Christ at His First Advent Eye-Witness Testimony For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty.—2 Peter 1:16 Robert S.
Seklemian—Condensed from “The Death and Resurrection of Jesus,” The three most important events in history are the birth, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Two of these events, the death and resurrection of Jesus, occurred within a period of three days of each other. A wider diversity of emotion can scarcely be imagined. At the death of Jesus was experienced the greatest possible sorrow and within three days, at the resurrection of Jesus, the greatest possible joy. The Viewpoint of the Disciples When Jesus began his ministry, he was in direct communication with his heavenly Father. One of the first things the Father did was to indicate to Jesus who were to be his apostles and disciples, the ones he had personally selected to be the companions of Jesus. This fact is clearly shown in Jesus’ prayer just before his betrayal: “I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world; thine they were, and thou gavest them me” (John 17:6). When we read that Jesus saw certain men and said “Follow me,” this does not imply a haphazard, spur-of-the-moment selection. No! The heavenly Father had indicated to Jesus the exact individuals. God had previously prepared their minds because when they were invited by Jesus to follow him, they promptly dropped everything and followed him. They were very special people, although in the eyes of the world they were ignorant, rough, and uncultured, what we would today call “of the lower strata of society.” But in the eyes of Jesus, these men were true nobility! The Apostles Loved Their Master These whom the Father had drawn loved Jesus and were his constant companions. They ministered to his material needs. They were at his side when he healed the multitudes, preached the gospel of the kingdom to them, and spoke to them in parables. They loved it most of all when later he withdrew to the mountain or wilderness where they could be alone with him, sit at his feet, commune with him on a more personal basis, hear the interpretations of the parables he had given to the multitudes, and absorb the unfailing strength, assurance, and love which flowed from him. Of course they made many blunders and Jesus had to rebuke them on several occasions. For example, they tried to forbid the little children to come to Jesus. On another occasion they wanted the right to sit one on his right hand and another on his left in his kingdom. Once they wanted to call fire from heaven and destroy an inhospitable village. Whenever Jesus rebuked them, he did it patiently and gently, using each occasion to teach them valuable lessons. Jesus was particularly pleased when, in answer to his question “Whom say ye that I am?” Peter answered, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16). Then we read: “From that time forth began Jesus to show unto his disciples how he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders, and chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day” (Matthew 16:21). I don’t think we can blame the warm and impulsive Peter too much for saying to Jesus, “Be it far from thee, Lord; this shall not be unto thee.” They had learned to depend upon him so much. They were like sheep and Jesus was their shepherd; they could not think of carrying on without him. What can sheep do without a shepherd? They would be lost without him. But Jesus was preparing their minds for future events. He kept telling them that he was going to leave them but they did not understand; they did not understand because they did not want to understand. It was something they did not want to happen so they pushed the thought from their minds. But Jesus kept on telling them; he did not want them to be taken entirely by surprise. When Mary of Bethany poured the very precious ointment upon him, Jesus said, “In that she hath poured this ointment on my body, she did it for my burial.” After the passover supper we read: “When they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount of olives. Then saith Jesus unto them: All ye shall be offended [or stumbled] because of me this night; for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered abroad. But after I am risen again, I will go before you into Galilee” (Matthew 26:30-32). In a few hours it happened. As his disciples slept Jesus endured the anguish of Gethsemane alone. Then came Judas leading the armed multitude of officers from the chief priests and elders. Although Jesus was betrayed and arrested, they did not really take him. That armed multitude was not big enough to take him by force. No! He gave himself into their hands, saying: “Dost thou think that I cannot entreat my Father, and he will send to my relief more than twelve legions of angels?” (Matthew 26:53, Diaglott). Smitten Shepherd—Scattered Sheep Then we read one of the most tragic sentences in the Bible: “Then all the disciples forsook him and fled” (Matthew 26:56). They did not really want to. This was their beloved Master whom they loved with all their hearts. They really meant to be loyal. Peter had said to Jesus just a few hours before, “Though all men shall be offended [or stumbled] because of thee, yet will I never be offended.” Peter really meant it with all his heart but his poor, weak, flesh prevailed. They fled! Jesus understood completely. The prophecy, “I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad,” was fulfilled. Jesus endured the ordeal that followed ALONE. The disciples’ hopes had been built up for 3½ years, high hopes of a restored kingdom of Israel with Jesus as king and they themselves reigning with him. Now these hopes had been dashed to the ground. The bravest of the disciples were the women. <%0>They watched from a distance as their Lord was crucified. They watched him die. They saw his side pierced. They waited and watched as his body was taken down from the cross. They followed at a distance