The Way, The Truth, and The Light

Luke 24: 46-49

And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And ye are witnesses of these things. And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.
Some may need to be reminded that every word in the Bible is important and here is no exception. In this instance we see the final words that are spoken by Christ who has risen from the dead and is about to return to heaven. He is explaining to the disciples why he had to die on the cross and what they are to do after he leaves them to return to his father in heaven. The scripture can be broken up into two sections:
-The explanation of why Christ had to do what he did

-The instructions of what the disciples had to do to carry on in their ministry.
This verse describes Christ as an understanding teacher who knows exactly what the disciples needed to hear at the time they needed to hear it. If we go to Luke 18: 32-34 it reads:

For he shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated, and spitted on: And they shall scourge him, and put him to death: and the third day he shall rise again. And they understood none of these things: and this saying was hid from them, neither knew they the things which were spoken.

Jesus told the disciples what was going to happen so you would think they would have known, or understood, or even been prepared. But they weren’t, if you can imagine hearing someone but not really hearing what they are saying. It gives me renewed faith as a Sunday school teacher as some days some children come in with these glassy looks in their eyes and I know they aren’t receiving at that time. Sometimes I even read the Bible and I don’t understand it, but it still needs to be read because I know that the seed isn’t until an appointed time. This is why Jesus still spoke it to the disciples. He knew they wouldn’t understand but the seed was planted and the disciples finally did later understand. We know that from Luke 24:5-8:

And as they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen: remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee, Saying, The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again. And they remembered his words,

This tells me that we must hold onto our beliefs that this word is so powerful that even when speaking it to glassy eyed people that at the appointed time the word will come back to their remembrance. Keep reminding people, over and over again, keep following Christ’s instructions that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations.

Now that the disciples had understanding, the next step was to explain why he had to do what he had to do. In Luke 24:44 it reads;

And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which are written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.

He knew that the disciples were puzzled and confused. He also knew that there could be a little bitterness there and also some resentment. When you witness wrong being done it does something to you. And Christ suffered a most horrifying death. He went through it but the disciples had to witness it and sometimes when you witness something that terrible, it is as if you are going through it as well. It takes awhile for your mind to recover and three days later it would still be fresh. You can imagine the various emotions they must have encountered through their grief. Sometimes when the police have to go in to view a crime scene after a murder has happened, something happens to their stomach and they have to vomit. It makes them angry at the perpetrators and they can get to the point where they want revenge. Jesus knew all of this and this is why he took the time to explain to the disciples so that their ministry would not be hindered by all these feelings.

You can’t have an effective ministry and hate the people whom you are trying to minister. His instructions needed to be very clear and this was the appointed time for the seed to be cultivated and the disciples to understand. This tells me that once seeds are planted, God will continue to cultivate the seed until that understanding comes forth.

People are crying out to hear the truth. And Jesus said in John 14:6 that he is "the way, the truth and the light." One example of this is Pilate in John 18:38 Pilate asked Jesus “What is truth?” It is a natural inclination to want to know. When they are looking for the truth, and sometimes they say it in different ways (the meaning of life, searching for themselves, etc.) they are actually crying out to hear from Jesus. They are trying to find out like Pilate, “What is truth?” And it is your job to keep telling them so that they can stop looking in the wrong places and find Jesus.

The last instruction from Jesus to the disciples was: "And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high."

Wait on the Lord, when you go into preach the gospel you need help from the Holy Spirit. This power from on high insures that you "rightly divide the word of truth" as described in 2nd Timothy 2:15. If we are the light of the world, then we should make people hungry for the word. But if we are not the light of the world, we are considered false profits. The difference is, the Holy Spirit, the Word of God in us, and the truth that can be revealed through us.

As satan’s time is short on this earth, we also know that he will try to deceive more and more. We need to hold onto our beliefs and continue to do the work of the Lord as he instructed.

As I close, please be reminded of the truth in:
- “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” (Acts 16:31)
- "Repent you therefore, and be converted that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord" (Acts 3:19).
- Repent and be baptized everyone of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost" (Acts 2: 36-38).
- "With the heart man believeth unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation" (Rom. 10: 9,10)
- If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)

Follow Jesus

During Bible Study tonight, the greatest revelation came to me. It was almost as if the "Word" just jumped out of the pages and grabbed my attention. What I saw was in John chapter 6 but can also be found in (Mt 14:13-23; Mk 6:30-46; Lk 9:10-17; Jn 6:1-16). In this chapter it describes, in the well-known scriptures, how the lad donated five barley loaves and two fish to Jesus. Then Jesus blessed it and this meal fed the multitude of five thousand until they were full. Afterwards, they were able to gather up the remains which turned out to be twelve baskets full of food.

What jumped out at me was this, when the multitude followed Jesus it created a problem. The problem was that Jesus wanted to feed them. Jesus went to his disciples to see if they knew of a solution. More specifically, when Jesus spoke to Philip he asked him "From whence will we buy food so that these may eat?" It goes on to inform us that Jesus already knew the answer but he wanted to prove Philip. Apparently Philip knew what they had in treasury because his response was to provide Jesus with the amount of their reserved financial resources. It was evident that they didn't have enough. The second possible solution was to send the multitude away so that they could fend for themselves. The third solution was the five barley loaves and two fish offered by the lad. Jesus took the third and final solution offered and blessed it until it multiplied into more than enough.

It is amazing how the solution that Jesus chose to bless and honor was the least selfish of the solutions. It is easy to buy your way out of a problem. It is easy to send your problems away and hide from them. But how easy is it to make the sacrifice to give all you have to Jesus and demonstrate your faith in him to resolve the problem.

Bring all your problems to Jesus reminds me of the following refrain from the song "Yield not to temptation":

Ask the Savior to help you,
Comfort, strengthen and keep you;
He is willing to aid you,
He will carry you through.

In this situation you can easily see that money is not the solution, food is not the solution, and giving up is definitely not the solution. The solution was Jesus the whole time.