Jesus Is Alive
Book of Luke Chapter 24
People sometimes ask, what is the greatest discovery that has ever been made throughout the history of our world?
Immediately, they think about material things or certain medicines.
That answer should be simple. The greatest discovery that has ever been made in this world is the empty tomb of the Lord Jesus Christ!
His tomb is still empty today because it was a borrowed tomb; the Lord Jesus only needed it for three days.
Much of this world does not know this, and most of the world does not believe this is true to their loss.
We should be very clear: if the Lord Jesus Christ had not risen from the dead, there would be no such thing as Christianity.
Christianity would be just another religion serving a false god.
The empty tomb and our risen Savior have to become a personal discovery for each individual on this earth.
If my God cannot do the impossible, then He cannot be my God!
If my God is not alive, then I am no more than a fool and bound for Hell with no means of salvation.
The Passover is past. The Lord Jesus was buried just before six PM on the day of the Passover.
The first day following Passover was to be a holy convocation treated as a special Sabbath, and it did not matter what day of the week it was; it could well have been on a Friday.
Lev 23:5 In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the LORD’S passover.
Lev 23:6 And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the LORD: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread.
Lev 23:7 In the first day ye shall have an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.
It was on Tuesday when the Lord Jesus had these words.
Mat 26:2 Ye know that after two days is the feast of the passover, and the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified.
Two days after Tuesday would be Thursday. The words of Jesus are more reliable than calendars; this Passover was on a Thursday.
The day after the preparation day, which was Passover, would be the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which was treated as a Sabbath, a High Day. Then, in this particular year, the true Sabbath would follow that day, meaning that when Sunday came, Jesus would have been in the ground for three days and three nights.
The Lord Jesus had been in the grave three days and three nights just as He had said.
At least this is where my Bible study leads me.
Mat_12:40 For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so, shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
Jhn_19:31 The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.
Luk 23:54 And that day was the preparation, and the sabbath drew on.
Luk 23:55 And the women also, which came with him from Galilee, followed after, and beheld the sepulchre, and how his body was laid.
Luk 23:56 And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the sabbath day according to the commandment.
*Luk 24:1 Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them.
Luk 24:2 And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre.
Luk 24:3 And they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus.
It was the death of the Lord Jesus Christ that would bring the history of this world and eternity to their fulfillment according to God’s plan.
God plans that every living soul be provided with the opportunity for atonement.
The day of atonement was the only day of the year in which the High Priest could enter the Holy of Holies, but not without blood, which he offered for himself.
On this day, he wore none of his colorful clothes to enter behind the Veil but wore white linen clothes.
On this Passover, the Lord Jesus offered His own blood for the atonement.
When the High Priest fulfilled his purpose, he left those clothes in the Holy of Holies just as the Lord Jesus left His white linen clothes behind, and He is not only our Mediator, but He is our true High Priest.
Rom 5:11 And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.
The meaning of the word is at-one-ment, and it means the state of being at one or being reconciled to God.
Until you are washed in the blood of Jesus, you cannot be reconciled to God!
Atonement is reconciliation. It signifies the truth of the Gospel which flows from the death of Jesus Christ.
The Lord Jesus Christ died in our place! The Lord Jesus Christ took our punishment, which we were rightly due for the sins we committed against our Heavenly Father, our Creator.
Our guilt was imputed to Him, and this is why He came at the First Coming.
2Co 5:21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
1Pe 2:24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.
Heb 9:28 So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.
This was God’s plan, and it was executed by His only begotten Son.
The Old Covenant is over, and the New Covenant has begun.
These women were not aware of these things, yet all they knew was that the body of the Lord Jesus Christ had not been properly cared for, and it had been three days.
At four days, the body of Jesus would be corrupted.
Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus had rushed to get the body of Christ into a grave on the day of Passover.
The Lord Jesus had been dead three days, just as He had said.
Mat_12:40 For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
The Lord Jesus Christ arose on the first day of the week, which is Sunday on the Jewish calendar.
We now look at Monday as the first day of the week and Sunday as our Sabbath.
Act 20:7 And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight.
This Sunday would have had its beginning at six o’clock the previous day, and these ladies came to the Tomb of Christ early that next morning.
Because His resurrection had occurred just as He had said, another order of things had occurred.
It was love that brought these ladies to the tomb of Jesus, and it is love and truth that should bring us all to the cross of Jesus.
Death reigns no more in our earthly flesh if you are reconciled to God.
The curse of Adam has ended for you.
The rules of death have been broken by the Lord Jesus Christ.
Why? Because His tomb was empty, but that was not all.
1) The Scriptures were opened: Luk 24:27 And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.
2) Eyes were opened: Luk 24:31 And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight.
3) The mind is opened: Luk 24:45 Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures,
4) Heaven was opened: Luk 24:51 And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven.
