Luke 24:36-43

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36 While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” 37 They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. 38 He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? 39 Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.” 40 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet. 41 And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?” 42 They gave him a piece of broiled fish, 43 and he took it and ate it in their presence. ~ Luke 24:36-43

As we come near to the end of our adventure with the Lord Jesus Christ through our study of the Gospel of Luke, we find ourselves in Luke 24:36-43. Today's text continues to describe the most profound of all truths: Jesus Christ died but overcame death by raising from the dead. This is truly the foundation of all hope for all who believe in Jesus Christ as our savior.

There have been throughout history, countless efforts to explain away the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. If it were disproven, Christianity would totally collapse on its face. No, no one has ever been able to disprove the evidence for the resurrection. Christianity stands or falls on the truth of the resurrection. And, since it is true, everything else in the Bible is true.

So, Luke, consistent with the other gospel writers, gives us eyewitness accounts of people who saw the risen Christ. His account continues with two disciples on the road to Emmaus. These two followers of the Lord Jesus had been with the rest of the disciples in an undisclosed location in Jerusalem. On the third day, when they thought He had not risen, they returned to their home in Emmaus. And, as we have considered in previous days, it was on their return home that the Lord Jesus began to reveal Himself to them.

Luke makes sure we understand that everybody told the same story which is so important. Without verification there is no evidence. And, the verification of something is determined by whether everyone involved in the story tells the same story consistently. Here, we have disconnected people in different places having the same experiences at different times, and they all tell exactly the same story. He is bodily risen!

When the two from Emmaus arrived back in Jerusalem, it was likely nine or ten o’clock at night. Even though it was dark and dangerous, they made a bee line to the hiding disciples in Jerusalem. They went back to confirm the testimony of the women who were not being believed, even though they had all independently told the same story.

In Jerusalem, according to John 20, the disciples were so afraid that the Jewish authorities were coming after them, they had the door double bolted. Then, there was this loud and excited banging on the door. We can only imagine how unsettling it was for these petrified disciples when the knock came upon that door so late at night. 

After letting our two Emmaus friends in the door, they heard the delivery of this testimony: “The Lord has really risen.” Then, according to v.36 of today's text, "While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you." 

To a group who were in a state of panic, the Lord Jesus appeared. This is His goal in our lives when we encounter trials of various kinds. In order to experience His purpose, we must focus on Him rather than on the trial. In fact, when we focus on the trial, we inevitably feed the flesh which is always faithful to deliver some form of corruption. But, when we seek Him through the trials, we are truly blessed to see His heart for us with our hearts.

The Lord Jesus had vanished out of the presence of these two from Emmaus and then He appeared to them and the others in Jerusalem in no time. He didn’t appear as the dazzling angels did, and He didn’t appear as transfigured as He had on the Mount with Peter, James, and John. He appeared in His resurrection form, which was not shocking, because Mary just thought He was the gardener. 

In v.37-38 we read, "37 They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. 38 He said to them, 'Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds?"'

In terror, the disciples were stunned, startled and shocked. He had told them many times before that He would raise from the dead. His repeated message did not register until this moment and they were struggling to grasp it with their minds.

These are the moments when God shows up best in our lives. And, the beauty of this is, as we trust Him and resist the urge to manipulate the situation, we are afforded the blessing of knowing Him more deeply and more intimately.

After this, in v.39, He said, “Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.” 

His hands and feet bore the proof that He had been crucified and resurrected. The nature of His glorified body is that it can be whatever, whenever. This explains how He could walk through walls and doors. His glorified body and bones are not like the body and bones He had before His death, they are now structured differently. It’s something different, it’s eternal, it's of the metaphysical world, and it will never deteriorate or die. This gives us a glimpse of what our eternal bodies will be like.

In v.40-41 we read, "40 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet. 41 And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?"

It was at this point that they actually began believing He was the risen Christ, even though they continued to struggle to comprehend what had happened. The disciples were somewhere in the middle of reality and unreality, trying to figure this out. So, to help them, the Lord Jesus asked for something to eat. 

In v.42-43 we read, "42 They gave him a piece of broiled fish, 43 and he took it and ate it in their presence."

