Luke 24:50-53 English Standard Version The Ascension 50 And he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands he blessed them. 51 While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven. 52 And they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, 53 and were continually in the temple blessing God. This passage here ends Luke's biography on the life of Christ as far as his time here on earth during His first coming. However, it's not the end of the story. As mentioned yesterday, the Ascension kicks off the next phase of God's plan as we see Pentecost come ten days later and many, many Jews from all over the world are saved. That is why this event is recorded in more detail in the book of Acts.
Jesus is still in Galilee with His disciples and He went up on a mountain, the Mount of Olives (see Acts 1 where this mountain is specified by name). The Mount of Olives has had special significance to Jesus during His ministry as He did some of His most important teaching there, this is where He often went to pray, and it is where His Triumphal Entry took place, and as we will learn from other books of the Bible, it is where He will return to one day when He comes back as the conquering King of Kings and Lord of Lords riding on a white horse. As Jesus was with His disciples on the mountain, He lifted His hands and blessed them, and as He was doing this, He was taken up to heaven. He was concealed by a cloud (maybe the pillar of cloud in the Old Testament that we call the Shekinah Glory, which we believe also veiled Jesus during His transfiguration). We'll see when we go to the book of Acts next that the disciples stood there looking into heaven for a while and a couple of angels had to come and tell them to not just stand there and look up, because Jesus was going to come back again one day in much the same way that He left. So, they went out from that place in spirit of worship and praise and they went into Jerusalem to wait for the coming of the Holy Spirit, but as they were waiting, they were continually going to the Temple every day to worship God. We'll see that this remains their custom throughout the book of Acts. I look forward to picking the story back up in the book of Acts with you next time. We'll start off by talking about the promise of the Holy Spirit that was given to all the disciples (not just the Eleven). Both Ascension Day and Pentecost are coming up soon on our calendars, so it will be good to study these events and know what the Bible says about them and why it was that all of Israel was once again gathered together in Jerusalem just like they were for the Passover. Could it have been God's plan all along that all of Israel see the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus and that they once again be gathered together to see the Holy Spirit come upon the believers when the Church was born? I believe that was always the plan. Just like any other historical narrative that we will study, let's remember that Luke is recording history as it happened and it is descriptive of what people did and is not always prescriptive in how we ought to do things (that doesn't mean that we shouldn't learn some lessons from the Early Church though). Let's study to see what we can learn, because there is much that Acts tells us about the mission we are currently on--a mission that is not yet completed. Luke 24:36-49 English Standard Version Jesus Appears to His Disciples 36 As they were talking about these things, Jesus himself stood among them, and said to them, “Peace to you!” 37 But they were startled and frightened and thought they saw 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 And while they still disbelieved for joy and were marveling, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” 42 They gave him a piece of broiled fish, 43 and he took it and ate before them. 44 Then he said to 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 and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” 45 Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, 46 and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, 47 and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.” We're nearly done with Luke's gospel as next time there will be a short passage about the ascension that overlaps a bit with how Luke will start the book of Acts, as the book of Acts (what I plan to study with you here next) starts with the giving of The Great Commission and quickly moves into Pentecost and the history of the Early Church that follows that pattern that Jesus gave in The Great Commission, "You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and Judea and Samaria, and to the uttermost ends of the earth." Before this happens though, the eyes of the disciples need to be opened, and there are some loose ends to tie up, like Peter needing to be restored.
