The Gospels/The Life of Christ

Transcription

1 The Gospels/The Life of Christ NT504 LESSON 23 of 24 Terry C. Hulbert, Th.D. Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Columbia Biblical Seminary in Columbia, South Carolina Shall we pray together. Our Father, we thank you again for the death and for the burial of the Lord Jesus Christ because we know that this was essential to his resurrection, as his resurrection was essential to his death and his burial. And as we begin with the awful day of that body being taken down from the cross and lovingly placed in a tomb and the stone rolled in front of the door, Father, we thank You that this was not the end but only the beginning of the explosive power of life that You are to demonstrate to the people of that day and to our day. Again, Lord, we pray that You will help us to perceive this from the standpoint of eternity, but also to see how we can best apply it in our own day and our own lives and our own situations. For we, with Paul, would say that we want to know the power of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Help us to that end, we pray today in our study, for we pray in Jesus name. Amen. As we concluded our last session, we were noting that Joseph of Arimathea had prepared a tomb that nobody had ever been laid in there before, and that it was near the place of the crucifixion. Now there are some strange things about this. First of all, Arimathea was a town over toward the Mediterranean Sea that was some distance from Jerusalem. Why would he prepare a family tomb in Jerusalem? Well many people, many Jews even today, would want to be buried near Jerusalem, near the Mount of Olives and on the Mount of Olives. In fact, the whole side of the Mount of Olives today is a Jewish cemetery. And this is understandable, but what s not understandable is why a member of the Jewish Sanhedrin would want to make a tomb right next to the place of Roman crucifixion. And I suggest that this was not an accident, [and] that it was done deliberately. That it was done some time before; that it was done in preparation for this very event and that, as we have seen, Joseph was not a secret disciple. But rather he was a disciple who had been hidden away, concealed, so that the Sanhedrin would not be on discovering who he was as a follower of Christ able to interfere with his activity in taking the major responsibility for the burying of the body of Christ. 1 of 17

2 Furthermore, we notice, in John 19:39, Nicodemus came also (who had first come to him by night this little phrase seems to stick with him wherever he goes) bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes about 100 pounds weight. Now he brings this on the afternoon of Friday, which is the great feast day, the Passover day, a day in which no place would be open for him to buy this. It s possible, of course, that he had this in some family storehouse or vault, but it s more likely that he bought this ahead of time, also being part of God s plan for the burying of Jesus. It s no accident that he has 100 pounds of this ready to use with the body of Christ. So we see in Matthew s account and Mark s that Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, bound it in linen wrappings with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews (Matthew 27:59; Mark 15:46). So these two men, members of the Sanhedrin, have taken responsibility for the body of Christ, for preparing it for burial and, continuing in John s account, now, In the place where He was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid (John 19:41) We read in the other accounts that it was Joseph that was responsible for this facility. And this concludes the actual preparation of the body for burial. And yet, in section 243, we notice that Mary Magdalene was there. She was there at the cross, she was there at the tomb, she was there at the tomb on resurrection morning, sitting opposite the grave. What would she be thinking as she watched these two men, at a distance, preparing the body, taking it in? And then as they see the stone rolled in front of the open space Mary the mother of Joseph was looking on to see where He was laid and, in Luke s account, we get more detail on these women who came from Galilee (he has written more about them than any other of the Gospel writers). The women who had come with Him out of Galilee followed after and saw the tomb and how His body was laid, and they returned and prepared spices and perfumes, and on the Sabbath day they rested, according to the commandment (Luke 23:55-56). So they go back on that afternoon at home and prepare to bring out some more of these spices on Sunday morning. But being good Jews, obeying the law (and it must have been very difficult for them to have done that), they rested on the Sabbath, which would be from 6:00 p.m. on Friday until 6:00 p.m. on Saturday night. Then in Matthew 27:62: On the next day (which was the one after the preparation), the chief priests [and] the Pharisees gathered together with Pilate, and they said, We remember that while He 2 of 17