That stone was not rolled away to let the Lord out of that grave. He was already out before the angels rolled away that stone.
That stone was rolled away to allow these women who loved Him so much to go inside and look at an empty tomb.
This was the first victory of God’s amazing grace.
Now, mercy and grace are the rules God will use toward all mankind.
These ladies were perplexed about what they had seen.
*Luk 24:4 And it came to pass, as they were much perplexed thereabout, behold, two men stood by them in shining garments:
One of the best proofs of the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the testimony of these ladies.
They witnessed the body of the Lord Jesus being placed into that tomb, and they now see that the tomb is empty.
They knew He was dead, and they knew where He had been laid, and the door had been sealed.
It was the penalty of death to remove this seal unauthorized.
None of those who came to the tomb of Christ had believed Him when He said He would be three days in it and then He would arise from that death until it took place.
As they arrive, they see the stone rolled away, and no one man could do such a thing, and they knew that they could not do it themselves.
Mar 16:3 And they said among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre?
Mar 16:4 And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away: for it was very great.
It was the angels who rolled away the stone.
Mat 28:2 And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it.
An angel of the Lord cannot lie; they are only messengers.
The body of Jesus Christ was not in the tomb.
These angels had taken on the form of humans.
They looked like men, but their clothing was not of this world but shining garments.
One angel was on each end of the slab where the Lord Jesus had lain, which gives us the vision that the mercy seat was no longer in the Holy of Holies.
Jesus is first called Lord Jesus in this passage after His resurrection, for He is now our risen Savior.
What was the message of the angels?
*Luk 24:5 And as they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead?
Luk 24:6 He is not here, but is risen: remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee,
Luk 24:7 Saying, The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.
Luk 24:8 And they remembered his words,
They were not so much afraid of those angels as they were about the missing body of Christ.
The truth is, God the Father has fully accepted the work of His Son for our atonement, and life has returned to Him.
Joh 10:17 Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.
Joh 10:18 No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.
The Lord Jesus becomes the Living God because death cannot hold our Savior!
Not many living will stay in a dead man’s tomb for very long.
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These angels also reminded these women of what the Lord Jesus had said before His death.
We had better be clear in our hearts, we do not honor a dead Savior, we honor the Living God!
Because they now remembered the words that Jesus had spoken, they had conviction and boldness to witness to others this truth.
The Lord Jesus had declared that the grave could not hold Him.
Heb 7:8 And here men that die receive tithes; but there he receiveth them, of whom it is witnessed that he liveth.
Rom 1:4 And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead:
Eph 1:19 And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power,
Eph 1:20 Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,
It is the power of His resurrection that removes any doubt that the Lord Jesus is the true Messiah, God in the Flesh.
None of those who had followed the Lord Jesus had truly accepted that He would arise from His death.
They had not accepted that He would die until it happened.
It is an eye-opening event when we realize that we were wrong about God!
God is who He says He is!
God does as He says He will do!
*Luk 24:9 And returned from the sepulchre, and told all these things unto the eleven, and to all the rest.
Luk 24:10 It was Mary Magdalene, and Joanna, and Mary the mother of James, and other women that were with them, which told these things unto the apostles.
Luk 24:11 And their words seemed to them as idle tales, and they believed them not.
What is the greatest lesson we can learn from this passage?
We need to pay attention to what the Lord Jesus Christ says!
The Lord Jesus always speaks the truth!
Not finding the Body of Jesus puzzled these women when it should have brought faith.
Many will say that an empty tomb is not proof of a resurrection.
Full belief required the appearance of Jesus Christ.
Faith would know that He is alive!
We should understand that the Holy Spirit did it this way so the Church would know that the grave was empty and it was the actual body of Jesus and not some ghost.
Many commentators will say that those two angels are Moses and Elijah, but the Bible does not lead us in this direction.
The angels quickly told these ladies that if they wanted to see the Risen Savior, they had come to the wrong place.
We know our Savior cannot be bound by any tomb, and you will never find Him there again.
The angels told these ladies to remind the eleven Apostles that He would meet them in Galilee.
The angels also said, “Do you not remember what Jesus said?”
Luk 18:31 Then he took unto him the twelve, and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of man shall be accomplished.
Luk 18:32 For he shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated, and spitted on:
Luk 18:33 And they shall scourge him, and put him to death: and the third day he shall rise again.
The body of Jesus Christ had not been removed; Jesus had walked out of that grave, going straight through the rock because it was the angels who rolled that heavy stone away.
The enemies of Jesus were still rejoicing, but this rejoicing was about to end.
It took a while for these women to believe that the Lord had risen from that grave, and the Apostles did not believe these women.
The greatest sin in all the Bible is to not believe in the Gospel of Jesus Christ!
The Apostles had no excuse for rejecting the truth of the resurrection, for the Lord had told them He would arise on many occasions.
