April 7, 2003
LifeWay Explore the Bible Series for April 20
Christ's resurrection has eternal significance
___Luke 24:1-53
___By Jim Perkins
___Madison Hills Baptist Church, San Antonio
___Listen to the words of encouragement and inspiration employed by every group or team today, and it seems you will hear some version of the injunction, "Keep the focus!" As Christians, we must not forget that this command fills the Easter event with meaning and purpose: We must maintain our focus on the most important Good News--Christ is risen!
___Announcing the resurrection
___Even as we give credence to the individual personality and purpose of each gospel writer (and the sovereign design of the Holy Spirit's inspiration), certain vital facts central to the resurrection story are included in all four gospel accounts. Luke is in agreement when he notes the women first came to the tomb to prepare the body of Jesus--at this time they were not looking for the person of the risen Lord. Mary Magdalene always is mentioned first (Matthew 28:1; Mark 16:1; Luke 24:10; John 20:1), and she was accompanied by other women.
___O, how beautiful the story of the Good News is in Luke! Remember, those who were given the wonderful privilege of hearing about and announcing the birth of our Savior were of the lower socio-economic class (the shepherds, Luke 2:8, 16-18). Now, the first person to see and hear of the resurrection is a woman who had been healed of what must have been an overwhelming demon possession (Luke 8:2, "seven demons had come out"; 24:2, 10; Mark 16:9). If only we also could catch a glimpse this Easter of the beauty, hope and urgency of the message: Christ has risen!
___Giving evidence
___of the resurrection
___Jesus chose to come to his disciples to encourage them of the reality of his resurrection and spur them along to faithful living and witnessing. That the risen Lord could appear before them when they met behind closed doors is witness to the fact that his resurrection body is a "spiritual body" (Paul's term in 1 Corinthians 15:44). This resurrection body is a real body, but we do not know all its properties. We can see, however, that Jesus' actions proved his body was not restricted by the physical, spatial and temporal limitations we know.
___Notice, though, that to comfort his disciples, Jesus was careful to demonstrate his body was a real, physical body. Jesus invited them to touch him, for he had real "flesh and bones" (24:39). He also ate a portion of fish before them to dispel any fears or qualms the disciples might have had about his person (24:41-43).
___We have all the evidence necessary to know the reality of the resurrection (see also 1 Corinthians 15:3-8). We also revel in the promise that Jesus' resurrection was the "firstfruits"--the first evidence of the harvest guaranteed to come--for those who follow (1 Corinthians 15:20).
___Explaining the significance_
___That Jesus was resurrected from the dead had now been established. But what difference did that make? The disciples still needed to grasp the significance of the resurrection, and with that task in mind Jesus began to teach them from the Scriptures. The tripartite formula "law of Moses, the prophets and the psalms" (24:44) represents the typical description and division of the entire Hebrew Old Testament. Jesus, in essence then, maintained that his life and the events therein were foretold in the entire Old Testament.
___From the text, it would appear Jesus "opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures" (24:45) in two ways. First, surely Jesus cited certain Scriptures to explain or illustrate the necessity of his death and resurrection. Those Scriptures might be represented in the inspired writings of the disciples: read John 1:21 ("law," Deuteronomy 18:15); 1 Peter 2:21-25 ("prophets," Isaiah 53:3-6); and Matthew 27:32-50 ("psalms", Psalm 22). Second, Jesus also opened their minds in a way that moved beyond the mere reception of a quantity of information: He caused the disciples to understand the significance of the words of Scripture and how they applied to him personally. Now the disciples had every reason to rejoice and exclaim again, "Now you are speaking clearly and without figures of speech. ... This makes us believe" (John 16:29-30).
___The two short verses in 24:46-47 provide an amazingly concise summary of the content of the Scriptures to which Jesus referred, and they also provide the heart of the gospel message. In addition, note the assignment and promise of verses 48 and 49. Every Christian--the first disciples and every believer thereafter--is included in the challenge and assignment to bear witness to salvation through faith in Christ (to receive the "repentance and forgiveness of sins," 24:47). And of course, we also share in the promise of the necessary, equipping power of the Holy Spirit to be a witness for Christ.
___Questions for discussion
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