By John Larkins
No event in history is more important than the arrival on earth of the Savior of humankind. It is easy to be overly optimistic as to the number of souls that were awaiting God’s judgement, but many must have accumulated, including Adam and Eve. The Son of God, fully and among us as the Son of Man, was remarkably busy with the monumental mission of training bishops to establish His Church and complete initial training in the first and only Way to salvation and preparing for His horrible death.
In assessing the condition of the religion given Moses and nurtured by him and his successors, one can only marvel at how absolutely devastated it had become in 1,500 years. The Israelites had been defeated in battle and exiled to a foreign country and their sacred temple had been destroyed. Mostly, they did not believe or follow God’s specific directions.
The most horrendous evil to befall Israel was the reign of Greeks in power because of Alexander the Great dying and leaving his territorial holdings to his officers. These new kings simply decided to convert the world by destroying all traces of non-Greek religions. Unless you review this period (143 B.C.) yourself, you will not believe what brutal and savage humiliations were visited upon Jerusalem and all of Israel. The accounts of the “abomination of desolation” are found in the King James (1611 edition) Apocrypha and the circa 400 A.D. Catholic Bible as the first and second books of Maccabees. Certainly, even in this misery, there were some faithful and righteous men and women remaining. But very few.
So, the year 5 or 6 A.D. marks the birth of the Redeemer, the Son of Man, born of the Virgin Mary. Luke 1:26-35 tells us, “And, in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David and the virgin’s name was Mary. And the angel came in unto her, and said ‘Hail, thou that art highly favored, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.’ When she saw Gabriel, Mary was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. And the angel said unto her, ‘Fear not Mary, for thou hast found favor with God. And behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great and shall be called the Son of the Highest, and the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of his father David, and He shall reign over the house of Jacob forever and of His kingdom there shall be no end.’ Then Mary said to the angel, ‘How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?’ And the angel answered and said unto her, ‘The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee, therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. And behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren, for with God nothing shall be impossible.’ And Mary said, ‘Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it unto me according to thy word.’ And the angel de-parted from her.”
Well, what happened? Mary’s Son accomplished His mission! Mark 16: 15-16 says, “And He said to them, go ye into the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believes not shall be damned.” Then, in Mark 16: 19-20: “So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, He was received up into heaven, and sat on the right side of God. And they went forth, and preached everywhere, the Lord, working with them, and confirming the word with signs following.” Amen!
For the past 17 years, John Larkins has evangelized on the street, door-to-door, in tent revivals and in church situations. Contact him at johnlarkins@bellsouth.net.