CHAPTER 12

FROM THE FLOGGING OF JESUS TO HIS ASCENSION

The angel rolled away the stone from Jesus’ tomb, not to let the living Lord out but to let the unconvinced outsiders in.

—D. G. BARNHOUSE¹

Jesus has forced open a door that had been locked since the death of the first man. He has met, fought and beaten the King of Death. Everything is different because he has done so.

—C. S. LEWIS²

JESUS IS MOCKED AND BEATEN (MATT. 27:27–32; MARK 15:16–21; LUKE 23:27–31; JOHN 19:16–17)

Pilate’s soldiers strip Jesus of the robe and put His own clothes back on Him. Then they take Him out, bearing His own cross, to a place called the Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. Jesus soon grows too weak to carry the cross because of the severe beating He’s taken.³ So the soldiers find a passerby called Simon of Cyrene and force him to carry it. This adds meaning to Jesus’ warning to His disciples that “if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23).⁴

Turning to the great multitudes of mourners following Him, Jesus says, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For behold the days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren and the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed.’ Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us,’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us.’ For if they do these things when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?”

Jesus is predicting the coming judgment of Jerusalem. Even while being judged He’s still in control, pronouncing His own judgment on His judges.⁵ Robert H. Stein translates Jesus’ metaphorical words into plain language: “If God has not spared his innocent Son from such tribulation [by permitting his crucifixion] how much worse will it be for a sinful nation when God unleashes his righteous wrath upon it.”⁶ The Romans would fulfill this prophecy by destroying Jerusalem and its Temple in 70 AD.

THE CRUCIFIXION (MATT. 27:33–44; MARK 15:22–32; LUKE 23:32–38; JOHN 19:18–27)

When they come to Golgatha Jesus is offered wine mixed with gall, but He tastes it and declines. It’s not clear who offers Him the drink but it’s probably the Jews, since the drink has a pain-relieving effect, and the Roman tradition is to inflict maximum pain. As Jesus has come to suffer and die, He likely refuses the drink because He doesn’t want to alleviate His own pain and because He wants to be in full control of His faculties during His suffering.⁷

At the third hour (9:00 a.m.) they crucify Jesus and the two criminals, one on each side of Him. Many women who’ve followed Jesus from Galilee—including Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and Salome the mother of Zebedee’s sons James and John⁸—look on from a distance. Jesus cries out, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Instead of feeling sorry for Himself, Jesus displays a spirit of forgiveness, the spirit that led Him to His incarnation in the first place. His statement, “They know not what they do” does not mean they are blameless for their horrendous act, but that they don’t understand the magnitude of evil they are perpetrating.⁹ As Paul writes, “None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory” (1 Cor. 2:8).

One of the criminals mockingly tells Jesus to save Himself. But the other one rebukes him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” He then turns to Jesus and says, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus replies, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

Does this not demonstrate God’s endless capacity for forgiveness and the power of repentance? Does it not destroy the myth that something beyond faith is required for our salvation? “Do not delude yourself with the idea that there is a great deal for you to do and to feel in order to fit yourself for coming to Christ,” Charles Spurgeon writes. “All such fitness is nothing but unfitness. All that you can do to make yourself ready for Christ to save you is to make yourself more unready. . . . This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; and to that declaration we may add our Lord’s own words, ‘he that believeth on him is not condemned.’ Oh, that God would give all of you the grace to receive this gracious gospel, whose requirements are so tenderly and so mercifully brought down to your low estate!”¹⁰

This robber, a duly convicted sinner, doesn’t change his ways and doesn’t acquire a repentant heart until he’s on the cross hours from death. He’s unable to offer anything in exchange for his desperate request for forgiveness and life. But all he has to do is believe in Jesus Christ. That he does—and he is saved. Anglican bishop of Liverpool, J. C. Ryle discusses the man’s fate:

 

           If ever there was a soul hovering on the brink of hell, it was the soul of this thief. If ever there was a case that seemed lost, gone, and past recovery, it was his. If ever there was a child of Adam whom the devil made sure of as his own, it was this man. . . . And then mark what kind of answer he received. Some would have said he was too wicked a man to be saved; but it was not so. Some would have fancied it was too late: the door was shut, and there was no room for mercy; but it proved not too late at all. The Lord Jesus returned him an immediate answer—spoke kindly to him—assured him he should be with Him that day in paradise—pardoned him completely—cleansed him thoroughly from his sins—received him graciously—justified him freely—raised him from the gates of hell—gave him a title to glory. Of all the multitude of saved souls, none ever received so glorious an assurance of his own salvation as did this penitent thief. Go over the whole list, from Genesis to Revelation, and you will find none who had such words spoken to him as these—“Today shalt thou be with Me in paradise.” . . . Have I not a right to say, By grace ye may be saved through faith, not of works: fear not, only believe? Behold the proof of it. This thief was never baptized: he belonged to no visible Church; he never received the Lord’s Supper; he never did any work for Christ; he never gave money to Christ’s cause! But he had faith, and so he was saved.¹¹

Even in His hour of greatest anguish, Jesus is not too weak or distraught to exercise His gracious power of salvation. Few things could be more encouraging to us as sinners than this story, which God placed in Scripture for us to read, savor, and treasure for our own eternal security.

