Luke 24:45
“And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the scriptures.”
Here, the Lord Jesus appeared to His disciples after His resurrection and just prior to His ascension. At this late date in the ministry of Christ, the disciples were still without understanding. In verse 41, it is indicated that even though Jesus showed physical evidence that He himself had risen from the dead {by showing scars on His hands and feet} the disciples “still did not believe for joy.” They essentially decided in their hearts not to believe that before them stood the resurrected Christ. Therefore, Jesus began to expound to them all of the scriptures from the law, and the prophecies in the psalms that related to the coming of the Messiah. Once the Word of God with its prophecies was foundational laid out, then Jesus opened their understanding so that they might comprehend the scriptures- meaning so that they might realize that Jesus, the one before them had accomplished every single Messianic prophecy given and that conclusively, based on that fulfillment could be acknowledged and accepted as the resurrected Messiah.
This may sound odd because it was these same disciples who earlier averred that Jesus was the Christ. However, the natural mind, if not kept in the constant presence and awareness of the Holy Spirit will begin to disbelieve the scriptures for they are at enmity with one another. The disciples were allowing their natural minds to shut off the scriptures and thus the scriptures became of little use in verifying the identity of the Messiah as He was in reality. These were the beginning stages of a darkened understanding.
This verse is still meaningful and significant for end times believers so far removed from the first century church. We have all read the scriptures and had no understanding of their meaning nor any revelation of their direction toward Jesus Christ. When this happens, we too are in the beginning stages of a darkened understanding. Romans 1:21 declares that when we do to glorify God as God, when we are not thankful, we begin to engage foolish hearts and our understanding begins to dim. What then must be done to gear our hearts and mind against the darkness and futility?
There are a sequence of actions to be taken in such a situation. First, we must glorify God as God. That means to acknowledge that He is God and that we are not and as such our reasoning is discounted in trustworthiness. Next we must be thankful unto Him for His Word and abundance of blessings. This thankfulness will open our hearts to believe with no doubting that what is written in the Word of Him is true and not to be questioned by natural reasonings. Third, we must ask God and believe that He will open our understanding that we might comprehend the scriptures. In particular, we must become baptized with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the author of the scriptures and He alone can explain to us what they mean. Once we have received His active manifestation in our lives through this baptism, then we will have the understanding that we seek of the scriptures.
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