Luke moves very quickly through these last 40 days that Jesus is on earth and it's a little hard to place this event as Luke never tells us that the disciples left Jerusalem, but when we cross-reference with the other gospels we see that the angels at the tomb told the women to tell the disciples to go to Galilee and wait for Jesus there. It would seem since we're seeing broiled fish in this story that we're probably talking about the same event recorded in John 21:1-14 where Jesus appears to seven of the disciples who were out on the Sea of Galilee fishing (Simon Peter, Thomas (called the Twin), Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples were together). John specifically says that this was the third time that Jesus appeared to His disciples which squares with where we would be in the story--twice in Jerusalem first to all the disciples without Thomas there, and then to all Eleven eight days later when Thomas was present. It seems after that second appearance they finally went to Galilee like they were told to do in Matthew 28:10. This is likely the event where Peter was restored to Jesus, but Luke doesn't go into that. It is interesting though that Luke tells us that the disciples at first thought they had seen a ghost, yet in John we see that Jesus repeated the miracle of the miraculous catch for them so that they could identify Him and Peter then recognizes that it is Jesus with the statement, "It is the Lord." Peter doesn't even bother to help bring in the miraculous catch of fish and he jumps out of the boat and swims to shore to get there first (much like how Peter had to run past John to get into the tomb first). Yet, when Peter gets there, he has nothing to say because He knows that He has hurt Jesus and Jesus will have to pull Him aside to restore Him. Again, you can read about that in John 21. One of the great ways to show fellowship though in any culture, but especially this culture would be to have a meal together. If I'm correct about this event lining up with John 21, the disciples that are there have been fishing all night and not caught anything, but Jesus allows them a miraculous catch of 153 fish, and He told them to bring some of the fish they caught and they broiled them on a fire to have breakfast. No one had to ask Him who He was, they knew it was the Lord, but He once again showed them His hands and feet and He once again ate food in front of them to prove to them that He was alive with a real body and was not a ghost (a disembodied spirit). After this, He gave the same kind of seminary intensive that He gave to the disciples on the Road to Emmaus, teaching them how everything in the Law and the Prophets and the Psalms needed to be fulfilled. Much of that was fulfilled already by Jesus during His first coming, some of that is being fulfilled through the Holy Spirit living in and through the Church. I love what verse 45 says, "Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures." While I believe the words God chose to convey His message are clear, I also believe that we don't understand, believe and know how to apply the Scripture correctly without God opening our eyes and without the help of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. How can it be true that the meaning of Scripture is clear and yet the Scriptures can't be understood by the world? I've heard it described as if someone else were trying to read your mail--the meaning of the message is clear to the intended recipient, but it's nonsense to those it wasn't intended for because they don't have the context to understand it. However, we do see places in the Bible where God allows people who don't believe to understand His word and they don't believe so that they will be under condemnation in the last day for they heard, and understood, yet did not respond with repentance that comes by grace through faith. Just think of the Pharisees and how they clearly perceived what Jesus said and did when they said, and when Jesus challenged them, "Have you not read, and have you not understood the Scriptures?" There was an assumption that they could read and understand the Old Testament enough to know who Jesus was. Now Jesus has opened the eyes of the disciples to understand that which had been hidden from them--the mystery of the gospel--so that they might truly understand and believe that Jesus was the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. This passage ends with a summary statement of everything He told them. “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, 47 and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.” That's about where we are going to pick things up in Acts 1. Jesus has sent them back to Jerusalem, and they will be in the Upper Room waiting for the Holy Spirit to come. Before that though, we'll see the ascension of Jesus in the last couple of verses of the book of Luke, and we'll look at them next time. Then we'll be looking at the book of Acts where we start to see this Great Commission statement from Luke's gospel being fulfilled and we'll see him give it again more clearly in Acts 1:8, "8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." Luke 24:13-35 English Standard Version On the Road to Emmaus 13 That very day two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, 14 and they were talking with each other about all these things that had happened. 15 While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. 16 But their eyes were kept from recognizing him. 17 And he said to them, “What is this conversation that you are holding with each other as you walk?” And they stood still, looking sad. 18 Then one of them, named Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?” 19 And he said to them, “What things?” And they said to him, “Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, 20 and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him. 21 But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened. 22 Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning, 23 and when they did not find his body, they came back saying that they had even 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 as the women had said, but him they did not see.” 25 And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” 27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. 28 So they drew near to the village to which they were going. He acted as if he were going farther, 29 but they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent.” So he went in to stay with them. 30 When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. 31 And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight. 32 They said to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?” 33 And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem. And they found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, 34 saying, “The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!” 35 Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread. We are still on Resurrection Sunday (which is also the date of the Feast of Firstfruits). Since the Feast of Firstfruits is not a pilgrimage feast, many of the Jews that had travelled to Jerusalem for Passover were heading home now that the Sabbath was over. These two disciples of Jesus must have made their required sacrifices and offerings for the Feast of Firstfruits early in the morning so that they could leave and head back home.