The soldiers divide Jesus’ clothes and cast lots for them, in fulfillment of the Old Testament Scripture, “They divided my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots” (Psalms 22:18). Jesus’ mother, His mother’s sister Mary (the wife of Clopas), and Mary Magdalene are near the cross. When Jesus sees His mother and John, “the disciple whom He loved,” standing nearby, He says to His mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” Then He says to John, “Behold, your mother!” From that time onward, John would care for her in his own home. It was Jewish tradition that the eldest son would provide for the mother’s care when the Husband or father could not, and through this gesture, Jesus is fulfilling His responsibility.¹²

Pilate had placed an inscription on the cross in Aramaic, Latin, and Greek reading, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” The chief priests protested that he should have written instead, “This man said, I am King of the Jews,” but Pilate insisted, “What I have written I have written.” Many Jews read the inscription because Jesus is crucified near the city. They’re mortified that the inscription contradicts the claim for which they’re executing Jesus. They could abide a reference to Jesus claiming to be the Messiah, but not that He is the Messiah. This beautifully illustrates who’s in charge: it’s not the Jews, who initiate this process, nor the Romans who carry it out, but God Himself Who has the final word. It was our sovereign God Who superintended Pilate’s insistence on leaving the subscription as He had written it¹³ because Jesus is, in fact, the King of the Jews, the Messiah in the line of David Whom God promised at the beginning of salvation history as recorded from Genesis forward.

The religious leaders and bystanders deride Jesus, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, his Chosen One! Come down from the cross.” The soldiers also mock Him, offering Him sour wine and calling out, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” The irony is staggering. These weak groups of haters are ridiculing Jesus for His supposed inability to save Himself when He, in foregoing His use of divine powers, is making it possible for them to be saved. Had He done what they ordered, our salvation and eternal life would have been nipped in the bud. “They consider it a joke,” comments William Hendriksen. “Scornfully they exclaim that the way for the crucified One to prove his claim to being the Son of God will be for him to descend from the cross. They imply that it is weakness that keeps him there. Actually, however, it was strength, the strength of his love for sinners. But these bypassers have made up their minds to defy the testimony of all the miracles, all the mercy shown to those in need, all the marvelous discourses, yes, the entire beautiful life of the Son of God on earth. All of this they have rejected. They prefer to jeer, to blaspheme!”¹⁴

What a beautiful demonstration by Jesus of love for one’s enemies—proving once again that He practices what He preaches (Matt. 5:44).

JESUS’ DEATH ON THE CROSS (MATT. 27:45–56; MARK 15:33–41; LUKE 23:44–49; JOHN 19:28–37)

There is darkness over all the land from the sixth hour (noon) until the ninth hour (3:00 p.m.), when Jesus cries out, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani,” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

In Jesus on Trial I noted that in my skeptical days I was puzzled by Jesus asking God why He’d forsaken Him. If He were God, he would know everything the Father knows, so why ask such a question? Years later I came to cherish this verse for affirming rather than undermining my faith. As a stranger to Scripture, I had no inkling of Christ’s dual nature—fully human and fully divine—nor was I aware He’d decided to forego the use of certain divine attributes during His incarnation. For “Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Philip. 2:5–8). Most conservative theologians believe that “emptied Himself” means Jesus left His preincarnate position, took on a servant-humanity, and voluntarily surrendered the use of some of the attributes of deity.¹⁵ In order to effectuate God’s salvation plan, Christ became a man while still being fully God.

Of course Christ understood that the Father would have to forsake Him. This too was part of their salvation plan. He became sin for us (2 Cor. 5:21), bore the curse of the Law by becoming a curse for us (Gal. 3:13), received God’s wrath for all of mankind’s sins, and suffered immeasurably for it both in His human and divine nature. Christ “died forsaken by God,” writes J. D. Grassmick, “so that His people might claim God as their God and never be forsaken.”¹⁶ The writer of Hebrews attests that with His sacrifice, Jesus ensured we would not be forsaken. “Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’ So we can confidently say, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me’” (Heb. 13:5–6; cf. Joshua 1:5; Psalms 37:25; 2 Cor. 4:9).

