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SCRIPTURAL ACCURACY, SPELLING, OR GRAMMAR

LUKE

CHAPTER 24

Lk 24:1-8

24:1 Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulcher, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them. 2 And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulcher. 3 And they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus.

24:4 And it came to pass, as they were much perplexed thereabout, behold, two men stood by them in shining garments: 5 And as they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead? 6 He is not here, but is risen: remember how he spoke unto you when he was yet in Galilee, 7 Saying, The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again. 8 And they remembered his words, KJV

LAYING A HISTORICAL FOUNDATION – ARCHEOLOGICAL WRITING OF SANHEDRIM &C.

Pilate’s Report

“To Tiberius Caesar, Emperor of Rome.”

“A few days after the sepulcher was found empty. His disciples proclaimed all over the country that Jesus had risen from the dead, as he had foretold. This created more excitement even than the crucifixion. As to the truth I cannot say for certain, but I have made some investigation of the matter: so you can examine for yourself, and see if I am in fault as Herod represents.”

1.  The day after he was buried one of the priests came to the pretorium and said they were apprehensive that his disciples intended to steal the body of Yeshua and hide it, and then make it appear that he had risen from the dead, as he had foretold, and of which they were perfectly convinced.

2.  I sent him to the captain of the royal guard (Malcus) to tell him to take the Jewish soldiers, place as many around the sepulcher as were needed; then if anything should happen they could blame themselves, and not the Romans.

3.  After finding the sepulcher empty, I sent for Malcus, who told me he had placed his lieutenant, Ben Isham, with one hundred soldiers, around the sepulcher.

4.  Then I sent for Isham and He said that at about the beginning of the fourth watch they saw a soft and beautiful light over the sepulcher. He at first thought that the women had come to embalm the body of Yeshua, as was their custom, but he could not see how they had gotten through the guards.

5.  The next thing that happened the whole place was lighted up, and there seemed to be crowds of the dead in their grave clothes. All seemed to be shouting and filled with ecstasy, while all around and above was the most beautiful music he had ever heard; and the whole air seemed to be full of voices praising God.

6.  At this time there seemed to be a reeling and swimming of the earth, so that he turned so sick and faint that he could not stand on his feet.

7.  His senses then left him, so that he knew not what did occur.

8.  I asked him in what condition he was when he came to himself. He said he was lying on the ground with his face down.

9.  I asked him how long the scene lasted. He thought nearly an hour.

10.  I asked him if he went to the sepulcher he said no, because he was afraid; that just as soon as relief came they all went to their quarters. The Archko Volume – Pilate’s Report Page 145, 146

Note: The Archko Volume is not Scripture, so there is no way that we can claim that it is true, but I believe that Pilate did keep Augustus informed of what was happening in Judah. Paul the Learner

CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR

Luke 24:1-12

Perplexed Hearts: He Opens the Tomb (Luke 24:1-12)

We do not know at what time Jesus arose from the dead on the first day of the week but it must have been very early. The earthquake and the angel (Mt 28:2-4) opened the tomb, not to let Jesus out but to let the witnesses in. "Come and see, go and tell!" is the Easter mandate for the church. Mary Magdalene had been especially helped by Jesus and was devoted to Him (Lk 8:2). She had lingered at the cross (Mk 15:47), and then she was first at the tomb. With her were Mary the mother of James; Joanna; and other devout women (Lk 24:10), hoping to finish preparing their Lord's body for burial. It was a sad labor of love that was transformed into gladness when they discovered that Jesus was alive.

"Who will roll the stone away?" was their main concern. The Roman soldiers would not break the Roman seal, especially for a group of mourning Jewish women. But God had solved the problem for them; the tomb was open and there was no body to prepare! At this point two angels appeared on the scene. Mt 28:2 and Mk 16:5 mention only one of the two, the one who gave the message to the women. There was a kind rebuke in his message as he reminded them of their bad memories! More than once, Jesus had told His followers that He would suffer and die and be raised from the dead (Mt 16:21; 17:22-23; 20:17-19; Lk 9:22, 44; 18:31-34). How sad it is when God's people forget His Word and live defeated lives. Today, the Spirit of God assists us to remember His Word (Jn 14:26). Obedient to their commission, the women ran to tell the disciples the good news, but the men did not believe them! (According to Mk 16:14, Jesus later rebuked them for their unbelief.)

