Presented at Trinity Fellowship on 05/19/1996
Luke 24:36 And while they were telling these things, he himself stood in their midst. 37 But they were startled and frightened and thought they were seeing a spirit. 38 And he said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? 39 See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have.” 40 And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. 41 And while they still could not believe it for joy and were marveling, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” 42 And they gave him a piece of broiled fish. 43 And he took it and ate it before them. 44 Now he said to them, “These are my words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” 45 Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. 46 And he said to them, “Thus it is written that the Christ should suffer and rise from the dead the third day, 47 and that repentance for forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 And behold, I am sending forth the promise of my Father upon you, but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.” 50 And he led them out as far as Bethany, and he lifted up his hands and blessed them. 51 And it came about that while he was blessing them, he parted from them. 52 And they returned to Jerusalem with great joy 53 and were continually in the temple praising God.
We noted at the Last Supper that Jesus was privileged to give his last words more than once. Today we come to the last of those occasions, which we usually call The Great Commission. The version of it in Matthew 28:18-20 is more familiar: “Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the age.” But we also have much to learn from Luke’s version. “Thus it is written that the Christ should suffer and rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance for forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.” Whether Jesus addressed the topic of the Church’s commission more than once during his forty days with the disciples (as is likely) or whether Luke and Matthew are giving us different summaries of one session makes little difference. The two passages are complementary, and both are essential to our understanding of our purpose in this world until our Lord returns. Both passages make Evangelism—taking the Gospel, the Good News of what God has done in Christ for our salvation, to all nations—central to that purpose. Let’s see what this one has to say about it.
The first thing we note is the foundation of evangelism, which is the Word of God. “Now he said to them, ‘These are my words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.’ Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. And he said to them, ‘Thus it is written’ . . .” (Luke 24:44-46a). Our message is not our own; it is based on the Word of God. What words are Christ’s words? The words of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms! They all speak truly of him, and can be truly understood only from his perspective. Thus the Gospel that we preach does not begin with “I think,” or “I suppose,” or even (maybe especially not) “I feel.” It begins with “Thus is it written.” And that is why we must proclaim it.
This feature of the Gospel helps explain why Christianity is of necessity a proselytizing religion. It explains why we cannot leave people alone, why we cannot just accept that they are different, respect their culture and their beliefs, follow Star Trek’s Prime Directive (of non-interference in the development of alien cultures), and mind our own business. For, you see, every other religion is the product of man’s search for meaning. As such, they can afford to dialogue with each other, share their results as equals, take an academic interest in one another’s beliefs, and take or leave them as their fancy dictates. There is no sense of urgency, for everyone is still looking. But the Christian faith is not the product of Man’s search for meaning; it is the proclamation of God’s kingship, the planting of his flag on the territory of our souls. Christian faith is not the product of history but the producer of history. The Christian faith did not evolve from my culture; it was announced by my Creator. And therefore my faith is not a progress report on my search for God; it is the successful conclusion of God’s search for me.
We present the Gospel, in other words, as Truth. If it is not truth, it is not worth presenting, much less proclaiming. What we have to share is not an elevated emotion, it is not another set of pious platitudes, it is not just a noble sentiment. It is truth given to us by God through written revelation. It is a message from God to men with which we have been entrusted as the messengers. And it is a message that comes with the highest authority—not mine, not yours, but God’s. That is why we must proclaim it.
You must understand that realizing this truth revolutionizes our approach to witness and evangelism. That which was lost has been found! The Gospel is like the shot fired into the air by the member of the search party who finds the missing child so that everyone else can converge on that spot. That is the spirit with which we should proclaim it. Now is the day of salvation! God has not left us in darkness. Good news! Good news! This is not our speculation; it is his speech. He has not left us in darkness. He has spoken. And so I am not sharing “my faith” (as if anyone cared what I thought about such exalted matters). I am sharing God’s truth. This is not arrogant, because it is not my message. I am not telling you that I have figured out what all the sages could not. I am telling you the Good News that God has found us. We should speak with the spirit of excitement and expectancy (as well as humility) appropriate for people in such a position. And our presentation of the Gospel should bring the unsaved into contact with Scripture. It is Scripture, not my religious experiences, that is sharper than any two-edged sword. My “testimony” is only the pretext, the excuse, the context for bringing the message of Scripture to bear on unbelievers. For then perhaps Jesus will be able to open their eyes to understand it, as he did for the disciples after the resurrection and as he has done for us since. And then—and only then—will they hear and believe and be saved.
