As we come to the end of our long study of
the gospel of Luke, this wonderful adventure with the Lord Jesus Christ, we find ourselves
in chapter 24 this morning. Chapter 24 of Luke, the last chapter and looking
at a text that begins in verse 33 and runs through verse 43. It is on the surface a very simple narrative,
easy to understand. On the other hand, it describes the most profound
of all Christian truths that Jesus Christ is alive from the dead. In the wonderful, simple words of Scripture,
so simple that no one could possibly mistake them, we have the record of this profound
supernatural event. Verse 33 begins with these words, "And they...that
refers to the two disciples who had met Jesus on the road to Emmaus...and they arose that
very hour and returned to Jerusalem and found gathered together the eleven and those who
were with them saying, 'The Lord has really risen and has appeared to Simon.' And they began to relate their experiences
on the road and how He was recognized by them in the breaking of the bread. And while they were telling these things,
He Himself stood in their midst. But they were startled and frightened and
thought that they were seeing a spirit. And He said to them, 'Why are you troubled? And why do doubts arise in your hearts? See My hands and My feet that it is I Myself. Touch Me and see for a spirit does not have
flesh and bones as you that I have.' And when He had said this, He showed them
His hands and His feet. And while they still could not believe it
for joy and were marveling He said to them, 'Have you anything here to eat?' And they gave Him a piece of broiled fish
and He took it and ate it before them." Just before last Easter, some anti-Christian
television journalists announced to the world, you will remember this, that they had discovered
the family tomb of Jesus and the bones of Jesus were still in it. Their leader calls himself the Naked Archaeologist. I doubt that that's a reference to the emperor
with no clothes, but it seems to me to be a close connection. This leader suggested that the discovery should
not be disturbing to Christians. To find Jesus' bones was no problem because
the Spirit of Jesus was still alive. Obviously a bad theologian, he was an equally
bad archaeologist and an equally bad journalist, since it took only a few days after the first
appearance of this highly promoted National Geographic television network special for
them to pull it off the air because it was totally debunked as a fraud and all further
reruns were canceled. Denying the resurrection of the Lord Jesus
Christ has always been a major pastime for Satan and his emissaries and agents because
they understand that if He did not rise from the dead, then His Word cannot be believed
because He said He would. Neither can the Bible be believed because
it said He would. Neither can the Apostles who wrote the New
Testament be believed because they said He did. And, in fact, the Old Testament can be rejected
as well. If Jesus didn't rise from the dead, then Christianity
totally collapses. They understand that. Non-believers, haters of Christ understand
the importance, the centrality of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. If it is true, then Christianity is true. Old Testament prophecies are true. New Testament testimony is true. The words of Jesus are true. The eyewitness testimonies are true. The gospel is true. Salvation is real. God is God and they're in trouble. That's why when it happened, the leaders of
Israel who knew it happened and did not try to deny it, having been told by the Roman
soldiers, told them, "Lie, don't tell the truth, don't tell anybody about an angel and
a resurrection. Lie and say the disciples stole His body." Bribed, that's what they did, and that lie
circulated. Even unbelievers, Satan certainly, who manipulates
unbelievers, understands that if the resurrection is true, Christianity is true. If the resurrection could be disproven, Christianity
totally collapses. There have been, therefore, through the history
of the church since the resurrection of Jesus Christ, countless, relentless, endless efforts
to explain away the resurrection. No one, by the way, has ever succeeded. No one has ever broken the unbreakable chain
of evidences that link the resurrection and make it clear that it is a fact of history. To bring down Christianity, all you have to
do is bring down the resurrection. And then the Apostles become liars, the New
Testament is a lie. Jesus is a liar. God is liar. The Bible disappears. The whole of the Christian gospel stands on
the truth of the resurrection. If it is true, everything else is true. That is why Paul writes in Romans 10:9 and
10 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart God has
raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved. Salvation comes by believing in the resurrection
which means you believe that God raised Jesus from the dead because He had offered a suitable
fitting and perfect sacrifice for sin on the cross and God validated that in the resurrection. You believe that the Old Testament prophecies
of His death and resurrection are true as they are, you believe that the New Testament
testimonies to His death and resurrection are true, the Bible therefore is true, the
gospel is true and that is the means of salvation. The resurrection is so critical that each
of the four gospel writers focus on the reality of the resurrection. And as I've been telling you, they focus on
proofs. They all four look at the empty tomb as an
evidence of the resurrection, a pretty good one. They all four look at the angelic testimony,
the testimony of an unmistakable angel from heaven. They all look at the witness of the women
who saw Jesus personally, Mary Magdalene and the other women. And they all include as an evidence of the
reality of the resurrection the unbelief of the disciples and the apostles because one
of the arguments is going to be, and always has been through history, the resurrection
didn't happen but the followers of Jesus wanted it to happen so badly that they virtually
actualized it in their own minds. They made it in to a reality because of such
