July 30 2025

Wednesday July 30

Eleven Resurrection Appearances

Luke 24:36-46

36 Now as they said these things, Jesus Himself stood in the midst of them, and said to them, "Peace to you." 37 But they were terrified and frightened, and supposed they had seen a spirit. 38 And He said to them, "Why are you troubled? And why do doubts arise in your hearts? 39 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." 40 When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His feet. 41 But while they still did not believe for joy, and marveled, He said to them, "Have you any food here?" 42 So they gave Him a piece of a broiled fish and some honeycomb. 43 And He took it and ate in their presence. 44 Then He said to them, "These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me." 45 And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures. 46 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,

Before I begin my chat in Luke 24, I'd like to ask for special prayer. This morning, I'll be driving to Roanoke, Virginia. From there, this afternoon my son Jonathan and I will catch a flight to Colorado to attend a graduation for two of his sons, Elijah and Jeriah, from a two-week Biblical World View Camp at the Summit. We'll also see my older sister Lynda, who is in a nursing home there in Denver. She retired from United Airlines several years ago and was able to gift Jonathan and myself with the opportunity to fly free on United Airlines on standby anywhere in the world for the last twenty plus years. This has saved both of us hundreds of thousands of dollars on our missionary flights. That’s how we'll be flying today and also on our way back to Roanoke on Friday afternoon. Please pray for us to have traveling mercies and to catch our flights.

Then Saturday morning I will drive to Lynchburg Virginia to the Thomas Terrace Baptist Church, where my brother Mark is pastor, and attend a “Going Home Celebration Service” for Carl Townsend's wonderful wife Leah, who was a wonderful wife and Christian lady who served the Lord in so many ways. We'll be honoring her memory and celebrating her life. I won't be back home in Sneads Ferry NC, until late Saturday night. I’ll do my best to keep up with the chats, so bear with me as there might be some challenges in getting them recorded and posted on internet. God bless you and thank you for your prayers.

As we continue to look at Luke 24 and the resurrection appearances of Christ, we need to remember, according to Dr. Wilmington and other good Bible commentators, that Christ probably appeared at least eleven different times and occasions to His disciples after His resurrection. There could have been more, but these are the recorded appearances of Jesus Christ in the Gospels, giving proof that Jesus died, He was buried, and He rose again. The first verses of 1 Corinthians 15 give a lists of several of those appearances. We need to remind ourselves of that often. It's the very foundation of our faith that Jesus indeed is risen!

Here in this chapter we read about some of those appearances, and Luke gives some details we don't even read in the other gospels, which is very interesting. To the “perplexed” women at the empty tomb, Jesus appears to Mary Magdalene. On the road to Emmaus, Jesus appear to the two “sad” disciples, and opens their eyes and their understanding, and they literally get so excited they run back to Jerusalem. As I read the timetable here, it had to be late in the evening before they got back because it was still on that resurrection day. They get back and tell exactly what happened, so excited in that upper room.

Then in verse 36, as they said these things, Jesus Himself stood in the midst of them and said to them, "Peace to you." They were terrified and frightened and supposed they'd seen a spirit. Just imagine, Jesus appeared to the two fellows on the road to Emmaus, and it was only after He broke bread with them that their eyes were opened, and they beheld Him, and almost immediately He vanishes out of their sight. Now, with the doors being shut, according to other scriptures, Jesus appears in the same room with them. Of course, they're terrified. So He says to them, "Why are you troubled? And why do doubts arise in your hearts? 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."

Jesus rose from the dead physically, not just spiritually. He's not a ghost. He is in a physical body and even today sits in a physical body in heaven. “When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His feet. But while they did not believe for joy and marveled, He said to them…”. Can you imagine their mixed emotions? Jesus assures them that it is He, Himself with many comforting words and eats with them. Today we can go to the word of God and commune with Jesus. We can feel His touch as we commune with Him in His Word and prayer.

Yes, today we can believe, and our troubled hearts will also find peace.

God bless!