Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures,
Then He opened the minds of His disciples to grasp the Scriptures. Beginning with Moses through the prophets and the Psalms He showed that what was written of Himself must be fulfilled in His suffering, death and rising the third day. From those opened Scriptures He made plain that repentance and forgiveness must be proclaimed in His name to all nations, and that His witnesses must carry that work in the power promised from above. By the Comforter He still opens understanding today, shining upon the sacred page to bring His words to remembrance and guide into truth that the casual reader misses. That opening is received by humble prayer, willingness to unlearn error and human tradition, and diligent searching, and it softens the heart, establishes faith and fits believers to share the light to others.
Setting After Resurrection
Then He opened their understanding in Jerusalem in the upper chamber with closed doors, appearing to the whole company gathered there after they had disbelieved the women and the two Emmaus witnesses who reported that He had risen. Though He entered with the door closed and ate before them, He remained with them through forty days and nights before His ascension, a presence precious to them, then led them out to Bethany, blessed them, was parted from them and carried into heaven, while they worshipped Him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, continually in the temple praising and blessing God. During those forty days He opened the minds of the despondent disciples to understand Scriptures they had been unable to comprehend, explaining the prophecies of His advent, His rejection by the Jews, and His death, and showing that every detail had been fulfilled. The two evening appearances in the upper chamber occurred during Passover week with direction to tarry for a time at Jerusalem, and the disciples remained there through the Passover because absence would have been interpreted as disaffection and heresy. These appearances stand between His promise before His death in the upper chamber that after He was risen He would go before them into Galilee and the angel's resurrection-morning direction to the women to tell His disciples and Peter to meet Him in Galilee as He had said.
The meeting in Jerusalem followed the meeting in Galilee. The same opening work was done both for the lonely, disappointed travelers to Emmaus and for the disciples gathered in the upper room, awakening sacred hope and joy. On the walk to Emmaus He explained the Old Testament, enabling them to see in its teachings a meaning its writers themselves had not seen. His exposition was as a new revelation, though not new, opening their eyes to behold wonderful things and unfolding a depth of meaning the writers had not realized.
He chose to convince them not by working a miracle, though He entered with closed doors and ate before them, but by explaining and opening the Scriptures, beginning with what was written in the law of Moses and the prophets and in the Psalms concerning Himself, that all things written must be fulfilled. He did not awaken faith by pointing to the mighty works He had done, but reproved unbelief in not accepting the word of God just as it reads and impressed the fact that He came exactly as foretold by the prophets concerning His mission and work. The lesson first given to the two travelers to Emmaus was thus repeated for followers in all coming time, clothing the words of the Old Testament with new life and power to revive disappointed hope and make hearts ready to accept Him as the risen Saviour.
The opening recalled things He had spoken to them while He was yet with them. They had been slow of heart to comprehend His statements, and many truths He taught were only imperfectly understood, but this opening recalled His sayings to their minds as truths they had not before understood. They had heard that He had to suffer, be crucified, and rise again on the third day, and why He had to die to bear the penalty of human transgression, but they had not wanted to hear it nor fully understood the nature of His kingdom and the spiritual meaning of His teaching. After the resurrection they were better able to understand and appreciate the Scriptures and the truths about His humiliation and death that they had not been ready to bear before. Selfishness and earthliness had kept even the disciples from comprehending His spiritual glory while He was with them, and their minds were opened to comprehend the prophecies and to understand His miracles only after His ascension to His Father and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon believers, when His sayings were brought to remembrance and the Scriptures became a new book to them.
Christ Expounding Scriptures
He began with the first book of Moses and went through the law, the prophets and the Psalms, dwelling especially on the prophecies pointing to the time then present concerning Himself. What was written in Moses and the prophets and the Psalms concerning Himself must be fulfilled, above all what foretold His sufferings and His resurrection. The law of Moses, the prophets and the Psalms were thus shown to testify of Him, pointing to His suffering and resurrection and to the preaching of repentance and forgiveness of sins in His name among all nations. In this way He enabled them to see the harmony of prophecy with the events of His life, death and resurrection.
He impressed upon them the necessity of studying the ancient prophecies about the Messiah thoroughly and comparing them with the facts of His life, death and resurrection in order to establish their fulfillment in Himself. They were to trace diligently link after link of sacred truth revealed by the prophets in types and figures representing the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. The apostles were in turn to explain those prophecies about Jesus and demonstrate how they had been fulfilled in His life and resurrection, so that people could recognize Him as the Christ.
He lifted the veil from their understanding concerning the Jewish typical system, so that they saw clearly the meaning of its forms and symbols. Those forms and symbols pointed to Him and were rendered obsolete, virtually abolished, by His death. His death fulfilled the sacrificial types as the one great offering for sin, so that the sacrificial offerings had fulfilled their purpose and were no longer of value. They then saw the glory of the former dispensation in its rites and symbols as they had not seen it before, for those rites revealed Christ and their shadows were fulfilled when He came and gave His life, showing that Scripture becomes clear when Christ is seen as its center.
