Peace, Panic, Proof (Part 2 of 2)

When Jesus appeared to the disciples after his resurrection, they thought they'd seen a ghost. Today on Truth for Life, Alistair Begg teaches us about the Scriptures honest portrayal of the disciples as their feelings fluctuated between hope and despair.

We're picking up our study in the Gospel of Luke chapter 24 beginning with verse 36. I discovered that there was someone else in the universe that actually felt the same way about me as I did in relationship to heaven. Up until this point, I wanted to keep it very quiet, because I didn't want anyone to think I was a heretic. But as soon as I knew that I had a heretical friend that I kind of admired, I said, That's fine, I'll stand up and admit it too. He puts it so perfectly, and I want to read it to you.

It's page 57. In the years after I came to believe in Christ, it always troubled me that I was now meant to enjoy the thought of escaping the physical world and entering a spiritual one called heaven. I loved the taste, smell, sight, sound, and touch of this world, and here I was being told to look forward to losing those five senses and having them replaced by a spiritual sixth sense. I was not terribly excited about it. Then someone challenged me to point to biblical texts that describe the afterlife as a disembodied nirvana-like bliss.

I couldn't. It turns out that the biblical kingdom come is not an ethereal place of clouds and ghosts but a tangible place of real existence. It is a new creation.

This is a future I can get excited about. It is life in the fullest sense of the word—a reality in which the moral and physical tensions of our current world will be resolved through an extraordinary act of divine recreation. And, says Dixon, there is another piece of evidence left in the world by the Almighty to indicate his intention of resurrecting the physical world itself. It is the resurrection of Christ himself. The resurrection of Jesus is God's tangible pledge within history that he intends to do the same for the whole creation at the end of history. And then, in a wonderful sentence, he summarizes what he's been saying. This current world convinces me of God's ability to recreate the universe.

The resurrection of Jesus convinces me of his intention to do just that. While they were in animated conversation with one another, Jesus, in his glorified and celestial body—a real physicality, an identifiable materiality—came and stood among them. And standing among them, he spoke to them. It was, as we can see from what follows, a necessary greeting.

Their hearts were fearful and confused. But it was also, as we ought to know from reading the gospel, more than a greeting. If you read throughout the Gospel of Luke, from the very beginning of it, you discover that peace and salvation are almost synonyms for one another in many places. For example, in the words of Simeon in the temple, Luke 2, Lord, let your servant depart in peace, for my eyes have seen your salvation. Peace, salvation.

Jesus to the woman, your faith has saved you, go in peace. Salvation and peace. Therefore, when Jesus speaks peace to them, he is using normal terminology, necessary terminology, but the context in which he is saying it makes clear exactly what's in view. He is speaking peace to them in light of the invitation that is about to follow for them to see his hands and his feet. What are his hands and his feet but evidences of his crucifixion? What is his crucifixion?

It is his substitutionary death on our behalf. What is Jesus doing in dying on the cross? Paul explains in Colossians 1, he is making peace through his blood shed on the cross. Now, this is often a stumbling block for somebody who's just beginning to consider Christianity. They'll come around, perhaps at Christmastime, someone invites them to church, and they come along, and they hear the phrases read, Peace on earth and goodwill amongst men.

And they say, Well, clearly, this isn't happening. There seem to be more wars today than there have ever been, and all kinds of religious businesses underlying them. Well, yes, we have to be honest about that and say that if what Jesus meant in talking of peace was the end of all bloodshed and the inhumanity of man to man being brought to an end, then Christianity is a flop and a failure. If what Jesus meant in speaking about peace was some kind of tranquility into which his followers were brought, whereby they lived in a sort of Valium-enhanced experience, just drifting through their days where nothing really was able to cloud their vision or bother them, then Christianity is a flop, is a radical failure. But of course, if in addressing peace among men upon whom his favor rests, he was as makes perfect sense as you follow the Gospels through, speaking of the peace which would come between a holy God and sinful man through his blood shed on the cross, thereby making, out of those who have discovered peace, peacemakers, then the Gospel record holds together.

You're sensible people, you just need to work this out. When we spend a long time on peace, let's go to panic. Panic! Some of us would be taking the high road here and thinking there's every reason to expect that, on account of his standing among them and his speaking to them, their sorrows would have been soothed and their fears would have been calmed. But what do we discover? Well, we discover that they are in panic mode. They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. Now, if you're like me, you find yourself saying, How in the world do they get from verse 34 to verse 37? In verse 34 they say, It is true, the LORD is alive, the LORD is risen. In verse 37, they're all scrambling for cover, declaring to one another, I think a ghost has just appeared. Well, we ought not to be too hard on them, because they had come to terms, if you like, intellectually with the fact of the resurrection. But apart from just a few of them, they had no concept really at all of what the appearance of Jesus would mean. In fact, I pictured, as I was studying, one of them waxing lyrical on the resurrection, and then all of a sudden being coaxed out from down behind the couch where he had been hiding when all of a sudden Jesus stood among them. Oh yes, he said, The resurrection, I believe in the resurrection, the resurrection, and the resurrection, and the resurrection, resurrection, resurrection. Who knows? Oh yes. And then all of a sudden, he's in a fetal position, down behind the couch.

