HILLDALE BAPTIST CHURCH Virtual Study Notes FOR THE LESSON ON EASTER SUNDAY, APRIL 4, 2021 (Phone Call Class, Monday 3/29/2021)

LUKE 24 NOTES* (based on NASB) “Resurrected” Luke 24:1-12 (BACKGROUND TEXT: :50-24:12)

INTRODUCTION: • The of Luke, like the other three , tells us about the resurrection of . The great climax of all four gospels is the wonderful story about how Jesus Christ rose from the dead. The gospels all agree on the general outline of events. took Jesus’ body and wrapped it in burial linen. He placed him in a tomb newly hewn out of rock. Early on Sunday morning, Jesus arose. The women found the open tomb. They did not find Jesus’ body but they met one or more of the , and learned Jesus was alive. They ran back and reported to the disciples what they had seen. • The gospels vary in some of the details they share about what happened. Matthew tells us about an earthquake and the opening the tomb. Mark tells us that the women carefully watched where He was buried. Luke tells of Jesus meeting the two disciples on the road to . John tells us about how was the first to see Jesus outside the tomb. Although some details appear to conflict between the four gospels, reasonable study demonstrates that there is no conflict, but the four stories come together from different perspectives. • Matthew tells us that on day after Jesus died, the went to Pilate and asked for a guard for Jesus’ tomb. They remembered Jesus’ prophecy about rising from the dead and they were afraid the disciples would steal his body and claim that it happened. Pilate gave them a cohort of soldiers to watch the tomb and they took the Roman seal and sealed the tomb. If anyone ever broke the seal, he would be destroyed by a Roman army. This was the only time in history soldiers guarded a dead man to keep him dead! And, of all things, it didn’t work! Jesus became the only dead man in history to rise back into a perfect glorified form, just as He predicted! • The women approached the tomb on Sunday morning. They wanted to anoint Jesus’ body with spices in His burial. They were wondering how they could get someone to roll away the stone for them to enter the tomb. Obviously, they did not know that Pilate had sealed the tomb where no one could enter it. Ironically, they did not have to worry about all those things after all! When they got there… He was alive! • General Outline of Luke: o Jesus’ Birth and Baptism (1–3) o Jesus’ Ministry in (4–9) o Jesus’ Journey to (10–18) o Jesus’ Last Week on Earth (19-22) o Jesus’ Passion and Ascension (23-24) • In previous lessons, we have studied the following topics: o The in Galilee in chapters 1-9. o The parables of Jesus as he made his journey to Jerusalem in chapters 10-19. o Last week, we studied the triumphant entry into Jerusalem. • In today’s lesson we will study the in Luke. o The women came to the tomb at break of the day on Sunday. o The found the tomb open and did not find Jesus’ body. o An angel told them that Jesus had risen from the dead. o They ran back to tell the disciples and Peter ran to the tomb to see.

Preceding verses in the background text:

Luke 23:50-56 – Joseph of Arimathea took Jesus’ body and buried it and the women prepared spices.

RETURN (Luke 24:1-5a)

Verse 1: • But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb, bringing the spices which they had prepared – Verse 53 of Luke 23 tells us that the women had prepared the spices on the evening after Jesus died. It is likely that they bought the spices from vendors just before the Sabbath began at sundown and did their preparation. They were not allowed to take them to the tomb on the next morning because it was the Sabbath and walking that distance would have been illegal. They probably headed to the tomb early Sunday morning under cover of darkness for fear of the Jews. Verse 2: • And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb – The women were shocked. First, it would have seemed that it would be unlikely that anyone would want to rob the tomb of Jesus. Not his enemies who wanted him dead, and certainly not his disciples who loved him. Second, the logistics of moving the stone would have made it enormously difficult. The stone would have weighed many hundreds of pounds and it would have taken many men to push it away. Verse 3: • But when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus – The women doubtless were most concerned to see if the body of Jesus had been disturbed, and perhaps were thinking they might yet be able to anoint it with spices. It is likely that the soldiers had recovered from their faint by this time (Matt. 28:4) and had fled the scene before the women arrived, so there was nothing to prevent them from entering. Verse 4: • While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men suddenly stood near them in dazzling clothing – The implication here is that the angels suddenly appeared inside the tomb as the women stood there. Luke did not use the word “angel” probably because he did not want to make the story sound mythical but simply relate the facts, so he described the angels as “two men” who suddenly appeared in “dazzling clothing.” Verse 5a: • And as the women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground… – A response of fear is expected, because the two men were certainly angels, and the dazzling white clothing was Luke’s subdued manner of explaining that the appearance of the angels was frighteningly overwhelming. This initiated the natural response of the women being so frightened they would fall to their knees in absolute subjection, bowing their faces to the floor.