What was once a nagging obstacle to my faith became a foundational pillar fortifying it. By becoming fully human at the point of His incarnation, Christ experiences suffering on a far greater scale than we can imagine. In retaining His deity, He suffers incomprehensible separation from the Father. He suffers so intensely on the cross—both physically, in ways we can’t begin to fathom,¹⁷ and spiritually—that He asks the Father why He abandoned Him. Of course, He already knows the answer, and He also knows that within hours He’ll return to the Father in paradise. His deity doesn’t insulate Him from excruciating pain. Having suffered on our behalf, Christ can personally relate to us, and we can relate to Him. Such is the glory of God’s plan of redemption.

Knowing He is nearing the end, Jesus says, “I thirst,” which yet again fulfills Scripture (Psalms 69:21). A man from the crowd puts a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and holds it to his mouth. When Jesus receives it, He says, “It is finished,” and He calls out loudly, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And then He breathes His last breath. The centurion facing Him sees that He has died and declares, “Certainly this man was innocent!” and “Truly this man was the Son of God.” The crowds observing the crucifixion return home beating their breasts.

Notice Christ doesn’t say, “I am finished,” but “It is finished.” He doesn’t mean His life is finished, but that His redemptive work is complete so that people, through faith in Him, can attain eternal life. As we’ve said, He was born to die, and at this moment that crucial occasion is seconds away. He has accomplished the saving work He planned to do before creation by paying the penalty for our sins. This is what Christians mean by “the finished work of Christ.” His death is the perfect, one-time sacrifice. “For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God,” writes Paul. “So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus” (Romans 6:9–10). The writer of Hebrews expresses the same truth: “He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself” (7:27; cf. 9:12; 10:10). Christ, in committing His spirit to the Father, underscores that His self-sacrifice is voluntary, as will be His resurrection (John 2:19; 10:17).¹⁸

When Jesus dies the tombs open. Many bodies of saints are raised, and they go into Jerusalem and appear to many. Moreover, the earth shakes, the rocks are split, and the Temple’s curtain is torn from top to bottom. That last event is imbued with spiritual significance. The Temple curtain separates the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place (Heb. 9:2–3). The priests regularly go into the Holy Place to perform their ritual duties, but only the high priest is permitted to enter the Most Holy Place, and just once a year, to offer blood sacrifices for himself and for the people’s unintentional sins (Heb. 9:6–8). The tearing of the curtain signifies the removal of this separation between God and the people,¹⁹ and its tearing from top to bottom symbolizes that God is the One ripping it. At the precise moment Christ dies, God tears the curtain to show that access to Him no longer requires a priest, but is now available to everyone. The writer of Hebrews explains,

 

           Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need (4:14–16). . . . Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water (10:19–22).

The Law requires the body of a hanged man to be buried on the day he dies (Deut. 21:22–23), and bodies are not supposed to remain on the cross on the Sabbath. So the Jews ask Pilate for permission to break the dying men’s legs in order to remove the bodies before the Sabbath—this hastened death because it prevented crucifixion victims from pushing themselves up to breathe, leading to asphyxiation. The soldiers break the legs of the two criminals, but they avoid Jesus because they see He’s already dead. John, in his Gospel, reports that these events fulfill the Old Testament prophecies, “Not one of his bones will be broken” (Exodus 12:46; Num. 9:12; Psalms 34:20) and, “They will look on him whom they have pierced” (Zech. 12:10).

Blood and water pour out when one of the soldiers pierces Jesus’ side with a spear, proving Jesus is a real human being Who has died a real death. This would later help to dispel the claims of Gnostics, Docetists, and other heretical groups that Jesus was not human but only a spiritual being.²⁰ Such specious claims would also be discredited by eyewitness testimony that Jesus, in His resurrected body, showed that His hands and side had been pierced (John 20:20).²¹

JESUS’ BURIAL (MATT. 27:57–66; MARK 15:42–47; LUKE 23:50–56; JOHN 19:38–42)

Though a respected member of the Sanhedrin, Joseph of Arimathea is a follower of Jesus who opposed His execution.²² In the evening he goes to ask for Jesus’ body from Pilate, who is surprised to learn Jesus has already died. After calling for the centurion to confirm Jesus’ death, Pilate grants the corpse to Joseph. It’s unusual for a body to be released to anyone other than a relative, but Joseph may be the only person willing and able to bury Jesus.²³ Nicodemus accompanies Joseph, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes weighing about seventy-five pounds. Joseph wraps the body in a clean linen shroud and lays it in his new tomb, which he’s cut in the rock in a garden where Jesus was crucified. He rolls a great stone against the entrance of the tomb and leaves. Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses are sitting opposite the tomb, having followed Joseph and Nicodemus to see where His body is laid so they could return later with spices and ointments to anoint Jesus’ body.²⁴

The next day, the chief priests and the Pharisees gather before Pilate and say, “Sir, we remember how that imposter said, while he was still alive, ‘After three days I will rise.’ Therefore order the tomb to be made secure until the third day, lest his disciples go and steal him away and tell the people, ‘He has risen from the dead,’ and the last fraud will be worse than the first.” Pilate obligingly grants them soldiers who seal the stone and set a guard.