The supernatural body of the Lord Jesus was able to conform to any realm and any reality. It was both earthly and heavenly, physical and spiritual. It was transcendent. It could stand one moment on the Mount of Olives while having a conversation with His disciples, and in an instant, disappear into a cloud and go into heaven beyond the end of the infinite universe faster than the speed of light. He did a quantum leap. He could be in Emmaus in one hour and then in a few more hours be in Jerusalem.

In Philippians 3:20-21 we read, "20 But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body." 

One day, perhaps soon, we are going to have a body like His glorified body. When He brings us back to reign in His millennial kingdom, we’ll have a glorified body, and we’ll be able to live adaptable to this earth. And when He wipes out this entire universe, creates a new heaven and a new earth, our adaptability will be set to adapt to that eternal state.

If you have not received the Lord Jesus as your savior, you will not have a body that will endure. In fact, you will spend eternity in hell. To solve this problem, let me encourage you to admit to Him your need for a savior, believe that the Lord Jesus died in your place, and confess your belief that He bridged the gap between you and God while He was judged for your sins on His cross.

Luke 24:30-35

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30 When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. 32 They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?” 33 They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together 34 and saying, “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.” 35 Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread. ~ Luke 24:30-35

We come back to the conversation between the Lord Jesus and the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. In v.30 we read, "When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them." This was odd because this was not a communion service, there’s no wine along with the bread. Breaking bread was a way of describing having a meal with someone. 

The Greek word for hospitality brings together two ideas: love and stranger. We welcome guests we know and love, but welcoming a stranger is different. These two travelers were quick to welcome the stranger they soon learned was none other than the Lord Jesus Christ.

The “breaking of bread” refers to a meal and not to the Lord’s Supper. As far as we know, the apostles were the only ones the Lord Jesus had instructed about the Lord’s Supper, and it was not likely that our Lord would celebrate it at this time. In v.30-31, the Lord Jesus revealed Himself to these sad followers as He broke the bread during a meal with them. Underscored here in these two verses is this idea: We must learn to see Him in the everyday things of life. 

In v.31 we read, "Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight." 

In the same way their eyes were kept from recognizing Him in v.16, their eyes were opened here in v.31. This was something that happened to them. Again, nobody that saw the Lord Jesus after the resurrection really recognized Him unless God opened their eyes. But there are some elements that aided them in the process of coming to see Him for themselves. It was likely that these two believers saw the nail prints in His hands as He broke the bread. It is always through the cross that we are given a clearer perspective on life.

In v.32 we read, "They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?"

These two young disciples had been won by the Word of God, and they did not even know who this Stranger was who was teaching them until He broke the bread. All they knew was that their hearts were “burning” within them, and they wanted the blessing to last.

The more we receive the Word of God, the more we will want to fellowship with the God of the Word. The Lord Jesus opened the Scriptures to them, and then He opened their eyes so that they recognized Him. It was then that they knew for themselves that the Lord Jesus was alive. They had the evidence of the open tomb, the angels, the witnesses, the Scriptures, and now they had their own personal experience with the Lord.  

In v.33-35 we read, "33 They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together 34 and saying, “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.” 35 Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread." 

The two men immediately left Emmaus and returned to Jerusalem to tell the believers that they had met the Lord Jesus. I wonder if they ran all the way back to Jerusalem. The best evidence that we have understood the Bible and met the living Christ is that we have a story with Him to share with others.

These two finally recognized the Lord Jesus in the breaking of the bread because God let them recognize Him. Again, perhaps, as He broke the bread, they saw the nail prints in His hands. They had hoped He would be the Redeemer, and turns out He was; and the past three days and all of the Scriptures now made sense to them.

Imagine had these two not invited this stranger into their home for the evening. They would have missed out on recognizing the Lord Jesus for themselves. This highlights the vital important for us to response positively to the revelation the Lord gives us on a daily basis. Otherwise, we will find ourselves stunted in our walk with Him.

Finally, the bread has always been a picture of the Lord Jesus throughout the Scriptures and now these two truly understood His words, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.”

