Sunday, December 11, 2022 PM

All right, well, we're going to be reading Luke 24 this evening,

Luke chapter 24. Before we do, let's go to the Lord in prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the day.

Thank you for how you love us. We thank you for the gift of your Son, Jesus Christ. Thank you for the opportunity to rejoice in his birth and the meaning of his mission.

You have sent him to save his people from his sins. His name is Emmanuel, God with us.

We thank you that he comes and fulfills the promises and gives us hope. And I pray that tonight as we read your word and consider the importance of Jesus Christ, that you would bless our time together and increase our love for him and one another.

We pray these things in his name. Amen. So we're going to be in Luke chapter 24, which details the resurrection of Jesus and the encounters that Christ had with various disciples afterward.

And there's an interesting pattern that happens in this chapter, in which there is confusion, astonishment, misunderstanding, bewilderment, and a little bit of fear.

And then we are going to watch how all of that misunderstanding and astonishment and fear get resolved.

So that's the challenge tonight as we read. We're going to begin with the first 12 verses, and then we're going to think first how the disciples and others were astonished and bewildered and why.

So Luke 24, verse 1. Now on the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they and certain other women with them came to the tomb, bringing the spices which they had prepared.

But they found the stone rolled away from the tomb. Then they went in and did not find the body of the

Lord Jesus. And it happened, as they were greatly perplexed about this, that behold, two men stood by them in shining garments.

Then as they were afraid and bowed their faces to the earth, they said to them,

Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen.

Remember how he spoke to you when he was still in Galilee, saying,

The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified, and the third day rise again.

And they remembered his words. Then they returned from the tomb and told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest.

It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles.

And their words seemed to them like idle tales, and they did not believe them.

But Peter arose and ran to the tomb, and stooping down, he saw the linen cloths lying by themselves, and he departed, marveling to himself at what had happened.

Alright, so, we read these twelve verses.

What are the indicators in the text, in the story itself, that the women and the apostles just did not get it?

What was going on? What are some of the words that describe the understanding, or lack thereof, the attitude, or the apprehension, or lack thereof, of these people who obviously loved

Jesus and had followed him for quite some time? Yeah, we have the word perplexed.

They were greatly perplexed. Alright, it's kind of confusing.

They had spent the Sabbath in mourning for their dead Lord Jesus.

They had done what they could to be prepared to come and honor his dead body. They had got the spices together, they were coming to do a very important act of honoring and worship to their

Lord, and when they get there, they can't do it. And they're perplexed. What happened?

The stone has been rolled aside. At first, this might be good news, that they can actually get inside the tomb and do what they wanted to, but then they went in, and the body's not there.

So they are greatly perplexed. What else do we see?

Yes, when the angels stand by them in shining garments.

Now remember, see how the description is given. Two men standing in shining garments.

That is the image of angels in the Bible, not women with wings. Over and over and over, when we find angels in the

Bible, they are men in shining garments, and they always cause the same reaction, fear.

Not women with wings causing wonder, but men in shining garments causing fear.

Okay, so that is certainly a lack of understanding, fear arising out of a lack of control.

They're very frightened. And these women return from the tomb with good news.

Good news delivered to them by none other than angels. They have got good news to share.

And how is this good news received by the apostles, whom we see from other of the

Gospels there in hiding? They did not believe. Okay, what else?

Yep, did it help him? He went and saw exactly what the women said they saw.

He goes in, and he's left marveling.

Marveling. Now that's not a kind of excitement about something you were certain you saw.

This is a kind of a stirred up because I saw something I don't understand. Okay?

So, here in the context of really good news, on a wonderful day, the day that Jesus rose from the dead, we have the women who loved him, and the apostles who loved him, left greatly perplexed, afraid, unbelieving, and marveling.

So far, so bad. And it didn't seem to help, ultimately, that the angel said, don't you remember what

Jesus said? What he told you? I mean, he's the very word of God, giving you the words of God.

