A look into the past, present, and future
Beloved Brothers and Sisters in Christ, dear Friends, I greet you cordially with the passage from Acts 20:26-27,
“Wherefore I take you to record this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men. For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.”
and also with this quote from Rev. 1:4, “Grace be unto you, and peace, from Him which is, and which was, and which is to come …”
Whoever writes about God’s plan of Salvation with humanity must include the past, the present, and also the future. What happened in the Kingdom of God in the past preceded that which is currently taking place and that in turn precedes what is yet to come. God’s true children who are led by the Holy Spirit will always have part in whatever God does in their time. They can correctly place the things which happened in the past, can find their rightful place within the order of Salvation in their time, and, being anchored firmly in the promises, they also have a clear understanding of what will take place in the future.
For example, those who received John the Baptist as a man sent from God (Jn. 1:6-7) had no difficulties in accepting the ministry of Jesus Christ. The one sent to prepare the way had the task to turn the hearts of the believers of the Old Testament to the faith of the children in the New Testament (Lk. 1:16-17). The Scribes and Pharisees refused to be baptised by John, did not submit to the Will of God, and thus rejected the counsel of God (Lk. 7:30). Therefore they had no part in whatever God had done since the founding of the New Testament Church. They remained in their religious tradition, were deadly serious therein. They did not enter the Kingdom of God themselves and even prevented the people from doing so. This has been the case throughout the past with the clergy and the ones who thought to be in the Will of God, whenever God did something on earth. That is also how it is now, and it will be this way right to the end. Since they did not recognise the day of God’s visitation, they were rejected and the Lord Himself pronounced judgement upon them (Lk. 19:41-44).