The Peace of Christ
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As we continue this morning to look at Jesus’ post resurrection appearances in Luke 24 we are still on the Sunday Jesus rose from the dead. We have seen there were proofs of His resurrection, proofs that people were skeptical about. Luke even opened us up to a very interesting trip on the road to a village called Emmaus were we learned some very rich truths in respect to the Scripture Correctly Revealing Jesus. We don’t need Jesus to appear to us face to face in a physical form to have Him revealed to us we have God’s revealed word right before us.
The two men who Jesus revealed Himself to on the road to Emmaus both spiritually and physically were so excited about Jesus’ words and appearance that they rushed back to Jerusalem to tell all of their colleagues what they heard and saw. As they arrived back at the place where the disciples were gathered they have found they were not the only ones who Jesus revealed Himself too and they exchange their accounts of the events.
The Peace of Christ
The Peace of Christ
This morning we will encounter yet another appearance of Jesus and this one is a proof not only of His resurrection but also a picture of the kind of resurrection we will also encounter. His resurrection can also bring about the greatest peace of mind any one can have and even helps to answer what kind of resurrection we will have. Let’s go ahead and look at this incredible revelation of Jesus.
We find it in Luke 24:36-43;
While they were telling these things, He Himself stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be to you.”
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 see that I have.”
And when He had said this, He showed them His hands and His feet.
While they still could not believe it because of their joy and amazement, He said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?”
They gave Him a piece of a broiled fish;
and He took it and ate it before them.
Here Luke continues the time of the disciples sharing their experiences in Jesus revealing Himself to them. And as they are sharing and as they are excitedly talking about how Jesus explained or opened the Scriptures and how Jesus had broken the bread for them to begin their evening meal they were all suddenly shocked by Jesus standing in their midst. Just as quickly as He disappeared and vanished from their sight now He has appeared within this crowd of men. Jesus not only appears right before them but He speaks too. It’s His opening words that I have been stuck on through out this entire passage and study. “Peace be to you.” This is what I would like to focus on is the offer of peace that Jesus provides and what this offer of peace means to us as believers.
The Offer of Peace
The Offer of Peace
Jesus knows all things and don’t think for a second Jesus didn’t know these men weren’t going to be afraid when He just popped up in the middle of this very excited crowd. So as He appears to them He tells them “Peace be to you.” This is a very common greeting for God when He reveals Himself to someone. It is a greeting to assure that everything is ok. God actually utilizes this greeting through out the Old Testament to calm the fears of those who realize they are standing in the presence of God.
This happened to one of the Judges named Gideon. In Judges 6 the nation of Isreal was actually under Midian oppression and they cried out to the Lord and the Lord chose Gideon to Judge the nation. Well the Angel of the Lord, who is the preincarnate Christ, appeared out of nowhere sitting under a tree and called out to Gideon and commissioned Him as a Judge for God. Look at what happens when Gideon realizes He is in the presence of the Lord. Judges 6:19-24.
Then Gideon went in and prepared a young goat and unleavened bread from an ephah of flour; he put the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot, and brought them out to him under the oak and presented them.
The angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened bread and lay them on this rock, and pour out the broth.” And he did so.
Then the angel of the Lord put out the end of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened bread; and fire sprang up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened bread. Then the angel of the Lord vanished from his sight.
When Gideon saw that he was the angel of the Lord, he said, “Alas, O Lord God! For now I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face.”
The Lord said to him, “Peace to you, do not fear; you shall not die.”
Then Gideon built an altar there to the Lord and named it The Lord is Peace. To this day it is still in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.
The phrase is used to assure Gideon he is perfectly fine. Gideon is not the only one who has had an encounter with the divine, Daniel the prophet also did. Daniel saw a vision of a man who appears to be Jesus, this is who Daniel sees in 10:5-6
I lifted my eyes and looked, and behold, there was a certain man dressed in linen, whose waist was girded with a belt of pure gold of Uphaz.
His body also was like beryl, his face had the appearance of lightning, his eyes were like flaming torches, his arms and feet like the gleam of polished bronze, and the sound of his words like the sound of a tumult.
This is a power vision of Jesus and this brings Daniel to his knees and he needs to be strengthened and look at how he is strengthened.
Then this one with human appearance touched me again and strengthened me.
He said, “O man of high esteem, do not be afraid. Peace be with you; take courage and be courageous!” Now as soon as he spoke to me, I received strength and said, “May my lord speak, for you have strengthened me.”
See that He offers Daniel peace so that he will stop and be strengthened.
Now these are a few examples in the Hebrew Scriptures but Luke himself has been playing on the theme of peace from the beginning of this gospel.
From the moment the angels came and announced the birth of the Lord in Luke 2 Luke has been unfolding God’s offer of peace.
“Glory to God in the highest,
And on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.”
This is the peace God is bringing on mankind in and through Jesus Christ. God is the One who offers the peace. It can only come from Him and it can only come from Jesus Christ.
