GOD IS ABLE TO ESTABLISH YOU

SATURDAY 05 JUNE 2021

To establish is to firmly set up something to become permanent. The body of Christ is part of God's plan for sharing His divine life and establishing His eternal purpose on earth. Jesus brought about the fulfilment of this plan first, by His preaching and witnessing the Good News of the Kingdom, with its gifts of salvation from sin and participation in divine life of God. So He established the beginning of it. However the dynamic process continues as apostle Paul reveals to us.

Reference: Romans 16:25 New International Version (NIV) "Now to him who is able to establish you in accordance with my gospel, the message I proclaim about Jesus Christ, in keeping with the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past."

Apostle Paul gives glory to God who has revealed the long-hidden mystery of the gospel of salvation, noting that God Himself is able to make us strong and establish us according to the Good News in general. However He pointed out the three specific ways in which God can use the Good news to strengthen or establish us, namely: 1. According to Pauline gospel. 2. According to the preaching of Jesus Christ. 3. According to the revelation of the mystery.

According to Pauline gospel: Paul was given a special grace and specific message of the gospel and the message is about the mystery of Christ, which points to how God has revealed His plan for the Gentiles, which is a plan kept secret from the beginning of time. The Apostle from Tarsus was conscious of what He was called to preach. He knew that he was handpicked by the Lord Jesus as His chosen instrument to carry His name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel (see Acts 9:15). So he functioned with the awareness that Jesus had a specific purpose in calling him which transformed countless lives and brought them to God's Kingdom.

Paul's specific purpose was demonstrated in His personal version in regard to the gospel. Its like differentiating the authorship of Petrine epistles from Pauline epistles, for instance, pointing to Paul's uniqueness of purpose. So He made reference to His own personal ministry and teachings. He preached to the Gentiles and through their salvation, they became established as fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of God's promise in Christ by the gospel.

According to the preaching of Christ: Paul preached the unsearchable riches of Christ. That's exactly the message he proclaimed about Jesus Christ. Paul says, "Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ" (Ephesians 3:8). His preaching focused on the unfathomable riches and endless treasures available to us in Christ by God's grace. Indeed, He could not deviate from it and would not have chosen another subject.

According to the revelation of the divine mystery: God's mystery was hidden for long ages past. At the fullness of time, it was revealed. By this revelation, Paul was chosen to make all men perceive what is the fellowship of this mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ. This mystery shows that God's ways are far beyond human understanding; the riches of the mystery are beyond the human ability to investigate or quantify.

Beloved God is able to establish us and His entire church - in accordance with the glorious gospel, through the preaching of Jesus Christ and according to the revelation of the mystery He kept silent for long ages. Even angels are learning more about this establishment as they observe the Spirit of God working through us and the body of Christ in general. Shalom!

Scripture Reading - Romans 11:33; Ephesians 1: 9; Galatians 1:11-12; Ephesians 3:1-11.

Exuberant Declaration: Christ Jesus lives in me; He is my righteousness, my glory and my establishment. He continually fills me with grace and truth and I enjoy my access to the endless treasures available in Him. By keeping in step with the Spirit, the stability, durability and continuity of my faith in Christ is sustained, thereby empowering me to walk in God's perfect will always. Hallelujah!