Why? Because he has now come face to face with the fact of the resurrection, the thing that intellectually he's been affirming, but experientially he's got no grasp of it at all. You see, my dear friends, let's just be dead honest. It is one thing to affirm our belief in the resurrection on a fairly fine Sunday morning at ten forty-five, approximately, surrounded by a crowd of the faithful. It is quite another thing to affirm the reality of the resurrection when you're sitting in one of those rooms at the Cleveland Clinic waiting for the return of the tests at the hand of a well-meaning doctor. And before we condemn these disciples for their vacillation between belief and unbelief, between doubt and delight, we need to be honest enough to look into our own hearts and say, Hey, we get this, you know. It is one thing to be intellectually convinced.

It is another to live experientially in the light of the truth. And Jesus shows up. Actually, I'm greatly encouraged by this.

I hope you are. What a group this is! You know, this is the future of the church right here in this room. Do you see that? This is the group upon which Jesus began to build. Oh, his foundation was laid in him. There could be no other foundation.

But then the apostles and the prophets are all put together, and you're looking at them here. We believe in the resurrection. Why are you hiding? I don't know.

Struggling between hope and despair. It's wonderfully honest, isn't it? If the gospel had been an invention, they would never have had this. I mean, if you were inventing a gospel and you had a group of people who were the sort of pillars of the church, you wouldn't have them all hiding behind couches and coming out of closets, saying, We thought we were startled and frightened and overwhelmed and unbelieving, and we thought we saw a ghost.

No. If you were writing it to affirm faith, you'd say, And we were immediately convinced, and one began to write a book, and another one a gospel, and some… You know, you put all of that down. But do you see the wonderful honesty and what a great encouragement it is for those of us who have spent the last week struggling between hope and despair? Verse 37, they're startled and they're frightened. They think it's a ghost. Verse 41, they're unbelieving. We're told in verse 41, the reason for their lack of belief is not a bad reason, it's a good reason. It's because of joy and amazement. They were just overwhelmed.

They all just seemed far too good to be true. And this is in keeping with the appearance of supernatural activity throughout all of the gospel record—indeed, throughout all of the Bible. Angelic visitations are met by fear. The angel of the Lord appeared, and when Zacharias saw this—verse 11 of chapter 1 of this gospel—when Zacharias saw this, he was gripped with fear. Chapter 2, and the angel of the Lord appeared in the night sky to the shepherds, and they were terrified. Well, his word was peace, their experience was panic, and finally their need was proof.

Proof. And so he asks them in verse 38 a question, Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? Probably a rhetorical question. We have no answer to it.

He moves on very quickly to give his invitation. We didn't pause long on the question, but it is a good question. Remember, Jesus has said, I don't want your hearts to be troubled. The beginning of the upper room discourse, don't let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God, believe in me. In my Father's house there are many rooms.

If it weren't so, I would have told you. I'm going to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself that where I am, there you may be also, and you know the place where I'm going. And Philip said, Lord, we don't know where you're going, so how can we know the way? Actually, he said to them, You know the way to the place where I'm going. They said, We don't even know where you're going, so how can we know the way? And then he said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. And here he comes on them, he says, Hey, why are you troubled?

Didn't I give you this information? Why are you troubled, and why does fear… Why do doubts rise…? Actually, it is in your hearts. The word cardia is here in verse 38.

I don't know why the NIV changes it to minds. It's heart in verse 32. We're not our hearts, cardia, burning within us. It's hearts in verse 25, how foolish you are and how slow of heart to believe. And it's heart here in verse 38.

Why are you troubled, and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? And as an antidote, he immediately says, Listen, I have an invitation for you, and here it is. Look at my hands and my feet, it is I myself. Touch me and see a ghost doesn't have flesh and bones as you see I have. Now, we can summarize the invitation in terms of just four verbs. Look, touch, see, think. Look, touch, see, think. The final verb is implicit. A ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see I have. If you think about it, I can't be a ghost, because a ghost isn't formed in this way.

Therefore, I want you to think. They identified him. They looked and they saw the evidences of his crucifixion in his hands and in his feet.

His invitation was very clear. In the Greek it reads, See the hands of me and the feet of me, that ego I me autos, I am myself. Ego I me autos. Remember, ego I me from the story of Joseph? Ego I me Yosef, it is me Joseph. And when their eyes were open to see him—remember, we said on that occasion, there is a foreshadowing in Joseph of all that will become apparent in Christ? And here he says, You can look at me.

I am myself. He's not a cadaver that is brought back to life. That would be bizarre. So if you think of the resurrection as a cadaver that kind of wakes up, that's not it at all. This is his glorified celestial body. He's not an immortal soul free from bodily existence.

