When we have read these verses, we could come to the conclusion that when the disciples heard this command, they packed their luggage, said their good byes and went. But that is not the case! It is a resume of what eventually happened, but Jesus did tell them other things which happened before they actually went. Luke, in his gospel, says something a bit different to what wrote Matthew and Marc, the difference which is very important, complements what they wrote and is part of the same command, so Luke has written: ‘This is what I told you while I was still with you. Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms. Then He opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them: This is what is written. The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things; I am going to send you what my father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high’. (Luke 24: 44-49)!! Many have gone too quickly and unprepared, and like the disciples they toiled all night and caught nothing! Oh. One can do many things and many things are done, by a lot of people! But I am not talking about them, I am trying to address the Christians, who in this age believe the Gospel and are ready to go and preach it! Firstly, one must be sent, secondly one must go where the Master sends him! One goes where Jesus wants him to go but only when one is equipped by the power of the Holy Spirit, and has a good knowledge of the Gospel, just as it is written in the New Testament, and dedicate himself to spread it totally as it is! Friends, up to this very day, Jesus still anoints those He sends and pours the Holy Spirit into them! Then He says: Lo, I am with you to the end of the age! 

So, whereas the command to go and preach was clearly stated by Matthew and Mark, yet Luke, in his search, found that Jesus told his disciples not to go until they were baptised with the Holy Spirit. This is what He said to his disciples just before he was taken up to heaven: ‘This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms. So, there are references to Christ in the Old Testament, by prophesies from various prophets. God also spoke directly to chosen men like Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. By types which are in great numbers in the life of the people of Israel, everything in the Tabernacle just as much in the institution of the priesthood and the sacrifices they were told to offer! Everything points to Jesus Christ and has been fulfilled on the Cross. It is at the Cross that the old ends and the new begins! After Jesus said that: ‘He opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them: this is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in His name to all nations, beginning in Jerusalem. (Luke 24: 45-47) Three years they followed Jesus, heard Him say things out of this world, but they could not really understand all he said until then, for obviously it could not have happened before. The resurrection of Christ brought a seal on so many statements of scriptures, which only make sense when one is born of the Holy Spirit!

Christians often wonder why there are so many different views about the Bible. Here we have the answer, for unless Christ-Jesus opens the mind to the truth remains hidden. Philosophers and most scientists, and, even unconverted priest or church leaders, cannot understand the spiritual sense of the word of God! The godlessness of this generation is due to the fact, that such men have gained notoriety in the eyes of the people, and yet they have misled them from the only one that can fill the emptiness of their soul. Now, up to that moment, when Jesus opened the minds of His disciples, they, though born again where not able to go and preach the truth concerning Jesus-Christ, for they had not been fully equipped to do it! Even after the Lord did it, He still said: You are witnesses of these things. (but) I am going to send you what the Heavenly Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.’ Every Christian must wait in God’s presence, and ask Him to fill Him or her with the Holy Spirit. It is when one is filled with the Holy Spirit that one knows the difference He makes, I cannot go into it all now, but I shall!