They did go to Galilee, but they were quitting. They felt they had no one to serve after the death of Jesus.
This is where they would witness the truth of the Lord Jesus.
There is a lack of clear direction. They are no longer full of the Lord Jesus, and activities they previously abandoned for Him have a chance to creep back in.
It is never a good time to quit on Jesus!
Mar 16:14 Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen.
Joh 3:18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
Peter was still suffering because he had denied Christ.
*Luk 24:12 Then arose Peter, and ran unto the sepulchre; and stooping down, he beheld the linen clothes laid by themselves, and departed, wondering in himself at that which was come to pass.
Many say that those linen clothes lay in that grave just as they were wrapped, meaning that the body of Jesus had passed through those wrappings, leaving them in place.
Jesus had folded the napkin that was over His face and laid it in another place, and we all know the meaning of this. “I will be back.”
As I said earlier, the High Priests would always leave those white linen clothes in the Holy of Holies, so that the empty tomb had become the Holy of Holies, and that place in the Temple was no longer important. The Veil had been torn into two pieces.
Peter came to the tomb of Jesus.
Peter saw what manner His clothes were laid.
Peter departed, wondering within himself what had actually happened.
What we now know is that it is dangerous not to understand the Word of the Lord Jesus Christ.
We cannot spiritualize the Word of God because it will lead to unbelief and serious problems.
All we need to do is be open to the evidence that the Holy Spirit gives us in the Gospels.
1) The tomb is empty.
2) Jesus has risen just as He said.
3) The Holy Spirit will convince us of the truth if we listen to Him.
Joh 8:23 And he said unto them, Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world.
Joh 8:24 I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.
Act 4:12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.
The risen Messiah was not some spirit, He was not some vision, not some phantom, not a hallucination or the figment of man’s imagination, He was the risen Savior.
One day, not so far into the future, we will have a glorified body just like the Lord has.
*Luk 24:44 And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.
Luk 24:45 Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures,
Luk 24:46 And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day:
Luk 24:47 And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
Luk 24:48 And ye are witnesses of these things.
Luk 24:49 And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.
The road to Emmaus is another great picture of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, but our lesson goes to the teaching of the Lord Jesus to the Apostles after they knew that the resurrected Christ is the same Christ who had died for their sin and ours.
Now that these Apostles know that Jesus is a risen Savior, they can better understand the lessons He had taught them.
All prophecies up to the point of the Cross had been fulfilled just as they were written.
Jesus makes a point to teach these men that every word of God would be fulfilled just as written.
We can depend on the Word of God and a proper translation of the Word of God, such as the KJV.
Many translations are nothing but trash and should be done away with.
1) The death of Christ and the Resurrection had to take place just as they happened. Some of the brutalizing of our Savior was unnecessary, but foretold.
None of these things should have been a surprise to these men, and certainly not to the Scribes and Pharisees who were supposedly Bible scholars.
The Lord Jesus had preached these things Himself.
2) It was necessary that the death of Christ and His resurrection take place. His death was imperative, or we would still be bound with our sin, unforgiven.
His resurrection also had to take place, showing us the power of God and our own future resurrection of our bodies.
The Lord Jesus gave us His own division of the Bible of that day.
The Law
The Prophets
The Psalms
Basically, the entire Old Testament.
3) The Lord Jesus opened their eyes so they could understand:
1Co 2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
1Co 2:15 But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.
1Co 2:16 For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.
4) These prophecies had to be fulfilled.
Christ had to suffer a terrible death and then rise from that death.
Repentance and forgiveness must be preached.
The Holy Spirit and the Power of Heavenly Father must be sent.
Every believer was to be equipped for witnessing the truth of God.
The source of the Holy Spirit and His Power can come from God the Father only.
Jesus Christ was to send the promises of God the Father.
It was God the Father who made the promises.
We are to wait upon the Lord Jesus Christ to return while praying for the promises of God.
God the Father is the source of all power.
Act 1:8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
His work finished, the Lord went home to be by His Father’s side.
*Luk 24:50 And he led them out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them.
Luke closes his Gospel with the ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ.
He had remained on earth for forty days since His resurrection.
The Lord Jesus came to this world on a mission to save the people of this world, and He provided a means of salvation and reconciliation with God to every individual who has lived since that time.
His ascension closes His earthly ministry, but it opens His Heavenly ministry, His mission of intercession for the world.
He now bears witness through the lives of those who believe Him.
He is now the propitiation for our sins.
1Jn 2:1 My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:
1Jn 2:2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
1Jn 2:3 And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.
God’s Son returned to the right hand of God the Father.
His ascension proves that Heaven is a real place!
Php 3:20 For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ:
Php 3:21 Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.
His ascension assures us that we have a very special Helper in Heaven who really loves and cares for us.
Amen