Tag: Luke

Thus It Is Written

Thus It Is Written

Christ is risen. What great hope there is in these words, and yet how slow we are to truly believe them. Thankfully, Jesus is a gracious Savior coming to His people with a word of comfort. That is what we see in the latter portions of Luke 24.

As the disciples who have struggled to believe the Word of Christ regarding His death and resurrection now see Him face to face, Jesus asks, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your hearts?” (Luke 24:38). He tells them, “See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself.” (Luke 24:39) Jesus has appeared to them in the flesh. We see in this passage a true bodily resurrection, and this means that we have the hope of future bodily resurrection as well.

But we also see that Christ had been teaching about His death and resurrection throughout His earthly ministry, and He was building on what was already taught by Moses and the Prophets. The Old Testament has borne witness to Jesus, and Jesus Himself has testified of His Person and work. Jesus says, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.” (Luke 24:47) Have you trusted in His Word? We ought not to be only red-letter Christians but whole Bible Christians, as Christ is ultimately the Author of all of Scripture, and the whole of Scripture testifies of Him.

At the conclusion of the Gospel of Luke, Christ ascends into glory, but the Holy Spirit is the One who is promised. Even now He is with His people as Christ intercedes on their behalf. Consider joining us for worship this Lord’s Day as we consider the Risen and Ascended Savior. We meet at 5 PM at The Commons at St. Andrews Church in Little Rock. For directions, click here or contact us for more information. You can also watch on FacebookLive@RiverCityARP or on YouTube.

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

Resurrection Hope in the Word of Christ

Resurrection Hope in the Word of Christ

“He is risen! He is risen indeed.”  While we often consider these words specially this time of year, these are the words we celebrate each and every Lord’s Day when we gather together.  As Christ rose on the first day of the week, so we too gather on the first day each week to worship Him.  

In Luke’s account of this day in which Christ was raised from the dead, we see a special emphasis on the teaching of Jesus concerning His death and resurrection.  As the women go to the tomb out of love, respect and compassion for Jesus, they still need to be reminded of this teaching.  They discover the tomb is empty, and the passage tells us they were “perplexed.” (Luke 24:4)  The men who appear to them, the angels, call to their minds the things that Jesus Himself had said regarding His crucifixion and His resurrection.  This was a testimony to the Word of Jesus Himself and to His faithfulness to that Word.  And as they now believe upon this Word, they take this message to the disciples.  

It is likely that we would expect the disciples to be the first at the empty tomb and the first to believe.  But they still struggle to understand and to trust.  They are resistant to the message they hear.  Peter, however, the disciple who had denied Christ three times, runs to the tomb and is in amazement when he sees himself that Christ is no longer there.  The passage tells us that “he went home marveling at what had happened.” (Luke 24:12)

There is much to consider in passage such as this one.  The resurrection brings great hope–because Jesus is alive, all of His people have hope of life eternal and the hope of the resurrection of their own bodies unto glory.  The resurrection gives us a hope that is truly unshakable.  

But we also see the importance of trusting in the Word of Christ.  Are you trusting His Word?  Do you trust what Jesus has claimed about Himself in the pages of Holy Scripture? We will consider this in more detail this Lord’s Day evening during worship at 5 The Commons at St. Andrews Church in Little Rock.  For directions, click here, or contact us for more information.  You can also join us on FacebookLive@RiverCityARP or on YouTube.

Condemned He Stood

Condemned He Stood

During the month of April, we will be taking a break from Exodus to consider the trial, crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus as detailed in Luke 23-24.  Our passage for this week is Luke 23:1-24.  We see here a scene of an unjust trial.  False accusations have been brought against Jesus, and the people cry out for Him to be crucified.  As Christ has been brought before Pilate, we see in Pilate the danger of fearing men rather than God.  Pilate himself knows that Jesus  has done nothing wrong, and yet he gives in to the voice of the people.  Herod desires to see Jesus for his own entertainment.  They both unite with each other in their mishandling of this trial and in their contempt for Jesus.  

As this section concludes, the people demand that Barabbas be released instead of Jesus.  It was customary during the Passover for one prisoner to be released.  Barabbas was guilty, but Jesus was innocent.  Yet, Jesus is condemned instead of Barabbas. 

What we see in that scene is the innocent condemned in the place of the guilty.  Is this not what Jesus has done for His people?  The Spotless Lamb was condemned so that His people might go free.  The old hymn, “Man of Sorrows, What A Name!” by Philip Bliss uses the phrase, “In my place condemned He stood.”  Christ stood condemned instead of His people.  Though we deserved the judgment of God, Christ Himself took it upon Himself at the Cross. Because Christ has accomplished all this on behalf of His people, we may go free. 

This should drive us to wonder.  This truth is seen in Romans 5:6-11:

“For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.  For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.  Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.  For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.  More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.” 

Join us this Lord’s Day for worship at 5 PM at The Commons at St. Andrews Church as we consider Luke 23:1-24 together.  If you need directions, click here, or contact us for more information.  You can also join us on FacebookLive@RiverCityARP or on YouTube.

03/29/2020 | “Behold Your King” | Luke 23:26-49

Luke’s account of the crucifixion is remarkable in many ways.  It gives scarcely any details about the crucifixion itself, but focuses attention on the reactions of those Jesus encountered as He traveled the way of suffering.   He was met with pity, mockery and bitter anger, but also remarkable and unexpected faith.   At every turn Luke declares the Kingship of Jesus.   Yet, Jesus hardly looks like a King.  To the eye he appears to be victim, not victor. Listen as we examine Luke 23:26-49 and consider the Kingship of Christ, powerfully declared, brazenly rejected and savingly believed.  Get the Order of Service here.

“Behold Your King”, Luke 23:26-49