The Gospel Spreads Widely in the Present, and Forward Into the Future.
By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear.
Hebrews 8:13
In Hebrews 8 we come to the crux of the book. New covenant followers of Jesus in the 1st century worshiped in a distinctly different way from their Jewish neighbors. The Old Covenant ceremonies had a destiny to vanish, wear out, and disappear. The New Covenant has a destiny to endure and reach total consummation in the return of Christ. The blessings of the New Covenant continue to flow for God’s people, as the New Covenant moves towards its ultimate consummation. This is a great guarantee of Christ that He will build His assembly (Matthew 16:18). Nothing is outside of Christ’s jurisdiction, Jesus has all authority in heaven and on earth (Matthew 28:18). This leads to two great aspects of life as New Covenant people. Since Christ promises to build His church, we have an opportunity to observe (witness) and be a part of that work (participate) in (first) the present, and (second) forward into the future.
I call these two realities the gospel spreading widely (in the present), and the gospel spreading forward (into the future).
The Gospel Spreading Widely (in the present)
When we think of the gospel going out into the world there are a great many things that come to mind. Missions efforts, evangelistic crusades, interpersonal conversations about Jesus, baptisms, testimonies, transformed lives, church plants, sermons, bible translation, and more. Often when we think of the gospel spreading, we think in the present sense. We consider the present global spiritual landscape and then carry on with that in mind. This is a good thing and is in no way worthy of critique. The apostles were dedicated in their lives (during what was their time in the “present”) to the spread of the gospel widely. They traveled afar, and had gospel conversations with people from dozens of cultures, lands, and languages.
The book of Acts notes in a very specific and detailed historical narrative how the good news of the life, death, resurrection, ascension, and yet to occur physical return of Christ spread throughout Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. Within the span of a single generation (40 years) the gospel had gone from 120 followers in the upper room prior to Pentecost (Acts 1:15), to tens of thousands of believers in nearly every extended border of the Roman empire and beyond, such as Ethiopia (see Acts 8:26-40).
The gospel goes forward widely in the present. And we participate in the gospel going forward widely today in each of our local cultures, lands, and languages. But the gospel doesn’t just go forward in the present. The great victory of Christ in building a church wasn’t limited to a single century of human history. Christ’s victory carries on throughout all generations. Until Christ returns to consummate in the fullest sense the marriage feast of the Lamb (Revelation 19:6-9) the church is moving forward into the future. The gospel goes out widely, and the gospel goes forward into the future one generation at a time.
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. (Eph 3:20-21)
His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation. (Luke 1:50)
Tell it to your children, and let your children tell it to their children, and their children to the next generation. (Joel 1:3)
And all peoples on earth will be blessed through you. (Genesis 12:3)
All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring (Genesis 28:14)
The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call. (Acts 2:39)
The Gospel Spreading Forward (into the future)
The gospel spreading forward into the future is the simple reality that:
God is faithful through all generations (Eph 3:21)
His mercy extends to those who fear Him from generation to generation (Luke 1:50)
His ways are to be preserved and shared with each subsequent generation (Joel 1:3)
God never lets his promises go unfulfilled (Genesis 12:3; 28:14, Acts 2:39)
The God whom we New Testament Christians serve is a God who is faithful for all generations. God has a story that spans throughout all history. That means God’s work of redeeming His people (a redemption purchased on the cross by Jesus) is realized for all generations until Christ returns to judge the living and the dead.
God takes the forward spread of His fame into the future very seriously. One biblical example of this is found in Exodus 4:24-26. Moses had just received a call to serve the Lord in a meeting by the burning bush. Yet, right after being commissioned by God to be the chosen leader to bring Israel out of Egypt, we read the following:
24 At a lodging place on the way, the LORD met Moses and was about to kill him. 25 But Zipporah took a flint knife, cut off her son’s foreskin and touched Moses’ feet with it. “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me,” she said. 26 So the LORD let him alone. (At that time she said “bridegroom of blood,” referring to circumcision.) Exodus 4:24-26
God took His plan of His promises extending from one generation to the next so seriously, He was willing to end Moses’ life for not extending the covenant sign to his son. This passage blows my mind every time I read it and I hope it does for you as well. God was going to work using Moses to redeem Israel from Egypt. They were to come out of Egypt and worship the Lord. Yet Moses had not passed on His trust in the Lord’s Word regarding the covenant sign for the Ancient descendents of Abraham. Before Moses was to be used greatly to bless the children of Israel, he first needed a stern wakeup call to obey God in this forward facing promise - the sign of the covenant. This sign was a promise of future fulfillment.
One way to put into a sentence the principle taught in this strange encounter - God was willing to put the present plans of Moses on hold, for the sake of securing His (God’s) plans for the future.
This sign was a signature that throughout all of Old Testament biblical history, God was working towards a very specific shedding of blood. That shedding of blood took place on calvary outside Jerusalem. The blood that was shed was that of the very son of God. Through His blood shed a bride was secured, purchased, redeemed for all of eternity. The work of God in a moment in history secured all of God’s people, past, present, and future.
Today the gospel goes forward as well. You and I are not promised tomorrow. What the Lord has delivered to us, we then also ought to deliver to those under our care. The reality that the gospel extends across all peoples, and into every generation launches us into a work of service, love, and building. Serving those whom God has placed us among. Loving those whom God provides an opportunity to share Christ with. And participating in the building of the assembly that Christ promised He would build.
Sometimes this sort of conversation gets twisted or confused with the topic of legacy. The gospel going forward has nothing to do with OUR LEGACY. Becoming focused on our legacy will distract us from the gospel mission. Worrying about how people will remember us is a surefire way to succumb to all sorts of temptations, distractions, and pitfalls. The gospel going forward means we are primarily concerned with how future generations will respond to Christ. In this way our legacy as Christians participating in the gospel going forward into the future isn’t about us. It’s about faithful stewardship of the truth of Christ and the decidedly committed proclamation of God’s kingdom.
Once we begin thinking in these terms, the gospel going forward has all sorts of ethical and practical implications. The gospel going forward into the future is something that ought to be impacting our daily thoughts as we rise, as we use the gifts God has given us, as we treat those newer in the faith than us, and how we spend short earthly lives. How do we spend our time with our children and grandchildren? After we are long dead, will the younger ones we’ve mentored, taught, raised, and trained say this “Jesus was central” in our lives? Are we laying an Ebenezer stone in our habits and manners to demonstrate what is true in our hearts, that Jesus is King of Kings and Lord of Lords?
We aren’t around for very long. Will our lives be about the business of whatever our fleeting fleshly attention may be caught by? Or will our lives be about the eternally significant work of supporting and participating in the gospel spread as the good news of Christ moves forward, generation after generation into the future?
I invite you to recognize the short few breaths you have left. How will you expel those breaths in a manner that serves the kingdom spreading into the next generation?
