Peace To You: Luke 24:36-53

Hey, we study through books of the Bible here at the Village Chapel.

If you want a paper copy, just lift up your hand and someone will bring one along to you.

It'd be good to have the paper copy.

We are finishing, as Kim mentioned, our study of the gospel according to Luke.

Also want to welcome all those who are worshiping with us online.

You'll know that we have lots of folks from all over the world.

Last week we had some folks from Carlsbad, California.

All right, we have some folks from Carlsbad, perhaps.

Melbourne, Australia.

Excellent.

There we go, we got one.

In Washington, D.C.

as well.

May the Spirit of the Lord move among you wherever you might be today.

Well, we are coming to the end.

We've been in Luke for 64 weeks by my count, a little over a year.

And Luke is a physician, a historian, a theologian.

And under the inspiration of the Spirit, he set out to write an orderly account.

That's what he told us at the beginning.

To write an orderly account so that we might have certainty about who Jesus is and who he was, that we might trust him, that we might turn to him in faith, treasure him, and that we might worship him.

As we'll see today, the Gospel of Luke really doesn't have a definitive ending.

It's basically a to-be continued into his second volume, The Acts of the Apostles.

One commentator said it this way: at the end of Luke, it's like we end the overture of the song and we get to this great chord which sets up the next part of the music.

And I think we'll see that next year as we study the Acts of the Apostles.

Well, if you've been with us in our study the last few weeks, you'll recall that in our text now, it's Sunday.

In fact, it's Sunday night, the first Easter Sunday.

The disciples have been in an emotional and spiritual whirlwind.

Friday night, Jesus was crucified, died, and was buried.

Saturday, his body lay cold in a borrowed tomb.

Silence.

And Sunday morning the stone was rolled away.

And then Luke gives us three post-resurrection narratives.

Do you remember them?

The first one, the women went out to the tomb and they found the stone rolled away, and his body was missing, and two angels appeared to them and said, Don't you remember what Jesus said, that he would die, and that on the third day he would rise again?

So that was the first.

The second one, the camera shifts to the two folks walking on the road to Emmaus, Cleopas and perhaps his wife, on the road to Emmaus, and Jesus comes alongside them and he says, Don't you remember?

Don't you remember that I said on the third day I would rise again?

Because remember, those two, as they go to Emmaus, they think he's dead.

They think the party's over.

They packed up, they've left Jerusalem because they didn't think there was anything in Jerusalem for them.

And as Jesus opens up the scriptures, Luke tells us that their hearts burned within them.

They couldn't contain it.

And they actually run back seven miles, go back to Jerusalem, and they get to the disciples, perhaps in the upper room.

We don't know exactly where they were, but maybe the same upper room where the Lord broke the bread and gave the wine.

So that's where we find ourselves in our story today.

The two Cleopas and perhaps his wife, to the other disciples in the upper room.

Can you imagine the atmosphere?

This is Sunday night.

All that had happened that weekend, it's Sunday night.

And the disciples, some of them knew, some of them had seen the risen Jesus, some of them hadn't.

There's rumors going around.

There's astonishment, fear, wonder.

What's next for us?

I invite you to turn with me to Luke 24.

We'll start with verse 36.

As we're given a window into that room that night, and we'll see the transformation that takes place in the heart, the hearts of these disciples because of the risen Jesus that we just sang about.

Let me pray for us and we'll get started.

Heavenly Father, we bow before your presence this morning.

Open your word to us and open us to your word.

May your spirit convict where needed, comfort where needed, and point us to Jesus, in whose precious name we all said.

Amen.

Luke 24, 36.

So Cleopas and his wife joined the other disciples.

As they were talking about these things, Jesus himself stood among them.

And he said to them, peace to you.

Now, John's gospel in John 20, he actually gives us a little bit more detail.

It's Sunday night, they're in this room, perhaps afraid, and the doors are locked, John tells us.

And Jesus just appears.

It's astonishing.

Think about the circumstances.

And Jesus anticipates their fear and he says, Peace to you, 37.

But they were startled and frightened.