3 was still alive, that deceiver said, After three days I m going to rise again. Therefore, give orders for the grave to be made secure until the third day. Of course, Pilate says, Okay you ve got a guard, do and make it as secure as you know how. So Pilate has to cooperate with them in the death of Christ and in the making of the grave secure. So the Sanhedrin took responsibility for this. They made it secure along with the guard. [It is] very interesting, almost amusing, the fact that the Sanhedrin now has responsibility. They couldn t blame somebody else when the tomb was broken. As we come now to resurrection morning, I d like to mention several things, first of all, about the appearances of Christ. First of all, the empty tomb did nothing but reinforce the grief and increase the frustration of Jesus followers. As they came to the empty tomb, this did not encourage them. To us the empty tomb says Jesus has been raised from the dead, and we sing about the empty tomb. But when they saw the empty tomb, it was a source of great frustration. A second thing we need to notice is that the Gospel of Jesus Christ according to I Corinthians 15:4-11 includes the appearances of the risen Christ. So the gospel is not that Jesus died. The gospel is that Jesus died and rose and was seen by people. He appeared to people. And the third thing to note is that the experience of seeing the person of the risen Christ was essential and explosive in the growth and witness of the early church, especially before the completion of the New Testament. So this whole series of postresurrection appearances and the resurrection of Christ is highly significant, and to deny the bodily resurrection of Christ (as people are tending to do more and more today, even in some evangelical circles, asking questions about it) is absolutely contrary to the whole Gospel of Jesus Christ. Now, as we look into section 244, we see the beginning of a sequence of events of these various appearances. And at first it may seem confusing because we have several accounts here, and I think I m just going to sort of walk through the sequence, and then we ll go back and take a little bit of detail. First of all, it seems that the tomb was visited by women before dawn. It s interesting to me that of all the disciples, of all the men, of all the eleven that were back there in Jerusalem (even John and Peter), that nobody got up that morning to come out to the tomb. We know why they were coming out. They were coming out to the 3 of 17

4 tomb to give a further treatment to the body of Christ. Of course, they had seen the stone rolled in front of that tomb, and their major concern was, What are we going to do about the stone? Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome all bring spices out. This apparently is a general statement made here in the first part of section 244 as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to the grave. And in Mark s account, the same thing: Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, that they might come and anoint Him (Mark 16:1). Now we re going to see that later on Mary Magdalene gets to the tomb first, so apparently this is a general statement that they all head out toward the tomb. Then we re going to see that Mary Magdalene arrives first (and I can understand that because she is the most eager person, she is the one that s going to run ahead. She s kind of like the Peter of the women part of the group, if I may put it that way) and she finds the tomb empty. She then goes back to find Peter and John, and she comes back with them. They come back and find the tomb empty and then they go away, having not seen Christ. Then she sees Jesus outside the tomb and then she goes back to the town. Then the women come along and they arrive there and they see Jesus on their way back. He appears to them. So this sequence would account for how the women went together. First, Mary Magdalene saw the tomb, and then the men saw the tomb empty, then Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene, and then He appears to the women on their way back. Then, of course, there are other appearances during that day. In section 245, a severe earthquake had occurred (Matthew 28:1), for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it. It must have been a great privilege for that angel to do that. I don t know how that angel got elected to do it or selected to do it, but imagine having a job of coming down and rolling away the stone and sitting up there and waiting for somebody to come and see what was going on. It s exciting to me. His appearance was like lightening and his garment as white as snow (Matthew 28:3). And it says later that the guards saw the angel (I imagine this angel scared the wits out of the guards) and the guards shook for fear of Him and became like dead men when they saw this angel (Matthew 28: 4). Incidentally, it has been pointed out several times [that] the stone was rolled away not to let Jesus out but to let the people in. And 4 of 17

