Easter Sunday 2026
Notes
Transcript
He is risen! He is risen indeed!
It’s been a good morning of celebration. Some of you have been here from the beginning. Others are just joining in. Whenever you came, I am grateful that we can celebrate the truth together that Jesus is alive! That fact, that truth, changes everything.
This morning for sunrise service, we studied the first part of Luke 24. We saw how the women went to the tomb early in the morning, but they found it empty. An angel told them that Jesus was alive!
When they brought back the news to the disciples, they were met with three reactions: That’s nonsense! And, could it be true? Finally, John believed.
Turning to Jesus in faith is a process. Sometimes that process is quicker for some than others. But, through the process, everyone must come to grips with who Jesus is.
Just as the disciples do in our passage. As we walk through, we are going to see the prophet, the Messiah, and the Risen Lord.
Before we dive in, will you pray with me?
1. Is He a Prophet?
1. Is He a Prophet?
Who is Jesus? Is he a prophet?
Well, yes, ish.
Let’s read Luke 24 13-24
Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; but they were kept from recognizing him.
He asked them, “What are you discussing together as you walk along?”
They stood still, their faces downcast. One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, “Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?”
“What things?” he asked.
“About Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning but didn’t find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but they did not see Jesus.”
Cleopas and his friend were followers of Jesus. We don’t know how long they followed him. But, they did, because they thought he was different. They saw his ministry, and claimed that he was a prophet sent from God for a purpose, to redeem Israel.
Why would they have this claim? Well, a prophet does one main thing: he speaks for God: thus says the Lord! Often, in the Old Testament, the message of God came with one of two signs, or both at the same time, either predicting future events as the sign or the impetus for the current message, or miraculous works, such as healing, raising someone from the dead, making the Nile turn to blood, such like.
Jesus spoke the words of the Father with power, and he followed them with predicting future events and with miraculous works.
So, yes, I could see why Cleopas and his friend were following Jesus because they thought he was a prophet.
And in a sense he was.
God told Moses:
I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their fellow Israelites, and I will put my words in his mouth. He will tell them everything I command him.
This prophet that God told Moses about would be the one who would redeem Israel from slavery, just as Moses had done.
You can actually set Jesus’ life up next to Moses’ life, his teaching, his miracles, and see how Jesus matches up, completely, but better.
Whereas Moses was sent to deliver the nation of Israel out of physical slavery in Egypt, Jesus was sent to deliver people from all nations out of spiritual slavery to sin in their hearts (Matt. 1:21).
She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
Whereas Moses only spoke the words he received from God, Jesus came as the very Word of God who declared, “I say to you” (Matt. 5:21-22ff) and it was God’s words.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Whereas Moses came as a recipient of the Law, Jesus came to fulfill the Law (Matt. 5:17).
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.
Whereas Moses’ face shone with the reflection of the heavenly glory he had seen, Jesus’ shone like the sun with his own divine glory (Matt. 17:2).
There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light.
Whereas Moses mediated temporarily between God and man by the Law, Jesus mediates eternally between God and man by the shedding of his own blood (Matt. 27:51).
At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split
We could keep going… But, I won’t.
Yes, Jesus came as a prophet, but he is more than a prophet.
2. Is He the Messiah?
2. Is He the Messiah?
He is the Messiah.
Jesus looked at Cleopas and his friend, and he responded to their bewilderment, though they did not know it was him:
He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.
As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus continued on as if he were going farther. But they urged him strongly, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them.
When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”
Jesus came to fulfill all the prophecies of the Old Testament. Even though the religious leaders hadn’t realized it, the Messiah had to suffer and die.
We can look back at the beginning of time:
And I will put enmity
between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
he will crush your head,
and you will strike his heel.”
The Messiah would go through pain, bodily brokenness, in the process of redeeming the world.
A verse that we just studied a few weeks ago:
After the sixty-two ‘sevens,’ the Anointed One will be put to death and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed.
the Messiah will be put to death.
“And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son.
He will be pierced.
than you have all of Isa 53.
Surely he took up our pain
and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
and on and on, the prophecies go.
As John the Baptist said, Jesus is the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.
What does a lamb do to take away sin? it dies, and the blood is sprinkled on the altar.
In the same way, the Messiah had to die, to pay the penalty of our sins, and his blood was sprinkled on the altar in heaven.
He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption.
As Jesus was sitting with Cleopas and his friend, their food was brought, and Jesus broke the bread and gave it to them, just as Jesus had done the night before he died. Breaking the bread, symbolizing his body being broken. Passing the cup, symbolizing how his blood would be spilt.
Even Passover, the act that the Jews had celebrated for hundreds of years, pointed to the fact that the Messiah had to suffer and die.
In that moment, their eyes were opened and they realized who was sitting before them. It was, the man who was more than a prophet. He was the Messiah!
But, he was more than just a Messiah, a savior.
3. Is He the Risen Lord?
3. Is He the Risen Lord?
He is the risen Lord.
Jesus disappears from Cleopas and his friend. but, they have to do something. Their errand forgotten:
They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together and saying, “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.” Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread.
While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”
They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.”
When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet. And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate it in their presence.
He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.”
Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”
When he had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven. Then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy.
We read about firefighters and police officers. We read about war heroes. We call them saviors, because they save people from bodily harm. They do incredibly brave, heroic things.
However, there is a difference between them and our savior, Jesus Christ. Jesus died to save us eternally from our sins, guaranteeing us an eternity with him in paradise.
This act was something that a man had to do. However, it was not an act that a man could completely fulfill. Because a man is not good enough to do this.
Which is why Jesus was not just a man. He is the eternally begotten son of God. Very God of very God.
Yes, Jesus was 100% man. But he is also 100% God. As such, he is perfect, able to be that perfect sacrifice.
What a mystery that is. But the truth was proven when he rose from the God. At no time in all of history did someone raise themselves from the grave.
That act proved who he was. It also proved the gift that he gave. His salvation is real. Forgiveness can be received through him. And death has no hold on those who follow him, just as it had no hold on Jesus.
The question is: what will we do with this information.
At first, the disciples did not believe. Even though Jesus appeared to Mary, Cleopas, and Peter, the rest of the disciples thought that they were seeing a ghost when Jesus appeared to them.
But, then he proved his physicality. He was alive. He showed them the truth of his message.
When faced with that, they worshiped him.
There are many people who believe that Jesus is a prophet, but they won’t worship him.
There are many people who admit that Jesus was a great teacher, and a savior in some form, but they won’t worship.
Each of these groups fall short of what is needed.
Jesus, by dying for our sins and raising himself from the grave, deserves all worship. He deserves our confession that he is the risen Lord. He is God himself, who became flesh and lives among us, to rescue us from the world of brokenness, sin, and despair.
Do you believe this?
If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
This is the most important decision one can make in their life. Do not put this decision off.
If you are a follower of Jesus, let us celebrate the fact today that Jesus, the son of God, the very word of God, died for us.
Communion.