to see where it would be laid. Then they went home and prepared spices and ointments for the body of Jesus. The Road to Emmaus Two of the disciples decided to walk from Jerusalem to a village called Emmaus. Emmaus means “hot springs” and is about eight miles from Jerusalem. One of these disciples was Cleopas, the other is thought to have been Peter. They probably wanted to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city to a quiet place where they could talk, think, and perhaps understand. Their hearts were heavy and as they walked the record says: “They talked together of all these things which had happened” and “they communed together and reasoned” (Luke 24:15). In other words, they tried to make sense out of the situation but had difficulty doing so. Jesus joined them on the road in a form they did not recognize. “And he said unto them, what manner of communications are these that ye have one to another, as ye walk and are sad?” They must have sensed a sympathetic understanding in this stranger because they poured out what was in their hearts. They told him how their beloved master whom they described as “a prophet, mighty in deed and word before God, and all the people,” had been delivered up by the chief priests, condemned to death, and crucified; how all their high hopes had been shattered. Then they added wistfully, “But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel!” Then Jesus said unto them: “O foolish 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? And, beginning at Moses, and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself” (Luke 24:25-27). What a feast it was for their souls, what a balm for their hearts, torn by grief and confusion! What a thrill, what an exaltation of spirit to see everything fall perfectly into place as he talked, to see the reason for it all and to know it was the truth! Confusion and doubt dissolved and the mystery of recent events became an open book. As they said later after Jesus had manifested himself to them and departed, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?” These were the things Jesus had not told them before because as Jesus himself said, “Ye can not bear them now.” When Jesus was with them, his disciples looked for him to set up an immediate earthly government to supplant Roman rule. They stubbornly held to this idea and closed their minds to any other. When Jesus told them of his impending suffering and death, they said, “Be it far from thee Lord; this shall not be unto thee.” They simply refused to believe it. Now it was different. Jesus had indeed suffered, he had indeed died. They had to face this grim reality. As a plow rips deep into the hard subsoil to soften it and prepare it to receive and nurture the seed, so their hearts had been bruised, torn, humbled, and made ready for what was now “meat in due season” for them. What did he tell them as he walked with them to Emmaus? “Beginning at Moses, and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.” These were the “many things” he had to say to them which they could not “bear” before. But they could bear them now! Now it really made an impression, now it was “meat in due season.” It gave them a KEY to the Scriptures. They learned their lesson well and they remembered. After the holy Spirit was given at Pentecost Peter preached to the multitude. We read in Acts the third chapter that he said: “Those things which God before had showed by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer.” Then he pointed to the future, saying: “When the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; and he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you, whom the heavens must retain until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began” (Acts 3:18-21). We are now in those “times.” This was what Jesus had revealed to them on the way to Emmaus! The Viewpoint of God How can we possibly know something of God’s viewpoint of these events? How can we know the mind of God? Perhaps through reasoning we can have some insight. We humans are created in the image and likeness of God. This means that we have the same basic sensibilities that he has, that we are capable of being moved by the same emotions, except that God’s sensibilities are on a vastly higher scale and more refined than ours. This includes his compassion and mercy. He feels things more keenly than we do. He says: “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:9). Considering these facts, we begin to appreciate how God viewed these events. If any of you had a beloved son who was treated as Jesus was treated by his enemies, could you be complacent about it? Could you remain unmoved? So how do you suppose God felt when his beloved and only begotten son was spit upon, beaten with fists, slapped, cursed, bound, stripped, scourged, crowned with thorns, mocked, hit on the head with a stick, and then nailed through his hands and feet, alive, to a cross? Then after all this, the necessity of turning his face from his son, for a moment seeming to forsake him, and hearing his tragic cry, “My God, my God, why has thou forsaken me?” Do you think God was unmoved by these things? I don’t think so! I think God was deeply moved. I think it HURT God! Perhaps for the three days that Jesus was dead God even felt a certain loneliness. Wouldn’t you? On that Sunday morning when his son rose triumphantly from the grave, I am sure God felt the same joy as the angels felt, as we feel, only more intensely. Let us not forget that God created angels and the human race for his own pleasure. He did not need them. He is all-sufficient and self-sufficient. He created them because of the JOY he had in them, in seeing them happy! We know this because it is written of the Logos that he was God’s delight. Through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, it is God’s joy and delight to have 144,000 joint-heirs with Christ and a race of perfect human creatures to love him throughout eternity. |