I reflected on the words resurrection power and mission in preparing for this month’s TIP. Several recent events, not to mention the message of upcoming Good Friday and Resurrection Day celebrations, have inspired me.
In early March, the Pakistan missionary community and our extended family lost a much-loved friend and servant of God, David Mitchell. Before he passed away, Dave and his wife Synnøve sang again the beloved song “He Giveth More Grace,” a melody composed by David’s father to accompany the poem by Annie Johnson Flint. If you’ve not heard of Synnøve, perhaps you’ve heard of Bilquis Sheikh, author of I Dared to Call Him Father. Her autobiography describes how she found salvation in Jesus through strange events and dreams.
Synnøve, a missionary in Pakistan with her husband Dave, was at a crisis point and prayed about and considered leaving the field until Bilquis Sheikh arrived at her doorstep on November 24, 1966. The Lord had laid it on Synnøve’s heart to prepare a lesson about the Magi and how God led them by a star and through dreams. This was exactly the message Bilquis needed to hear.
Bilquis was born into an upper-class Muslim family. She found little comfort in the Quran and ordered a Christian servant to get her a Bible. She began to read it. The story continues:
That same night Sheikh dreamed she was eating with Jesus. Jesus left. And she found herself conversing with someone whose name she knew was John the Baptist. (At that time she had never heard of John the Baptist, nor had she read Revelation 3 where Jesus promises to dine with whoever opens to him.)…Soon afterward she dreamed a salesman placed a dish of lovely perfume on her dresser, saying its fragrance would fill the world. When she awoke she found her Bible where the perfume of her dream had been.1
One month later, on December 24, 1966, Bilquis became a believer. I encourage you to read her book!
The chorus of “He Giveth More Grace,” the song Dave and Synnøve Mitchell sang before Dave’s death last month, goes like this:
His love has no limits, His grace has no measure, His power has no boundary known unto men. For out of His infinite riches in Jesus, He giveth and giveth and giveth again.
Indeed, Jesus’ resurrection power has no boundaries: Bilquis experienced a meal with the creator of heaven and earth even before she knew him as her Savior!
The late Timothy Keller was also confident of Jesus’ power without boundaries. In his blog, The Resurrection and Christian Mission, he expounds on Matthew 28:18-20 (some of WMPL’s theme verses), which conclude with “And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (ESV)
Keller acknowledges in his blog that this passage “isn’t generally considered an ‘Easter text,'” then says a careful look shows “it has more to do with Easter than is first apparent.” He points out that Jesus is “waiting for us at the end of history,” for the very end of the age refers to time, not place. He continues,
Jesus is thus promising to be the ‘happy ending’ of the world’s history and our personal history. Christians move out into a violent world as agents of peace, into a broken world as agents of reconciliation, into a needy world as servants of the poor. We do so knowing that it is God’s will to eventually end all war and division, all poverty and injustice. The resurrection of Christ assures us that God will redeem not just souls but bodies, and will bring about a new heavens [sic] and new earth. As the risen Christ, he stands not just with us in our present time, but he waits at the end of history to heal and renew everything. That is his promise. Therefore, we will not fear.2
How true! In a world increasingly antagonistic to the Good News of Jesus Christ as the Way, the Truth, and the Life, we can truly dare to call him Father, Lord, and Savior and make him known. Jesus is risen and his resurrection power is made perfect in our weakness. We should neither fear nor give up. As the Holy Spirit stirred Bilquis’ heart and the Lord answered Synnøve’s prayer, we can expect him to lead and use us by the power of his Holy Spirit in his mission.