December 20, 2009

Special Christmas Message

If you know much about your ancestors, it is likely that you know of a few skeletons in your family closet. The phrase refers to family members whose shameful ways and deeds the family would rather remain hidden from public view.

I don’t know much about my ancestors. I can’t even name my great-grandparents. But I do know that one of my great-grandfathers spent twenty years in the Indiana State Penitentiary on a murder charge. My dad has told me that he may have taken the rap for his son. But either way, there are some skeletons in our family closet!

The Bible doesn’t keep the door shut on the skeletons in the family closets of its heroes. Even when it comes to tracing the ancestry of the Messiah, shows us the unsavory characters in the family line. The list includes (and even highlights) an adulterer who murdered his lover’s husband to cover up the misdeed. There are idolaters, liars, and a man who committed incest with his daughter-in-law, whom he thought was a prostitute (which says something about his lack of morals). Another woman in the list was a prostitute. And, there is a notoriously wicked king who burned his sons to death as offerings to a pagan idol. It’s a rather motley crew to produce the Savior of the world!

Matthew sets forth this tainted lineup as he traces the ancestry of Jesus the Messiah. In all honesty, it seems like a dull way to begin a book, much less to launch the New Testament! I doubt if any editor today would accept such an opening for any book. Most of us probably just skip these sections when we read through the Bible. Perhaps we wonder why God would take up space in the Bible with this boring list of difficult to pronounce names of people who lived thousands of years ago, half-way around the world. How is it relevant to us?

I suggest that this list of names is quite relevant for us. For one thing, all of these people lived for a short while and died. So the list reminds us that we, too, will not live forever. Whether we die relatively young or live for a century, death and judgment before the God who knows all of our deeds is inevitable. And so the most relevant issue for each of us to be clear about is, “where will I spend eternity?” And, “how can I be sure of this?” You don’t want to be wrong on such an important matter! You need to be sure that you have Jesus Christ as your Savior.

Christ’s genealogy shows that God sent a Savior for sinners and that He fulfilled His promises in Jesus Christ.

1. God sent a Savior for sinners.

This list includes a broad spectrum of people. Some we know about, but others we know only by their names here. There are kings and commoners. Oddly for the patriarchal Jews, there are some women on the list. Also, oddly for a Jewish genealogy, three of those women were Gentiles, the fourth was married to a Gentile, and three were notorious for immorality. The list is obviously not fabricated, because no religious Jew would have put together a list like this if he were trying to impress his readers with the pedigree of the Messiah.

But everyone on the list shares something in common: whether they were relatively good people or notoriously bad, they all were sinners who needed a Savior. In Romans 1-3, Paul argues that everyone, whether pagan Gentiles or religious Jews, are guilty before God as sinners. He sums it up (Rom. 3:23), “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” And so everyone needs a Savior. Even the godly virgin Mary, mother of the Messiah, acknowledged her need for a Savior when she prayed (Luke 1:47), “And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.” She goes on to say (Luke 1:54-55) that through the One in her womb, God has remembered His mercy to Abraham and his descendants. Good people do not need God’s mercy. Sinners need His mercy. Jesus is the Savior of sinners who cry out for God’s mercy.

Let’s look at the four other women (apart from Mary) in the list and see how each of them teaches us something important about God’s salvation as provided in Jesus Christ.

A. Tamar: The salvation that Christ brings is for sinners.

Tamar’s story (Matt. 1:3) occurs in one of the most sordid chapters in the Bible, Genesis 38. Judah, her father-in-law, had taken a Canaanite wife, who bore him three sons. Judah took Tamar, a Canaanite woman, as a wife for his first son, but that son was evil in the Lord’s sight and the Lord took his life. Judah then told his second son to go in to Tamar to conceive an heir for his deceased brother. When that son dodged his responsibility, the Lord killed him. Judah then promised Tamar that when the third son grew up, she could be married to him. But he either forgot or ignored his promise. Tamar then disguised herself as a prostitute, hiding her face under a veil. Not knowing that it was she, Judah had relations with her and she became pregnant with twins, Perez and Zerah. Perez was in the line that led to Jesus Christ (Matt. 1:3).

Tamar’s history illustrates that Jesus is the Savior of sinners. He deliberately associated with the tax collectors, who were notorious scoundrels. Matthew, the author of this gospel, was one when Jesus called him. Jesus was known as the friend of sinners (prostitutes and others, Matt. 11:19). When the religious Pharisees expressed their disgust with this, Jesus replied (Matt. 9:12), “It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick.” He added (Matt. 9:13b), “I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” He did not mean that some are righteous enough to get into heaven on their own. Rather, He wanted the Pharisees to see that they were sinners who needed a Savior every bit as much as the tax collectors and prostitutes did.

You may think, “But I’m not as sinful as a prostitute or a swindler! I have my faults, but I’m not a terrible sinner!” Be careful! That was the mistake of the Pharisees. Their self-righteousness caused them to reject the Savior whom God sent. The angel who told Joseph that Mary had conceived through the Holy Spirit added (Matt. 1:21), “She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” To benefit from the reason that Jesus came, you must recognize in the first place that you have sinned against the Holy God and that all of your good deeds will not atone for your sins. You need a Savior and Jesus is that Savior. But, how do we obtain this salvation?

B. Rahab: The salvation that Christ brings comes to sinners through faith.

Rahab (Matt. 1:5) has come down to us in biblical history with the epithet, “the harlot.” Just as we can’t think of Thomas without thinking of “doubting,” so we can’t think of Rahab without thinking, “the harlot.” Like Tamar, she was a Canaanite woman, excluded from God’s covenant people. She lived in Jericho. She knew that the city was going to be destroyed and she believed in the God of the Hebrews, that “He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath” (Josh. 2:11). So she hid the Hebrew spies and pleaded with them to spare her life and the lives of her family.

In the great New Testament chapter on faith, we read (Heb. 11:31), “By faith Rahab the harlot did not perish along with those who were disobedient, after she had welcomed the spies in peace.” But James 2:25 states, “In the same way, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way?” There is no contradiction. James is making the point that genuine saving faith is not merely intellectual assent. The demons have that kind of faith, but are not saved. Rather, saving faith always results in a life of obedience. Rahab proved that her faith was genuine by her obedience in risking her life to protect the Hebrew spies.

The balance between Hebrews and James regarding Rahab is especially important in our day. Many have been told that if they believe in Jesus as their Savior, they will receive eternal life and go to heaven. That is certainly true, but in many cases, these people do not understand what it means to believe in Jesus. It does not mean just to agree that He is your Savior, but then to go on living as you’ve always lived. Genuine saving faith always includes repentance for your sins. If you truly believe in Christ, you will live in obedience to Him. As 1 John 2:3 states, “By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments.” The fact that Rahab is listed here as the wife of Salmon shows that she turned from her life of prostitution. By faith in God’s promise, she experienced His salvation. By His grace, she even became an ancestor of the Savior.

C. Ruth: The salvation Christ brings is for Gentiles condemned by the law, but redeemed by grace.

Like Tamar and Rahab, Ruth was a Gentile. She was a Moabite and thus outside of God’s covenant people. Unlike Tamar, Rahab, and Bathsheba, Ruth was a moral woman. She was married to a Jewish man who died. When her mother-in-law decided to return to Israel, out of love Ruth chose to go with her. She made the great confession (Ruth 1:16b), “Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God.”

But as a Moabite woman, the Law of Moses excluded Ruth from the people of God (Deut. 23:3). As such, she is a type of those who are good, moral people. They are not flagrant sinners. But they are still under the curse of God’s holy law. James 2:10 says, “Whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all.” That condemns everyone, even those who are as good as Ruth was. Work your way through the Ten Commandments, interpreting them on the heart level as Jesus did (Matt. 5:21-30), and you will see that you stand guilty before God on every count!