Their understanding had been clouded by misinterpretation of the prophecies, and He shed clear light upon the Scriptures referring to Himself. False teachings had confused the people about the Messiah and His mission, so they needed to unlearn them to understand that Christ would reach His throne through suffering and death. He showed them the true character of His kingdom, that it was not His mission to establish a temporal power on David's throne but that His kingdom of divine grace was to be manifested in the hearts of His people. Only through His humiliation, suffering and death, His rejection, crucifixion and rising on the third day as foretold and fulfilled, could He enter glory and finally establish the kingdom of His glory, and by that suffering He secured salvation for the human race.
Prophecy Fulfilled in Christ
What was opened to them was written: the law of Moses, the prophets, and the Psalms foretold that the Christ must suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins would be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem, with the disciples as witnesses of these things. That understanding prepared them to grasp their mission to witness to Christ and to wait in Jerusalem for the Father's promised power before carrying it out. Their minds were enabled to see that the prophecies about His suffering and resurrection had been fulfilled and to understand clearly the mission of repentance and forgiveness.
His rejection, humiliation, crucifixion, death, and resurrection had all been foretold and then fulfilled, and His suffering secured salvation for the human race by bearing its penalty. He had to suffer, be crucified, and rise on the third day, and His teaching dispelled failure to grasp the nature of His kingdom and left them no longer in darkness about these things. Their slowness had come because education had taught them to expect a temporal kingdom, so they could not take in His meaning when He spoke of humiliation, rejection, and crucifixion until He reproved their slowness and opened the Scriptures step by step.
Every detailed prophecy of His first coming was fulfilled in Him — His birth, life, mission, advent, rejection, death, and resurrection — revealing the harmony of prophecy with the events of His life, death, and resurrection. Beginning with the first book of Moses and through the law, the prophets, and the Psalms, He dwelt especially on the prophecies of His sufferings and resurrection pointing to the time then present. On the road to Emmaus He showed from Moses and the prophets that Scripture foretold His life, mission, suffering, and death, and in the forty days after the resurrection He explained His advent, His rejection by the Jews, and His death, showing every detail had been fulfilled. Ideas of Messiah and His mission had been confused by false teaching, so believers had to unlearn what they had been taught in order to accept that Christ must pass through ignominy, suffering, and death before finally taking His throne, since no one but Messiah could triumph over death and burst the fetters of the tomb.
The Old Testament, the sure word of prophecy, is the only key that unlocks the New Testament Scriptures and shows that Jesus Christ revealed in the gospel is the Son of God, the long-expected Messiah. From Moses and the prophets onward its prophecies, religious services, and symbols point to His mission, suffering, death, resurrection, and ascension. Christ is the key to its treasures and must be seen as its center; when He is so seen, the glory of the former dispensation in Jewish rites and symbols is understood as revealing Him, with their shadows fulfilled when He came and gave His life. This opened understanding reveals the unity and divine truth of Scripture, whose truths are like hidden pearls requiring patient, careful searching, thought, and prayer, until the illuminated soul sees the spiritual unity running through the whole Bible.
Seeing that fulfillment fully established faith, gave a new experience, and renewed hope, leading them to accept Him as the promised Messiah. That fulfillment of prophecy was to assure the despondent disciples of power for their future labors as they began to realize the nature and extent of their work as witnesses. Searching the prophecies surrounding His death and resurrection convicted searchers that the Crucified One was the world's Redeemer, so that after His resurrection many priests acknowledged Him as the Son of God.
Witness Commission Entrusted
The opened Scriptures teach that repentance and remission of sins must be preached in His name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem, as a gospel of peace and salvation. What was opened was that Moses, the prophets, and the Psalms pointed to events then fulfilled, that it was written that Christ must suffer and rise from the dead the third day. That understanding was given just before He left them because they did not yet fully comprehend the mission to which as His followers they had given themselves, and in it He outlined the work in which they were to engage as witnesses with the promised power from above.
With understanding opened they began to realize the nature and extent of their work as witnesses of His life, death and resurrection. They saw the harmony of prophecy with those events, the sacredness of God's law, the mysteries of the plan of salvation, and His power for the remission of sins. The Scriptures thus became definite instruction fitting them to go into all the world under His power and presence to proclaim those truths to the world among all nations beginning at Jerusalem through repentance and the power of the Saviour.
They were to tarry in Jerusalem until endued with power from on high by the Father's promise before carrying out their commission. That tarrying led on to Bethany, where He blessed them and was parted from them and carried into heaven, while they worshipped Him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, continually in the temple praising and blessing God. The opening and blessing mark the sanctification they received and prepared them to await the promised power, and fuller illumination by the Holy Spirit at Pentecost would remove the veil, clarify His mission and kingdom, and enable them to understand and undertake the work just where He left it.
