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The significance of God’s sending of messengers
The sending of true messengers is the work of God Himself
By BIENVENIDO A. SANTIAGO JR.
CHURCH OF CHRIST MEMBERS give utmost importance to God’s commissioning of His messengers. We firmly believe that the sending of true messengers is the work of God Himself. In His pronouncement in John 6:29, the Lord Jesus Christ, the greatest of God’s messengers, attests to this truth:
“Jesus answered and said to them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent’.” (New King James Version)
It is only God who can give man, by calling and choosing him, the honor of being His messenger. No one can ever take this honor for himself (Heb. 5:4).
God’s messengers honor, exalt, and proclaim God’s laws (Isa. 42:21, 19). They teach not their own will but the will of the One who sent them (John 7:16). They are the ones whom He entrusted to preach His words (John 6:29; 3:34).
There is also the testimony that proves that the Lord God had chosen and sent them as expressed in prophecies written in the Bible. Indeed, that was what Christ Himself affirmed to those who, during His ministry on earth, were averse to acknowledge Him as the One who should speak to them the words of God. Christ told them to search the Scriptures, for it is where they could find the prophecies that testify of Him (Isa. 61:1-2; John 5:39-40). Apostle Paul and Barnabas also cited the biblical prophecy that attests to their divine commission to preach God’s words to the Gentiles (Isa. 49:6; Acts 13:47). Even John the Baptist cited a prophecy in the Book of Isaiah concerning him and said that he was its fulfillment (Isa. 40:3; John 1:23).
God sends His messengers to open people’s eyes; turn them from darkness to light; remove them from the clutches of Satan and transfer them to God; and for them to receive forgiveness of sins and the promised inheritance (Acts 26:17-18).
Hence, people should seek God’s instruction from His messengers as stated in Malachi 2:7:
“For the lips of a priest ought to preserve knowledge, and from his mouth men should seek instruction-because he is the messenger of the LORD Almighty” (New International Version).
The priest mentioned in these verses refers to Levitical priests, who, during the prophetic era, were sent by God to proclaim His words.
In the Christian era, there are messengers whom God and Christ sent to be their ambassadors in bringing the message of reconciliation to man in order to mend his broken relationship with God (John 13:20; II Cor. 5:18-21, NIV; Isa. 59:2; Eph. 2:12).
In the last days, God sent Brother Felix Y. Manalo to preach His laws and teachings. There are prophecies in the Bible that were fulfilled in him-proof that God indeed sent Brother Manalo. And just as what previous true messengers did, Brother Manalo also proclaimed the Lord’s laws and teachings to fulfill his mission in bringing God’s righteousness, the gospel, to people in order for them to be saved (Rev. 7:2-3; Isa. 41:9-10; 46:11-13; Rom. 1:16-17).
Indeed, God’s purpose in sending His messengers is to make known to people the truth that will lead them to salvation. That is the important mission and duty that God’s messengers carry out for our benefit.
The teachings of God that Brother Felix Manalo preached are being faithfully upheld by the Iglesia Ni Cristo (Church Of Christ) through the leadership of its Executive Minister, Brother Eduardo V. Manalo.
When a person rejects God’s messengers, the One Whom he is really rejecting is the Lord God Who sent them (Luke 10:16). Such is a grievous sin-much worse than the wicked acts committed by the people of Sodom and Gomorrah, which incurred God’s terrifying wrath (Matt. 10:14-15).
People should believe in the significance of God’s sending of messengers. The Lord Jesus Christ assures those who will accept and believe in the messengers sent by God that they shall certainly receive their reward (Matt. 10:42).
This article was originally published in the Pasugo: God’s Message magazine, May 2018 issue.