How, then, did Ruth find her way into the genealogy of Christ? I cannot relate the story in detail here, but the short Book of Ruth tells how Ruth found grace and love in the eyes of a man who was her kinsman-redeemer. Boaz paid the price of redemption and took Ruth, the Moabite woman, as his bride. It’s a beautiful picture of how Christ, our Redeemer, paid the price of our redemption with His own blood. As a result, we Gentiles, who formerly were excluded from God’s people and, even if we were good people, were condemned by His law, were brought into His family as His chosen bride (Eph. 2:11-22)!

Thus Tamar shows that the salvation Christ brings is for sinners. Rahab teaches us that this salvation is received through faith. Ruth illustrates that God’s salvation is for Gentiles condemned by the law but redeemed by His grace. That brings us to…

D. Bathsheba: The salvation that Christ brings is sufficient to preserve His people in spite of their sins.

In the Greek text, Matthew 1:6 does not name Bathsheba, but refers to her as “her of Uriah,” a way of alluding to her and David’s sin of adultery. Probably Bathsheba was a Jew (1 Chron. 3:5). As such, she and David remind us of the fact that even believers can fall into gross sin. While we should never justify or excuse such sin, Bathsheba’s place among the ancestors of Christ shows us God’s grace in preserving His elect, even when they sin (Luke 22:31-32). We have the assurance (Phil. 1:6) that “He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.”

These four women illustrate from different angles the great news that God saves sinners. If you have failed terribly, God sent the Savior for you! Maybe you don’t just have skeletons in your family closet. Maybe you are the skeleton! This genealogy invites you to come to Jesus and ask Him to save you from your sins. If you have trusted in Christ as Savior, but have fallen into serious sin, this genealogy invites you to turn back to Christ, experience His forgiveness, and walk in fellowship with Him again. In Christ, God sent a Savior for sinners.

2. God fulfilled His promises in Jesus Christ.

His name is stated in verse 1, “Jesus Christ”; again in verse 16, “Jesus … who is called the Messiah”; and, in verse 17, “the Messiah.” The name “Jesus” means “Yahweh saves.” “Christ” means “Anointed One” (Hebrew, “Messiah”) and points to Jesus as God’s anointed Savior and King. Apart from this first chapter and one other time, when the mocking Pilate refers to “Jesus who is called Christ” (27:22), Matthew does not use the name Jesus Christ again. The title “Christ” is only used rarely. Otherwise, Matthew simply uses “Jesus.” Alexander Maclaren (Expositions of Holy Scripture [Baker], on Matt. 1:1-16, p. 6) suggests that the purpose is “to assert and establish, at the very outset, His Messianic, regal dignity, as the necessary supposition to all that follows.”

The fact that we have here a genealogy of Jesus Christ (1:1) establishes an important truth: our faith is rooted in history, not in myth or legend. Matthew was writing primarily to first century Jews, who kept detailed genealogical records. If Matthew had fabricated this, the Jews would have challenged him on it. Granted, there are some difficult problems with the genealogy: Matthew arranges it into three groups of 14 each, but the third group only has 13 names. Various solutions have been suggested, but as yet, none are completely satisfactory (D. A. Carson, Expositor’s Bible Commentary, ed. by Frank Gaebelein [Zondervan], 8:68). Also, there are difficulties trying to harmonize the genealogies in Matthew and Luke (ibid., 8:64-65).

A major part of our problem in trying to resolve these difficulties is that being 2,000 years removed from the gospel writers, we lack their sources. But Luke begins his gospel by stating his careful historical research (Luke 1:1-4). The fact that there are harmonistic problems between the gospels shows that the writers were not in collusion, fabricating a story to look good. They were eyewitnesses of the ministry of Jesus or they interviewed eyewitnesses. So even if we can’t resolve every minor problem, we can trust the integrity of the record. And a major point of Matthew’s genealogy is that we are dealing with a real person, descended from the royal line of David back to Abraham.

Joanne Shetler spent years in the Philippines with the Balangao people, translating the Bible into their language and trying to tell them the good news of the Savior. But it was slow going. One day Ama, a man who had “adopted” her as his Balangao daughter, picked up an English New Testament from her desk, opened it to this genealogy on page one of Matthew, and stared at it. He could read enough English to realize what he was seeing. Amazed, he asked her, “You mean this has a genealogy in it?”

She said, “Yeah, but just skip over that so you can get to the good part.”

But his eyes were still riveted to the page. “You mean this is true?” he asked, as he struggled through the list of names.

Shetler got some shelf paper and wrote the genealogy from Adam to Jesus, from the ceiling down to the floor. Ama took it all over the village, explaining, “We always thought it was the rock and the banana plant that gave birth to people. But we don’t have their names written down. Look, here are all the names—written down!”

The Balangaos loved Matthew’s written genealogy. It proved the Bible was true. Ama came to believe in Christ as his Savior. He became an enthusiastic evangelist, church leader, and Bible translator. When the Balangao New Testament was finally dedicated, he got the very first copy (from And the Word Came with Power, Joanne Shetler with Patricia Purvis [Multnomah Press], pp. 81-82).

Matthew makes two main points with his genealogy:

A. God fulfilled His promise: Jesus is the son of David.

Matthew lists this first, above the fact that Jesus is the son of Abraham (1:1). Also, his three divisions may be summarized as: the origins of David’s kingdom (2-6a); the rise and decline of David’s kingdom (6b-11); and, the eclipse of David’s kingdom (12-16). At the moment of despair, when it would seem that God’s promise to David that his heir would occupy the throne forever was lost, Jesus the son of David, the promised Messiah was born!

We cannot say for certain why Matthew groups the genealogies into three groups of 14. It may have been a mnemonic device. He deliberately leaves out several generations of kings to achieve the number 14. It may be significant that in Hebrew, the name David adds up to 14 (“D” = 4, “V” = 6; 4 + 6 + 4 = 14). D. A. Carson suggests (p. 69), “And if the third set of fourteen is short one member, perhaps it will suggest to some readers that just as God cuts short the time of distress for the sake of his elect (24:22), so also he mercifully shortens the period from the Exile to Jesus the Messiah.”

Note one other feature: Matthew is tracing Jesus’ legal right to the throne through Joseph. But he makes an important shift in verse 16. Up to this point, he has said, “So and so was the father of so and so,” etc. But when he gets to Joseph, he changes that formula and states that Joseph was “the husband of Mary, by whom Jesus was born.” “Whom” is feminine in Greek, showing that Joseph was not the physical father of Jesus. (Matthew goes on to explain the virgin birth more fully in 1:18-25.) If Jesus had been the physical descendant of Joseph, He would have been barred from the throne of David by a curse on Jeconiah (Jer. 22:30; Matt. 1:11-12). But since Jesus was not the physical descendant of Jeconiah through Joseph, but rather his legal descendant, he qualifies as the legitimate son of David, heir to his throne. Jesus is the Messiah!

B. God fulfilled His promise: Jesus is the son of Abraham.

Jesus is not only the son of David, but also the son of Abraham (1:1). This takes us back to the covenant that God made with Abraham 2,000 years before Christ, where He promised Abraham that through his seed, all the families of the earth would be blessed (Gen. 12:1-3). There are preview glimpses of this through the Gentile women in the line of Christ. As we’ve seen, three of the four women listed were Gentiles, and the fourth was married to Uriah the Hittite, a Gentile. This shows us that Jesus, the son of Abraham (Matt. 1:1), brings the blessing of Abraham beyond Israel to the nations. This comes to its fullness when Jesus, at the end of Matthew, commands His disciples to go and make disciples of all the nations (28:19). God is moving all of history to fulfill His covenant promises to Abraham and to David. Jesus, the son of David, will return in power and glory to reign on David’s throne. Jesus, the son of Abraham, is blessing the nations as the gospel goes forth around the world.