On their way home, they were talking to each other about everything that had happened and Jesus joins them and starts walking and talking with them, yet neither of them recognized Him as God chose to not reveal His identity to them yet. He asked them what they were talking about and then played dumb when they asked Him if He was the only one in Jerusalem who had not seed or at least heard about Jesus and all that had happened to Him, but Jesus wanted them to tell the story so that He could hear their perspective on things. A nice summary statement of how they perceived things is in verse 21, "But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened." They appear to have been around long enough to hear the report of the women returning from the tomb and even to hear back from Peter and John, but, yet, they did not believe. This is where Jesus jumps in to correct them and He shows them from Scripture starting in the books of the Law and going all the way through the Prophets (the entire Old Testament) how He had to come and suffer and die and be raised again on the third day. Everything they needed to understand current events correctly had been in their Old Testament Scriptures the entire time. Now, they did not have access to the text like we do today. Today, everyone that lives in a Western country that wants a Bible can have at least one in most any language they want and maybe in one or more versions, translations, or paraphrases. In fact, if you have a smart phone of any kind, you have access to several different free apps that allow you to read and study the Bible. I say this all to say that even though these men heard the words of Jesus for a few years, there probably would be an even greater expectation on us today that we would know the Scriptures and be able to perceive the events of today through that lens. Yet, many of us choose to use other filters through which to examine current events and we too feel helpless and hopeless when we do not first look at the Word of God. Even though the message of the gospel is clearly stated in the Old Testament, that does not mean that everyone who reads it will immediately understand it, nor does it mean that all who understand it will immediately repent and believe. We know from the book of Acts that men like the Ethiopian eunuch owned a copy of the book of Isaiah and read it, but he did not understand it until God sent Philip the Evangelist to him to explain it to him. Jesus is doing much the same thing for these disciples only they do not have a scroll in front of them, but instead they have the one who is the Word of God who is called the Word of the Lord in the Old Testament who spoke to the patriarchs and the prophets to inspire them to write about His story hundreds or even thousands of years before it happened. If you're interested in studying the Bible from this perspective, I encourage you to join our Discord and take the Gospel Foundations class that we have available there as the main point of that course is to reveal the gospel of Jesus Christ through mostly the Old Testament and to show the expectation that Israel should have felt and that Jesus came at just the right time that had been planned from before the beginning of the world. They had travelled about seven miles with Jesus and they invited Him to spend the night with them as Jesus had pretended that He was going to be travelling further as they were really enjoying talking to Him and didn't want to end the conversation here. The Jewish people were also quite hospitable to one another, and beyond that, they seem to have at least found someone among the Jews who like them loved Jesus and was not afraid, even in the current political climate, to talk openly with them. This must have been refreshing since so many of the disciples were in hiding and scared to speak the name of Jesus or be called by His name for fear of imprisonment, torture, and death. They too might be offered up for crucifixion, so this is probably their way of offering a safe home for someone they consider to be a friend of theirs to stay. It was only at dinner time when Jesus took the bread and blessed it and broke it, probably in the same manner that He did at the Last Supper, that their eyes were opened and they recognized Jesus because God allowed them to see Him for who He truly was. Jesus disappeared from their midst as soon s as they recognized Him, but these same disciples who had slowly walked these seven miles that day and insisted that it was too late and getting too dark for Jesus to even carry on a little further by Himself now RAN all the seven miles all the way back to Jerusalem to get there that night and probably woke up the disciples in the place they were staying--probably thinking they were going to break the news to them, but Jesus had a body unlike theirs and as soon as He had disappeared from being with them, He was instantly at the next place that He wanted to be. So as they are in the middle of saying all these things to the disciples still in Jerusalem, Jesus is going to crash the party in a way that only Jesus could--by showing up in their midst as only He could. We'll talk about that next time. I gave just a very cursory overview of today's passage, but I encourage you to dig in even deeper and find all the nuggets that are there. Luke 24:1-12 English Standard Version The Resurrection 24 But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. 2 And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. 5 And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? 6 He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, 7 that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.” 8 And they remembered his words, 9 and returning from the tomb they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. 10 Now it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles, 11 but these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. 12 But Peter rose and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; and he went home marveling at what had happened. We have now jumped forward in time all the way from the Day of Preparation to the Sunday after Passover. The women have come back to the tomb to anoint Jesus with more spices. They apparently knew that a large stone was rolled in front of the tomb (probably common practice to keep animals out), but it does not seem that they knew that the entrance was sealed or that a guard was posted, for all of that seems to have happened after they left. Their only concern on the way was who would move the stone for them because it was too large for any of them to move alone or even for all of them to work together to move.