The religious leaders fear if Jesus’ disciples can steal the body, they can invent a resurrection story to legitimize their cult. The allegation that Christ’s disciples stole His body, in fact, was one of the main early challenges to the Christian faith, but the theory doesn’t hold water. In addition to all the other evidence refuting the claim, it’s noteworthy that no early writer—Jew, Greek, or Roman—ever identified a tomb where Jesus’ body remained. The Romans and especially the Jews had every motive to produce the body—they desperately wanted to stop the spread of Christianity, and placing guards at the tomb was designed to do just that. So if Jesus didn’t rise from the dead, why didn’t the Jews simply go to their own tomb (Joseph owned it) and display the body? It would have ended Christianity right there and then. Though there are fanciful theories that Jesus “swooned” rather than died and then recovered in the tomb and left, these have been thoroughly discredited despite modern efforts to revive them.

The details of Christ’s burial are an important part of the Gospel message (1 Cor. 15:4). It’s beyond the scope of this book to address in-depth the theories challenging the burial and resurrection, but see the exhaustive treatment by Norman Geisler and Frank Turek in I Don’t Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist.²⁵ “It’s one thing to concoct an alternative theory to the Resurrection,” declare Geisler and Turek, “but it’s another thing to actually find first-century evidence for it. A theory is not evidence. Reasonable people demand evidence, not just theories.”²⁶ All the alternative resurrection theories are fatally flawed, and strong eyewitness and circumstantial evidence corroborates Jesus’ actual bodily resurrection.²⁷

THE RESURRECTION (MATT. 28:1–15; MARK 16:1–11; LUKE 24:1–12; JOHN 20:1–23)

Carrying spices they’ve prepared to anoint Jesus, Mary Magdalene, Mary mother of James, and Salome go to the tomb and discover that the stone has been rolled away. (Matthew reports that an earthquake strikes and an angel descends who rolls away the stone.) When they enter the tomb, they’re perplexed that Jesus’ body is not there. Two angels appear in “dazzling apparel” (though some of the Gospel accounts say it was one angel).²⁸ The frightened women bow their faces to the ground as the angels say, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and crucified and on the third day rise.” And they remember Jesus’ words.

The angels instruct the women to go tell Peter and the other disciples that Jesus is going before them to Galilee where they will see Him, just as He had told them. Trembling, they joyously flee from the tomb and tell the disciples, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” But the disciples don’t believe them. Peter and John run toward the tomb, with John outpacing Peter.²⁹

The Gospel of John only mentions Mary Magdalene as going to the tomb. It relates that as soon as she sees that Jesus’ body is not there, she runs to tell Peter and John that Jesus’ body has been removed and “we do not know where they have laid him.” It’s possible that Mary, seeing that the tomb was empty, quickly runs away before the angels appear and tells Peter and John about the empty tomb.³⁰ In that case she would have missed the angels’ explanation to the others that Jesus had risen, which would explain why she thinks Jesus’ body had been removed.

John, arriving at the tomb first, looks in and sees the linen cloths but does not enter. Then Peter arrives, enters the tomb, and sees the cloths. However, the face cloth that had been on Jesus’ head is not lying with the linen cloths but is folded up by itself. Then John goes in, and he sees and believes, even though “as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead.” The disciples then return to their homes.

At this point, while John believes that no grave robber would have left the scene in this condition (with the face cloth nicely folded and placed separately) and that Jesus must have risen, He still does not fully grasp the theological significance of what he’s witnessed. John probably relates this misunderstanding to show that the disciples would not have made up this story to validate the prophecies.³¹ This further confirms what we’ve been saying all along: they are confused about Jesus’ mission, even now.

Having apparently followed Peter and John back to the tomb, Mary Magdalene weeps outside it after Peter and John leave. Stooping to look in, she sees two angels in white sitting where Jesus’ body had been lain, one where His head had been and the other at the feet. They say to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She replies, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” She turns around and sees Jesus but doesn’t recognize Him. Jesus asks, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” Assuming He’s the gardener, she asks Him where he’s taken Jesus. He says to her, “Mary” and she turns to Him and cries out, “Teacher!” Jesus says, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” Mary goes and tells the disciples, “I have seen the Lord,” and shares what He told her.