Conclusion

So this genealogy of Jesus the Messiah should give us great hope as we think on His birth. His first coming represented the fulfillment of a 2,000-year-old promise to Abraham and a 1,000-year-old promise to David. His Second Coming will fulfill the repeated New Testament promises that He will come to judge the earth. Although it seemed to Israel that God’s promises to Abraham and to David might never be fulfilled, they were fulfilled in God’s perfect timing. Although it may seem that Jesus’ promise to come again may never be fulfilled, it will be fulfilled just as He said.

The question is, are you ready for that day? Have you turned from your sins and put your trust in Jesus as your Savior and Lord? The stories of Tamar, Ruth, Rahab, and Bathsheba show us that God’s mercy extends to all sinners who will repent and trust in Christ. The genealogy of Jesus as the son of David, the son of Abraham, shows that God keeps His covenant promises. Today is the day of salvation. Tomorrow may be the day of judgment. Come to Christ while you may!

Application Questions

1. Someone says, “It’s nice that you believe in Jesus, but I’ve got my own spiritual beliefs.” How could this genealogy address this faulty line of thinking?
2. Some people like certain “positive” TV preachers because they do not mention sin. Can we avoid the sin issue and still have the gospel? Why/why not?
3. How could you use this genealogy when witnessing to a Jew? To a Gentile?

Copyright, Steven J. Cole, 2009, All Rights Reserved.

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture Quotations are from the New American Standard Bible, Updated Edition © The Lockman Foundation

December 23, 2012

Special Christmas Message

A question that I often ask people who come to me for counsel is, “Do you want God’s blessing in your life (or in your marriage, or with your kids)?” I’ve never had anyone say, “Nah! I’m not interested in that!” We all need and want God’s blessings. We all want to receive good things from God. He made us; He alone knows what we need most. As a loving Father, He is ready to give His children the best gifts.

But He does not give His gifts indiscriminately. Both in the Bible and in our experience we see that some receive the blessings God offers while others go away with nothing. So we would do well to understand clearly how to receive good things from God so that we are not among those who miss out on the best gift of all.

The virgin Mary was a young woman who was uniquely blessed by God. In reference to her being chosen to be the mother of our Lord, she exclaimed (Luke 1:48b-49a), “For behold, from this time on all generations will count me blessed. For the Mighty One has done great things for me.” What a great thing to know, that future generations would count you blessed because God has done great things for you! In Mary’s song (Luke 1:46-55, called the Magnificat, from the first word in Latin), she tells us how to receive God’s blessings. In another message, I covered the whole song. Today I’m going to focus only on verse 53: “He has filled the hungry with good things; and sent away the rich empty-handed.” This verse tells us how to receive good things from God:

God satisfies the spiritually hungry with good things, but He sends the self-satisfied away empty-handed.

This is a basic spiritual principle that runs throughout Scripture. It is often expressed as God exalting the humble and humbling the proud (Luke 1:51-52). Dozens of verses emphasize this truth, but let’s look at just a few.

Mary’s song is similar to Hannah’s song (1 Sam. 2:1-10), which expresses her praise after God answered her prayer for a son. God wanted to give Hannah a son because Israel needed a prophet to speak God’s word to His people. Hannah’s rival, her husband’s other wife, had many sons and daughters, but Hannah was barren because God had closed her womb (1 Sam. 1:2, 4, 5). Closing Hannah’s womb may seem like a strange way for God to provide her with a son. Yet that’s often the way God works. He promised Abraham and Sarah a son, but He waited until after they were well past childbearing years to give them Isaac. The principle is that God brings us to the end of ourselves, where we have lost our proud confidence in our own ability. Then we cast ourselves completely on the Lord and He provides to show us His grace. Note how 1 Samuel 2:5-7 expresses this theme:

Those who were full hire themselves out for bread, but those who were hungry cease to hunger. Even the barren gives birth to seven, but she who has many children languishes. The Lord kills and makes alive; He brings down to Sheol and raises up. The Lord makes poor and rich; He brings low, He also exalts.

The same theme governs Psalm 107. It shows four vignettes of people whom God put in impossible situations so that they would come to the end of themselves, call out to God, and then praise Him for His lovingkindness when He delivered them. In the first line of our text, Mary cites from Psalm 107:9, “For He has satisfied the thirsty soul, and the hungry soul He has filled with what is good.” Jesus taught the same truth in the Beatitudes, where He said that those who mourn would be comforted, the hungry would be filled, and the meek would inherit the earth (Matt. 5:3-12). Paul expressed the same principle when he said (2 Cor. 12:10b), “When I am weak, then I am strong.” His weakness forced him to rely on the Lord’s strength.

The reason I emphasize this principle at the outset is that it runs counter to what most people think, that “God helps those who help themselves.” That familiar “verse” is not in the Bible! It’s based on human pride and runs counter to the biblical principle that God helps those who come to the end of themselves and cast themselves upon Him. I often read or hear the popular view that you’ve got to believe in yourself to succeed. Sadly, many Christians buy into this false idea. But Scripture pointedly states (Jer. 17:5), “Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind and makes flesh his strength, and whose heart turns away from the Lord.” To believe in yourself is to turn away from trusting in the Lord!

Trusting in God does not mean that we sit around and do nothing. But it does mean that before we do anything, we must recognize our own inability and rely on God for His grace and strength, so that He gets the glory. That’s the principle Mary expresses in Luke 1:53. Let’s examine the first half of the proposition:

1. God satisfies the spiritually hungry with good things.

Luke 1:53a: “He has filled the hungry with good things.” Mary is not speaking primarily of physical hunger or riches. She is speaking metaphorically of the spiritually hungry and the spiritually rich, or self-satisfied. Mary clearly saw herself as spiritually needy. She was not born without sin. She recognized God as her Savior (1:47), implying that she was a sinner (Matt. 1:21). God didn’t choose Mary to bear His Son because she was without sin. She mentions her humble state (1:48) and God’s mercy (1:50). Mary was a spiritually hungry woman whom God had sovereignly blessed because of His mercy. Note four things:

A. The ones God satisfies are marked by spiritual hunger.

That is the qualification to receive from God—to be spiritually hungry. As Jesus said (Matt. 5:6), “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” Righteousness refers to God’s holiness as personified in Jesus Christ. In reference to the Christian, it refers both to justification—to be declared righteous before God, which happens the moment we believe in Christ; and, to sanctification—to live righteously before God, which is progressive over a lifetime and is never perfected until we stand before Him. Jesus was referring to the needy person who has a deep desire to be like Him, to live a holy life in thought, word, and deed. That person will be satisfied.

There are many people, even many professing Christians, who desire happiness, but not righteousness. If God can make them happy, they’ll follow Him; but if not, they’ll look elsewhere. A couple who attended the church I pastored in California professed to be Christians. The wife suffered chronic back pain. When I heard that they were going to a Science of Mind “healer,” I talked to the husband about the spiritual danger. He replied, “My wife is in pain; we’ll go where she can get relief.” They stopped coming to the church. Truth didn’t matter to them. The living God didn’t matter. They just wanted relief wherever they could find it. I’ve known other professing Christians who walk out on their marriages or get involved in immorality because they’re seeking happiness, not holiness. They’re grabbing momentary happiness wherever they can find it, but they’re forsaking God, who alone can satisfy their hunger for time and eternity.

Commenting on “those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,” Martyn Lloyd-Jones says (Studies in the Sermon on the Mount [Eerdmans], 1:74), “I do not know of a better test that anyone can apply to himself or herself in this whole matter of the Christian profession than a verse like this. If this verse is to you one of the most blessed statements of the whole of Scripture you can be quite certain you are a Christian; if it is not, then you had better examine the foundations again.”