When they got to the tomb, they found that the stone had been rolled away for them, which I'm sure made them happy, but then when they looked for the body of Jesus to anoint Him with more spices, the body was not there. They began to weep because they assumed someone had stolen the body. Somehow they missed the two angels that had been there (for one of the angels had rolled the stone away for them according to John's account, and he was sitting on top of the tombstone waiting for them, and it seems this angel does most of the talking too, but there definitely was another angel present according to Luke's account). We see the main group looking in the tomb for Jesus and the angel speaking to them, yet John lets us know that Mary Magdalene has turned around away from the tomb to cry and she actually sees Jesus appear to her and He talks to her to comfort her. She was the only one looking in the right place (outside the tomb) to see Him. The women Luke spoke to all heard the angel ask them why they were looking for the living among the dead. They were told "He is not here. He is risen, just as He said!" They would be told to go back and tell His disciples what they had seen and heard, but before that, the angels would help them remember the things that Jesus said and that He told them that He must suffer and die and be buried and then would be raised on the third day. Only then did the women remember His words and their mourning was turned into joy. They quickly ran to the place where the Eleven (Judas has already killed himself so the group formerly called the Twelve will be called the Eleven for a while) and the other disciples who were with them what they had seen and heard. It is unfortunate, but the testimony of women was not believed in the first century--which is one of the ways that we know that the disciples didn't make this story up, as they never would have had women be the first witnesses if they had--so Peter and John run to the tomb as fast as they can to see what the women were talking about (and being as competitive as they are, they made it into a race of sorts). John gets there first and is just looking in from the outside and Peter comes from behind and just runs past John and straight into the tomb. You can just see the difference in their personalities in this. The Bible tells us that John saw the evidence of the empty gave clothes and the shroud folded neatly in its place and he believed what the women had said--that Jesus had risen from the dead. Peter was a little harder to convince as the text says that he went home marveling at what had happened. Peter went looking for answers and left with more questions than when he had gone. It will take some time for him, but he will get there too. Luke also names many of the women who were witnesses by name so that people from that day could go and talk to them for themselves. It is a pattern that we have seen with Luke that he has talked to real people and he is encouraging his readers to fact-check him by talking to the sources for themselves. We have lots of evidence here as well as from the other gospels that the myths that are out there about the crucifixion being faked or the resurrection being faked are not credible. Let's spend just a moment on some of these items because I have a few moments today and now seems to be an appropriate time. 1) The "Swoon" Theory: This theory imagines that Jesus didn't really die, but He simply passed out from the trauma or exhaustion and that He just really needed to take a really long nap and then He was able to wake up and be okay. There are several issues with this. First is that crucifixion killed people 100% of the time. We see that they even knew how to break the convicts' legs if necessary to speed the process along. There is even medical evidence presented by Luke (a medical doctor) that they pierced Jesus' side with a spear to see that the blood and water came out separately (a sign of heart failure) and even if He had not been dead at that point, if you run someone through with a spear and pierce their heart, hitting several other vital organs along the way probably, they for sure would be dead at that point. Jesus did not just take a long nap--we also have the issue of the sealed tomb at that point. 