5 that was their big concern as a matter of fact, when they came out there, they had one great problem, and that is the stone was in front of the grave. When they went away, they had a bigger problem: there was no body inside. So they thought they had a problem of getting into the grave; when they got in they had a bigger problem because there was no body in there, and they expected the body. And one thing we must remember in this whole sequence is that it s very evident that nobody expected Jesus to be alive. This cannot be underscored too much. In the first place, it s difficult for us to understand that from our point of view, because Jesus had so many times spoken of His resurrection. But you remember that we read that they did not understand this resurrection until after it was all over. So the first thing we would be concerned about here is: Why didn t they understand? Why didn t they expect Him to be alive? But the second thing is that if they did not expect Him to be alive, then they made marvelous witnesses to the resurrection. Because the more you re not expecting something, the more significant it is when it does actually happen, in terms of being a witness. Now for instance, take it the other way. Supposing that Mary Magdalene and the other Marys and Peter and John all sat around on that Saturday night and they said, He s going to be raised tomorrow morning, so we don t have anything to worry about. It s all going to be fine. Let s go out there and we ll find Him somewhere or He ll come to us or something. They wouldn t have made such good witnesses. Or if the men going back to Emmaus were saying, for instance, I haven t seen Him yet, but maybe we ll see Him this afternoon or sometime. It s no big deal. You know He went and died, and He ll be back again. We just missed Him for a few hours, kind of thing. But you put it the other way around, when they are saddened, He s gone and so on, then all of a sudden, Did not our hearts burn within us when He talked to us, and they go back all excited. So their lack of belief, although it wasn t good and perhaps it wouldn t be desired, God brought out of that a tremendous excitement. Incidentally, there s an excellent passage on this you might look up sometime, in John 16: In John 16:20-22, He is preparing the disciples in the upper room as part of that discourse for this very period. And He said, It s like a woman who is about to give birth to a child. And for a time she has sorrow, then when the child is born, that baby which has caused her in the birth process to have pain, becomes the source of her great joy. Now He says, Those of the world (that is, those of the Jewish leadership) are now going 5 of 17

6 to be having great joy (that is, at the trial and at the crucifixion) and you will have great sorrow. But there will come a time when I appear (the resurrection) that you, like this woman, will have great joy. Because that which brought you great sorrow (the crucifixion) will now bring you great joy (with the resurrection). A marvelous parallel in John 16: So He had prepared them with that parable ahead for this very sequence. So in section 246, we will follow through, first of all, just to glance through, to see what happened to the women generally, but I remind you that what we have in Mark s and Luke s accounts about the women generally, actually chronologically, apparently took place after He had appeared to Mary Magdalene, which is recorded in John s account. You ll notice in Mark s account, Mark 16:3: Who will roll away the stone for us at the entrance of the tomb. And Luke 24:3: But when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord, the stone had been rolled away. It was extremely large, [and there was] a young man was sitting there in a white robe. They were amazed. He said, Do not be amazed; you re looking for Jesus the Nazarean, who has been crucified. He has risen. Behold, here s the place where they laid Him. Notice they did not tell the women where he was. In fact, they may not have known where He was. Where was He? Keep listening and we ll see where I think He was during this time. Mark 16:7: Go tell his disciples and Peter (wasn t Peter one of the disciples? Yes, but Peter was sort of separated from the group, shall we say, sociologically because of his denial), He is going before you into Galilee, there you will see Him just as He said to you. You remember I pointed that verse out to you in Matthew 26:31-32, that After the resurrection I will meet you again in Galilee. And here s a reminder of the appointment they have with Jesus in Galilee. And this is also recorded in Luke s account. Remember how He spoke to you while He was still in Galilee, saying that all of this thing was going to happen (Luke 24:6-7). So in verses 6 and 7, the angel here is reminding them of what He said up in Galilee, in Matthew 16:21, when for the first time He announced His death, burial, and resurrection. Then in the latter part of it, Matthew 26:32, reminding them that they had an appointment in Galilee. 6 of 17

