Life Sketches Manuscript

Disappointment of the First Disciples

Christ sent His disciples forth with the message, “The time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.” That message was based on the prophecy of Daniel 9. The sixty-nine weeks were declared by the angel to extend to “the Messiah the Prince,” and with high hopes and joyful anticipations the disciples looked forward to the establishment of Messiah's kingdom at Jerusalem, to rule over the whole earth. LSMS 108.2

They preached the message that Christ had committed to them, though they themselves misapprehended its meaning. They performed their duty in presenting to the Jewish nation the invitation of mercy; and then, at the very time when they expected to see their Lord ascend the throne of David they beheld Him seized as a malefactor, scourged, derided, and condemned, and lifted up on the cross of Calvary. What despair and anguish wrung the hearts of those disciples during the days while their Lord was sleeping in the tomb! LSMS 108.3

But purposes of infinite mercy were reaching their fulfillment, even through the disappointment of the disciples. While their hearts had been won by the divine grace and power of His teaching who “spake as never man spake,” yet, intermingled with the pure gold of their love for Jesus, was the base alloy of worldly pride and selfish ambition. Even in the Passover chamber, at that solemn hour when their Master was already entering the shadow of Gethsemane, there was “a strife among them, which of them should be accounted the greatest,” Their vision was filled with the throne, the crown, and the glory; while just before them lay the shame and agony of the garden, the judgment hall, the cross of Calvary. It was their pride of heart, their thirst for worldly glory that had led them to cling so tenaciously to the false teaching of their time, and to pass unheeded the Saviour's words, showing the true nature of His kingdom, and pointing forward to His agony and death. And these errors resulted in the trial, sharp, but needful, which was permitted for their correction. LSMS 109.1

Though the disciples had mistaken the meaning of their message, and had failed to realize their expectations, yet they had preached the warning given them of God, and the Lord would reward their faith and honor their obedience. To them was to be entrusted the work of heralding to all nations the glorious gospel of their risen Lord. It was to prepare them for this work that the experience which seemed to them so bitter had been permitted. LSMS 109.2

Saith the Lord, “My people shall never be ashamed.” “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.” When on His resurrection day these disciples met the Saviour, and their hearts burned within them as they listened to His words; when they looked upon the head and hands and feet that had been bruised for them; when, before His ascension, Jesus led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up His hands in blessing, bade them, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel,” adding, “Lo, I am with you alway;” when on the day of Pentecost the promised Comforter descended, and the power from on high was given, and the souls of the believers thrilled with the conscious presence of their ascended Lord,—then, even though, like His, their pathway led through sacrifice and martyrdom, would they have exchanged the ministry of the gospel of His grace, with the “crown of righteousness” to be received at His coming, for the glory of an earthly throne, which had been the hope of their earlier discipleship? He who is “able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think,” had granted them, with the fellowship of His sufferings, the communion of His joy,—the joy of “bringing many sons unto glory,” joy unspeakable, “an eternal weight of glory,” to which, says Paul, “our light affliction, which is but for a moment,” is “not worthy to be compared.” LSMS 110.1