Parting Words

 

[The following is a manuscript of my message delivered at Pilgrim Reformed Church on Sunday morning, the 25th of May, 2025.  A recording of our service should be available on our YouTube streaming channel: 

https://www.youtube.com/@pilgrimreformedchurch1992/streams.]

Family, I’d like you to think for a moment about what you would do if you knew you only had 40 more days on this earth, 40 more days to do stuff you’ve put off, 40 more days to enjoy special times, 40 more days to maybe fix a wrong or get something right.  What would you do, what would you say?

40 days seems like a long time, especially if we’re waiting for something we want.  That’s almost six weeks, but I bet it would pass quickly.  Time can really go by fast when we have something we need to do.

This coming Thursday, the church will observe Ascension Day, when Jesus left this earth and returned home to heaven.  This occurred 40 days after His resurrection on Easter morning.  So as of this morning, we are still within that 40 day span while the risen Jesus walks among us, appearing in the flesh to His followers and hundreds of witnesses.  He had 40 days to finish His work on earth, 40 days to show God’s intent, 40 days to establish the foundation of His church, 40 days to get His chosen Apostles to finally understand what He had been trying to tell them for three years.

Now while we only have a few days left of the 40, I’d like to reset the calendar back to that first day, to Resurrection Day itself.  Jesus has risen from the dead and left the tomb empty.  He appeared to Mary Magdalene first, and a little later in the day, He appeared to two disciples who had left Jerusalem and were walking on the road to Emmaus.  His identity was hidden from them as they walked and talked about the events of the last few days and the death of their Rabbi. This gave Jesus the opportunity to explain why the things that had happened had to happen.  He started with the prophets and reminded them of all that the scriptures said must happen to the Messiah.

When they got to town, the two disciples invited their walking companion to join them for dinner.  It was only then, when He blessed the meal and broke the bread, that the men recognized Him.  And immediately He vanished from view.  They were so excited to see their Master alive again, they got up and walked the seven miles back to Jerusalem rather than stay the night in the inn.  Please listen and follow along as the Apostle Luke tells of what happened next, which includes some of the last things Jesus said and did, His parting words before going back home to heaven, as recorded in the 24th chapter of Luke’s Gospel account, verses 35 through 53, and I’ll be reading from the New Living Translation of our Holy Bible this morning…

35 Then the two from Emmaus told their story of how Jesus had appeared to them as they were walking along the road, and how they had recognized Him as He was breaking the bread. 36 And just as they were telling about it, Jesus Himself was suddenly standing there among them. “Peace be with you,” He said. 37 But the whole group was startled and frightened, thinking they were seeing a ghost!

38 “Why are you frightened?” He asked. “Why are your hearts filled with doubt? 39 Look at My hands. Look at My feet. You can see that it’s really Me. Touch Me and make sure that I am not a ghost, because ghosts don’t have bodies, as you see that I do.” 40 As He spoke, He showed them His hands and His feet.

41 Still they stood there in disbelief, filled with joy and wonder. Then He asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?” 42 They gave Him a piece of broiled fish, 43 and He ate it as they watched.

44 Then He said, “When I was with you before, I told you that everything written about Me in the law of Moses and the prophets and in the Psalms must be fulfilled.” 45 Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. 46 And He said, “Yes, it was written long ago that the Messiah would suffer and die and rise from the dead on the third day. 47 It was also written that this message would be proclaimed in the authority of His name to all the nations, beginning in Jerusalem: ‘There is forgiveness of sins for all who repent.’ 48 You are witnesses of all these things.

49 “And now I will send the Holy Spirit, just as My Father promised. But stay here in the city until the Holy Spirit comes and fills you with power from heaven.”

50 Then Jesus led them to Bethany, and lifting His hands to heaven, He blessed them. 51 While He was blessing them, He left them and was taken up to heaven. 52 So they worshiped Him and then returned to Jerusalem filled with great joy. 53 And they spent all of their time in the Temple, praising God.

--Luke 24:35-53 (NLT)

Let us pray…  Heavenly Father, thank You for Your loving mercy.  Thank You for sending Your Light into the world to show us the way to salvation when we were stumbling around in the darkness of our sin.  You arranged for our sin to be redeemed and provided a path to eternal life.  Father, we hate to admit it, but we don’t always show appreciation for the gift You’ve given us.  We don’t act in ways that distinguish us from the world.  Too many things in life distract us, demand our attention, keep us from doing what we should do in service to You.  Please forgive us these times, Father.  Strengthen our faith, and our resolve to grow ever closer to You and Jesus.