And you might underline those words, startled and frightened, and thought they saw a spirit, or some translations will say they thought they saw a ghost.

And he said to them, Why are you troubled?

And why do doubts arise in your hearts?

See my hands and my feet.

That it is I myself.

Touch me and see.

For a spirit, a ghost, does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.

And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet.

And while they were while they still disbelieved for joy and were marveling, he said to them, Have you anything here to eat?

We can laugh at that.

There's something amazing going on here.

42.

They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it, and he ate before them.

41.

While they still disbelieve for joy, basically they were saying, We cannot believe what we are seeing.

It's like when I saw the Braves win a game in this past season.

That was like an astonishing feat.

They could not believe what their eyes were seeing.

And they had joy.

And you can see they're humans.

The mix of emotion that's going on here.

And Luke, the doctor, the historian, this is incredible.

This is not a legend.

He's giving us the kind of detail that's making a claim about this resurrected Jesus.

It was him in the flesh.

And the kind of detail like it was broiled fish.

It wasn't fried fish.

It wasn't sauteed fish.

It was broiled fish.

That's the kind of detail when this is a claim and not a legend.

This actually happened.

44.

Then he said to them, These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you.

In other words, he's saying, Don't you remember?

Everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.

Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures and said to them, Thus it is written that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations.

This is astonishing.

When Jesus says the law of Moses, the prophets and the Psalms, he's talking about the Jewish Bible, the Torah, the prophets and the writings, all of the Bible that they had.

He was saying, Bears witness about me.

And here I am in your midst.

And he says, You will be my witnesses.

You are witnesses of these things, verse 48.

And as we study the Gospel of Acts, the word witness is used at least 29 times.

So we're going to see this, their witness of Jesus, their eyewitness testimony, spread like a wildfire, as the world is turned upside down by this glorious gospel of Jesus.

And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you.

But stay, wait in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.

He's pointing forward to what would come in the pouring out of the Spirit at Pentecost.

And Luke consolidates his version of these accounts, and there's about forty days that passed between 49 and 50.

So, verse 50, about forty days afterwards, he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands, he blessed them.

And while he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven.

And they worshipped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy.

And were continually in the temple blessing God.

Look at this transformation.

Verse 38.

Why are you troubled?

To verse 53.

They were continually in the temple blessing God.

There's a transformation here because they saw with their own eyes.

They saw him, they heard him.

The living Jesus.

Well, this is the word of the Lord, and we all said, thanks be to God.

Well, what a remarkable conclusion to the first volume of Luke's account of the earthly ministry of Jesus.

This is the first Easter Sunday, and it was full to the brim of the activity of Jesus.

Raising, he rose from the dead.

He walked next to the two on the road to Emmaus.

He revealed himself to Peter.

We don't know exactly when, but somewhere in that time, he revealed himself to Peter.

Now he appears to the disciples, perhaps in the upper room, for a midnight lesson and a snack.

Let's go, though.

I want us to go back to the beginning of Luke for just a moment.

The first Christmas day.

Luke tells us that the day of his birth was also full of activity.

He begins with an angelic proclamation, giving worship to God.

The angel said, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, let's say it out loud, peace among those with whom he's pleased.

The life of Jesus brings with it the promise of peace.

Isaiah tells us that he is the Prince of Peace.

And here is the earthly ministry of Jesus concludes, he brings a word of peace to his disciples.

It's good to remind ourselves that what we are reading here is history.

The disciples are real men and women with families and insecurities and longings and fear.

So when we look at verse 37, for example, that they were startled and they were frightened, troubled, and doubting, we should pause before judging them too harshly because we might say, Well, didn't he say this had happened?

It was the middle of the night.

The doors were locked.

And he appears in their midst.

It must have been confounding for them that weekend.

Some had seen him alive, some had not.

There were rumors of his resurrection, but here he was.

And with such tenderness and grace, he says emphatically, peace to you.

And he patiently helps them grasp the reality of all the things that have taken place that weekend, his death, his burial, and his resurrection, and what is to come for them when the spirit falls on them later.

He brings a greeting of peace, but the peace that he brings, John tells us, is not like the peace of the world.

