After his resurrection, Jesus comforted his forlorn disciples and confirmed to them that his dead and buried body had now come back to life. Jesus also clarified their understanding of the Old Testament and the kingdom of God through the words of his teaching after his resurrection. These clarifications seem less tied to a deficiency in Jesus’s previous teaching – as they stand as a continuation of what he had previously taught. Instead, it was more of a recognition that the resurrection presented an opportunity for the disciples to recognize their lack of understanding of these matters and the need to listen to Jesus’s clarifications concerning their previous (mis)understandings. The gospel accounts don’t reveal the details of how Jesus clarified these topics, but it is clear that this was a major feature of his teaching after the resurrection. These teachings are relevant for us today as we think about the Old Testament and the kingdom of God.
Clarifying How to Understand the Old Testament
In two different places in Luke 24, we read that Jesus referred to the Old Testament – which at that time was viewed as consisting of three parts: the Law, the Prophets, and the Writings (or Psalms). Jesus pointed out how they spoke not just about a coming Messiah, but that this Messiah had to suffer and would then rise from the dead. The first mention of this clarifying work is with the disciples on the road to Emmaus. Luke 24:27 states, “Then beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, [Jesus] interpreted for them the things concerning himself in all the Scriptures” (CSB). The second reference is with the eleven disciples, as Luke 24:45-46 says, “Then [Jesus] opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. He also said to them, ‘This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead the third day.’”
In both encounters, Jesus highlights that this idea the Old Testament Scriptures pointed to his work should not have been a surprise to them. He rebukes the disciples on the road to Emmaus before the statement when he says, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Wasn’t it necessary for the Messiah to suffer these things and enter into his glory?” (Luke 24:25-26 CSB). In saying this, Jesus points out that the truth about his ministry was not veiled or unclear (but should have been discerned as these disciples read the Old Testament) and that there was a Promised One who would bring victory through defeat and later triumph. When he later speaks to the eleven, Jesus says, “These are the words that I spoke to you while I was still with you – that everything written about me in the Law of Moses, Prophets, and the Psalms must be fulfilled” (Luke 24:44 CSB). In these words, Jesus shows that not only should the disciples believe he would rise again because that is what he told them (as the angels point out at the empty tomb, see e.g. Luke 24:6-8), but because he pointed out that this was the fulfillment of God’s plan revealed in the Old Testament. In the Gospels, we see how Jesus viewed his life and ministry as the fulfillment of the Old Testament promises and plan (for example, John 5:39 and 46), so this is something the disciples should have known too.
This clarifying truth is important for us to know as we read the Old Testament – it is not just acceptable to see Old Testament passages pointing to the appearance and ministry of Jesus, but also that it is encouraged and commanded! We only rightly understand the Old Testament when we connect it to Jesus. This does not mean that every potential link is valid (as pastors have been known to stretch various details and find symbolic meaning that probably are not there), but that we should ask ourselves where and how we see passages in the Old Testament pointing to Jesus. The fact that Luke did not record all the passages Jesus used in this message invites us to go on their journey for ourselves – both looking to see what Old Testament passages are used in the New Testament in this regard, but also to read them ourselves.
In addition, this clarification by Jesus reminds us that the Old Testament and the New Testament are not two different stories, but one story that is progressing with the climax coming in the work of Jesus! The Old Testament is not a book of morals and rules through which we find out how to live, but a story that points us to God’s plan and redeeming work that will transform how we live.
Clarifying How to Think About the Kingdom of God
The clarification that Jesus offers concerning the kingdom of God is a bit more subtle and less developed. While we typically turn to Matthew, Luke, and John to see what the resurrected Jesus taught, we should not forget the remarks about Jesus’s ministry before his ascension in the opening chapter of Acts. Luke notes that Jesus confirmed that he had risen from the dead through various appearances over the span of forty days that offered “many convincing proofs” (Acts 1:3), but he also notes Jesus was “speaking about the kingdom of God” in this time. In one sense, this should not be surprising at all – as this is the very thing that Jesus taught about before the resurrection. Thus, it seems that there was great continuity in Jesus’s message both before and after the resurrection.
The text does not give many details about what he taught regarding the nature of the kingdom of God after the resurrection, but we do find a clue in Acts 1:6-8 before Jesus ascends into heaven. After Jesus tells the disciples to wait in Jerusalem for the promised arrival of the Holy Spirit (which John the Baptist had pointed to) in Acts 1:4-5, the disciples ask if this is now the time that Jesus will restore the kingdom to Israel. Jesus’s answer is indirect in Acts 1:7 in which he states, “It is not for you to know the times or periods that Father has set by his own authority” (CSB). He reminds the disciples that God’s timeline is not necessarily comprehended by humans, recalling what he has told the disciples about his return (see Mark 13:32). His next words about receiving the Spirit and being witnesses (Acts 1:8) also serve to clarify how God goes about the work of bringing the kingdom, not through military conquest, but worldwide conquest of the Word of God. The reception of the message will restore Israel in that it will unite divided Judea and Samaria and, as promised in the Old Testament prophets, have a message go forth from Jerusalem to all the Gentile nations. Such an approach reflects the “upside down” sort of kingdom that Jesus had proclaimed and which he then embodies as the crucified and resurrected Savior. The ascension shows that Jesus is reigning in heaven now and that he will return (Acts 1:11); the kingdom will come in its fullness at an unknown time but now manifests itself through the message of Jesus.
This clarification about the kingdom is helpful for us to remember. The kingdom of God is already and also not yet; there is a time when Jesus will return, but even now Jesus reigns and the kingdom is manifesting itself. We need to think of this kingdom differently than a physical kingdom, but no less real and important, and go about the work of promoting it even while we wait for it to come in its fullness in God’s perfect plan and timing.
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