““Yes, I came from the Father into the world, and now I will leave the world and return to the Father.” Then his disciples said, “At last you are speaking plainly and not figuratively. Now we understand that you know everything, and there’s no need to question you. From this we believe that you came from God.””
John 16:28-30 NLT
History records that there have been many people who have said that they are divine. People who have claimed that they are “gods” and deserve affirmation and worship from those around them. The problem is, however, that their graves are still on Planet Earth. The people in North Korea regard their founder, Kim Il-sung, to be divine. But he died in 1994 and his body lies under a glass cover in Pyongyang, with extraordinary attempts being made to prevent it from decomposing. Every year in mid-April, the country stops to offer their praise and worship to their “god”. But only Jesus is the true God. As He said, He came from His Father, and was soon to return to Him. And, most significantly, there is no grave on this planet containing Jesus’ bones. But we know what happened to Jesus, and it was just as he said. Acts 1:9, “After saying this, he was taken up into a cloud while they were watching, and they could no longer see him“. In front of witnesses Jesus returned to Heaven, witnesses who were the remaining eleven disciples. These were not men who would have been taken in by some fancy conjuring trick. They knew what they were seeing, and a couple of angels were there just to make sure that they didn’t make a mistake. ““Men of Galilee,” they said, “why are you standing here staring into heaven? Jesus has been taken from you into heaven, but someday he will return from heaven in the same way you saw him go!”” (Acts 1:11). As an aside, we must consider that there is a human being in Heaven, the man Jesus who is both divine and human. Perhaps a bit unbelievable or controversial to some, but where else can Jesus be?
Jesus’ entry into this world was well-trailed by the Old Testament prophets, and the Jewish nation at that time were expectant that their Messiah was coming soon. Scriptures such as Isaiah 9:6, “For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace“. Isaiah 7:14, “All right then, the Lord himself will give you the sign. Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel (which means ‘God is with us’)“. Some Biblical scholars claim that Jesus fulfilled over three hundred Old Testament prophecies in His earthly ministry. The coming of the Son of God was witnessed by His people, and the records of His advent exist both inside and outside the Bible. But there still many prophecies yet to be fulfilled about Jesus, because, as the Acts 1:11 angels said to the Eleven, “he will return from heaven in the same way you saw him go”.
As we pilgrims know, the main impact of Jesus and His ministry, His death and resurrection, was that He fulfilled God’s plan for the salvation of mankind. Paul wrote about this plan in Ephesians 1:4-5, “Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure“.
We pilgrims are chosen of God. We are a privileged people. We rejoice in our salvation, and we look forward to seeing the fruit of it one day. Come Lord Jesus!
Dear Lord Jesus. Thanks You for coming to this earth to show us the way to salvation and eternal life. Amen.
Being a Pilgrim 