Jesus is Alive | Luke 24:1-12
Read Luke 23: 50-56, 24:1-12
As we look upon the last week; we are reminded of Christ’s last week before He died on the cross. Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, a colt. There was a large crowd that followed Jesus and who welcomed Jesus into Jerusalem as the king of the Jews.
“As soon as He was approaching, near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the miracles which they had seen, shouting: ‘Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord; Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!’”—Luke 19:37-38
There was controversy amongst the crowd. There were Pharisees telling Christ to tell His followers to stop staying their proclamation. They hated what they were saying because it pointed to a single truth that has shaken the world and changed the course of history: Jesus is God. Jesus is the Messiah.
What was the Messiah’s main task? To be rejected. To be spat upon. To live a perfect life. Then to be tortured, whipped and executed by hanging on a cross. He was then buried—officially confirming that the man, Jesus Christ, has been killed.
“And a man named Joseph, who was a member of the Council, a good and righteous man. A man from Arimathea, a city of the Jews, who was waiting for the Kingdom of God; this man went to Pilate and asked of the body of Jesus, and he took it down and wrapped it in a linen cloth and laid Him in a tomb cut into the rock, where no one had ever lain.”
--Luke 23:50-53
Jesus was slaughtered. The perfect lamb of God. Three days later something amazing happened.
This prophecy which David proclaims in Psalm 16, is fulfilled.
“Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoices; My flesh also will dwell securely. For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol; Nor will You allow Your Holy One to undergo decay. You will make known to me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; In Your right hand there are pleasures forever.” -- Psalm 16:10-11
- Jesus’ Body didn’t decay in that tomb; He came back to life, just as He/ God told everyone He would.
--Luke 24:1-7
“But while everyone was marveling at all that He was doing, He said to His disciples, ‘Let these words sink into your ears; for the Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men.’ But they did not understand this statement, and it was concealed from them so that they would not perceive it; and they were afraid to ask Him about this statement.” – Luke 9:44-45
This is just ONE of the times where Jesus tells His disciples of His death, His crucifixion. This points to Jesus’ divinity; to Jesus’ foreknowledge of knowing that He will die for the sin’s of humanity.
They find these two men, dazzling in appearance, and they tell the women that Jesus is not there. Remember what He told you in Luke 9:44? It came true. It happened.
The two men are angels, they appear to be in dazzling, shining clothing.
ἀστράπτω astráptō to lighten, to shine
“And behold, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared and a light shone in the cell; and he struck Peter’s side and woke him up, saying, “Get up quickly.” And his chains fell off his hands.”
--Acts 12:7
Jesus also “transfigured” as His clothes weren’t just dazzling but so was His face
“Some eight days after these sayings, He took along Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. And while He was praying, the appearance of His face became different, and His clothing became white and gleaming.”
--Luke 9:28-29
ἐξαστράπτω exastráptō to lighten forth, i.e. (figuratively) to be radiant, glistening.
The two men’s clothes were dazzling but light was literally radiating forth from Christ’s face. Christ is special. Christ is different. Christ is both God and man, not just some mere angel, and that man died an undeserved death to save us from our sins.
“God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much better than the angels, as He has inherited a more excellent name than they.”
--Hebrews 1:1-4
- The miracle of Jesus’ resurrection is too miraculous to believe.
“[They] returned from the tomb and reported all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. Now they were Mary Magdelene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James; also the other women and them were telling these things to the apostles. But these words appeared to them as nonsense, and they would not believe them.”
--Luke 24:9-11
The apostles heard the words of Mary, Joanna and Mary yet, Jesus’ closest followers did not believe what they were saying. The resurrection of Jesus was too miraculous. Maybe, too good to believe or it isn’t everyday that humans just resurrect themselves from the grave—what a crazy event!
“And when they had assembled with the elders and consulted together, they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers, and said, ‘You are to say, ‘His disciples came by night and stole Him away while we were asleep.’ And if this should come to the governor’s ears, we will win him over and keep you out of trouble.’ And they took the money and did as they had been instructed; and this story was widely spread among the Jews and is to this day.”
--Matthew 28:12-15
It may seem easy to discredit the resurrected Christ; to say that It is impossible for a man to resurrect Himself from the grave—that is impossible. But. We must remember that Jesus isn’t just some ordinary guy—He is also God, as God’s glory shone from His face during His transfiguration. This means that Jesus DID come back to life and this Jewish lie cannot hold up to scrutiny.
The church of the Holy Sepulchre was built in 4th century AD and was built over the site of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection. This is the known tomb to where Jesus was buried and where He came back to life—more on this next week.
“That message of resurrection took hold so much so that Christians began to realize every shred of evidence for Jesus’ resurrection was evidence for their own future resurrection. … It made the Gospel irresistible to the Roman Empire; as much as they didn’t want to accept it, they had to,”
--Jeremiah Johnstone
“But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he *saw the linen wrappings only; and he went away to his home, marveling at what had happened.”
--Luke 24:12
- Jesus’ resurrection means that our sins are forgiven. That we will become like new people; and will be resurrected with Jesus in heaven.
“For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf. Therefore from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
--2 Corinthians 5:14-21