The Grandest Sight of All

We’re still in the midst of Jesus’
response to the sending out of the 70. Jesus had sent out 70
would-be ministers. He had commissioned them out
with great authority to do healings, to preach the gospel, to proclaim
Christ. We saw then in those first 16
verses that it was to be a ministry with a perpetuating commission.
that these were to go out and even as they went out, they were
to be praying for other workers. We saw as well that it was a
ministry with an anticipated reception. Jesus didn’t say there
might be. He said there would be people
who receive you. But not only a ministry with
a perpetuating commission and an anticipated reception, but
they could also expect rejection. And that they found as well.
There would be those that would totally turn them out and and
refuse to receive them. We began last week in response
to that, to see Christ’s response, Christ’s response to these returning
with great enthusiasm at the reception that they’ve enjoyed.
And so naturally, his first response is to the 70. He begins to respond
to them about the success of ministry. Last week, we turned
our attention to Jesus’ response to the Father. That Jesus, first
of all, took joy in the Father’s grace. The Son of God’s praise
of the Father’s sovereignty was next in view, and it closed out,
did His address to the Father, his admitted participation in
the father’s plan. And so perhaps it’s likely that
the 12 apostles were standing there within earshot, having
seen the return of the 70, having heard the address to the 70 and
having heard Jesus’ natural response of praise to the father, I believe
in my heart the apostles knew they were next. They were overdue
for a talking to from the Lord. They were overdue to be addressed.
From time to time, we find ourselves individually in anticipation,
don’t we, of being addressed. There are those negative times,
perhaps court. Hopefully, we haven’t found ourselves
there too frequently. Perhaps you can remember back
to those days of your childhood being summoned to the principal’s
office or being sent there to sit on the bench. Obviously,
I’ve been there. I knew there was a bench. To
sit on the bench and await the principal. There are those negative
situations. Perhaps the policeman, you don’t
have to wonder if the lights are in the rearview mirror, you’ve
pulled over to the side of the road, you don’t have to wonder
if he’s pulling over to give you some kind of an award. There
are those negative situations, but they’re also positive ones.
For me, I love doing weddings and I love the part that I call
the charge to the bride and groom. I never tell them what I say.
Unless the bride tells me beforehand that she doesn’t want to hear
anything about submission, then she knows what she’s going to get.
But I love that time called the charge to the bride and groom.
When we transition and all of a sudden I begin to address them
and they look up in anticipation of good words, ways that they
can succeed in marriage by God’s grace. Perhaps you’ve been in
those situations. I was recently having coached
baseball. And the parents all gathered around and I knew what
was coming. They were going to give me some kind of a card or
some kind of a thank you. And there are those times of
positive anticipation. But in the case of the apostles,
I don’t think it was either one of these scenarios. I don’t think
it was negative. I don’t think it was positive.
I don’t think they knew what was coming. This was what for
us might be akin to the brown envelope from the IRS. Generally
speaking, it isn’t good news, but we don’t know what’s in there.
Perhaps it’s the midnight phone call. It could be good or it
could be bad. Perhaps it’s the summons to the
boss’s office. It could be good. It could be
bad. And I think that’s the scenario
before us. Jesus turns to the twelve, he zeroes them out. singles
them out and he begins to address them. Look at verse 23. Turning to the disciples, he
said privately. Blessed are the eyes which see
the things you see, for I say to you that many prophets and
kings wish to see the things which you see and did not see
them and to hear the things which you hear and did not hear them. If I could remind you of the
context, Jesus comes down from the Mount of Transfiguration
only to find a near riot. His 12 apostles there gathered
with Him. Those that weren’t on the Mount
of Transfiguration with a complete inability to cast out this demon.
And suddenly, the sending of the 70 follows on that where
they find great success in casting out demons. I believe that the twelve apostles
knew they were about to be addressed by Jesus, spoken to by Christ.
