INTRODUCTION

Welcome back to our series on THE RESURRECTION which we started yesterday by God's will. Today we are continuing our course through the last chapter of Luke taking from verse 36-49. By God's good purpose for us, we were able to understand what Jesus meant by his greeting "Peace to you!". We also understood how this greeting meant to the apostles, who were frightened for their sin against the Savior and the fear of the Pharisees. With that said, we're building on the foundation we laid yesterday.

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38 And he said to them, "Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? 39 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." 40 And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. 41 And while they still disbelieved for joy and were marveling, he said to them, "Have you anything here to eat?" 42 They gave him a piece of broiled fish, 43 and he took it and ate before them. (Luke 24:38-43, ESV)

THE BODILY RESURRECTION OF JESUS

Going back to verse 37, we hear the apostles' reaction to Jesus when they saw Him. They did not believe it was Jesus the Christ they had worked with for couple of years. Luke records that

they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit. (Luke 24:37, ESV).

So Jesus had to prove to them that He's not a ghost and that He's the man they had been with for a while Also he had to prove to them that It was the same body that Judas Iscariot sold for 30 pieces of silver; That same body they had denied; the same body that received the crown of thorns. Not forgetting that it was the same body that had received the three nails to fasten Him to the cross to die for their sins. And in order to do this, He must show them these signs; the signs of the suffering thus "See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see".

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Also when He had shown them His hands He went on to show then His feet. For Luke said " he showed them his hands and his feet." But these people would still not believe in what they were seeing. And it wasn't surprising that He had rebuked them about their unbelief on their way to Emmaus saying "O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken!" (Luke 24:25, ESV). The hearts of these disciples were hardened about the resurrection. It was very hard for them to wrap their minds around it. It was absurd to them that someone, a human would die and rise again in a bodily form. If it had been the resurrection of his spirit, they would have believed easily because they "thought they saw a spirit" (Vs 37). With such unbelief, Jesus had to do the most human activity. And that's to eat in front of them. So Luke records that

41 And while they still disbelieved for joy and were marveling, he said to them, "Have you anything here to eat?" 42 They gave him a piece of broiled fish, 43 and he took it and ate before them

It's a heresy to believe that Jesus didn't rise from the dead with His original body. It's only the Sadducees that deny the resurrection of the dead. I pray that you're not one. He didn't resurrect as a spirit. No. He resurrected as the old Jesus Christ they knew; The man with body, soul and spirit. The only difference was that He had received the glorified body, that immortal body which we are waiting to put on this mortal body. To deny the resurrection of the body of Jesus is to deny the gospel. It's this doctrine that gives us the assurance that even though we die, we will rise again with him on the final day. With this in view, Paul told the Corinthians when they were worried by the Sadducees that

13 Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, "I believed, and so I spoke," we also believe, and so we also speak, 14 knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence. (2 Corinthians 4:13-14, ESV)

Don't allow those who deny the resurrection of Jesus into your life. By so doing, they will destroy your faith in the resurrection without which there's no salvation, eternal life, resurrection or whatsoever that is Christian. Meet me tomorrow as we continue to talk about the implications of this to the disciples in their missionary work. Stay blessed

This is Nana Yeboah
@gadol from @ghana and @sc-g
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