Matthew (Session 24) The Resurrection

well we're in session 24 of the gospel of matthew and we're going to focus on the resurrection the final week has embodied the last uh day chapters 1 21 through uh 28 the triumphal entry in chapter 21 then the olivet discourse then the last supper the crucifixion and the resurrection and these are obviously detailed in each of the four gospels and what we've tried to do especially in this portion of our study is to take a look at what all four gospels are saying about each of these events and we tonight we are in the resurrection so i always love to have this photograph that was taken of the garden tomb before they lost the stone in the moonlight about two thousand years ago and if you once you've discovered photoshop you'll never trust a photograph again right but this is the final session the resurrection we're gonna look at four the four gospels and we're also going to take a quick look at what paul might argue is the most important chapter of all the epistles first corinthians 15. but first of all let's we're going to discover quite quickly as we get into this that the events of the morning when reviewed in each of thor gospels can easily confuse because they sound uh they'll confuse you unless you can stand back and put them in perspective which we will but so you'll recognize them as they go here's we're going to discover that three women mary magdalene and mary the mother of jameson and also salome start for the sepulcher followed by other women bearing spices the three find the stone rolled away why was the stone rolled away not to let jesus out he'd left long ago let them in right exactly mary magdalene takes off to alert the disciples mary the mother and james and joseph draws nearer to the tomb and sees the angel of the lord then she goes back to meet the other women following with the spices meanwhile peter and john alerted by mary magdalene run to the tomb when they arrive they look in and then they go away meanwhile mary magdalene returns weeping sees the two angels and then jesus and then goes as he bait her to go tell the disciples mary the mother of james and joseph meanwhile have met them women with the spices and returning with them they see the two angels different sighting they also receive the angelic message and going to seek the disciples they also are met by jesus himself and so that's what we'll examine as we go i hope that helps avoid some of the confusion it's easily gotten matthew chapter 28 verse 1 in the end of the sabbaths even the king james also has it mistranslated i'll come back to that as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week came mary magdalene and the other mary to see the sepulcher there should be an s by sabbaths because in the greek it's a plural noun now why is this so important because it's a highlight for several reasons uh it's one of the reasons that most of us believe that jesus could not have been crucified on a friday wednesday or thursday can be argued we of course because of the resurrection this day we call sunday the lord's day that's a term commonly used um the seventh day of the week was ordained in eden in genesis chapter 2 and it was observed before the giving of the law to israel when they were gathering manna in exodus 16 they were cautious not to do that on shabbat the law was given four chapters later in the law they were also admonished to remember the sabbath day and because that's one of the things they've been quite diligent at that tends to be identified as a jewish custom to worship on shabbat but it's interesting that it was in genesis it's interesting that the scripture tells us the antichrist will seek to change the times and the laws it's interesting especially in europe you'll notice the calendars are have monday as the first day of the week and sunday as the seventh monday the first sunday the seventh well that's culturally very acceptable over there i guess but that's not biblical clearly the first day of the week is sunday the seventh day that shabbat is the seventh day of the week now this clearly we're dealing here in this study on the first day of the week very early in the morning they came to sepulcher and so forth now it's interesting that all through the scripture twice in deuteronomy and twice in the book of proverbs were admonished do not move the ancient landmarks it's interesting to us to discover that the rabbis regard that command as having relatively little to do with property boundaries it may have been back then they interpret that as referring to maintaining god's order and they apply that to a lot of things they're not saying they all necessarily apply it properly but i think it's provocative to see the respect that they put to the torah the millennial temple that we study in the book of ezekiel it's interesting when the lord comes back and sets up his kingdom there's going to be a temple there in israel and the millennial temple will only be open on shabbat and on the new moon in a very very uh characteristically jewish fashion we need to remember that our king is jewish well let's get back let's take a look how john opens the same period says on the first day of the week cometh mary magdalene early when it was yet dark unto the sepulcher and see if the stone taken away from the sepulcher um then she runneth and cometh to simon peter to the other disciple whom jesus loved who could that be john he essentially how he always refers to himself that way and saith unto them they have taken away the lord out of the sepulchre and we know not where they have laid him now luke picks it up a little differently and it came to pass as they were much perplexed there about behold two men stood by them in shining garments speaking of the gals that were still at the tomb not mary bagley she'd come to tell the disciples and as they were afraid and bowed down their faces to the earth they said unto them why seek ye the living among the dead he is not here but he has risen remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in galilee saying the son of man must be delivered unto the hands of sinful men and be crucified and the third day rise again you know it's astonishing as you read the gospels how often that was predicted by christ to his disciples they didn't get it they remembered later that he said that but they didn't get it at the time a couple of the gals did anyway they remembered his words and returned from the sepulcher and told all these things unto the eleven and to all the rest it was mary magdalene and joanna and mary the mother of james the other women that were with them which told these things unto the apostles and their words seem to them as idle tales and they believe them not let's pick it up from matthew again and behold there was a great earthquake to recap what happened here and behold it was a great earthquake where the angel lord descended from heaven came and rolled back the stone from the door and sat upon it i think that's cool his countenance was like lightning and his arraignment white as snow and for fear of him that keepers did shake and became as dead men i can imagine i can imagine you don't mess with angels just discover that one angel after night after dinner one night uh slaughtered 185 000 syrian warriors you don't mess with angels the angel answered and said unto the women fear not ye for i know that ye seek jesus which was crucified he is not here for he has risen as he said come see the place where the lord lay can you see him come on take a look you know and go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead and behold he goeth before you into galilee there shall ye see him