Speak to us now, Father, that we might hear Your voice through Your Spirit within us and better grasp the message You have for us this day.  Please keep us strong in our faith, of one mind and one purpose in our love, our worship, and our service.  And please keep us healthy and safe through these trying times.  This we pray in the precious name of Your Son, Christ Jesus our Lord.   Amen.

Our parting words can not only convey our final thoughts, but also reveal our true inner character.  Samuel Clemens, better known as author Mark Twain, might best be described as agnostic in his belief.  Although he grew up in a Christian household, he became quite skeptical of organized religion and expressed doubts about conventional Christianity, especially in his later writings, when he became morose and weary of life.  Shortly before his death, he wrote, "A myriad of men are born; they labor and sweat and struggle; ... they squabble and scold and fight; they scramble for little mean advantages over each other; age creeps upon them; infirmities follow; ... those they love are taken from them, and the joy of life is turned to aching grief. The release comes at last - the only unpoisoned gift earth ever had for them - and they vanish from a world where they were of no consequence, ... a world which will lament them a day and forget them forever."

That’s such a tragically sad view of life.  This sounds like someone who apparently never really knew Christ Jesus.  Contrast this to the last thoughts of Herman Lange, a German Christian who was to be executed by the Nazis during WWII.  In his cell on the night before he was to be killed, Lange wrote a note to his parents.  He said two feelings occupied his mind: "I am, first, in a joyous mood, and second filled with great anticipation."  Then he made this beautiful affirmation: "In Christ I have put my faith, and precisely today I have faith in Him more firmly than ever."  Finally he urged his parents to read the New Testament for comfort: "Look where you will, everywhere you will find jubilation over the grace that makes us children of God.  What can befall a child of God?  Of what should I be afraid?  On the contrary, rejoice!"

And then there’s Hudson Taylor, founder of China Inland Mission, who, in the closing months of his life, is quoted to have said to a friend, "I am so weak.  I can't read my Bible.  I can't even pray.  I can only lie still in God's arms like a little child and trust."

What else can we do, when we are too weak to go on, but snuggle up into the loving arms of our heavenly Father, trusting in Him for all our needs?  There we will find safety and solace, unlike Clemens, who shunned God’s embrace and found only cold bitterness and darkness in life and in death.  What have we to fear?  Man may be able to hurt us and take away our mortal life, but God will heal us and give us eternal life.  So let us rejoice.

Now, over the last few weeks, we’ve looked at the visits Jesus made to His disciples using the Gospel account of the Apostle John as our source.  This morning we’re using the report of this Resurrection Day visit as provided by the Apostle Luke in his Gospel account.  If you were paying close attention, or are familiar with the Gospels, you’ll notice some differences between these two accounts.  And that’s OK, it’s understandable.  Each of the four Gospel authors wrote from a slightly different perspective, seeing Jesus and His works just a little differently.  It’s just like if we were to ask any four witnesses to an accident what they saw, we’d likely get four slightly different stories.  So this time we’re looking at what Luke reported as Jesus’ last moments.  In this account, there are no 40 days, or hundreds of witnesses mentioned.  Luke has condensed it all, as if everything occurred this one day, when Jesus rose from the dead.

What I find interesting about this is that Jesus, in what would be His parting words, is still reminding His followers what the scriptures say about Him, still telling them what was going to happen next.  And here He gives us the promise of yet another great gift from God: His Holy Spirit.  “Wait here in Jerusalem”, He instructs, “and I will send the Holy Spirit who will fill you with power from heaven.”

We know that the disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, and that anyone else will receive Him the moment they accept Jesus as Lord.  But that meant that Jesus needed to leave us so that the Spirit could be sent.  So He led His followers out to Bethany, where He lifted His hands to bless them.  These would have been His last words while on earth in the flesh, but Luke did not record them for us.  As Jesus was giving His blessing, He ascended into heaven.

Luke's Gospel account was his first book written and sent to Theophilus.  The Book of Acts was the second.  He opens this second book with a recap of the ending of the first, giving more detail and recalling a few more of Jesus' parting words.  Please hear the account Luke wrote for Theophilus in the first 14 verses of the Book of the Acts of the Apostles…

1 In my first book I told you, Theophilus, about everything Jesus began to do and teach 2 until the day He was taken up to heaven after giving His chosen apostles further instructions through the Holy Spirit. 3 During the forty days after He suffered and died, He appeared to the apostles from time to time, and He proved to them in many ways that He was actually alive. And He talked to them about the Kingdom of God.

4 Once when He was eating with them, He commanded them, “Do not leave Jerusalem until the Father sends you the gift He promised, as I told you before. 5 John baptized with water, but in just a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”

6 So when the apostles were with Jesus, they kept asking Him, “Lord, has the time come for You to free Israel and restore our kingdom?”