And to that I say, Praise God.

Because this kind of peace, his peace, is actually not rooted in a feeling.

It's not rooted in a mood.

It's not rooted in the vibes.

It doesn't come and go with the vibes, if you will.

It's rooted in him.

His peace is grounded in something that happened 2,000 years ago in Jerusalem.

So the peace of Jesus is a grace to us, and at least in a couple of different ways.

One, peace with God.

And he talks about it here.

He says, the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise again, that repentance for forgiveness of sin, peace with God, meaning reconciliation between a holy God and me, a rebel, a sinner.

So he brings the promise of peace with God, and he also brings the peace of God.

A poise, a sturdy grounding in the risen Christ that cuts at the root of all earthly fears.

Peace with God.

Our salvation and the peace of God.

Well, there's much for us to learn from this text this morning, but I'd love to consider that idea of this peace that Jesus brings to you and me this morning.

The peace of God through the resurrection of Jesus and what that means for our resurrection.

And peace with God through the cross of Jesus and our forgiveness.

We'll start first with the peace of God.

I think we can take some comfort in the fact that of the startled and fearful response, the troubled response of these disciples.

A resurrection should be startling.

It will lead to peace, but first it startles.

When Jesus shows up, he begins first by addressing the fear in the room with concrete evidence.

And I had you, I had us uh look at that or circle it.

He wasn't simply a ghost, he wasn't simply a spirit or hallucination.

Look with me at 39.

See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself.

Touch me and see.

For a spirit doesn't have flesh and bones as you see that I have.

So at least in three different ways, three different senses.

They hear him speak, they recognize his voice.

They see his hands.

The Gospel of John says, Jesus says, Look, look at the marks in my hands.

It's me.

Touch me and see.

So as they were marveling, though, at what they were witnessing, Jesus rummages around the kitchen asking if they might have anything to eat.

What's that about?

I can't be sure about this.

This might be the first recorded midnight snack.

I don't know.

But it's such an important detail.

Why does it matter?

It's more evidence that this is the resurrected Jesus in the flesh.

There's broiled fish, he eats it, and there's no more broiled fish.

That doesn't happen with a disembodied spirit or some hallucination.

Now look, Luke knew, the disciples knew, that this claim of Jesus actually being resurrected from the dead was incredible.

Outrageous, even bizarre if it wasn't true.

They knew that.

No other major religion or philosophy makes this kind of resurrection claim about their leader.

It's unique to Jesus.

But they had to tell the truth.

We heard him.

We saw him, we touched him, we saw him eat fish and chips that night.

It happened.

This wasn't just some kind of spiritual vision.

The Lord was there.

He stood before them, and it startled them as it should.

And if we really take seriously the claims being made by Jesus, I think it actually should startle all of us.

All of us should have some kind of response to this, because response is required if it's true.

C.S.

Lewis famously said, Jesus is either a liar, he's either a lunatic, some say legend, or he's Lord.

And the claims that he makes are true.

And if they are true, it requires a response.

What are you going to do with that?

And Lewis actually continues on in his essay, God on the Dock.

One must keep on pointing out that Christianity is a statement which, if false, is of no importance.

And if true, of infinite importance.

The one thing it cannot be is moderately important.

They heard him.

They saw him and they touched him.

Remember, Luke is a physician, he's a doctor.

He would have known what to ask when verifying these claims.

Are you saying this is what you saw?

He would have asked those kinds of questions.

A resurrection should startle us at first.

But let's say we take that claim at face value.

The bodily resurrection of Jesus is true.

Why does it matter?

Why does it matter to you?

Why does it matter to you this week when you head back to work?

In other words, for some of us, this is old hat, and you might believe the claims of this resurrection, but your heart is unmoved.

Here's why it matters.

It's one thing when we gather here on a Sunday morning to sing unto the grave, what shall we sing?

Christ He lives.

That's good for us to sing.

But it's one thing to sing that here in this room, and it's another thing to know that it matters when you're holding a loved one's hand in the hospital room.

It's another thing to know that it matters when you're walking through chronic pain and suffering a diagnosis that you're trying to process.

