< Luke 24 >

Jesus rose from the dead on the first day of the week so that when the women came to the sepulchre early in the morning they found the stone moved from the entrance. v.2Luke 24:2XWaiting for response It is profitable to collate the information we are given in the four gospels about these events because we then get a complete picture, with every element agreeing together. When the women found the tomb empty, Mary Magdelene v.10Luke 24:10XWaiting for response immediately ran to Peter and John who rushed to the tomb. In the meantime angels spoke to the other women vs.4-8Luke 24:4-8XWaiting for response who went to tell the remaining apostles and disciples.v.9Luke 24:9XWaiting for response

Jesus himself also met with the disciples the same day he rose from the dead. He met first with Mary Magdelene when she returned to the tomb, to the other women as they went to tell the disciples the angels’ message, to Peter alone,v.34Luke 24:34XWaiting for response to two disciples on the road,v.15Luke 24:15XWaiting for response and finally to the disciples in the upper room.v.36Luke 24:36XWaiting for response Certainly there was no lack of evidence that Jesus himself was alive again, a man of flesh and bones v.39Luke 24:39XWaiting for response who ate with his disciples v.43Luke 24:43XWaiting for response and who was handled by them.1 John 1:11 John 1:1XWaiting for response Blood is not mentioned because he no longer had a body whose life is in the blood, but he now had a spiritual body energised directly by the power of God, having become a partaker of the divine nature. The promise is that when he returns he will transform the body of each disciple into this same glorious body Philippians 3:21.Philippians 3:21XWaiting for response

The disciples had trusted that he was the Messiah and would redeem Israel v.21Luke 24:21XWaiting for response and did not understand why he had been crucified, but Jesus explained it to them, providing evidence from the Old Testament scriptures that both the suffering and the glory to follow were foreordained by God:v.26Luke 24:26XWaiting for response “Beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself”.v.27Luke 24:27XWaiting for response Thus their understanding was opened and they declared: “Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?” v.32Luke 24:32XWaiting for response This is the experience of all those who have their eyes open to the truth. We can read the Old Testament scriptures, all written before Jesus was born, and see the suffering and glory of Christ revealed hundreds of years beforehand, and rejoice in this knowledge. And so Jesus also opened the eyes of the disciples in the upper room, saying: “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. Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures”.vs.44-45Luke 24:44-45XWaiting for response

These disciples were to be witnesses of his resurrection v.48Luke 24:48XWaiting for response and take his message to all nations v.47Luke 24:47XWaiting for response that through his name men and women might obtain repentance and remission of sins.v.47Luke 24:47XWaiting for response Therefore, after Jesus ascended to heaven,v.51Luke 24:51XWaiting for response they were endued with power from on high, as recorded in Acts 2, and they fulfilled their commission, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God and the things concerning the name of Jesus Christ, first to the Jews and then to Gentiles throughout the world.