lo i have told you and they departed quickly from the sepulchre with fear and great joy must be an interesting combination it must be terrifying to realize what's going on here and yet how exciting and did run to bring his disciples word and as they went to tell his disciples behold jesus met them saying all hail they came and held him by the feet and worshiped him and then said jesus then be not afraid go tell my brethren that they go into galilee and there shall they see me now when they were going behold some of the watch that is the soldiers that we're guarding came into the city and showed unto the chief priests all the things that were done these guys are no fools they're professional roman soldiers and they knew that they were going to catch it they were assigned to guard that spot and i don't think a group of well-intended disciples could have easily overpowered them to steal the body they've got to explain to their bosses how the body has disappeared they've got to come with this wild tale of the angel and the rest so what did they do go report back to their superior no you always follow the money they went to the chief priests why would they do that they're smart enough to figure out the chief priests were the last ones in the world that want that body you know that have this not handled their their own way so they went to the chief priests uh all the children all the things were done and when they were assembled with the elders and had taken counsel they gave large money unto the soldiers saying say ye his disciples came by night and stole him away while he slept see the way you explain things is to make sure you've got the bribes large enough you know and if this come to the governor's ears the priests are saying we will persuade him and secure you what does that mean they're prepared to bribe pilate himself and i'll bet you it cost them a lot more than 30 pieces of silver to get this cover story sold so they took the money and did as they were taught and this saying is commonly reported among the jews until this day well meanwhile while that was going on mary magdalene has gotten to peter and john so they have a race to the tomb peter therefore went forth and that other disciple and came to the sepulcher and they ran both together and the other disciple did outrun peter john has to put that in there you know the other disciple did not run peter and came first to the sepulcher and he's stooping down looking in saw the linen clothes lying yet when he not in i tend to visualize these clothes laying there like a cocoon would have maybe in other words the body is gone but the linen is still there all except the one that's around the head then cometh simon peter following him and went into the sepulchre and see if the linen clothes lie and the napkin that was about his head not lying with the linen clothes but wrapped together in a place by itself doesn't sound like a grave robber does it you would think that somebody that was robbing that grave would have taken the body wrapped and split fast no that's what's going on here then went in also that other disciple which came first to the sepulcher and he saw and believed before as yet they knew not the scripture that he must rise again from the dead then the disciples went away again into their own home but mary now this is one of these we're going to come back to this one this is a very important part mary magdalene by now has come back mary stood without at the sepulcher weeping but as she wept she stooped down and looked in the sepulchre and see if two angels in white sitting the one at the head and the other at the feet where the body of jesus had lain and they said under a woman why we bestow she said that because they have taken away my lord and i know not where they have laid him and but it's interesting by the way as you look back here um we have the two men in one case two angels in the other case um and when she had thus said she turned herself back and saw jesus standing and knew not that it was jesus how many of you have been at the garden tomb in israel can you picture all this you see we'd be stooping down looking in there and then turning towards the garden and she sees jesus but she knew she didn't know it was jesus well that's interesting you said unto her woman why weepest thou whom seeketh thou she supposing him to be the gardener say that absurd if thou have borne him hands tell me where thou slayed him and i will take him away this kid is going to take them away right jesus saith unto her mary she turned herself and saith on him rabbon i which is to say master it's interesting you get the impression that at first she didn't recognize him but what apparently tipped her off was his voice tip how interesting we'll come back to this in a little bit jesus say the nerd touch me not actually what he says do not cling to me is what the greek she apparently had a death grip on his ankles he said do not cling to me for i am not yet ascended to my father but go to my brethren and say unto them i ascend unto my father and your father and to my god and your god. mary magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the lord and that he had spoken these things under her some people make a big mystical thing that she wasn't supposed to touch it that's really not what it says she was she was clinging around his ankles so it could be just that simple not to cling to him some people try to make more of it i'll leave it there where it is but now that takes care of the morning a little confusing when you go through those passages yourself until you realize there were groups of the women and so forth catching up with each other but sunday afternoon is one of my favorite passages of that incredible day two of them two disciples went that same day to a village called emmaus which was from jerusalem about three score furlongs now some of you may not play the horses you may not realize that about a seven mile walk okay all right and they talked together of all these things which had happened it came to pass that while they communed together and reasoned jesus himself drew near and went with him but their eyes were holding that they should not know him i have no idea what verse 16 means no none at all whatever it means was taken away by the time you get to verse 31 but for some reason yet unexplained they didn't realize who he was now if you want evidence that the lord jesus has a sense of humor you just have to study this little this afternoon's episode because i i think it reveals a remarkable sense of humor he says to them get the picture these two guys are going and this stranger joins with him apparently he said to them what manner of communications are these that you have one to another and as you walk you are sad in other words you recognize that they're walking they're really dragging and he comes up as to say you know how come you guys why so blue guys what's up and one of them his name was cleopas answering said unto him art thou only a stranger in jerusalem hast thou not known these things which have come to pass there these days now get this is the great line jesus looks right in the eye and says what things now he's he's just been arrested last night a couple nights ago um went endured six trials through the night with the jewish authorities scourged beaten crucified dead he's been in the grave three days and he can look from the eye and say what thinks i mean and they sent him concerning jesus of nazareth which was a prophet mighty indeed and word before god and all the people and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death and have crucified him but