Following the resurrection of Jesus Christ, Jesus made numerous appearances to those who followed Him; in fact, Paul documents many of the people who personally witnessed the ressurrected Christ, “…and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles…” (1 Corinthians 15:4-7). Scripture provides at least ten appearances of Jesus Christ following His resurrection. Luke details one of these appearances of Jesus to His disciples and the two men who had spoken with Him on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35). The two men walking on the road to Emmaus had gathered with Jesus’ eleven disciples to share what they had seen when suddenly, “Jesus Himself stood in the midst of them…” (24:36). Instead of recognizing Him as their Lord, the disciples reacted with fear thinking He was a ghost (24:37); however, Jesus quickly questioned their fears saying, “Why are you troubled? And why do doubts arise in your hearts?” (24:38). Desiring to calm their fears, Jesus also said, “Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself. Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have” (24:39). Jesus then proceeded to show them the wounds in His hands and His feet in order to prove that it was truly Him (24:40). Even though they saw proof that it was Him, the disciples still had a hard time comprehending what they were seeing (24:41).
Jesus decided to use the Old Testament scriptures to open their understanding, so He spoke to them regarding what was written “…in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms…” (24:44-45). ”Then He said to them, ‘Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. and you are witnesses of these things” (24:46-48). Along with revealing to them God’s purpose in His death and resurrection, Jesus also revealed that they would now become witnesses to all nations of what they had seen. Ultimately, Jesus’ death provided the payment for sin and His resurrection provided hope of eternal life to all who would believe this message. Following Jesus’ commissioning of the His disciples to spread this message to all nations, He commanded them to await the promise (the Holy Spirit) of the Father which would provide them with power to carry out this task (24:49). Jesus then “lifted up His hands and blessed them…” and was “carried up into heaven” (24:50-51). Those who were gathered there worshiped Him and returned to Jerusalem, where they were “continually in the temple praising and blessing God” (24:52-53).
Dear God, I believe in your resurrection from the dead and it has become the foundation of my faith. May I share with others regarding salvation and hope of eternal life available to all those who will believe.