Of course every true child of God is aware of many shortcomings in this regard. We’re all easily led astray by the selfishness that dwells within our hearts. We have to fight it constantly. But if the pattern of our lives is that we violate God’s holy standards to pursue happiness through sin, then we’re fooling ourselves to call ourselves Christians (1 John 2:3-5).

Mary says that God fills the hungry with good things. To be hungry is to be aware that you have a desperate need. Relieving hunger is not a luxury; it’s a matter of survival. Probably none of us has ever faced physical starvation. Starving people aren’t interested in new smart phones or computers, unless they can somehow sell them to buy food. Hungry people have one focus—where to find food. It consumes their whole existence from the time they wake up until the time they go to bed. They need food.

That’s how we should hunger for God! Do you feel desperate to have your sins forgiven and to come to know God? If you’ve had your sins forgiven at the cross, do you now sense that whatever else in life you have, you must know God? The ones God satisfies are marked by spiritual hunger.

B. God alone can satisfy our hunger.

The “He” of verse 53 is God. He alone is able to meet our deepest needs. If we want to be satisfied, then we must seek God alone for the fulfillment of our spiritual hunger. He made us; He understands us thoroughly. He alone can meet the deepest needs of every human heart. So if we recognize our hunger, we must seek God to fill it.

To seek elsewhere is to seek that which can never completely satisfy. As the Lord speaks through Isaiah (55:2-3), “Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and delight yourself in abundance. Incline your ear and come to Me.” God alone can satisfy the hungry heart.

David knew this. He was in the Judean wilderness, running for his life, either from King Saul or, more likely, from Absalom his son, who led a rebellion against him. If I were in that situation, I probably wouldn’t be writing songs or if I were, the theme would be, “God, get me out of here right now!” But at just such a time, David wrote (Ps. 63:1), “O God, You are my God; I shall seek you earnestly; my soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You, in a dry and weary land where there is no water.” As he seeks God there in that barren wilderness, with his enemies in hot pursuit, David exults (63:5), “My soul is satisfied as with marrow and fatness, and my mouth offers praises with joyful lips.” He knew what it meant to be satisfied with God alone, even though his life and his kingdom were threatened with extinction.

Beware of seeking satisfaction apart from Jesus Christ. Satan offers all sorts of subtle temptations that seem to fulfill your needs, but they aren’t centered in Jesus Christ. They satisfy temporarily, but ultimately they do not nourish. The one who fills up on them will starve. It’s as if you were physically hungry and you came to me for food. Suppose that I had perfected a process for infusing the taste of steak and potatoes into cardboard. It tasted great, but it was nutritionally worthless. If you ate it, you would enjoy the taste and it would fill your stomach. But you would starve to death. That’s what happens to anyone who seeks to be satisfied with anything other than God.

We’ve seen that the ones God satisfies are marked by spiritual hunger. Also, God alone can satisfy our hunger. Third,

C. God satisfies the hungry.

I’m focusing here on the word “filled.” It’s in the past tense (Greek, aorist) because Mary is quoting from Psalm 107:9 (106:9 in the LXX) which looks at how God has met the needs of those who have called out to Him. It points to His characteristic way of dealing with all who seek Him. He satisfies them or fills them full (the meaning of this Greek verb). It means that God doesn’t just give partially; He meets our needs fully. It’s the same word used in the feeding of the 5,000 (John 6:12), where it says that after everyone was filled, they picked up 12 baskets full of leftovers. Everyone ate until they were satisfied, a feeling that many of us can identify with at this season of the year!

Of course there’s a sense in which we are both satisfied and yet still hungry in Jesus Christ. We who have tasted of God’s banquet in Christ are satisfied in the sense that the longing of our soul has been met. Our sins are forgiven; we enjoy peace with God; we have the joy of the Holy Spirit; we’re ready to meet the Lord. In all of that and in much more, we’re satisfied. And yet in another sense, as long as we’re in this body, we will be hungering and thirsting to know more of God, to experience more of what He has provided for us in Christ. Since God is infinite, we can never exhaust the delight of knowing Him.

D. God satisfies the hungry with good things.

God satisfies the hungry with good things, not with Twinkies. God fills you with Himself, the source of all that is good and beautiful. “The good things” of our text does not refer to what our society calls “the good life.” Mary wasn’t referring to material prosperity, to a life of freedom from suffering, or to a feeling of self-fulfillment. She was not preaching the “prosperity gospel”! She was referring to the satisfaction of the soul in God Himself, which transcends circumstances. God is the ultimate good thing!

Many years ago a great monarch, Shah Abbis, reigned in Persia. The Shah loved his people. To understand them more clearly, he would mingle with them in various disguises. One day he went to the public baths dressed as a poor man. There in a tiny cellar he sat down beside the man who tended the furnace. He talked with the lonely man as a friend and at meal time, he ate some of his coarse food. In the weeks that followed, he visited the poor man often until the man came to love him dearly.

Then one day the Shah revealed his true identity to the poor man. The Shah waited, expecting the man to ask some favor or gift from him, but the commoner simply gazed in astonishment. Finally, he said, “You left your palace and your glory to sit with me in this dark place, to partake of my coarse food, to care whether my heart was glad or heavy. On others you may bestow great riches; but to me you have given a much greater gift—yourself. I only ask that you may never withdraw the gift of your friendship.”

Friendship with God in Jesus Christ is what truly satisfies the soul! Mary affirms that God fills or satisfies the hungry soul with good things, namely, with the ultimate good thing of knowing Him. All that I’ve said thus far is to try to explain and apply the first half of this verse. But we must look briefly at the second half:

2. God sends the self-satisfied away empty.

Mary says (Luke 1:53b), He “sent away the rich empty-handed.” This is startling! It’s a shocking reversal of the natural order! In this world, the rich are the full; the hungry are the empty. But in God’s order, the rich are the empty; the hungry are the full. Note three things:

A. God sends away the self-satisfied.

By rich, Mary means those who have no felt needs before God. She may have in mind those who were the proud, self-proclaimed spiritual leaders in Israel in her day. When God picked a family for His Messiah to be born in, He didn’t pick the family of the chief priest or of one of the leading rabbis. He went to a poor, unknown carpenter and his wife in Nazareth. Those in Jerusalem who thought that they were spiritually “rich” were overlooked.

The surest way to receive nothing from God is to be satisfied with where you’re at. The Pharisees didn’t see themselves as needy sinners before God. They saw themselves as righteous because of their good works. They saw themselves as better than “the sinners” (John 9:34). But they didn’t see themselves as God saw them! They were “proud in the thoughts of their heart” (Luke 1:51), and their pride blinded them to their true spiritual condition.

The church of Laodicea was like that. They had become lukewarm and complacent about spiritual things. Their view of themselves was (Rev. 3:17), “I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing.” God describes them a bit differently (Rev. 3:17): “You are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.” How would you describe yourself spiritually? God sends away the self-satisfied, who do not see their true need before Him.

B. God actively sends them away.

How startling! The text doesn’t say that God ignores the rich or that He gives them nothing. It says that He actively sends them away. What a frightening thought, that God would send a person away! You may wonder, “Why would God do this? Doesn’t He want everyone to come to Him?” Yes, but they must come on God’s terms, not on their terms.

Many years ago a Newsweek cover story (12/17/90, pp. 50-56) reported on the baby-boomers who were coming back into church now that they realized the need for religious values for their kids. But the article made it clear that these self-confident people are coming to God on their terms, not on His. “They don’t convert—they choose.” They want to know, “What’s in it for me?” They’re picky consumers, shopping for churches they like that offer services they want. The message to the churches is, “If you want to grow, you’d better cater to the customers’ needs.”

A similar article in Time (4/5/93, pp. 44-49) observed, “Increasing numbers of baby boomers who left the fold years ago are turning religious again, but many are traveling from church to church or faith to faith, sampling creeds, shopping for a custom-made God.”

