Then He said unto them, O fools and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. Luke 24:25
Like most people, you are tactful and reasonably considerate of the feelings of others. You would never begin a conversation with someone by declaring them to be a fool, even if you thought that they were. You certainly wouldn’t expect the conversation to last long if you started it that way. But that is exactly how the Lord Jesus, opened his discourse to the two disciples who were traveling from Jerusalem to Emmaus. If nothing else, He caught their attention. They would listen to find out why He was calling them fools. And we listen, too, as we note that He upbraided them, not for failing to believe the Scriptures, but for failing to believe ALL the Scriptures. They had believed the prophecies concerning a Messiah Who would come in His glory, but had ignored the prophecies that foretold a Messiah Who would come in suffering and rejection. That is why, in the next verse, the Lord Jesus pointed out to them, Ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory? We need to be careful today that we don’t major in some parts of the Scriptures while ignoring others.
Consider the words of 2 Timothy 3:16: All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. Because all Scripture is inspired and is profitable, we ignore parts of it at our peril. The cults and the denominations develop their errors and their false practices by setting aside portions of the Word of God while embracing only those portions that agree with their ideas. If we accept all of the Word of God as truth and believe everything that is contained therein, we will be preserved. this applies to every area of our Christian experience. That includes the area of prophecy , that the Lord Jesus addressed in our text.
I have some Christian friends who don’t believe in the Rapture. When I mentioned this to my son, he replied, ‘How can they not believe it? It’s in the Bible’. Good point. People with their pet theories about Christians having to go through the great tribulation, or with their unscriptural goals to convert the world around us to Christ have to set aside the doctrine of the Rapture. And we must agree with the Lord Jesus that they are fools for doing so. But we must be careful that we don’t condemn ourselves as fools for failing to live each day – and each hour – as though our Lord were to come for us at any moment. Do we really believe that? And what about our acceptance of all of the prophetic program that God has unfolded for us in His Word, concerning the future of mankind and our world? Very few Christians these days have any but the most basic understanding of the future. Who among us can explain why we believe that the Rapture must precede the great tribulation, and why the tribulation must precede the Millennial reign of Christ? The prophets have spoken to us in God’s Word. And there are important lessons for us to learn from them. Are we learning them?
We must number ourselves among the fools and slow of heart to believe if we do not embrace all that the prophets have spoken. -Jim MacIntosh