They can handle him. And finally, as ultimate proof of his materiality, he says, I wonder if I could have something to eat before I leave you. And they gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate it in their presence. And then he was gone. Gone for another week. He was going to be back the following Sunday night, John tells us, and he would show up and deal with Thomas the Doubter on that occasion. Special command performance for Thomas. How gracious!

I will not believe unless I can put my hands in his side and I can see and so on. Just as well that Jesus is not like many of us, isn't it? Well, if that's the way you're gonna be, you can take a flying leap, Thomas. How gracious of Christ that he takes the initiative to come and speak peace even to those whose response is panic and to whom he gives proof of his risen life. Now we're finished, but I want to make three simple points. I want you to look at verse 44, because it takes us forward, and really, without it, we shouldn't stop at verse 43. He said to them, This is what I told you while I was still with you. In other words, he's going to go on and give them the interpretation of the facts. And the interpretation is crucial if we are to understand and accept the facts. Because the facts by themselves do not compel belief. The facts by themselves are capable of ambiguity. That is why, for example, the Bible does not simply say, Christ died. Fact. But it is fact plus interpretation.

Christ died for our sins. And it is that interpretation of the fact. And it's not that the Bible is open for everybody's interpretation.

The Bible interprets itself—the epistles are given to us—as the fact plus interpretation. That's Colossians 2, that he was making peace through his blood shed on the cross. Someone says, Well, what was happening when he died on the cross? He was making peace. Peace between whom? Peace between a holy God and sinful man.

What was he doing? He was reconciling the world to himself. You need the interpretation. You say, Well, you shouldn't stop at verse 43. We're only pausing at verse 43, but I want you to understand that resolution will only come when scriptural illumination is added to the data that we have in front of us. And this, you see, was what then allowed John—who was immediately involved in these proceedings, as we read in John chapter 20—this is what allowed John to take up his pen and to begin not his gospel but his first letter, which he wrote to assure those who had come to faith.

And do you remember how he began it? That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched, this we proclaim concerning the word of life. And when Thomas finally got his own chance to affirm his faith, Jesus said to him, Because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. And we, in Christ, are among that company.

At least some of us are. Have you believed in a sin-confessing, childlike, trusting, open-handed, hearted welcome to Christ? Hey, Thomas, you've believed because you saw me.

There's people at Parkside Church, and they never saw me. And they believed. There's a real blessing that attends that. The blessing that comes as we take Christ at his Word. That's from today's message titled Peace, Panic, Proof on Truth for Life with Alistair Begg.

Please keep listening. Alistair will be right back to close in prayer. In the meantime, if you've been learning from our current series in Luke's Gospel, his account of the death and resurrection of Jesus, you can listen to Alistair's teaching through the entire Gospel According to Luke.

That's 142 sermons and they come on a single USB. You'll find it online at truthforlife.org slash store and on our mobile app. Earlier this week, you may have heard me talk about the book titled Alive, How the Resurrection of Christ Changes Everything. This book is an ideal supplement to our current study because it considers carefully the evidence for Jesus' resurrection. The book Alive answers questions like did Jesus really rise and what proof do we have? The book contains well-researched facts.

It also includes a section that addresses many of the popular objections that have been raised by scholars. The book Alive will not only bolster your own faith, it will prepare you to help address questions that others raise with you about Jesus' resurrection. Request your copy today when you make a generous one-time donation. You can give through the app or online at truthforlife.org slash donate or you can call 888-588-7884. If you'd rather mail your donation along with your request for the book, write to Truth for Life, P.O.

Box 398000, Cleveland, Ohio 44139. Now let's join Alistair as he closes in prayer. Father, thank you for the Bible. Thank you so much for the fact that the more we study it, the more we are aware of the fact that we need to study it again and again, not because it is lacking in clarity but because it is so profound in the depth of material and insight. Thank you, Lord Jesus Christ, that just as you came to these emotionally unsettled followers of yours on that day and spoke peace into their lives, so you come to us in the emotional rollercoaster of our days, we confess to you that we daren't take the high road when it comes to a kind of panicky response to the supernatural, because that often describes us—startled, fearful, overwhelmed by it all. Seems too good to be true.

Can it be possible? Will this be there? And we thank you for the tremendous clarity of the text as it provides for us these appearances of you, Lord Jesus Christ. And although we haven't seen you, still we love you. And you have made yourself known to us. And we thank you. And we pray for your help as we rub shoulders with our friends and colleagues and neighbors, that there may be something of the resurrection power of Christ about as a waft of the supernatural, just a little something that will open a door for us to be able to give a reason for the hope that we have. And may grace and mercy and peace from Father, Son, and Holy Spirit rest upon and remain with each one of us today and forevermore. Amen. I'm Bob Lapine, thanks for listening. Join us again tomorrow as Alistair reminds us there is only one way to truly make sense of what's happening in the world around us. The Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life, where the Learning is for Living.