Without the Jesus Revolution, our Christian lives remain ORDINARY, MEDIOCRE and mostly PURPOSELESS. This was shown in the lives of the disciples before the Jesus Revolution started. As mentioned last week, there were so many examples of this in the lives of the early disciples pre-Jesus Revolution. I gave the second instance last week. Here is the third:-
iii) The Disciples lack of Spiritual Understanding (Acts 1:4-8)
- And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me.
- For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.
- When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?
- And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.
- But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
This account in the above scripture tells the story of the disciples’ lack of spiritual understanding of Jesus’ Person, His life, His Ministry and the Redemptive context of His death and resurrection. They had been with Him for about three years. They went everywhere with Him. They were eye-witnesses to the wonderful miracles that He did. They saw Him die and now He was resurrected. Not even this resurrection flooded their hearts with the memories of all He had told them. He had even spent forty days going in and out among them after His resurrection. Yet, there was no understanding. They had been afflicted with spiritual blindness and dullness of heart.
It was now time for Jesus to go back to Heaven. He assembled His disciples together. He dropped the Bombshell. “Do not go anywhere. Do not try to do my work until you receive a touch of the Jesus Revolution.” This is the meaning of what Jesus told them in verses 4-5.
In verse 6, we see a display of His disciples’ ignorance and lack of understanding, for a people that had been with Him for about three years. They said, “We know that you are our ‘POLITICAL MESSIAH,’ God sent you to end Roman dominion over His people, Israel. All the miracles we witnessed were to this effect. It is now time to RESTORE the authority of governance over to Israel.” This, in a nutshell, is the interpretation of verse 6. What a shame!! Jesus was able to keep His frustration to Himself and gently guided their hearts from this foolishness back to the truth. Acts 1:7-8 reveal the heart of a true Shepherd.
He told His disciples that He was not a political deliverer. He explained to them that they were out of depths, when it concerns the times and the seasons of God’s programme, and made it clear to them that His mission was to procure the Redemption of mankind and by the Spirit of God to raise witnesses that will spread the legacy and the work of the gospel to the uttermost parts of the earth.
And thanks be to God. When the Jesus Revolution began, these same disciples were able to turn the world upside down with the message of the gospel. They now understood it and noised it abroad, affecting everything around them with Jesus.
Jesus Revolution is Real and we need it NOW!!