In the Mind of a Fish

The Good News

1. Jesus’ message of good news was that the kingdom of God was near them.
1. He even declared it to be in those who followed him.
2. Jesus’ good news was not freedom from the kingdoms of the world.
1. His good news was that the king that we rejected all those times is coming to establish his kingdom among us once more.
2. He hasn’t given up on us.
3. He hasn’t decided to just destroy us as his enemies.
4. He provided a means for us to submit ourselves to him as we should have always done.

Peter’s conclusion of his speech on the day of Pentecost was:

“Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing. For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says, “‘The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.’ Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”

There is then a short summary of some of what was happening while these people gave themselves up to the king of kings.

Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls. And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

From that day, the church began to grow to be more than those 120 people who were in the upper room to thousands. These thousands of people who were added to their numbers were subjecting themselves to the king and messiah. This was Jesus that they submitted to.

From that point, the followers of Jesus as king grew in Jerusalem until persecution and famine drove them from that place to others places. Wherever they went, they spread the news of the king of creation and all men who had died and rose from the grave as predicted by the prophet and king, David.

Now, as we read the few letters and documents that have been passed down to us from those men who knew and spoke to Jesus, we see no evidence that there was any intention in any of their minds that the church replace their king in heaven with one from the earth. But those who claim the name of Christ have done so.

Reaction to “heresy” – the making of a “king” like Israel did.
It started with some group of men in 300 AD who were the supposed leaders of the church. These men decided which of the writings of the apostles they would keep and which they would destroy. Based upon that decision, they made it clear that those who subscribed to the non-canonized scriptures would be considered to not be followers of Christ. In fact, at some point the “church” found itself with the authority and the insolence to judge these people worthy of death at the hands of the “church” for disagreeing over which written articles were actually authentic and should be deemed to be God's word.

Continued...
The next section is going to go over what the church has done in the past 2000 years in relationship to the King of kings. It will be general and I am not going to spend a lot of time digging up dates and particulars and names to back up what I am going to say. It is, after all, history and anyone can find documents to read it. I am not as interested in the particulars because I am only aiming at the general relationship of the church towards her king. It has been 2000 years after all.

I am not against any particular people group, or religious sect. My only concern is, "How has the church related to her king and how shall she relate in the future?"


I think that examples like that of the canonization of certain scripture and the resulting slaughter of people as a result of it is only important in that it gives us a comparison between following the King who said, "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another," and following those who justified killing one another over the words on a piece of paper. The rub is that those documents all had the same thing written in them. It was written that the King of heaven and earth had commanded us:

"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another."