But it’s impossible to know what they were expecting. A rebuke,
a lecture, encouraging words. But finally, with great anticipation,
Jesus, with the tension in the air, does turn his attention
to his beloved apostles and he calls them aside. I believe that’s
exactly what he’s And what Luke is recording and mentioning there
when he says the disciples. And verse 23 says that he pulled
them aside privately with great dignity. Because I do believe
that what comes out is in the form of a very gentle rebuke,
couched in an encouraging tone, a reminder to all that they’d
seen What I want to point out this
morning is what I’ve referred to as the grandest site of all.
Perhaps some of us have seen the grand site. Some have alleged
that the Grand Canyon is the grandest site of all. What Jesus wants to do here is
highlight for us the greatest revelation of all time, the greatest
revelation of all. What I’ve done is call out three
awe-inspiring features of God’s most glorious revelation. First
of all, God’s greatest revelation of all time is none other than
Christ incarnate. It’s Christ incarnate. Now, look
at the passage, and it’s going to take a moment. But when Jesus
says, blessed are the eyes which see the things which you see,
the question there is, what did they see? What is Jesus referring
to there? The things which you see. Simply
put, I’ve already alluded to it, it’s Jesus, the revealed
Messiah. God’s plan of redemption that
was being fulfilled in their day. Jesus proving Himself by
His words and His deeds and His attitudes that He was the Messiah. And they were witnessing it.
Moment by moment, they were seeing proof after proof of Christ. Jesus wanted to encourage them.
He wanted them to know how blessed they were to have this revelation,
the revelation of the Messiah walking with them, talking with
them, ministering with them. What did they see? The apostles
saw Christ. They saw Him performing miracles.
They saw Him raising the dead. calming the sea, healing the
sick, walking on water. But beyond miracles, they saw
His life. They saw that He was holy. They
saw that He was righteous. They knew He was different. They
saw His compassion for those who were sick and needy. They
sensed His mercy. They knew it was godly mercy.
And they heard. What did they hear? They heard His words. They heard
His gracious and merciful speech, patient with others. They heard
His teaching. They heard His exhortations. They heard others’ testimony
about Him. They heard John the Baptist declare
Him as the Lamb of God. They heard Peter, one of the
twelve, proclaim Him as the Christ, the Son of the living God. They
heard. But above all, you know what?
Above all that they saw and all that they heard, they saw Christ. Jesus says, blessed are the eyes
which see the things which you’ve seen. You’ve seen Christ. You’ve
seen the Messiah. You’ve seen the long-awaited
One. The One who had come to ransom sinners. The One who is
God incarnate. They’d seen the only perfect
man that ever lived. One pastor said it this way,
what they were seeing and hearing was that to which prophecy had
been pointing to throughout the centuries. Many of God’s great
ones would have liked to have taken part in events such as
this. The disciples should be mindful of their very great privilege. As such, Jesus was calling them
to a greater appreciation of what they were seeing. And it’s
the same with us. We’re not unlike the apostles. Our eyes, even as we spoke at
the outset of the service this morning, were too easily clouded
by the events that surround us. We give undue attention to them
and too little worship to Christ because of it. Too many activities,
too many things going on, too many dreams, too many plans,
too many other priorities. And our eyes become clouded and
we forget the things that we’ve seen. We’ve seen none other than
the Messiah, the long-awaited Lord Jesus Christ. That’s the
first awe-inspiring prompter, a prompter to true worship. That’s
the first awe-inspiring feature of God’s revelation. It’s the
Lord Jesus Christ Himself. One of my favorite Puritans said
it this way, let us all be humbled for the corruption of our hearts
that are so eager in their affection for vanities and trifles. Do
you hear what he says? He says we have mixed place priorities
and we set our attention and our affection on anything other
than Christ. He goes on. Let us be humbled
for the corruption in our hearts that are so eager in their affection
for vanities and trifles, so hard to be persuaded to the love
of Christ, who is altogether lovely. Oh, how many pour out
streams of love and delight upon vain and empty created things.