7 There s quite a bit of emphasis put on this going back to Galilee. And this becomes very important because although Jesus was crucified and buried and raised and appeared to them first in Jerusalem, He had serious business to do with them in Galilee. And it s interesting to me that the two parts of the four parts of what we call the Great Commission took place in Galilee. The first part took place in the upper room (that s in John 20), when He said, As the Father has sent Me, even so send I you. The second part was in Galilee when He spoke to them about going into all the world and preaching the Gospel and so on. Then He comes back to Jerusalem, and in Jerusalem He speaks to them, as we have in Luke 24 that we ll see presently, He tells them about the fact that this Gospel must be preached throughout the whole world. Then also in Jerusalem He tells them about the coming of the Holy Spirit and how they ll be witnesses throughout the whole world. So there are four parts of this so-called Great Commission, but one of the key parts is actually in Galilee. He has business to do with them in Galilee. But there s something else that s going to happen in Galilee which is very, very important, and it ties into Peter. And I think that s why Peter is specially mentioned here. Because it s in Galilee that the events of John 21 take place, when Peter is commissioned to be the leader of the Twelve. In spite of his failure, he is commissioned in front of them all to be the shepherd of the flock, as He [Jesus] the shepherd has been removed. Following on then, let s go back and see, in John 20:1, Mary Magdalene came early to the tomb while it was still dark, [and] saw the stone already taken away from the tomb. On to section 247, she ran and came to Simon Peter and to the other disciple (this is John, of course) whom Jesus loved can you imagine what John and Peter talked about that night? How much sleep did Peter get on Friday night? Did he weep all night? Did John console him? Did John encourage him? There has been some suspicion, as I ve mentioned before in connection with John 18, that there was some rivalry between John and Peter. And yet I look at Acts 3 and I see Peter and John going up to the temple to pray. And I wonder if the experiences of that weekend didn t bind them together. They had both lost their leader and Peter would be in the depths of despair over having denied him at this last opportunity. John had stood there and watched him die at the cross. Did Peter ask John for a further description? How much did John tell him about what really happened at the cross? 7 of 17

8 And perhaps out of sheer exhaustion, they re sleeping soundly through Saturday night, early Sunday morning, and bang, bang, bang on the door and here is the voice of Mary Magdalene shouting at them. And they wake up and she says, They ve taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we don t know where they ve laid Him. We don t know where they ve taken Him. They ve taken his body somewhere. We found the tomb empty, but we don t know where the body is (John 20:2). So Peter therefore went forth (I think that Peter probably ran out of there without thinking of what he was doing particularly) and the other disciple (John 20:3). And they go to the tomb and the two are running together and the other disciple, John, very modestly says that he ran faster than Peter and came to the tomb first (John 20:4). But you ll notice that even at that point he recognizes Peter s leadership because he doesn t go in. He waits until Peter gets there. And in John 20:4-5, we see John s involvement. He came to the tomb first, he stoops and looks in, and he sees the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in (now, we re going to pick that up in just a moment). Peter comes along, he goes right into the tomb, he sees the linen wrappings lying there. So each of them has seen the same phenomenon. And the face cloth, which had been on his head, not lying with the linen wrappings, but [is] rolled up in a place by itself. Now John comes back in, in 20:8: So that other disciple who had first come to the tomb entered then also, and he saw and believed. In other words, he believed that Jesus had been raised from the dead, because he saw that the grave clothes were in such a position that it would indicate that his body had not been stolen. If the body had not been stolen, why wasn t it there? There was only one explanation, that Jesus was alive. Then in John 20:9 it says (and this is John writing it), For as yet they did not understand (and I think the they would refer not just to the two of them but to all the disciples) the Scripture, that he must rise again from the dead. In other words, that s explaining the mystery; that s explaining the frustration; that s explaining Mary who said, I don t know where they ve taken the body. So the disciples went away again to their own homes, obviously without ever having seen the Lord Jesus Himself. Now Mary, who has run into the town and gotten these men stirred up, they ve run out there, they ve seen the tomb, they ve come 8 of 17