we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed israel and beside all this today is the third day since these things were done yay and certain women also of our company made us astonished which were early at the sepulcher and when they found out his body they came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels which said that he was alive and certain of them which were with us went to the sepulcher and found it even as the women had said but him they saw not you can imagine them recounting this astonishing series of events with a lot of skepticism confusing astonishing there's no reason to believe they took the women seriously and yet they're puzzled because the tomb was empty they've got to be in in in bad shape then jesus takes over but even here even here if you and i were writing the shooting script of the scene we'd be tempted to say boy here's the big climax let's reveal who they're talking to he doesn't do that he does something that i think is fascinating he speaks of himself in the third person as that other guy look what he says he said unto them oh fool slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken ought not christ to have suffered these things and to enter into his glory he's not pers not first person singular here he's second person in the grammar and then we have this fascinating verse very important verse for every one of us what did jesus do his first ministerial act after his resurrection was to lead a bible study a small group bible study and beginning at moses and all the prophets he expounded into them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself beginning at mo he apparently had didn't have the benefit of graft wellhouse and hypothesis that moses didn't really write the torah it was a bunch of other guys jesus didn't know that anything beginning at moses and all the prophets he apparently went through with them all the prophets how could he do that because they were well taught they were well taught there was a day in america where you could make references from bible studies and people understand what you're talking about not today mention almost anybody in the bible they have no idea what you're talking about beginning moses and all the prophets he expounded them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself and they drew nye into the village this is after seven miles of this where they went and he made as though he would have gone further he was just going to go and continue but they constrained him saying abide with us support us toward evening and the day is far spent and he went in to terry with them in other words they enjoyed this bible study they still don't have any idea who he is but he's obviously a pretty well-informed rabbi going through the scriptures highlighting all the way through that they are they don't want to split they want to get have them stay so they insist that he stay for dinner but then something very strange happens it came to pass as he sat at meat with them he took bread and blessed it and break it and gave to them you know that's a breach of etiquette he's the guest that's the duty in any jewish home of the host the head of the house but he just presumes he takes the bread bless it break it and gave it to them and when he broke the bread something interesting happened their eyes were opened that they knew him and he vanished out of their sight we will learn a few verses later when that night when they're all together they're going to explain that they knew him in the breaking of the bread what do you suppose it was about breaking the bread that caused them to recognize that this apparent stranger was the lord anyone the scars the the nail prints in his wrists you betcha of course of course the minute they realize who he is he's gone that's got to be an interesting evening but listen to what they say to them and they said one to another did not our heart burn within us while he talked with us by the way and while he opened to us the scriptures that's the kind of heartburn we all want and can you imagine we'll come back to this in a little bit but let's let's what the evening this is just the afternoon let's see what happens evening they rose up that same hour and returned to jerusalem they walked back another seven miles and found the eleven gathered together and them that were with them saying the lord has risen indeed and hath appeared to simon let me highlight that that's not obvious it appears here and paul makes reference to it in first corinthians 15. but unrecorded in these explicitly is the lord apparently sometime i assume that afternoon appeared to simon peter we know he did because it says so and it's referred to also by paul in the epistles but there's no it's not it's not detailed if you will in in the in the narrative and they told what things were done in the way and how he was known of them in the breaking of bread so there again what revealed his identity to them was the breaking bread and i believe it's this nail prince in his in his wrists and as they dust spake jesus himself stood in the midst of them and said i am peace be unto you can you imagine they're behind locked doors they're frightened they don't know what's going on there's a lot of tumult doors are locked so they're in a they're in a six-sided space floor ceiling and four walls somehow and locked and right in the middle they have a visitor peace be unto you but they were terrified and frightened and supposed they had seen the spirit the fact that they were surprised or astonished i can understand but the fact that they're terrified they're frightened is a little surprising terrified and frightened that they suppose they had seen a spirit they said to them why are you troubled why do thoughts arise in your hearts see even jesus own words confirms the fact that their reaction to his presence is sort of surprising they're really troubled by this to be shocked of course but to be frightened is something else and why do thoughts that rise in your hearts behold my hands and my feet that it is i myself handle me and see for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have so understand this isn't a vision this isn't some kind of apparition clearly the text indicates and jesus wants us to understand that he is very physical and i'm going to suggest to you as we'll try to explain before through tonight that he is probably more physical than either you or i will come back to that as we go but he clearly he is tangible he's palpable behold my hands my feet handle me and see and when he had thus spoken he showed them his hands and his feet and while they yet believed not for joy and wondered he said to them have ye hear any meat hey guys got anything to eat and my kind of guy he never appears it seems without eating they gave him a piece of broiled fish and of a honeycomb and he took it and he did eat before them again uh did he need to eat or did he just enjoy eating or was he doing it just for the fellowship that goes with that you know maybe all of the above but then we have a strange fulfillment of prophecy that many people miss but thomas one of the twelve called didymus was not with them when jesus came now as presumably now this next day the other disciples therefore said unto him we've seen the lord but he said to them except i shall see in his hands the print of the nails and put my finger into the print of the nails and thrust my hand into a side i will not believe this is probably the next day that monday morning maybe they all got together hey thomas boy you should have been with us last night guess who showed up yeah yeah yeah i'll believe it what i can handle it and see right thomas was