” Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ…” 2 Cor. 5:20a
Following the resurrection of Jesus, he boldly declared to his disciples, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:8) By this, Jesus calls both individual Christians and the church at large to engage in “witnessing.” But what does “witnessing” actually mean? Theologians, Craig Bartholomew and Michael Goheen, explain “witnessing” in this way,
“Witness characterizes the meaning of this time period in God’s story. Yet, this could easily be misinterpreted: one might reduce mission or witness to evangelism or cross-cultural missions. While these dimensions are important to the church’s mission, they are too limited. When we grasp that the salvation of the kingdom restores the creation, and all of it, we see that witness to God’s kingdom is as wide as creation. Witness will mean embodying God’s renewing power in politics and citizenship, economics and business, education and scholarship, family and neighborhood, media and art, leisure and play. It is not just that we carry out evangelism in these areas of life. Again, this is important but not enough. It means that the way we live as citizens, consumers, students, husbands, mothers, and friends witnesses to the restoring power of God. We may suffer as we encounter other equally comprehensive and competing religious stories trying to shape our culture. Nevertheless, a broad mission is central to our being.”
Bartholomew and Goheen, The Drama of Scripture, 218
Could it be that “witnessing” for Jesus Christ involves not only giving a Gospel presentation, but it also involves our faithful participation in all the normal aspects of life as “ambassadors” for Jesus Christ? This is the central argument that Bartholomew and Goheen are making–to not separate life into neat categories, such as the “sacred” and the “secular.” In other words, they speak against the idea that ordinary callings in life are somehow disconnected from a Christian witness. Instead, they maintain that one’s calling as an artist, a teacher, a plumber, a lawyer, a homemaker, a musician, a soldier, or a politician, can be just as “spiritual” of a calling as a missionary or a pastor. This type of thinking closely parallels the Reformation doctrine of “calling” and “vocation.” Calvin writes,
“The Lord bids each one of us in all life’s actions to look to his calling. For he knows with what great restlessness human nature flames, with what fickleness it is borne hither and thither, how its ambition longs to embrace various things at once. Therefore, lest through our stupidity and rashness everything be turned topsy-turvy, he has appointed duties for every man in his particular way of life. And that no one may thoughtlessly transgress his limits, he has named these various kinds of living “callings.” …From this will arise also a singular consolation: that no task will be so sordid and base, provided you obey your calling in it, that it will not shine and be reckoned very precious in God’s sight.”
Calvin, Institutes 3:10:6
In addition to our individual callings, Bartholomew and Goheen remind Christians everywhere that the Lord seeks to restore the entire created order to righteousness. They cite Matthew 19:28; Romans 8:18-22; and Revelation 21:1-5a in support of the “renewal of all things” that is God’s overarching plan. Consider these three passages,
— “Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, I say to you, in the new world (i.e. Gk. “in the regeneration”), when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.'” Matthew 19:28
— “For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.” Romans 8:18-22
— “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.’ And he who was seated on the throne said, ‘Behold, I am making all things new.'” Revelation 21:1-5a
Each one of these Bible passages gives us a vision of what life will be like in “the new heavens and the new earth.” They also imply that our Lord calls us to begin living out the truth right now of the “renewing of all things.” Therefore, everything that we do in life–whatever our personal calling might be–ought to reflect the new reality that God is bringing all things under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Doing all things unto the glory of God is our “witness” in this world. We not only accomplish this individually but also corporately. In this way, the Church of Jesus Christ is a “witnessing” community.
— Dr. Marcus J. Serven
“Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, I say to you, in the new world (i.e. Gk. “in the regeneration”), when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.’” Matthew 19:28
Pastor Marcus, since we believing Gentiles have been grafted in (Romans 11:17), and the Church is Israel today (Romans 9:6), what is meant by “judging the twelve tribes of Israel”?
Will the tribes of Israel still be distinct in the heavenly kingdom?
Does it mean that the saved will be judging those who are not of “the remnant”
(Romans 9:27).
Ann, here is the answer of a Bible commentator I greatly respect (Dr. William Hendriksen). He states, “The time when this promise will be fulfilled is definitely indicated as being the day “when the Son of man shall be seated on the throne of his kingdom”; in other words the reference is clearly to the period beginning with the day of Christ’s return for judgment. Ranged, as it were, around that throne (Rev. 4:4) there will be twelve other thrones. Upon these thrones The Twelve apostles will be seated, judging–probably in the sense of reigning over, being resplendent above (cf. Dan. 12:3; Matt. 20:21; Rev. 3:21)–“the twelve tribes of Israel.” What is meant by these “twelve tribes of Israel”? In all probability the term refers to the restored new Israel. Whether, as such, it indicates the total number of the elect gathered out of the twelve tribes of the Jews from the beginning to the end of the world history (cf. Rom. 11:26), or even all the chosen ones of both the Jews and the Gentiles (cf. Gal. 6:16), in either case it must refer to those who have been regenerated, for into the reborn universe to which 19:28 refers nothing unclean will ever enter (Rev. 21:27).” (Hendriksen, New Testament Commentary: Matthew, page 730)