. The beginning of worship through Jesus Christ and life in Christ. Jesus intended for this growing community to span the globe. Thus, worship and a corporate – community – life together, i.e. the church of Christ. Acts 2:44-46.

Let us share this message of community with those in our community.

 

–Paul Holland

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