Resurrection Hope     Luke 24:1-8, 36-49     April 04, 2010

Introduction

       Christians possess hope because of the resurrection of Christ. No other belief or religion gives this hope.

Jesus alone gives this Resurrected Hope.

1.   The Ladies Were . . Surprised By The Resurrection Reality. 24:1-8

       A.   Surprised Because Of Their . . Misunderstanding. 24:1-4a

1 On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came to the tomb, bringing the spices they had prepared. 2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb. 3 They went in but did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 While they were perplexed about this,

       B.   Surprised By The Appearance Of The Angelic . . Men Who Stood By Them. 24:4b-5

“. . . suddenly two men stood by them in dazzling clothes. 5 So the women were terrified and bowed down to the ground. "Why are you looking for the living among the dead?" asked the men.

       C.   Surprised By The . . Message Of The Angelic Men. 24:6-8

       6 "He is not here, but He has been resurrected! Remember how He spoke to you when He was still in

       Galilee, 7 saying, 'The Son of Man must be betrayed into the hands of sinful men, be crucified, and rise

       on the third day'?" 8 And they remembered His words. HCSB

       The Lord told the disciples about His resurrection and these Ladies heard it; but the truth did not register. They went to the tomb expecting to be able to anoint the body of Jesus but they were surprised because of their misunderstand and failure to comprehend the teaching about the resurrection. We can understand this and probably would not have understood either. After all no one had ever arose from the dead before. They were also surprised by the angels appearing as men in dazzling apparel. Then the message of the angels surprised them as they remembered the words of Jesus and they began to put the words and the reality of the resurrection together. It must have been an exciting message as the truth began to be comprehended.

2.   Everyone Was . . Startled By The Appearance Of Christ. 24:36-46

       A.   Startled By The . . Peace Of The Lord. 24:36-38

       36 And as they were saying these things, He Himself stood among them. He said to them, "Peace to you!"

       37 But they were startled and terrified and thought they were seeing a ghost.

       38 "Why are you troubled?" He asked them. "And why do doubts arise in your hearts?

       B.   Startled By The . . Proofs Of The Lord. 24:39-40-43

39 Look at My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself! Touch Me and see, because a ghost does not have

       flesh and bones as you can see I have." 40 Having said this, He showed them His hands and feet.

41 But while they still could not believe because of their joy and were amazed, He asked them, "Do you

       have anything here to eat?" 42 So they gave Him a piece of a broiled fish, 43 and He took it and ate in their

       presence.

       C.   Startled By The . . Proclamation Of The Lord. 24:44-46

44 Then He told them, "These are My words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about Me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms must be fulfilled." 45 Then He

       opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. 46 He also said to them, "This is what is written: the

       Messiah would suffer and rise from the dead the third day,

       When Jesus appeared to the disciples they were startled. At first His presence caused them to be terrified as they thought His ghost appeared to them. As the Lord spoke He pronounced peace to them and told them not to be afraid. (We can almost tell the Lord, “that is easy for you to say but we are not at peace in this never before happening event.”) Then the Lord offered the obvious proofs of His body and that He was not a ghost. He asked them to touch Him and see for themselves. Then He asked for something to eat and after receiving a piece of fish He ate it. The Lord proclaimed the scriptures in the law of Moses, the Prophets, and the book of Psalms that spoke of Him as the Messiah. Back in the days before the Conservative Resurgence in our convention I had a professor who said the Old Testament did not talk about Jesus. I asked him what he thought about these

verses and he said, “well it would be interesting to know what actual verses Jesus spoke of, wouldn’t it.” I am very pleased that does not happen in our seminaries today.

3.   Everyone Was . . Sent Out As Witnesses Of The Resurrection Reality. 24:47-49

       A.   Sent With A . . Proclamation 24:47-48

       47 and repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning at

       Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things.

       B.   Sent With The . . Promise 24:49a

49 And look, I am sending you what My Father promised. . . .”

       C.   Sent With The . . Power 24:49b

“. . . As for you, stay in the city until you are empowered from on high." HCSB

       All of these early disciples understood that Jesus pronounced these disciple as “witnesses of these things.”

How could they keep quiet about such a startling fact? But we may ask the same question about ourselves. Do we witness concerning the reality of our resurrected Lord? The Lord gave a proclamation that included a promise and power. The Lord called attention to the promise of God given long ago and becoming a reality for that hour and even the promise for our day. The Lord promised to send His spirit to empower us for this witness. It is a tremendous privilege to witness for the Lord in the power of the Spirit and see people’s lives transformed. We have the responsibility and privilege to proclaim the Resurrection Hope . Amen? Amen!