The Regeneration Is Not Over - Sunday
March 30th, 2014 - Pastor Chris
...Verily I say unto you, That ye which
have followed me, in the regeneration
when the Son of man shall sit in the
throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon
twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes
of Israel (Matthew 19:28).
The positioning of the punctuation in our
opening scripture is somewhat
misleading. The translators used their
prerogative to place a comma after "...ye
which have followed me...." It should
have come after the word "regeneration"
to read, "...ye which have followed me in
the regeneration, when the Son of man
shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also
shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the
twelve tribes of Israel."
You might ask, "What's the difference?"
The difference is huge. Jesus wasn't
referring to the regeneration as
something that would happen in the
future, but as something that was
happening already. The translators must
have thought Jesus was talking about
reconstitution. Reconstitution may be
synonymous with renewal, but they're
not the same. In Acts 3:21, the Bible
gives an instance of reconstitution,
"Whom the heaven must receive until the
times of restitution of all things, which
God hath spoken by mouth of all his holy
prophets since the world began." The
reconstitution, restitution, restoration,
rebuilding, or putting together again of all
things is futuristic. The regeneration
however is a rebirth, a renewal, not a
restoration.
When you were born again, you were
given a new life. "Not by works of
righteousness which we have done, but
according to his mercy he saved us, by
the washing of regeneration, and
renewing of the Holy Ghost" (Titus 3:5).
Jesus came to begin this regeneration
with His disciples, hence, His reason for
saying to them, "...ye which have
followed me in the regeneration...." His
disciples will receive a reward in future
for following Him in the regeneration, but
it surely isn't over.
We're still preaching, and carrying out the
work of regeneration today. We're with
Him in His project of bringing men into a
new birth of the Spirit; we also shall have
our reward for following Him in this
regeneration.
PRAYER:
Dear heavenly Father, I'm so glad to be
chosen of you to be a part of this great
ministry of reconciliation, carrying out and
carrying on the work which the Lord Jesus
began, both to do and teach. I recognize
my responsibility as a minister, and I keep
at it, spreading the good news and
bringing many to righteousness, in Jesus'
Name. Amen.
Further Study:
2 Corinthians 5:18-19: And all things are
of God, who hath reconciled us to himself
by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the
ministry of reconciliation; To wit, that God
was in Christ, reconciling the world unto
himself, not imputing their trespasses
unto them; and hath committed unto us
the word of reconciliation.
2 Timothy 4:2: Preach the word; be
instant in season, out of season; reprove,
rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and
doctrine.
1 Year Bible Reading Plan: Luke 8:22-39,
Joshua 5-6
2 Year Bible Reading Plan: Romans
4:11-25, Psalm 102