Mary Magdalene asked Peter and John to come to examine the tomb (Jn 20:1-10), and they too saw the proof that Jesus was not there. However, all that the evidence said was that the body was gone and that apparently there had been no violence. As Mary lingered by the tomb weeping, Jesus Himself appeared to her (Jn 20:11-18). It is one thing to see the empty tomb and the empty grave clothes, but quite something else to meet the risen Christ. We today cannot see the evidence in the tomb, but we do have the testimony of the witnesses found in the inspired Word of God. And we can live out our faith in Jesus Christ and know personally that He is alive in us (Gal 2:20). Keep in mind that these women did not expect to see Jesus alive. They had forgotten His resurrection promises and went to the tomb only to finish anointing His body. To say that they had hallucinations and only thought they saw Jesus is to fly in the face of the evidence. And would this many people hallucinate about the same thing at the same time? Not likely. They became excited witnesses, even to their leaders, that Jesus Christ is alive! (From The Bible Exposition Commentary).

THE THREE COMMISSIONS.

There were three separate Commissions given to the Eleven Apostles, at different times, on distinctly specified occasions and in varying words:

1.  The first is recorded in Luke 24:47. This was given in Jerusalem on the evening of the day of the resurrection. It was given, not to the Eleven only, but also to “them that were with them” (24:33). The commission was ‘the continuation of His own ministry and that of John the Baptist [Matthew 22:1-10].’ They were all to proclaim “repentance and remission of sins.” The New Covenant [Jeremiah 31:31-34] had been made, in virtue of which this message of pardon could be declared (Matthew 26:26-29; Mark 14:22-25; Luke 22:14-23; and Acts 3:19), first in Jerusalem, and then to all the nations of the Gentiles. This was then done by Peter (Acts 2:38 Jews; 8:14-17 Samaritans; 10:34-44 Gentiles).

2.  The second is recorded in Mark 16:15-18, and was given when the Lord appeared to the Eleven as they sat at meat; and it was carried out by “them that head Him;” as foretold in (Matthew 22:4-7), and was fulfilled in (Mark 16:20), as was confirmed in (Hebrews 2:3, 4). The Acts of the Apostles is the inspired history of the fulfillment of this commission, so far as it is necessary for our instruction. It was given for the personal ministry of the Apostles, to be fulfilled by them before the destruction of the Temple and of Jerusalem.

CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR

3.  The third is recorded in Matthew 28:19, 20, and was given on a mountain in Galilee. It was the proclamation of the King, Who had left Jerusalem, according to the Parable (Luke 19:12), until He returns in power to set up His kingdom (26:64). It is the summons to the Gentile nations to submit to the Jehovah Elohim (Yeshua the Word of God), as the king of Israel, according to (Psalms 2:10-12 ‘Be wise now, therefore, O kings; be instructed, O judges of the earth. 11 Serve the Lord with reverence, and uphold him with trembling. 12 Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish from his way while his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.’ Peshitta Syriac Text). It is the proclamation of “the Gospel of the Kingdom” for a witness to all nations, immediately before the end of the age (Matthew 24:14; Revelation 14:6). It is still wholly future in its application, and proclaims the judgment on the Gentiles for the final deliverance of Israel, according to (Psalms 2:9 ‘You shall shepherd them with a rod of iron; you shall break them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.’ Peshitta), when verse 6 ‘I have appointed my king over Zion, my holy mountain.’ Peshitta. Shall then be fulfilled.