Notice that only two angels appear to Mary, not a multitude, probably because only two are required to bear witness to the word. The angels ask her, as does Jesus later, why she’s weeping when she should be joyful, which could be a way of easing her into what she is about to discover. Mary’s affection is so deep that she wants to know where His body has been taken so she can move it to a proper place, though she’s not strong enough to move it by herself, especially considering the weight of the spices. When she learns she’s talking to Jesus she’s overcome with joy, but He cautions her not to embrace Him. He’s only going to remain on the earth for forty more days before He ascends, and He probably doesn’t want to give her the impression he’ll be there longer. “He forbids her to dote upon his bodily presence,” notes Welsh Minister Matthew Henry, “to set her heart on this, or expect its continuance, and leads her to the spiritual converse and communion which she should have with him after he was ascended to his Father; for the greatest joy of his resurrection was that it was a step towards his ascension. . . . Mary must not stay to talk with her Master, but must carry his message; for it is a day of good tidings, which she must not engross the comfort of, but hand it to others.”³²

Matthew reports that on their way to the disciples, a group of women who’d been at the tomb encounter Jesus, who says, “Greetings!”³³ And they take hold of His feet and worship Him. Jesus then tells them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.”

After the women leave the tomb, some of the guardsmen go into the city and tell the chief priests all that has occurred. The priests assemble with the elders and pay the soldiers to tell the people Jesus’ disciples stole His body at night while they were sleeping. Matthew says the Jews were still spreading this story as he was writing his Gospel. As the truth is often harder to believe than a lie, many embraced the falsehood.³⁴ But the tale is a clumsy fabrication—how would the soldiers have known what happened if they were asleep? Moreover, sleeping on watch was punishable by death, so it’s unlikely the soldiers would have admitted to it barring some conspiracy. Finally, note that this claim implicitly admits the tomb was in fact empty, which is powerful testimony by Christianity’s opponents that Jesus rose from the dead.³⁵

Admittedly, some of the accounts of the initial resurrection appearances in the various Gospels can be confusing. In the Apologetics Study Bible, Ted Cabal explains, “The Gospels record several resurrection appearances that are at once similar and difficult to reconcile with one another. Matthew’s account seems the most summarized, whereas the accounts in Luke and John are the most detailed (they appear to use a common source for some of their material). Any relative discrepancies can be accounted for by the different focuses and the necessary summarizing tendencies of all the Gospel writers.”³⁶

THE EMMAUS ROAD (MARK 16:12–13; LUKE 24:13–32)

Jesus next appears to Peter (Luke 24:33–34; 1 Cor. 15:4–5) and then to two of His disciples who are on their way to the village of Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. As they’re talking about the dramatic events that have just occurred, Jesus appears and starts to walk with them, though they’re kept from recognizing Him. He asks what they’re discussing. Looking despondent, one of them, named Cleopas, answers, “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?” When Jesus asks them to explain, they relate to Him the facts about His crucifixion and burial and that His body is missing from the tomb. Jesus declares, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, He interprets to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.

Later, while Jesus is eating with the disciples, He blesses and breaks the bread and gives it to them. At once their eyes are opened and they recognize Him. He then vanishes from their sight. They say to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?”

This is one of the most remarkable stories of the Bible because the resurrected Christ, the greatest Bible teacher in history, gives the most profound Bible lesson in history to these disciples, walking them through the entirety of the Old Testament and demonstrating how it all points to Him. Even today, many Christians aren’t sufficiently aware of the unity of Scripture and how Jesus Christ is the thread running through the Old and New Testaments. Some regard it as a radical, fanciful notion that Jesus is foreshadowed, typified, and prophesied in the Old Testament, yet this is no twenty-first century construct of zealous Christians looking to find Jesus behind every rock. Jesus Himself affirms it in this passage (Luke 24:13–32) and in a similar one a few verses later (Luke 24:44–49). Those who deny it reject Jesus’ own testimony. I can’t conceive of a more enriching experience than sitting at the Savior’s feet listening to Him unfold His presence in God’s promise plan throughout the pages of the Old Testament.

When the disciples reflect on their experience, they are beside themselves with joy and wonder. He opened their eyes, and they finally understand everything He has taught them from the beginning. Like nearly all Jews at the time, they expected an entirely different type of Messiah and were devastated when Christ not only didn’t lead them to political and military victory, but died a humiliating death. They now understand He came to offer salvation, which is much more sublime—so much so that their hearts are aglow. Now the Old Testament makes sense, now Jesus’ teachings make sense, and now His life, death, and resurrection make sense. Now they are immovable believers who will give the remainder of their lives to Him and to spreading the Gospel. This story is so meaningful to me that I wrote the book The Emmaus Code to detail the many ways the Old Testament points to Christ, hoping to reconstruct, in some insufficient way, just a glimpse of what Christ might have revealed to these disciples on the Emmaus road.