9 back, and now she arrives at the tomb. And Mary was standing outside the tomb weeping (notice, she was standing outside the tomb weeping) and as she wept (John 20:11). She gets a little bit curious and she stoops down and she starts to look in. She sees two angels there (John 20:12). Why didn t John and Peter see the two angels? I don t know. It doesn t record that they saw them. Maybe they weren t there then. Maybe they disappeared. One [was] at the feet and one [was] at the head where the body of Jesus had been lying (John 20:12). So it was evident where the feet would have been and where the head would have been by where the grave clothes were. Some have suggested that these grave clothes were wound around to make sort of a cocoon, putting the spices in between the various wrappings and winding so that eventually there would be a hardening. It would be almost like a cast on the body. We don t know that for sure. If so, then it would be like a cocoon that was vacated without disturbing it, which would be strong evidence. On the other hand, we don t know that for sure and it may have just been the windings. And in that short period of time, it is possible the spices would not have spread or whatever. But in any case, they were lying in such a way that they were separate from the cloth, which would have been over the face. The total impact, in any case, was that the body had not been stolen because nobody, if they had stolen the body, would have unwrapped it and left it neatly there and then taken the body away without the wrappings. That would have made no sense at all. So they understood something had happened. In John 20:13, the angels say, Woman, why are you weeping? And again she says, Because they have taken away my Lord and I don t know where they have laid Him (John 20:13). Notice that she believes that there is a dead body somewhere. And in her enthusiastic irrationality, she believes that it s highly important for her to get it back where it belongs, back in the tomb. Again, their problem when they came was that the tomb would be inaccessible, now their problem was there was no body in the tomb. And her whole purpose in life was to get Jesus body and get it back into the tomb. Certainly, she makes a good witness to the resurrection. You can see why she was so surprised when she saw Him standing up. When she had said this, she turned around and she saw Jesus standing there. Notice, Jesus is standing there! (John 20:14). What was she doing before? She was standing outside the tomb. 9 of 17

10 So apparently at one point they both stood together and she didn t recognize Him and did not know it was Jesus (John 20:14). And Jesus said to her, Woman, why are you weeping? Whom do you seek? (John 20:15). And, of course, He takes it a step further because they had asked about, Why are you weeping, but He knows that it s a person that s her problem. She has lost a person, Whom are you seeking? And that kind of directs her attention a little bit into the real issue. And she thought He was the gardener (after all, who else is up in a garden just after dawn by a tomb) and so she says, If you have you carried Him away (John 20:15). Now why on earth would the gardener take the body away? Where would he take the body? Why would he take it away? If you have taken him away, tell me where you have laid him and I will bring Him back (verse 15). Well you can t blame Mary. She wasn t thinking too logically on this. But if the gardener or anybody had taken the body away, they would take it away for a reason and a woman from Galilee coming up and saying, I want to take the body back by myself, isn t going to change their purpose. And Jesus says to her this one word, Mary! (John 20:16). And, of course, we can t escape noticing that He has said, My sheep hear my voice (John 10:27). And this one sheep heard the voice of the shepherd and turned and said, Rabboni! (which means teacher) (John 20:16). Where was Jesus all the time after the resurrection? I believe that it s quite likely that Jesus Who could make this resurrection body appear and disappear at will, which He did on occasion, which He did in the upper room (John 20:19) that if He were anywhere at all visible, that He was standing in that garden all the time. After all, where else would He need to go? Would He go into Jerusalem? Would He go to Galilee? Where would He go? Why? And I suggest that when Jesus came out of the tomb, not even waiting for the stone to be rolled away, that He stood there. And it s quite likely that He was standing there and watching Mary come and Mary go and Peter and John come and Peter and John go and Mary come back and finally Mary notices him. Very likely, He was watching the whole procession going back and forth. I can t prove it, but where else would He be after the resurrection? And He says, Stop clinging to Me (she would drop to her knees and cling to Him at His feet), for I have not yet ascended to my Father, but go to my brethren and say to them, I ascend to My Father and to your Father (John 20:17). Now Jesus, on several 10 of 17