You can custom-make an idol. But you can only come to the living God on His terms or not at all. His terms are that you recognize your sin and that you cannot save yourself. You must see yourself as hungry and starving unless God intervenes. He isn’t in the business of working out deals with self-confident young urban professionals. He actively sends the proud away.

C. God sends them away empty-handed.

What despair, to be sent away by God empty-handed! If God sends you away empty-handed, you have absolutely nothing. Paul expressed the same truth by saying that such people have no hope and are without God in the world (Eph. 2:12). What good are material riches in this life, if you spend eternity in that place Jesus described, “where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched” (Mark 9:48)? What good is passing pleasure or romance in this life, if you spend eternity in the place Jesus described as “outer darkness,” where there is “weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matt. 25:30)? The worst thing that could happen to anyone is to be full of the passing pleasures of this world, but to be empty-handed when you stand before God at the judgment.

Conclusion

What’s the solution? How can we avoid having God send us away empty-handed? D. L. Moody said, “Christ sends none away empty but those who are full of themselves.” To the church at Laodicea, God said that they needed to see their true condition as He saw them and to repent—to turn from their sin to Him. It was to that church that Jesus said, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me” (Rev. 3:20). And best of all, He brings the dinner! He will truly satisfy the hunger of anyone who acknowledges his true spiritual need and who seeks Him.

Don’t seek happiness or fulfillment or pleasure in the things of this world. Seek God! Hunger after God and His righteousness and He promises that He will fill you with good things.

Discussion Questions

1. How can a Christian develop a deeper hunger for God?
2. What is the proper balance between seeking God Himself versus asking Him to meet our physical and emotional needs?
3. To what extent should our evangelistic approach try to meet the felt needs of lost people?
4. Can a person who professes to believe in Christ, but who lives in disobedience, be assured of his salvation? Why/why not?

Copyright, Steven J. Cole, 2012, All Rights Reserved.

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture Quotations are from the New American Standard Bible, Updated Edition © The Lockman Foundation

April 3, 1994

Easter Sunday

A woman who works for the Internal Revenue Service was responsible to communicate with delinquent taxpayers. On one occasion, to get in touch with a man, she had to call Anchorage, Alaska, and was patched through to a ham operator in the Aleutian Islands. Two hours later the ham operator raised the taxpayer’s home base and from there reached him at sea with his fishing fleet. After identifying herself as being with the IRS in Utah, there was a long pause. Then over the static from somewhere in the North Pacific came: “Ha! Ha! Come and get me!” (Reader’s Digest, [10/82.)

A lot of Americans shrug off the idea of God’s judgment like that delinquent taxpayer shrugged off the IRS. I suppose they would agree that someday there will be a day of reckoning, but that seems far, far away. So they ignore it and go on about their lives.

These same folks would probably view Easter as an innocuous spring holiday. If you said the word “Easter” and asked them to tell you what words popped into their mind in association with it, you might hear things like resurrection, Sunrise Service, hope, springtime, flowers, Easter lilies, new clothes, Easter egg hunts, Easter bunnies, dinner with family and friends. It would never occur to them to connect Easter Sunday and God’s judgment on their sin. Easter has such a positive, upbeat connotation. Judgment has such a negative, unpleasant connotation. They don’t seem to go together.

But the Apostle Paul made just such a connection. In Acts 17:30-34, he is concluding his sermon to the philosophers in Athens. Paul takes a logical approach. He is saying,

If the resurrection is true, then judgment is a certainty; if judgment is a certainty, then repentance is a necessity.

The message of Easter is that Jesus Christ is risen bodily from the dead. Paul says that if Jesus is risen, then He is the judge of the whole world. This puts a demand on every person--each one must turn to God from sin (“repent”).

1. If the resurrection is true, then judgment is a certainty.

The whole thing hangs on the assertion that ...

A. The resurrection is true.

This is the foundation of Christianity. Paul said, “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless ...” (1 Cor. 15:17). Christianity is not built on religious speculations, but on the revelation God has given of Himself in the person of Jesus Christ. The authenticating proof that Jesus is Lord and Judge is that God raised Him from the dead.

The proofs of the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ are many and they have withstood the attacks of critics for almost 2,000 years. I can’t go into detail, but I briefly mention some of the proofs:

(1) The empty tomb--This fact is not disputed, even by critics. If the tomb had not been empty, when the disciples started preaching the resurrection of Jesus, the Jewish leaders would have marched to the tomb, produced the body, and the disciples would have been laughed out of town. If Jesus was not raised from the dead, there are several explanations of the empty tomb, none of which are plausible:

--Jesus’ enemies stole the body. But, they had no motive for doing so, and they would have produced it to quench the disciples’ preaching if they had known where it was. Besides, the tomb was guarded to prevent any theft of the body.

--The Roman guards stole the body. But they had no motive to do so. They didn’t care about this Jewish religious trial. If they had stolen the body, they could have sold it for a lot of money to the Jewish leaders, but that didn’t happen.

--The disciples stole the body. This was the theory the Jewish leaders tried to promote (Matt. 27:63-66; 28:11-15). But, the Roman guards would have prevented this. They would not have risked their lives (the penalty for not properly standing their watch) for a bribe. The disciples’ couldn’t have moved the heavy stone and stolen the body out from under the noses of the guards.

Besides, the disciples were too depressed, confused, and fearful to pull off a daring grave robbery. And if they had, would they have gone out and preached the resurrection, even with threats against their lives? In fact, the initial thought of the women and disciples was that someone had taken the body (John 20:13, 15). If they had confirmed that fact, they wouldn’t have preached as they did later on.

(2) The post-resurrection appearances--There were numerous appearances of Jesus to many of His followers in a variety of situations over the 40 days between His resurrection and ascension into heaven. These many witnesses could not possibly have fabricated their story. J. N. D. Anderson wrote:

The most drastic way of dismissing the evidence would be to say that these stories were mere fabrications, that they were pure lies. But so far as I know, not a single critic today would take such an attitude. In fact, it would really be an impossible position. Think of the number of witnesses, over 500. Think of the character of the witnesses, men and women who gave the world the highest ethical teaching it has ever known, and who even on the testimony of their enemies lived it out in their lives. Think of the psychological absurdity of picturing a little band of defeated cowards cowering in an upper room one day and a few days later transformed into a company that no persecution could silence--and then attempting to attribute this dramatic change to nothing more convincing than a miserable fabrication they were trying to foist upon the world. That simply wouldn’t make sense. (Cited by Josh McDowell, Evidence That Demands a Verdict, p. 233.)

Anderson’s quote leads to a third proof:

(3) The changed lives of the witnesses--None of this depressed, confused, fearful band were expecting a resurrection. And yet they were all transformed into bold, committed witnesses who gave their lives to preaching that Jesus was raised from the dead. Paul himself was transformed from a vicious persecutor of the church and hater of Gentiles to the dedicated apostle to the Gentiles after he saw the risen Jesus Christ on the Damascus road.

That’s just a quick overview of some of the evidence for the resurrection. Maybe you’re thinking, “Well if the evidence is so convincing, why don’t more people believe it?” The answer is: People refuse to believe in the resurrection because it has moral implications. If Jesus is risen, He is Lord. If He is Lord, then I have no right to continue rebelling against God by running my own life. The main issue in unbelief is never intellectual; it is always moral. If Jesus is risen, then I must turn from my sin, because He is going to judge the world. If the resurrection is true, then ...

B. Judgment is a certainty.

Paul notes three certainties (17:31) with regard to the judgment: A certain day, a certain standard, and a certain Man.