from missouri i guess as we say after eight days again his disciples were within and thomas with them then came jesus the doors being shut and stood in the midst and said peace be unto you in other words a repeat performance here eight days later then saith he to thomas reach hither thy finger and behold my hands reach hither thy hand and thrust into my side and be not faithless but believing can you imagine how distressing that must have been for thomas to realize that jesus heard every word when he was mouthing off eight days ago jesus heard it that's a sobering thing i remember a little grandson asked grandpa can jesus see me all the time and very truly the grandpa answered jesus loves you so much he can't take his eyes off you like that thomas's response and i somehow visualize i've checked the text i can't find out where i got this impression but somehow i i see thomas falling on his knees and thomas answered and said my lord and my god now this there's a verse in zechariah 13 verse 6. um i can remember when i first came across this i was a teenager and in those days i was collecting cards i was i said when i found a verse that i wanted to memorize i'd put the verse on one side and the reference on the other like the navigators doing so and uh i came across this one once you'll say and i water these wounds in my hands and eventually answer those with which i was wounded in the house of my friends and here in the old testament i thought wow here's a prophecy of the the you know the the crucifixion of christ and so so i typed up a little card and added to my little group that i'd carry with me to try to learn but as i tried to memorize this i kept stumbling didn't make sense the more i looked at it the less sense it made once you say unto him what are these wounds in the hands and then he shall answer those with which i was wounded in the house of my friends and i the more i looked at that i could not reconcile that with the idea of a some roman soldiers driving spikes through his wrists on some 12 by 12s out on a hill north of jerusalem it wasn't until i was reading the passage we were just reading when i realized that what wounded christ was not those nails it was thomas's unbelief those with which i was wounded in the house of my friends he said in thomas because thou has seen me and thou hast believed blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed and many other signs truly did jesus in the presence of his disciples which are not written in this book but these are written that ye might believe that jesus is the christ the son of god and that believing he might have life through his name here's where john identifies his whole purpose in writing his gospel he's got another chapter to go yet but he right up here he puts in what you might want to put in the preface of john's gospel going on after these things jesus showed himself again to the disciples at the sea of tiberias and on this wise he showed himself they were together simon peter and thomas called didivas and nathanael akana in galilee and the sons of zebedee and two others disciples so there's seven all together here simon peter said they were told remember now get the picture they were told jesus said go up to galilee i'll meet you up there well there a lot's happened many weeks could have gone by we have no idea really how long but they're doing what jesus said go up the galley and wait for him and what what do you do when you're under stress you usually retreat to some activity that you know you'll have some success in for some of you it might be a particular sporting event whatever but we all have something that we do that to relieve stress well peter's a fisherman some people say i go fishing they said on him we also go with thee they went forth and entered into a ship immediately and that night they caught nothing in the greek it says zippo no it doesn't really but but when the morning was now come jesus stood on the shore about a hundred yards away it turns out but the disciples knew not that it was jesus now this doesn't surprise me because it's probably a little morning haze 100 yards after all but there's somebody there on the shore and jesus said to them lads have you any meat they answered no then he said to them cast the net on the right side of the ship and ye shall find they cast therefore and now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of the fishes wow now john remembers an event that's recorded back in luke chapter 5 when jesus in the middle of the day said put out from shore and drop your net and peter rather patronizing lord as if he doesn't know anything about fishing they worked all night long and had caught nothing but net and he explains that you know but the lord asked them so they go heat in in obedience throughout the middle of the day they know of course you don't catch fish in the middle of the day they drop the net and of course the net is so full of fish it broke back then well john said to peter it is the lord he recognized the pattern this happened before almost the same kind of a thing as the lord now you know peter ready fire aim peter now when simon peter heard that it was the lord he girt his fisher's coat unto him for he was naked and did cast himself in the sea and uh he gird it around him so he'd still swim but when he gets there he wouldn't be naked he's got he's got his fish his fisherman's attire and the other disciples came in in a little ship for they were not far from the land but it but as it were about 200 cubits if a cube it's about a foot and a half this is you know a hundred yards uh dragging the net with the fishes i don't think peter was trying to get out of work by swimming in fat he just was so anxious to come to his lord in fact they need his help to bring it in we'll see shortly as soon as they were come to land they saw a fire of coals there and fish laid there on and bread that's an interesting breakfast how many of you had a biblical breakfast this morning when you're in israel you'll have the opportunity at breakfast to have fish it's always they always have some fish there for breakfast among other fortunately other things but far off coals there and fish laid there on and bread you said on the bring of the fish which ye have now caught simon peter went up and drew the net to the land full of great fishes 153 and for all there were so many yet was not the net broken i can't help but wonder as simon peter sees the lord there and he sees the coals of fire what he might have been reminded of what happened three a few days before before a coals of fire he had he was confronted and did not denied the lord cursing and jesus is going to deal with that before this is over here 153 fishes there are books written trying to speculate about these 153 fishes and anyone that's done some serious biblical research understands what a remis is remember in the in the hebrew uh hermeneutics they have the the the the bashad and the dirac the the the direct and the practical side of a story whatever but you come to a thing called the remez which is a hint of something deeper and normally in the bible when you see a story of any kind and there is some apparently unnecessary detail highlighted that's a sign the sign reads dig here and when you do that in most of them you will be rewarded um with an insight and there's some there's some dandies that we've gone through in this study and and all through our studies and it's in that flavor that many people have just worked these hundred and fifty why 153 fishes even as early as jerome we find he claimed that zoologists had in his day had identified 153 kinds of fish and uh but you can't