“We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God.” Acts 14:22b
When
I read such a passage, I wonder if it is applicable to us today. Are we
still expected, as the ancient church were, to enter the kingdom of God
through many tribulations? Tribulation is not something that we choose
in Christ, it comes with the decision to follow Christ. When it is not
present in one form or another, then the question must be asked, "is my
life a threat to the kingdom of darkness in any significant way?" It is
not possible for a Christian to live in such ways that threatens the
devil and not attract one form of tribulation or the other. The apostle
Paul was emphatic about this when he said, “We must through many
tribulations enter the kingdom of God.” Not that we may, but that we
must.
If
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever, then we will
expect that what was true for His followers two thousand years ago will
be true for His present day followers also. When the message that is
preached does not place on us the same demand that was placed on Jesus'
followers of the early church, then we can see why there is so much
difference in how we follow Jesus Christ. If the gospel is the same,
then its terms will be the same for believers in all ages. Let our lives
provoke the devil to get really mad at us.
Finally,
I will tell the story of a man from Chad Republic who was among the
twenty one Christians beheaded by ISIS some time ago. It was his very
first day as a Christian, having just been born again before he was
taken by ISIS. The others were Egyptian Coptic Christians. Their captors
gave each of them an opportunity to renounce Jesus, and one after the
other, they refused and were beheaded, then lastly, they got to the man
who just gave his life to Christ. He was given the golden opportunity to
renounce Jesus Christ and get his liberty. His response was, "their God
is my God." He fulfilled the scriptures and entered glory through
tribulation. None of us has any excuse to live differently than the
scriptures command. What it said to the ancient, it says to the modern:
through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.
Toni
