Scripture reading – Luke 24
With the cry, “It is finished,” Jesus “bowed His head, and gave up the ghost” (John 19:30). Soldiers were ordered to hasten the deaths of those on the crosses, and they broke the legs of the thieves to speed along their demise. When they came to Jesus, they found He was already dead. Rather than break his legs, a soldier thrust his spear through Christ’s side (John 19:34-37) and thus fulfilled Zechariah’s prophecy, “They shall look upon me whom they pierced” (Zechariah 12:10).
Departing Golgotha
The chief priests, Pharisees, and scribes must have been the first to leave Golgotha. They had plotted Jesus’ death and stirred the people to consent, crying, “Crucify Him!” (Mark 15:13-14; Luke 23:21; John 19:6, 15). Those who lifted their voices against Jesus went to their homes with hands stained with the blood of an innocent, sinless man. Spiritually blind, they observed the Passover, not understanding they had sacrificed the “Lamb of God,” Jesus Christ (John 1:29, 36).
Joseph of Arimathea, a member of the Sanhedrin who “had not consented to the counsel (Sanhedrin) and deed of them” (Luke 23:51), went to Pilate and courageously “begged the body of Jesus” (Luke 23:52). With love and tenderness, he claimed Jesus’ lifeless body, and “wrapped it in linen, and laid it” in his sepulcher (Luke 23:53).
With the tomb sealed and guards posted, the high priests and elders were confident Christ’s body was secure. Unlike His disciples, the chief priests and Pharisees remembered Jesus had said, “After three days I will rise again” (Matthew 27:63). They had done what they could to ensure Jesus’ followers would not steal His body, and claim He was raised from the dead as He foretold (Matthew 16:21; 20:19; John 2:19).
The Perplexity of an Empty Tomb (Luke 24:1-32)
Mark 16:1-14 and Luke 24:1-12 offer each author’s perspective and together the absolute harmony of the most significant event in human history.
The women who followed as Jesus’ body was placed in the tomb (Luke 23:55-56) were the ones who came early Sunday morning (“the first day of the week”) and “found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre” (Luke 24:1-2). “They entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus” (Luke 24:3). They were stunned, not understanding what became of Christ’s body (Luke 23:4a). Suddenly, two angels appeared as “men…in shining garments…[and asked], Why seek ye the living among the dead?” (Luke 24:5).
The angelic announcement that followed their questioning of the women was wondrous, for they said: “6He is not here, but is risen: remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee, 7Saying, The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again” (Luke 24:6-7). They did indeed remember Christ’s teachings, “And returned from the sepulchre, and told all these things unto the eleven, and to all the rest” (Luke 24:9).
We have considered the historical details that prove Jesus’ bodily resurrection from the dead (Matthew 28). Mark recorded in his Gospel how Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene (Mark 16:9), two disciples walking on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-32; Mark 16:12), and then to “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” (Mark 16:14).
The Great Commission: “Ye Are Witnesses” (Luke 24:44-49)
The fact of Jesus’ bodily resurrection from the dead forever changed the lives of His disciples. They were commissioned to preach the news of Christ’s suffering for sin (Luke 24:46) and to preach in His name a message of repentance and remission of sins “among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem” (Luke 24:47). Of those things, Jesus commanded, “ye are witnesses of these things” (Luke 24:48).
With a promise that they would go in His power and authority (Acts 1:8; Matthew 28:18-20), Jesus blessed the disciples and ascended to heaven (Luke 24:50-51). No longer blinded by selfish ambition, they had seen and understood the redemptive work of Jesus Christ. His death, burial, and resurrection convinced them He was the Christ, the only-begotten Son of God.
After His ascension, “they worshipped Him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy: and were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God” (Luke 24:52-53). Except for John, who was exiled (Revelation 1), each of the disciples faced a martyr’s death. Yet, their tongues could not be silenced, and each died, giving testimony that they served a risen Savior!
Closing thoughts –
Christ’s resurrection was the pinnacle moment in God’s redemptive plan. He was crucified, died for our sins, and was buried. He was raised from the dead on the third day, as He foretold. His sacrificial death fulfilled Isaiah’s prophecy of a suffering Messiah (Isaiah 53). Jesus Christ’s death paid the penalty of sin in full (Romans 6:23), and His resurrection promises hope to all who believe.
I close with John’s eyewitness account:
1 John 5:13 – These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.
Is Jesus Christ your Savior?
Copyright © 2024 – Travis D. Smith
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