Well, no argument can draw forth one drop of love from their stubborn
and unbelieving hearts to their Savior. Is Jesus altogether lovely? Then I pray you, set your souls
upon this lovely Jesus. I’m sure that such an object
as such as he represented would compel love from the coldest
heart. Away with those empty nothings,
he concludes. Away with this vain and deceitful
world which deserves not the thousandth part of the love you
give it. Let all stand aside and give
way to Christ. Oh, if you knew His worth and
excellency, what He is in Himself, what He’s
done for you, what He deserved from you, you would need no arguments
of mine to persuade you to love Him. I believe that’s exactly
what Christ was doing for the apostles. He was calling them
back into focus to focus upon Himself, to what they had seen,
They had seen the Messiah Himself. He was there in their midst. But there’s a second awe-inspiring
feature of God’s most glorious revelation. God’s greatest revelation
of all time is not only Christ incarnate, but it is also the
only source of real happiness. Look at how He begins His exhortation,
blessed. Blessed. We’ve looked at the
word before. It’s an interesting one. A lot of translators want
to go a more secular direction with this. A more bland, if you
will, direction. They want to say fortunate. You’re
so very fortunate. Or happy. Oh, how very happy. And those bring out some of the
joy that’s conveyed in that word. But not in its full spiritual
meaning. There’s more to a true blessedness
than there is to happiness. Because the recipient, the true
recipient of blessedness is one who is fully received and enjoying
divine favor. Happiness, as the world describes
it so often, as the world knows it, is too often dependent upon
circumstances. Right? If things go well for
people, they’re happy. They’re having a good day. If
things don’t go well with them, well, they’re not happy. Circumstances, wealth, well-being. When people are physically suffering,
they tend to let their happiness drain right out with it. It’s
not the case with blessedness. Blessedness, on the other hand,
as we studied it in the Sermon on the Mount, both in Matthew
and Luke, it’s possible to enjoy blessedness even in the midst
of any earthly difficulty. Review with me, if you would,
the circumstances that call us to enjoy divine favor. If we’re
poor in spirit, Matthew 5.3. If we mourn, 5.4. If we hunger,
5.6. If we have been persecuted for
the sake of righteousness, Matthew 5.10, when people insult you
and persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against
you for my name’s sake, that’s blessedness. The root of this word essentially
meant great. In time, it became limited to
outward prosperity. And if you were outwardly Prosperous,
if you are objectively rich, you are called blessed. But the
biblical use of the word takes it far beyond that, takes it
to another level completely, even as we saw in our opening
psalm this morning, Psalm 73. That’s what it is to be truly
blessed to have your focus upon God Almighty as your sustainer.
Even in the Old Testament, from time to time, you saw that this
outward prosperity is a common theme with blessedness. But when
it comes to the New Testament, the New Testament purifies this
word and raises it to another level completely, as we saw again
in the Sermon on the Mount. And those kinds of themes are
replete throughout the New Testament, and they’re there in the Old
Testament as well. The Old Testament, Psalm 1, how blessed is the man
who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked. Oh, how very happy
he is. Psalm 32, how blessed is the
man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity. He has received
divine favor. And because of that, he’s happy,
but not happy like the world. Psalm 34, the Lord, how blessed
is the man who takes refuge in the Lord. He’s truly at ease,
at peace. And that thought is found in
Matthew as well. How blessed is he who does not
take offense at me. Matthew 11, 6. Matthew 24. Blessed
is that slave whom his master finds so doing when he comes.
