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.
36 Now as they said these things, Jesus Himself stood in the midst of them, and said to them, “Peace to you.”
Now stop and think how behind locked doors the two men from Emmaus were telling the disciples about seeing the resurrected Lord Jesus when they turn around and He Is there standing in their group. How would you react?
37 But they were terrified and frightened, and supposed they had seen a spirit.
We go to the movies and like to see some in 3D. In fact, TV manufacturers are making some of their television sets in 3D. In doing a little research I came up with the statistics that there are 10 dimensions or 10D. So, why do I bring up this point to you? Well, when our Lord appeared in the room and had Thomas come and check out his wounds, our Lord repeated verbatim the exact words that Thomas said. Remember, when He said when two or more are gathered in His Name that He Is in the midst? We tend to think that this statement is just some pretty religious saying. However, I propose that when two or more are gathered in His Name, He Is really there. He Is in a dimension that we cannot see. At any time He could just step from that dimension and be instantly in our midst and eyesight. When you contemplate this fact you just sit in awe of the power and authority of our Great God.
Our Lord Jesus’ sudden appearance among them unnerved them. The problem was that this was not an hallucination, it was real. Notice the multiplication of words, ‘they were terrified and frightened’, for they genuinely thought that The Lord Jesus Was a ghost. How else could He have suddenly appeared among them like this?
38 And He said to them, “Why are you troubled? And why do doubts arise in your hearts?
The Lord Jesus sought to soothe their nerves. He asked them why they were troubled. Had they not expected Him? Why were their hearts so full of questionings? Had He not promised through His angels that they would see Him? - Although He had intended it to be in Galilee. But they had not heeded His directions. And so here He was. No wonder He rebuked them for their unbelief, for in spite of His earlier teaching, they had not believed those to whom He had appeared, when really they should have been expecting Him.
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.
Then He showed them His hands and feet, and told them to handle Him and make absolutely sure for themselves that He really was flesh and bones. For then at least they would surely realize that He could not be a ghost.
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.
Do you see anything unusual about this verse? Our Precious Holy Spirit informs us that the disciples did not believe for what reason? It wasn’t for doubt. It was for ‘Joy’. Say what? Do you remember when the church had gathered for Peter to pray after he was arrested, Well, for some of you who may not be familiar, please turn to the book of Acts chapter 12 we will read about this incident.
“Now about that time Herod the king stretched forth [his] hands to vex certain of the church. And he killed James the brother of John with the sword. And because he saw it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to take Peter also. (Then were the days of unleavened bread.) And when he had apprehended him, he put [him] in prison, and delivered [him] to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him; intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people. Peter therefore was kept in prison: but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him. And when Herod would have brought him forth, the same night Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains: and the keepers before the door kept the prison. And, behold, the angel of the Lord came upon [him], and a light shined in the prison: and he smote Peter on the side, and raised him up, saying, Arise up quickly. And his chains fell off from [his] hands. And the angel said unto him, Gird thyself, and bind on thy sandals. And so he did. And he saith unto him, Cast thy garment about thee, and follow me. And he went out, and followed him; and wist not that it was true which was done by the angel; but thought he saw a vision. When they were past the first and the second ward, they came unto the iron gate that leadeth unto the city; which opened to them of his own accord: and they went out, and passed on through one street; and forthwith the angel departed from him. And when Peter was come to himself, he said, Now I know of a surety, that the Lord hath sent his angel, and hath delivered me out of the hand of Herod, and [from] all the expectation of the people of the Jews. And when he had considered [the thing], he came to the house of Mary the mother of John, whose surname was Mark; where many were gathered together praying. And as Peter knocked at the door of the gate, a damsel came to hearken, named Rhoda. And when she knew Peter's voice, she opened not the gate for gladness, but ran in, and told how Peter stood before the gate. And they said unto her, Thou art mad. But she constantly affirmed that it was even so. Then said they, It is his angel. But Peter continued knocking: and when they had opened [the door], and saw him, they were astonished. But he, beckoning unto them with the hand to hold their peace, declared unto them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. And he said, Go shew these things unto James, and to the brethren. And he departed, and went into another place.”
I just love this story. Can you understand my from this bible lesson my point? Rhoda was so joyful she could not believe that Peter was really there, so also was the same condition that the disciples went through.
Can you also see throughout the Gospels the significance our Mighty God puts on eating together? I belong to a church called Calvary Chapel. Knowing how much we like to eat we should rename it, Calorie Chapel.
Having presented what he sees as the ultimate revelation of the earthly ministry of our Lord Jesus in describing the appearance of Jesus to His Apostles Luke moves rapidly on to His ascension, ignoring most of what took place in the following days in his usual way. Instead he prepares for the opening chapters of Acts by revealing in a few verses the message that was to be preached by His Apostles.
