The Point

10.11.13

Luke 24.44 44 Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.”

There are at least two significant statements (among the many) in Luke 24: the one above and the one where Jesus said, “For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” (Luke 24.39b) The truth is: what was written about the Lord in all of the Old Testament records came true; and everything that was prophesied about Him in those records came to pass. And the Resurrected Christ wasn’t a phantom – He was the Real Deal; flesh and bones to boot!

I see the significance because if I have doubts I can rest assured that everything written about Jesus is a done deal. He lived a life that fulfilled every prophesy that was ever spoken about Him. That’s big. But what is bigger is: He truly is the Son of God for you and me and when He rose from the grave, He wasn’t some whisp of a thing – He was the bodily-risen Christ, scars and all. That ought to give us all something to think about.

I think Jesus said what He said to His men to help them get a grasp of the magnitude of His life, His being, His sacrifice, His death, and His resurrection. I think they all probably started a Bible reading plan after that and I think they all decided at that moment that they were going to live out the rest of the story. (Maybe they decided that the next day…)

We use a word to describe something big: astronomical. The odds of everything actually happening to Jesus the way it was actually written are astronomical. But that is the magnitude of the God/Man we serve. He didn’t come back as a two-dimensional visage, He came back as the real deal and when He rose from earth, not even gravity could hold Him back.

Point, Paul, Point! The point is I’ve nowhere else to go than to Scripture for the point about Jesus and the plan God had for sending Him to buy back my freedom. God has always intended to be my Friend but He had to take care of some messy business in the meantime: my sin. And He offers to me to take care of that business if I simply live out the rest of my life in belief in at least two things: the veracity of the Old Testament records about Jesus, and the actuality of His bodily resurrection – not a ghost, but fish eating flesh and bone.

To mankind this offer is simply ridiculous. God to most, only means something if they get their pound of flesh in the process of believing in one… (a god that is). But to those (them and us) who needed to believe and needed to understand why things had to happen the way they did (and in the way they did) Jesus simply said, “Guys, ‘These are the words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.’” Trust Me, you can believe.

Jesus, I believe. It’s all I have because of what You’ve said. I believe. Amen.