Ascension Day 2009 - "...written that you may believe..."

Luke 24:13-53 (New International Version)

On the Road to Emmaus

13Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. 14They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. 15As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; 16but they were kept from recognizing him.

17He asked them, "What are you discussing together as you walk along?"

They stood still, their faces downcast. 18One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, "Are you only a visitor to Jerusalem and do not know the things that have happened there in these days?"

19"What things?" he asked.

"About Jesus of Nazareth," they replied. "He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. 20The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; 21but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. 22In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning 23but didn't find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. 24Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see."

25He said to them, "How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?" 27And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.

28As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus acted as if he were going farther. 29But they urged him strongly, "Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over." So he went in to stay with them.

30When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. 31Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. 32They asked each other, "Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?"

33They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together 34and saying, "It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon." 35Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread.

Jesus Appears to the Disciples

36While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with you."

37They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. 38He said to them, "Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? 39Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have."

40When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet. 41And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, "Do you have anything here to eat?" 42They gave him a piece of broiled fish, 43and he took it and ate it in their presence.

44He said to them, "This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms."

45Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. 46He told them, "This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, 47and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 48You are witnesses of these things. 49I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high."

The Ascension

50When he had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. 51While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven. 52Then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. 53And they stayed continually at the temple, praising God.

Acts 1:1-11 (New International Version)

Jesus Taken Up Into Heaven

1In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach 2until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. 3After his suffering, he showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. 4On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: "Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. 5For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit."

6So when they met together, they asked him, "Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?"

7He said to them: "It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. 8But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."

9After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.

10They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. 11"Men of Galilee," they said, "why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven."


John 14 (New International Version)

Jesus Comforts His Disciples

¹"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. ²In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. ³And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. ⁴You know the way to the place where I am going."

Jesus the Way to the Father

⁵Thomas said to him, "Lord, we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way?"

⁶Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. ⁷If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him."

⁸Philip said, "Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us."

⁹Jesus answered: "Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'? ¹⁰Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. ¹¹Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. ¹²I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. ¹³And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. ¹⁴You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

Jesus Promises the Holy Spirit

¹⁵"If you love me, you will obey what I command. ¹⁶And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— ¹⁷the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. ¹⁸I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. ¹⁹Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. ²⁰On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. ²¹Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him."

²²Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, "But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?"

²³Jesus replied, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. ²⁴He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.

²⁵"All this I have spoken while still with you. ²⁶But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. ²⁷Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

²⁸"You heard me say, 'I am going away and I am coming back to you.' If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. ²⁹I have told you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe. ³⁰I will not speak with you much longer, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold on me, ³¹but the world must learn that I love the Father and that I do exactly what my Father has commanded me.
"Come now; let us leave.

Footnotes:

1. John 14:1 Or You trust in God
2. John 14:7 Some early manuscripts If you really have known me, you will know
3. John 14:17 Some early manuscripts and is

John 20:24-31 (New International Version)

Jesus Appears to Thomas

24Now Thomas (called Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. 25So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord!"
But he said to them, "Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it."

26A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!" 27Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe."

28Thomas said to him, "My Lord and my God!"

29Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."

30Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. 31But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.


(Scripture from www.biblegateway.com - but emphasis at John 20:31 mine)

... and my journey with Him continues ...

Write the vision - the first post for this blog

“Write the vision
And make it plain on tablets,
That he may run who reads it.
For the vision is yet for an appointed time;
But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie.
Though it tarries, wait for it;
Because it will surely come,
It will not tarry.
Behold the proud,
His soul is not upright in him;
But the just shall live by his faith.” (Habakkuk 2:2-4, NKJV)


Write the vision.

What vision, Lord?

What you have experienced with and of Me.

When I first had this conversation with the LORD a few years back, I thought I understood what I was to do – pretty simple, right? Just chronicle my dealings with the LORD my God. I was not, however, as clear about the mechanics of actually doing it. So I would periodically write out things which were going on with me that, for me, clearly signaled the Presence of God in my life. But these remembrances stayed mostly in my heart (kind of like Mary in Luke 2:19.)

Maybe a book, I thought. Then, it seemed at every turn I would hear of someone else writing a book. Rather than take this as a confirmation that I should be obedient to what I felt my Lord was telling me to do, I tended to be self-conscious about my ability to write anything anyone would want to read.

Write the vision.

Lord, I don’t have anything to say!

I know you don’t, but I do.

Through the years, a persistent, however infrequent, topic of conversation with my Lord continued to be: Write the vision. On every hand, my God assured me that He had a plan (Jeremiah 29:11), and that His ability far outweighed my inability (Philippians 2:13.) His grace is more than sufficient to handle anything I may encounter (2 Corinthians 12:9.) Like Moses (in Exodus 2-3), all of my concerns - my fears and my whining - about doing what He said were put to rest as I resolved over and over again to be obedient. But I procrastinated.

Now I’m a little slow sometimes to catch on to some things, but when things repeatedly come up in my life, even I will tend to pay attention and think that something is there to which I might need to pay attention. God is so gracious, though; He will provide the motivation, sometimes as He warns of the possible consequences of my choices.

During my devotional time today, I was opening my Bible to go to the book of Psalms and it opened, instead, right to the book of Habakkuk. The words at chapter 2, verse 2 jumped out at me:

Write the vision...

"Okay, Lord," I said, "I'm going to." I turned to the passage in the Psalms that I had been looking for, and continued my devotional readings. Later, I was turning a group of pages to look for something in the New Testament, and found myself in Ezekiel 47. My eyes fell on verse 11:

But the miry places thereof and the marishes thereof shall not be healed; they shall be given to salt. (Ezekiel 47:11 KJV)

Okay, I just read that verse in an old Times Square Church newsletter from 2000 that I came across yesterday. (It had not even been opened when I found it.) This verse spoke to me about what may happen when you don't let the word of God make a difference in your life. I was thinking the other day about Lot’s wife, turned to a pillar salt when she disobeyed and looked back on the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Disobedience – delayed obedience is disobedience. So it doesn’t matter that I mean to get around to writing at some point; I am in disobedience now. At this point, I’m beginning to get that it’s not just even about the writing – it’s about obedience.

A couple of weeks ago, I finally had decided (again!) to be obedient, and had started writing things down as they came to me, but wasn’t sure what to do with them. The prospect of a book seemed too overwhelming, and gave me too much of a reason to stop. And, to be honest, I wasn’t sure about doing a book because I wanted my motivation to be right, my heart pure. But a dear friend of mine put it into perspective for me not too long ago, letting me know that if even one person grew in their knowledge of the LORD through my efforts (i.e. my obedience), that it would all be worth it, and would not be in vain. (1 Corinthians 15:58)

Then, the other day, I saw a blog entry from David Wilkerson that I wanted to send to someone. Usually, I will copy the website address and send that in an email, but this time it was not the most recent entry, and, to save the other person time and effort, I just clicked on the icon to send this particular blog entry. After the entry was sent, a screen came up, suggesting that I could have my own blog. Admittedly, I had never even considered the possibility. The fact that the idea for a blog, and then a strong caution to be about my Father’s business (Luke 2:49) would both involve the ministry of David Wilkerson (the Times Square Church newsletter, now World Challenge, is from him) is not lost on me. I am so grateful for God’s faithfulness and patience, His tender mercy and loving kindness, His grace in making His will known, and allowing me to be a part of it.

So here I am (the whole Isaiah 6 thing.) I have created the blog, and this is the first post. Written in obedience, as a sacrifice, in faith and out of love for my precious Lord, the God of my salvation.

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. (2 Corinthians 13:14, NIV)

…and my journey with Him continues…