(1) A Certain Day--God “has fixed a day ....” We look around and see wickedness going unpunished and think that sinners get away with their sin. But the court date is set in heaven: God has a certain day when He will judge the world! If we ask, “Why does God wait?” the answer is, “Because He is patient and merciful. He is giving those who have sinned against Him an opportunity to repent” (2 Pet. 3:9).

At the Mount Saint Helens visitor center in Washington, a film tells the story of the awesome eruption of that volcano in 1980. It shows the now famous longtime resident at Spirit Lake, an old man named Harry Truman, who disbelieved the warnings that the mountain was about to blow. He’s famous now, but dead and buried under hundreds of feet of lava, because he made the fatal mistake of thinking that just because that mountain had never erupted in his many years of living there, it never would.

Many people make that eternally fatal mistake when it comes to the warnings of Scripture about God’s judgment. Paul points out that God “overlooked the times of ignorance.” Perhaps you have been ignorant of the demands of God’s absolute righteousness; you haven’t been aware of your own sin; you haven’t known about God’s means of forgiveness. If He had judged the world before now, you would have been lost. But don’t wait--the day is certain!

(2) A Certain Standard--“He will judge the world in righteousness.” Many think that God will grade on the curve, that only the scum of the earth will fail. Just last month I heard on National Public Radio about a recent Gallup Poll in which 60 percent of Americans say they believe in hell, but only four percent think there’s a good chance that they will go there. We don’t think we will go to hell because we compare ourselves with other people and we don’t stack up too badly. We assume that God grades on the curve, so everything will be okay.

Years ago, when poet Robert Frost taught at Amherst College, he detested semester exams and grading, but since it was mandatory, he complied. But he made the tests as easy as he could. Once he asked only one question: “What good did my course do you?” and requested brief replies. One student wrote, “Not a dam bit!” “Did you pass him?” asked a friend. “Yes,” said Frost, “I gave him a 90.” “Why not 100?” the friend asked. “He left the ‘n’ off damn.”

Many think that God will be an easy grader, like Robert Frost. Unless we’re horribly bad people, the judgment won’t be any sweat. But God’s standard is His own character--absolute righteousness! That character is reflected in the Ten Commandments and the Sermon on the Mount. Many people think that they live up to this standard. But have you ever thought about how impossibly high that standard is?

Take the first commandment: Can you look at your life and honestly say that you have not in the past and you do not now have any gods before the One True God? Or take the simple “Golden Rule”: Can you say that you always do unto others as you would have them do unto you? If not, you’ve broken the two commands that sum up God’s holy standard: You have not loved God with all your heart and you have not loved your neighbor as yourself. God’s certain standard is His own righteousness. Unless you somehow satisfy that standard, you have much to fear when that certain day of judgment comes around!

There is a certain day and a certain standard.

(3) A Certain Man--“Through a Man whom He has appointed.” That may seem strange--usually we think of God as the judge, not man. But the final Judge is both. The Lord Jesus Christ is the eternal God who took on human flesh through the virgin birth. Jesus said that the Father had given all judgment to Him, the Son, so that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father (John 5:22-23). Jesus Christ is both the perfect standard for judgment, in that He lived a perfectly righteous life; and, the perfect Judge, who in His deity knows the very thoughts and intentions of our heart. Every wrong thought we’ve ever had will be exposed to His gaze!

Thus, since the resurrection is true, judgment is a certainty. And if you say, “All I ask is that God be fair with me,” you don’t realize what you’re saying! If God is fair, you will go straight to hell, because you have violated His righteous standard many times over. If you went into a court of law, even in our lenient justice system, with thousands of counts against you, how do you think you would fare? Never ask God for fairness. Every one of us, because of our sin, stands guilty many times over before God’s righteous standard.

What should we do? Should we run from God? Should we try to hide? Should we try harder? No, God has offered a remedy for our guilty condition:

2. If judgment is a certainty, then repentance is a necessity.

“God is now declaring to men that all everywhere should repent.” The word “declaring” should be translated “commanding.” It’s a word of authority, not just a helpful hint. Repentance may sound like an outmoded term. But if God is commanding “all everywhere” to repent, then we had better be clear on what it means! “All everywhere” is fairly comprehensive. It includes religious people, even decent folks who attend Easter church services. None of us are exempt from the requirement to repent.

The Greek word comes from two words meaning “to change one’s mind.” But the Bible is clear that repentance is more than intellectual--it means to turn to God from sin. It is a total change of orientation. If I were driving to Phoenix and “repented,” it means that I would turn around and drive back toward Flagstaff. All of us, because we’re sinners, live for ourselves. We run our lives with the goal of pleasing ourselves. To repent means that we turn from self and sin to God. Instead of thinking that our own efforts will put us in good stead on judgment day (which is the ultimate in pride!), we turn from our works to God’s provision for sin in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, who bore the penalty for us. Instead of living for ourselves, we now live to please God.

Repentance is not separate from faith, but is actually a vital part of genuine faith (17:30, “repent”; 17:34, “believed”). Repentance and faith are the two sides of the coin of conversion. In order to turn to God for forgiveness, you must believe that what He says is true: That you have sinned and that Jesus Christ died for your sins. If you truly believe that, your life will be drastically different than before. You can’t hold onto your sin with one hand and reach out for God’s salvation with the other.

In his excellent book, Faith Works (Word, pp. 74, 75), Pastor John MacArthur writes,

The Western church has subtly changed the thrust of the gospel. Instead of exhorting sinners to repent, evangelicalism in our society asks the unsaved to “accept Christ.” That makes sinners sovereign and puts Christ at their disposal. In effect it puts Christ on trial and hands the judge’s robes and gavel to the inquirer--precisely opposite of what should be. Ironically, people who ought to be concerned about whether Christ will accept them are being told by Christians that it is the sinner’s prerogative to “accept Christ.” This modified gospel depicts conversion as “a decision for Christ” rather than a life-transforming change of heart involving genuine faith, repentance, surrender, and rebirth unto newness of life.

MacArthur goes on to quote A. W. Tozer, who wrote:

The trouble is that the whole “Accept Christ” attitude is likely to be wrong. It shows Christ [appealing] to us rather than us to Him. It makes Him stand hat-in-hand awaiting our verdict on Him, instead of our kneeling with troubled hearts awaiting His verdict on us. It may even permit us to accept Christ by an impulse of mind or emotions, painlessly, at no loss to our ego and no inconvenience to our usual way of life.

The Bible is clear that there is a false kind of faith, a mere intellectual agreement with the gospel that does not include repentance. Such “faith” does not save.

In the early 1950’s notorious gangster Mickey Cohen attended a meeting where Billy Graham was present. He expressed some interest in the message, so several who were there, including Dr. Graham, talked to him about spiritual matters. But he did not respond until some time later, when another friend urged him to invite Jesus Christ into his life. He professed to do this, but his subsequent life gave no evidence of repentance. When his friend tried to confront him on this, Cohen protested, “You didn’t tell me that I would have to give up my work and my friends!”

He had heard that so-and-so was a Christian entertainer, and another was a Christian actress, and another was a Christian politician. He thought he could be a Christian gangster and continue to run with his pagan friends in his pagan way of life! (Adapted from J. Edwin Orr, Christianity Today [1/1/82], pp. 24, 25.)

That is not saving faith! I must recognize that I am guilty before God’s standard of absolute righteousness. Also, I must understand that I can never earn God’s forgiveness by my own good works. I can’t help God out, since I deserve only His wrath because of my sin. But God, being rich in mercy sent Jesus Christ to die for my sins, thus maintaining His justice, but also enabling Him to extend a free pardon to every sinner who will take it. So I turn to God from my sins to receive that pardon. As a result, I seek to live the rest of my life to please the God who so loved me and gave Himself up for me. That’s saving faith!