That commission defines the work given to gospel ministers now, to sow the living Word of God as seed in the prepared soil of the heart while laboring together with God who alone gives the increase. It was part of Christ's last words before ascension, giving teachers who have learned lessons from Christ what they are to teach others, to preach only that which Christ has commanded without diverting into human suppositions and explanations and without setting the terms of forgiveness by human judgment. It is given to believers now with the power promised then, enlisting every man, woman and child to warn fellow beings, work prayerfully for neighbors, do earnest sanctified evangelical work, enter unworked cities and towns, make centers of truth, and labor in new fields and in cities and towns that do not know the truth rather than centralizing buildings and work in one place. The experience God desires for every Seventh-day Adventist is this thorough knowledge of Scripture that supplies a rich store of truth for feeding God's people, rather than reliance on novel theories or strange tests.
Understanding the message brings responsibility to share it, beginning where followers are and carrying its light to all nations. Trusting the promised power, preaching may be so mighty that thousands are converted in a day to bring Bible truth before many and prepare a people to stand in the day of the Lord.
Spirit Opening Minds Today
Christ Himself still opens the understanding so the Scriptures can be understood, and that opening is the work of the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, shining on the sacred page. The Spirit makes the meaning plain to the prayerful student, brings Christ's words to remembrance, guides into all truth, and conveys what the casual reader misses. Understanding therefore depends continually on the Spirit of God, not on merely reading the word, and believers today may look to Christ to do for them what He did for the disciples when He opened their minds to see that the Messiah must suffer, rise the third day, and have repentance and forgiveness preached in His name to all nations beginning at Jerusalem. In contrast to priests and rulers who darkened minds by teaching human commandments as doctrine, His instruction enlightens, and when hearts are not barred with iron against light the rays penetrate darkened chambers and the sanctifying power cleanses the soul temple until the oracles become verily the voice of God. The result is special seasons of refreshing from the presence of the Lord with depth of feeling, thanksgiving and praise with weeping and rejoicing, rich testimonies, and going forth to labor trusting to be made efficient by the Holy Spirit.
That opening is to be asked for in prayer, and those who ask the Lord to open their understanding to understand His Word will have prayer heard. Prayer with humble faith, consecration to God, hearts open to heaven, and communion with Christ places the mind under the Holy Spirit's direction to develop and to understand what is studied. All must search the Scriptures for instruction and knowledge, including Daniel and Revelation and the rest of the Bible, for the Spirit shines on the sacred page that readers may know the truth. Light is given in answer to earnest supplication as with Daniel, who in old age amid the cares of empire turned aside from worldly fascination and business, afflicted his soul before God, and sought to know the purposes of the Most High, searching for truth as for hidden treasure, and received light from the heavenly courts especially meant for those living in the latter days.
The opening is a work of grace in the heart by which the heart is opened, softened, subdued and melted, cherished idols dethroned and put away, and pride and selfishness removed. Even those with truth continually before them do not appreciate the Word as the bread of life to feed upon day by day unless grace so works, but when it does the understanding becomes keen and unobstructed to take in truth and assimilate it to spiritual need. Through perceptive powers men take hold of the Word and appropriate it, eating the bread of heaven and drinking the waters of salvation, meeting spiritual need, gaining spiritual power, growing spiritually, and perfecting experience with lasting joy. The plain lessons in Christ's Word about treating those who err must be studied and treasured in the heart for this to take place in teacher and pupil, making the stony heart broken and sensitive and sympathetic, and as the Word is received into life the mind is quickened and enlarged.
Truths thus revealed are full of riches, precious beyond the gold of Ophir, and capable of constant expansion with new and richer developments yet to be discovered. In the Old and New Testament Scriptures imparted by Christ to patriarchs and prophets and in His lessons to disciples there remain new aspects, far-reaching compass, and harmonious golden linking yet to be found, and the divine truths of the great plan of redemption, often only feebly understood, continue to unfold and develop. This is given to the diligent, humble, teachable, contrite mind led by the Holy Spirit that explores the mine of truth, sees Christ as its Author, and by beholding is brightened and elevated to comprehend the standard of perfection. As seekers eat His words as bread from heaven and diligently seek as for hidden treasure or hidden pearls with patient thought and prayer, understanding is quickened, stepping from the obscurity of dawn to the radiance of noon to see the value of His grace and righteousness, while uninspired human wisdom and higher criticism cannot grasp it and remain ignorant of the Scriptures and the power of God.
Minds were clouded because His words conflicted with teachings received and with hopes and expectations. Priests and rulers darkened minds by teaching human commandments as doctrines, maxims and traditionary lore and rabbinical teaching obscured truth, error covered truth with rubbish, and Satan transformed everything. Expectation that the Messiah would establish a temporal kingdom kept them from grasping His foretold suffering, crucifixion, death and resurrection on the third day, and they had heard of the nature of His kingdom and of His bearing the penalty of transgression but had not wanted to hear or had failed to grasp its spiritual meaning. Their earlier misinterpretation obscured prophecy until Jesus clarified that His kingdom was not temporal power but divine grace manifested in hearts, and that His humiliation, suffering and death were necessary before entering glory and finally establishing the kingdom of glory.
