18/08/2021
THE NEWS WAS WRONG THEN; IT IS WRONG NOW
Fifty days had passed since the ominous crucifixion of the Nazarene called Jesus. The Jews, from all over the world, had returned to the holy city of Jerusalem to celebrate the hallowed Feast of Pentecost. The intensity of activity in the city had hit peak point in the ancient city and, as you can imagine, the attention of all of the town, and indeed all of the Roman Empire, was fixed on that feast.
You can just picture the headlines of all the tabloids and media publications competing for which had the catchiest phrases. I often imagine the headlines go, "PLENTY COST FOR PENTECOST: Analysis of the Economics of a Jewish Feast," or, "PENTECOST, THE FEAST YOU MUST: Theologians Access the Importance of the Jewish Feast."
So if you were getting your news from the dailies on that particular day of Pentecost, you would have been inundated by the news of how much food and wine was consumed, and the economic impact of the global migration it precipitated. Culture savants and experts would have regaled you with tales of the splendour of Jewish culture, and the savour of their cuisine. Political analysts would have dissected the political capital and the risks it portended for imperial Rome. You would have been lost in all the razzmatazz.
You probably would not have known of the shakings and utterances that had taken, and were taking place, in the Spirit. You would not have been told that that Jesus who was crucified publicly fifty days earlier had risen again and had ascended to Heaven. You would not have known that upon that day, He had assumed the highest Throne in the heavenlies and the Holy Spirit of God had been poured out on men; and that, as a matter of fact, somewhere in one of the inns in the city--your city, one hundred and twenty men and women had gathered (pupils of the Nazarene whom the government, politicians, social analysts, and even theologians, along with the masses, had presumed dead) and were participating in that very Divine spectacle.
You probably would have been buying and selling wine and kebabs, in an effort to improve your economic fortunes. You would not be anywhere near the upper room, where those one hundred and twenty 'outcasts' were keeping watch. And even if you were, you probably would have come only after you had heard what you (alongside the other observers) eventually decided was senseless babbling. You would have joined the band of mockers who would summarily dismiss the men speaking in other tongues as drunken noisemakers wasting their time and lives.
You would think that you were making good use of your time. What the news wouldn't have shown you was that Time as you knew it was about to be disrupted, and history was about to be altered forever.
Days or months before the feast, you probably would have hit the gym to get in your best shape, or you'd be hounding your tailors across Jerusalem for a great Pentecost fashion statement. You would want to look your best in order to impress your admirers who hadn't seen you all year long, and not exactly join those pupils of the "dead" Nazarene to keep a fast or pray. That would be old-school things. Hello? Haven't they seen the news? The Romans crucified their Leader and He's dead, dead, dead.
But you would have been wrong, and dangerously so. You would have missed the epoch, your chance to enter into reality. We would have been reading of you today, as part of a nameless group of "certain men," renowned for being "mockers." You would have missed God, and it would have been because you did not discern the season of your visitation.
Luke 19:41-44;
"Now as He [Jesus] drew near, He saw the city and wept over it,
saying, “If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.
For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side,
and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”
Dearly beloved, we are once again in such a time as that great day of Pentecost two millennia ago. The news is once again telling the wrong stories. The Spirit of Truth, however, is broadcasting accurate signals. Whose report will you believe?
We will not squander this season in wanton escapades of mundane pursuit, or miss the realities of the season because of the unfortunate siege of spiritual ignorance.
This AUGUST, from the 26th-29th, a number of disciples will gather again to behold the excellencies of the great King of Heaven. Join us at Jubilation Camp, Masaka, Karu, Nasarawa State as we BEHOLD HIM. It is time for the latter rain!
Register here to participate: https://bit.ly/3xSNJS2
Maranatha!
Michael Ani Onyedikachi
