Peter Misselbrook's Blog

Feb 17 2020 - Luke 24:13-53 – He opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures

Today we complete Luke's Gospel with the wonderful story of the couple walking from Jerusalem to Emmaus. I say a 'couple' because I think it likely that they were man and wife rather than, as has often been assumed (why?), that they were two men. As they walked they were discussing the things that had happened in Jerusalem and trying to make sense of them. Jesus joined them on the way, but they did not recognise him. He asked them what they were talking about and they explained to him how their Lord had been crucified saying, "But we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel" (Luke 24:21). Their hopes had been shattered, and yet, now three days after Jesus had died, the body had disappeared from the tomb. They just could not make sense of it all.

The third traveller then responds to them, "He said to them, 'How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?' And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself." (24:25-27). Later, as they sat down together to eat, Jesus "took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them" (24:30). Immediately they recognised him, but just as immediately he disappeared from their sight. As they hurried back to Jerusalem they said, "Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?"

When they got back to Jerusalem they found the other disciples and began to explain what had happened. Then Jesus again appeared, this time to them all. "Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, 'This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things'" (24:45-48). Jesus then tells them that they are to wait in Jerusalem until they are equipped with the Spirit who will enable them to tell the world about him.

Jesus is the focus of all that God has to say to us. Apart from him, we cannot understand the Scriptures rightly. Reading them without seeing Christ is, to use Paul's phrase, like trying to read with a veil over your face. But when you turn to see Jesus, the veil is taken away (2 Corinthians 3:14-16). Now you can see clearly the wonderful saving plan of God with Jesus at the centre. He is the one who brings to fulfilment all that was written beforehand. He is the heart of the story. He is the one who calls us to follow him and to take our place in the grand drama of redemption. This great story is also to find its focus and to display its clarity in us; the Spirit of the risen Saviour not only gives us freedom, he enables us to live out our part in the story as we are recreated in the image of Jesus (2 Corinthians 3:17-18).

The Spirit also equips us to tell the story – the whole story of Scripture with Jesus Christ as its focus. We have a message for the nations, calling them to come and join the drama; be part of the story; come follow Jesus the Christ.

Lord Jesus, help me by your Spirit to understand your word, live your word and proclaim your word. May the word become flesh in and through me and speak afresh to those around me.

Feb 17 2019 - Psalm 19 – The word of the Lord

Psalm 19 declares that God reveals his character to us through the two great books he has written for our learning, the Book of Nature (or Creation) and the Book of Scripture.

The universe around us displays God's glory, greatness and power, from the immensity of space with all its stars and galaxies to the intricacy of the smallest sea creatures and on to the wonder of the atoms from which all things are made. Creation speaks of the greatness of its Creator and of the wisdom and inexhaustible knowledge of him who made it all and delights in it all.

But in a fallen world we easily come to mistaken conclusions about God. We see poverty, disease, pain and death and we ask, "Does God see and care?" The world around us is twisted out of shape and our fallen reading of it is blurred and distorted. The universe is not self-interpreting.

That is why God has revealed himself in the Scriptures. He has spoken to us that he might make himself known. As Isaac Watts put it in quaint English some three centuries ago:

The heavens declare thy glory, Lord,
in ev'ry star thy wisdom shines;
but when our eyes behold thy Word,
we read thy Name in fairer lines.

The rolling sun, the changing light,
and nights and days thy pow'r confess;
but the blest volume thou hast writ
reveals thy justice and thy grace…

John Calvin spoke of the way in which we need the spectacles of Scripture to see the world in right perspective. It is when we read the world through the eyes of this book that we see God's glory and grace displayed throughout creation and see all that we were made to be.

In the Scriptures we have treasures more valuable than gold and sweeter than honey. We have God's law which is a reflection of his own holy character. But this serves only to condemn our unholy characters and would drive us to despair. Isaac Watts rewrote the metrical psalms, the hymns sung by Christians in his day, so that they went beyond their Old Testament context to reflect the additional revelation that has come to us in the Lord Jesus Christ. So his hymn continues:

Thy noblest wonders here we view
in souls renewed and sins forgiv'n;
Lord, cleanse my sins, my soul renew,
and make Thy Word my guide to heav'n.

We rejoice that God has done more than warn of the consequences of straying from his commandment, he has provided us with a Saviour through whom all our transgressions are forgiven. Jesus has redeemed us through his shed blood and has brought us back into fellowship with God our Creator. He is the rock on which we stand secure.

But grace does not nullify the demands of God's holy law, rather it enables us to fulfil the righteous requirements of the law through the power of the Spirit of the risen Christ within us. So we echo the words of the psalmist, "Keep your servant … from wilful sins; may they not rule over me."

Father God, give me eyes to see your glory revealed through this world that you have made and especially in people whom you have created in your own image. May I always take great delight in your word and especially in the Lord Jesus Christ, the word incarnate. Help me always to follow him and to live by his power. "May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart always be pleasing in your sight, Lord my Rock and my Redeemer."

Peter Misselbrook