That idea of divine favor being poured out In short, blessedness
is spiritual favor conferred in response to obedience or reception
of God. Blessedness points not only to
a happy condition, it goes far beyond that. It talks about one
in whom God’s active blessing of favor is operating. God is at work bestowing kindness
upon this individual. What Jesus wants to say is the
disciples were blessed. God’s favor was divinely operative
in their lives. They were happy because of what
God was doing, and they should be. Jesus calls them to meditate
upon all that they’d seen, and because of it, to remind them
how blessed they were. For all that they’d seen and heard,
for the things that they’d witnessed, seeing and hearing, no doubt
he points to here, not only what they had physically seen with
their eyes, but what they’d taken in spiritually, what they truly
imbibed into their soul. They saw the miracles and they
heard the teachings, but they appreciated it. They drunk it
down and appreciated its spiritual meaning. They knew who Christ
was. They’d seen Him with spiritual
eyes. And people, the bottom line that
we too, if we’re to have any real happiness,
we know that don’t you believers know that any true blessedness,
it’s found in Christ and Christ alone, only in Christ. And so that, too, is awe-inspiring. That too, the fact that we’re
blessed, the fact that we are enjoying divine favor, is a prompter
to hearty worship. The realization that in Christ
we are blessed. We are incredibly happy. Happiness far beyond what the
world knows. We enjoy a true and a God-given
spiritual favor. But I said that there were three
awe-inspiring features of God’s most glorious revelation. Not only that Christ was incarnate,
not only that Christ Himself is the source of any real happiness,
but thirdly, note there that this is a precious rarity. Look at the words there beginning
in verse 24. I pick up 23 just for the sake
of the flow. Blessed are the eyes which see
the things which you say. See, for I say to you that many
prophets and kings wish to see the things which you see and
did not see them and to hear the things which you hear and
did not hear them. Now, I pointed out the context
of this verse. At the beginning, The 70 had
returned. We don’t know exactly what the
12 did. Perhaps they went with the 70.
No one knows of a certainty. Perhaps they stayed with Jesus,
but there’s absolute clarity that when the 70 came back, there
the apostles were, witnessing that. And Jesus turns to them
and begins to address them. That’s the context of these words
on this occasion. But the amazing thing is these
words were uttered on another occasion as well. Nearly the
identical words earlier in Jesus’ ministry in a completely different
context. But a context that sheds much
light on the meaning of the words here in Luke. Turn, if you would,
to Matthew chapter 13. In Matthew chapter 13, You perhaps even remember, it’s
the parable of the soils, parable of the sower. And in Matthew,
chapter 13, Jesus gives the parable and then his apostles, his closer
disciples, come to him aside and ask for the meaning. And
Jesus graciously gives it to him. Pick up with me, if you
would, in verse 10. The disciples came to him and
said, Why do you speak to them in parables? He answered and
said to them, To you, it has been granted to know the mysteries
of the kingdom of heaven. But to them, it has not been
granted. For whoever has to him shall more be given, he shall
have an abundance, but whoever does not have even what he has
shall be taken away from him. Therefore, I speak to them in
parables. Because while seeing they do not see and while hearing
they do not hear, nor do they understand. And in your case,
the prophecy of Isaiah, pardon me, in their case, the prophecy
of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says you will keep on hearing,
but will not understand. You will keep on seeing, but
will not perceive. For the heart of this people has become dull
with their ears. They scarcely hear. And they
have closed their eyes, lest they should see with their eyes
and hear with their ears and understand with their heart in
return, and I should heal them.” You know what? They got a lot
more answer than they ever expected. They wanted a simple explanation
as to why this story. And Jesus tells them this profound
truth about God’s sovereignty. connected with His words, and
He closes with these, blessed are your eyes because they see,
and your ears because they hear. For truly, I say to you that
many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see and
did not see it, and to hear what you hear and did not hear it.”
You say, what’s the point? The point is that Jesus repeated
these words to them. When the 70 returned, Jesus repeated
these words and they must have burned in their ears. It was
a subtle, but a certain rebuke of them. They’d heard these words
before and once was obviously not enough. They still had not
grasped the greatness of the vision that they were privileged
to behold. Even his 12 apostles. Consider
for a moment. all that has transpired since
Jesus first uttered these words in Matthew chapter 13 and the
time that He utters them again in Luke chapter 10. Consider
all that had transpired. All that they had seen and heard.
