Many times people say, “I just can’t understand the Word.” But God opens the door of people’s hearts so they can understand the Word.
For example, let’s look at something that happened after the resurrection. Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and some of the women who had ministered to Jesus came to the sepulchre that first Easter morning.
Idle Tales
They saw the empty grave, and two angels spoke to them saying, “He is not here, but is risen…” (Luke 24:6). Then the women went to tell the disciples the good news.
[the women] returned from the sepulchre, and told all these things unto the eleven, and to all the rest. It was Mary Magdalene, and Joanna, and Mary the mother of James, and other women that were with them, which told these things unto the apostles. And their words seemed to them as idle tales, and they believed them not.
(Luke 24:9-11)
The disciples didn’t believe the women’s report that Jesus was alive. Their words seemed as “idle tales” to the disciples because the eyes of their hearts were not yet opened or enlightened by the Word. God had to open their understanding so they could comprehend the events that had just transpired.
You see, the Word of God is a sealed Book to many people. That’s why even some Christians say, “I just can’t understand the Bible.”
We find an example of two men in the Bible who were like that until Jesus opened the eyes of their understanding by opening the truth of the Word to them.
These two men walked along the road to Emmaus on that first Easter day so long ago. Suddenly a stranger came along and joined Himself with them.
He began to question them about what they were discussing. They said to Him, “You must be a stranger in Jerusalem. Don’t you know what’s been happening?”
And it came to pass, that, while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near, and went with them. But their eyes were holden that they should not know him.
(Luke 24: 15-16)Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?
And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself….
And it came to pass, as he [Jesus] sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them. And their eyes were opened, and they knew Him; and he vanished out of their sight.
And they said one to another, did not our hearts burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?
(Luke 24:25-27, 30-32)
Jesus said that it was because the disciples were “slow of heart” that their eyes were “holden” or spiritually closed so they didn’t know Him. Well, how did Jesus get their spiritual eyes opened or enlightened?
He unveiled the Word to them! He opened the truths of the Word so they could see Him in the Scriptures. Verse 27 says, “And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.”
Jesus had to open the Scriptures to these two disciples before they could understand the Word.
Jesus the Living Word opened and revealed the written Word to them.
Walk With The Master
These two disciples were receptive to the Word, so it got into their hearts. Once they received the Word “…their eyes were opened, and they knew him.” The Word opened their eyes so they could know Jesus!
You see, the eyes of their understanding had to be opened before they could understand the truth of God’s Word. The Bible said that when the eyes of their hearts were opened, then they knew Him (v. 31).
You see, my friend, in order for this marvelous Book—the Bible—to be opened to you, you have to walk with the Master.
That’s the reason the Bible is a closed Book to some Christians. Many of them are not walking with Jesus in close fellowship; they are following Him afar off.
When you follow Jesus afar off, you can be “slow of heart” even as those disciples were on the road to Emmaus.
But when believers walk closely to the Lord and ask Him to open their spiritual eyes, they can begin to see truths in the Word they’ve never seen before.
by Kenneth E. Hagin.
Excerpt permission granted by Faith Library Publications
Rev. Hagin served in Christian ministry for nearly 70 years and was known as the "father of the modern faith movement." His teachings and books are filled with vivid stories that show God's power and truth working in his life and the lives of others.
Rev. Hagin was born on Aug. 20, 1917, in McKinney, Texas, a son of the late Lillie Viola Drake Hagin and Jess Hagin.
Rev. Hagin was sickly as a child, suffering from a deformed heart and an incurable blood disease. He was not expected to live and became bedfast at age 15. In April 1933 during a dramatic conversion experience, he reported dying three times in 10 minutes, each time seeing the horrors of hell and then returning to life.
In August of 1934, Rev. Hagin was miraculously healed, raised off a deathbed by the power of God and the revelation of faith in God's Word. Two years later, he preached his first sermon as pastor of a small community church in Roland, Texas.
In 1937, Rev. Hagin was baptized in the Holy Spirit and began ministering in Pentecostal churches. During the next 12 years he pastored five churches in Texas: in the cities of Tom Bean, Farmersville (twice), Talco, Greggton, and Van. In 1949, he began an itinerant ministry as a Bible teacher and evangelist.
During the next 14 years, Jesus appeared to Rev. Hagin eight times in visions that changed the course of his ministry. In 1966, he moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he opened a ministry office. That same year, he taught for the first time on radio—on KSKY in Dallas. In 1967, he began a regular radio broadcast that continues today as Faith Seminar of the Air. Teaching by his son, Rev. Kenneth W. Hagin, is also heard on the program.
In 1968, Rev. Hagin published the first issues of The Word of Faith magazine, which now has a monthly circulation of more than 250,000. The publishing outreach he founded, Faith Library Publications, has circulated more than 65 million copies of books by Rev. Hagin, Rev. Hagin Jr., and several other authors worldwide. Faith Library Publications also has produced more than 9 million audio teaching tapes and CDs.
Other outreaches of Kenneth Hagin Ministries include RHEMA Praise, a weekly television broadcast hosted by Rev. and Mrs. Kenneth W. Hagin; RHEMA Correspondence Bible School; RHEMA Alumni Association; RHEMA Ministerial Association International; RHEMA Supportive Ministries Association; the RHEMA Prayer and Healing Center; and a prison ministry.
In 1974, Rev. Hagin founded RHEMA Bible Training Center USA and in 1976 moved the school and ministry offices to Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, where they remain. To date, RHEMA Bible Training Center USA has 23,000 alumni, and RHEMA Bible Training Centers have opened in 13 other nations: Austria, Brazil, Colombia, Germany, India, Italy, Mexico, Peru, Romania, Samoa, Singapore, South Africa, and Thailand. Together, the 14 schools have more than 28,000 graduates worldwide.
RHEMA Bible Church, pastored by Rev. Hagin Jr., began holding services in October of 1985 on the RHEMA campus in Broken Arrow and has since grown to become a thriving congregation with more than 8,000 members.
Rev. Hagin's daughter and son-in-law, Pat Harrison and the late Doyle "Buddy" Harrison, founded Harrison House Publishers in 1975 and Faith Christian Fellowship International Church in 1977. Both organizations are based in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Until shortly before his death in September 2003, Rev. Hagin continued to travel and teach throughout the United States and into Canada conducting All Faiths' Crusades and other special meetings.