So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ. Romans 10:17, NASB
When I was studying the
Emmaus story, I asked the Lord why He chose to restrain the eyes of the two
disciples such that they couldn’t recognize Him (see Luke 24:13–35). I asked
Him, “Wouldn’t it have been better for them to see You with Your nail-pierced
hands?” Wouldn’t it have been better if Jesus had walked down the busiest
streets of Jerusalem, lifted up His hands, and hollered, “Yo! Everyone, check
this out!”
But Jesus knew that
doing that would not produce true faith. He revealed to me that it was more
important for the disciples to see Him in the Word than to see Him in person.
Wow, those words brought so much hope and encouragement to my heart. If the
faith of the disciples was based on them seeing Jesus physically in the flesh,
then what hope do we have today? Jesus purposefully restrained their eyes so
that they would see Him first in the Scriptures. That places you and me on equal
ground and with equal opportunity as the two disciples. Jesus wants us all to
see Him in the Word.
God’s Word tells us that
“faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ” (Rom. 10:17,
NASB). This means that the more you hear Jesus unveiled, expounded upon, and
pointed to in the Scriptures, the more faith will be imparted to your heart to
believe everything God’s Word says about you. Could it be that the reason many
believers are still living in defeat today is that Jesus has not been unveiled
in the Scriptures to them?
The gospel is all about
Jesus. It’s not about right doing. It’s all about right believing about Jesus
that makes a difference in people’s lives. The apostle Paul says, “For I am not
ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for
everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the
righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, ‘The
just shall live by faith’” (Rom. 1:16–17).
That’s the gospel that I
am not ashamed of. I pray that you will experience your own Emmaus Road journey
as you open up the Scriptures and allow His Word to bathe your heart in the
warmth of His loving grace and tender mercies. It’s truly all about
Jesus! (Article and Picture; courtesy of Joseph Prince Ministries used
with kind permission).
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