What had they seen? They had seen the calming of
the sea. A miracle like they’d never seen. They had seen on
the other end of the spectrum the healing, the casting out
of that garrisoned demoniac, one that was almost completely
given over by society. They’d seen numerous other healings.
They’d seen the feeding of the 5,000. They’d seen Jesus walking
on the water. They’d seen the transfiguration,
a number of them. What had they heard? They had
heard His teaching. They’d heard His commissioning of them. Sending
out with all power and authority. They’d heard His discourse on
ministry, His discourse on the bread of life, His discourse
on the leaven of the Pharisees, Jesus’ threefold prediction of
His suffering. And yet, their faith struggled.
All that they had seen and heard, and still their faith languished.
You say, why do I say that? Consider all the ways their faith
struggled. They had a confused faith. When
Jesus began to give those threefold declarations of His suffering,
the prediction of what was to come, they reacted. They didn’t react well to it.
See, they wanted an earthly king. Their faith was weak. They didn’t
want the kind of Messiah that Jesus was proposing. It was a
confused faith. Peter’s bombastic interruption
on the Mount of Transfiguration is proof enough of that. Attempts to hinder someone who
is casting out demons was another sign of it. Not only was it a
confused faith, it was an impure faith. You remember when those
townspeople failed to receive him, there were those that wanted
to call down fire from heaven. It’s an impure faith. There was
even a rivalry among them over who was the greatest. And there
was a flagging faith, a failing, a languishing faith. An inability,
as we’ve already mentioned, to heal that demon-possessed boy. No wonder Jesus repeats these
words to them. Essentially, He says, do you
know how many people long to see, long to understand the things
that you see and hear? Back to Luke, if you’re not there
already. Let’s consider Luke’s words briefly this morning. Jesus begins there by saying,
many prophets and kings wish to see the things which you see. All the desires of those godly
Old Testament saints. Began to look towards some kind
of a savior. And there was clarity and there
was there was an increase of information over the time of
God’s plan of redemption. And at times, there were just
dark shadows of things. But other times, very clear declarations
of Christ. They longed to behold in full
what God was going to do as a Redeemer. And that’s the blessing. That’s
the rich blessing that Jesus says was granted to the disciples. That special grace that was entrusted
to them Jesus was bringing to their remembrance. He didn’t want to put them above
the Old Testament saints, but to humble them before the Lord,
to let them see how great a revelation they had been let in on. You see, the prophets of Israel
had seen in dark shadows at times things They knew that God was
working. They knew that God was going
to bring about redemption. They didn’t know exactly how.
The prophets saw the glory of the kingdom. Each one of them
stood on some kind of a mountain, as it were, and they looked down
through the ages of history and they saw God was moving, God
was going to work and there was joy in that, but they didn’t
know exactly how God would function. You think of Jonah. Jonah, the prophet, must have
known that God was going to exercise sovereign mercy to those outside
of Israel. Jonah himself could not even
imagine that somehow, someday, one day, the Lord Jesus himself
is going to take that image of Jonah in the belly of the whale
for three days as a proof of him being buried in a tomb. Micah, He uttered those little
words about Bethlehem. Bethlehem, Bethlehem. He couldn’t
have known fully exactly what time and place Jesus was going
to be born. What his name was, what he looked
like or exactly what his ministry would be. Nahum. Nahum couldn’t
have known exactly what these words meant. Behold on the mountains,
the feet of him who bring good news. Hosea couldn’t have known
when he said out of Egypt, I have called my son, that there was
going to be this side trail that the parents of
Christ would have to take. Zephaniah and Joel, they spoke
of the day of the Lord, but they couldn’t have known it in completeness. The pouring out of the spirit
that we see there in Acts two prophesied previously, they couldn’t