Luke 24:25-29

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25 He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” 27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself. 28 As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus continued on as if he were going farther. 29 But they urged him strongly, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them. ~ Luke 24:25-29

We return to the Lord Jesus conversing with the two believers on the road to Emmaus. Their faith had taken a severe blow when the Lord Jesus was crucified and buried. We are reminded in Romans 10:17 that “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” This explains why the Lord Jesus opened the Word to these two men as the three of them walked to Emmaus. Their real problem was not in their heads but in their hearts. 

In v.25 of today's text we read, "He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken!"

Their basic problem was they did not believe all that the prophets had written about the Messiah. They saw Messiah as a Conquering Redeemer, but they did not see Him as the  Suffering Servant. As they read the Old Testament, they saw the glory but not the suffering, the crown but not the cross.

Perhaps the Lord Jesus started at Genesis 3:15, the very first promise of the Messiah in the Bible, and traced the promise through the Scriptures. He may have lingered at Genesis 22, which tells of Abraham placing his only dearly loved son on the altar. Surely He touched on the Passover in Exodus, the Levitical sacrifices, the tabernacle ceremonies, the day of Atonement, the serpent in the wilderness, the Suffering Servant in Isaiah 53, and the prophetic messages of Psalms 22 and 69. 

Perhaps He went to Zechariah 12:10 and reminded them that Zechariah had said, “One day Israel would look on Him whom they had pierced.” They were the ones who really did the piercing, though the spear was in a Roman soldier’s hand. 

The key to understanding the Bible is to see the Lord Jesus on every page. Notice that He did not teach them doctrine or prophecy; He taught “all the Scriptures concerning himself.”

It is just like the Lord Jesus to appear to an obscure disciple, one named Cleopas. He is anonymous to us, we know absolutely nothing about them. In a wonderful act of condescension, the Lord Jesus appears to and teaches perhaps the least of His followers. The Lord Jesus always has a heart for the least.

The death, burial and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ are the most important events in the history of this world. The Lord Jesus reminds these young believers that anybody who didn’t see these events in the Old Testament is needlessly foolish and ignorant. Their problem was they had satisfied themselves with a limited understanding of the Bible. 

In v.28 we read, "As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus continued on as if he were going farther."

These two young believers did not yet recognize the Lord Jesus. Even after all of this teaching, they still did not know this was the Lord Jesus walking with them. 

In v.29 we read, "But they urged him strongly, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them."

These two may not have recognized the Lord Jesus just yet but they did recognize the importance of hospitality, so they invited this stranger to stay the night with them. But, this isn’t about hospitality, this is about more teaching. They wanted to learn a lot more from this stranger. 

In their culture, evenings were spent reclining at a table and filled with hours of conversation. And this could have gone on endlessly as far as they were concerned. Their curiosity was piqued. Curiosity does not spring from the heart of man, but is activated by the Spirit of God. In Proverbs 1:7 we read, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.” 

Curiosity is simply a response to God’s creative movements in our lives. Problem is we are too ignorant to His ways of developing curiosity within us. Curiosity is a key ingredient of learning. It leads to knowledge but also to the ability to make connections among various pieces of information. Curiosity is increased by entertaining questions which stimulate inquisitiveness.

Our longest and hardest journeys are not the journeys that take place outside of us but the journeys that take place within us. In fact, most of our journeys in this world are designed to distract us from the vital journeys that must take place within us if we are going places with God. To get us to value the journey within, God often uses things to develop our curiosity abilities. Sadly, most often these things that God uses are most often so unwanted by us that we fail to see God's genius in them.

Curious first-century crowds rushed to hear the Lord Jesus teach and see Him heal. Curiosity initiated interest that led to understanding, hope, faith, and healing. Curious about the future, the disciples asked the Lord Jesus, “Tell us, when will these things happen, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?”

Often we find ourselves frustrated with God, thinking He has not arrived in the clutter in our lives, only to discover that what we thought was unwanted clutter was His way of developing curiosity in us, a curiosity that leads us to see Him more fully as we will see in our next blog tomorrow.