2) Jesus didn't really die on the cross but was swapped out last-second for someone else (some say Judas was the one that died on the cross, others say it was Barabbas who died on the cross as he should have, and others don't name the person they think stood in Jesus' place). Besides all the theological issues that would create of God being a liar and no sinner able to die on the cross and take the sins of the world on himself because all of them would have their own sin, John and the women have been watching Jesus the whole time and they are sure that it is Him. They have heard His voice from the cross and Jesus spoke to John to tell John to take care of His mother and that Mary was now going to be like a mother to John as well. No stand-in for Jesus would have had these kind of conversations from the cross. We also see that Jesus bore the wounds of the crucifixion afterwards not just in HIs hands and feet, but as mentioned before, where His side was pierced by the spear. It was really Him and He really died on the cross as you could not fake those injuries. 3) There is a theory that Jesus' resurrection was only spiritual and not physical. Mostly this theory was perpetuated by the Gnostics who wrote many false gospels and they believed that the body was evil and that one day we would just be disembodied spirits free from our evil flesh, so they could not believe that Jesus would come back to life in a body of flesh, but we'll see that Jesus was very much alive with a real body that they could touch and He was able to eat meals with them to prove to them that He was no disembodied spirit. There were many eyewitnesses after the resurrection that saw Him and touched Him. 4) Many today believe the story told by the Pharisees that the guards fell asleep and the disciples stole the body. This is just a dumb story. The Roman guards would have been executed if they feel asleep while they were on guard duty. The fact they were bribed and were not executed should tell us that no one in authority over them believed this is what really happened. Also, if the guards were asleep, how were they so sure the disciples came and stole the body. You wouldn't be able to see who did it if you were asleep, right? This is probably the story people have latched onto the most because it's the one the Sanhedrin and the Roman government agreed to tell the people, but, again, the evidence isn't there as Jesus appeared to many hundreds of people afterwards. He wasn't in the tomb because He was risen. 5) Group hallucinations: I won't even talk about this one much other than to say this doesn't happen. There is no way the women all hallucinated and saw the same angels say the same thing--that's a vision, not a hallucination, because a hallucination is an individual experience, and it definitely doesn't happen with a group of 500 or more people like is recorded in 1 Corinthians 15. The stories people will tell themselves to not have to believe the truth of the resurrection are ridiculous, but we are told in the Bible that people would exchange the truth of God for a lie and would believe fables and myths rather than to believe the truth of God's Word that tells them that they are sinners in need of repentance and a Savior. The message "You must be born again" is not one they want to hear, so they will believe anything else. I would posit as well as many other theologians and apologists who say this that it takes much more "faith" to ignore this evidence and believe something else than to believe the clear evidence presented in Scripture for the physical, bodily resurrection of Jesus on the third day. Luke 23:50-56 English Standard Version Jesus Is Buried 50 Now there was a man named Joseph, from the Jewish town of Arimathea. He was a member of the council, a good and righteous man, 51 who had not consented to their decision and action; and he was looking for the kingdom of God. 52 This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. 53 Then he took it down and wrapped it in a linen shroud and laid him in a tomb cut in stone, where no one had ever yet been laid. 54 It was the day of Preparation, and the Sabbath was beginning. 55 The women who had come with him from Galilee followed and saw the tomb and how his body was laid. 56 Then they returned and prepared spices and ointments. On the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment. Jesus has given up His life on the cross at just the right moment, and now it is time that He must be buried rather quickly so that those who are burying Him can still be made clean in time to celebrate the Passover. We are introduced here to Joseph of Arimathea, who was a member of the Sanhedrin who is described by Luke as being both "good" and "righteous" and we are told that he was also looking for the kingdom of God. He was a member of the Council, but dissented in their recent decisions to find Jesus guilty of blasphemy and to kill Jesus, and it seemed that he had already made a decision that he wanted to be a disciple of Jesus, because He goes to Pilate to request the body so that he could bury it.
