30th Mar 26 | 13:54
Studies by Book
Luke 24 36-49 COMMISSIONED TO BE HIS WITNESSES 12 26Apr2022 Luke 24 44-45 Beginning at the point of faith
📖 Luke 24:36-49
12 – 26Apr2022 – Beginning at the point of faith - Luke 24:36-49 - COMMISSIONED TO BE HIS WITNESSES - Bible reading: Hebrews 3:17-19
“Thank You, Lord Jesus, that You are calling us to trust You. This life of trust in You is when our life becomes powerful. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.”
The Lord took a great effort to see that the disciples did not remain in the state of unbelief but that they be fully believing in Him. For the disciples to be commissioned and sent out, it began from the point of faith in Jesus. After ensuring faith in the disciples, Jesus began to open the Scriptures to them.
Luke 24:44-45 Then He said to them, "These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me." (45) And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures.
If we want to understand the Scriptures, we must begin by placing our faith entirely in Jesus. It is from the place of faith that understanding happens, not the other way around.
Faith requires humility. A person who is proud will not be able to have faith in Jesus. This was the experience of Apostle Paul.
I Timothy 1:13 although I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man; but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.
Why was there a veil over Paul's eyes? It was there because of unbelief. Unbelief causes ignorance. Unbelief also causes hardness of the heart, which leads to further unbelief and ignorance. This is the malady of the world.
Hebrews 3:12-13 Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; (13) but exhort one another daily, while it is called "TODAY," lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
This was the problem with the Jews. Paul typified the Jewish profile. Their relationship with God was ritualistic and in the keeping of the law, to the letter, but there was no faith in God. They sought to meet the standards of God. By the keeping of the law, no one can be righteous before God. The law gives the knowledge of sin. The righteousness of God far exceeds the standards of the law.
Acts 13:26-29 "Men and brethren, sons of the family of Abraham, and those among you who fear God, to you the word of this salvation has been sent. (27) For those who dwell in Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they did not know Him, nor even the voices of the Prophets which are read every Sabbath, have fulfilled them in condemning Him. (28) And though they found no cause for death in Him, they asked Pilate that He should be put to death. (29) Now when they had fulfilled all that was written concerning Him, they took Him down from the tree and laid Him in a tomb.
Paul reached out to those among the Jews who feared God. He was showing them that the eyes of the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem, were closed. They did not understand the Scriptures because they did not believe. The scriptures were read every Sabbath. Yet, the Jews did not realise that by putting Jesus to death on the cross, they were actually fulfilling Scripture. This was the irony that took place but it happened because they did not know Him.
God is concerned that His people should be people of belief.
Hebrews 3:17-19 Now with whom was He angry forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness? (18) And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey? (19) So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.
Unbelief leads to disobedience. Belief leads to obedience. The Lord was concerned that the disciples are full of faith and that there should not be a shred of unbelief in them.
The Lord had told the disciples what would happen to Him. They were not able to understand His sayings. This was because of unbelief in them. They saw Him in many identities but for them to understand Him as the ‘Almighty’ and that everything consists in Him, required faith, which they did not have.
Luke 18:31-34 Then He took the twelve aside and said to them, "Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man will be accomplished. (32) For He will be delivered to the Gentiles and will be mocked and insulted and spit upon. (33) They will scourge Him and kill Him. And the third day He will rise again." (34) But they understood none of these things; this saying was hidden from them, and they did not know the things which were spoken.
After His resurrection, the Lord was ensuring that they had complete faith in Him. Now that the matter of faith in the hearts of the disciples was settled, the Lord was now opening the understanding of the Scriptures to them.
The world wants us to first understand and then say that they will believe. The Lord wants people to first believe in Him and then their understanding will be opened.
Thought to ponder
Are you growing from faith to faith?