Charles Spurgeon captures the essence of the event. “Your hearts will burn too,” he declares, “and your whole spiritual system will flame and glow if you walk in the company of Jesus. I recommend constant fellowship with God as one of the best remedies for spiritual sloth.”³⁷ Though we didn’t walk physically with Jesus during His incarnation, we have both Testaments available to us. The New Testament reveals the entirety of God’s redemptive plan, and with both Testaments we have a panoramic view of salvation history. We see Christ throughout the Bible—the Gospels share His person, life, and teachings, and the other New Testament writers explain their significance.

If we want our own Emmaus road experience, we must go to the word ourselves and savor it and absorb it. Spurgeon proclaims, “Oh, to get one verse or perhaps only a few words in it—into your mouth, and keep it there, and roll it under your tongue as a sweet morsel. At first, it tastes like wafers made with honey, and as you press it between the lips of meditation, and turn it over and over on the palate of mental discernment, at last you say, ‘How sweet are thy words unto my taste! . . . So the Word begins to warm your heart. . . . Your faith, which seemed to be in a swoon, suddenly revives, and gains new vigor. Ah brethren, read the Scriptures diligently, when you are passing through these cold seasons, keep close to the fire of the precious promises and the other divine messages, and you will not be frostbitten. That is one fire.”³⁸ Another fire is equally effective, says Spurgeon—to warm your soul in prayer. These words are no less true today than when Spurgeon preached them over a century ago. If we want our hearts to burn within us for God, we must frequently read and study His word and go to Him in prayer.

JESUS APPEARS TO THE DISCIPLES (MARK 16:14; LUKE 24:36–43; JOHN 20:19–23)

The disciples to whom Jesus appeared on the Emmaus road return to Jerusalem. They find the apostles and others gathered together behind locked doors for fear of the Jews. Referring to Peter by his original name, the duo exclaims to the group, “The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!”³⁹ Then the two share what happened on the road, and how Christ became known to them when they broke bread. As they are conversing, Jesus appears, stands among them, and says, “Peace to you,” and, “As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” He breathes on them—reminiscent of God breathing into Adam’s nostrils the breath of life (Gen. 2:7)—and says, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”

His followers are startled and frightened, thinking they have seen a spirit. So Jesus says 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 does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” Then He shows them His hands and feet. As they marvel, He says, “Have you anything here to eat?” They give Him a piece of broiled fish, which He eats before them.

This is a lot for the disciples to take in. Before we judge them for their skepticism, we have to honestly consider how we might react to something entirely out of our realm of experience. Jesus wants to prove that He isn’t an apparition but a sentient human being who can touch and be touched and can eat. People sometimes so strongly emphasize Christ’s deity in the face of doubters that they overlook the equally important reality of His humanity, as we’ve noted. Jesus shows He is every bit as human as we are. His resurrection was a bodily resurrection as ours will be, as Scripture promises (1 Cor. 15:35–49).

Just as the Father conferred authority on Jesus and sent Him to us, Jesus is empowering the apostles and sending them to spread the Gospel and bring salvation to the world.⁴⁰ They are to preach the good news of His atoning sacrifice and that those who believe in Him will be saved and those who don’t will be judged.

“MY LORD AND MY GOD” (JOHN 20:24–30)

Thomas, one of the disciples, is not with the others when Jesus comes, so the others tell him afterward they have seen the Lord. Thomas says that unless he sees the nail marks in Jesus’ hands, places his finger into them, and places his hand into His side, He will never believe. Eight days later the disciples, including Thomas, are inside again and though the doors are locked, Jesus appears and stands by them, saying “Peace be with you.” He then tells Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.” Thomas declares, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus says to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

The disciples have been transformed from skeptics into incomplete believers, back to doubters, then to stronger believers, and finally to authentic believers in Jesus Christ. Thomas’ experience illustrates the culmination of this evolution. While Thomas holds out as a doubter, He eventually displays His complete faith, saying, “My Lord and my God.” According to Beauford Bryant and Mark Krause, “It is among a very small number of places in the New Testament where Jesus is [directly] referred to as ‘God.’ Thus Thomas, the one accused of unbelief, is radically transformed and becomes a mouthpiece for the highest possible confession of faith in Jesus. In some ways this is the climax of the Book of John.”⁴¹

Indeed, it is “the high point of confession in the Gospel,” observes Gerald Borchert. “What it does is bring the Gospel full circle from the Prologue, where it is emphatically said that the ‘Word was God’ (John 1:1), to this confession, ‘My Lord and my God.’”⁴² To be sure this is a turning point, for not only does Thomas realize Jesus rose from the dead, but he understands its profound significance. “Mere men do not rise from the dead in this fashion,” writes Leon Morris. “The One who was now so obviously alive, although he had died, could be addressed in the language of adoring worship.”⁴³

Immediately following the story of Thomas’ encounter with Jesus, John relates, “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”

This short paragraph tells us two important things. First, John’s main purpose in writing his Gospel is to inspire people to believe in Jesus Christ so that they may have eternal life by putting their trust in Him. Second, while he could have shared plenty more with us, he has provided more than enough for us to become believers.