find any documentation to support that theory and there are all kinds of uh gemetrical conjectures in terms of numerical value of those letters now there i have seen books on the subject articles in theological journals there's one that has there's there's no less than i think two dozen different theories as to what the 153 none of them were convincing enough for me to include in the study because they didn't seem that good the word that's used in john is it's usually only in john for a fish is upsarion and that implies fish that's used for food and he uses that in chapter six twice and then chapter 21 three times but in this particular verse he uses ichthus which is a term used of fish but it's a term that gives no hint as to what the purpose of the fish are and we're not necessarily for food is the point and he uses that term three times in this chapter now is it a remez it may be but if it is it's one in my opinion still to be discovered because i've looked at all the conjectures and i can tell you that none of them at least impressed me one possibility that suggests itself is that maybe in view here as being fishes of men it's interesting that their net was effectual it did not break this time despite the fact that there were lots of these fish each of the fish was counted that in itself is provocative all of these were great the word is megas they're very large they weren't just 150 fish 153 fish there were 153 large fish there may have been more other fish interesting none of them were lost so i can't help but hear suggested here especially the way the gospel ends where we are all admonished to be fishers of men and it could be just that kind of a thing but let's move on jesus said unto him come and dine and none of the disciples dares to ask him who art thou knowing it was the lord what on earth does that mean i have no idea but we're going to come back to that in a minute jesus then cometh and taketh bread and giveth them and the fish likewise and this is now the third time that jesus showed himself to the disciples after that he was risen from the dead so when they had dined jesus said to simon peter simon son of jonas loveth thou me more than these he saith on him yea lord thou knowest that i love thee he saith on them feed my lambs in the greek there's a strange change of verb here jesus says agape oh thou me and peter says you know that i follow you and there are some linguists that feel that there's that's a very this important distinction i have to tell you candidly many many commentators feel that those terms are used by john and other passages somewhat interchangeably so some people will be making could be making too much of this but there is that echo going on here he said unto him again the second time simon son of jonas loveth thou me again it's agapeo he said unto them yea lord thou knowest that i fully owe thee he saith and feed my sheep and the lord says to him a third time simon son of jonas fellaio thou me and peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time lovest thou me i said to him lord thou knowest all things thou knowest that i love thee and jesus said to him feed my sheep the third time is fillet on both sides but one could very easily argue that peter will demonstrate for the rest of his life his totally unrestrained commitment in his agapeo of the lord jesus but clearly the lord's doing it three times because peter had denied him three times you'll also notice that he he he will say tell the disciples and peter peter's discipleship was in jeopardy but he is here being clearly reinstated agapeo is to love be totally committed vallejo to be fond of to befriend to show affection to and there is obviously a distinction then jesus continues to peter he says verily verily i say unto thee when thou wast young thou goddest thyself and walketh wither thou wittest but when thou shalt be old thou shalt stretch forth thy hands and another shall gird thee and carry thee wither thou which not and this make he signifying by what death he should glorify god and when he had spoken this he said to them follow me both tertullian and eusebius early church fathers eusebius is an early church historian record that peter was crucified in rome about 67 or 68 a.d and apparently upside down at his own request he felt he wasn't worthy to be crucified the way the lord was and the romans apparently says well we have ways of making it distinctive so they crucified him upside down then peter turning about seeing the disciple whom jesus loved following which also leaned on his breast at supper and said lord which is he that betrayeth thee in other words that's recounting what happened at the last supper because jesus was on his left john on his right and john was the one that asked him that question peter seeing him say up to jesus lord and what shall this man do jesus said to him if i will that he tarry till i come what is that to thee follow thou me jesus seems to respond that that's not peter's business he's just told peter he's going to be a martyr what happens to john is none of his business so jesus what's what's it to you if he should tarry till i return what's that to you then john is here trying to explain a widespread rumor that came from that conversation then went this saying abroad among the brethren that that disciple should not die yet jesus said not unto him he shall not die but if i will that he tarry till i come what is that to thee see apparently there's a rumor that john was living with that he was going to live until the until the until the rapture and he's pointing out that is a misunderstanding of the way jesus had responded to peter this is the disciples testify of these things and wrote these things and we know that his testimony is true and there are also many other things which jesus did the which if they should be written at every one i suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written amen so ends john's gospel let's pick up the way the other gospels close and we'll see we'll see where this goes in then the 11 disciples went away into galilee into a mountain but it's actually the greek v mountain where jesus had appointed them so apparently it's a specific place that they had been appointed and when they saw him they worshipped him but some doubted and jesus came and spake on them saying all power is given unto me in heaven and earth all power all authority both fit and go ye therefore and teach all nations actually make disciples of all nations the goal is is uh uh in the in the present you know continue as you're going therefore teach all nations baptizing them in the name of the father and the son of the holy ghost teaching them to observe all the things whatsoever i have commanded you and lo i am with you always even unto the end of the age or into the world amen and luke rap says gospel up and he said and these are the words which i spake unto you while i was yet with you that all these things must be fulfilled which are written in the law of moses and in the prophets and in the psalms concerning me notice even the psalms is prophetic then open either understanding that they might understand the scriptures and he said on them thus it is written and thus it be who christ to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day and that repentance and remission of sin shall be preached in his name among all nations beginning at jerusalem and hear witnesses of these things and behold i send the promise of my father upon you but tare ye in the city of jerusalem until ye have endued with power from on high and he led them out as far as bethany and lifted up his hands and blessed them came to pass while he