Please note for example how Luke appears deliberately to avoid mention of the Holy Spirit here, while at the same time indicating the importance of awaiting His coming as ‘power from on high’. The patent coming of the Holy Spirit is to be the first emphasis of his new book. He also ignores the departure of the Apostles for Galilee after the seven day feast was ended. The revelation of the risen Jesus to His Apostles has been made, now the next thing is instruction as to what they are to do, and the ascension into Heaven, the explanation of which can be left to Acts.
Luke ignores all the subsequent appearances in Galilee, for that would take his readers attention away from Jerusalem, and he feels that what he has said has been quite sufficient. He is not writing to skeptics who will analyze his account and compare it with that of others. He is finally proclaiming the truth of the resurrection, which he has adequately done. Now he wants attention to be concentrated on Jerusalem For Acts is to begin in Jerusalem, and will gradually result in a move out from there, first to the wider locality, and then to Rome, the centre of the known world. So, ignoring the visit to Galilee, he takes up his brief narrative from when they return to Jerusalem in accordance with Jesus’ instructions, and are told to wait there until they receive the power from above, the power that is to come on them and endue them for what they have to do.
We will in fact learn at the beginning of Acts that there were forty days between our Lord Jesus’ first appearance to His Apostles and His final departure from them, days which are unaccounted for by Luke, and about which he here gives us almost no information. All he does tell us is that during this time our Lord Jesus spoke to them of the Kingdom of God. He was preparing them for their future.
That suggests that what now follows is to be read in that light. For the purpose of the book of Acts is to describe the story of the spread of the word concerning the Kingdom of God, which is in fact all about Jesus, from Jerusalem to Rome. Most of the information that he gives at the end of his Gospel is therefore preparation for this ministry in Acts.
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.”
Our Lord points out that while He was with them He had revealed that everything that was written about Him had to come to their full fruition. The word for ‘fulfilled’ indicates being ‘brought to completion’, being ‘filled full’. It is not just a question of them happening, they will happen to the full and bring God’s promises and purposes to completion.
45 And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures.
As He did with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, He expounded the Scriptures to them, giving them illumination.
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.
These men and women were not the gifted theologians of the day. They were ordinary people. However, when our Lord Jesus enlightened their minds they had a hunger and an amazing ability to see clearly how all the Sacred Scriptures all pointed to Jesus the Messiah, the Anointed Holy One of God.
The message having been proclaimed it then had to be applied, and here our Lord Jesus makes clear that that application has twofold prongs, repentance and forgiveness of sins. Repentance primarily indicates a turning to God, although this unquestionably also includes turning from sin and a change of heart and mind about God and about sin.
This forgiveness of sins was to be preached ‘in His Name’. Their forgiveness is dependent on what He is and on what He has done for them. Without His death and resurrection there could now be no forgiveness. And this was to be a message for all nations, although it would begin at Jerusalem, which is why Luke exclusively refers to Jerusalem. As he has made clear Jerusalem is where deliberately The Lamb of God, our Lord Jesus came to die, and where His death and resurrection took place. That is why forgiveness can begin at Jerusalem. And that is why Luke concentrates attention there.
48 And you are witnesses of these things.
The message that has just been described is the message to which they are to be witnesses. That is why they have been called. It is in order to bear witness to the One Who has suffered and risen again so that He might bring them under the Kingdom of God.
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.”
But before they can do this they will need exceptional power, that which the Father has promised them, clothes from the Holy Spirit, which is power from on High.
This exceptional power came in two stages. Firstly in the Upper room it came to the Apostles alone as their eyes were opened to understand the Scriptures, and they received the Spirit of truth from Jesus ready for the task ahead, through Whose direction they would offer forgiveness to all who believed and come within the range of God’s mercy. And then it would come on the whole body of disciples, forming them into the new congregation of the new Israel at Pentecost.
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.
Then having prepared them and opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and having promised them the power that was coming to enable them for their future responsibility, He led them out to the Mount of Olives in the direction of Bethany, and their He lifted up His hands and blessed them. But Luke does not mention the Mount of Olives, for he has already shown that to be the place of suffering and judgment.
Luke’s closing words set us in expectancy for what is to follow. They now fully recognized Him for Who and What He was, and they worshipped Him. Luke almost certainly intends us to take that literally in the highest sense.
Then they returned to Jerusalem filled with great joy, the joy with which Luke has made us so familiar. The glad tidings of great joy promised by the angels had come to fruition . And they spent their time continually in the Temple praising and blessing God. This would be their headquarters for the first part of Acts.
This ends our time with the disciple Luke. I apologize for how long I took. Yet, in all sincerity, I had so much good stuff that I wanted to share with you, that in a long run, this was my condensed version. I think you will agree with me that God’s Word is Awesome!
