Good morning my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
Forty (40) days is a long time, isn’t it? Have you ever noticed how often 40 days are significant in the Bible?
* Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit of God into the wilderness for 40 days immediately following His baptism. (Matt. 4:1-11; Luke 4:1-13) Do you remember what happened in those 40 days?
* God promised Noah, He would cause it to rain 40 days and nights and a global flood would result. And it happened that way! (Genesis 7:4 & 17)
* Moses spent 40 days up on Mount Sinai with God, not once, not twice, but three times!!
Exodus 24:12-18... Moses received from God the 10 Commandments and instructions about worship, the Tabernacle, the Sabbath and many other things that would uniquely shape the relationship between God and His people, Israel.
Deuteronomy 9:18-26… Moses spent 40 days and nights interceding before God for Israel after the people and Aaron had fabricated a golden calf and worshiped it!
Exodus 34 … Moses spent 40 days with God in worship, experiencing the glory of God. As Moses came down from this experience, his face was radiant! So much so, they asked him to put a veil over his face!
* Numbers 13 & 14… Moses sent 12 Israelite leaders into the ‘promised land’ to scout the land and return with a report. For 40 days they investigated this wonderful land of God’s promise, but 10 of them gave such a fearful report that the people rebelled against Moses and God, refusing to follow God into God’s promised land. God’s judgment was that they wandered in the wilderness one year for each scouting day… 40 years, until that fearful generation died.
* 1 Samuel 17… For 40 days the Philistine giant Goliath came before the Israelite army, taunting them to send out a warrior to fight him. Finally young shepherd boy David went, taking 5 stones and his sling. Directed by God, it only required one stone to fell the great giant!
* 1 Kings 19:1-18 Following the showdown between the prophet Elijah and the 450 prophets of Baal, Queen Jezebel sent word to Elijah that he’d be dead within 24 hours. Elijah fled more than 300 miles from Mount Carmel to Mount Horeb (Sinai) to meet with God and he spent 40 days and nights there with God, receiving God’s instructions and encouragement!
* Jonah 3:4… God sent His reluctant prophet Jonah to the wicked city of Nineveh. Jonah warned the people that God was giving them 40 days in which to repent, otherwise God would send great judgment upon them. They did repent and God did not pour out judgment upon this repentant city!
And finally, there is one more that is relevant to Easter…
* The resurrected Jesus appeared several times, to many different people, over a period of 40 days from resurrection Sunday until the day of His ascension back to heaven. (Acts 1:1-3; John 20,21; Luke 24; Matthew 28; Mark 16)
Can you think of other significant events that occurred over a period of 40 days that are recorded in the Bible? Now why would I begin this Monday’s edition of “WWJ” with this 40-day focus? Because over these next two days I’d like us to look at the last words Jesus spoke before He returned to heaven.
I find them in Acts 1. Dr. Luke, the Greek physician who traveled with the apostle Paul on his second and third journeys, is the author of Acts and as he opens this record of what took place AFTER that Easter/Passover which changed the world, Luke indicates he had thoroughly investigated in order to give a careful explanation. (Luke 1:1-4) Luke writes: “After His suffering, Jesus presented Himself to them [His disciples], and gave many convincing proofs that He was alive. He appeared to them over a period of 40 days and spoke about the kingdom of God.” (Acts 1:3)
I’m VERY grateful that Dr. Luke makes it clear that Jesus gave convincing PROOFS that His resurrection was legitimate, authentic, verifiable and permanent! What are proofs for a resurrection? Jesus was SEEN by hundreds of people, that’s called an EYEwitness! (1 Corinthians 15:5-7) He had conversations, dialogues with many people, they SPOKE with resurrected Jesus! (Luke 24:13-35) He invited people to TOUCH His resurrected body, even the nail scars in His hands. (John 20:27) Jesus ATE food with people. (Luke 24:30; John 21:10-14; Acts 1:4,5)
There was no doubt, Jesus was absolutely resurrected from the horrific execution He had suffered. He was fully alive! In fact, Luke writes: “On one occasion, while Jesus was eating with them, Jesus gave them this command: ‘Do not leave Jerusalem but wait for the gift My Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days, you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit of God.” (Acts 1:4,5)
Do you remember that Jesus had spoken a great deal about the Holy Spirit when He was with His disciples in the upper room that Passover Thursday evening before He went to the cross on Friday? Jesus had shocked His disciples by telling them it was actually a good thing that He would be leaving them, (John 16:8-11) for His absence would make room for God the Father to send His Holy Spirit to EACH person who was an authentic believer in and follower of Jesus! (John 14:26,27)
Better than having God in the visible person of Jesus in ONE place, is having God the Holy Spirit residing in EVERY believer everywhere in the world, all at the same time! Jesus had promised the Holy Spirit would be a Counselor (John 14:16,17) and Teacher (John 16:13) for all Christ followers, guiding us in how to live God-honoring lives, and teaching us all we can learn about God!
We know the disciples had been up in the Galilee region for some time because Matthew records their hillside encounter with Jesus (Matt. 28:16-20) and John records the miracle catch of fish and the shoreline breakfast with Jesus. (John 21) Evidently the disciples had come back to Jerusalem, and as they were eating together with resurrected, He now challenged them to remain in the city and be watchful, for the Holy Spirit would be coming to them from heaven, within a few days.
Can you imagine their excitement? But how? How would it happen? How would they recognize the Spirit’s coming? How would He impact their lives? What should they do to prepare?
Maybe the biggest question of all was this: what did Jesus mean when He compared the coming and baptism of the Holy Spirit to the water baptism, they’d all witnessed as they had watched John the Baptist plunge people under the Jordan river water? John’s water baptism was a physical, practical immersion in water. (Mark 1:4,5) But as he baptized people, John declared: “I baptize you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” (Mark 1:8)
John was predicting what Jesus was now saying to His disciples. John’s water baptism was a declaration by the person being baptized that they repented of their sin, and they were preparing for the coming Messiah, ready to follow Him. (Acts 19:4) Therefore the disciples expected something practical and physical, not simply theoretical. They expected when the Holy Spirit came upon them, they would be impacted, changed by the work of the Holy Spirit in them. But they had no way of understanding how significantly the Holy Spirit of God would change their lives long term!
Tomorrow we’ll look at when this prediction of Jesus, about the coming of the Holy Spirit, actually happened. We’ll look at how it affected those people and how it changed our world! For today I leave you with these very important questions to ponder…
1. Are you absolutely convinced the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is TRUE even though you have not seen the resurrected Jesus or touched His resurrected body? Upon what are you basing your confidence in the veracity of the resurrection?
2. Has what Jesus promised those disciples happened in your life? Have you experienced the baptism of the Holy Spirit and if so, what difference has it made in your life?
Now I’ve found a wonderful, toe tapping, knee slapping song celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Come and celebrate the assurance of the resurrection ‘southern gospel style’, and I’ll meet you right back here with Jesus and those disciples tomorrow…
Today’s Scripture is Acts 1:1-5.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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