It matters because the resurrection of Jesus is the only hope.

That though we grieve properly today, we can have assurance that suffering, loss, death will not have the final word.

It's our only hope.

There's far more to come for those who are in the grip of Jesus.

Do you know that deep in your bones this morning?

I pray you do.

The resurrection should startle us, but as we see in our text, it actually becomes eventually the wellspring of our peace, a poise and a confidence to face whatever the world throws at us because we know who walked out of his own grave.

The prophet Isaiah told us 800 years before, he's speaking about the risen Jesus.

He will swallow up death forever.

What a promise.

And the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces.

And the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken.

Almost every morning I try to take a brisk walk around my neighborhood just before sunrise.

And the mornings are really dark this time of year.

And I noticed this week that my neighbors have really gone crazy with all of their Halloween decorations.

I don't know about you guys.

They're really taking it seriously this year.

And I like to have fun, that's no big deal.

But what happened to just pumpkins and mums and stuff?

But I had this, I have this one neighbor on another street, and they had this one decoration that's like a wireframe person.

And you can't see it unless it's dark outside and the light's shining on it.

So as you're walking through the neighborhood at night, you see this spirit just kind of moving about in the neighbor's front yard, a little creepy.

So much of our understanding of what eternity will be like, even for Christians, is actually more informed by those kinds of decorations, more informed by Victorian literature, more informed by Hollywood than the Bible.

So typically, if we were to just ask anybody, what does it look like?

What does eternity look like?

The physical world doesn't really matter?

Our bodies don't really matter because someday our spirits are going to fly away and we'll spend eternity disembodied, happy and free, maybe, but floating around in the clouds playing harps or maybe in my neighbor's front yard.

I'm not sure.

That's kind of the general idea.

But not only is that boring and uncompelling, can you imagine for eternity doing that?

It's not biblical.

The biblical vision of eternity with Christ is so much more beautiful and more meaningful both for today and for that day to come.

The Bible doesn't reveal everything about what that day will look like, but it's very clear that at least we will have our physical bodies, glorified bodies, renewed bodies, but our bodies like Jesus.

The Apostle Paul tells us this in Philippians 3.

He expands on it.

Our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body, that's our bodies now, in sin, to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.

This is astounding.

So how do we know what our glorified bodies will look like?

And again, why does it matter?

Well, we look to the resurrected Jesus.

Many different places in the gospel accounts, but here in Luke.

Also think about Revelation.

Revelation 15 tells us that Jesus is the firstborn from the dead, meaning he's the first, and we will, all the dead in Christ shall rise when he comes again.

And Paul tells us that Jesus is the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.

In other words, when we see the risen Jesus in the scriptures, he's revealing some of what we should expect in the new heavens and the new earth.

Our glorified bodies will be different in many ways.

And here's an example.

Jesus apparently could walk through walls, or at least he could appear and disappear at his Pleasure.

Star Trek didn't have that idea first.

So yeah, our glorified bodies will be slightly different, different in many ways, I'm sure.

But God will not simply discard what He has fearfully and wonderfully made for every image bearer.

He won't discard it, but renew it.

And we'll delight in the renewed heavens and earth.

You love mountains now, you love the beaches now or lakes now?

Just wait.

Who in here loves ice cream?

Just wait.

We have one over there.

That's great.

Just wait until the new heavens.

The curse of sin is gone.

What will ice cream and pizza and delicious food and drink be like then?

When the Lord returns to remove the curse of sin and make all things new, we pray, Lord Jesus, come.

But Paul, of course, anticipates this question in 1 Corinthians 15.

But someone will ask, how are the dead raised?

With what kind of body do they come?

And looking at the resurrected Jesus, Paul describes our future resurrection.

You can read more about that, 1 Corinthians 15.

But it sets apart from those in the Old Testament and the New Testament who were simply resuscitated.

Think about Lazarus.

He was raised from the dead, but Lazarus died again.

The glorified Jesus would not, has not.

He's still alive.

Death no longer has any power over him, and neither will it have power over you and me when he returns.

