Like most believers, I have longed to see the authority of the church restored. I always felt that signs and wonders should flow from the cross.
Last night I was hit by a comparison I had never seen before. Elijah and Jesus were synonymous with incredible signs, which shook a nation. Then they both went up a hill, not to the top, but halfway up: the former to Carmel, the latter to Moriah.
Elijah felt the earth shake, the storm rage, the earth move - as did Jesus. Both returned to shake their worlds, not through miraculous power, but through the outworking of a still, small voice. The subtle impulse in the early church reflected the risen life of the nondescript threat that died at the hands of Rome.
Yet, within 200 years, the unknown, was known by the world, and the forgotten had shaken the foundations of Rome.
The real authority of the church lies not in abstract powers, but in the risen life of Christ. He gives hope to the hopeless, life to the despairing, strength to the weak and courage to the fearful. Like the sun returning in Spring, He raised a Holy People from nothing - and they kept on advancing, as empires fell.
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