Luke 24:1-49 - The First Skeptics

Introduction

[READING - Luke 24:1-12]

Luke 24:1–12 NASB95

1 But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared. 2 And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men suddenly stood near them in dazzling clothing; 5 and as the women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living One among the dead? 6 “He is not here, but He has risen. Remember how He spoke to you while He was still in Galilee, 7 saying that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.” 8 And they remembered His words, 9 and returned from the tomb and reported all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. 10 Now they were Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James; also the other women with them were telling these things to the apostles. 11 But these words appeared to them as nonsense, and they would not believe them. 12 But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen wrappings only; and he went away to his home, marveling at what had happened.

[PRAYER]

[CONTEXT] Jesus was crucified and buried and on the third day raised from the dead.

Some of the women who followed Him went to the tomb to further prepare His body burial, but they found the stone rolled away and hear the news that Jesus has been raised from the dead.

The women go tell the Apostles, but… as verse 11 says…

Luke 24:11 NASB95

11 But these words appeared to them as nonsense, and they would not believe them.

They did not believe what the women said about the angels.

They did not believe what the women said about the words of Jesus.

They angels had reminded the women that Jesus said He would rise on the third day.

The women remembered the words of Jesus.

They no doubt reminded the Apostles, but the Apostles did not believe them.

Peter did not believe after hearing the women and seeing the empty tomb and discarded linen wrappings.

He went away marveling but not yet believing.

All of this seemed to them unbelievable nonsense.

The Apostles were the first skeptics.

They did not believe that Jesus had been raised from the dead.

But soon all the Apostles would become convinced of Jesus’s resurrection. In fact, they would give their lives to preaching the resurrection of Jesus.

[INTER] So, how did they become convinced?

[CIT] In this chapter, Jesus provided three PROOFS so that the Apostles would believe that He had been raised from the dead.

[AIM/TS] Let’s take a look at each PROOF so that we might have our belief in the resurrection encouraged… or perhaps become convinced of Jesus’s resurrection if we haven’t been before.

Before we get to those PROOFS, however, we need to read vv. 13-49 because it’s in those verses that we see how Jesus convinces the Apostles…

Luke 24:13–49 NASB95

13 And behold, two of them were going that very day to a village named Emmaus, which was about seven miles from Jerusalem. 14 And they were talking with each other about all these things which had taken place. 15 While they were talking and discussing, Jesus Himself approached and began traveling with them. 16 But their eyes were prevented from recognizing Him. 17 And He said to them, “What are these words that you are exchanging with one another as you are walking?” And they stood still, looking sad. 18 One of them, named Cleopas, answered and said to Him, “Are You the only one visiting Jerusalem and unaware of the things which have happened here in these days?” 19 And He said to them, “What things?” And they said to Him, “The things about Jesus the Nazarene, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word in the sight of God and all the people, 20 and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to the sentence of death, and crucified Him. 21 “But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, it is the third day since these things happened. 22 “But also some women among us amazed us. When they were at the tomb early in the morning, 23 and did not find His body, they came, saying that they had also seen a vision of angels who said that He was alive. 24 “Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just exactly as the women also had said; but Him they did not see.” 25 And He said to them, “O foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! 26 “Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?” 27 Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures. 28 And they approached the village where they were going, and He acted as though He were going farther. 29 But they urged Him, saying, “Stay with us, for it is getting toward evening, and the day is now nearly over.” So He went in to stay with them. 30 When He had reclined at the table with them, He took the bread and blessed it, and breaking it, He began giving it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened and they recognized Him; and He vanished from their sight. 32 They said to one another, “Were not our hearts burning within us while He was speaking to us on the road, while He was explaining the Scriptures to us?” 33 And they got up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found gathered together the eleven and those who were with them, 34 saying, “The Lord has really risen and has appeared to Simon.” 35 They began to relate their experiences on the road and how He was recognized by them in the breaking of the bread. 36 While they were telling these things, He Himself stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be to you.” 37 But they were startled and frightened and thought that they were seeing a spirit. 38 And He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? 39 “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.” 40 And when He had said this, He showed them His hands and His feet. 41 While they still could not believe it because of their joy and amazement, He said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” 42 They gave Him a piece of a broiled fish; 43 and He took it and ate it before them. 44 Now He said to them, “These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” 45 Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, 46 and He said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, 47 and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 “You are witnesses of these things. 49 “And behold, I am sending forth the promise of My Father upon you; but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”

Major Ideas

Proof #1: The Scriptures (Luke 24:25-27, 44-46)

[EXP] After the women went to the tomb and heard the resurrection report from the angels and reported back to the Apostles, two more of Jesus’s disciples decided to travel to Emmaus.

We don’t know where Emmaus was.

We don’t know why they were going to Emmaus.

And besides the name, Cleopas, we don’t know who these disciples were.