7 He replied, “The Father alone has the authority to set those dates and times, and they are not for you to know. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be My witnesses, telling people about Me everywhere — in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

9 After saying this, He was taken up into a cloud while they were watching, and they could no longer see Him. 10 As they strained to see Him rising into heaven, two white-robed men suddenly stood among them. 11 “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why are you standing here staring into heaven? Jesus has been taken from you into heaven, but someday He will return from heaven in the same way you saw Him go!”

12 Then the apostles returned to Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives, a distance of half a mile. 13 When they arrived, they went to the upstairs room of the house where they were staying.

Here are the names of those who were present: Peter, John, James, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, James (son of Alphaeus), Simon (the zealot), and Judas (son of James). 14 They all met together and were constantly united in prayer, along with Mary the mother of Jesus, several other women, and the brothers of Jesus.

--Acts 1:1-14 (NLT)

So here is a repeat of how Luke closed his Gospel account, but with a bit more information.  For one, he now mentions that 40 day span between Jesus’ resurrection and His ascension.  Luke also adds that Jesus told the disciples that they would soon be baptized by the Holy Spirit.  This would be in fulfillment of the Spirit being sent to them.

And this time we hear more of Jesus’ parting words, spoken just before He is “taken up into a cloud”, spoken to all His followers, then and now.  “You will be My witnesses, telling people about Me everywhere — in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Our parting words are the things we say as we are leaving a place, or leaving a person.  Jesus was preparing to leave earth, to leave us.  He had only walked this sod for 33 years, but now it was time to go.  He had accomplished what He had been sent here to do, He had already died and conquered death, and He had made a way for mankind to be saved.

And after all that, what did He determine was the most important thing to tell us as He was leaving us?  “You will be my witnesses… to the ends of the earth.”  This is our job: to tell other people all about Jesus, about the things He taught and did, making more disciples as we continue our walk through this world.

If we follow those words, when our time on earth is finished and we meet Him face to face, we’ll hear His welcoming words: “well done, good and faithful servant”.  In the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord.  Amen.

Let us pray…  Almighty God, thank You for all the gifts You have blessed us with, and especially for Your Son and Your Spirit.  Through Jesus, we have been redeemed of our sin, and through our faith and belief in Him, we have been granted eternal life.  Thank You, dear Father.  It saddens us when we think that there are so many souls who will never accept Jesus as Lord.  And there are many who have not heard of Him, have not been told of all He did and taught.  We admit that we have not done as good a job as we could reaching out to these people.  Too often we find excuses not to carry out our mission of making more disciples.  Sometimes we’re too busy, too distracted.  Sometimes we’re just too hesitant, too afraid of getting it all wrong and doing more harm than good.  Please forgive us those times, dear Father.  Please help us reach out to the lost, to anyone who does not know Jesus as their personal friend.  Help us be more like Your Son in our interactions with the world.  Help us show Your love to others by giving of ourselves, giving of our love freely, unconditionally, sacrificially, just as Jesus gave of Himself for us.  And please help us share our Lord Jesus with others so that they too may be saved by Your mercy and His sacrifice.  

Father, please shield us from Satan as he attacks our faith, trying to make us his own.  Help us be better servants, glorifying You in all we do so that the world can see You in us, through our deeds, in how we live.  And help us remain strong, faithful, and true to You in all things, no matter what comes our way.

Please hear us now, Father, as we pause for just a moment to speak to You through Your Spirit within us, promising to be more obedient to Your commands, and seeking Your help to do so…

Lord Jesus, Your parting words to us were that we would be Your witnesses, telling people all about You, helping to lead them to You and to salvation.  This is what You felt most important to impart to us.  Thank You, Jesus, for giving us so important a job.  Lord, we’re ashamed to admit it, but sometimes we struggle carrying out this mission.  It's so hard to love all people enough to want to see them rewarded with eternal life in heaven.  It hurts to admit that too often we hesitate to witness to You and the Gospel.  Please help us in our struggle to be better servants.  Help us be more like You, loving all others, even those who hate us and wish us harm, without any concern for reward or recognition or even being loved in return.  Help us reach out to the non-believing world, sharing the Gospel message, showing Your love through our love.  Give us the words to say, show us the deeds to do to lead the lost to You.

And Jesus, please shield our minds and our hearts from Satan’s lies and the world’s empty promises.  Guide us around all the devil’s traps and snares.  Help us see though his temptations.  Help us keep our focus on the things of heaven and the needs of others rather than on anything this world might offer.  This we pray in Your blessed name, Christ Jesus our Lord and our Savior.  Amen.