Understanding therefore requires openness to further light and willingness to unlearn false teaching. False teachings had confused ideas of Messiah and His mission, so believers had to unlearn what priests had taught in order to accept that Christ must pass through ignominy, suffering and death before taking His throne, triumphing over death and bursting the tomb as none but Messiah could. Christ had many truths He could not speak because they did not advance with the light flashed upon the Levitical laws and sacrificial offerings, did not embrace the light and follow on to greater brightness as Providence led. Narrow closed minds resist truths not yet understood, but as the mind is quickened by the Spirit in humbleness to receive, follow increasing light and appropriate it, truth becomes clearer, the harmonious chain expands with new developments, and its connected teachings can be dispensed to others.
Transformed Life and Service
When understanding was opened, the sacredness of God's law, the mysteries of the plan of salvation, and His power for the remission of sins were seen, and the commission as witnesses to proclaim repentance and remission in His name among all nations beginning at Jerusalem as a gospel of peace and salvation began to be realized. It is the love of God in giving His only begotten Son to save the sinful race, making salvation possible by suffering the penalty of death, so that everyone who repents and is converted, comes to the Father through faith in Christ and follows His example, receives assurance of forgiveness, and every soul may be sanctified through belief of the truth.
That opening marked sanctification and blessing that led to worship and return to Jerusalem with great joy and continual praising and blessing of God in the temple while awaiting the promised enduement with power from on high. Hearts were bound with holy, new, sacred hope and joy as the risen educator continued His earthly work. When hearts are not barred with iron against light, the Comforter opens understanding in close searching of Scripture, lets rays penetrate darkened chambers, cleanses and refines the soul temple by sanctifying power until the oracles become verily the voice of God, and brings special seasons of refreshing with depth of feeling, thanksgiving and praise with weeping and rejoicing, rich testimonies, and going forth to labor trusting the Holy Spirit to make efficient.
Despondent disciples thus gained a new experience during the forty days, for as prophecies of advent, rejection, and death were explained in the light of His life, death and resurrection and every detail shown fulfilled, faith was fully established to assure power for future labor. Faith was not awakened by pointing to mighty works but by reproof of unbelief and by clothing the Old Testament, the sure word of prophecy and only key unlocking the New Testament, with new life and power to revive disappointed hope and make hearts ready to accept Him as the risen Saviour and Son of God. After ascension and the baptism of the Spirit, sayings brought to remembrance made them realize they had been in the very presence of the Lord of glory, wonders passed as men awakened from a dream, lessons dimly understood came as fresh revelation, the Scriptures became a new book, the Saviour's character and mission as come from God to save fallen sons and daughters of Adam was fully appreciated, they seemed to themselves of much less importance, and they never wearied of rehearsing His words and works.
Ministers who teach the people should likewise help them grasp Scripture, especially the Bible truths of the great plan of redemption and salvation through Jesus Christ which are often only feebly understood yet continue to unfold because they are divine. This is the experience desired for every Seventh-day Adventist, a thorough knowledge supplying a rich store of truth for feeding God's people rather than reliance on novel theories or strange tests. Messengers are to understand the Scriptures from Moses and the prophets as pointing to Christ and to teach them in a way that magnifies Him.
The same divine light was given to Saul after his conversion, giving knowledge of the prophecies concerning Jesus to present truth clearly and boldly and correct perversion, so that with the Spirit resting upon him he carried hearers down through the prophecies to the time of the first advent and showed sufferings, death and resurrection fulfilled. God can likewise open the minds of those who hear Scripture taught to grasp its precious truths as the Holy Spirit helps students of Christ's life express them. He must open the understanding of leaders to remove unbelief that keeps them from knowing how to lead forward and upward. He used human channels to bring light to people in darkness, opening the understanding of many and leading them to work for others' salvation. At the Diet of Worms His power brought light into darkness of error and prepared even adversaries to speak against abuses, helping prepare the way for the Reformation.
The great Teacher opens workers' understanding to see wondrous things in God's word. He Himself gives light to grasp Scripture, shows workers their duty, works upon their minds, calls men as He called humble fishermen from the plow and other occupations to give the last warning to perishing souls without binding themselves for years under one group or in one branch, teaches them their field and methods, and provides many ways to work. When pupils respond to the Spirit's appeal and welcome Jesus into their hearts, He enables them to understand the things of God. Opening the word enlightens the mind and calls for greater diligence in studying Scripture and the sciences, for knowing God is essential education and gaining it is the true worker's constant study. When understanding is quickened by the Holy Spirit through diligent prayerful searching, it gives experimental knowledge of God and His love revealed in Christ, uplifts the heart in faith, hope and continual praise, removes gloom over darkness and evil, and enables representing Christ in life and character, revealing received light, testifying with soul-winning power, and producing the fruit God designs.