“Thus it is written that the Christ should suffer and rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance for forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.” Thus it is written: that is how the Gospel begins, that is its foundation. And its content, the structure erected on that foundation, is that the Christ should suffer and be raised again so that repentance for forgiveness of sins can be proclaimed in his name. The message is from God; the salvation is from God. God has spoken; he is not silent. God has acted; he is not unmoved by our plight. The Christian Gospel is absolutely unique among the religious messages of the world in that its focus is not what we must to do but what God has done: not what we must do to find God, but what God has done to find us.
And what has he done? “ . . . that the Christ . . .” The first thing he has done is to come to us himself in his Son. For the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, glory as of the only begotten of the Father (John 1:14). No man has seen God at any time. But the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him (John 1:18). And this One was the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and no one comes to the Father but by him (John 14:6). And therefore, let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom we crucified (Acts 2:36). And all this he proved by raising him from the dead. The Gospel is first of all the Good News that God has sent his Son.
But then what follows? “ . . . that the Christ should suffer . . .” No wonder it took Jesus forty days to open the minds of his disciples to understand all that was written about him in the Old Testament, for this is the very theme of that book. From the sacrificial system to the Day of Passover to the Day of Atonement to the Suffering Servant passage in Isaiah, the whole Old Testament dispensation was a preparation for this suffering. For without the shedding of blood there is no remission for sin. Why were Adam and Eve not immediately annihilated when they disobeyed God at the Fall? Because the Christ would suffer. Why were animals slain to replace the fig leaves Adam and Eve had futilely woven to cover their shame? Because the Christ would suffer. Why the blood of all those bulls and goats on every Jewish altar for thousands of years? Because the Christ would suffer. Why the call of Abraham? So the Christ could come and therefore suffer. Why the sacrifice of Isaac? Because the Christ would suffer. Why the preservation of a remnant and their return to the Land? Because the Christ would suffer. And why did he have to suffer? Because God commendeth his love toward us in this, that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. He was the Lamb of God who took away the sins of the world. Sin is so evil that nothing less than this death, nothing less than his death, could have atoned for it. But he has paid all the price of it forever! And therefore if we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us of all unrighteousness. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life. This is the Gospel! This is good news indeed.
But that is not all. “ . . . that the Christ should suffer and rise from the dead the third day.” The resurrection is God’s way of saying that the sacrifice of his Son for sin has been accepted. It is God’s warrant to us that Satan has been defeated and the debt of sin cancelled for believers forever. But even better than that (if anything could be), it means that our Lord who loved us even unto death is given back to us alive. He lives now to impart the life that is beyond death, to be our living king, and to bring us to glory with him. Good news! Good news! This is the Gospel! This is good news indeed.
And what follows from that? The proclamation of repentance. Do you see the beauty of the logic of the Gospel? Why does this come right after the resurrection? Because the resurrection of Christ is what gives repentance its point. Before Christ suffered, what good would it do to repent? You could promise not to sin any more, but you would not be able to keep the promise, and even if you could, you would still be guilty of your former sin and thus still worthy of death. But now that Christ has suffered, you can be forgiven. So now repentance is no longer futile; now it can lead to a restored relationship with God, to forgiveness, to salvation, to eternal life. And now that he has been raised from the dead, there is also another way, repentance becomes worth doing. Because now the power of the risen Lord is unleashed through his Holy Spirit, so that we have help in following through on our repentance. And we have the promise made more sure that, because he lives, so shall we.