strong wish that it would come to pass. It was as if it happened because they wanted
it so badly. All four gospel writers tell us there wasn't
one person among the disciples or the apostles who even believed Jesus would rise from the
dead. They not only didn't want it, they didn't
expect it, they didn't even believe it. Each of the gospel writers then looks at these
evidences. Each of them from a little different angle,
looking at different incidents of those things but all looking at these evidences. Each of them give eyewitness accounts where
unbelief was turned to faith. Each of them tells us how people were transformed
when they met the risen Christ, whether it was John telling us about Mary Magdalene,
or Matthew telling us about the women on the road, or Luke telling us about His appearance
to Simon, or Luke telling us here about His appearance, as does John, in the upper room
to the gathered eleven and the others. They all show us what a massive transformation
took place when the risen Christ appeared. These appearances, these experiences sealed
the faith of the apostles who then went out preaching the resurrection with proof. And they saw many believe and the church established
on the Day of Pentecost with 3,000 and then 5,000 and tens of thousands more as the church
began to move to what it is even this day, two thousand years later. So Luke, consistent with the other writers,
gives us eyewitness accounts of people who saw the risen Christ. His accounts begin in verse 13 of chapter
24 with two disciples on the road to Emmaus. Just a quick review. These are two followers of Jesus. One of them is named Cleopas, the other is
unnamed. They have been with the rest of the disciples
and the apostles in a location in Jerusalem. We don't know that location but they had gathered
together there. Why had they gathered together? Fear. John tells us, "For fear of the Jews." If the Jews had killed Jesus, they felt that
they would soon be after them because they were the followers of Jesus. You remember that before they ever came to
Jerusalem for that final Passover, Jesus said, "I have to go to Jerusalem." And Thomas said, "Well we'll go and die with
You there." Before it ever happened, they anticipated
it and they anticipated that if it happened to Jesus, it was going to happen to them. They were going to get caught in the same
net. So now that Jesus is dead, they are huddled
together somewhere in Jerusalem in a clandestine unknown place trying to sort all of this out. They have heard the testimony of the women
that the tomb is empty, that the angel explained to them He is risen. They have heard the testimony of the women,
Mary Magdalene and the other women, that they saw Jesus and He is alive. They do not believe it. They think it is nonsense. And that's important because they had no expectation
of a resurrection whatsoever. They didn't even believe when they were told
by separate people the same things. They didn't believe. They thought it was nonsense. They were gathered there somewhere in Jerusalem,
two of them decided to go home. Not all of them could go home, home might
have been a long way off. Some of them might have been there for a period
of time in which they were intending to stay through the next feast...days, weeks later. Some were pilgrims from other places. But at least two of them went home. They decided they would leave the hiding place,
take their chances on the road in the afternoon of that first day and go back to their village
called Emmaus, which is seven miles away. So we meet them in verse 13, the two that
very day going to Emmaus seven miles away. As they go along, they're talking about Jesus. They're talking about it because everybody's
talking about Jesus, that's the topic of conversation for everybody in the city of Jerusalem since
He arrived on Monday in the triumphal entry. And all of a sudden a stranger comes up alongside
of them, it is, according to verse 15, Jesus Himself who approached and began traveling
with them. Their eyes are prevented from recognizing
Him. He is not startling. He is not blazing like the angel. He is human in His appearance and yet He is
not the same so that they could recognize Him. And as they walk along, talking about the
things that have happened to Jesus, He engages them in the conversation. "What are you talking about?" verse 17. "They said, 'We can't believe. Are You the only one visiting Jerusalem who
doesn't know about Jesus and all that has gone on this week?'" The things about Jesus they describe as He
being a prophet, verse 19; mighty in deed and word in the sight of God and all the people
and the chief priests and the rulers delivered Him to the sentence of death and crucified
Him, and we are so disappointed. We were hoping that He was going to be the
Redeemer of Israel. And He did say something about rising on the
third day but it's late in the third day. The third day actually began last night after
sundown at six o'clock and here we are in the late afternoon; nobody has seen Him. Oh yes, some women came and said that the
tomb was empty and they said an angel told them He was alive. But...and they also said they met Him and
saw Him personally, but we're not buying it...we're not buying it. And then what He does is so wonderful. They can't put Jesus in the Messianic box
because the Romans killed Him and the Jews...the leadership of the Jews rejected Him. That doesn't fit their Messianic theology. Triumph, glory, kingdom, power, overthrowing
enemies, conquering the world, setting up His throne, that's their messianic theology,
it's a limited theology, a partial theology. They had no place for suffering and death
as a sacrifice for sin even though that dominates the Old Testament. They had conveniently ignored all of that
because they wished for the triumph and the glory so that's what they focused on. So Christ wants to straighten them out and
so what He does is so wonderful. He says in verse 25, "O foolish men and slow
of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken," all is the operative word, you
