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Day 346

Luke 24:1-32 "THE DOCTRINE OF "THE CHRIST"

Day 346 – Luke 24

Text: Luke 24:1-32

THE DOCTRINE OF “THE CHRIST”

The words of rebuke Jesus spoke to His Disciples contained a whole lot more truth than is realized at first glance. Let us consider what He said to them once again.

“O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe
in all that the prophets have spoken!
Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things
And to enter into His glory?”
Luke 24:25-26

It is interesting to note how Jesus revealed Himself to His disciples. Let us consider some of the ways in which Luke portrayed Jesus in his Gospel.

1. The demons recognized that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God

In Jesus’ ministry on earth, He would come across many who were afflicted by demons. Out of compassion, and with great power and authority, Jesus would heal the demonized.

“And demons also came out of many, crying out and saying,
‘You are the Christ, the Son of God!’
And He rebuking them, did not allow them to speak,
For they knew that He was the Christ.”
Luke 4:41

In fact, Satan himself recognized who Jesus was exactly. He recognized that He was indeed the Son of God. He sought to tempt Jesus to misuse his position and power as the Son of God.

“If you are (and the fact is that you are) the Son of God,
command this stone to become bread.”
Luke 4:3

“If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down
from here. For it is written:
‘He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you.”
And,
‘In their hands, they shall bear you up, lest you dash
Your foot against a stone.’ “
Luke 4:9-11

2. Jesus identified Himself as “The Son of Man”

Jesus revealed Himself carefully to those who drew near to hear. He used a number of expressions that would have been puzzling to those who did not think things through at a deeper level.

“But that you may know that the Son of Man
has power on earth to forgive sins…”
Luke 5:24

“And He said to them,
‘The Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath.’ “
Luke 6:5

“The Son of Man must suffer many things,
and be rejected by the elders and chief priests
and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day.”
Luke 9:22

“OUGHT NOT THE CHRIST TO HAVE SUFFERED…”

Jesus had a very clear perception of who He was, and what it really meant to be “The Christ”. He knew that being “The Christ” or “The Anointed One” or “The Messiah” was more than just a title to wear. It would also involve suffering!

The problem with the Disciples lay in the fact that they did not have a full and complete comprehension of the Biblical teaching of “The Christ”. They just could not reconcile how The Christ would be allowed to suffer so many things under the hands of wicked men. A defective understanding of “The Christ” led to the collapse of their confidence in Jesus.

There was more to The Christ than His life on earth. There was His suffering to comprehend. Something else must be added. There was the fact that He would enter into His glory. Why could not the Disciples fathom the fact that God had greater plans than to have the life of The Christ terminated so suddenly? There was greater glory ahead!

The limited understanding of the Disciples affected their faith in Jesus. They could not go beyond the fact of Jesus’ death, because their spiritual minds continued to be in the domain of darkness! What an illustration we have here of how a defective knowledge of God’s Word would affect our faith and our life!

THE MANY WORDS OF ADVICE TO LEARN LESSONS OF FAITH DEEPLY

Time and again, Jesus emphasized the need to pay close attention to the Word taught. On one occasion, Jesus explicitly said to His Disciples.

“Let these words sink down into your ears,
for the Son of Man is about to be betrayed…”
Luke 9:44

What does the phrase, “let these words sink down into your ears” really mean? Jesus knew that even then, His Disciples had not taken His words about His suffering seriously enough. He urged them to ” place His words inside their ears”. The onus, the responsibility for comprehension of the truth taught lay squarely on the shoulders of the disciples! How important it is for us to take God’s Word seriously. Have we done our part to let the Word of God sink into our ears? The kind of faith we have could well depend on it. May wisdom teach us how to hide God’s Word deep in our hearts.