Impact

While Jesus was training the twelve for their mission, subsequent to His departure, He made reference, time and again, to the Kingdom of God.

Since then, hosts of earnest/sincere folk have sought to wrestle over, exactly, what He meant by the Kingdom of God.

Did He mean a visible kingdom, is the local church the manifestation of the kingdom, etc.

In this wrestling, we appear to have often lost sight of what He implied as to the Kingdom’s impact. Without doubt, He taught the kingdom would have significant impact in that first generation of believers.

Such impact is objectively borne out by the testimony of scripture (Acts 17:6 and the epistle to the Romans).

Objectively, Daniel’s vision of the establishment of the fifth and last empire is effected/brought to fruition when God’s church is established in Rome, the seat of the fourth empire. Granted, the actual fall of the empire took another 400 years, still, its demise was guaranteed when the church of The Lord Jesus was a reality in AD 50+.

But, we lose sight of how this was brought about. What, precisely, did those “…unlearned and ignorant fisherman,…” do?

Might I suggest they simply followed Jesus’ admonition to live as Salt, Light, and leaven?

The wonder of the Kingdom’s impact, to use the vernacular, is a “no-brainer”. Any and every “unlearned and ignorant…” (Acts 4:13) saint is able to function as “Salt, Light, and Leaven”.

Therein lays the genius of the New Covenant and its ultimate impact.

It is as if God says to the saints, “…have at it…I trust you…yet, expect you to appropriate and personally grasp the wonder of my confidence in you…” and the resource I have provided, i.e. the scriptures.

With that resource, and the indwelling Spirit, the potential of your impact is immeasurable.

Yet, to the degree you fail to embrace your obligation to know, understand, embrace, and teach what is contained in that resource; to that degree your generation fails to profit from your presence.

David’s testimony is that he served his generation, by the will of God (Acts 13:36).

We, on our part, have a commensurate obligation to serve, to the glory of our great King and the advance of His kingdom.