Luke 24:17-24

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17 He asked them, “What are you discussing together as you walk along?” They stood still, their faces downcast. 18 One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, “Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?” 19 “What things?” he asked. “About Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. 20 The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; 21 but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. 22 In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning 23 but didn’t find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. 24 Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but they did not see Jesus.” ~ Luke 24:17-24

As we come back to Luke 24, we are reminded that the Lord Jesus had been crucified, buried and resurrected. It is at this point that we reenter the conversation the Lord Jesus was having with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. 

In v.17 of today's text we read, "He asked them, “What are you discussing together as you walk along?” They stood still, their faces downcast."

The Lord Jesus asked a question to which He already knew the answer. He did this in order to engage these two followers in a meaningful conversation. He was eliciting the confession of their ignorance. The best of all learning devices is to create in the learner the need to know. 

Most believe life is about the exclamation mark, but it really is about the question mark. The exclamation mark stops the pursuit, while the question mark continues the pursuit. The key is the engagement of the heart which is so important in the discovery of truth.

In the movie, The Pursuit of Happyness, Chris Gardner, played by Will Smith, asked the question, "How did Thomas Jefferson know to put the pursuit in there?" 

In an interview with Oprah Winfrey in December 2006, Chris Gardner said "I chose to embrace the spirit of my mom who despite the fact that she had too many of her own dreams denied, deferred and destroyed still instilled in me that I could have dreams."

After the Lord Jesus asked the two on the road to Emmaus His question, "What are you discussing together as you walk along?," "They stood still, their faces downcast."

These of such young faith had been discussing things concerning the Lord Jesus. The question of the Lord Jesus stopped them in their tracks. They looked sad, and they were heartbroken. Their posture was so necessary for them to grow in their faith in the God of the Bible. Without the darkness we would not appreciate the light.

In v.18-20 we read, "18 One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, “Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?” 19 “What things?” he asked. “About Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. 20 The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him."

From the triumphal entry on Monday to the cleansing of the temple to the daily teaching in the temple to the trials of the Lord Jesus to His cross; everybody knew of these events. And they knew that according to Deuteronomy 18:18-22 Messiah was to be a prophet. Yet, the Lord Jesus as they would learn, was much more than a prophet.

That phrase “and all the people” at the end of v.19, reveals that the populace view of the Lord Jesus was that of admiration. They saw Him as a good man and a prophet. All of the people clearly saw His power on display. They also heard His teaching for three years. The accumulative effect caused the people to believe in Him as a prophet.

The two on the road to Emmaus could not comprehend how the people ended up hating and despising the Lord Jesus. So intense was their hatred that they cried out for the murder of the Lord Jesus.

In v.21 we read, "but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place."

The Lord Jesus did not come to be a political liberator. These two followers of the Lord Jesus did not expect His death. And so when He died, He was, in their minds, immediately disqualified as Messiah. 

This is the only time the word “redeem” is used in the book of Luke. But it appears at least 150 times in the Old Testament. All of the Jews knew that to redeem something you had to pay a price to buy it back. 

So they should have known that there was a price. And, they should have known something about what that price was, because they had just finished celebrating the Passover. And they all knew that on the day of Passover, an animal's life was given as the price for God's forgiveness. They should have understood the price of forgiveness. They should have known the Messiah would have to die, yet they didn't.

Then, in v.22-24 we read, "22 In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning 23 but didn’t find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. 24 Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but they did not see Jesus."

Sometimes the Lord brings us to this point of hopelessness in order to prepare us to see Him and to receive His hope. I first turned to Him when I was totally without hope. My mother died when I was five years of age and it was in October of 1981 that my father died. I was left as an orphan on that most hopeless day of my life. It was then, when my world was in a tail spin, that I turned to the Lord Jesus to be my savior.

Biblical hope is not waiting to see what happens and hope that it turns out well. Hope is not a feeling or an emotion. Hope is framed up by the knowledge of facts. To have biblical hope is to have a sure anchor for our souls from the promises in the word of God. Biblical hope doesn’t ignore fear, anxiety, and doubt; it confronts them. This is the point of today's text.

G.K. Chesterton observed that hope only has any real meaning when things are hopeless. “As long as matters are really hopeful, hope is a mere flattery or platitude. It is only when everything is hopeless that hope begins to be a strength.”