Recall Jesus’ story about the rich man who died, went to hell in torment, and begged Abraham to warn his five brothers so they wouldn’t end up there. Abraham told him that if they didn’t hear Moses and the prophets, neither would they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead. The scriptures give us more than enough evidence to believe. We must choose what we do with this information. This is instructive because it reminds us either of our own experiences as doubters, if we had them, or those of others. People will often try to pick the Bible apart, going out of their way to find little discrepancies or problematic areas that reinforce their doubt. But oftentimes doubt is not a matter of the intellect, too little information, troublesome areas of Scripture, or other issues such as the pervasiveness of evil in the world. Sometimes it’s simply a matter of the heart, pride, or sin we don’t want to forego, and we would do well to communicate this to recalcitrant friends who resist the word. The scriptures are in no way inadequate; they reveal Christ to us plainly if we’ll just open our hearts and minds.

A MIRACULOUS CATCH OF FISH; JESUS RECONCILES WITH PETER (JOHN 21:1–25)

Jesus next appears to seven disciples by the Sea of Tiberias: Peter, Thomas, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others. Peter announces he’s going fishing, and the others join him, but they catch nothing that night. Just as day is breaking, Jesus is standing on the shore, but the disciples don’t recognize Him. Jesus says to them, “Children, do you have any fish?” (The term “children” is to convey an intimacy akin to that of a parent for his or her child).⁴⁴ They tell Him no, and He says, “Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast it and catch so many fish that they can’t haul them in.

John then says to Peter, “It is the Lord!” When Peter hears this he puts on his outer garment and throws himself into the sea. The others come into the boat, dragging the net full of fish. When they get to shore they see bread and a charcoal fire with fish laid out on it. Jesus says, “Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.” Peter goes aboard and hauls the net ashore, full of 153 large fish. Nevertheless, the net is not torn. Jesus says, “Come and have breakfast.” None of the disciples dare ask who He is, for they already know. Jesus comes and gives the bread and fish to them.

Jesus demonstrates His supernatural powers in supplying abundant fish when His disciples had failed to catch any throughout the night. The specific number of fish—153—adds credence to the story, since fishermen ordinarily counted their fish before selling them at market.⁴⁵ Jesus uses this resurrection appearance and the others to embolden the disciples to spread the Gospel message—and the strategy works. The Book of Acts reports Peter saying, “They put him to death by hanging him on a tree, but God raised him on the third day and made him to appear, not to all the people but to us who had been chosen by God as witnesses, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. And he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead” (10:39–42).

After they eat breakfast, Jesus asks Peter a question about his fellow disciples: “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” Peter replies, “Yes, Lord you know that I love you.” Jesus says, “Feed my lambs.” Then He asks again, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter answers, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus asks him a third time, “Do you love me?” Troubled by the repeated questioning, Peter says to Jesus, “Lord you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus responds, “Feed my sheep. Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.” Then Jesus says, “Follow me.”

Many commentators believe Jesus asks Peter whether he loves Him more than the other disciples because Peter had said he would never abandon Jesus. In asking Peter three times, Jesus surely intends to give him the opportunity to repent for each of his three betrayals and to demonstrate His abundant forgiveness. Christ doesn’t doubt the genuineness of Peter’s love, and He knows He’ll be persecuted and crucified for it, which explains Christ’s reference to Peter stretching out his hands and being carried where he doesn’t want to go when he’s old. By instructing Peter to follow Him, Jesus means Peter’s fate on earth will be difficult, but by following Jesus he’ll reap an eternal reward.

Turning and seeing John following them, Peter says, “Lord, what about this man?” Jesus replies, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me!” Peter shouldn’t worry about John or anyone else but should simply obey and follow Jesus. Whether or not John lives longer than Peter or faces the same kind of persecution is no concern of Peter’s—that’s up to Jesus.

In his Gospel, John says the word spread among the brothers that John was not to die even though Jesus did not actually say that. John identifies himself in his Gospel, saying, “This is the disciple who is bearing witness about these things, and who has written these things, and we know that his testimony is true.” John closes his book averring that he is the author of this Gospel, that he was an eyewitness of all that he wrote, and we can therefore rely on its historical accuracy. He makes another reference to the many other things Christ did that he didn’t include in his Gospel because “were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written” (John 21:25). While John may be exaggerating, just consider the millions of pages written about Christ’s life and its unparalleled significance.