Conclusion

Paul saw three different responses to his message that day. Some began to sneer (17:32). They didn’t believe in the possibility of a resurrection of the dead, which means they didn’t believe in God who alone is able to raise the dead. I hope not, but it is possible that some of you are scoffing at what I have said. I urge you not to shrug off this most serious matter! Others procrastinated. They said, “We shall hear you again concerning this” (17:32). But so far as we know, they never got that chance. The text says that “Paul went out of their midst.” They missed the opportunity to repent and believe. I urge you not to put off repenting and believing, since you may not get another chance!

But some joined Paul and believed (17:34). That is what I urge you to do—to join us who believe by believing yourself in the good news that through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God offers a pardon for your sins. Having overlooked your time of ignorance, God is now commanding that you should repent. That’s what you need to do because the resurrection of Jesus is true!

Discussion Questions

1. Some say, “I’d be a Christian even if there’s no resurrection of the dead, because it’s such a good life.” The apostle Paul disagreed (1 Cor. 15:12-19). Why?
2. Why is it fatal to think that we’re good enough to merit heaven?
3. Why is “inviting Jesus into your heart” or “accepting Jesus as your personal Savior” an inadequate presentation of the gospel?
4. Some argue that to call sinners to repent is to add works to faith. Why is this not so?

Copyright 1994, Steven J. Cole, All Rights Reserved.

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture Quotations are from the New American Standard Bible, © The Lockman Foundation

March 30, 1997

Easter Sunday Message

If you have lived for very long at all, you have been disappointed by God. I am not implying in any way that God was somehow at fault. He is perfect in all His dealings with us. But because of our limited understanding and perspective, we felt as if God let us down. It may have been through the untimely death of a parent, a child, a mate, or another loved one. Maybe it was through a painful divorce that took place in spite of your fervent prayers against it. Perhaps you lost your job and were gradually worn down as every door slammed shut in your face. Maybe it’s a personal matter that you have prayed about for years, but God has not answered. Whether major or minor, we all have had times when we were disappointed by God.

That is exactly where two weary travelers were at as they trudged along the dirt road from Jerusalem to Emmaus on that first Resurrection Sunday. Jesus tragically had been crucified and His disciples were confused and shocked. It seemed like a colossal triumph for the Jewish religious leaders and a sad defeat for this great man in whom they had put their hopes. As these two travelers walked along talking about these things, a stranger caught up with them. He was really not a stranger--He was the risen Lord Jesus--but the text states that “their eyes were prevented from recognizing Him” (24:16). The passive voice of the verb suggests that God had closed their eyes from recognizing Jesus. There were some lessons about trusting in the written Word of God which these men needed to learn before their eyes were opened to recognize the living Word who was present with them.

Jesus asks the two men (or, it could have been a man, Cleopas, and his wife) some questions to draw them out. Remember, whenever the Lord asks questions of someone, it’s not because He is lacking knowledge! He wants the men to reveal their need so that they are ready for what He wants to teach them. They reveal their deep disappointment both by their sad demeanor (24:17) and their plaintive words, “But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel” (24:21). Even the fact of the empty tomb, which should have given them great hope, just added to their disappointment. “We were hoping ....” These men had been disappointed by God!

The Lord does two things with these men before He opens their eyes to see who He is: He rebukes their lack of faith in the Scriptures, which spoke of Him; and, behind their faith was a lack of knowledge, which He supplies by explaining to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures. You cannot properly believe in that of which you’re ignorant. But, knowledge alone is inadequate; it must be coupled with faith in Jesus Christ. These two elements, then, are the key to replacing disappointment in God with hope:

If you have been disappointed by God, you will find hope by knowing and believing in the risen Savior.

1. If you have been disappointed by God, you will find hope by knowing the risen Savior.

These two men from Emmaus knew more about Jesus than most of us do, because they had personally heard Him teach, had seen many of His miracles, and probably had witnessed the crucifixion. But even so, their knowledge of Jesus was lacking in some crucial areas, which the Lord graciously began to supply.

The men knew that Jesus was “a prophet mighty in deed and word in the sight of God and all the people” (24:19). That assessment of Jesus was correct in so far as it went; it just did not go far enough. Jesus was not just a prophet; He was the Prophet, the one predicted by Moses (Deut. 18:15) who was the fulfillment of all that Moses and the other prophets wrote about. Just as the prophets in the Old Testament spoke for God, so did Jesus, only more so. They were mere men who could only speak the word of the Lord as He chose to reveal it to them. But Jesus was God in human flesh, one with the eternal Father. The apostle John referred to Jesus as the eternal Word. Just as our words reveal our unseen thoughts, so Jesus, by His words, His works, and His Person, revealed the unseen God (John 1:18).

Of Himself Jesus proclaimed, “My teaching is not Mine, but His who sent Me. If any man is willing to do His will, he shall know of the teaching, whether it is of God, or whether I speak from Myself. He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who is seeking the glory of the one who sent Him, He is true, and there is no unrighteousness in Him” (John 7:16-18). Not even the greatest of the Old Testament prophets could make such bold claims! Yes, Jesus was “a prophet mighty in deed and word in the sight of God and all the people,” but He was more than a prophet; He was the very Word of God, one with the Father, who said, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father” (John 14:9).

The men from Emmaus also had partial knowledge when they stated, “We were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel” (24:21). Luke is using irony, since through the cross Jesus had in fact redeemed, not only Israel, but people from every nation. But these men were thinking of the Jewish hope that God would send His Messiah who would deliver Israel from all her enemies and usher in an age of prosperity and blessing.

Jesus had said of Himself that He came “to give His life a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). The Greek noun translated “ransom” is related to the verb, “redeem,” and means the release of something or someone held captive by the payment of a price, or by a substitutionary offering (see Leon Morris, The Apostolic Preaching of the Cross [Eerdmans], chap. 1). Paul uses the verb with reference to Christ when he says that He “gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds” (Titus 2:14). Peter uses the same word when he says, “Knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ” (1 Pet. 1:18-19).

This concept of Jesus Christ offering Himself as the redemption price for our sins has several implications. First, it shows us that God demands that the just penalty for sins be paid. In His absolute righteousness, God cannot just dismiss the charges against us. The wages of sin is death, eternal separation from God. The penalty must be paid or God is not just.

Second, it shows us that we are in great need. Without a Redeemer, we are in bondage to sin, unable to free ourselves. If left unto ourselves, we would face God’s just judgment and eternal condemnation for our many offenses against His holiness. You may be oblivious to your need, but that does not diminish the fact or the urgency of your condition before God. The very words the Bible uses--Savior, lost, redeemed--are extreme words.

The imagery that would have come to the mind of a person living in biblical times when the word “redeem” was mentioned would have been that of slavery. The slave was in a horrible situation. He was a piece of property to be used for the purposes of his master. He could not do what he wanted with his life. He was totally at his master’s mercy, even if the master decided to work him to death or to kill him in anger. As such, the slave was desperately needy and helpless. His only hope was that a wealthy benefactor would pay the price of redemption and then grant him his freedom. Even so, if you are outside of Jesus Christ, you are enslaved to sin, hopelessly lost, and unable to do anything about your desperate situation.

Third, the idea of Jesus as the Redeemer shows that He offered His own blood as the necessary sacrifice for the sins of all who will trust in Him. When Jesus, beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, explained to these men the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures, He no doubt began with God in the garden shedding the blood of the animals so that Adam and Eve could be properly clothed in His holy presence. He told them that Jesus was the seed of the woman who would crush the serpent’s head (Gen. 3:15). He explained how the ram caught in the thicket which God provided so that Abraham could spare Isaac pictured His sacrifice for sinners. He took them through the sacrificial system of Israel, and showed them how it all pointed forward to Him. No doubt, among many other Scriptures, He took them to Isaiah 53:6-12:

All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; but the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth; like a lamb that is led to slaughter, and like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, so He did not open His mouth. By oppression and judgment He was taken away; and as for His generation, who considered that He was cut off out of the land of the living, for the transgression of my people to whom the stroke was due? His grave was assigned with wicked men, yet He was with a rich man in His death, because He had done no violence, nor was there any deceit in His mouth. But the Lord was pleased to crush Him, putting Him to grief; if He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, and the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in His hand. As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; by His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, as He will bear their iniquities. Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great, and He will divide the booty with the strong; because He poured out Himself to death, and was numbered with the transgressors; yet He Himself bore the sin of many, and interceded for the transgressors.