Luke 24:13-16

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13 Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. 14 They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. 15 As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; 16 but they were kept from recognizing him. ~ Luke 24:13-16

The most important reality in this world is God’s truth which is only found in the Bible which is the Word of God. All matters of life are contained in the Bible. All of the purposes of God for us from the beginning to the end are discovered throughout the Scriptures. It is hard word to read the Bible and discover its application to our lives in the here and now. This why we do not invest in it more than we do.

In v.13 of today's text we read, "Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem."

Emmaus was a small village located about eight miles northwest of Jerusalem. These two disciples of the Lord Jesus were walking from Jerusalem to Emmaus. Although it was in the middle of the day, they were in the dark regarding the events of the resurrection. They were in the dark for their lack of understanding the Scriptures. 

We live in a world which no longer appreciates a deep understanding of the Scriptures. The greatness of America is clearly traced back to the influence of the Bible on the thinkers of the framers of the U.S. Constitution, the greatest human document to have ever been drawn up.

In fact, C.S. Lewis once wrote, "The founding fathers read the Bible. Their many quotations from and allusions to both familiar and obscure scriptural passages tell us that they knew the Bible well; they knew the Bible from cover to cover. Biblical language and themes liberally seasoned their rhetoric; the phrases and the cadences of the King James Bible, especially, informed their written and spoken words. The ideas of the Bible shaped their habits of mind and informed their political pursuits. The Bible was the most accessible and authoritative text for eighteenth-century Americans. We know this, for example, by looking at probate records, the records, the catalogs, of what people left behind when they died, and they reveal that if a family owned a single book it was almost certainly going to be the Bible. So this was the one book that Americans would be most familiar with."

The American people, as I write this, are largely being deceived because we do not have our moorings in the Bible. We have largely forsaken that which made us great in the first place. Part of the problem is that the Bible is not only information about life and God, it is the very voice of God in print. When we approach the Bible for just information, we miss its ultimate purpose. The Bible was given to us that we might know God personally, and as we grow in a personal relationship with Him, He transforms us from the inside out. And, this transformation transfers the wisdom of God to us.

These two disciples walking on the road to Emmaus had no reason to be discouraged. They had heard the reports of the women that the tomb was empty and that the Lord Jesus was alive, but they did not believe them. They had hoped that the Lord Jesus would redeem Israel, but their hopes had been shattered. Like these men, we get discouraged and disappointed because although we have seen a measure of the glory of God's kingdom, we failed to understand the suffering that ushered His glory in.

Like you and me, these disciples had a lack of understanding of the Scriptures, that’s why they couldn’t deal with the death of Christ. They had no place in their theology for the death of the Messiah, and therefore they had no place in their theology for the resurrection. This was not because they never read the Scriptures. This was due to their partial understanding of the Scriptures. And, a partial understanding of the Scripture is not enough.

In v.14-15 we read, "14 They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. 15 As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them."

The discussion that took place between these two disciples was necessary because all of us have come to that place where we have contemplated with another the meaning of life. This story took place on the Sunday afternoon that the Lord Jesus overcame all that hampers us in our pursuit of the truth. It was the first day of the week and the third day since the Lord Jesus had been crucified. By the time their conversation comes to its end, it’s about to be sundown.

From their point of view, it was over. All their hopes, all their dreams, all their explanations attached to the Lord Jesus had been crushed. And there was nothing to stay in Jerusalem for, the Passover was over. So, they headed home, gloomy, sad, and confused. Perhaps they felt duped.

Their condition of confusion and fear was necessary. This has been my experience along the way. I have wondered to myself, "Is all of this Jesus stuff really real?" This is a provocative question which solicits true self-examination. These types of questions make us assess what we truly know and believe. Asking the right questions helps us to wrestle with the truth and to discover its origin.

In Luke’s gospel, there are about a dozen times when the Lord Jesus taught by asking questions. He did this due to the fact that His hearers had to come to grips with what it was that they knew and believed. In addition, the entertaining of these deeply driven questions enabled them to identify what caused their confusion and ignorance in the first place. 

According to v.15, “As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them.”