don't have it all, you've got a partial look at Messiah, you've got to get it all. "Was it not necessary for the Christ, the
Messiah, to suffer these things and enter into His glory?" What about all of the suffering portions of
the Old Testament? "And beginning with Moses and all the prophets,
He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures." And that would be the things concerning His
suffering and His death. And He probably ended up in Isaiah 53 talking
about the suffering servant who dies as a substitute for sinners. Oh they were so enraptured by His teaching,
so riveted to His teaching, this would have been the greatest lesson ever taught. There would never be anything in their life
that came even close to this. This is the whole significance of the Old
Testament that finds its fulfillment in the coming of Christ, even in His suffering, before
His Kingdom and His glory. And they're just blessed beyond words. And so, as they arrive at their home, Jesus
looks like He's going to go further. They plead with Him, urge Him, "Come in, please." Not because they want to be hospitable to
Him, although they certainly would want to be, they want more of this teaching because
verse 32 says, "Their hearts had been set on fire." There's nothing...there's nothing that produces
the joy, the exhilaration, the thrill that the comprehension of Scripture brings to you,
that comprehension which is connected to your eternal salvation. And so He came in and they didn't even want
to eat so that He had to break the bread and pass it out to them. They just wanted Him to talk. They didn't want Him to put anything in His
mouth, I might say, which might inhibit the lesson. "And while He was breaking the bread," I love
this, verse 30, "He took the bread and blessed it and breaking it began giving it to them
and their eyes were opened and they recognized Him." Was it the familiarity of having Him close
they finally figured out who He was? Was it the way He broke the bread? They had seen Him break bread many times on
many meals perhaps in the past. Was it the nail prints that they saw when
He was breaking the bread? They would have been there as well. Was it a divine opening of their minds? Sure, probably all of that came together. Their eyes were opened, they recognized Him. And then this, "And He vanished from their
sight." Whisst...gone. Now we pick up the story. How did they respond to this? Well, as we look at verses 33 to 43, there's
a little bit of a flow here. First I want to point out consistent profession....consistent
profession in the first few verses. Luke makes sure we understand that everybody
told the same story, and that's so very, very important. We understand that, don't we? When you're trying to verify something, if
everybody tells the same story, you've got disconnected people having experiences in
different places at different times and they all give exactly the same story. That's very weighty evidence. Consistent profession. The second thing is confounding presence. In a moment of time as He had vanished from
the table in Emmaus, He appeared in the middle of the room with all of these disciples and
apostles gathered together. This is a confounding experience, and we'll
look at that. And the third element is convincing proofs. They think He's a ghost or a spirit and He
offers convincing proofs that He in fact is physically, bodily risen from the dead. So these are the three facets of it. The question to ask as we come into this passage
is, "Was Jesus really raised physically from the grave?" It does matter. It isn't enough to say it doesn't matter if
His bones are in a box somewhere as long as His Spirit is alive. That is not true...that is a fabrication and
a lie. So we'll get to that. Look at the consistent profession, verses
33 to 35. The testimony is now mounting, the evidence
is mounting that He is alive. It's selective as we'll see, but it's mounting. There are independent people who have seen
the evidence who are eyewitnesses. You even have the Roman soldiers and the evidence
that they had no other explanation than that an angel came down and He left the tomb. You had the independent testimony of Mary
Magdalene who saw Jesus as recorded by John. You have the independent testimony of the
other women on the road who saw Jesus as recorded by Matthew. You have the independent testimony of two
disciples on the road to Emmaus who met Jesus and sat and ate with Him at their house, recorded
by Luke. Each an isolated experience, each with the
same kind of testimony, He is alive and He is physical. This is not a hallucination, this is not some
kind of an actualization of virtual presence, this is a real person. So when He vanished from their sight at the
end of verse 31, we pick up the story. What do they do? Verse 33, "They arose that very hour." They got up off the table, off their reclining
seats, up immediately. Remember now, they had had bread, He broke
bread. Bread is the first course, okay? Bread is the first course, it's pretty much
that way even today, isn't it? You go out to a meal somewhere and usually
they give you bread. Well in those days bread was the first course,
you dipped it in a kind of a paste to get the meal going. The meal had just started. They hadn't gotten in to the meal, they had
no appetite to eat the first course, they certainly weren't going to hang around for
whatever else would follow. They arose immediately, no real interest in
eating. It is likely nine or ten o'clock at night
by now. We can't be exactly certain but nine o'clock
would be a very, very reasonable guess. And what do they do? They return to Jerusalem. They go right back to where they came from,
right back to where they know the rest of their followers...friendly followers are hiding
trying to sort out what's going on. They think that they now can go back and confirm
the testimony of the women who were not being believed even though they had independent
testimony that all said exactly the same thing. They now think they're going to be the answer
to this horrible problem that's going on, this dilemma, this sorrow, this sadness, despair,
despondency that they have just left. And so they turn, even though it's dark and
