Faithful on Fridays Blog

Let’s talk about the forty days between Jesus’ resurrection and the ascension,

He presented Himself alive to them after His suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. Acts 1:3 

Jesus walked and talked with His disciples for 3½ years; wasn’t that enough time to make His points and drive home His teachings? What could He possibly be talking about that He hadn’t already said? They needed to be convinced, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that He was the long-awaited Messiah of the Old Testament.

These men were the future ministry leaders who’d all be martyred, only John survived, so they’d be staking their lives on His evidence. He took forty more days to expound on the Scriptures that pointed to Him as He made His final round. The Road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-27) is a fascinating story of two disciples encountering the risen Christ. Being ‘foolish ones’ and ‘slow of heart to believe’ He gave them, beginning with Moses and all the prophets, interpretation of the Old Testament: They all pointed to Him. Their hearts burned with passion as He opened their eyes to revelation and then repeated the experience with the Eleven. Jesus knew doubts would arise in their hearts, their faith would waver, but He took not a couple days, not a month, but forty days to prove that everything written about the Messiah was fulfilled in Him.

Forty isn’t some random number, 

• Noah and his family remained on the ark forty days before it was safe to begin a new life on renewed land (Gen. 7-8). That’s the lower story. After Jesus fulfilled the Scriptures it’s now safe for our families to begin a new life as well … in Him. That’s the upper story.

• Moses, a prefigure of Christ, spent forty days in the glorious presence of God when the people became stubborn, forgot about Him, and rebelled (Dt. 9:9-29). He interceded, became a mediator between them and God, pleading for mercy and not destruction (lower story). Jesus is our Mediator, paying for our sins so we receive God’s mercy and victorious life … in Him (upper story).

• Spies were sent on a mission into the Promised Land (Num. 13:25-30) lasting forty days and reported back that the land was wonderful, however, there were formidable enemies. Caleb spoke up declaring that they are ‘well-able’ to overcome them (lower story). Let’s be like Caleb declaring that we are also overcomers: Nike believers! (Upper story)

• The Spirit led Jesus into the temptation wilderness for forty days confronting Satan. He was the Overcomer showing us how to fight the enemy with the Word of God.

According to Luke 24:44-53 after Jesus opened their eyes to the Messianic Thread woven throughout the Old Testament, then He opened their minds to understand it. May you see Jesus in your forty day experience, a lifetime really, seeing and understanding Him in every book of the Bible.