Surely what he told you would explain the fact that he was going to rise the third day. He would rise the third day.

He told you he was going to. The women undoubtedly relayed that information to the apostles, and they still did not believe.

So, we continue on in the story. Verse 13. Now behold, two of them, meaning two of the disciples, perhaps even two of the apostles, were traveling that same day to a village called

Emmaus, which was seven miles from Jerusalem. And they talked together of all these things which had happened.

So they were talking about the death of Jesus Christ, and talking about the recent rumors that the women had seen an angel, and that the tomb was empty, and that some were claiming that Jesus had raised from the dead.

So they were talking about these things which had happened. Verse 15. So it was, while they conversed and reasoned, that Jesus himself drew near and went with them.

But their eyes were restrained, so that they did not know him. And he said to them,

What kind of conversation is this that you have with one another as you walk and are sad?

Then the one whose name was Cleopas answered and said to him, Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem?

And have you not known the things which have happened there in these days? And he said to them,

What things? So they said to him, The things concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet, mighty indeed in word before God and all the people, and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death and crucified him.

But we were hoping that it was he who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, today is the third day since these things happened.

Yes. And certain women of our company who arrived at the tomb early astonished us.

When they did not find his body, they came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels who said he was alive.

And certain of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see.

So Cleopas and the unnamed buddy with him there going to Emmaus, and they encounter

Jesus. And Jesus asks them, Well, what in the world's going on? Why are you so sad? So we can add sad to the list, but what else?

Astonished? Yeah, he's going to rebuke them to be slow to believe.

Their eyes are restrained. Yeah. Yeah.

Well, they're in a pickle. Right? Greatly perplexed, afraid, unbelieving, slow to believe, marveling, sad, astonished, and their eyes are restrained.

This is a sad state of affairs on resurrection day. It really is.

Verse 25. Then he said to them, O foolish ones and slow of heart to believe.

We're going to add foolish to the mix. This is quite a list.

Foolish ones and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken ought not the Christ, the anointed one, the

Messiah promised from the scriptures, ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into his glory.

In other words, wasn't this the promised plan all along? And beginning at Moses, which, of course, is

Genesis. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Moses. That's what he wrote.

And all the prophets, right, from Joshua and Samuel and so on, he expounded to them, laid everything out and explained to them in all the scriptures.

So that's the Torah, that's the instruction of Moses, that is the

Nevi 'im, the prophets, and that's the Kethuvim, the writings. TNK, Tanakh, that's what the

Jews call their Bible. Tanakh, that's the Old Testament. The Torah, the Nevi 'im, the

Kethuvim, the law, the prophets, and the writings. He expounded from all of the scriptures the things concerning himself.

He began to lay it all out for them. Then the Jew neared to the village where they were going and he indicated that he would have gone farther, but they constrained him saying,

Abide with us, abide with us, for it is toward evening and the day is far spent.

And he went in to stay with them. Now it came to pass as he sat at the table with them that he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them.

Then their eyes were opened and they knew him and he vanished from their sight.

And they said to one another, Did not our heart burn within us while he talked with us on the road, while he opened the scriptures to us?

Now let's think about what happened that changes everything. What happened that changes everything?

What did Jesus do for them? Okay, so we have that Christ opened eyes.

What else did he do? He blessed the meal.

Yep, he expounded the scriptures. Isn't it nice that he abode with them and stayed with them.

He blessed the meal, he prayed with them. And what was the result for these disciples?

As he spent time with them, as he abode with them, as he walked with them, you know, as he expounded the scriptures, he ate a meal with them.

What was the result? Their hearts burned.

Their eyes were opened and they knew him.

So we go from this sad list, not kidding it, confused, oh we've got problems, oh we're sad.

But, when they spend time with Jesus, on the other side of this blessing, now things are changing.

Now there is belief, now there is conviction, now there is hope, now they understand, now things become clear.

