Mark 16:19 Luke 24:44-53

Mark 16:19 19 So then, when the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. 20 And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them, and confirmed the word by the signs that followed.

Luke 24:44-53 44 Now He said to them, “These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” 45 Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, 46 and He said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, 47 and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 “You are witnesses of these things. 49 “And behold, I am sending forth the promise of My Father upon you; but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.” 50 And He led them out as far as Bethany, and He lifted up His hands and blessed them. 51 While He was blessing them, He parted from them and was carried up into heaven. 52 And they, after worshiping Him, returned to Jerusalem with great joy, 53 and were continually in the temple praising God.

It hardly seems possible that after all these years, this will be the final post on this blog series on the harmony of the Gospels.  My hope and prayer is that it has been an edifying journey for you as we have tried to follow the Life of our Lord sequentially through the Gospels.  I understand that there are many disadvantages to this approach of studying the Gospels as it interrupts the intended “flow” of each author.  However, I also see that there is value to it and it drastically reduces the time that it would take to go through each book separately at this pace.  Next week we begin the book of Acts.  In this passage we find the final dialogue between Jesus and His disciples, His ascension, and then the immediate effect that this had on the disciples.  Last words are always important words, so it is important that we do not miss the impact of these words. 

JESUS IS THE FULFILLMENT OF SCRIPTURE: Jesus explains to His disciples that all that was written about Jesus by Moses, the prophets and in the Psalms had to be fulfilled.  The Messiah the Jews were awaiting was a reigning and ruling Messiah.  The Scriptures clearly portray this truth and they were right to look for this hope.  However, the Scriptures also present a suffering serving Messiah.  This was not what they were expecting and tended to “gloss over” in their teachings about Messiah.  Jesus wants His disciples to know that all the Scripture must be fulfilled and not just the parts that they liked or expected.  The passage says that Jesus opened their minds so they could understand this truth.  It is hard when life does not happen as we expect it will.  During these times it is easy for us to doubt and question the goodness and power of God.  The Scriptures were written to demonstrate God’s love and sovereignty.  When doubts plague our hearts, we need to go to God’s Word and ask Him to open our minds.

JESUS OFFERS THE FORGIVENESS OF SIN: The reason that Jesus came was so that forgiveness of sin could occur through repentance of sin and faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus.  It is the desire of our Lord that this message of forgiveness be proclaimed and believed in all nations.  The calling of Jesus for His disciples was that they might, starting in Jerusalem spread the Gospel to all people everywhere.  It seems hard to believe that such an important message and mission was entrusted to people who had repeatedly proven to be weak and unfaithful.  This should give each and every one of us hope because we are also weak and unfaithful.  There are no perfect messengers.  However, the power of the message is more than able to compensate for any weakness that we as messengers struggle with.  We too have experienced the forgiveness of Christ which is the greatest evidence of the truth of the Gospel.  If it can transform us, it can transform anyone.  God wants us to enjoy His forgiveness and then spread that glorious message to our neighbors and the nations.

JESUS PROMISES THE FILLING OF THE SPIRIT: The mission Jesus left His disciples was massive, but He did not leave them alone with the responsibility to accomplish that mission.  He promised to empower them with Holy Spirit.  He left them strict instructions that they were to wait in Jerusalem until the power of the Spirit had come upon them.  The proclamation of the Gospel will not be effective apart from the power of the Holy Spirit.  After giving this mission and this promise, He blessed them and was taken up into heaven to prepare a place for us and to take His rightful place at the right hand of the Father.  The result of this promise was worship, rejoicing and the testimony of the disciples in the power of the Spirit.  God has given us a glorious calling and equipped us with the power of the Spirit.  We are called to respond to Him with worship, joy and obedience.

APPLICATION: Don’t doubt God’s love or His power.  Trust Him, study the Scriptures to know Him and ask Him to reveal Himself to you.  Rejoice in the forgiveness of sin that we have in Jesus.  Faithfully tell others how they too can find forgiveness.  Live engaged in the mission of spreading the Gospel to all the nations of the world.  Don’t be discouraged by your weakness, failures, flaws or inabilities.  Depend on the Holy Spirit to use you in supernatural ways to accomplish His will.  Rejoice and worship our Lord Jesus because He is at the right hand of the Father and is coming again.