Luke 24:45-47 Unveiling the Old Testament Gospel

Last week our Thursday night Bible study finished the Gospel of Luke. These verses caught my eye:

Luke 24:45-46 (NASB95)

Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and He said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day…

These words were spoken after the resurrection and just before Christ ascended to heaven. Note that our risen Lord opened the disciples' minds to understand the scriptures. Their minds were still veiled, but as Paul said: “whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.” (2 Cor 3:

Here’s where it is written:

Hosea 6:1-3 (NASB95) 

1 “Come, let us return to the LORD. 

For He has torn, but He will heal us; 

He has wounded, but He will bandage us. 

2 “He will revive us after two days;

He will raise us up on the third day,

That we may live before Him. 

This is a Gospel message from the Old Testament!

David Guzik says in his commentary on Hosea:

Hosea prayed this full of confidence in love and power to restore. In the prayer, there is a shadowy prophecy of Jesus’ resurrection on the third day. The context supports this wonderfully; on the cross Jesus was torn and stricken for our sake, yet He was also gloriously raised up on the third day.

As Isaiah said in his prophecy of the suffering messiah:

Isaiah 53:4 (NASB95)

Surely our griefs He Himself bore,

And our sorrows He carried;

Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken,

Smitten of God, and afflicted.

But why did Hosea say, “He will raise US up on the third day”? 

Paul connects the dots here:

Ephesians 2:4-6 (NASB95) 

But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made US alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and RAISED US UP with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus...

So, this word of encouragement follows in Hosea 6:3:

“So let us know, let us press on to know the LORD.

His going forth is as certain as the dawn;

And He will come to us like the rain,

Like the spring rain watering the earth.”

His going forth from the tomb, and going into all the world through us, is as certain as the dawn was certain that first Easter morning! And as the water flowed from His earthly body to signify His death, even so the living water of the Holy Spirit flows from the body of Christ through each of us today, bringing salvation and eternal life to all who receive it!

Finally, Jesus gave us this commission:

Luke 24:47 (NASB95) ... that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.

Let’s proclaim the gospel in His name - like the spring rain watering the whole earth - to all the nations, starting today, here and now! 

Healing the Blind

One Sunday recently a friend in my Bible Fellowship shared the experience his wife is going through with the loss of sight in one eye. He related how God had spoken to him in this and other circumstances to grow his faith. He finished that testimony by playing this Willie Nelson song "It's Not for Me to Understand" from 1971, which he heard on the country radio station recently during their time of deepest concern. The song is about a boy born blind, and God's answer to the question - Why?

The ninth chapter of the Gospel of John is about Jesus healing a man born blind. The chapter ends with Jesus saying basically the same thing that Willie sang - you too are blind without My eyes. Like the song, the meaning is profoundly simple but deep.

And Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, so that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind.” Those of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these things and said to Him, “We are not blind too, are we?” Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but since you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains."

John 9:39-41 NASB

Is Jesus saying that blind people are sinless? Not at all; that would be far too shallow and meaningless. No, Jesus is talking about innocence vs. arrogance, spiritual awareness vs. the wisdom of this world. What the blind man saw, that the Pharisees missed, was his own spiritual poverty and need of healing that only God can provide, of both soul and body. The Pharisees were blinded by their arrogance and religious zeal, unwilling to accept the promise of eternal life that only Jesus could give.

This analogy of blindness as innocence continues with the parable in John 10 where Jesus presents Himself as the Shepherd of sheep that only know His voice. The loss of innocence through the awareness of sin begins -not surprisingly- in the beginning with the original sin.

When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.

Genesis 3:6-7 NASB

The forbidden fruit gave Adam and Eve the wisdom of the world, but caused them (and all their descendants) to be blinded to the presence of God, banned from Eden and the Tree of Life.

It is our sinful flesh that separates us from God and blinds us to His presence. The more we experience the desires and cares of this world, the less we will experience the still small voice that speaks to us in the darkness of night.

While we are blinded by this world and sin, if we have received the Spirit of Truth we "have ears to hear". We simply must take time to listen. This is why there are times when fasting and prayer are required, to put aside the desires of the flesh and open our ears to hear.

The Word of God is living and active when we listen and apply it to our lives. This is a lesson that I need to re-learn every morning and every day. But as time wears away my flesh and my eyes grow dim, my spirit grows stronger and more aware of the unseen treasure that is available in the presence of the Almighty. That is where we all need to focus as we see the day of our redemption drawing near.

Turn your eyes upon Jesus 

Look full in His wonderful face 

And the things of earth will grow strangely dim 

In the light of His glory and grace!

 From the hymn "Heavenly Vision" by Helen Howarth Lemmel

 

 

 

Faith #4: The Preposterous Gospel of Christ

Number 4 on my list of top 10 reasons for faith in Jesus is probably the most compelling reason, because this preposterous Gospel of Christ was born in a hostile culture and has succeeded in the most hostile nations, growing miraculously in the worst conditions.

The way of faith in Jesus is not designed to be imposed on its followers, nor is it designed to bring its leaders wealth or respect in this world. It was not intended to be sold or marketed - it is difficult and some would say impossible to spread this faith without the miraculous work of the Holy Spirit. Even after Jesus was resurrected and appeared to over 500 of his followers, the kingdom that he established in heaven only "went viral" after Christ had been seated on his throne and sent the Holy Spirit to those he called.

[Note: If you haven't noticed from my other posts on this "Reasons for Faith" topic, the kingdom of heaven has nothing to do with religions and governments.]

The gospel message itself is called "foolishness" to the nations of this world, and a "stumbling block" to the Jews whom Christ came to reach first. Of all the improbable ways to start, this kingdom began with the King himself being whipped and hung naked on a cross to suffer and die with criminals. To make it even more unlikely, he called his followers to take up their own cross and follow him - which almost all of them did - leading to lives of eternal impact that ended in persecution and death. These are not the ways of charlatans or philosophers, but rather simple men who were transformed by a revolutionary gospel piercing deep into their hearts by the Holy Spirit of God.

This is the Gospel of Christ:

1. God created this world and gave mankind authority over his creation.
2. Mankind sinned by rejecting God and choosing to live by their own knowledge.
3. Sin resulted in the mortality and depravity of mankind.
4. As he promised, God sent his only Son to redeem mankind from their slavery to sin and death.
5. The accumulated debt of the sin of mankind could only be paid by the precious blood of God's perfect sacrifice - the death of his only Son.
6. The resurrection and ascension of Jesus to the right hand of God makes him the Lord of all creation.
7. We are saved from sin and death when we believe in our heart and confess Jesus as Lord.
8. When we receive Christ we are blessed with joy, eternal life and the riches of heaven.

This preposterous gospel of an all-powerful but merciful, self-sacrificial God is the message of the eternal kingdom that rules the hearts and minds of believers. It is built on things only God can do and continues only by His grace and the power of his Holy Spirit. It is this grace that provides my faith and sustains my soul.