Declaring His Resurrection

It was the third day after His crucifixion and Jesus was dead, or so they thought. Friday was the day that Jesus had entered into the city of Jerusalem upon a donkey, the foal of a donkey. People were cheering and laying down palm leaves and spreading quilts and blankets on the ground for Him to ride over. Well was it a good day, and the reason why we call it “Good Friday”. But before that day was over, good was changed to bad, joy was changed to evil, and Jesus was brought before the religious officials, the High Council of the Temple, as false accusations were brought before the “powers that be”. No matter what He said, no one believed His witness. Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea, tried to set Him free, but the crowd was urged as a mob to cry out, “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!” Pilate was even warned by his wife to “Have nothing to do with this man”, and he tried to wash his hands of the fate that had been imposed upon him, but history would record that the blood of the man of Galilee would be upon his hands. “You crucify him!” Pilate called out. “I find no fault in Him!” But the Jewish religious leaders had to come before him in order to have the authority to do what they did. All Pilate could do is have Him whipped as an insurrectionist in hopes of pleasing the people, but it was Barabbas that the mob cried out for.

The Roman soldiers took Him, placed a purple robe upon Him, placed a crown of thorns upon His brow until the blood ran freely down His face, and whipped Him until His front and sides and back was a bloody mess. Isaiah wrote of Him, “He had no form or splendor that we should look upon Him, no appearance that we should desire of Him. He was despised and rejected by men, and we did not value Him” (Isaiah 53:2,3). Then they marched Him out to a hill called Golgotha, or, Hill of the Skull, and there they crucified Him. King David wrote about Him, “They pierced my hands and my feet. I count all my bones (for many were exposed); people look and stare at me. They divided my garments among themselves and cast lots for my clothing” (Psalm 22:16-18). Yet, when He died, Psalm 34:20 says, “He protects all his bones; not one of them is broken,” for it was the cruelty of Rome that ordered the condemned’s legs to be broken to hasten his death. Zechariah 12:10 declares, “They will look upon Me whom they have pierced, and mourn for Him as one mourns for an only child, weeping bitterly as one weeps for a firstborn.”

As two disciples of Jesus, not those of the twelve, but two believers were walking to their home in Emmaus that Sunday morning, the third day after the crucifixion, Luke tells us that Jesus sudden accompanied them as they were discussing the events of the past few days, but He prevented them from recognizing Him. “What are you discussing,” He asked them? They replied, “Haven’t you heard? Are you so new to Jerusalem that you haven’t heard what has happened these last few days?” The stranger asked, “What things?” “Why, the things concerning Jesus of Nazarus, the Prophet who was powerful in action and word before God and all the people. But the chief priests and religious leaders handed Him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified Him! We were hoping that He was the One who was about to redeem Israel, but now, we don’t know. And on top of that, some among us have reported that they have seen Him alive and risen from the grave!” And then beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, Jesus began interpreting for them the things concerning Himself in the Scriptures.

What things were these? The things quoted from the Psalms and Prophets above and the words of Isaiah in Isaiah 53, “He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed because of our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and we are healed by His wounds. All we like sheep have turned away, but the Lord has laid upon Him the iniquity of us all.” And when they asked this stranger to stay and eat with them, He broke bread before them and suddenly He disappeared right before their eyes! And their hearts and eyes were opened. Now even they believed that Jesus had risen from the grave! Words recorded five hundred, seven hundred, a thousand years before, fulfilled right before their very eyes. Jesus is alive! He is risen indeed! Do you know Him?