Pilate agrees and Jesus is laid in Joseph of Arimathea's tomb which had never had anyone else laid in it before (all this was to fulfill Scripture even if Joseph didn't realize that) and Jesus was prepared for burial on the day that is called the Day of Preparation (the day that the house is made clean of all leaven in preparation for the Passover). Joseph prepared Jesus for burial wrapping Him in linen cloths much like those He was wrapped in as an infant, and they put a shroud over His face and head. The women from Galilee watched so they could see where the tomb was and they came and anointed the body with various aromatic spices and ointments that would cut down on the stench of decay, and they were coming back to anoint His body again on Sunday when they would find that He was not dead for He had risen! We'll talk about the empty tomb next time. Luke then says something that I find significant. On the Sabbath day they rested according to the commandment. I believe the "they" here not only includes Joseph of Arimathea and the women, but also Jesus. Jesus' work of atonement has been done on the cross and He said "It is finished" and then He rested for there was no more work to be done at that point I won't be dogmatic about that and make it into a "first order doctrine," but I find it personally significant that the Sabbath day falls on the day that Jesus is laid in the tomb after His work of atonement is finished and before His work of justification and regeneration on Sunday. I would hope that those preparing the body had time to be cleansed before sundown, but being unclean because of preparing a body for burial was one of the reasons that we see in the Old Testament that someone would possibly need to miss taking the Passover on it's prescribed day, and God was gracious enough to give a "make up day" exactly one month later, so it is possible that this verse is simply telling us that those who prepared the body for burial rested on the Sabbath day as they were commanded in the 4th commandment, but they did not celebrate the Passover because they were unclean and they were okay with missing this most-important feast day for the sake of Jesus and would take part in the alternate date exactly one-month later. We end this chapter on kind of a solemn note. It seems like hope has been lost and that the forces of evil have won, but those of us who know the prophecies and have listened to Jesus' own words know that He must not see decay and that that He will rise again on the third day, so we are waiting with expectation, yet those who were there and saw Him die did not have this same hope--only the Council seems to remember these words and they will go to Pilate to ask that a guard be placed at the tomb and the tomb be sealed because they don't want anyone to fake a resurrection. It's interesting how God will use this to provide even better evidence that the Resurrection is real and was not faked, but we will hopefully talk about that next time. Luke 23:44-49 English Standard Version The Death of Jesus 44 It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, 45 while the sun's light failed. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. 46 Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last. 47 Now when the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God, saying, “Certainly this man was innocent!” 48 And all the crowds that had assembled for this spectacle, when they saw what had taken place, returned home beating their breasts. 49 And all his acquaintances and the women who had followed him from Galilee stood at a distance watching these things. Remember how I've told you the timing of Jesus' death would be significant. The sixth hour would be high noon--the time of day that should be the brightest, but there is a darkness that covers the whole land much like the plague of darkness that we read about in the book of Exodus. It is a supernatural event that is supposed to draw our attention to what is going on, but it will be a deep darkness like the kind you would say you can feel. No light from the sun would penetrate this darkness for three hours and it was during this time that darkness veiled the land that the curtain that separated the Holy Place from The Most Holy Place was torn in two from top to bottom.
