“Lord Jesus, help us be faithful witnesses to You in every place. Your fragrance diffuses from us to the people in our circles. In Your name, we pray. Amen.”
The message of Peter and John to the Jews was done and now came the time for the response from their hearers.
As this preaching was taking place, there was a disturbance among the authorities about this message of Jesus being taught to the people. They arrested Peter and John and put them in detention.
Nevertheless, the Jews who heard, responded to the message. Acts 4:4 However, many of those who heard the word believed; and the number of the men came to be about five thousand.
If about five thousand of them believed in Jesus and gave their lives to Him, we can infer that there would have been a much larger gathering, who heard the message.
When the Lord Jesus was crucified, He was alone. Now the work of Jesus on the cross was bearing fruit. John 12:23-24 But Jesus answered them, saying, “The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. (24) Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain / John 12:32 And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.”
As five thousand people believed in Jesus, there were many who chose not to believe. Acts 28:24 And some were persuaded by the things which were spoken, and some disbelieved.
As we represent Christ and the message of Christ rings out from us, we must be conscious that we are constantly calling people to turn to Christ and believe in Him. Our life is a part of the message of Jesus. There is no time when we stop being the message of Jesus.
II Corinthians 2:14-16 Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. (15) For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. (16) To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leading to life. And who is sufficient for these things?
Our life of triumph in Christ is over sin, the flesh, the world, and the devil. This triumphal message of Christ in us diffuses from us into our circles of influence. To those who are being saved, we are a fragrance and they receive our message with joy. To those who refuse and choose death, we are clearly making them know that it is Christ whom they have rejected. Our qualification is nothing about ourselves, but it is Christ, who is magnified through us.
We, as those who are a part of the message of Jesus, must be aware that there are those elected by God to be His, in every audience to whom we reveal Christ.
Apostle Paul tells us that he endures all things to bring God’s word to people, since there is the elect of God, in every audience, who must receive salvation. II Timothy 2:9-10 for which I suffer trouble as an evildoer, even to the point of chains; but *the word of God is not chained. (10) Therefore I endure all things for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.
The elect of God are the ones whom God has chosen to be His. John 15:16 You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.
Yes, as we see in our verse for study today, about five thousand people believed in Jesus. They were the elect of God. It was God who had called and chosen them. Romans 9:11 (for the children not yet being born, nor having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works but of Him who calls),
We are therefore confronted with the dilemma of individual choice set against God’s sovereign will.
This is what we understand are the ways of God. Romans 9:15-16 For He says to Moses, “I WILL HAVE MERCY ON WHOMEVER I WILL HAVE MERCY, AND I WILL HAVE COMPASSION ON WHOMEVER I WILL HAVE COMPASSION.” (16) So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy.
People do choose to believe in Jesus, yet it is God who has mercy on whom He will have mercy. Both positions are simultaneously at work.
As those who are one with Christ, in being part of His message to the world, let us continue to faithfully, allow the fragrance of Jesus, diffuse from us, to all our audiences.
Let us always be aware that there is the elect of God in every place, who must receive the salvation of Christ. We must be faithful to our task. It is God who decides on whom He will have mercy.