Jesus said, Because I live, you also will live.

Paul lifts our eyes to the glory, the glory of what is to come in Christ.

I'll just point out a few things.

Our bodies will be free from death.

The text says, perishable to imperishable in 1 Corinthians.

Like Jesus will have bodies that cannot die, free from sin.

Sin will have no appeal to us.

Turning away from Jesus will be unthinkable to us when he returns to make all things new.

Our bodies will be free from weakness, like Jesus, free from disease and decay and suffering.

Let's be honest, how many in this room woke up with some ache that you didn't have the day before?

Some muscle that you didn't realize that you even had because it was sore this morning.

We look forward to that day.

When that'll be done with.

Why does it matter?

Friends, those who are in Christ, here's why it matters.

Those who are in Christ should be the most non-anxious, peace-filled people on the planet.

Because he is alive, we know he's coming back.

And this world is not all that there is.

And yes, we rightly grieve in this sin-stained world.

We've been grieving this week, the loss of one of our brothers here.

Yes, we work and we pray to see justice and mercy in our world now.

We work zealously and we pray for the persecuted church.

We pray that the gospel of Jesus will go to all the nations.

We do all of that.

And for those who are turned their and turned in face to Christ Jesus, we can hear him say to us, peace to you.

His peace is not an empty phrase.

It's not designed to elicit a lift in my mood.

It's grounded in the historical reality of him who rose from the dead, fulfilling the scriptures, as he said.

The promises of God are fulfilled, and it guarantees for us that he will come.

And you and I and our loved ones will be resurrected to live a life of utter happiness and joy and freedom and satisfaction and wholeness that we can't even begin to describe.

Come, Lord Jesus.

Church, we said amen.

Sam Alberry reflects on this so well.

In terms of this life, I'm beginning to be past my prime.

But my best physical days actually lie ahead of me rather than behind me.

I don't need to constantly look back on past glories or bemoan the encroaching limitations of age.

This is the answer to our deep fear of missing out.

I don't need to worry about squeezing every last drop of pleasure out of this physical life when I can look forward to an eternity of enjoying the new creation in a resurrected body.

That is good news.

The resurrection was not just a reversal of death, it was that, but the promise of life with him.

That's utterly indescribable.

So resurrection should startle us at first, and then it leads us to a sturdy peace, the peace of God.

But first it comes through a cross, peace with God, reconciliation and forgiveness because of what he's done on the cross.

Look with me at verse 45, if you would.

Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, Thus it is written that the Christ should suffer, and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.

And of course, Acts will expand on this and we'll study a little bit more deeply.

Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.

Moments after Jesus gives an assurance with concrete evidence that his resurrection is reality, isn't it interesting that he goes back to the cross?

An instrument of death.

It is written, he said, his cross has made a way for us, sinners and rebellion rebels, to have peace with God.

Not only a peace of God, we want that, but peace with God first.

And out of a depth of love that we'll never fully understand, he lays down his life.

It's not taken from him, he lays down his life for sinners like me.

Set free from slavery, turned against God, and set free to live in light of eternity with him.

So we don't know for sure, but perhaps as Jesus is doing this Bible study, apparently he's going back to the Old Testament.

Maybe he brings up Isaiah.

Isaiah 53 says, He was crushed for our iniquities.

Upon him was the chastisement that brought us, let's say it together, peace.

And with his wounds we are healed.

Paul put it this way: He himself is our peace.

Jesus takes them back to the Bible to see that God's work of redemption throughout history, throughout history, has found its culmination in his cross, his burial and his resurrection.

And then he points forward to the spirit-empowered movement that would change the world, inviting others into the love of God in Christ.

I just think it's amazing.

After this resurrection, he would point the disciples back to the cross.

Boyce said it this way: the cross stands as the focal point of the Christian faith.

Without the cross, the Bible is an enigma and the gospel of salvation is an empty hope.

And I think he's right.

Today, when archaeologists rummage around ruins and they find a cross, the symbol of a cross, they know that was a place of Christian worship.

The cross was the central defining reality of the Christian faith from the beginning.

Starting here with Jesus, he points them back to the cross.