11 occasions, especially in the Upper Room Discourse, had said, I m going to My Father (John 16:10). Jesus Himself never said He was going to heaven. He always said, I m going to the Father. He never emphasized the place. He always emphasized the person. And what does it mean for Him to go to the Father when the Father is spirit? Where is God? Where does He go? Think about that as we come later to study the ascension, what happened at the ascension. But what He is saying to her is, I am going to ascend to my Father and to your Father, My God and your God. Go tell my brethren! (John 20:17). So she had the opportunity, she had the mandate, to go and tell the disciples about the ascension. This was her message. Apparently, she was saying, in effect, Jesus, I ve found You. I m never going to let You go. You re going to say here. And Jesus is emphasizing the fact that It s not going to be like it was, Mary. I m only going to be here temporarily. The next event is that I m going to ascend to My Father. It was something like He said in the Upper Room Discourse, I am going away (John 16:10). That is the emphasis of the Upper Room Discourse. It s the emphasis of this appearance here, I m going away. And Mary Magdalene came announcing to the disciples (can you imagine her face when she burst in on these disciples?), I ve seen the Lord, and He said thus and so to me (John 20:18). But the important thing to her is not just what He said, but [that] she had actually seen Him. It was the most exciting moment of her whole life, and she reports that she has actually seen the Lord. Then in section 249, Jesus appears to the other women, He greets them and they came up and took hold of His feet and worshiped Him (Matthew 28:9). Perhaps again, like Mary did in verse 17, of John s account. And Jesus said, Don t be afraid. Go and take my word to my brethren to leave for Galilee (so here is this emphasis again on going to Galilee) and there they shall see Me (Matthew 28:10). Now actually He s going to see them that night, so He s not speaking here of the fact that, If they go to Galilee, I will appear to them. That was true, but the emphasis here is that When they go to Galilee, I ve got an appointment, I ve got some important business to do with them. Because actually He s going to see them that night, as we ve seen. In section 256, we find that the report gets back to Jerusalem, as it was inevitable that it would, and while they were on the way, 11 of 17

12 behold, some of the guard came to the city and reported to the chief priests all that had happened (Matthew 28:11). And now, just as the disciples sorrow would be turned to joy, the joy of the Sanhedrin is turned to deep sorrow. Because the Sanhedrin thinks that they have solved this whole thing. They have gotten rid of Jesus; this is the end of it all. And now, the guard comes into Jerusalem, and when they had assembled with the elders in council together I think what happens here is that the guards had come in. They had gotten an appointment with one of the officers of the Sanhedrin. And this word had spread. And they called an urgent meeting together to discuss this with the guards. I wonder how carefully they questioned the guards. They asked them what had happened. And the guards probably told them the exact truth. I m sure they did. They said, There was an earthquake. This angel appeared, and this angel rolled the stone back (Matthew 28:2). Did you see Jesus? No, he was nowhere around. What was in the tomb? Nothing. And they look at each other, No body? No body And they look at each other and they think, We ve got a problem on our hands, because we ve got to produce the dead body of Jesus or we re in big trouble. And interestingly enough, we don t read anything about a great body search. Because I think they were afraid that the more emphasis they put on looking for the body and finding the body, the more risk they were taking than if the body were not found, that the point of the resurrection would have been made. Especially when He appears to some people. So they say, We ve got to cover this up. This is probably one of the great cover-up attempts of all of history (Matthew 28:12). How do you cover up a resurrection in a situation like that? You say that His disciples came by night and stole Him away (Matthew 28:13). That s what we thought would happen. That s what we suspected would happen. You say that they stole Him away While you were asleep (Matthew 28:13). While we were asleep? We re guards in the Roman army. We re not supposed to go to sleep on duty. And if we had been asleep, then how would we have known that it was His disciples? And if the disciples came and stole Him away, they would have awakened us, wouldn t they? It doesn t make any sense. They said, Don t worry about that. Don t worry about details. But what happens if Pilate hears this? Then Pilate is going to report us to our commander and we re going to be in big trouble. They said, If this should come to Pilate s ears, we ll win him over and keep you out of trouble. And they took the money and they did as they had been instructed. The Sanhedrin 12 of 17