Then He opened the minds of His disciples to grasp the Scriptures. Beginning with Moses through the prophets and the Psalms He showed that what was written of Himself must be fulfilled in His suffering, death and rising the third day. From those opened Scriptures He made plain that repentance and forgiveness must be proclaimed in His name to all nations, and that His witnesses must carry that work in the power promised from above. By the Comforter He still opens understanding today, shining upon the sacred page to bring His words to remembrance and guide into truth that the casual reader misses. That opening is received by humble prayer, willingness to unlearn error and human tradition, and diligent searching, and it softens the heart, establishes faith and fits believers to share the light to others.
Setting After Resurrection
Then He opened their understanding in Jerusalem in the upper chamber with closed doors, appearing to the whole company gathered there after they had disbelieved the women and the two Emmaus witnesses who reported that He had risen. Though He entered with the door closed and ate before them, He remained with them through forty days and nights before His ascension, a presence precious to them, then led them out to Bethany, blessed them, was parted from them and carried into heaven, while they worshipped Him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, continually in the temple praising and blessing God. During those forty days He opened the minds of the despondent disciples to understand Scriptures they had been unable to comprehend, explaining the prophecies of His advent, His rejection by the Jews, and His death, and showing that every detail had been fulfilled. The two evening appearances in the upper chamber occurred during Passover week with direction to tarry for a time at Jerusalem, and the disciples remained there through the Passover because absence would have been interpreted as disaffection and heresy. These appearances stand between His promise before His death in the upper chamber that after He was risen He would go before them into Galilee and the angel's resurrection-morning direction to the women to tell His disciples and Peter to meet Him in Galilee as He had said.
The meeting in Jerusalem followed the meeting in Galilee. The same opening work was done both for the lonely, disappointed travelers to Emmaus and for the disciples gathered in the upper room, awakening sacred hope and joy. On the walk to Emmaus He explained the Old Testament, enabling them to see in its teachings a meaning its writers themselves had not seen. His exposition was as a new revelation, though not new, opening their eyes to behold wonderful things and unfolding a depth of meaning the writers had not realized.
He chose to convince them not by working a miracle, though He entered with closed doors and ate before them, but by explaining and opening the Scriptures, beginning with what was written in the law of Moses and the prophets and in the Psalms concerning Himself, that all things written must be fulfilled. He did not awaken faith by pointing to the mighty works He had done, but reproved unbelief in not accepting the word of God just as it reads and impressed the fact that He came exactly as foretold by the prophets concerning His mission and work. The lesson first given to the two travelers to Emmaus was thus repeated for followers in all coming time, clothing the words of the Old Testament with new life and power to revive disappointed hope and make hearts ready to accept Him as the risen Saviour.
The opening recalled things He had spoken to them while He was yet with them. They had been slow of heart to comprehend His statements, and many truths He taught were only imperfectly understood, but this opening recalled His sayings to their minds as truths they had not before understood. They had heard that He had to suffer, be crucified, and rise again on the third day, and why He had to die to bear the penalty of human transgression, but they had not wanted to hear it nor fully understood the nature of His kingdom and the spiritual meaning of His teaching. After the resurrection they were better able to understand and appreciate the Scriptures and the truths about His humiliation and death that they had not been ready to bear before. Selfishness and earthliness had kept even the disciples from comprehending His spiritual glory while He was with them, and their minds were opened to comprehend the prophecies and to understand His miracles only after His ascension to His Father and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon believers, when His sayings were brought to remembrance and the Scriptures became a new book to them.
Christ Expounding Scriptures
He began with the first book of Moses and went through the law, the prophets and the Psalms, dwelling especially on the prophecies pointing to the time then present concerning Himself. What was written in Moses and the prophets and the Psalms concerning Himself must be fulfilled, above all what foretold His sufferings and His resurrection. The law of Moses, the prophets and the Psalms were thus shown to testify of Him, pointing to His suffering and resurrection and to the preaching of repentance and forgiveness of sins in His name among all nations. In this way He enabled them to see the harmony of prophecy with the events of His life, death and resurrection.
He impressed upon them the necessity of studying the ancient prophecies about the Messiah thoroughly and comparing them with the facts of His life, death and resurrection in order to establish their fulfillment in Himself. They were to trace diligently link after link of sacred truth revealed by the prophets in types and figures representing the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. The apostles were in turn to explain those prophecies about Jesus and demonstrate how they had been fulfilled in His life and resurrection, so that people could recognize Him as the Christ.
He lifted the veil from their understanding concerning the Jewish typical system, so that they saw clearly the meaning of its forms and symbols. Those forms and symbols pointed to Him and were rendered obsolete, virtually abolished, by His death. His death fulfilled the sacrificial types as the one great offering for sin, so that the sacrificial offerings had fulfilled their purpose and were no longer of value. They then saw the glory of the former dispensation in its rites and symbols as they had not seen it before, for those rites revealed Christ and their shadows were fulfilled when He came and gave His life, showing that Scripture becomes clear when Christ is seen as its center.
