Voices from Galilee
Text: Mark 14:26-29; Acts 1:3
And when they had sung an hymn,
they went out into the mount of Olives.
And Jesus saith unto them, All ye shall be offended
because of me this night: for it is written, I will smite
the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered.
But after that I am risen, I will go before you
into Galilee.
But Peter said unto him, Although all shall be
offended, yet will not I.
Acts 1:3 (KJV) To whom also he shewed himse
lf alive after his passion by many infallible proofs,
being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the
things pertaining to the kingdom of God:
Intro: Ver. 28. I will go before you into Galilee. —
It is quite certain that, in the manhood of Christ,
there was true poetry of the heart.
His sympathies with nature
His love of the beautiful everywhere
His tenderness to childhood and to weakness
the delicacy (extreme sensitivity) of His action
the play of His fancy:
( occupied himself with an inclination/tendency to
encourage,
fulfill
heal,
help,
predict,
restore,
show insight)
All the above show that vivid imagination,
fervent glow,
quiet sensibility (sensitiveness),
creative habit,
and deep perception (awareness)
which, humanly, make life a poem.
Can we wonder that to such a mind
as His, that country, Galilee, so endeared,
so sanctified, — lovely in nature, but
lovelier still in all its sacred recollections
should have such an attraction
Galilee means circle--completeness
______Miller, Stephen M.,
WHO’S WHO AND WHERE’S
WHERE IN THE BIBLE, pp. 120-121,
Barbour Publishing, ISBN 1-59310-111-2
Some Scripture locations for Galilee:
Isaiah 9:1; Matthew 4:15 Called GALILEE OF THE NATIONS
Isaiah 9:1 Herod (Antipas), tetrarch of
Mark 6:21; Luke 3:1; 23:6,7 Jesus resides in
Matthew 17:22; 19:1; John 7:1,9 Teaching and miracles of Jesus in
Matthew 4:23,25; 15:29-31; Mark 1:14 People of, receive Jesus
John 4:45,53 Disciples were chiefly from
Acts 1:11; 2:7 Women from, ministered to Jesus
Matthew 27:55,56; Mark 15:41; Luke 23:49,55 Jesus appeared to his disciples in, after his resurrection
Matthew 26:32; 28:7,10,16,17; Mark 14:28; 16:7; John 21
_____Source Unknown
But when once raised from the dead, Jesus would resume His
relationship with His disciples-with the poor of the flock.
He would go before them to the place where this relationship
commenced, to Galilee, afar from the pride of the nation, and where
the light had appeared among them according to the word of God.
___J. N. Darby’s Notes
I. And Did My Savior--Did He--Even Thus?
II. Other Feelings Also Led Jesus Back to Galilee
III. Christ Will Always Come Back to His Work
in the Soul Which He Has Once Made His Own.
IV. A Disciplined Group Follows Him to Galilee
V. Why Forty Days on Earth?
Theme: He could scarcely consent even to go to heaven
without another look at its beauty, and a last taste
of its sweetness!
I. And did my Savior — did He — even thus?
A. He has made sacred the religious memories of His
early years.
B. Similar to the yearnings of our manhood after the
sacredness of the past!
II. This was not the only feeling which led the risen
Jesus back to Galilee.
A. We know from Peter’s words to Cornelius,
that when “God raised up Jesus, the third day,
Acts 10:40 (KJV) Him God raised up
the third day,
and shewed him openly;...
1. He [The Father] showed Him openly indeed.
2. but not to all the people
3. only to chosen witnesses
a. chosen before of God
b. who did eat and drink with Him after He
rose from the dead.
c. “He appeared to above five hundred
brethren at once,”
(1) probably on that mountain in Galilee
(2) where He had made such a special appointment
for the reunion.
B. We may well believe — and it is in complete accordance
with the whole mind of Christ — that He went down to Galilee
for this very object.
1. to gather those his teachings
had previously blessed (full circle)
2. to assure and comfort His faithful in that part
of Palestine
3. to strengthen according to the prophesies of
Isa. 41:10, 61:1 and Luke 4:18
C. And it was like our dear Master, and
consistent with all His faithful love, that He
should thus pause, before He went on farther —
to reassure and bless His own in distant
places.