have known that it was the Holy Spirit in response to Christ’s
departure. Habakkuk, when he says the righteous
shall live by faith, he didn’t know that it was faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ. Malachi, when Malachi says, I
will send a messenger before the Lord, he didn’t know that
he was speaking of John. going before Christ, John the
Baptist heralding the Messiah, Zechariah. Zechariah couldn’t
have known fully that when he said, rejoice, O daughters of
Zion, there is a King coming. He’s just. He’s endued with salvation,
humble, sitting on a donkey. He couldn’t have pictured that
scene. These prophets and kings You think of King David repeatedly
writing what we now know as those Messianic Psalms. Psalms that
only truly could be applied to Christ. Their ultimate sense. They looked, they longed to understand
even the things that they were writing. But above all, Isaiah. Isaiah writing repeatedly throughout
his book, so much so that a man named Handel wrote a little song
about these verses. Isaiah 9, there will be no more
gloom for her who is in anguish. In earlier times, he treated
the land of Zebulun, the land of Naphtali, with contempt. But
later on, he shall make it glorious by the way of the sea and the
other side of Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles. He couldn’t
have known when he said the people who walk in darkness will see
a great light. Those who live in a dark land,
the light will shine upon them. Isaiah couldn’t have known fully
that he was speaking of Christ, a child will be born to us, a
son will be given to us, the government will rest upon his
shoulders, his name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. He knew a lot, but he didn’t
know it all. Later on in Isaiah chapter 11,
he knew what he was writing. He didn’t know what it meant.
A shoot will spring forth from the stem of Jesse. A branch from
its roots will bear fruit. The spirit of the Lord will rest
upon them. The spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the spirit of counsel and strength, the spirit of knowledge and the
fear of the Lord. Isaiah couldn’t have known. Not everything. And Isaiah wrote
in chapter 40, Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God, speak
kindly to Jerusalem. A voice is calling, clear the
way for the Lord in the wilderness, make smooth in the desert a highway
for our God. He couldn’t have known that he
was speaking specifically of John the Baptist. And of his
cousin, the Lord Jesus Christ. Isaiah 53, Isaiah knew that he
was going to be a suffering servant, but he couldn’t have known. Not
in completeness. So the message, the message here
to the apostles was, I don’t want you to be unaware of this
incredibly grand privilege, this rare privilege that has been
bestowed upon you. It is a rare one and one for
which former saints earnestly yearned. There’s no doubt that the Old
Testament saints looked for a coming savior by faith They believed
in some kind of a resurrection and a life to come. But the coming
of Christ. Was obscured from their view. J.C. Ryle says upon the arrival
of Christ and the death of Christ, it unlocked 100 scriptures which
were before closed and it cleared up scores of doubtful points
on which before had never been solved. The humblest Christian
believer who understands these things, which David and Isaiah
could never explain. And they’re seeing, Jesus wanted
them to know that God’s favor was resting upon them and they
had a very rare and precious view. A view that countless thousands
had yearned for and had been completely closed out. Men like
Abraham and Moses and David and Isaiah And you know what? That same
truth is echoed throughout Scripture repeatedly. Turn, if you would,
1 Peter 1, 1 Peter chapter 1. As you’re turning in verses 3
through 12 here, Peter praises God for the salvation that these
saints to whom he’s writing are already enjoying. They’re already
enjoying salvation, even as it’s being revealed to them in the
end. They’re enjoying the salvation
even in the face of persecution and trial. And he points out
that they are protected by faith. And then he acknowledges that
they’re rejoicing in the midst of trials. They are looking heavenward
essentially because of their faith. Now, Peter must have learned
this lesson well from Christ. praising God fully for the revelation
of the Lord Jesus Christ, because that’s exactly what He shares
with His people here. And He learned it from Christ.