Their understanding had been clouded by misinterpretation of the prophecies, and He shed clear light upon the Scriptures referring to Himself. False teachings had confused the people about the Messiah and His mission, so they needed to unlearn them to understand that Christ would reach His throne through suffering and death. He showed them the true character of His kingdom, that it was not His mission to establish a temporal power on David's throne but that His kingdom of divine grace was to be manifested in the hearts of His people. Only through His humiliation, suffering and death, His rejection, crucifixion and rising on the third day as foretold and fulfilled, could He enter glory and finally establish the kingdom of His glory, and by that suffering He secured salvation for the human race.
Prophecy Fulfilled in Christ
What was opened to them was written: the law of Moses, the prophets, and the Psalms foretold that the Christ must suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins would be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem, with the disciples as witnesses of these things. That understanding prepared them to grasp their mission to witness to Christ and to wait in Jerusalem for the Father's promised power before carrying it out. Their minds were enabled to see that the prophecies about His suffering and resurrection had been fulfilled and to understand clearly the mission of repentance and forgiveness.
His rejection, humiliation, crucifixion, death, and resurrection had all been foretold and then fulfilled, and His suffering secured salvation for the human race by bearing its penalty. He had to suffer, be crucified, and rise on the third day, and His teaching dispelled failure to grasp the nature of His kingdom and left them no longer in darkness about these things. Their slowness had come because education had taught them to expect a temporal kingdom, so they could not take in His meaning when He spoke of humiliation, rejection, and crucifixion until He reproved their slowness and opened the Scriptures step by step.
Every detailed prophecy of His first coming was fulfilled in Him — His birth, life, mission, advent, rejection, death, and resurrection — revealing the harmony of prophecy with the events of His life, death, and resurrection. Beginning with the first book of Moses and through the law, the prophets, and the Psalms, He dwelt especially on the prophecies of His sufferings and resurrection pointing to the time then present. On the road to Emmaus He showed from Moses and the prophets that Scripture foretold His life, mission, suffering, and death, and in the forty days after the resurrection He explained His advent, His rejection by the Jews, and His death, showing every detail had been fulfilled. Ideas of Messiah and His mission had been confused by false teaching, so believers had to unlearn what they had been taught in order to accept that Christ must pass through ignominy, suffering, and death before finally taking His throne, since no one but Messiah could triumph over death and burst the fetters of the tomb.
The Old Testament, the sure word of prophecy, is the only key that unlocks the New Testament Scriptures and shows that Jesus Christ revealed in the gospel is the Son of God, the long-expected Messiah. From Moses and the prophets onward its prophecies, religious services, and symbols point to His mission, suffering, death, resurrection, and ascension. Christ is the key to its treasures and must be seen as its center; when He is so seen, the glory of the former dispensation in Jewish rites and symbols is understood as revealing Him, with their shadows fulfilled when He came and gave His life. This opened understanding reveals the unity and divine truth of Scripture, whose truths are like hidden pearls requiring patient, careful searching, thought, and prayer, until the illuminated soul sees the spiritual unity running through the whole Bible.
Seeing that fulfillment fully established faith, gave a new experience, and renewed hope, leading them to accept Him as the promised Messiah. That fulfillment of prophecy was to assure the despondent disciples of power for their future labors as they began to realize the nature and extent of their work as witnesses. Searching the prophecies surrounding His death and resurrection convicted searchers that the Crucified One was the world's Redeemer, so that after His resurrection many priests acknowledged Him as the Son of God.
Witness Commission Entrusted
The opened Scriptures teach that repentance and remission of sins must be preached in His name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem, as a gospel of peace and salvation. What was opened was that Moses, the prophets, and the Psalms pointed to events then fulfilled, that it was written that Christ must suffer and rise from the dead the third day. That understanding was given just before He left them because they did not yet fully comprehend the mission to which as His followers they had given themselves, and in it He outlined the work in which they were to engage as witnesses with the promised power from above.
With understanding opened they began to realize the nature and extent of their work as witnesses of His life, death and resurrection. They saw the harmony of prophecy with those events, the sacredness of God's law, the mysteries of the plan of salvation, and His power for the remission of sins. The Scriptures thus became definite instruction fitting them to go into all the world under His power and presence to proclaim those truths to the world among all nations beginning at Jerusalem through repentance and the power of the Saviour.
They were to tarry in Jerusalem until endued with power from on high by the Father's promise before carrying out their commission. That tarrying led on to Bethany, where He blessed them and was parted from them and carried into heaven, while they worshipped Him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, continually in the temple praising and blessing God. The opening and blessing mark the sanctification they received and prepared them to await the promised power, and fuller illumination by the Holy Spirit at Pentecost would remove the veil, clarify His mission and kingdom, and enable them to understand and undertake the work just where He left it.