the road might be dangerous and robbers might be lurking...that's irrelevant to them. They're headed for those people they know
and they love to tell them that Jesus is alive and they know it and it's firsthand and if
they wouldn't believe the women, maybe they'll believe us. I don't know how fast two disciples can go
seven miles, but however fast they can, they did in the dark. Familiar road, the road home is always a familiar
road. They got there as soon as they could get there. And it says, "They found gathered together
the Eleven." The Eleven becomes at this point in the gospel
record a technical term for the Apostles who are different than the disciples. You understand that? Disciple is just a word that means learner,
mathetes , all those who were followers of Jesus. The Apostles were the sent ones commissioned,
set apart, originally Twelve, Judas is out, that left Eleven. So instead of being called the Twelve, later
in the book of Acts they are referred to as the Twelve because that becomes their new
name with the addition of Matthias in the first chapter of Acts. But for now, they're the Eleven, even though
there aren't eleven of them there because Thomas on this occasion happens to be absent. We know that from John's gospel. So they're still the Eleven. It refers to the Apostles. They're...they're gathered and the others
who were with them. Just a couple of notes. Found gathered together...interestingly enough
that's a perfect passive participle. When something is passive, it means that you
don't gather yourself together, that could be active or reflexive, but you have been
gathered together, somebody else is acting on you. Somebody else or something else is gathering
you together. This is a verb. Very interesting verb used here, only here
in the New Testament. They had been collected together by some force,
the force of fear, the force of doubt, the force of confusion, all these things that
they had experienced had acted like a force to gather them together. And, of course, behind it all is the divine
force, as the Spirit of God gathers them together for an appearance of Jesus Christ to them. Now the two from Emmaus think they have a
scoop. Okay? They think they've got the news these people
have really been waiting to hear and that they have more credibility than the women
because in the culture women didn't give testimony in a court of law. So they're men. But they're surprised. It says they returned to Jerusalem, found
gathered together the Eleven and those who were with them. Now just to give you a little scene here,
they go to wherever this is. The door is locked and bolted, John tells
us in John 20, because they're afraid, they're hiding from the Jews, afraid they're going
to get them. So they're banging on the door. It's Cleopas and whoever else, it's us, we're
here, we have something to tell you, have something to tell you...let us in, let us
in. So they open the door and they let them in. And then notice this, the end of verse 33,
"Those who were with them, the Eleven and those who were with them, saying..." very
important, it's the Eleven and those who were with them who now speak. The use of the Greek verb form is accusative
rather than nominative. If it was nominative it would mean the two
were speaking. Because it's accusative it means the object
is speaking. So it is them who are speaking, it's in the
accusative case. So they go in ready to blurt out their incredible
news and everybody on the inside says, "The Lord has really risen and appeared to Simon." This is one up on them. They're just Cleopas and the no-name. I mean, the most convincing appearance would
be to be to Simon, Simon Peter the leader. So before they can shout their joy, before
they can dispense the thrill, tell their story, in their face comes this testimony, "The Lord
has really arisen." Truly, indeed, it's an emphatic word. Been risen. Again it's a divine passive, been raised and
appeared to Simon. This is the only time in the four gospels
you hear about that appearance to Simon. The actual appearance isn't narrated. You know, part of me feels bad about that. I would love to have heard what the Lord said
to him because Peter had not done well that week. Right? He had done about as badly as anybody could
possibly do...triple denier, scattered, doesn't even go to the cross, hiding. He's part of the reason that none of the others
believed the testimony of the women because he didn't believe it. And leaders are leaders and followers are
followers and he was the leader. And the Lord had said to him, "Satan desires
to have you," in Luke 22, "to sift you like wheat and I've given him permission to do
that." This is confrontation, folks. And maybe it's not recorded because God is
just being gracious to Peter. I don't know what the rebuke was but I'm sure
it was pretty stern. Silence to me is gracious to the denying coward. And it also tells us that all of that is in
the past and it's all forgiven. It really doesn't matter, that's over, that's
gone. Peter was restored and he got it, boy, did
he get it. His first letter, 1 Peter 1:3, "Blessed be
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who according to His great mercy has caused
us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the
dead." He got it. After hearing from Peter, everybody was becoming
convinced. They had opened the door, apparently, a little
earlier to let him in. Now I don't know what that was like either,
but he must have come in and said, "Ladies, I apologize, you were right, He is alive and
He appeared to me." The only other comment on that is in 1 Corinthians
15:5 where Paul under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit says that He appeared to Peter,
or Cephas, and then to the Twelve. Well, that was a shock that they already knew
and that there was an even stronger force of testimony coming from Peter then would
come from them. "Then," it says in verse 35, "they began to
relate their experiences on the road." You know, it's just a simple sentence in how
He was recognized by them in the breaking of the bread. How long would that take? I mean, if you were telling that story, I
