After spending three years following Jesus, His Apostles couldn’t bear the thought of not being in His physical presence anymore.
This is one of the reasons why they basically ignored every time Jesus said to them that He had to die.
Matthew 16:21 – 21 From that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day.
Matthew 17:22-23 – 22 And while they were gathering together in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men; 23 and they will kill Him, and He will be raised on the third day.” And they were deeply grieved.
Matthew 20:17-19 – 17 As Jesus was about to go up to Jerusalem, He took the twelve disciples aside by themselves, and on the way He said to them, 18 “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem; and the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn Him to death, 19 and will hand Him over to the Gentiles to mock and scourge and crucify Him, and on the third day He will be raised up.”
They heard Him physically, and the Scripture even tells us they were sad, but for reasons I don’t fully understand, they never fully believed that what He said would happen would actually come to pass.
There are many points we could discuss, but the one I want to emphasize is that they simply could not accept that Jesus wouldn’t be with them anymore in the flesh.
The eleven true apostles grew to love Jesus and their desire was to be in His presence. I can’t even imagine how rich and full their lives were living day to day with Jesus. Which made me wonder of myself, how much do I want to be in His presence?
As I reflected and examined that question, I say with as much humility as possible, that to be in His presence is my greatest desire. I believe, based upon what the Bible tells me about Jesus, that there will be no greater experience imaginable.
I ask you the same question – how much do you want to be in His presence? If your desire is not great to see Jesus face to face, reexamine your life’s foundations! Desire Him above all else. He is worthy of your desire.
For our good and His glory!
Wes LeFlore (918) 607-8489 or huskerwes1@gmail.com