That commission defines the work given to gospel ministers now, to sow the living Word of God as seed in the prepared soil of the heart while laboring together with God who alone gives the increase. It was part of Christ's last words before ascension, giving teachers who have learned lessons from Christ what they are to teach others, to preach only that which Christ has commanded without diverting into human suppositions and explanations and without setting the terms of forgiveness by human judgment. It is given to believers now with the power promised then, enlisting every man, woman and child to warn fellow beings, work prayerfully for neighbors, do earnest sanctified evangelical work, enter unworked cities and towns, make centers of truth, and labor in new fields and in cities and towns that do not know the truth rather than centralizing buildings and work in one place. The experience God desires for every Seventh-day Adventist is this thorough knowledge of Scripture that supplies a rich store of truth for feeding God's people, rather than reliance on novel theories or strange tests.
Understanding the message brings responsibility to share it, beginning where followers are and carrying its light to all nations. Trusting the promised power, preaching may be so mighty that thousands are converted in a day to bring Bible truth before many and prepare a people to stand in the day of the Lord.
Spirit Opening Minds Today
Christ Himself still opens the understanding so the Scriptures can be understood, and that opening is the work of the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, shining on the sacred page. The Spirit makes the meaning plain to the prayerful student, brings Christ's words to remembrance, guides into all truth, and conveys what the casual reader misses. Understanding therefore depends continually on the Spirit of God, not on merely reading the word, and believers today may look to Christ to do for them what He did for the disciples when He opened their minds to see that the Messiah must suffer, rise the third day, and have repentance and forgiveness preached in His name to all nations beginning at Jerusalem. In contrast to priests and rulers who darkened minds by teaching human commandments as doctrine, His instruction enlightens, and when hearts are not barred with iron against light the rays penetrate darkened chambers and the sanctifying power cleanses the soul temple until the oracles become verily the voice of God. The result is special seasons of refreshing from the presence of the Lord with depth of feeling, thanksgiving and praise with weeping and rejoicing, rich testimonies, and going forth to labor trusting to be made efficient by the Holy Spirit.
That opening is to be asked for in prayer, and those who ask the Lord to open their understanding to understand His Word will have prayer heard. Prayer with humble faith, consecration to God, hearts open to heaven, and communion with Christ places the mind under the Holy Spirit's direction to develop and to understand what is studied. All must search the Scriptures for instruction and knowledge, including Daniel and Revelation and the rest of the Bible, for the Spirit shines on the sacred page that readers may know the truth. Light is given in answer to earnest supplication as with Daniel, who in old age amid the cares of empire turned aside from worldly fascination and business, afflicted his soul before God, and sought to know the purposes of the Most High, searching for truth as for hidden treasure, and received light from the heavenly courts especially meant for those living in the latter days.
The opening is a work of grace in the heart by which the heart is opened, softened, subdued and melted, cherished idols dethroned and put away, and pride and selfishness removed. Even those with truth continually before them do not appreciate the Word as the bread of life to feed upon day by day unless grace so works, but when it does the understanding becomes keen and unobstructed to take in truth and assimilate it to spiritual need. Through perceptive powers men take hold of the Word and appropriate it, eating the bread of heaven and drinking the waters of salvation, meeting spiritual need, gaining spiritual power, growing spiritually, and perfecting experience with lasting joy. The plain lessons in Christ's Word about treating those who err must be studied and treasured in the heart for this to take place in teacher and pupil, making the stony heart broken and sensitive and sympathetic, and as the Word is received into life the mind is quickened and enlarged.
Truths thus revealed are full of riches, precious beyond the gold of Ophir, and capable of constant expansion with new and richer developments yet to be discovered. In the Old and New Testament Scriptures imparted by Christ to patriarchs and prophets and in His lessons to disciples there remain new aspects, far-reaching compass, and harmonious golden linking yet to be found, and the divine truths of the great plan of redemption, often only feebly understood, continue to unfold and develop. This is given to the diligent, humble, teachable, contrite mind led by the Holy Spirit that explores the mine of truth, sees Christ as its Author, and by beholding is brightened and elevated to comprehend the standard of perfection. As seekers eat His words as bread from heaven and diligently seek as for hidden treasure or hidden pearls with patient thought and prayer, understanding is quickened, stepping from the obscurity of dawn to the radiance of noon to see the value of His grace and righteousness, while uninspired human wisdom and higher criticism cannot grasp it and remain ignorant of the Scriptures and the power of God.
Minds were clouded because His words conflicted with teachings received and with hopes and expectations. Priests and rulers darkened minds by teaching human commandments as doctrines, maxims and traditionary lore and rabbinical teaching obscured truth, error covered truth with rubbish, and Satan transformed everything. Expectation that the Messiah would establish a temporal kingdom kept them from grasping His foretold suffering, crucifixion, death and resurrection on the third day, and they had heard of the nature of His kingdom and of His bearing the penalty of transgression but had not wanted to hear or had failed to grasp its spiritual meaning. Their earlier misinterpretation obscured prophecy until Jesus clarified that His kingdom was not temporal power but divine grace manifested in hearts, and that His humiliation, suffering and death were necessary before entering glory and finally establishing the kingdom of glory.
