Proofs

 On the final Lord’s Day Sunday in the month of May, many of us have come with heavenly anticipation yet holy trepidation. We have come in this manner, as we continue to receive, in palatable terms, truths about the ways we have been held, noting the convincing proofs as used by Jesus, to His friends.

Contrast has been made with anticipation and trepidation because, on one hand, many of us are excitedly waiting to receive more of what we may or may not have previously known. On the other hand however, some of us are being convicted to the heart in what we are hearing, yet feeling that many facts cannot be applied to our lives. What makes it even more devastating, yet demanding, is the simplicity and ordinariness of the ways Jesus convinces His disciples that He is alive and with them in flesh and bones.

We are also taken by Jesus' lead, in ensuring that He went to His disciples Himself, not just to tell them the Good News of His Resurrection, but to prove this truth to them by His very Presence. This boldness and compulsion to prove Jesus to all hearers, is attributed to Jesus Himself. It was Jesus who first went to His friends – disciples and followers – because He knew that it was His work, His job if you will, to convince His own that He was alive, after His suffering and death, and even more important was the fact that He was with them.

Previously, mention was made of one’s compulsion to prove Jesus to all hearers, as being attributed to Jesus Himself. Indeed! I believe that the same Jesus, living in His servants, through the Holy Spirit, has done and is continuing to do the same work of convincing and proving that He, Jesus, Messiah, was crucified, dead, buried and is now alive again. 

Here are two servants of Jesus, filled with the Living, Risen Spirit of Jesus, who have gone around preaching and telling of our Risen Lord, not just with talk, but with convincing proof as well. How do they and other servants of Jesus accomplish this? They do this through the Scriptures, the very same Scriptures we also have at our disposal. As we turn for a moment to these two disciples, may we too be lifted in faith and confidence that the Scriptures are the Living, Inspired Word of God. As fruit of the convincing Spirit is borne out from them and through them, may we not just share in their fruit, but bear our own fruit in our Risen Saviour.

Let me hasten to add, however, that although two people have been singled out as our present examples, they are not the only ones. This kind of preaching, proving Christ to hearers, is not exclusive to these two. We know this to also be true of other apostles and disciples of Jesus.

Paul, along with his companions, is in Thessalonica where he finds a Jewish synagogue. He does not let this opportunity pass by, so he makes it his business to speak for three consecutive Sabbath days about Jesus, Messiah. Remember, Paul is speaking to Jews who know about Messiah and are still looking for the coming of Messiah. We are told that Paul does not just tell them about Jesus, but he reasons and proves the truth of Messiah’s, Crucifixion and Resurrection. Paul goes into the synagogue and this is what we are told. On three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that the Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead. This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Christ, he said. Acts 17: 2b – 3.

We are now transported to Achaia, where a Jew named Apollos, was encouraged to go on mission there. We are told that, He had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and he spoke with great fervor and taught about Jesus accurately, though he knew only the baptism of John. Acts 18: 25. Receiving spiritual help from Priscilla and Aquila, he was encouraged to go to Achaia, where this report is given about him. On arriving, he was a great help to those who by grace had believed. For he vigorously refuted the Jews in public debate, proving from the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ. Acts 18: 27b – 28.

One of the things we take from this is that today’s servants of God are still called upon to prove that Jesus is the Christ or Messiah, that He did die and that He did rise from the dead. We also note, with intense gaze and pondering minds, how these men of God have used the Scriptures as their sound, true, tried and solid foundational basis for their undefeated arguments. These servants of Messiah, Jesus, never simply quoted the Scriptures, they lived them. The Scriptures, the Word of God, are alive and must have being, in all who profess Jesus.  

Convincing proofs are necessary, even to this day, because many false testimonies and rigged up proofs are being published by many enemies of the cross, about Jesus being not risen in Body.

In this vein, tomorrow, we return to Jesus’ mission before He ascended, back to heaven to sit on the Right Hand of God.