Why is that significant? The Most Holy Place was guarded by a thick curtain that blocked out all the light, but now all the light is being blocked out by a curtain that God is putting over the land because the atonement that is being made is not happening in the Holy of Holies, it is happening on the cross ass Jesus, our Great High Priest is making atonement once and for all with His own body and blood--offering a better sacrifice so that there would no longer be any need for the curtain in the Temple that was as thick as a man's hand. Only God would be able to tear it apart and it was torn from top to bottom to let us know that this had to be done by God Himself for any man that even desired to try to rip this curtain would have to stand at its base and tear it from the bottom to the top. The book of Hebrews speaks more of this when it says, Hebrews 10:19-22 English Standard Version 19 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, 20 by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. It was at the ninth hour (about 3pm) that the darkness stopped and Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!." The timing of this according to everything Jesus has said so far is no accident. Jesus has already told them that no one would take His life from Him--He would lay it down willingly, and if He laid it down, He would take it back up again. So it is here that Jesus willingly lays down His life when He breathes His last breath here at the time we believe was concurrent with when the Passover lambs were being sacrificed in preparation for the Passover meal that all Israel would eat that evening. God's command is clear that the Passover lamb must be killed on a particular date and the Passover must be celebrated at the proper time. There would be no delaying this celebration, even if it occurred on the Sabbath (the Feast started at twilight/sundown so what we would call the evening of Good Friday would be the beginning of the Passover feast). Now the crowds that had been jeering all seem to stand silent and only one voice is recorded speaking from the crowd (and it is only here that from Luke that we see these words recorded). Luke has given us the testimony of so many that Jesus was who He said He was, but now we see the testimony of the Roman centurion who was probably the highest-ranking officer there overseeing the crucifixions that day. He said, "Certainly this man was innocent" when he saw how heaven and earth responded to Jesus' death. Luke also tells us that it was the intent of the centurion to praise God (with a capital 'G') meaning that this man, though an officer in the Roman army, must have been a God-fearing Gentile. We have read about such men in other places already in the New Testament and we'll read of others in the book of Acts later. The book of Mark gives us some additional details of the centurion's testimony when he said, "Truly, this man was the Son of God." (Mark 15:39b). Those that came to watch the show and to jeer at Jesus now started to go home, yet it says that they beat their breasts as they did. This is typically a sign of mourning and even repentance, though I would not be surprised if their would be a few that would be beating their breast as a sign that they were strong and had overcome their archenemy. However, the women that followed Him (the ones that we would see helping prepare His body for burial and that would come back on Sunday with additional spices to help cover the stench of death) continued to stand there long after everyone else had gone home. There are also His acquaintances who ere there--the only disciples that we know to have been there would be the Apostle John, but there were other followers who were there watching everything and taking it all in (perhaps the two disciples on the Road to Emmaus were there for instance, we don't know for sure as Luke doesn't name any of the witnesses, just that there are witnesses). That's all that Luke has to say about the crucifixion. Jesus will have to be buried very quickly so that anyone who touched the dead body can wash themselves and be purified at sundown and still be allowed to eat the Passover, for it was one of their most holy days and they were to do everything within their power to not be unclean on that day and to be able to partake in the Feast of Passover at the appointed time. We'll talk more about the burial of Jesus next time. Luke 23:26-43 English Standard Version The Crucifixion 26 And as they led him away, they seized one Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, and laid on him the cross, to carry it behind Jesus. 27 And there followed him a great multitude of the people and of women who were mourning and lamenting for him. 28 But turning to them Jesus said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. 29 For behold, the days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren and the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’ 30 Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us,’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us.’ 31 For if they do these things when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?” 32 Two others, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him. 33 And when they came to the place that is called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. 34 And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And they cast lots to divide his garments. 35 And the people stood by, watching, but the rulers scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, his Chosen One!” 36 The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine 37 and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” 38 There was also an inscription over him, “This is the King of the Jews.” 39 One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” 40 But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? 41 And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” 42 And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” 43 And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.” Pilate has given into the crowds and turned Jesus over to be crucified. Jesus had already been flogged and beaten at this point and we are told by other gospel writers that He was not even able to be recognized as a man because of the severity of the floggings and beatings. Yet in all of this they did not break any of His bones. Jesus begins carrying His cross (the crossbeam), but the burden is too heavy for Him, so they compel Simon of Cyrene who was in the crowd to carry the crossbeam the rest of the way up to Golgotha.