Look at verse 10. As to this salvation, the prophets
who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful
search and inquiry, seeking to know what person or time the
Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He predicted
the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow. When he mentions this salvation,
essentially what he’s talking about is the gospel, the gospel
of Christ. One described it this way, he
said, Peter lingers upon the word salvation at each repetition,
finding something new to say about it here, the word is practically
an equivalent for the gospel, which was revealed to the prophets
by the spirit of Christ. Peter goes on and he says, as
to this salvation regarding this gospel of Christ, the prophets
looked into it. They dug and they probed and
they tried to figure out what the things meant that they had
written. They knew that they had talked
about salvation, but they didn’t know the details. They had written
under the influence of the divine, the Holy Spirit. They knew that
they were impelled to say words. They knew that they were conscious
of using specific words and specific language, specific imagery. And they must have even known that
it had a deeper meaning. Perhaps they even understood
a sense of it, but they didn’t understand the full sense of
it. And what the future of it was, they struggled to know.
That’s what Peter says. They made careful search and
inquiry. The things remained hidden. The prophets studied,
even at times, their own utterances and their own writings in order
to discover essentially what they meant, what they contained.
Much of what the prophets said themselves, they didn’t even
immediately grasp at once. There’s another scripture that
echoes this truth. If you would, and quickly turn to Hebrews 11. You know, Hebrews 11, I’ve already
alluded to it this morning. Essentially, it is all about
faith. It’s a comprehensive definition
with examples and illustrations about faith and what it is. Verse
1 starts us off, faith is the assurance of things hoped for,
the convictions of things not seen. For by it, that is by faith,
men of old gained approval. It begins to mention them one
by one, Abel and Enoch and Noah and Abraham and Sarah. And then
look at verse 13. All these died in faith without
receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed
them from a distance and having confessed that they were strangers
and exiles in the earth. The writer of the Hebrews goes
on to give us more names. Joseph and Moses and Rahab and
Gideon and on and on and on. And all of these received the
promise in the sense that they knew what it was about. They
knew that there was a redemption. But they didn’t know the full
picture. They didn’t grasp Christ himself. It goes on to say in
verse 13, they died in faith. They died believing. Charles Hodge said it this way,
they died in faith. They died believers. They all
died expecting the fulfillment of the divine promises. They
had lived in this faith and they died in it. They had not received
the promises in full, but they saw the blessings afar off. They
knew that a future period, the promises would certainly be fulfilled
and that they would enjoy them. Jesus wanted his apostles to
know this grand privilege that had been shown to them in time, that purely because of God’s
own sovereign goodness, they had been let in. And people,
that’s His exact message to us. If the apostles were privileged
to see the things which they saw, how much more privileged
are we? We see Christ, even though not
physically, We see Christ with a much fuller picture than even
they did possessing our New Testaments. And how much more possessing
our scriptures, the full tale of Christ. How much more blessed
are we? How much more happy are we and
how much more privileged of a rare blessing are we? One pastor said it this way.
However great the privilege of those disciples was, we who possess
in the New Testament the completed revelation of God and Christ
have still a greater privilege. They saw him in the flesh, but
we shall see him in the New Testament, not merely as the incarnate son
of God, but also as the crucified one, as the risen redeemer, the
glorified king. That’s who we see. Those words that opened the book
of Hebrews are appropriate. God, after He spoke long ago
to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many
ways in these last days has spoken to us in His Son. You know what
that says? We have it all. We have the full
revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we’re called to a
spiritual happiness because of it. It’s a rare privilege. Let’s rejoice before him. Our
gracious God, we bow before you. And we thank you for these difficult
words that you’ve uncovered to us. We thank you, Father, for
chronicling them down and preserving them down to our day. We thank
you even for encouraging these apostles For in so doing, you
encourage us for our own weakened faith. Help us to rejoice in
Christ and in Christ alone and to enjoy the blessed happiness
that comes from knowing that. I pray these things in Jesus
name. Amen. If you would, hymn number
468 is our closing hymn. Stand if you would. We’ll do
the first and the third.