"He
was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid them from their
sight."
Acts 1:9
Acts 1:9
If Jesus had
already died for the sins of man and had been resurrected -what was stopping him
from living on earth? You might have expected him to bring history to its
conclusion. He could have stayed
living on Earth until the end of times, and then everyone would have had to
believe in him; even if he performed no more miracles. It certainly would have
saved us the trouble of fighting wars, the crusades, and all the other man made
evil and suffering that has existed during human existence since Christ’s
exit. Or, how about the question of
who's interpretation of the gospel was correct?
We would have had the author and source living right amongst us to put
that question to rest. So why
did he leave? Why not as Mr. Stearns
puts it “tie it up in a neat bow and end it right then and there?”
In my mind this
leads to the deeper question of why God continues to allow evil and suffering in
the world. Do we doubt for a moment
that God could not have prevented evil? Do we doubt that he does not have the
power?
Perhaps there is
something more. Genesis tells us
that God created us in his own image, with the ability to reason, with the
ability to use imagination and create, to communicate with each other, to laugh,
to cry, to share intimately. But the
greatest gift was probably the ability to love, and with that comes the package
deal, the ability to reject or not love. To reject or not love opens the door to
evil and suffering. If you
want a world where love is real, you have to allow each the freedom to choose.
Without that freedom to choose we become puppets, robots, or machines in
essence. Remember the movie, “The
Matrix?”
By giving
mankind the freedom of will, God has chosen to limit his own power.
He does not want to force the obedience of slaves.
He covets voluntary love and obedience.
God freely created us so that we might know, love, and serve him.
Power can do everything except the most important thing, it cannot
control love.
This brings me
full circle back to the original question of why did Jesus leave?
Mr. Stearns
writes “I believe Jesus left because there was something critical he intended
for his disciples to do. There was
some unfinished business for his church to take care of. Jesus spoke about it
constantly, and in his last days promised them that the Holy Spirit, a helper
and comforter would come with the power to be their guide.”
(Acts 1:8) This is the “great commission” of spreading the good news
so that everyone might know, love and serve God as well as loving others.
His disciples had a choice. They
could reject Jesus, or they could choose to accept, love, and be obedient to
him. The truth had implications.
They chose to be obedient.
The truth still
has implications 2000 years later. What
do you choose?
For
more:
follow on Twitter @jefflampl
Jesus left "unfinished business" for His church to "wrap up" so that He would have a legitimate basis for richly blessing His obedient disciples in their eternal life. He wants to give everyone abundant rewards and a fully satisfying life but godly justice requires that the reward balance with the deeds.
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