Without knowing it these disciples were joined by the Lord Jesus in His glorified form. He was in this glorified form when Mary Magdalene saw Him, and she thought He was the gardener. Even though He had been glorified, there was something really human about Him at that point. His post-resurrected body was not dazzling and His followers were not surprised by His form and appearance. 

In v.16 we read, "but they were kept from recognizing him." There have been many times in my walk with the Lord that I did not recognize Him. And, some of those times, He was the cause of my lack of recognition. These disciples were prevented from recognizing Him by Him. Of course, they could not recognize Him because they were so sure that He was dead. 

Up to this point after His resurrection, every time the Lord Jesus appeared to His disciples, they didn’t know who He was. Mary Magdalene thought He was the gardener. They did not know who He was until He disclosed Himself to them. God’s design for these two was to hold back their recognition until the time He wanted them to see Him.

We should not be surprised that He works this way with us, at times. There are times when I am not ready for certain revelations of Him and He knows it. So, the revelation is delayed. All of this is to say that we must address those things in our lives that we have control over like reading and studying our Bibles with goal of knowing Him. In addition, we can trust Him to work and deliver in our lives in such a way that is best for us and best for those whom we influence.

Luke 24:9-12

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9 When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. 10 It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles. 11 But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense. 12 Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened. ~ Luke 24:9-12

We return to the greatest event to ever happen in the history of man, the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Up until this point in the narrative, the followers of the Lord Jesus were discouraged and drained. Where once their hopes were highly charged, now their hopes were completely dashed. This is always a needful part to the development of our faith in the Lord Jesus.

Napolean once said, "Leaders are dealers in hope." Having hope doesn’t mean that every unwanted thing disappears. Hope is developed in us as we are given opportunities for God to show Himself true to His promise that all things work together for the good of those who are learning to give their hearts to Him. 

In order to be the dealers of hope that these first century followers became, they had to experience the worst darkness to be convinced of the incredible light of the Lord. This is also true for you and me, we must not ignore the framing up of God effect that hopelessness renders in our lives.

In v.9 we read, "When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others." Excitedly, the women hurried to the disciples to tell them about the good news of the resurrection. As we would expect, the disciples were skeptical. In fact, they did not believe. All of our lives, we have been taught that doubt is a bad thing. I have come to appreciate the vital role doubt plays in the development of my faith. I believe it was Philip Yancey who said, "Doubt is the shadow cast by faith." It only makes sense that doubt is useful to the development of our faith for without its questions we would not wrestle with what is really real.

According to John 20:1-10, Mary Magdalene asked Peter and John to come to examine the tomb, and they too saw the proof that the Lord Jesus was not there. When Peter did go to the tomb, it was before Mary Magdalene came back.  It was before the full testimony of the women.  The chronology is clear in John 20. Initially, Peter and John ran to the tomb to verify Mary Magdalene’s story that somebody had stolen the body. John arrived at the tomb first, and after seeing the linen wrappings lying there, he didn’t go in. He was processing all of the information. We all process differently. When Peter arrived at the tomb, he just blew right by John and goes into the tomb.  

The followers of the Lord Jesus heard the testimony of Mary Magdalene and the other women, and then they go to the empty tomb and they see for themselves the empty grave clothes. What is easily missed in all of this is the EMPTY grave cloths. Everything in this world will render us empty, even the grave clothes of the Lord Jesus after His resurrection. That is unless the empty graves clothes render hope in us.

This is the purpose of all that which is of this world, our hurts, our fears, and our negative experiences. God uses all of these and more as stepping stones which lead us into a deeper relationship with Him. And, when this happens, we will swell up with hope, enabled to give it to others.

Very instructive in all of this is after all of this happened, the disciples went back to their homes in Galilee. We must always be aware of the the fact that there will always be a measure of uncertainty with our faith, otherwise faith is not needed. 

As M. Craig Barnes once wrote, "Few things are more dangerous to our spirituality than certainty because our spirituality thrives in the context of choices. Choices we have to make when we are not certain. That’s why God isn’t interested in convincing us he exists or that he loves us. God wants us to choose to have faith in him." 