blessed them he parted from them carried up into heaven and they worshiped him and returned to jerusalem with great joy and they were continually in the temple praising and blessing god amen and luke is alluding to the ascension which sets up his sequel which of course is luke volume 2 called the book of acts now sunday morning just to avoid the confusion three women mary magdalene mary the mother of james saloni start for the sepulcher followed by other women they find the stone rolled away mary magdalene goes to tell the disciples mary the mother of james and joseph draws near the tomb sees the angel of the lord and she goes back and meet the other women following with the spices peter and john tipped off by mary obviously arrive look in and go away mary then reached mary magdalene then returns weeping sees the two angels then and jesus and then goes as he vader tell the disciples mary the mother of james and joseph meanwhile has met the women and with the spices returning with him see the two angels they also received the angelic message and going seek disciples who met by jesus now there were subsequent appearances the jew on emmaus road we got that afternoon peter sometime that day 10 that night without thomas then 11 days eight days later at the 11 with thomas seven at that breakfast that we looked at then 11 in galilee then a group of 500 paul makes reference to in fact paul's writing his letter to a church in which many of those 500 are in the congregation and james he also appeared to james in jerusalem james becomes a believer after the resurrection becomes a major leader in that area and of course many sought the ascension there's some still some more damascus road stephen winnie stone and paul in the temple and john isle of patmos are all post-resurrection appearances in the scripture what's the significance it proves that jesus is god's son do you say that he had the authority to lay down his life and take it up again and he certainly demonstrated that it verifies the truth of scripture the body been stolen by enemies they would have produced it obviously one day they were all discouraged and hiding in defeat the next day they were declaring his resurrection walking in joyful victory in fact they were willing to die before changing their stories interesting it assures our own future resurrection because jesus died and rose again we shall one day be raised and be like him in fact the entire structure of the christian faith hangs on that foundation if we do weigh the resurrection you have no hope it's also proof of a future judgment because he has appointed a day in which he will judge the world and so forth in acts 17 31. it's the basis for christ's heavenly priesthood he lives to be our continuing intercessor it gives power for christian living and romans 6 4 makes that point you cannot live for god through your own strength it is only through his resurrection power that works in and through us so we can do his will and glorify his name and of course it assures our future inheritance because we have a living hope and uh we're the only we have the only religion that celebrates a living leader that not a leader that has passed away in history now this is a place where we should take it just a pause to read the most important source of expositional comment on this whole thing and that's by paul in first corinthians 15. he writes more over brethren i declare unto you the gospel which i preached unto you which also you have received and wherein ye stand by which also you are saved if you keep in memory what i preached unto you unless ye have believed in vain you mean you can believe in vain that's scary think about that then the next two verses verses three and four are the definition of the gospel we use that word so casually the gospel of good news yeah what is the gospel here's where it's defined for you paul says for i delivered unto you first of all which i also received how that christ died for our sins according to the scriptures that he was buried that he rose again the third day according to scriptures that's the gospel those three things he didn't just disappear he died and he didn't just die he fulfilled hundreds of specifications that he was buried only paul emphasized that because he makes a case later on this whole issue of the the baptism he was buried and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures his resurrection on the third day is throughout the old testament not just in jonah several other places and he was seen as cephas and then of the twelve after that he was seen over above 500 brethren at once of whom the greater part remain unto this present but summer fall asleep after that he was seen of james then all the apostles and last of all he was seen of me also as one born out of due time paul talking we're on the lease of the apostles and i'm not mean to be called an apostle because i persecuted the church of god can you imagine paul's change of heart he made a career persecuting the church and like that he's one of them something happened but by the grace of god i am what i am and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain but i labored more abundantly than they all yet not i but the grace of god which was with me therefore whether we're i or they so we preach and so he believed now if christ be preached that he rose from the dead house say some among you that he there is no resurrection of the dead for if there's no resurrection of the dead then is christ not risen and of christ be not risen then is our preaching in vain and your faith is also in vain oh boy yay we are found false witnesses of god because we've testified of god that he raised up christ whom he raised not up if so be that the dead rise not for if the dead rise not then is christ not raised and if christ be not raised your faith is in vain and ye are yet in your sins then are then they also which are fallen asleep in christ are perished and if in this life only we have hope in christ we are all men most miserable but now is christ risen from the dead and because become the first fruits of them that slept for since by man came death by man came also the resurrection of the dead forth in adam all die even so in christ shall all be made alive every man his own order christ the firstfruits afterward they there christ that is coming and then cometh the end when he shall have delivered up the kingdom of god even the father when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power and he must reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet and the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death yet put all things under his feet but when he saith all things are put under him it is manifest that he is accepted which did put all things that are him and when all things shall be subdued unto him then shall also the son himself be subject unto him that put all things under him that god may be all in all and we can skip on here until we get we skip it down we got to pick it up here about um as we've borne the image of the earthly we should also bear the image of the heavenly now this i say brethren that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of god neither had death corruption inherit incorruption behold i show you a mystery we shall not all sleep but we shall all be changed in a moment the twinkling of an eye at the last trump for the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptable and we shall be changed for this incorruptable was put on incorruption this mortal must put on immortality so when this corruptable shall have put on in corruption and this mortal shall have put on immortality