know what it would be. "Like, you know, we left and...you want to
build it up, right?...and we had walked about a mile and a half, about two miles and we're
trying to...bang...what happened. Well how did you know He was there. Well where did He come from. How did He show up?" And this would not be just...you know, people
didn't talk like the Bible narrative. They were real people having real conversations,
you know, in a room full of people and this was the most important information they had
ever had in their lives. So it must have been a wondrous thing for
them to talk about all the experiences along the road and pointing to some of the Old Testament
passages that He clarified in regard to the Messiah having to suffer and die and how they
sat down at the table and He broke the bread and it was revealed who He was. And then He vanished out of their sight. And what I want you to see in this opening
section is everybody's got the same testimony. We saw Him...we saw Him...it was Him...it
was Him...He's alive...He's alive...He's alive. Very consistent...consistent appearances and
consistent professions of having seen Him. That takes us to a second point, we'll call
this confounding presence just for a little alliteration. Somewhere in the telling, these two people
have already been upstaged once by Simon, they're about to get upstaged again big time. "While," verse 36, "while they were telling
these things, He Himself stood in their midst." And John says in his gospel that He said,
"Peace be to you." Why did He say that? Well it was the common greeting, peace. Secondly, they were in a state of panic. Peace might be another way of saying, "Calm
down." But I think it was probably more than that
as well, I think it was peace in the ultimate sense. He came as the Prince of Peace. He came to bring peace to men of good will. And through the resurrection, He accomplished
that peace. It's peace every way you could look at it. So, while they're telling their story and
dramatizing it, He Himself stood in their midst. He had vanished out of their presence in Emmaus
and He just appeared in a split second from nowhere. Wow! Sudden supernatural appearance as startling
as His vanishing. Listen to the words of John...John chapter
20 verse 19 who is describing the same scene. "So when it was evening on the first day of
the week, when the doors were shut, bolted, where the disciples were for fear of the Jews,
Jesus came and stood in their midst." And by the way, He did the same thing a week
later for Thomas' sake, according to John 20 and verse 26. Now again, He didn't appear as a dazzling
angel. He didn't appear as transfigured as He had
on the Mount with Peter, James and John. He didn't appear covered with glory. He appeared in His resurrection form which
was not shocking, not stunning because Mary just thought He was the gardener, right? And the women on the road just said, "We met
Him and it was Him." And the disciples said He just walked up and
we started talking together and there was nothing apparently, dramatically, shockingly
supernatural about Him, His appearance. The resurrection glorified body of Christ
was adaptable. It can be all glorious. In fact, in the New Jerusalem it can light
all of the New Jerusalem so there doesn't need to be a light because He's the lamp of
it, or it can be subdued. You say, "So why does it say in verse 37 they
were startled and frightened and thought they were seeing a spirit?" Because not because of what He looked like
but because how did He get there? He just...whisst...is there in a locked room,
that's the shock. It wasn't the thing that happened to the soldiers
at the tomb who were knocked into a coma by a blazing angel. It was just that He was there and a second
ago He wasn't there. And they were startled, ptoeo is the Greek
verb, it means to be suddenly startled, and then em phobos from which we get phobias,
fears, it means to be in a continued state of fear. They were stunned and startled and shocked
into a condition of terror. That is a natural reaction. If you're sitting there and we're having this
service and somebody instantly appeared there, you'd be startled, too...or here, or anywhere. It wouldn't really be a matter of what they
look like, it would just be a matter of where did they come from that would generate the
shock. They thought they must be seeing a ghost. Now they had never seen a ghost, but maybe
there was then like there is now this belief that ghosts exist or certainly spirits exist,
demonic spirits exist, angelic spirits exist. It couldn't be a material being. It couldn't be a human being because where
would He come from, humans can't do that. So it was a fairly reasonable conclusion to
say that this must be a spirit, this must be some kind of a vision. You remember when Peter was in jail, and I'll
look at that in a minute in Acts 12, an angel came and he said, "I'm not sure what this
is, is this a vision? This just doesn't happen." So there is this confounding presence. They're just stunned and shocked and startled
and frightened and terrified. And then comes the final point, convincing
proofs...convincing proofs. "He said to them, 'Why are you troubled? Why do doubts arise in your hearts?'" You know, that's not...that's not a question
that expects an explanation, that's a rhetorical question. It would be like us saying to somebody, "What
are you so worried about? Why are you upset?" We don't expect him to give us a litany of
reasons, we're really questioning the legitimacy of that kind of an attitude. Why are you acting that way? Well, point one, I'm acting this way because
of...and point two, I'm acting.... No, that's not the point. Look you know there was an empty tomb. You know there are grave clothes lying exactly
where they were when they were on the body. You know there's an angelic testimony, you've
heard it from multiple people. You know that Simon Peter saw the risen Lord
and reported it to you. You know the two on the road to Emmaus saw
the risen Christ. You know all of that. Why are you...why are you troubled and why