REMEMBER: (Luke 24:5b-7)

Verse 5b: • The men said to them, "Why do you seek the living One among the dead? – The meaning of the angel’s utterance, obviously, is “He is not dead, He is alive.” However, in times, to frame the statement in the form of a question of “Why do you do something that is absolutely unnecessary?” was to make it dramatically emphatic. The angels were clearly proclaiming to the women that Jesus had risen from the dead. Verse 6: • "He is not here, but He has risen Remember how He spoke to you while He was still in Galilee – Jesus first began foretelling his death in while He was still ministering in Galilee. Verse 7: • Saying that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again." – Luke records three times that Jesus told the disciples that He would be betrayed, crucified, and then He would rise from the dead. (9:21-22; 9:44-45; 18:31-34).

REPORT: (Luke 24:8-12)

Verse 8: • And they remembered His words – The statement of Luke, here, implies something like a sudden awareness that one has of a memory that he or she had forgotten about. The women clearly remembered what Jesus said, and now they understood what He meant, whereas before, they had not understood it. Verse 9: • And returned from the tomb and reported all these things to the eleven and to all the rest – The other gospels indicate that the women ran, both in fear, and in great joy, to rejoin the others to tell them the news. Luke explains that they went back to the “eleven” (the twelve apostles, minus who was now dead) and to the “rest,” that is, the rest of the devoted followers of Jesus who had remained with Him in His journeys. This verse also indicates, as corroborated by the other gospels, that all the disciples were gathered in one location, hidden away for fear of the Jews. Verse 10: • Now they were Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James; also the other women with them were telling these things to the apostles – This verse names three of the women who told the apostles about these things, but others were a part of the group. “Mary the mother of James” does not refer to the mother of James and John, although Matthew 27:56 indicates that she was one of the women who was in the group. This Mary may have been the mother of James the “less,” the son of Alphaeus (:15). Verse 11: • But these words appeared to them as nonsense, and they would not believe them – Reports from women were never considered as reliable as the statements of men. However, the major problem for the disciples was the strange and “wild-sounding” nature of the report. Nevertheless, the disciples were reprimanded later for their unbelief. The report of the women plus the previous predictions of Jesus should have been enough to convince them of the truth. Verse 12: • But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen wrappings only; and he went away to his home, marveling at what had happened – This fact is expanded into much more detail in :2-10. Peter was accompanied by John the brother of James who also ran to the tomb. John explains that Peter also went into the tomb looking at the linen wrappings. However, as Luke reports, Peter did not know how to interpret the events: the open tomb, the missing body of Jesus, the linen wrappings left behind. He left the tomb amazed, yet without comprehending that Jesus had risen from the dead.

OUR LESSON NEXT WEEK:

Sinners? :1-10

* The following study are sometimes used to obtain information for these notes:

The NIV Study Bible, Revised. Kenneth L. Barker, editor. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1985. ESV Study Bible, English Standard Version. Wheaton: Crossway Bibles, 2008. HCSB Study Bible, Holman Christian Standard Bible. Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers, 2010. NIV Zondervan Study Bible, D. A. Carson, editor. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2015. NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2016.