Jesus said, ”Now I tell you before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe that I am He.” (John 13:19 NKJV)
Have you ever heard the dreaded words, “I told you so”? Are you like me and tend to have a “I’ll believe it when I see it,” or “show me” attitude? We’re not alone. From what I see in the New Testament Scriptures, the disciples must have had that same attitude.
God spoke through many of the Old Testament prophets about the Messiah’s birth, life, death, resurrection, and final return. Jesus Himself told His disciples more than once that “the Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.” (Mark 8:31 NKJV) Yet, most of them didn’t really believe Jesus was alive until He showed up in the flesh.
In Luke 24:1-12 the women who went to the tomb on Resurrection Day were reminded by two angels that Jesus said He would rise from the dead in three days, but when they went back to tell the guys, they thought the women were crazy. Peter and John had to go see for themselves. Jesus told Thomas, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” (John 20:29 NKJV) Basically, He was saying, “I told you so.”
We have the advantage of living after these events, yet how many of us truly believe the biblical accounts of these eye witnesses? How many of us have read the hundreds of prophesies and promises in the Scriptures that have already come to pass, and still do not believe that any more of them will come to pass, especially in our time? The greatest ones are still to come. Do we believe we just might be the generation to see them fulfilled? I, for one, don’t want to be like the people of Jesus’ day who didn’t recognize the day of their visitation. If Jesus was born in the planned time, place, and purpose, and He accurately predicted everything He said would happen, then why would we not expect the fulfillment of the rest of the plan?
He also said that if we believe His story and accept His sacrifice for us, we will receive eternal life. He said that all authority on earth was given to Him, and He gave that authority to His believers. He said that we would do greater things than He did, because He was leaving. Then He said He was coming back. Do we believe Him?
Resurrection Sunday is evidence that the Bible and the words Jesus spoke are true, and He has the power to bring His plan to pass. Please join me in celebrating God’s plan by believing His story — letting Him teach us what our part is in His plan, and then doing it!
~ Rose Lehman, writer with Heartland Writers Circle
~ Deana Harvey, visual artist at Tree of Life Art Gallery