Now this pattern continues, because there are still guys left back in Jerusalem who are still dealing with this list.

So let's see what happens. Verse 34, so, verse 33 says,

They rose up that very hour, returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven and those who were gathered together, saying, The Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon.

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

Now as they said these things, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and said to them,

Peace to you. But they were terrified. So we add something else now. And they were afraid.

We already have frightened up here in the word fear. They were terrified and frightened, and supposed that they had seen a spirit.

So now they're just wildly guessing. And he said to them,

Why are you troubled? I'm just going to add that up there. So Christ appears to them, and offers them peace.

And once again, what does he do when he's there? Behold my hands and my feet, that it is

I myself. He said to them, Why are you troubled? Why do doubts arise in your hearts? We can add doubts.

Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Handle me and see. For a spirit, or ghost, does not have flesh and bones as you see

I have. Remember when the disciples were in the ship on the

Sea of Galilee in the storm? And they saw someone walking on the water towards them? Oh, it's a ghost!

Then Jesus got in the boat with them. Oh no, it's not a ghost. Same situation here.

No, I'm not a ghost. He really is risen from the dead. When he said this, he showed them his hands and his feet.

But while they still did not believe, for joy and marveled, he's going to ground them in something real.

How does he do this? He said to them, Have you any food here? So they gave him a piece of boiled fish and some honeycomb.

And he took it and he ate it in their presence. So once again, he comes to disciples that are in this state.

He abides with them. He says, touch my hands. See that I am real.

He spends time with them. He blesses them. Peace be upon you. He blesses them. And then he again eats with them.

He communes with them. And when he communes with them, and abides with them, what happens next?

Verse 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 are written in the law of Moses and the prophets and the

Psalms concerning me. Sound familiar? That's what he was saying to the men on the road to Emmaus. Expounding from all the scriptures, isn't this necessary?

Verse 45. And he opened their understanding that they may comprehend the scriptures.

So, Christ opened their understanding so that they would know and be clear.

He brings to them understanding. Comprehension. 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, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name to all nations beginning at Jerusalem.

So, there is an unfortunate abundance of claims even today, and it's not unique to our generation.

The Bible is full of incomprehensible, hard to understand mysteries, and being such a book as it is, nobody really knows what it's about, which is why there's so many various interpretations on it, and everyone take their best angle.

And whichever one seems to settle best with you, stick with that. The point is not that there's one meaning, the point is that you're actually reading it.

Unfortunately, that's not how Jesus thinks about the Bible. There are a lot of interpretations about the

Bible in his day. The part that had already been written, the Moses, the Torah, the prophets and the writings that had been completed hundreds of years earlier, and there were a lot of opinions about what it all meant.

People disagreed doctrinally, they were having debates, raging debates about this part of the

Bible and that part of the Bible, and disagreeing about it way back then, even in Jesus' day. The Sadducees arguing with the

Pharisees, and the scribes arguing with the Herodians, and the Essenes and the

Zealots arguing, and everybody had their own position, and they all had their own little interpretations, and they were arguing about it.

And Jesus came and said, have you not read? And begins to clarify what it all means.

And he says, it is these that testify of me, he says in John chapter 5. And here in Luke, he says once again, the scriptures are about me, right?

Now, without the blessing of Jesus in the lives of those who knew him best and loved him most, even this crew, who had spent all this time with him,

I mean, this was the cream of the crop. But they had restrained eyes, were perplexed, fearful, troubled, unbelieving, marveling, sad, astonished, slow to believe, foolish, terrified, and doubtful, unless they had

Christ abiding and communing with them. And when they had Christ abiding and communing with them, then their eyes were opened to understand and comprehend the scriptures, what it all meant, it was all about Jesus.

What are we being told? Do we see the essential nature of what it takes to understand the scripture the way that Jesus sees it?