Paul the Learner

CAIAPHAS ON THE RESURRECTION

All the soldiers that he had conversed with were convinced that Yeshua [Jesus] was resurrected by supernatural power and was still living, and he that he was no human being, for the light and the angels and the dead that came out of their graves all went to prove that something had happened that never occurred on earth before. From this I am convinced that something transcending the laws of nature took place that morning that cannot be accounted for upon natural laws and I find it is useless to try to get any of the soldiers to deny it, for they are so excited that they cannot be reasoned with. In this state of conscious dread I remained investigating the Scriptures, I locked my door and gave the guards orders to let no one in without first giving me notice. While thus engaged, with no one in the room but my wife and Annas, her father, when I lifted up my eyes, behold Jesus of Nazareth stood before me. My breath stopped, my blood ran cold, and I was in the act of falling, when he spoke and said, ‘Be not afraid, it is I. You condemned me that you might go free. This is the work of my Father. Your only wrong is, you have a wicked heart; this you must repent of.

This last lamb you have slain is the one that was appointed before the foundation; this sacrifice is made for all men. Your other lambs were for those who offered them; this is for all, this is the last; it is for you if you will accept it. I died that you and all mankind might be saved.’ At this he looked at me with such melting tenderness that it seemed to me I was nothing but tears, and my strength was all gone. When Annas lifted me up Jesus was gone, and the door was locked. No one could tell when or where he went. “So noble Masters, I do not feel that I can officiate as priest any more. If this strange personage is from God, and should prove to be the Saviour we have looked for so long, and I have been the means of crucifying him, I have no further offerings to make for sin. The Archko Volume – Caiaphas on the Resurrection page 126, 127

At the moment when Jesus died, nothing could have seemed more weak, more pitifully hopeless, more absolutely doomed to scorn, and extinction, and despair, than the Church which he had founded. It numbered but a handful of weak followers, of which the boldest had denied his Lord with blasphemy, and the most devoted had forsaken Him and fled. They were poor, they were ignorant, and they were hopeless. They could not claim a single synagogue or a single sword among them. If they spoke their own language, it betrayed them by its mongrel dialect; if they spoke the current Greek, it was despised as a miserable patois. What was it that caused strength to be made perfect out of abject weakness? This is one and one only possible answer – the resurrection from the dead of their Lord. All this vast revolution was due to the power of Christ’s resurrection.

“If Jesus did not rise, we have not only to explain how the belief in his resurrection came to be received without any previous hopes which could lead to its reception, but also how it came to be received with that intensity of personal conviction which could invest the life and person of Christ with attributes never before assigned to any one, and that by Jews who had been reared in the strictest monotheism.” Westcott, Gospel of the Resurrection, page 111.

CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR

The sun was now on the edge of the horizon, and the Sabbath day was near. And “that Sabbath day was a high day,” a Sabbath of peculiar splendor and solemnity, because it was at once a Sabbath and a Passover (John 19:31; Deuteronomy 21:22, 23; Leviticus 23:7). The Jews had taken every precaution to prevent the ceremonial pollution of a day that was sacred, and were also anxious that immediately after the death of the victims had been secured, their bodies should be taken from the cross. The dead body of Yeshua was left hanging till the last, because a person who could not easily be slighted [Joseph a member of the Sanhedrin] had gone to obtain leave from Pilate to dispose of it as he wished.

This was Joseph of Arimathaea [Arimathaea, or Rama, is a place of uncertain site; it may be Rama in Benjamin (Matthew 2:18), or Ramathaim in Ephraim (1 Samuel 1:1) but certainly is not Ramleh in Dan.], he was a rich man, of high character and blameless life, and a distinguished member of the Sanhedrin. Although timidity of disposition, or weakness of faith, had hitherto prevented him from openly declaring his believe in Jesus, yet he had abstained from sharing in the vote of the Sanhedrin, or countenancing their crime. So seeing the lifeless body of Jesus on the cross, he went to Pilate on the very evening of the crucifixion, and begged that the dead body might be given him. [I was at the tomb in the garden and saw the broken slab where a dead body might be laid in 1972 Paul the Learner].