“Then opened He their understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures,” (Luke 24:45)
When Jesus rose from the dead, many supernatural things happened. He appeared to several people at different times. He appeared to two disciples who when Jesus was crucified were disheartened and were leaving Jerusalem, walking to Emmaus. Jesus walked with them, but they didn’t recognize Him, after all, they had seen Him crucified. And the Bible tells us that their vision was “retained” so they didn’t recognize Him. Jesus walks with them and preaches to them. They feel the anointing, but don’t recognize Jesus until He breaks bread, blesses it and gives to them. Then their eyes were opened. But Jesus vanished. They return to Jerusalem and meet up with the eleven disciples.(Luke 24:13-31)
Jesus appears to His disciples. His disciples couldn’t believe it was Jesus. He shows them His pierced hands and feet. They didn’t expect Jesus to be resurrected even though He told them many times. They had been thinking in natural worldly terms. So, when Jesus was crucified, all their hopes of a kingdom were dashed. They hadn’t understood the spiritual things Jesus had been teaching them. Jesus reminds them of what He’d taught them. “And 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.” (Luke 24:44)
But, remember the disciples didn’t have the Holy Spirit indwelling. It is through the Holy Spirit that we can understand the Scriptures. It is God, the Holy Spirit, the Spiritual Being Who can speak spiritual things to our human spirits and gives us the ability to understand what He is saying. The disciples don’t get the Holy Spirit until Pentecost, after Jesus ascends up to heaven. Jesus Himself opens up their understanding.
This is why many who don’t have the Holy Spirit indwelling, open the Bible and don’t understand it. Well, how do we get the Holy Spirit indwelling? There is only one way. And that is to believe that Jesus is the Son of God, Who came to earth, born as a baby, born to die for our sin, grew up sinless and was crucified for our sins in order to take God’s wrath for our sin and obtain forgiveness and eternal life for us. We must not only believe, but declare it. “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, Thou shalt be saved.” (Romans 10:9) That word “confess” means to covenant with or make a pact with God. So, when we pray, we must not only declare what we believe, but promise to turn from our sin and to obey Jesus. Jesus said: “If ye love Me, keep My commandments.” (John 14:15) And the Holy Spirit, Whom Jesus sent when He returned to the Father will indwell. “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?” (1Corinthians 6:19)
So we can see that without the Holy Spirit we can’t understand spiritual things. Paul wrote: “For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” (1Corinthians 2:11-14) If we read this slowly we understand that our own human spirits reveal to us who we are. We cannot fool ourselves. We may fool others, but deep inside we know who we are. But no one knows the things of God without the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit teaches us spiritual things, not man’s wisdom, but God’s wisdom. The natural man who is depending on his earthly resources cannot understand spiritual things. The person who has the indwelling Holy Spirit knows the spiritual things of God.
Comments