The four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, are filled with His teachings. They are filled with the Good News of His coming to earth and the account of His work. They are full of His mission here on the earth. He was born to man, bearing God’s message of salvation. The message Jesus He brought from God was, first of all, to convict them of their lost condition, and then to tell them what they must do to escape that condition—to obtain salvation, to enter the Kingdom. Later, He sent the Holy Spirit to continue this teaching and instruction regarding the Kingdom through the apostles. [John 6:45—“It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me.” John 8:2—“Now early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people came to Him; and He sat down and taught them.” John 8:28—“Then Jesus said to them, ‘When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things.’” John 18:20—“Jesus answered him, ‘I spoke openly to the world. I always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where the Jews always meet, and in secret I have said nothing.’” Luke 24:44-48—“Then He said to them, ‘These are the Words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.’ And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures. Then He said to them, ‘Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His Name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And you are witnesses of these things.’” Acts 1:4, 8— “And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, ‘which,’ He said, ‘you have heard from Me…But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.’”]

But Jesus’ greatest work was that of bringing redemption to man so that man could enter this Kingdom. The idea of a Kingdom is something that we can relate to. We don’t live in a kingdom here in our nation, but we know from history, and even now, that, for example, Britain is set up in a kingdom system. There is a king or a queen, who has subjects, and there is a territory that he or she rules over, and so on. In order to be in that kingdom, you have to meet certain requirements. Not everybody is in that kingdom.

The idea of the Kingdom of God carries with it the same concept. There is a King over the Kingdom. There is a territory, which is the church. There are members—people who make up that Kingdom—who are subjects. Who are they? They are members of the church, those who have done what is required to become members of the church, citizens of the Kingdom. Man, in his sinful condition, cannot be part of God’s Kingdom because God does not have fellowship with sinners. So Christ’s work of atonement was to provide man with the Way to come into that Kingdom, to become citizens of that Kingdom.

Christ chose the way of the cross to establish the church, as He purchased the church with His Own blood, Acts 20, verse 28 [“Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His Own blood.”]. Christ’s death is a sacrifice for our sins. His burial and His resurrection from the dead prepared the Way for the Kingdom to come, for the church to be established on earth.

Phase 3: So we’ve looked at God’s prophecy (the prophecy concerning the Kingdom), the church in preparation and now, thirdly, we’ll look at the CHURCH IN PERFECTION.

All of the Old Testament prophecies and the work of Christ culminated in the coming of the church, the establishing of the Kingdom, on earth. That is recorded for us in Acts, the second chapter.

We know the account very well. It’s familiar to us, but let’s review the establishing of the church. Remember now, this is the culmination of all these things we have made mention of, coming all the way from the beginning prophecies of the Old Testament, then the promises made by the Lord, and the things He did during His earthly ministry. Now they all come together!

The apostles were all gathered in one place. Where was that place? Just where Isaiah said it would be, in the City of Jerusalem, Acts 2, verse 1 [“When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.” See also verse 5—“And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven.”]. On that occasion, the Holy Spirit came upon them and they were overwhelmed, they were “baptized,” if you will, in the Holy Spirit. There were three manifestations of the Spirit on that occasion. You’ll remember that was one of the things Jesus said, that His Kingdom would come with power and with the coming of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit came. To make His presence known, there are three manifestations: the sound of the mighty rushing wind, verse 2 [“And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.”], the tongues of fire that sat on the heads of each of the apostles, verse 3 [“Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them.”], and their ability to speak in other tongues, other languages that they had never learned, verse 4 [“And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.”].