13 knew it had enough power over Pilate to keep this quiet. The most interesting thing about this to me is that when Peter preached on the day of Pentecost about the resurrection, that there was no counterattack whatsoever (Acts 2). Nobody stood up and said, That s not true, the disciples stole away the body. The disciples were all there. If the disciples had stolen away the body, then why weren t they in prison? Why weren t they put to death? Why didn t the Sanhedrin take action against them? Why didn t Pilate and the Roman government take action against them, because they would have broken the Roman seal on the tomb? There are all kinds of inconsistencies here that you can think of. And all of these things simply give credence to the fact that Jesus Christ really did rise from the dead as He said He would. In section 251, the scene changes to two people walking out to Emmaus.I had an interesting experience recently in a meeting I was in. We were in the home of our host and hostess afterwards and over the mantle was a large picture of the two on the Emmaus road with Jesus. I think most of you are familiar with that picture. And the lady of the house said, I thought this was a very interesting picture and I asked for it and I bought it and I put it up there, and can you explain to me what that picture is about? I almost felt like Philip with the Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8). It s an intriguing thought. Can you tell me what that picture is about? And here it is. What s that picture about? It s about two people who were very disappointed. Two people who lived in the Village of Emmaus, about seven miles away from Jerusalem. They had been in Jerusalem during the events of the last week. They had come up there for the triumphal entry. It s very likely that they were putting down the clothes and the palm branches on that Sunday before (John 12). And they had heard much of what went on. They had seen much of what went on, and then they re talking about it as they leave. Obviously it s the topic of their conversation of the day, about the things that had taken place. It had been a historic week, and they had been there for it all. And in Luke 24:15, it came to pass that while they were conversing and discussing, Jesus Himself approaches and begins traveling with them unrecognized (the second time that morning that He is not recognized, as He walks with them). And their eyes were prevented from recognizing him (as I think was probably the case with Mary Magdalene as well), and He said to them, What are these words that you re exchanging with one another as you are 13 of 17

14 walking? (Luke 24:17). And they stopped and they looked sad. He asked them, What are you talking about? (Luke 24:17) And they stood still and looked sad, and one of them said, Are You only one visiting Jerusalem? Have you just come? Aren t You aware of the things that have happened in these days? (Luke 24:18). And He said, What things? (Luke 24:19). And they said to Him, The things about Jesus the Nazarean, who was a prophet mighty in deed and words (notice, His works and His words that we ve noticed so many times before) in the sight of God and all people, and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him up to the sentence of death and crucified Him (Luke 24:19-20). So they knew the essence of the situation, they knew exactly what had happened. And this undoubtedly was known by all the people in Jerusalem, and they would choose up sides as to which side to be on, the Sanhedrin or on Jesus side. But we were hoping (and here s that wistful statement) that it was He who was going to redeem Israel (Redeem. Notice they don t say, We were hoping that it was He who would free us from paying taxes to Rome, in a political sense, but to redeem Israel. This is what Zechariah had said in his prophecy concerning John the Baptist and Jesus, and also what Simeon had said, Redeem Israel ). Indeed, besides all this, it s the third day since these things have happened (Luke 24:21). In other words, three days have gone by and it s all over now and they obviously didn t know about the resurrection. But they did have an interesting postscript to this. There were some women among us This tells us that these men were at least in the inner group with Jesus, if not of the eleven and they amazed us (Luke 24:22). They said They were at the tomb this morning and they didn t find His body. And they came saying that they had seen a vision of angels who said that He was alive (Luke 24:23). So apparently they had left before they had gotten the exact witness. And some of those, (perhaps referring to men) who were with us (that would be Peter and John) went to the tomb and found it just exactly as the women also had said; but Him they did not see (Luke 24:24). So apparently they had left before Jesus had actually been sighted (Luke 24:22-24). And He said to them, O foolish men and slow of hearts to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary for Christ to suffer these things? (Luke 24:25-26) In other words, 14 of 17

15 what He s saying is, You have forgotten that part of the ministry of Messiah was not only to reign, but also to redeem. And when you have spoken of redeeming Israel, that means taking their sins away. That means moving in and taking the penalty for sin. That means death on the cross. Isaiah 53: That Christ should suffer these things to enter into His glory. Entering into His glory? This would be a reflection, of course, of Matthew 24:30 and 25:31, when He comes in great glory. So we see in the middle part of this verse, Christ suffering these things (referring to the cross), His coming to redeem, and the latter part, His coming to rule. Beginning with Moses and with all the prophets (Old Testament survey, of course, here), Isaiah 53, He explained to them the things concerning Himself and all the Scriptures (Luke 24:27). And as they approached the village, He acted as if He would go further (Luke 24:28). He was not deceiving them. He did the same thing when He came to the boat on the water. He acted as if He s going further (Luke 24:28). This is simply a courteous way of saying, If you want Me to stay, I will. So they say, Yes, stay with us. And He went in to stay with them (Luke 24:29). And [He] was reclining at a table with them and He took bread and blessed it and broke it and gave it to them, (Luke 24:30) as the host. And their eyes were opened and they recognized Him and He vanished from their sight (Luke 24:31). We ve noticed before the importance of this breaking of bread for fellowship and the Bread of Life concept. I think this also is a preview of their breaking the bread in the early church. You remember in Acts 2:42, they went from house to house, they were with one accord, and they broke their bread together. Perhaps in the early churches they broke their bread together. They remember the time when these disciples from Emmaus had broken bread with Christ, and He had broken it for them. Then, of course, they say, Was not our heart burning within us while He was speaking to us in the road (Luke 24:32). Didn t we notice something different as He was explaining the Scripture to us? Now, of course, we cannot obviously imitate perfectly Luke 24:32. But I think it should be a model to us in teaching the Bible that when people hear us explain the Bible, their hearts would burn within them. That we would be excited about the Word of God and what it says and how truthful it is. In section 252, they arose that very hour, the come back to 15 of 17