Jesus now appears to these men and the first thing He says to them is “Peace be to you” as a means to preempt their fears. He knows they will be afraid and He also knows they need the assurance of true Peace that can only come from Him. Of course Jesus words didn’t immediately bring them comfort. Verse 37 continues “But they were startled and thought that they were seeing a spirit.” This at first glance is a little strange, didn’t Peter and Cleopas and the other disciple already see Jesus, why would this frighten them. Well I have a few thoughts on this.
First of all even though those men already have seen Jesus and spoke to Jesus and two of them even saw Jesus break bread and vanish from sight, this was not a common occurrence so their fear was natural. Second why did they think He was a ghost. Simple because their minds were still unable to wrap around the facts revolving Jesus’ resurrection. They knew Jesus had died and His body was no longer in the tomb so when they saw Him they thought He was a spirit, a disembodied being. This is not a modern idea or concept it is actually pretty old as you can see here.
Third, is very much just the way I think of this. Jesus is now in His glorified body and so what I actually picture here is not just someone popping in but something more like this.
And while He was praying, the appearance of His face became different, and His clothing became white and gleaming.
This is Jesus becoming glorified this is what I believe these men saw was the glorified Jesus. This brilliance of His face and clothing was so different the disciples became frightened.
So now Jesus has to calm them down some more and as He calms them down Luke provides for us a glimpse at just how unique Jesus’ glorified body is.
Identifying Marks
Identifying Marks
In verse 38 Jesus clams the men down by first speaking to them asking them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts?” Here we have something unique that is going on Jesus just appearing out of nowhere and actually in a similar account in the gospel of John we actually find that Jesus also walked through a locked door. So Jesus has a very unique position where He can appear our of nowhere and even move through solid objects. No wonder they thought He was a spirit because well have you ever tried walking through a locked door. It can be painful. Have you ever tried just appearing in the middle of a room, yeah we don’t have the ability to teleport so not going to happen. Jesus also never did this prior to His death. So yeah it is not a usual occurence and it would have been something to fear for any normal human being. So Jesus offers peace and then He even assures them there is nothing to fear.
He doesn’t only do this with His words but He offers one more element of proof for them. Verse 39 Jesus continues, “See My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself; touch Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bone as you see that I have. And when He had said this, He showed them His hands and His feet.” These men thought Jesus to be a spirit disembodied but in actuality He was flesh and blood not a spirit and He showed them how He was now flesh and blood. “Touch Me and you will see.” This is unique and this demonstrates the change in Him. In the Hebrew Scriptures like I said when we looked at Gideon the Angel of the Lord was Jesus. Jesus now has taken on flesh and blood and even in His resurrection He retains the physical but He never losses His divinity. He never losses His Godliness. A spirit can come and go and it has no coporial being. Jesus on the other hand is coporial but never losses His godliness.
This is also unique to Jesus the fact that He even retains His wounds. This is as a marker of what He has done for us. He never losses these marks. In John’s vision in the book of Revelation John sees this;
And I saw between the throne (with the four living creatures) and the elders a Lamb standing, as if slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent out into all the earth.
And He came and took the book out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne.
When He had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each one holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.
And they sang a new song, saying,
“Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.
“You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth.”
Jesus is the lamb and He retains the identifying marks of His sacrifice for all the saints and just as we see in verse 9 “He was slain and purchased for for God.” He will never lose these marks because they are their as a reminder to the saints of the price He had to pay so we can serve Him and worship Him.
He also never losses His divinity. Look we find this earlier in Revelation.
Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands;
and in the middle of the lampstands I saw one like a son of man, clothed in a robe reaching to the feet, and girded across His chest with a golden sash.
His head and His hair were white like white wool, like snow; and His eyes were like a flame of fire.
His feet were like burnished bronze, when it has been made to glow in a furnace, and His voice was like the sound of many waters.
In His right hand He held seven stars, and out of His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword; and His face was like the sun shining in its strength.
But someone will say, “How are the dead raised? And with what kind of body do they come?”
You fool! That which you sow does not come to life unless it dies;
and that which you sow, you do not sow the body which is to be, but a bare grain, perhaps of wheat or of something else.
But God gives it a body just as He wished, and to each of the seeds a body of its own.
All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one flesh of men, and another flesh of beasts, and another flesh of birds, and another of fish.
There are also heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is one, and the glory of the earthly is another.
There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory.
So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown a perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body;
it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power;
it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.
So also it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living soul.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.
However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural; then the spiritual.
The first man is from the earth, earthy; the second man is from heaven.
As is the earthy, so also are those who are earthy; and as is the heavenly, so also are those who are heavenly.
Just as we have borne the image of the earthy, we will also bear the image of the heavenly.
Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed,
in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.
For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality.
But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, “Death is swallowed up in victory.
“O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law;
but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.