then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written death is swallowed up in victory oh death where is thy sting o grave where is thy victory the sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the law but thanks be to god which giveth us the victory through our lord jesus christ therefore my beloved brethren be steadfast unmovable always abounding the work of the lord for as much as you know that your labor is not in vain in the lord now there's a couple of issues i want to try to squeeze in before we finish we showed how some of these gospels end i have a couple of the things i'd like to deal with three lingering questions first if you look at your bible in in mark 16 you'll probably find a footnote that casts doubt about the last 12 verses of the gospel of mark and let's put those away see doubt was generated by the alexandrian codices and uh there's a footnote in many of these study bibles even that say these last 12 verses were probably added later and that's what many people that's why they doubt some of the last 12 verses and westcott and hort and the greek translation which is a foundational piece for most of the modern translations make a big thing of this it turns out that it's blasphemous for a lot of reasons this wasn't added later those words were taken out by the gnostics that's pretty uh easy to prove today first of all those 12 verses are quoted by irenaeus and hippolytus and other uh early church fathers but also there's something else that we don't have time to develop here but let me just tell you that there's a heptatic structure in those 12 verses the seven-fold structure there are over 35 seven-fold constraints on the text itself the number of words the number of letters there's these goes actually 75 deep not just 35 but they defy replication even if you have computer assistance you have a tough time simulating the properties of those 12 verses and so i just invite you to check into that if you have any concern about those verses let me go on to another more relevant perhaps lingering mystery that haunts me about the issues we've talked about if you've been reading your bible you can't help but notice there seems to be a fairly consistent difficulty in recognizing christ to have the resurrection why do they all seem to have trouble recognize him after resurrection and you notice that mary in the garden she was not a stranger she loved him and she did not record she thought he was the gardener until he she heard his voice you can explain that some ways but it's disturbing because this was fairly intimate and yet somehow she didn't recognize him until last minute on the emmaus road these guys had a seven mile bible study with him they were his disciples they weren't strangers they didn't recognize who he was he talks to them for seven miles it wasn't until their dinner and they see the nail prints and oh they realize who it is why'd you take him seven miles does that bother you in the upper room when he shows up and i can understand being astonished of course but why are they frightened even he comments why are you troubled why do thoughts arise in your hearts he says and then we have the capstone of these things they're at breakfast on the sea of galilee right when i get to heaven one of the first things i want to do is talk to john and ask him what he meant about verse 12. in verse yeah jesus said unto them come and die and then john adds this weird sentence and none of the disciples just asked him who art thou knowing that it was the lord what does that mean john the only example i can think of to get across my puzzlement imagine yourself you and your wife are driving to a social engagement say an hour away and you're probably halfway there and you and you turned your wife or she turns to you either way and says or you say you turned your wife say did you remember to turn the stove off she says yes i remembered good you keep driving but suppose she says i'm sure i did you know that that's one of those responses that creates a doubt if there wasn't one there beforehand this is that kind of statement if he didn't say anything it would have bothered you but he is one of the statements that raises an issue and none of us dared to ask him who are you because we knew it was christ something's going on is my point now let's see if we can apply what we think we've learned about bible studies in the old testament there are descriptions of the crucifixion right we read psalm 22 we read that last time we're going through the crucifixion we read isaiah 53 remember but we didn't read it from the beginning we read it from the first verse it actually the passage begins two verses earlier isaiah 52 14 and 15. let's just pick those two verses up that i've left for tonight the two verses that end chapter 52 it says that many were astonished that this visage was so marred more than any man is formed more than the sons of men so shall he sprinkle many nations the king shall shut their mouths at him for that which had not been told them shall they see and that which they had not heard shall they consider really let's take a look at this verse 14 a little more closely it's not translated literally because the king james translators didn't think you could handle it here's what it actually says so marred from the form of man was his aspect that his appearance was not that of a son of man apparently he was so badly brutalized that you couldn't even recognize he was human that's what that says but if there's descriptions in the old testament of the crucifixion is it possible that there's a description in the old testament that isn't recorded in the new testament let's take a look see if we take prophecy seriously are there details in the old testament that are not recorded in the new let's take a look at isaiah chapter 50 verse 6. i gave my back to the smiters and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair i hid not my face from shame and spitting if you assume that that is ascribed to christ the crucifixion that would seem to indicate that those roman soldiers among other things ripped off his beard now if that's the case suddenly these other things look a little more clear um before i go to this is that why mary in the garden didn't recognize him because he didn't have a beard there was a scar tissue where his face used to be is that why that afternoon on their way to emmaus that it could go seven miles without realizing that this scarred person was their lord is that what's disturbing them in the upper room at that appearance is that what john is sort of hinting at none of us dare to ask him who are you because we knew it was the lord well the question is then does he still have those scars zechariah 12 10 in the hebrew says and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced but it's interesting that in the hebrew there is two letters an aleph and a tau when they're connected with the mackeffe they're used for grammatical structural reasons but this is they're floating an aleph and a towel and they should look upon me the alpha and the omega whom they've pierced now by the way um one of the guys that we matriculated for a phd dr william welty has just written a 35-page paper in his dialogue with some rabbis pointing out to them laboriously that this construction the alpha and how they had asher's construction in the tanakh in the old testament is recorded 159 times in 158 of those it's treated consistently in one here they've twisted it in the jewish translation to avoid the christian overtones interestingly enough but there's also revelation 5 6 as we take a preview into heaven john says i be held and low in the midst of the throne