THE GREAT COMMISSION (MATT. 28:16–20; MARK 16:15–18)⁴⁶

The eleven apostles meet Jesus at a mountain in Galilee where He previously directed them to go. They worship Him, and Jesus tells them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age.”

Matthew reports that some of the apostles still doubt Jesus. It’s unlikely, however, that any of them really disbelieve at this point that Jesus is the Messiah and the Son of God, for by now they’re all believers in the resurrected Christ (John 20:19–28).⁴⁷ Some commentators suggest Matthew might be referring to others present besides the eleven. Others propose that some simply might not have recognized Him at first. In any event, if there are any lingering doubts, they’re soon dispelled.⁴⁸

R. T. France declares that these last five verses bring most of the themes of Matthew’s Gospel to their final resolution. Jesus’ disciples, who had previously abandoned Him (Matt. 26:56), are now at His side again in positions of complete trust and authority, ready to embark on the mission for which they’d been called (Matt. 10:1–15). Jesus had prophesied He would return in His glory and now He’s done so. His mission to reach His people—the “lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matt. 10:6; 15:24)—has now been expanded to all nations, as He previously indicated would happen (Matt. 24:14). “And, perhaps most remarkably of all,” writes France, “the human Jesus of the hills of Galilee is now to be understood not as the preacher and promoter of the faith, but as himself its object.”⁴⁹

The last verse (Matt. 28:20)—“And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age”—gives full meaning to the words proclaimed by the angel of the Lord who appeared to Joseph in a dream: “Do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: ‘Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel,’ (which means, God with us)” (Matt 1:20–23). Earl Radmacher observes, “‘I am with you always’ demonstrates that Jesus is the true Immanuel, ‘God with us.’”⁵⁰

Craig Blomberg likewise argues that these last few verses represent the climax of Matthew’s Gospel. Jesus is passing the torch to His disciples, though He promises to continue to be with them spiritually based on authority He is given by the Father. “Jesus can make this claim,” writes Blomberg, “only if he is fully God, inasmuch as the whole universe is embraced in the authority delegated to him.”⁵¹

Jesus commands His disciples to “make disciples,” which means more than just spreading the Gospel and turning people into believers. It means instructing new Christians on how to follow and submit to Him as Master and Lord and to obey His commands.⁵² By making disciples—those fully committed to Jesus—more people will be converted and more evangelists will emerge to spread the word, teach, and train more disciples.

FINAL APPEARANCES AND ASCENSION (1 COR. 15:6–7; MARK 16:19–20; LUKE 24:44–53; ACTS 1:4–11)

Paul reports in his first letter to the Corinthians that Jesus appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time—most of whom were still alive at the time he wrote his letter—and then appeared to James separately (1 Cor. 15:7). This is powerful evidence for the historicity of this account because Paul was making this bold assertion to people who could have come forward and contradicted him, and he would have had no reason to discredit himself in this way if his story were untrue. Jesus also dramatically appears to Saul (later Paul) on the Damascus Road (Acts 9:1–19; 1 Cor. 15:8).

Jesus gives parting instructions to His apostles, mirroring what He had told the disciples on the Emmaus road. “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you,” He says, “that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then He opens their minds to understand the scriptures and declares, “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. You are witness of these things. And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”

Leading them out as far as Bethany, He lifts up His hands and blesses them. During this blessing, Jesus is lifted up, and a cloud takes Him out of their sight into heaven, where He sits down at the right hand of God.⁵³ As they are gazing into heaven, two men stand by them in white robes and say, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.” And they worship Jesus and return to Jerusalem with great joy, and are continually in the Temple blessing God.

This final act punctuates Jesus’ divine mission and ignites a fire under the disciples to honor His commission and make disciples of all nations. “So grand and mighty was the revelation of His divine Sonship in His majestic ascension,” Norval Geldenhuys writes, “that the disciples spontaneously worshipped Him as Lord and King. To His disciples His ascension in divine glory was the final proof that He was truly the Christ, the Son of God, and that He as the Almighty was able to fulfill His promises. In addition, the angel (Acts 1:11) once more gave the joyful assurance that . . . He would return in person, not in order to suffer once again, but to bring the sovereign dominion of God to complete and everlasting realization, and to establish His heavenly kingdom in perfection.”⁵⁴

Though Jesus leaves His disciples to sit at the right hand of God, His work is just beginning—His apostles and disciples, through the power of the Holy Spirit, will establish the Church and spread the Gospel to the ends of the earth. The exciting history of the inauguration and early development of the Church—from Jerusalem to Rome—is recorded in the Book of Acts, to which we shall turn in my next book, Founding: Jesus and the Christian Church from Acts to Revelation.