do doubts arise in your hearts? As if to say this is not legitimate. This is not legitimate, there's no place for
this. You have no reason to be troubled, no reason
to be uncertain about the glorious reality. What He's doing is demanding that they look
at the evidence, trustworthy people. Use your minds. And then He says let's have you use your senses,
verse 39. "Use your eyes...sight...See My hands." This is the convincing proofs. "See My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself." Well how would they know that from His hands
and feet? Well listen to what John writes in John 20:24. "Thomas, one of the Twelve, called Didymus,
was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples, therefore, were saying
to him, 'We have seen the Lord.' But he said, 'Unless I see in His hands the
imprint of the nails and put my finger into the place of the nails and put my hand into
His side, I will not believe.' And then after eight days again His disciples
were inside and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, the doors having been shut...again...and
stood in the midst and said, 'Peace be with you.' Then He said to Thomas, 'Reach here your fingers,
see My hands, reach here your hand, put it into My side, be not unbelieving but believing.' Thomas answered and said to Him, 'My Lord
and my God.'" That is the only place in the four gospels
where we have any indication they nailed Jesus to a cross. In no account of the crucifixion does it tell
us they used nails. The only way we know they used nails is because
the nail prints were there. And He's saying...back to Luke 24...."See
My hands, My feet." Nail prints. Who else could it be? I love this, "It is I Myself," ego ami , it
is I am. And that's the phrase that John repeats and
repeats and repeats in his gospel in declaring the deity of Christ. I am the resurrection and the life. I am the Good Shepherd who lays down His life
for His sheep. I am the Door, I am the Way, I am the Truth,
I am the Life, I am the Vine, etc., etc. And I AM is the name of God, yahweh , I am
that I am. So He says, "Touch Me, use your senses. Use your brain, look at the evidence testimony. Use your senses, see, look and then touch
Me and see...verse 39. Use your eyes and use your touch. "For a spirit doesn't have flesh and bones
as you see that I have." Wow! You mean the eternally glorified risen Christ
has flesh and bones? Wow! The answer to that is, can have if He wants. Did you grab that one? The nature of the glorified body is that it
can be whatever it wants to be, whatever it needs to be. They aren't bones like the bones before His
death, they are the structure that keeps His actual corporeal form together. There's flesh but it's not like His former
flesh. It's something different, it's eternal, it
cannot die. Well, He's asking them to look, to touch. "And when He had said this," verse 40, "He
showed them His hands and His feet." And then in verse 41, it's so interesting. "And while they still could not believe it
for joy..." What is that? What do you mean you can't believe it for
joy? We have a phrase for that. Something is too good to be true. That was it. This is...you know, they have no expectation
of this and now it's dawning on them that this is actually the risen Christ and it is
true and it's too good to be true. It's like the old, "I'm pinching myself because
this can't be happening to me." There's a conflicted mind here. This is not possible. This is not expected. But here it is. This reminds me of Acts 12, Peter is in prison,
put in prison by Herod for preaching the gospel. So he's in there and he's sleeping between
two soldiers, bound with two chains and guards in front of the door watching over the prison
and a big prison gate. "So an angel of the Lord," I love this, "suddenly
appeared and a light showed in the cell." An angel from heaven comes in and lights up
Peter's cell. And it says, "He struck Peter's side," whacked
by an angel. "And he woke him up. Get up. And his chains fell off his hands and the
angel said to him, 'Gird yourself and put on your sandals. Get your coat.' And he did so and he said to him, 'Wrap your
cloak around you and follow me.'" And he went out and continued to follow, continued
to know what was being done by the angel was real. He thought he was seeing a vision. "And when they had passed the first and second
guard, they came to the iron gate that leads into the city which opened for them by itself. And they went out and went along one street
and immediately the angel departed." Gone. "Now when Peter came to himself, he said,
'Now I know for sure that the Lord has sent forth His angel, rescued me from the hand
of Herod and all the Jewish people were expecting.'" Now he knew that the believers were meeting,
they were meeting in the house of John Mark, his mother Mary. You know why they were meeting? They were having a prayer meeting for Peter. They're praying the Lord would let Peter out
of prison. They're having a prayer meeting. They were gathered together. They were praying. He knocks at the door. A servant girl named Rhoda came to answer. When she recognized Peter's voice because
of her joy, she didn't open the gate, she just ran back in. "Pe...Pe...Pe..." Peter is standing there at the front of the
gate and Peter is.... "And they said to her, 'You're out of your
mind,' and kept praying." Of course, this can't be happening, we're
praying but oh no, this can't be happening. Not exactly an illustration of great faith. The disciples are somewhere in the middle
of reality and unreality, trying to figure this out. And so, "Okay," Jesus says, "You've looked,
you've used sight, you've used touch, you've used your brain to process the testimony which
is consistent. Let's try one other thing...how about...how
about this..." "He said to them, 'Have you anything here
to eat?'" Let's try the taste test. "And they gave Him a piece of broiled fish." Somebody ran and got a piece of broiled fish. "And He took it and ate it before them." Isn't it amazing how that ends? It just ends. "And He ate it." He ate a piece of fish. Can a glorified body eat a piece of fish? Well, God came down one time, took on a bodily