16 Jerusalem (Luke 24:33). They expect that they re going to be the first ones to tell the others that they have seen Jesus. And they found gathered the eleven and those who were with them (Luke 24:33). So it s more than just the remaining eleven; there would be probably the women there. There would be others. And as they come in ready to tell their story, they get interrupted because the people there say, Guess what, the Lord has really risen. He s appeared to Simon (Luke 24:34). So Jesus appeared that afternoon to Simon Peter by Himself. And then they began to tell about their experience on the road and how they had recognized Him. So you can imagine what a scene that was. But except for these two men from Emmaus and Peter, three of them in the room, none of the other men have seen Jesus. And I don t know why Jesus waited until later to appear to them. Perhaps it was because He had this special message for them what we call, the Great Commission, when He came. But it may also be because He expected the words of these women to be believed, and when they did not believe the words of the women, who were the eyewitnesses, first of all to Jesus resurrection, that maybe the men had to wait a little bit. So in section 253, we find Jesus coming into the upper room that very night, in John s account (which is fullest on this), coming in evening of the first day of the week. The door was shut where the disciples were for fear of the Jews. Jesus came and stood in their midst and said, Peace be unto you (John 20:19). [It is] very interesting that they were in the upper room, probably the same upper room where they had had the Last Supper with Him, although we don t know that for sure. Perhaps they had rented the room for the weekend or for the whole week, we don t know. But it says, for fear of the Jews (John 20:19). Why would they have to fear Jews? Why would they lock the door? I think certainly because as followers of Christ they would be vulnerable. If their leader was crucified, it s quite possible that they could expect arrest right after that because Annas had said, Tell me about your disciples (John 18:19). So they could be vulnerable. And secondly, if they wanted to make the story stick about the disciples stealing the body, then one way to do it would be to arrest the disciples as body stealers, even though you couldn t produce the body. [They could] at least arrest them on suspicion. And Jesus appears in their midst without even opening the door. This was a shock to them. And He said the Peace be unto you 16 of 17

17 (John 20:19) the normal greeting, and in Luke s account and Mark s account, we find that they were reclining at the table and they were very troubled. In Luke s account, 24:38: Why do doubts arise in your heart? Look at My hands, look at My feet. I m actually the same one. Here are the marks of the crucifixion, and they still wouldn t believe. And in Luke 24:41, Have you anything to eat? This must have shocked them. And they gave Him a piece of broiled fish and He took and ate it before them (Luke 24:42-43). [It is] interesting that it was fish. They ate a lot of fish, but fish is what they had eaten very frequently by the Sea of Galilee together. And Jesus shows them His hands and His side, and the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord (Luke 24:40). And then Jesus makes three statements that form the first foundation, we might say, the first corner of this four-sided challenge to them to reach the world with the gospel, this great mandate for missions, we might say. First, in John 20:21: As the Father has sent Me, even so send I you. That s a general statement, a basic statement, the most basic possible statement He could make. Second, He said, Receive the Holy Spirit (John 20:22). They are going to need the Holy Spirit to do this mission. And third, it s a very important mission, because it will result in the eternal destiny, one way or the other, of the people that you are sent to reach (John 20:33). In our next session, we will take a further look at that and then move on to the final appearances of Christ to His disciples. Christ-Centered Learning Anytime, Anywhere 17 of 17