Intermission Series

Luke 24: 35 – 53

Intermission

35 And they told about the things that had happened on the road, and how He was known to them in the breaking of bread. 36 Now as they said these things, Jesus Himself stood in the midst of them, and said to them, “Peace to you.” 37 But they were terrified and frightened, and supposed they had seen a spirit. 38 And He said to them, “Why are you troubled? And why do doubts arise in your hearts? 39 Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself. Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have.” 40 When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His feet. 41 But while they still did not believe for joy, and marveled, He said to them, “Have you any food here?” 42 So they gave Him a piece of a broiled fish and some honeycomb. 43 And He took it and ate in their presence. 44 Then He said to them, “These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.” 45 And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures. 46 Then He said to them, “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, 47 and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 48 And you are witnesses of these things. 49 Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.” 50 And He led them out as far as Bethany, and He lifted up His hands and blessed them. 51 Now it came to pass, while He blessed them, that He was parted from them and carried up into heaven. 52 And they worshiped Him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, 53 and were continually in the temple praising and blessing God. Amen.

In our last study we were talking about our Lord’s various appearances after He had risen from the dead. On the road to Emmaus He came across two of his disciples who were going home. They had believed that He was the promised Messiah. Yet, when things happened that did not match their belief system they quit and went home. Has the same thing happened in your life? Has there been any reason in your life that you just quit? The apostle Paul who went through many trials and tribulations and he tells us though he was knocked down he got back up. I guess you can call him the original ‘Rocky’.

So, today we are going to complete our study of the Gospel of Luke. After our Lord Jesus opened these two guys eyes, they immediately returned to Jerusalem to tell as many of the followers of Jesus what they experience. I would like to say that we are not finished with Luke. In fact we are just at ‘intermission’ For Luke is going to pick up his pen and give us part two which he titles, ‘Acts’.

35 And they told about the things that had happened on the road, and how He was known to them in the breaking of bread.

The two from Emmaus told their story, explaining what had happened on their journey, and how the risen King of Kings and Lord of Lord’s our Adoni Yeshua had been made known to them in the breaking of bread.

We now come to the climax to which all that has gone before is building up, the appearance of the risen Lord Jesus Christ to His Apostles and His ascension into Heaven. For Luke it is the ultimate moment. He is being revealed as the Son of the Most High, El Elyon.

In this passage He comes to them, shows them His hands, and His feet, eats with them and makes clear to them the genuine reality of His resurrection. It is the final earthly evidence of Who He is, which would gradually come home to their hearts as it did so vividly to Thomas.

Just as we have read about our Lord Jesus’ baptism Luke had made clear that the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form, so now does he make clear that our Lord Jesus really did appear in His real resurrected body. It was a body that could be felt and touched. Please note that His Body consisted, of flesh and bones (the mention of blood is noticeably absent). Here was the ultimate evidence of the resurrection.