No doubt Jesus explained how the Christ had first to suffer death as the guilt offering for His people, and then enter into His glory through the resurrection. It must have been the most marvelous conversation in all history, to hear Jesus explain the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures!

Jesus would have explained how He was not only the crucified Redeemer, but, also, He was the risen Redeemer! The Scriptures had predicted both His death and resurrection. But also He had predicted His own rising from the dead after three days before it all came to pass. These two men seemed to remember something of the significance of “the third day” (24:21), but they didn’t get it quite yet. The empty tomb should have tipped them off, especially when accompanied by the testimony of angels who reminded the women, “Remember how He spoke to you while He was still in Galilee, saying that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again” (24:6-7). But these men were not expecting the crucifixion, much less a resurrection, and they were hesitant to believe the testimony of a bunch of impressionable women!

The point is, these men who were disappointed by God needed a fuller knowledge of who Jesus Christ is as revealed in the Scriptures. Did you notice the repetition of the word “all” in our text? These men were “slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken” (24:25). Jesus, “beginning with Moses and all the prophets ... explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures” (24:27). They had believed in the part of the Scriptures that foretold Messiah’s glory, but they had overlooked the parts that tell of His suffering.

We’re so much like them. We love the parts of the Bible that promise blessings, but we somehow don’t notice all the parts that talk about suffering. A few years ago, I was going through a time when I was being slandered and unfairly criticized. As I was reading through the Psalms during that time, I noticed for the first time the many references that David made to his being slandered. Those references had been there all the dozens of times I had read the Psalms before, but I didn’t notice them until I was in that situation. And, I realized, many of those references about David were really speaking about the Son of David, Jesus Christ, who was maligned more than any man. So in my time of trial, I came to know more of Christ through reading the Word.

So if you find yourself disappointed by God, get into your Bible and ask God to reveal more about the Lord Jesus to you as you read. “Since He Himself was tempted in that which He has suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted” (Heb. 2:18). If you have been disappointed by God, you will find hope in knowing the risen Savior more deeply.

2. If you have been disappointed by God, you will find hope by believing in the risen Savior.

Faith is built on proper knowledge. Biblical faith is not a blind leap in the dark. You would be foolish to believe in something you know nothing about. If you do not know what the Scriptures say about the Lord Jesus Christ, read your Bible and ask God to open your eyes to the truth. As Jesus said (John 7:17), if you are willing to do His will, you will know of the teaching whether it is of God or whether Jesus was just speaking on His own authority. But then, once you know, you must commit yourself in faith to the person and work of Jesus Christ.

We often excuse unbelief as a common weakness, but the Lord views it as a terrible sin for which we are responsible. Jesus here rebukes these men quite strongly: “O foolish men and slow of heart to believe ...!” He often confronted the disciples with the words, “O you of little faith” (Matt. 6:30; 8:26; 14:31; 16:8). When we doubt God and His word of promise to us, we are calling into question His love, His faithfulness, and His power.

The apostle John argues, “If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater; for the witness of God is this, that He has borne witness concerning His Son” (1 John 5:9). He is pointing out the common fact, that we believe in sinful, fallen men every day of our lives. When you ate your breakfast this morning, you did not run a chemical analysis to make sure that it had not been poisoned at the food processing plant. When you drive your car, you trust that the mechanic has not sabotaged your brakes. When you deposit a check in the bank, you trust that the teller is not going to put your money in her account, or that the bank isn’t depositing it in a secret Swiss bank account. We trust men every day; shouldn’t we trust God?

The sin of unbelief is also seen in that we are much more prone to trust in ourselves than to trust in the living God. If you ask people, “Why should God let you into heaven?” the vast majority will reply that He should let them into heaven because they are basically good, sincere people and that they believe in Him. The bottom line is, they are trusting in their own goodness, sincerity, and even in their own belief, but they are not trusting in Jesus Christ alone for right standing before God. But the Bible makes it clear that even the best of us have nothing in ourselves to qualify us for heaven. We must renounce all faith in ourselves and trust in Jesus Christ alone to be saved from hell. And yet we sinfully persist in faith in ourselves rather than faith in Christ.

The British preacher, Spurgeon, pointed out that the sin of unbelief is seen in that we are more prone to believe Satan than we are to believe in God. Satan comes and whispers in your ear that the Bible is not true, or that God is not loving and merciful, that He doesn’t care about you and your problems, and you are quick to believe those lies rather than to trust in God’s provision in Jesus Christ (Spurgeon’s Expository Encyclopedia [Baker], 15:69).

The testimony of these dejected men from Emmaus is only one of many witnesses to the truth of the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ. God has given us solid evidence on which to rest our faith. It is not only foolish, but it’s a sin for which we are liable, if we reject the witness of God and instead believe in ourselves or in the lies of skeptics. If you have been disappointed by God, you will find hope by putting your trust in the risen Savior.

Conclusion

I want to conclude with four observations and applications:

(1) The Lord is near to you in your disappointment even though you do not know it--Be encouraged! These men on that dusty road thought that Jesus was dead and gone, when in fact, He was the one walking with them as they talked, though they did not recognize Him at first. When you’re disappointed or discouraged, you may think that the Lord is a million miles away, but if you are one of His flock, even though you are being faithless and do not see Him, He is there with you. He has promised never to leave us or forsake us.

(2) The Lord is ready to listen to your troubles--Tell Him! Jesus drew near to these men and asked questions in order to get them to talk about their disappointment. Even though God knows all our needs, He invites us to pour out our hearts before Him: “Casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you” (1 Pet. 5:7).

(3) The Lord may have to rebuke before He heals--Be receptive! These men could easily have taken offense at Jesus’ strong rebuke and said, “Who does this man think he is, to call us foolish and slow of heart to believe?” But instead they were receptive, and as a result they were greatly blessed. Spurgeon says that when the Lord rebukes us, we should see it as His love, scarcely disguised, and reply, “Master, say on.” He says that if Jesus calls us foolish, we should wonder that He doesn’t say something worse about us (ibid., p. 60)!

(4) The Lord is waiting to be entreated by you--Ask Him to come in! As these men and Jesus approached their village, we read that Jesus acted as though He would keep going farther (24:28), but these men urged Him to stay with them, and He did. It was only then that their eyes were opened to see that it was the risen Lord at their table. Even though you may not see clearly, and the Lord must open your eyes to the truth--you cannot do it yourself--perhaps your heart, like the hearts of these men, has been burning in you even as I’ve been speaking. It is the Lord, though you did not recognize Him at first. He wants you to entreat Him to come into your life, to stay with you. When you entreat Jesus to come into your heart as Lord and Savior, He will open your eyes to see who He really is.

If you have been disappointed by God, it is not because God has failed. The solution is to know and believe in the risen Savior. Pour out your troubles to Him. Get into your Bible and learn more of Him. Entreat Him to abide with you. “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Rom. 15:13).

Discussion Questions

1. Why is unbelief such a serious sin? How can we avoid it?
2. What would you say to a person who said, “I just can’t believe all those myths in the Bible”?
3. Why is biblical faith not a leap in the dark? How much knowledge must a person have in order to believe?

Copyright 1997, Steven J. Cole, All Rights Reserved.

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture Quotations are from the New American Standard Bible, Updated Edition © The Lockman Foundation