"If only I had lived during the time of Jesus Christ's ministry on earth," many Christians lament.
John the Baptist, who baptized Jesus, who witnessed the Holy Spirit descend on the Son of Man, the same forerunner for Christ Jesus, he doubted:
"Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his
disciples, 3And said unto him,
Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?" (Matthew 11: 2-3)
John heard of the miracles that Jesus had done, as well, but even then John sent his disciples to ask for sure.
"Jesus answered and
said unto them, Go and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see:
5The blind receive
their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the
dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. 6And
blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me." (Matthew 11: 4-6)
Luke's Gospel is more direct, since Jesus healed people in front of John's disciples that very hour (Luke 7: 18-23)
Jesus did not stop there. He then quoted the Word of God to the disciples:
"Then the eyes of the
blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.
"Then shall the lame
man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the
wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert." (Isaiah 35: 5-6)
God wants us to see His Son in His Word, for His Word is eternal and will never pass away "(Mark 13: 31). Our senses can deceive us, and our minds are limited to what we perceive with our senses. Even when we receive God's Word, we are called to renew our minds to the Truth (Romans 12: 2), growing in grace and knowledge of the Lord (2 Peter 2: 18)
Jesus in His resurrected body stood before His disciples, not everyone believed:
"And when they saw him, they worshipped him: but some doubted." (Matthew 28: 17)
Sometimes, we will not even believe our senses because of the glory of what we are witnessing.
How does Jesus want us to see Him? In His Word.
The final chapter in the Gospel of Luke provides for us three key instances following His resurrection, in which His disciples believed on Him because of what He said, not what He did in front of them.
At the beginning of Luke 24, a number of disciples came to the sepulchre to a pay their respects. They saw the open tomb, they also saw the angel, and they were afraid. He told them not to be afraid, and then:
"6He is not here, but is
risen: remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee, 7Saying,
The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified,
and the third day rise again." (Luke 24: 6-7)
The angel reminded them of what Jesus said.
"And they remembered his
words, 9And returned from the
sepulchre, and told all these things unto the eleven, and to all the rest." (Luke 24: 8-9)
When they remembered what Jesus said, they remembered what He said about Himself: that He would die, and in three days He would rise again, then they believed. Not the empty tomb, not the angel, not even what the angel said, but what Jesus said: Jesus' words caused them to believe.
In the next scene, Cleopas and most likely his wife are walking to Emmaus, then Jesus comes up alongside to ask them why they are sad. When they shared their sorrow and disappointment about the death of Jesus, a mighty "prophet" whom they believed would redeem Israel, Jesus rebukes them:
"O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: Ought
not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?" (Luke 24: 25-26)
He chided them for not believing all that the prophets had spoken about Himself. They saw Jesus as a prophet, when He is the Son of God and the Savior who would save Israel and all men from their sins and bring them into righteous standing before God. The Scriptures, from the five books of Moses to Malachi, testify of Jesus Christ, not just Israel, not just the fate of the nations, and more than the kind of life that we may choose to live. More than ideas, more than hopes, more than suggestions, the Word of God testifies of the Word made Flesh, Jesus Christ:
"And
beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the
scriptures the things concerning himself. " (Luke 24: 27)
When Jesus came in to dine with Cleopas and his wife for the evening, He was revealed to them in the breaking of the bread, where they recognized that Jesus was in their midst, alive and resurrected, having fulfilled all the things that were written about Him, that He would die for man to make Him the righteousness of God in Christ.
When they believed, their eyes being opened, He became invisible yet present still, abiding in their hearts by faith.
The disciples at the sepulchre, Cleopas and his wife, they all told the other disciples that they had seen the Lord:
"36And as they thus
spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace
be unto you. 37But they were
terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit." (Luke 24: 36-37)
Just as the sight of the angel in the tomb scared the disciples whom came to visit them, so too Jesus' appearance before them scared them. God understand that we are flesh, and the sudden glory of Christ resurrected may either inspire doubt or fear, neither of which bolsters our faith in Him.
"38And
he said unto them, Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your
hearts? 39Behold my hands and my
feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and
bones, as ye see me have. 40And when he had thus
spoken, he shewed them his hands and his feet. 41And
while they yet believed not for joy, and wondered, he said unto them, Have ye
here any meat? 42And they gave him a
piece of a broiled fish, and of an honeycomb. 43And he took it,
and did eat before them."
John discusses that Jesus is alive and real, in a real body, divine and eternal. "That which we have heard, which we have seem, which we have handled. . " John writes at the beginning of his first general epistle, refuting once and for all the ancient heresies of modern thinkers and old fools who disputed that God came in the flesh, died in the flesh, and was resurrected on the third day in a new body.
Jesus spoke to them, touched the, ate in front of them, too, but He did not stop there:
"44And 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 were written in the law of Moses, and
in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me. 45Then
opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures, 46And
said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to
rise from the dead the third day: 47And that repentance
and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations,
beginning at Jerusalem. 48And ye are witnesses
of these things." ( Luke 24: 44-48)
Jesus reminded them of what He told them, just as the angel had remained the first group of disciples at the tomb. He then "opened their understanding" by showing them Himself in the Scriptures, just as He had done for Cleopas and wife on the road to Emmaus. This grand Bible study was more than an exercise to describe Himself, for Jesus then told them what He has done for all us: repentance and remission of sins.
See Jesus Christ in the Word, and your understanding will be enlightened, and you will grow in grace and knowledge of Him who loved you, who died for you, and lives in you to transform you from glory to glory, for:
"As he is, so are we in this world. " (1 John 4: 17)