The Resurrection

Introduction: This story is the turning point of history. 1 On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and

went to the tomb. Suddenly two men in clothes that shined like lightning stood beside them. "Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! So the women ran back from the tomb and told all these things to the apostles. However the apostles did not

believe the women. But Peter got up and ran to the tomb. He saw the linen cloth the body had been wrapped in but he did not see the body, and Peter went away wondering to himself what had happened. Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus. As they talked and discussed these

things with each other Jesus himself came up and walked along with them but they were kept from recognizing him. He asked them, "What are you discussing together as you walk along?" They answered, "Are you the only a person in Jerusalem who does not know the things that happened here in these days?" "What things?" Jesus asked. "About Jesus of Nazareth," they replied. "He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him. Then this morning our women came back from the tomb and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said Jesus was alive. And then beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, Jesus explained to the two disciples what was said in

all the Scriptures concerning himself. As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus acted as if he were going farther. But the

two men begged Jesus saying, "Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over." So Jesus went in to stay with them. When he was at the table with them, Jesus took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized it was Jesus, and he vanished from their sight. And the two looked at each other, "Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the

road and opened the Scriptures to us?" So they got up at once and returned to Jerusalem. There they found the eleven disciples assembled together and the two of them told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread. While they were all still talking about this, Jesus himself came and stood among them and said to them,

"Peace be with you." They were startled and frightened, thinking they were seeing a ghost. He said to them, "Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? Look at my hands and my feet! Touch me and see it is me, for a ghost does not have flesh and bones such as you see I have. Jesus said, "This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything that is written about me in the Law

of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled." Then Jesus opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, "This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day. And now repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be preached in his name to all the nations. And I will send the promise of my Father to you. Jesus presented Himself alive to the apostles over a period of forty days. And He said to them, “You Acts ,

will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in Judea and Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth." Then Jesus led the apostles out along the road to Bethany, and lifting his hands to heaven, he blessed Luke

them, and while blessing them He began rising into the sky, and was carried up into heaven. The disciples returned to Jerusalem with great joy and were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God.