form with a couple of angels and had dinner with Abraham and Sarah, Genesis 18, Genesis
19. Or the critics say, "Well, this proves the
inaccuracy of the Bible because fish were not available in Jerusalem." Well that is a stretch. But that actually...there are articles actually
on how we know this is not true because there were no fish in Jerusalem. Despite the fact that one of the gates leading
into the city is called "The Fish Gate," according to Nehemiah 3:3 AND Nehemiah 12:39 because
that's where the fishermen from the sea brought the fish through to the city. And by the way, there were people of Tyre,
according to Nehemiah, who lived in Jerusalem who were fish importers. Of course there were fish there and they had
cooked it and they gave it to Him and He ate it. Now how are we to understand this body? It can be seen. It can be heard 'cause it can speak. It can be touched. It can eat. It's a combination of what is natural and
supernatural. Here's the way to understand it. His supernatural glorified body was able to
conform to any realm and any reality. If it needed to be earthly, it could be earthly. If it needed to be heavenly, it could be heavenly. If it needed to be physical, it could be physical. If it needed to be spiritual, it could be
spiritual. If it needed to be transcendent, it could
be transcendent. If it needed to be earthy, it could be earthy. It could stand one moment on the Mount of
Olives, have a conversation with the disciples, and in an instant, disappear into a cloud
and go into the infinite heaven beyond the end of the infinite universe into the presence
of God infinitely faster than the speed of light. It could do a quantum leap. You know, that's what put Einstein in his
grave still scratching his brow because he couldn't figure out how something in an atom
could go out of existence over here, come into existence over here and never traverse
the space in between. That's quantum leap. Nothing can move that fast, it's impossible
if it's here and it ends up here, it's got to go past the middle. No, something can exist here, it exist there
and never traverse the space in between. That's the power of God and that power is
displayed in the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. He can be outside and be inside, He can be
in Emmaus, He can be here. And yet He can eat a fish if He needs to. It's adaptability is what the mark of the
glorified body is. And I'm telling you this because you need
to know, you're going to get one. Philippians 3:20 and 21...are you ready for
that? (Applause) Philippians 3:20 and 21 says that
we're going to have a body like unto His body, the glory of our body will be like the glory
of His body. And when we see Him, we'll be like Him for
we'll see Him as He is. Our body will be able to conform to a millennial
earth. When we come back with Christ, you know, when
He brings us back to reign in the Kingdom, in the Millennial Kingdom, we'll have a glorified
body and we'll be able to live adaptable to this earth. And when He wipes out this entire universe,
creates a new heaven and a new earth, our adaptability will be set to adapt to that
eternal state as well. If you're wondering how this can happen, you
need to just read 1 Corinthians 15, this is so interesting. Paul is answering questions. Somebody says to him, "Well wait a minute,
you're talking about resurrection," 1 Corinthians 15:35, "just how are the dead raised?" Now this is a kind of a mocking question. "How are the dead raised and with what kind
of body do they come?" You know what his answer is? "You fool." That's a pretty harsh answer, really. It implies that the question isn't honest,
it's skeptical, it's really wanting to argue against the resurrection. "You fool, don't you know that what you sow
doesn't even come to life until it dies?" You put a seed into the ground, what happens
to it? It dies before it brings forth life. + And that which you sow, you do not sow the
body which is to be but a bare grain. You sow a seed to get a tree, you don't sow
a tree to get a tree. You sow a seed to get a flower, you don't
sow a flower to get a flower. You sow a flower to get a flower, you'll get
nothing. His analogy is simply this. God gives a body as He wished and to each
of the seeds, a body of its own. And all flesh is not the same. There's a flesh of man and beast and birds
and fish and there's heavenly bodies and earthly bodies and the glory of the heavenly is one
and the glory of the earthly is another. There's one glory of the sun, another glory
of the moon, another glory of the stars. Stars different from stars. So in the resurrection it is sown an imperishable
body, raised an imperishable. Sown in dishonor, raised in glory. Sown in weakness, raised in power. Sown natural, raised to spiritual. It's different...it's different. First man is from the earth, earthly, the
second man is from heaven. As is the earthy, so also are those who are
earthy and is the heavenly, so also are those who are heavenly as we bear the image of the
earthy we will bear the image of the heavenly. He had body like our earthly body, we'll have
a body like His glorified body. It is a body that adapts. It is a body that doesn't have the kind of
processes, bodily processes because of decay and because of the nature of the curse. It is a glorified body, it is an eternal body,
it is a body that can adapt itself to anything without all the necessary human processes
involved in that. So the end is, you've heard the testimony
of the eyewitnesses, multiple eyewitnesses. They have recorded the fact that I am alive,
empty tomb, grave clothes where they were lying, angelic testimony, witnesses from all
these different people including the head of all the Apostles, if you will, Peter. There's plenty of evidence to think about. You've seen, you've touched, you've seen me
eat. Believe it, I'm alive. Since that day, that Sunday in 30 A.D., the
triumphant cry of the church has been the Lord Jesus is alive, He is risen from the
dead. This...this is the invincibility of the church,
as Erik Sower(??) put it. This is the invincibility of the church. And this is what the church has always preached. He rose from the dead. The Day of Pentecost, Acts 2, Peter stands
