DAY 6
of the Resurrection Season
of the Christian Calendar
The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that JESUS began both to do and teach, Until
the day in which HE+ was taken up, after that HE+ through the HOLY SPIRIT
had given commandments unto the apostles whom HE+ had chosen:
To
whom also HE+ shewed Himself+ alive
after His+ Passion by many infallible
proofs,
being seen of them forty days,
and speaking of the things
pertaining
to the Kingdom of GOD:
Acts 1: 1-3
+ + +
Forty days and nights --- unlike ANY other 40 days and nights ever had been or ever will be on planet earth --- were 40 VERY ACTIVE days and nights.
Disciples were moved from a despair they could hardly live with to a JOY that they could hardly contain in their natural bodies.
In fact, the brothers walking to Emmaus were SO ENLIVENED by contact with the Resurrected, Living LORD , that they turned around and walked BACK TO JERUSALEM that very same night ... a matter of nearly 7 miles ! --- just to share the fact :
JESUS IS RISEN !
What did The Risen LORD talk to them about during that 7 mile journey from Jerusalem to Emmaus ?
Then HE+ said unto them,
O fools,
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
+ + +
Earlier, verse 16 tells us that their eyes were holden, that they might not know Who+ HE+ was, as they expounded to HIM+ their puzzlement over His+ death.
From the very words of these brothers, they had TRUSTED in CHRIST, so they were quite confounded at the works of GOD.
Apparently, they did NOT trust the witness of the women of their company who found His+ Tomb empty ... and had talked with an Angel !
HOW OFTEN HAVE WE OURSELVES
REJECTED THE WITNESS
OF THE LIVING CHRIST ?
Why do we make The LORD "prove" HIMSELF+ to us, over and over again?
Yes, we "agree" in our minds... but do we ALWAYS AFFIRM in our hearts the Truth, when we are faced with great and serious difficulties ?
The LORD, The LIVING LORD, The RESURRECTED JESUS, up-braided the brothers ... and it was NOT GENTLE.
"O, fools ... "
The LORD called these brothers !
and slow of heart to believe
ALL
that the prophets have spoken:
The LORD JESUS+ revealed HIMSELF+ to them only in the breaking of the Bread, His+ Body, because their minds were fixed on "what they knew" or thought they knew.
Unbelief is like that.
The LORD had to share with them the Crucified CHRIST, alas, before their eyes were opened to the Resurrected, Living CHRIST !
The breaking of the Bread, HIS+ Body, was required to move them from unbelief to FAITH ... that living trust in CHRIST to be exactly WHAT HE+ said HE+ is !
IS CHRIST REQUIRED
to do that for us too ?
Must HE+ prove Himself+ over and over again to us before we move from unbelief to faith in HIM+, faith in His+ Victory over death, hell, and the grave ?
Do we continue to live in despair in secret, tormenting areas of our lives ?
Must HE+ upbraid us, also ?
+ + +
Dear Heavenly FATHER,
O, THOU WHO hast given us Thy SON+ and made us meet to be partakers with HIM+ in glory, I stand ashamed before THEE for my unbelief.
I repent and forsake my clinging on to unbelief even when I know The LORD JESUS is ALIVE and LIVES ever to make intercession for us.
Turn my vision from myself and onto the Victory in CHRIST.
Turn my vision from the affairs of this world and onto the Coming Return of CHRIST, when HE+ makes all things new and puts to flight the workers of evil, high and low.
Grant me that Living victory, entrusting my care and keeping unto HIM+ Who+ lived and died, and "Behold," HE+ said, " I+ AM ALIVE FOR EVERMORE! "
In the Mighty and LIVING Name of our Resurrected LORD JESUS CHRIST, I lift these prayers to THEE, O FATHER.
+ + +
Glory be to GOD ON HIGH !
HalleluJAH ! CHRIST IS RISEN !
HE+ is risen INDEED !
+ + +
