Commissioned to Witness

KEY VERSE: “Repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.” —Luke 24:47

SELECTED SCRIPTURE: Luke 24:36-53

AS THE RISEN Christ prepared to ascend into heaven he told his disciples, “You are [my] witnesses.” (Luke 24:48) Christians are those who witness to God’s gift of Christ as the ransom sacrifice for all mankind, releasing them from the curse of sin and death.

The word witness has two related meanings. We can say that someone was a witness to an accident. By that we mean that he had personally seen what occurred. The other meaning of the word witness is this: If a person witnessed an accident, he may be asked to go into a court of law and act as a witness to what he observed. Used this way, the word witness means to testify to what happened.

Throughout the Bible the word witness is used in a similar two-fold way. Luke said that Jesus’ disciples—those who followed him while he was here upon earth—witnessed his life, teachings, ministry, death, and resurrection. Being a follower of Jesus requires an active interest in the method of his ministry. Jesus walked among the Israelites, preaching to them concerning his coming kingdom, and illustrating the effects of his kingdom by healing many sick people, and by giving the ultimate example of how to please God.

After Jesus’ crucifixion, when the disciples’ hopes had been dashed, he returned to comfort them, healing their doubts. They were witnesses to his resurrection, being convinced that their Lord had triumphed over the grave. It was then that he commissioned them to go into all the world and to testify to what they had seen and heard.

Today’s lesson prompts us to ask this question: How are we, today, witnesses of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection? We are living so long after these events occurred! Jesus’ wonderful parting prayer, recorded in John 17, gives us a detailed answer to this question, climaxing with verse 20, which says, “Neither pray I for these alone [his disciples who were with him that night], but for them also which shall believe on me through their word.” Jesus often instructed his apostles and disciples to teach all nations concerning the Father’s great plan of salvation, baptizing in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit those who believed and dedicated themselves to serve God. (Matt. 28:19) We are among those who constitute this group!

The glorious culmination of Luke’s Gospel is the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. The disciples present then, and we today who have read and believe their account of that marvelous event, together witness his resurrection, either actually, or by faith. Belief in his resurrection is vital to our understanding of truth.

Two disciples, traveling along the road to Emmaus shortly after their Lord’s crucifixion, witnessed the fact that Jesus had truly been raised from the dead. They encouraged a ‘stranger’ whom they met on the road to stop with them overnight. The Lord—unknown to them as the ‘stranger’—went in to tarry with them. “It came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them. And their eyes were opened, and they knew him, and he vanished out of their sight.”—Luke 24:29-34

Throughout the entire Gospel Age, Jesus’ followers have heralded out the story of God’s plan of salvation to all who would hear. It is a message which we have been commissioned by God to preach, and the people of the world are in great need of the promised kingdom of peace, life, joy, and love, which God has planned. All who have been commissioned to share that message with others are glad to tell it, because they rejoice in the joyful sound of salvation.

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