Sept 1984 - Editorial

"Let Him be crucified" was the repeated vociferous cry of the Jews as the Lord Jesus stood before the governor; "His blood be on us, and on our children" (Mat. 27:22-25). They have paid dearly for that grave error ever since and will pay yet more dearly in "the time of Jacob's trouble." In this issue our prophetic review deals briefly with those fearful events and brings us to the end of tribulation for Jew and Gentile alike, when all opposition to divine rule will have been put down. Our contributor describes the remarkably sudden transition from oppression to divine blessing at the coming of the Son of Man to the earth, marking the beginning of the thousand years beneficent rule of Israel's Messiah King, promised thousands of years before to the patriarchs, sung by the psalmists and confirmed by the prophets.

In the Sermon on the Mount series an important principle is discussed: the necessity for Christians to put spiritual things in their correct relationship to the secular. The result of failing to give God first place in our lives is highlighted by the apostle Paul in his letter to the Philippians:

For many walk, of whom I told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ: whose end is perdition, whose god is the belly, and whose glory is their shame, who mind earthly things, for our citizenship is in heaven; from whence also we wait for a Saviour

(3:18-20).

Believers can here and now enjoy that heavenly citizenship, but it has an eternal aspect, for the Saviour is coming soon to change these bodies of humiliation into glorious bodies like His (v.21), perfect, immortal and incorruptible.

The heavenly goal of true disciples markedly distinguishes them from the mass of people with their short-sighted earthly outlook. One difference should be the Christian's godly attitude to marriage; its quality and enduring nature are helpfully discussed in this month's Focus.

unknown | Sept 1984
Editorial