I want us to think about that moment for a minute.

The Gospel of John tells us as Jesus was hanging on the cross, Jesus said to Telesti in the Greek, it is finished.

It's been accomplished.

The root there, the root word there is Telios.

That was his mission to make a way for sinners and rebels like me.

But it's likely, if you think about this, it's likely that the disciples, the religious leaders, the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and even the Romans, had their own version of it is finished.

Think about the disciples, even the two that were on the road to Emmaus.

Jesus was dead in their mind.

His body was missing, party was over, it's finished.

This whole thing's over.

Think about the religious leaders.

Finally, the threat to our power is gone.

He's dead, he's buried.

The Pharisees and Sadducees had their own version of finally, it's finished.

The Romans, great executioners as they were, they see him dead and they say, All right, it's finished.

On to the next one.

But when Jesus said the words, it is finished, he meant something altogether different.

He paid it all.

Full forgiveness for those who, as Jesus said here in our text, who call on his name and turn to him in repentance and faith, find forgiveness at the cross.

I want us to go back to the beginning, back to that first, that Christmas season.

The beginning of the gospel opens with extraordinary claims about Jesus as a baby.

Zechariah promises that he would bring forgiveness.

Simeon, do you remember Simeon?

He holds the Christ child.

And as he holds the Christ child, he says, This, Lord, now you're letting your servant depart in peace according to your word, for my eyes have seen your salvation.

Simeon is looking at Jesus as a baby.

And he's giving praise to God, saying, In my arms I am seeing salvation, that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people, Israel.

In other words, all the nations.

All the nations.

So Luke from the very beginning has been meticulously demonstrating that Jesus has indeed brought salvation through his cross to all who would call on his name.

It's from the beginning until the end.

Payment for our sin, fulfillment of the scriptures, and reconciliation and forgiveness before a holy God.

Peace to you, Jesus says.

Maybe you long for peace.

Maybe you came in this room today, or if you're watching online, shaken by whatever has spiraled out of control in your life.

Maybe you're burdened by loss or grief or your own chronic pain or sorrow.

Maybe you're riddled by shame, a sin that you simply cannot shake.

Hear the words of Jesus this morning to call on his name and hear him say peace.

What happened in the hearts of those disciples on that weekend is really nothing short of a miracle, a move of God upon fearful hearts that completely changed the trajectory of their life.

We can see it there.

They were troubled and scared, and then they were joyful in worshiping.

They saw him with their eyes, they touched him, they heard his voice, they saw him eat.

We can know a lot of facts about Jesus, we can know history, we can even affirm that it's true.

But when you're sitting next to someone walking through suffering and pain or your own, the resurrection of Jesus is our only hope that there is more to come.

All things new.

We can know facts about Jesus, we can know history, but when we sense the conviction of sin against a holy God and wonder if forgiveness is even an option, the cross of Jesus assures us that forgiveness is found in his name.

He paid it all.

The one who walked out of a grave.

If I am in the grip of the one who can do that, then what do I have to fear?

That's a sturdy piece, friends.

Charles Spurgeon says, remember, therefore, it's not your hold of Christ that saves you, it is Christ.

It is not your joy in Christ that saves you, it is Christ.

It's not even faith in Christ, though that be the instrument.

It is Christ's blood and merits.

Therefore, look not so much to your hand with which you are grasping Christ as to Christ.

We shall never find happiness by looking at our prayers, our doings, our feelings.

It's what Jesus is, not what we are, that gives rest to the soul.

The peace of God comes through peace with God.

In church, we said amen.

Amen.

Let's pray together.

Heavenly Father, we give you thanks that you have indeed made a way.

Through the blood of your Son Jesus Christ, that full forgiveness for anyone who comes to you in repentance and faith is available.

And Lord, we long for that kind of peace that sturdies us, that looks ahead to the day when you will come to make all things new again.

And we pray for an assurance.

We pray for a move of the Spirit upon hearts that are cold and stony, that are no longer moved by the resurrection of your Son Jesus.

Lord, be among us as we come to your table.

In Jesus' name we all send.

Amen.