Understanding therefore requires openness to further light and willingness to unlearn false teaching. False teachings had confused ideas of Messiah and His mission, so believers had to unlearn what priests had taught in order to accept that Christ must pass through ignominy, suffering and death before taking His throne, triumphing over death and bursting the tomb as none but Messiah could. Christ had many truths He could not speak because they did not advance with the light flashed upon the Levitical laws and sacrificial offerings, did not embrace the light and follow on to greater brightness as Providence led. Narrow closed minds resist truths not yet understood, but as the mind is quickened by the Spirit in humbleness to receive, follow increasing light and appropriate it, truth becomes clearer, the harmonious chain expands with new developments, and its connected teachings can be dispensed to others.
Transformed Life and Service
When understanding was opened, the sacredness of God's law, the mysteries of the plan of salvation, and His power for the remission of sins were seen, and the commission as witnesses to proclaim repentance and remission in His name among all nations beginning at Jerusalem as a gospel of peace and salvation began to be realized. It is the love of God in giving His only begotten Son to save the sinful race, making salvation possible by suffering the penalty of death, so that everyone who repents and is converted, comes to the Father through faith in Christ and follows His example, receives assurance of forgiveness, and every soul may be sanctified through belief of the truth.
That opening marked sanctification and blessing that led to worship and return to Jerusalem with great joy and continual praising and blessing of God in the temple while awaiting the promised enduement with power from on high. Hearts were bound with holy, new, sacred hope and joy as the risen educator continued His earthly work. When hearts are not barred with iron against light, the Comforter opens understanding in close searching of Scripture, lets rays penetrate darkened chambers, cleanses and refines the soul temple by sanctifying power until the oracles become verily the voice of God, and brings special seasons of refreshing with depth of feeling, thanksgiving and praise with weeping and rejoicing, rich testimonies, and going forth to labor trusting the Holy Spirit to make efficient.
Despondent disciples thus gained a new experience during the forty days, for as prophecies of advent, rejection, and death were explained in the light of His life, death and resurrection and every detail shown fulfilled, faith was fully established to assure power for future labor. Faith was not awakened by pointing to mighty works but by reproof of unbelief and by clothing the Old Testament, the sure word of prophecy and only key unlocking the New Testament, with new life and power to revive disappointed hope and make hearts ready to accept Him as the risen Saviour and Son of God. After ascension and the baptism of the Spirit, sayings brought to remembrance made them realize they had been in the very presence of the Lord of glory, wonders passed as men awakened from a dream, lessons dimly understood came as fresh revelation, the Scriptures became a new book, the Saviour's character and mission as come from God to save fallen sons and daughters of Adam was fully appreciated, they seemed to themselves of much less importance, and they never wearied of rehearsing His words and works.
Ministers who teach the people should likewise help them grasp Scripture, especially the Bible truths of the great plan of redemption and salvation through Jesus Christ which are often only feebly understood yet continue to unfold because they are divine. This is the experience desired for every Seventh-day Adventist, a thorough knowledge supplying a rich store of truth for feeding God's people rather than reliance on novel theories or strange tests. Messengers are to understand the Scriptures from Moses and the prophets as pointing to Christ and to teach them in a way that magnifies Him.
The same divine light was given to Saul after his conversion, giving knowledge of the prophecies concerning Jesus to present truth clearly and boldly and correct perversion, so that with the Spirit resting upon him he carried hearers down through the prophecies to the time of the first advent and showed sufferings, death and resurrection fulfilled. God can likewise open the minds of those who hear Scripture taught to grasp its precious truths as the Holy Spirit helps students of Christ's life express them. He must open the understanding of leaders to remove unbelief that keeps them from knowing how to lead forward and upward. He used human channels to bring light to people in darkness, opening the understanding of many and leading them to work for others' salvation. At the Diet of Worms His power brought light into darkness of error and prepared even adversaries to speak against abuses, helping prepare the way for the Reformation.
The great Teacher opens workers' understanding to see wondrous things in God's word. He Himself gives light to grasp Scripture, shows workers their duty, works upon their minds, calls men as He called humble fishermen from the plow and other occupations to give the last warning to perishing souls without binding themselves for years under one group or in one branch, teaches them their field and methods, and provides many ways to work. When pupils respond to the Spirit's appeal and welcome Jesus into their hearts, He enables them to understand the things of God. Opening the word enlightens the mind and calls for greater diligence in studying Scripture and the sciences, for knowing God is essential education and gaining it is the true worker's constant study. When understanding is quickened by the Holy Spirit through diligent prayerful searching, it gives experimental knowledge of God and His love revealed in Christ, uplifts the heart in faith, hope and continual praise, removes gloom over darkness and evil, and enables representing Christ in life and character, revealing received light, testifying with soul-winning power, and producing the fruit God designs.