PROCLAIM AS COMMANDED
Luke 24:44-48
This message was delivered on January 30, 2026, at the 49th National Convention of the Gideons International in the Philippines.
The disciples faced an enormous challenge. The Lord gave them an impossible assignment. They were to proclaim the gospel and make disciples of all nations. The challenge: many of the Jewish leaders did not believe in Christ, and their world was diverse, multicultural, and polytheistic. Yet their confidence would not be in their own abilities; it would come from the Lord Jesus Christ.
The risen Lord Jesus appears to His disciples and gives them both clarity and commission. He shows them that His suffering, death, and resurrection were not unexpected tragedies, but the fulfillment of all that was written in the Scriptures. He opens their minds to understand the Word and calls them to proclaim repentance and forgiveness to the nations. These verses serve as a bridge between Christ’s finished work and the church’s ongoing mission. In this passage, we see that the gospel is rooted in Scripture, revealed by Christ, and entrusted to faithful witnesses. This passage is another version of the Great Commission.
Fulfilled
The risen Lord Jesus reminded His disciples that everything written about Him in the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms, the threefold division of the Hebrew Scriptures, must be fulfilled. He emphasized that His life, death, and resurrection were not unexpected events but the fulfillment of God’s redemptive plan revealed in Scripture.
Luke 24:44-45: Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” 45 Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures
Then He graciously opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, showing that true understanding comes by divine illumination. Today, the Holy Spirit continues to open the minds of those who believe. For without the Triune God’s grace to understand, no one would.
Resurrection
The Scriptures foretold the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The disciples witnessed both His crucifixion and His resurrected body. They would soon proclaim these events and explain their meaning to the world.
Luke 24:46: and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead.
At the heart of this message is the truth that Christ became sin for us, as Scripture says, “He made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21).
Jesus bore the full penalty of sin in the place of His people, satisfying the just wrath of God. On the third day, He rose from the dead. Because He was without sin, death had no claim on Him.
Repentance
The Lord Jesus instructed His disciples to proclaim repentance for the forgiveness of sins. This message was to go to all nations, starting in Jerusalem, the very place where He was crucified and raised.
Luke 24:47-48: and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things.
Repentance is not optional in gospel preaching. Jesus did not suggest this message; He commanded it. Proclaiming repentance in His name means doing so on the basis of His authority and redemptive work. Therefore, any faithful proclamation of the gospel must include a clear call to repentance. To leave it out is to neglect a central element of Christ’s own commission.
The eleven were called to be witnesses of the suffering, death, and resurrection of Christ. They are witnesses that repentance for forgiveness must be proclaimed to all the nations. Moreover, they are witnesses that Christ fulfilled the Old Covenant.
Application
1. Believe and proclaim that the Lord Jesus fulfilled the promises and prophecies in the Old Testament. Pray that the Holy Spirit will open our minds to understand that Christ fulfilled the Old Covenant.
2. Believe and proclaim the apostles’ witness of the suffering, death, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Without the resurrection, there is no gospel. It is at the heart of the gospel message. We cherish it and never tire of talking about it.
3. Christ expects that we proclaim repentance for the forgiveness of sins, in His name, and into all the nations. We should never neglect proclaiming repentance. Those who believe will truly repent, and those who repent will truly believe. To neglect to proclaim it is disobedience.
4. If people believe, we hope to nurture them in faith in a church community. If not, we pray they read the Scriptures and see the wisdom of it, so either they one day believe or they adhere to the fundamental Judeo-Christian values.
Conclusion
Our mission is to spread the apostles’ witness. Like the apostles, we face modern challenges. The battlefield is in our homes, campuses, and workplaces. In our proclamation, we should not remove the key elements of the gospel. Yet, we should be able to address present-day threats.
Here are some of the threats we are facing: atheism, deconstructionism, gender identity, moral relativism, and more. We must learn to dialogue and frame our presentation of the gospel, but the gospel remains constant. We express our willingness to work for the gospel, to live it, and even to die for it.
Poem
PROCLAIM REPENTANCE by Ed Pilapil Jr The Prophets, the Psalms, and the Law According to Christ, they foresaw The Lord Jesus and His coming His life, suffering, and dying It is written, the Lord did say That He would rise on the third day The apostles witnessed this thing Something that we should always sing And then the Lord commanded them A mission that could overwhelm Without His Spirit of promise Impossible, that’s the premise The commission is to proclaim Proclaim repentance in His name Repentance for sins forgiveness To all nations and nothing less Therefore, today we should proclaim The gospel message in His name He suffered, died, and rose again We preach repentance to all men If we then neglect to proclaim Repentance in His holy name We disobey His clear command I hope we fully understand We will not shirk; we shall explain His finished work, it is that plain Forgiveness of sins we must preach Therefore, repentance, we must teach
Study Guide
1. What did Christ fulfill? What did He do with the disciples? (Lk 24:44-45)
2. What was written about Christ? (Lk 24:46)
3. What should be proclaimed in His name and to whom? (Lk 24:47-48)
