Circular Letter April/May 2019
“Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.” (Heb 13:8)
Circular Letter April/May 2019
Heartfelt greetings to all of you worldwide in the precious Name of our Lord Jesus Christ with the Scripture from 2 Pt 3:9:
“The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”
The promised Return of Christ (Jn 14:3) was the main subject in apostolic times, and it still is today for all Bible believers. When the Lord foretold the destruction of the Temple in Mt 24:1-3, the disciples asked Him three questions:
1) “When shall these things be?
2) And what shall be the sign of thy coming?
3) and of the end of the world?”
In 1 Cor 15, the apostle wrote about both the first resurrection and the second resurrection and explained: “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming. Then cometh the end …” (1 Cor 15:22-24). The Holy Scriptures describe various comings, but only one “Return” of Christ (Jn 14:1-3).
Acts 3 emphasizes what needs to happen with each individual before the promised Return of Jesus Christ: “Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you …” (Acts 3:19-20). The total forgiveness of sins and the absolute justification by faith in the completed redemption must be personally experienced by each one so that the Lord can send the time of refreshing. The spiritual revival and refreshing that the Lord God gave unto His people in the beginning through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit was also promised to us, before the Return of the Lord.
“Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.” (Acts 3:21). The Return of Jesus Christ can only take place when the same message that was proclaimed in the beginning has now been proclaimed at the end. So it is not only about the refreshing and revival through the Spirit of God, but about the complete restoration of all things in the Church, as they were in the beginning in the Early Church, in regard to doctrine as well as life.