And what it's really all about, that the key to understanding the scriptures is not having a

PhD in archaeology or ancient languages, ancient cultures. It's not having some degree or credential or going and having a mountaintop mystical experience somewhere and coming back down saying, oh, now

I get it. But the key to understanding the Bible for what it actually means is to be in communion and abiding with the guy that the book is all about.

Which is why when Jesus says to his followers, I've got this big job for you now, is to declare to all the nations, we're gonna start in your home city of Jerusalem and then you're gonna branch out and you're gonna expand more and more and more and eventually all the different types of people on the whole planet is going to hear this good news the good news of Jesus Christ as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

How he has his high and exalted position due to his faithful obedience to his father even that obedience that led him to the cross to die on the cross for our sins.

You're gonna preach all of, you're going to preach repentance and remission of sins, turn away from everything that you once held dear and turn to Christ alone to find forgiveness of your sins.

That's gonna be preached to all nations beginning at Jerusalem. Verse 48, and you are witnesses of these things.

This is your job. You're a witness. You're gonna be talking about this. This is what you're gonna be talking about all the time.

But again, what do you need to understand the scriptures? What does

Peter need if he's going to preach Christ from all the scriptures? What does John need if he's going to preach

Christ from the law and Christ from the prophets and Christ from the Psalms and show everybody that this was the plan all the way along that Jesus would come and be born of a virgin, live a perfect life, die on the cross for us and for our salvation, be raised the third day and ascended to the right hand of the father to reign supreme until he returns in victory, that that was the plan all along throughout all of the scriptures, the one meaning of the whole book.

What do they need? What is it?

Who is it? That's right,

Holy Spirit. 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, which is none other than the

Holy Spirit. As Jesus has already said, I'm gonna go away from you, but I'm not gonna leave you orphans.

I go to prepare a place for you. If I do that, you know I'm coming back to get you. But I'm not leaving you orphans.

I'm sending you another comforter, none other than the Holy Spirit who is called the Spirit of Christ in the scriptures.

What do we need in order to understand what the scripture is about? What do we need?

There's no possible way that we can preach the gospel to all the nations and even tell our neighbors and our family members and our friends if we're this, that list does not get the job done.

Right? Our eyes need to be open, our hearts burning, understanding the word of God, declaring the truth about who

Christ is in order for that to happen, we need to be abiding and commuting with our Lord. Well, he's at the right hand of God.

He's reigning, but he's not too busy for us because he has sent us his Holy Spirit that we would not be orphans, that we would be able to abide with our

Savior even now as he is in heaven reigning over us and we are here on earth doing his will as his servants.

He has given us his Holy Spirit. That's what we need. And that's why Jesus said,

Go and wait. He said you're going to go, but before you go, wait.

You have to wait in Jerusalem until the Holy Spirit comes upon you. Verse 15,

He led them out as far as Bethany and lifted up his hands and blessed them. Now it came to pass while he blessed them that he was parted from them and carried up into heaven and they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy and were continually in the temple praising and blessing

God. Amen. Amen. Well, we need

Jesus. We need his presence through his Holy Spirit. Experiences are not enough.

Other people telling us it's not enough. The open tomb was not enough. The angels were not enough.

The linen cloths were not enough. The reports were not enough. The law and the prophets and the writings were not enough.

They needed Christ. They needed to abide in Christ, commune with him, and then, then they knew, then they understood.

And that's what we need. We need Jesus Christ's presence by his Spirit and we may commune with him.

Any questions or thoughts as we close? Yes. Alright.

Well, Jesus is the Son of God and he's not the same person as the Holy Spirit. He was fully

God and he was fully man. He was actually a little baby, a real baby, and he was a real man.

And when he died on the cross, he really died. And when he was raised from the dead, he was really alive again.

And he's still alive today. So it's good to remember that he is as much man as man as man and he is as much

God as God as God. He is as two natures in one person. And that is our Savior. Let's close by singing the doxology together.