Luke 24:50-53
The Epilogue
Tonight we come to the end of our study in Luke. We began the study
on November 28, 2018, so we have been just over 2 years in Luke’s
gospel. It seems to be that we should have a big finale—and in a way
we did, the resurrection. But Luke and the other writers continue to
write beyond the resurrection so we need another closing. One would
think it would be the ascension of Jesus, but Luke did what two other
writers did. He summarized the ascension in very short order, just
four verses.
Two thoughts:
1. Interestingly, that is about par. None of the gospel writers
gave many details about the ascension of Jesus except to say
that Jesus ascended and John did not even say that. You would
think that since the gospel writers were writing about the
life, ministry, and death of Jesus, at least one of them would
have given more thorough coverage to Jesus’ departure, but
they did not in the gospels.
2. Luke will give details of the ascension in the book of Acts.
Remembering that Acts was written from the same person, to the
same person, Theophilus, about the same time for the same
purpose, it makes that Luke used that as the opening scene of
his second letter.
Since we are studying the gospel of Luke and Luke does not devote
much time to the ascension in his gospel, neither we will. Instead,
let’s stand back for a moment and notice some truths not so much from
the text itself but about the text.
I. Jesus rose from the dead whether anybody believed it or not.
A. It is interesting Luke 24 starts AFTER the resurrection of
Jesus.
Luke 24:2 And they found the stone rolled away
from the sepulchre.
1. Notice, the ladies found the stone ROLLED away (past
tense).
a. They did not see the stone rolling away.
b. It was already rolled away when they got there.
2. That means that Jesus was already risen.
3. Jesus and angels will spend the next 12 to 14 hours trying
to convince His own followers that He had risen.
4. But whether anyone ever believed the evidence, the angel,
or their own eyes or not, Jesus was risen.
B. God went to some effort to prove Jesus was resurrected.
1. God rolled the stone aside so men could look inside.
2. God frightened the guards away, again so men could look
inside.
3. Inside, God left the tomb emptied and the grave cloths
intact.
4. God sent two angels to explain to the people what had
happened.
a. Someone might ask, "Why didn’t Jesus stay at the tomb
and tell them Himself."
b. Well, God is God and God could have done that if He had
wanted to do so; however, I imagine if Jesus had
appeared to the woman at the graveside as the sun was
rising, a few women might have died of a heart attack.
5. Then Jesus made several appearances throughout the day.
a. \\#John 20\\ He appeared to Mary at the tomb first.
b. \\#Matt 28\\ He appeared to the women who seemed to be
dragging some second.
c. \\#Luke 24:34\\ Jesus might have appeared to Peter
third or else fourth.
d. \\#Luke 24:13-35\\ by the same token, He to those on
the road to Emmaus either third or fourth.
e. \\#Luke 24:36-43\\ Then finally, when most all of the
disciples were gathered together, Jesus appeared to
the whole group.
f. Of course, He spend 40 days in all making such
appearances and teaching the inner Eleven.
C. Yet, for all of that effort, it really did not matter whether
anyone believed that Jesus was risen or not.
1. He had.
2. So it is with all of the things God has done or will do.
3. Our belief in it make help us now and in the future, but
our belief does not make a thing any less true or more
true.
4. Things are true because God did them.
D. Remember this when it comes to:
1. Creation
2. The inspired Word of God
3. Heaven and hell
II. There were forces att work to keep them from seeing.
A. The "Them" Force
Luke 24:25 Then he said unto them, O fools, and
slow of heart to believe all that the prophets
have spoken:
1. Human beings are not given to big steps of faith, at
least not toward the One God.
2. We will believe in gods, human ability, evolution, even
accidents, but we won’t believe in the One true God of
the Bible.
3. This is especially true when we are faced with something
that rarely happens or has never happened before.
a. I would have been the Doubting Thomas and the
Suspicious Sally. That is my nature.
b. I have a hard time believing in things seldom done let
alone never done.
I read a news article this morning of a man who
lost his wallet on a flight. He realized it when
he landed but it was not turned into the lost and
found so he figured it was lost. He was there
for a wedding and didn’t want to through his
problem into the occasion so he borrowed some
money and decided to deal with it later. When he
arrived back home, he had a package with his
wallet, all of his information still intact along
with an uncashed paycheck and his $40 still in
it, but there was now $60 extra dollars with a
note. "Found this. Thought you might want it
back. I rounded your cash up to an even $100
so that you could go celebrate the return of
your wallet!"
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2018/11/27/lost-
wallet-returned-with-something-extra-inside/
?noredirect=on&utm_term=.4d2f134a4576
4. Friend, those are the kinds of things that you just don’t
expect anymore, and you do not expect people—even those
who claim to be Messiah—to rise from the dead.
B. God was holding them back.
1. This was happening in two ways:
a. First, the Holy Spirit had not been given yet so these
men were fighting a spiritual war with nothing more
than carnal weapons.
(1) Mere mortals would be badly out-matched even in
a fair carnal fight with spiritual beings.
(2) We don’t stand a chance when they are using their
spiritual advantages as well.
b. Second, God was deliberately holding them back from
seeing who Jesus was.
Luke 24:16 But their eyes were holden that they
should not know him.
(1) I take it that the glorified body of Jesus looked
like the earth-born body of Jesus so that they
would have recognized Jesus if God had not kept
that ability from them.
(2) But God did and they did not. There is no
combating God about what God does.
2. Why would God keep back their sight?
a. I don’t know.
b. I think some of it has to do with timing.
(1) Perhaps God wanted the word to minister to them
awhile BEFORE they knew who He was.
(2) Perhaps God wanted to set things up so that a
truth burns an impression into minds of people
that will last for eternity.
c. The bottom line is that God is sovereign and does what
He does because it pleases Him. That includes
revealing and withholding truth
III. God must also give the ability to understand.
A. \\#45\\ reveals a similar truth to \\#16\\.
Luke 24:45 Then opened he their understanding,
that they might understand the scriptures,
B. As God had to give to those men and women sight and
understanding, so God must give them to us.
C. This is the work of the Holy Ghost.
1Cor 2:10 But God hath revealed them unto us by
his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things,
yea, the deep things of God.
11 For what man knoweth the things of a man,
save the spirit of man which is in him? even so
the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit
of God.
12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the
world, but the spirit which is of God; that we
might know the things that are freely given to
us of God.
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.
D. This means we better think long and hard about how we treat the
Holy Spirit of God.
1. I mean lost people and saved people.
2. If a lost person is raised to blaspheme God, the Holy
Spirit may depart quickly, early, and eagerly.
IV. God commaned us to go.
A. Interestingly, the understand granted was not just to know the
Scriptures. It was also to understand their duty.
Luke 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:
47 And that repentance and remission of sins
should be preached in his name among all
nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
48 And ye are witnesses of these things.
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.
B. \\#46\\ That Christ must suffer, die, and rise again.
1. I would have loved to have heard Jesus sermon to the men
on the road to Emmaus.
2. I am willing to bet, we haven’t found all of His texts.
3. This is where most people would say the understanding
stopped, but I don’t think so.
C. \\#47\\ With understanding of the Scripture, they were to
preach repentance and the remission of sins.
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