Luke 24:4-8

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4 While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. 5 In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? 6 He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: 7 ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’” 8 Then they remembered his words. ~ Luke 24:4-8

We return to the resurrection account according to Luke. The empty cross and tomb are God’s proofs that our sin debt has been paid in full. The tomb was empty and for this reason the Roman soldiers guarding it ran away. They were fearful for their lives because they were responsible for the dead body of the Lord Jesus. And they did not know about the scriptures which predicted His resurrection. But, if His body was still there, they would have remained at the tomb guarding it. Their absence speaks volumes.

Note the beginning of v.4, the resurrection of the Lord Jesus produced wonder in the women. Wonder is that sense of awe that enables us to take note of the bigness of God. Most people fail to possess that acute awareness of God which enables us to know Him more deeply.

The grace of God has reached down through His Son into our brokenness to offer us the free gift of forgiveness and personal relationship with Him. Once we have responded to the gospel positively, we enter the process of looking for the living among the dead. Even though the believer is forgiven completely, we still need to learn what it means to have a personal relationship with our Creator.

After these women experienced wonder, they had to experience "fright" as noted in v.5. The development of our ability to worship the God of the Bible involves fear because it is fear that forces us to draw nearer to Him. This is what was happening to these first century believers. But, their worship was misplaced for they bowed before created beings. The object of our worship must always be the Creator rather than the created.

There is a strange connection between our fear and our faith. Our journey of faith in the God of the Bible demands that we let go of our image of Him and ourselves, allowing Him anew to hone our heart's ability to recognize Him. In order to accomplish this, He uses His word in tandem with His creation and our life's experiences to frame up our perspective of Him. As this happens we are more and more equipped to be captured by awe and wonder of Him through even the most unwanted moments in our lives.

And, if the Lord Jesus didn’t rise from the dead, it would have been easy for the Jews to prove that He was still dead. All they had to do was to just present His body. But they couldn’t, so they came up with several lies in an attempt to cover up the truth. 

In v.4 we read, "While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them."  

It was the women who were the first to give testimony about the resurrection. This is important because, if these first century believers were cooking up a hoax, they would not have used the eye witness account from the women for women did not have good standing in their culture. And then, to add to their story, God dispatches two angels to confirm what had been told of throughout the Old Testament.

In v.5 we read, "In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead?"

As the women stood in the dawning sunlight and shadows, they were jolted into the most frightening scene they had ever experienced in their entire lives. Angels not only appeared to them, they also spoke with them.

In the Scriptures, when they appear to people angels always appear in human form. In Mark's account, he describes one of the angels as a young man. That would be a consistent thing for an angel to do because angels do not age. There were two angels, perhaps because according to Deuteronomy 19:15 it takes  two witnesses to validate anything.  

Then, according to Matthew and Mark, one of the angels spoke. And, according to Mark 16:8, after the women heard the message, they went out, fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had gripped them and they said nothing to anyone for they were afraid. This was all a part of the development of their ability to worship the God of the Bible.

In Luke 9:22, the Lord Jesus had told the disciples that "He would suffer many things. Be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day.”

In v.6-8 we read, "6 He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: 7 'The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again. 8 Then they remembered his words.'"

The disciples had forgotten what the Lord Jesus had promised. When we are not in the word on a daily basis, we forget what the Lord has said to us. The Word of God is always faithful to isolate our faulty views of Him, ourselves and others. There are times when God has to frighten us in order to enable us to see life as He does.

The Feast of First Fruits occurred in the Spring around the same time as Passover. The celebration included a reading from Ezekiel 37:3, “Can these dry bones live?” Resurrection, as a result, became a sign of the coming of the Messiah. When we have difficulty recognizing His death, we are not able to expect His resurrection.

On the year the Lord Jesus died, the Feast of First Fruits occurred on the day after His death. He was crucified on Friday, and the Jews celebrated the Feast of First Fruits the following day, reading about the promise of resurrection. The very next day the angels appeared to His followers saying, “He is not here! He is risen! Just as He said!” This is the basis of our hope, the overcoming life of the Lord Jesus over all sin and all death. Thus, we are victorious in the end. The victory is the Lord's and He has graciously shared it with all who are alive enough to believe.