Luke points out that there is still a group of women following Jesus that were there to mourn for Him. This is likely that same group of women that we see mentioned by name at the foot of the cross and that found the empty tomb on Sunday. Jesus told them not to weep for Him, but they were to weep for themselves and their children as Jesus knew what the end would be for Himself, but things were going to be hard for all those who were His followers. In fact, Jesus says that the days are coming and were already upon them when it would be said that it would be better to have never had children because the parents would suffer great pain and anxiety about their children in this age because they will be rebellious against God. Some people will even cry out for God to take their lives when they see how wicked the generations have become for they will be wicked and rebellious when they are young (green), and Jesus said that we have no idea what they will be lick (assuming that they will get worse) as they get older. I think there is some foreshadowing though that dried wood is thought of as fuel from the fire where green wood is hard to burn. Jesus seems to be hinting that a lot of the youth would rebel and set themselves on the way that leads to destruction and that the parents would mourn for them because they could do nothing to save their children and it would be terrible to have to watch your child rebel against God and know that you would be eternally separated from them because you would be with God in heaven and they would be separated from God's people in the place we call Hell or the Lake of Fire that was prepared for the devil and his angels. As I mentioned last time, Jesus would die between two other criminals. They were called thieves or robbers most often, but like Barabbas, they too were probably murderers and insurrectionists (maybe even part of the Zionist group called the Zealots that wanted to overthrow Rome). This was to fulfill Scripture that Jesus was counted among and died among the transgressors of the Law (these two were guilty, and they did not deny it). We'll see more of the conversation between Jesus and the two thieves shortly. Luke tells us of even more prophecy that was fulfilled when the Roman guards divided Jesus' garments among themselves and cast lots for His undergarment that was made out of a single piece of cloth (no seams) that they did not want to tear to divide it. The crowds, soldiers, and even the two thieves that Jesus was hanging between mocked and ridiculed Him. This was part of the torture that His mother and the women who came to grieve for Him (along with John the Apostle) had to bear as they heard all of it. We hear the words of temptation that sound like the words of the devil, "If you are the Son of God.....," but that "if" could be translated as "since." Satan knew who Jesus was, but he was encouraging Jesus to refuse to submit to the authority and the will of the Father and to assert His rights and privileges in a way that would prove His identity to everyone else (but He would sin against God in doing so). Yet these mocking voices don't even realize they are saying the very words that God prophesied them to say hundreds of years ahead of time because God knew all that would happen before it happened and commanded His prophets to write it all down in advance so that we would understand that He knew all that was going to happen to Jesus and yet chose for Jesus to suffer and die this way and Jesus knew about it too and chose to go through with it. This also helps us be certain that everything else we read in the Bible is true because we can no clearly understand those prophecies and see them coming true in the crucifixion, but we can be just as sure that the prophecies that we don't understand relating to the last days will also be just as sure to come true in a way that will be just as obvious that it is a fulfillment of God's Word since He's known that beginning from the end before time began. After some time, one of the criminals is convicted of his sin and tells the other they should stop. The criminals on the right and the left of Jesus likely had a list of felonies posted above their heads that all were worthy of death both by God's Law and the law of the Romans, yet the only indictment (Jesus was never actually found guilty of anything) above Jesus' head was that Pilate wrote for all to see that Jesus was the King of the Jews, and from what Pilate could tell, this is why they wanted Him dead. Somehow this resonated with one of the thieves who realized Jesus had done nothing wrong and that He was who He claimed to be, and that meant that God the Father was still somehow some way going to give the Kingdom to His Son, that is Jesus. So the thief asks Jesus to remember him when He comes into His kingdom. Jesus does better than that and assures this man of his salvation there and now because Jesus is the one who able to give eternal life to anyone He desires. If Jesus only went to the cross so that this one man would be saved, that would be enough, but we know that Jesus' blood would pay for the sins of all of the Old Testament and New Testament saints past, present and future. Jesus will die shortly after this at the appointed time (the time when the Passover lambs were being sacrificed). Jesus was still in control up to this point and He was still doing His work as it was not yet time for Him to rest. That would not happen until the Sabbath day came upon them and Jesus would "rest" in the tomb, but before He dies He will proclaim in a loud voice, "It is finished!" meaning that nothing can be added to or taken away from His completed word of settling the accounts of all those who were ever to be part of the kingdom of God (including those from the Old Testament and who were contemporaries of Jesus, but died before His death, burial and resurrection--like Joseph the husband of Mary the mother of Jesus). We'll study about the death of Jesus next time. |
Daniel WestfallI will mostly use this space for recording my "journal" from my daily devotions as I hope to encourage others to read the Bible along with me and to leave a legacy for others. Archives
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