19th Jun 26 | 04:39
Studies by Book
The kingdom of Jesus
📖 Acts 15:28-29
Acts 15 - Series 2/Episode 19 - Sat, 25th Apr 2026 - The kingdom of Jesus - Acts 15:22-35 - THE ANNOUNCEMENT - Colossians 01:13
Acts 15:28-29 For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things: (29) that you abstain from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell.
The Gentile believers were instructed to abstain from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality. These practices are closely associated with pagan worship and spiritual darkness. The apostles instructed Gentile believers to avoid them because they were tied to idolatry, impurity, and demonic religious systems.
These four items, things offered to idols, blood, things strangled, and sexual immorality, were directly tied to and represented pagan worship, idolatry, and demonic influence. The apostles were not giving random dietary rules; they were helping Gentile believers break completely free from the spiritual system out of which they had been saved.
I Corinthians 10:20-21 Rather, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to demons and not to God, and I do not want you to have fellowship with demons. (21) You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the Lord's table and of the table of demons. / Revelation 2:14 But I have a few things against you, because you have there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality.
These instructions were not about salvation but about helping Gentile believers separate from paganism and maintain unity with Jewish believers.
We must remember that when we came to Christ, we came out of a system and a kingdom. We have moved into a new system and kingdom. Colossians 1:13 He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love,
This is the work of the Gospel. We are releasing people from the kingdom of darkness and bringing people into the kingdom of Jesus. Acts 26:18 to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.'
Not only are we brought out of a system of darkness, but we are brought into the kingdom of Jesus to be sanctified by faith in Him. We are now representatives and ambassadors of the kingdom of Jesus.
Jesus called people to repent and enter His kingdom. Mark 1:14-15 Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, (15) and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel." Jesus came preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, which is a system of life. To enter this kingdom of Jesus, we must repent. What repentance is Jesus talking about? This repentance is to repent of the old or previous system that we were part of, turn around, and accept the new system of the kingdom of Jesus.
This is also the reason for baptism. Baptism does mean that we have died with Christ. Romans 6:3-4 Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? (4) Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
Baptism also means to be sanctified or set apart, and to come out of the previous system of life. Colossians 2:11-12 In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, (12) buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.
When we come to Christ, we are a new creation. II Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
Those of us who accepted Jesus from a 'Christian background' do not see this distinction very clearly. However, a person who comes to Jesus from a non-Christian background knows very well what it means to give up the old system and enter the new system of the kingdom of Jesus.
This is where they (those from a non-Christian background) also struggle because they have been deeply embedded in a system, and it is not easy to uproot those deeply rooted ways of life.
Now, we can appreciate and understand why these four areas that were specified by the Jerusalem Council were not simple advisories, but were intended to help bring the Gentile believers out of the system and kingdom of darkness. We can also see why those who come to Jesus from a non-Christian background face severe opposition and persecution. They have moved out of the system, of which the devil is the ruler.
Community Feedback
Reviews for The kingdom of Jesus
☆☆☆☆☆
0 reviews
Leave a Review
No reviews yet. Be the first to share your thoughts.