and the four living creatures in the midst of the elders stood the lamb as it had been slain apparently the scripture would imply that the scars that jesus bore at the cross he bears in heaven because the marks of his human humiliation are the marks of his glory i'm told of a story of a woman who was badly disfigured who had a little daughter and when a little girl was in school she often went home crying because the kids in school made fun of her because of the disfigured appearance of her mother then one day when she got older the mother explained to the little girl that when she was a baby there was a fire she was able to save the baby in the fire but at the expense of sustaining these very terrible burns and so from that day on the little girl wasn't ashamed of her mother anymore because every time she looked at her face she knew how much he was loved and what i wonder if we're in heaven i wonder what his face looks like i wonder if we're going to be confronted with the reality of just how much we were loved clearly we know from the scripture he bears the scars and his wrists in the side the rest we can only conjecture well there's one other thing i'll try to squeeze in the time we have left what about this technology issue you know most of us wonder about you know the resurrection is sort of a church thing is it do it does it really have reality in terms of the physics of it the rest of it well many of you may remember a movie called jurassic park just a movie just a piece of fiction but michael crichton who wrote the story based it on a very rational scientific chain a mosquito takes blood which would include the dna of the thing he's taking it from and occasionally mosquito gets encapsulated in amber and some of these amber crystals with mosquitoes in them are many many many thousands of years old and so the concept of the the fiction was they would take they'd find a mosquito that had that had bitten the dinosaur dinosaur and get the dna from the dinosaur and by getting that dna from the mosquito they could create clone if you will and the creatures that made up the story just fiction of course what made the thing engaging is it's based on a logical uh a defendable chain of possibility but it also gives you a clue about the whole idea of resurrection see all atoms you're made up of carbon hydrogen the 17 materials that make up the earth is what we're made up of but those are fungible carbon atoms hydrogen they're fungible that means they're ones like another one they're all fungible raw materials what you need is simply information the dna that's all you needed for the dinosaur was the dna there's also nature there's issue of the nature of reality and the dimensions involved you know as we look at ourselves and we look at the universe in terms of size on the large size we discover the great discovery of 20th century science is the universe is finite not infinite on the small sides it's even more startling it's made up of indivisible units it's digital so between the boundaries of quantum physics on the one hand and astrophysics on the other end we are in a bounded reality that's digital we're in a digital simulation and we talk about this in some of our materials if you want to get into this further but scientific american in a recent article points out that there's reason to believe that our universe that we think of is but a shadow of a larger reality and i was fascinated with that conclusion because that's exactly what the bible's been saying all along paul in ephesians 3 says that christ may dwell in your heart by faith that ye being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height to know the love of christ which passes knowledge that you may be filled with all the fullness of god did you pick up what paul just slipped by the breath the length the depth and the height he's talking four dimensions that's the great discovery of dr einstein that we call the the general theory of relativity that that time is a physical property just like the other three spatial dimensions are now john gives us in one of his letters a physics statement i want to touch on briefly because one of the most precious statements that can cap this study for us beloved now are we the sons of god it does not yet appear what we shall be but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is that's a statement about dimensionality let me explain what i mean let's take a three-dimensional space it's bounded on six sides a floor a ceiling and four walls and jesus shows up in the middle of it without passing through any of those six sides and whenever he likes he can pass away that's he is traveling between dimensions we know that the particle visits tell us today that we live in four dimensions we know there's at least ten six are unknowable by anything but indirect means that's exactly what mahmoud is a hebrew sage in the 13th century concluded from studying genesis 1. so if we look at ourselves see we think of hardware i have a computer up here it's got micro circuits memory wires resistors and so on but you can't tell anything about its behavior because it's simply a resonance within which software runs user interface internal interfaces machine language algo all these are elements of the software now see the problem is i can't really see you tonight i can only see your temporary residence that you're in because the real you is see when you talk about hardware mostly girls no man is pretty simple there's an on off switch right now women's a little different it's a little more complicated [Applause] you and i our physical residences our body flesh bones our circulatory system et cetera et cetera et cetera the real you and label it what you like soul spirit mind thoughts whatever is software not hardware now what what what's the port of all that if most of you today have seen a diskette i got to probably get a cd-rom now to replace the technologies changing since i made up the slide but if i take a blank diskette and put it on a postal scale it'll weigh about seven tenths of an ounce if i spend hundreds of dollars and load that disk with a million bytes of software what does it weigh seven tenths of an ounce see a light switch weighs the same with its on or off right same idea a one or a zero software has no mass that means and since software has no mass it has no time dimension see the real you is software not hardware in the first place you have no mass some of us reside in some mass it's a little excessive but the real you know the real you is not restricted to our physical time dimension by having mass of its own you can send software through the airwaves right that means you're eternal whether or not you're saved the question is where you're going to spend it you'll either spend it with him through eternity or denied his presence which we have no capacity to imagine what that would include you and i are presently in a time dimension behind us are those that have passed away here we are with us they speculate about time travel can someone travel through time only one person that we know of has really and that's the from out of eternity he entered time had a appointment with a cross so you and i would be freed from those restrictions and their life and lies the tale where are you tonight paul says the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness but to them who are saved to them is the power of god that's only two categories you either regard the cross and all this pretty foolishness or you embrace it as your passport your attorney let's stand for a closing word of prayer

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Published: Tue Oct 20 2020