Our paragraph topic is: (On the coming of Elias) Part 5.
The disciples had questions that needed to be answered. Jesus knew that they were puzzled. He had told them to speak to no one about the vision. Yet their minds were abuzz with all the questions that they needed to have answered in order to make sense of what they witnessed. They had heard the voice of God speaking to them, telling them to hear Christ and to listen to him, to listen to what he had to say. They listened and now they had questions. And Christ spoke to them about the questions that they had.
They needed to make sense of all they understood. The disciples needed closure. They needed understanding. They needed clarity. They needed focus. And Christ intended that they should have focus, to have clarity, on all things in due time. For the time had not yet come for the sacrifice. The time had not yet come for the lamb to be slaughtered. And the time had not yet come for the disciples to take their place as the teachers and leaders of Christ, giving witness to his divinity. Indeed Elias had come, and all things were being prepared for the coming of the Lord. So, the disciples were right in seeking to know the truth. They were right in seeking to know of the coming of Elias. And with that truth, they understood. Now they knew. Now they could make sense of all that had transpired. Then the disciples understood that he had spoken to them of John the Baptist.
They understood. They knew. They had clarity of what had happened and what would happen. Do we understand what has happened? Do we understand what has transpired? We all have to make sense of our world to ourselves. We live in this world and it has to make sense to us in order for us to function in it. There is much that goes on around us and we have to find some way to understand all that we experience. If we do not understand then we do not accept and acceptance is the key to helping us as human beings survive in this world.
It is amazing that in this world that we live in, our lives are dictated by our environment. We see, we hear, we smell, we touch, and we believe what is given to us by the world, by our environment. Different people live in different environments and sometimes those different environments cross, intersect and become one. But it is the environment that determines who we are, who we become, and what we believe. There are common threads that cross most environmental boundaries that are common to our experience of the world. We believe in, a god, a higher power, a higher transcendence, something that is greater than ourselves that helps us to know that there is good in the world despite all the evil, and violence, and pain, and suffering in the world. Our belief in a god helps us to believe that there is something good that prevails over all.
Despite our belief in the good in the world, we do not believe in the evil in the world. We do not hold fast to the belief that evil affects, influences, causes, or has real impact on our way of life. Instead we believe that people make decisions to do evil acts, commit violence, cause pain and suffering in the world. Yet there is an overall good God or something, that helps us believe in the good nature of the world. But we do not believe that there is an overall evil in the world that causes us to do evil. And there in lies the subtlety of evil, not to be known but to still have influence.
To those who know and are aware of the evil, they are awake. But to those who do not know and are not aware, they are still asleep. And when one awakes there is still the need for understanding, the need to make sense, the need to know for certain that there is good in the world. Some believe without knowing. Some live their lives thinking that they know and yet do not know. And with that half belief they are open to falling asleep again. For one must know for certain. One must have a knowledge of the truth. One must see through different eyes the world around us and the influence of evil in it to be truly awake.
I was asleep. I was lost. I was dreaming a dream of my own desires led by the beliefs fed to me by the world and the evil therein. I was unknowing and yet lived my life thinking that I knew. And that half knowledge led me down the path of destruction and back to sleep again in the world. Today I know. Today I see. Today I have something real to go to in times of need, in times of pain, in times of temptation, in times of joy, and in times of sorrow. For he was given to me a guide. He was given to me a protector. He was given to me eyes to see the way. And I walk a different path, very thankful that it has been given to me. Come! Walk the path with me. Walk a different path that you may know the truth of who you are in Christ. He awaits you. He seeks you. He desires to know you. And the Holy Spirit will be with you, to guide you along the way. Your treasure awaits. Come! Follow the path.
Read the sign of the times! Read the Highlighted New Testament Bible and lift the scales from your eyes that you may see, that you may know, that you may find the truth of who you are in Christ. Read it as though you would read a good book, from cover to cover, and see for yourself. Do not study it in parts reading one passage and then skipping to another, but read it for understanding. Read it for knowledge. Read it for faith. Read it that your eyes may be opened, that your ears may hear, that your heart may be filled with the light of Christ. The Holy Spirit awaits you. Christ seeks to know you. Open the door and let him in.