So the suffering and resurrection of Christ leads to repentance. And repentance means changing your mind, laying down the arms of your rebellion against God, believing in Christ as your savior, and turning from sin to follow him. Does that mean you must stop sinning to be saved? Not exactly. It would be more accurate to say that you are saved to stop sinning. Salvation is God’s work, not ours; your forgiveness is based on Christ’s atoning sacrifice, not on your success at reforming yourself. Salvation is through faith in Christ’s work, not through the success of your own work. To say that salvation is not by works is to say that it does not depend on your performance but on Christ’s work, not on your acceptability but on Christ’s. But we must turn to him in faith to receive the free gift of salvation, and turning to him means turning away from sin. You will no doubt still stumble and even fall from time to time. But you must truly turn to him. And that turning is repentance.
Because the Christ has suffered and been raised, repentance for the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed in his name to all who believe. Forgiveness of sin means the thing that has separated us from God is taken out of the way and we are restored to our position as sons and daughters of the Father. And that gives us love, joy, peace, eternal life, and a purpose for living great enough to make eternal life desirable. And all of that starts with forgiveness.
It astounds me how shy we are of talking about this word, so central to every New Testament summary of the Gospel as it is. We are afraid that if we talk about sin we will be seen as judgmental. But if we don’t, we must try to preach the Gospel without talking about the central need we all have as fallen human beings. Forgiveness! To have a conscience that is really clean—not just jaded, but free from guilt. To know that you are as acceptable to and indeed accepted by God as Jesus Christ is. To have no need to be ashamed. To receive this, not because you deserve it, but because God loves you and has paid for your sin forever in the death of Christ. Maybe the most critical thing we can do in this jaded and debased age is to recover the joy of forgiveness. Ironically, that means first recovering a sense of the sinfulness of sin. But we cannot communicate this to others until first we have felt it ourselves. Then we will be filled with such joy that we will not need to motivate ourselves—indeed, we will not be able to restrain ourselves from proclaiming repentance for forgiveness in his name. Good news! Good news! This is the Gospel! This is good news indeed.
The actual functionality of taking the Gospel to the nations is carried by two words in this passage. First, repentance for forgiveness in Jesus’ name is to be proclaimed. This verb captures the public side of evangelism. We have a message to deliver. We are not talking about ourselves, we are proclaiming what God has done. We are not guests on Oprah indulging in self revelation. We are heralds; we are town criers; we are Phidippides running into Athens after the Battle of Marathon, having run 26 miles to say, “Rejoice! We conquer!” and fall down dead. If we lose this spirit, we lose something essential to the spread of the Good News.
But that is not the only side of it. We are also referred to as witnesses of these things. A witness is someone who is able to speak with first-hand authority. He is someone who has seen something with his own eyes. Let’s say I hear a loud bang and look up to see that two cars have collided. I saw what happened, but because I was not paying attention I did not see how or why it happened. So if I am called as a witness to determine which driver was at fault, I will be useless, and my testimony will be disallowed. I did not see it. My speculation is of no interest to the court, and my testimony only hearsay. I am dismissed.
Now, the disciples were literal eye witnesses to the resurrection, people whose testimony is very pertinent indeed. We cannot equal them in that, but our testimony is also relevant. For we can give personal testimony to the ongoing reality of the resurrection, experienced in the saving power of the blood of Christ. And that is what we are called to do. Proclamation is the public side of evangelism, and witness is the private, or better, the personal side. Evangelism is effective when the two are combined, that is, when we are heralds to the Good News presented as such who can add the clear and firm avouch of our own eyes, our own life experience, that the news we proclaim is true and real and powerful for salvation. But of course, to give that testimony, we must first have experienced and be experiencing these things. Therefore, the first step to effective witness is to take the Gospel seriously ourselves. And what a Gospel it is! Thus it is written that the Christ should suffer and rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance for forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. Good news! Good news! This is the Gospel! This is good news indeed.
Has Christ opened your mind to understand the Scriptures? Do you see that thus it was written, that he should suffer and rise from the dead? Have you repented and believed for the forgiveness of your sins? Are you ready to proclaim that good news and be a witness to its saving power? May God grant that it may be so, to the glory of his Son Jesus Christ.
Here endeth the lesson.
Dr. Donald T. Williams
Updated 08/13/2008