But they were talking about Jesus—His death on the cross and this news about His empty tomb, His body missing, and some of the women who said they saw angels who said Jesus was alive.

But no one had yet seen Jesus.

This was disappointing for these two disciples because they had hoped that Jesus was Messiah—the One who was going to redeem Israel.

Their disappointment and lack of understanding seems to annoy Jesus who says…

Luke 24:25–26 NASB95

25 And He said to them, “O foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! 26 “Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?”

Notice that Jesus points to ‘all that the prophets have spoken’ as proof that Messiah would not only suffer and die but be raised from the dead! In v. 27, Jesus points to Moses and all the prophets and all the Scripture!

As J. C. Ryle, once wrote, “The OT is full of Christ.”

Jesus took this same approach when He appeared to the Apostles a little later on. In v. 44, He said…

Luke 24:44 NASB95

44 Now He said to them, “These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.”

In v. 45 He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.

In v. 46 He said...

Luke 24:46 NASB95

46 and He said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day,

Jesus proved His resurrection by pointing to the Scriptures.

[ILLUS] Perhaps you’ve seen this info-graphic (this one on the screens) making the rounds on the Internet.

It was created by Professor Chris Harrison at Carnegie Mellon University along with Pastor Christoph Römhild. It shows over 63,000 cross-references between the Old and New Testaments.

Harrison explains the info-graphic like this, He says…

“The bar graph that runs along the bottom represents all of the chapters in the Bible (starting with Genesis 1 on the left).

“Books alternate in color between light and dark gray, with the first book of the Old and New Testaments in white.

“The length of each bar denotes the number of verses in that chapter (so for instance, the really long bar near the middle is the longest chapter in the Bible: Psalm 119).

“Each of the 63,779 cross-references found in the Bible are depicted by a single arc - the color corresponds to the distance between the two chapters, creating a rainbow-like effect.”

This is an amazing graphic that show just how interconnected the Bible is, just how much it really is a library of books making up one book.

But do you know what’s even more amazing about these 63,000+ cross-references between the two testaments?

In some way or another, they are all about Jesus.

[APP] When you think about the whole Bible pointing to Jesus, I want to think of two words: (1) Prophecies, (2) Patterns, and (3) Propitiation.

The OT is full of Messianic prophecies.

These truths about the Messiah were recorded long before Jesus was ever born but He fulfilled them all.

In our family Bible lessons, we’ve been reading through the Gospel of Matthew and Matthew repeatedly says, “This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophets...”

If you’d like to know about the prophecies Jesus fulfilled, I’d encourage you to begin with Matthew.

But the OT is also full of what we could call ‘Messianic patterns’.

For example, Jacob’s son Joseph and his life represents a Messianic pattern.

Joseph was rejected by His brothers just as Jesus was rejected by the Jewish people.

Joseph was sold into slavery, and Jesus was betrayed for the price of a slave.

Joseph was falsely accused, and so was Jesus.

Joseph was considered dead, and Jesus really did die.

Joseph was discovered alive and ruling and reigning in Egypt, and Jesus was resurrected and now rules as King of kings and Lord or lords.

Was Joseph the Messiah? No. But his life formed a Messianic pattern—a pattern that made God’s people long for an even greater Messiah.

There are many of these Messianic patterns in the lives of OT saints.

But the OT also points to the necessity of Messianic propitiation.

The word ‘propitiation’ means to make atonement for sin by making a sacrifice.

God’s gave His people His law and told them that when they broke His law they would have to make propitiation—they would have to make atonement for their sin by way of the sacrifices He demanded.

This taught God’s people that the price for sin is death, and the way of salvation is through sacrifice.

Of course, all the propitiation in the OT was temporary because none of the sacrifices were perfect.

But when Jesus came, He was the Lamb without spot or blemish who would take away sin forever by His perfect sacrifice.

Jesus lived a perfect life, never breaking God’s Law, always obeying it perfectly.

And this meant that Jesus could lay down His life as the perfect, once for all sacrifice for those that trust in Him.

And then as Acts 2:24 says…

Acts 2:24 NASB95

24 “But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power.

All the Scriptures point to Jesus! The whole Bible is about Him!

It’s about the need for Him, the promise of Him, His arrival, His life, His death, and His resurrection!

That’s why when Jesus wanted to prove that He had been raised to these first skeptics—His own Apostles—, He used the Scriptures.

[TS] …

Conclusion

Perhaps you’re a skeptic. Perhaps you’re wondering if Jesus has really been raised from the dead. Or perhaps you’re not a total skeptic, but you have your doubts from time to time.

Either way I want to encourage you to read the Bible.

See for yourself the Messianic prophecies fulfilled in Jesus.

See for yourself the Messianic patterns culminate in Jesus.

See for yourself the Messiah Jesus lay down His life as our propitiation and take it up again in His resurrection.

Luke 24:27 NASB95

27 Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.

Are the Scriptures proof enough for you?