up said, "You killed Him, God raised Him." Chapter 3, "You killed Him, God raised Him." Chapter 4, "You killed Him, God raised Him." Chapter 5, "You killed Him, God raised Him." Chapter 10, and I'll read this one, chapter
10 and verse 40, "God raised Him up on the third day and granted that He should become
visible, not to all the people but to witnesses who were chosen beforehand by God, that is
to us who ate and drank with Him after He rose from the dead and He ordered us to preach
to the people and to solemnly testify that this is the One who has been appointed by
God as judge of the living and the dead. Of Him all the prophets bear witness that
through His name everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins." They went on preaching the resurrection as
eyewitnesses of the resurrection. To be an Apostle you had to be an eyewitness
of the resurrection. It's the gospel of the resurrection. Romans 1, "He was declared the Son of God
with power by the resurrection from the dead," Romans 1:4. Now look, our Lord could have gone to heaven
without a body. He had been in heaven for all eternity without
one, right? He could have gone back without one. Still been all glorious, still been who He
was, the resurrection is not about His continued existence. That was never in question. He's eternal. That is not the question. Why then a bodily resurrection? I'm just going to give you...you can think
about them, we don't have time to open them up. Number one, a bodily resurrection was necessary
to demonstrate His complete victory over sin. Sin kills. Sin brought spiritual death and it brought
physical death. If He only conquered the spiritual side, then
He did not conquer sin completely. The wages of sin is both physical and spiritual
death. He needed to conquer both...He needed to conquer
both. If Christ had only conquered spiritual death,
it would have been less than a complete victory. If he had not risen bodily, we who are His
would not rise either. There would never be a restoration of this
earth, there would be no millennial glory, that is all gone. That can't happen. Bodily resurrection is necessary to make the
triumph over sin's effect total. Secondly, resurrection is necessary to demonstrate
the purpose of God in the humanity, that we were created as men and women to give glory
to God through that creation. And that creation would be recovered in glory
so that as we men and women in physical form throughout eternity, we will give glory to
God as we were originally intended to, not as a half-way being which was partially conquered
by sin and partially rescued. And maybe most importantly, the physical resurrection
of Jesus Christ is visible proof that God was satisfied with His sacrifice. It does matter that His body does come out
of that grave because how else do we know that God was satisfied with His offering? Because we couldn't see His Spirit. Faith comes, saving faith comes when you acknowledge
Jesus as Lord because you know God raised Him from the dead which puts the divine stamp
of approval on His work on the cross. Look, His followers followed Him to the cross
and then He lost them all, right? Lost them all. Between Friday and Sunday, they are all gone. He had lost them all. If all you do is follow Jesus to the cross,
you're going to have your hopes shattered. They needed to know not only did He die but
He's alive and the only way they would know that is to see Him in the physical, visible,
tangible, touchable form. If they had never seen Jesus alive from the
dead, if his body was in a box somewhere, they would never have carried the message
any further. They would have gone to Emmaus and every other
village dispersed all the way back to where they came from and they would have said, "There's
no reason to go a step further." They would never have attempted to make converts
and establish a religion based on a dead, disappointing teacher even though they loved
Him. What changed them was they saw Him alive. No one would have believed the Lord Jesus
was Redeemer, Savior, Son of God and Lord if He hadn't visibly risen from the dead and
that too is the testimony of the Apostle Paul in these powerful words, 1 Corinthians 15:13,
"If there's no resurrection of the dead, Christ has not been raised. If Christ has not been raised, your preaching
is vain, your faith is vain and we are found to be false witnesses of God because we witnessed
against God that He raised Christ whom He didn't raise if in fact the dead are not raised. If the dead are not raised, not even Christ
has been raised. If Christ has not been raised, your faith
is worthless." He had to show Himself alive so we would know
that His sacrifice had been accepted by the Father. Beloved, the philosophers were wrong. Plato was wrong, Aristotle was wrong, and
all who followed them were wrong. The body is not the prison of the spirit,
the body is essential to what it means to be a human. And in our glorified form, we will be both
body and spirit in heaven exalting Christ forever. And the good part, we will be like Him. Father, we thank You for the time You give
us and it seems limited always and we seem pressured and sometimes aren't sure exactly
why all things have to be conformed to time but we understand that. We just thank You for what You do give us,
what our minds can absorb. We thank You for this truth that comes and
we feel like those on the road to Emmaus, our hearts burn within us over these things
and we rejoice in understanding the truth. We thank You for the clarity with which the
Old Testament prophesied the coming of Christ in His death and resurrection, the clarity
with which the New Testament describes its reality and gives us eyewitness accounts. Thank You for the ministry of the Apostles
in testifying to Christ and writing down both in the gospels and in the epistles the truth
of the gospel of resurrection. Because He lives, we will live as well. We look forward to that glorious day and that
glorious hope when we are like Him because we see Him as He is. And we give Him all the glory. Amen.