III. Christ will always come back to His own work
(full circle) in the soul which He has once
made His own.
A. And of this, more and more, be quite sure.
B. This blessed lesson again we read in that loving
journey to Galilee.
C. Whom Christ calls, to them He returns.
1. No time dims.
2. No changes reach.
3. No distance shocks that love!
IV. We see, also, in the visit to Galilee, a probation
(a period testing and trial to determine fitness)
and discipline to His more immediate followers.
Would they again forsake Him?
Forty (40) is the Biblical number of testing.
___per Hartill, J. Edwin, Principle of Biblical Hermeneutics,
pp. 121-122, 1947, Academie Books/Zondervan Publishing House
Illustration/Quote: Discipline is the refining fire
by which talent becomes ability.
-Roy L. Smith
A. They were to have the joy of His presence.
1. They must make an effort.
2. They must show their loyalty and their faith
by an act of toil and trust.
a. Jerusalem sits on a plateau or escarpment.
b. Galilee is geographically downhill from
Jerusalem.
c. Jesus actually made it easy for his disciples
to meet Him in Galilee
d. Oftentimes performing the will of God is an uphill trek.
3. They must go — at His word — all the way to
meet Him in Galilee.
Illustration/Quote: Becoming active is the key remedy for depression.
-Pat Robertson,
Answers to 200 of Life’s Most Probing Questions
B. “He went before them.”
1. He always goes before His people.
2. Sometimes precedence looks like desertion.
3. Obey and believe.
a. The recompense(compensation) will be a full cup.
b. The and mantling (to cover as with a mantle) will
be a full cup.
C. “Go where I sendyou;...”
1. This is His constant language.
2. “Go where I send you; I shall be there.”
V. Why He passed those “forty days” on earth
(Acts 1:3):
A. He had finished His great work.
1. show and prove His identity
2. demonstrate that the Risen was the Crucified
3. establish nothing was changed of His love and being
a. He was the same!
b. the sameMan!
c. the same Brother!
d. the same Saviour!
e. the same God!
B. And there were the very wounds to bear their evidence!
C. He goes the very same journey which He
had taken often before,
1. to the same places
2. to where He had spent the greater part of His life,
3. to where the witnesses to the identity would be the
greatest in number
4. and the most competent to attest or prove
5. He seeks the same lake, which He had made the
center of His previous ministry.
6. He stands with His disciples —
a. on the very shore where He had spoken to them
b. the shore where he had called them.
c. The voice, the accent, the manner, the spirit are
the same.
d. They recognize it (the voice) in a moment.
e. He eats food, where He had so often eaten it before.
I. And Did My Savior--Did He--Even Thus?
II. Other Feelings Also Led Jesus Back to Galilee
III. Christ Will Always Come Back to His Work
in the Soul Which He Has Once Made His Own.
IV. A Disciplined Group Follows Him to Galilee
V. Why Forty Days on Earth?
Concl: We owe much to that identity!
The Man of Weakness is the God of Power.
The Crucified is the Intercessor.
Sure proof that the ransom is accepted,
and the whole debt is paid by Christ!
Positive evidence that we have now a God in sympathy.
The risen Christ walked the whole land —
from Dan to Beersheba:
He revealed His authority:
He showed His power:
He made all His own!
An earnest of that day when He shall come to
reign in Mount Zion
reign in Jerusalem
rule before His ancients gloriously
His feet shall stand upon the Mount of Olives.
Then “there shall be one Lord, and His name One,”
and “all Israel shall be saved.”
_______adapted from James Vaughan, M. A.
Do not let Christ’s return catch you by surprise.
illu:
SURPRISE
A New York City businessman decided to avoid a $20 service charge by replacing a fluorescent light himself. After he had smuggled a new light into his office and put it in place, he decided to get rid of the old tube by throwing it in the trash can near his subway stop. That night he got on the subway holding the seven-foot light vertically, with one end resting on the floor of the car. As the train became more crowded other passengers took hold of the tube, assuming it was a stanchion. By the time the man reached his stop, he simply removed his hand and exited the car, leaving the other passengers gripping the fluorescent tube!
Today in the Word, June 24, 1992
