If you have ever struggled with having too little disk space on your computer, you've probably run into the workaround of using cloud management for your files. If you pay for cloud-based storage like iCloud or OneDrive, then you can manage your lack of physical storage on your device by simply telling the application to upload your larger files to store in the cloud and keep more space free. What you see on your computer will be a filename, but this only represents the large body of data that is connected but is stored in the cloud until you need to access it. At that time, it will be downloaded to your device, fully decompressed and ready to see in it's fullness.
If we read attentively through the Gospel accounts, we notice something similar. It's hard to miss the fact that the disciples, including the Apostles, and even the inner leadership circle of Peter, James, and John who saw Jesus in his glory on the mountain - all these seemed to struggle to grasp fully the very clear statements Jesus made about his suffering and death that were awaiting him in Jerusalem. This was part of a bigger picture of limited access to understanding and recognition that was poignantly illustrated in several stories, e.g., the disciples on the road to Emmaus, or the disciples catching fish only after the man on the shore tells them to switch sides, etc. We keep seeing the disciples NOT seeing - not understanding clear statements fully and not even recognizing their miraculous Savior after following him around the countryside for over two years.
They weren't dull. They DID have preconceived notions about the Messiah's mission that aligned more with his second coming than his first, but something more was going on with this failure to comprehend. Consider the following samples:
Luke 18:34 (CSB)
They understood none of these things. The meaning of the saying was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was said.
Luke 19:42 (CSB)
“If you knew this day what would bring peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes.
Luke 24:15–16 (CSB)
And while they were discussing and arguing, Jesus himself came near and began to walk along with them. But they were prevented from recognizing him.
In his teaching ministry Jesus fulfilled the propositional revelation of God to man. He gave greater clarity to what the prophets had been given, he cleared up misunderstandings, and he pointed beyond cognition to the heart. (This is the obvious pattern in the Sermon on the Mount. He moves from "You have heard..." to "But I say to you...")
The disciples - especially the Twelve - followed Jesus around and soaked up this revelation. However, their spirits did not yet have the capacity (disk space) to fully receive it. So, the crowds heard and picked up some. Jesus often dumped data in parables which required decoding. The disciples picked up a bit more, but as we know, even they didn't fully grasp it all. As we see above, they were even being KEPT from grasping it all for a while. Until when?
With the completion of Jesus' mission - affirmed in his resurrection - but especially with his ascension to the Father and sending of the Holy Spirit (another Paraclete), the time for full download had come. This explains all the assertions "they did not understand" (Mk 9:32; Lk 2:50; 9:45; Jn 10:6; 12:16; 20:9). Jesus told his disciples that when the Spirit came he would bring his teachings to mind and give them whatever they needed to say in testifying to the gospel:
John 15:26–16:14 (CSB)
26 “When the Counselor comes, the one I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father—he will testify about me. 27 You also will testify, because you have been with me from the beginning.
1 “I have told you these things to keep you from stumbling. 2 They will ban you from the synagogues. In fact, a time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering service to God. 3 They will do these things because they haven’t known the Father or me. 4 But I have told you these things so that when their time comes you will remember I told them to you. I didn’t tell you these things from the beginning, because I was with you. 5 But now I am going away to him who sent me, and not one of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ 6 Yet, because I have spoken these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. 7 Nevertheless, I am telling you the truth. It is for your benefit that I go away, because if I don’t go away the Counselor will not come to you. If I go, I will send him to you. 8 When he comes, he will convict the world about sin, righteousness, and judgment: 9 About sin, because they do not believe in me; 10 about righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will no longer see me; 11 and about judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.
12 “I still have many things to tell you, but you can’t bear them now. 13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth. For he will not speak on his own, but he will speak whatever he hears. He will also declare to you what is to come. 14 He will glorify me, because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.
So, when the Holy Spirit came to - and INTO - the apostles their hard disks were expanded and they experienced the great download of all those compressed files. Suddenly, the fullness of Christ's revelation came to them and enabled them to testify powerfully to his completed mission to save from sin through his atoning death on the cross and to codify his teachings in their apostolic writings.
While the work of the apostles came in a foundational era, one necessary to bring the church to maturity through those apostolic writings, all of us disciples today have come through a similar experience of spiritual download. Lost in our sin, at some point we were exposed to the propositional truths of the gospel, which for some time (perhaps decades!) seemed inaccessible to us until the Spirit awakened us and moved our hearts to receive the truth. Upon conversion, our spiritual "hard drive" was able to begin receiving fully the content of God's revelation of himself to us and the compressed files expanded and filled our souls. The ongoing life of progressive sanctification then might be described as a series of "software upgrades" that help us to understand better and progressively behave more like Christ.
Cool, right?
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