Ancient expectations, Contemporary expectations: Why do you and I seek the living among the dead? He is not in the grave anymore, but has risen! Luke 24:4-8

Luke 24:1-8 Christian Standard Bible

Resurrection Morning

24 On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they^[a] came to the tomb, bringing the spices they had prepared. ² They found the stone rolled away from the tomb. ³ They went in but did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. ⁴  While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men stood by them in dazzling clothes. ⁵ So the women were terrified and bowed down to the ground.

“Why are you looking for the living among the dead?” asked the men. ⁶ “He is not here, but he has risen! Remember how he spoke to you when he was still in Galilee, ⁷ saying, ‘It is necessary that the Son of Man be betrayed into the hands of sinful men, be crucified, and rise on the third day’?” ⁸ And they remembered his words.

Word of God for the Children of God

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

When we consider Jesus as Messiah, most of us think immediately in personal terms: 

Jesus is my Messiah.

He forgives my sins. He lives in me. 

All of which, of course, is true.

But 1st-century Jewish expectations concerning the messiahship of Jesus were far broader than that.

If we had talked with a 1st-century Jew about his or her messianic expectations, we would have discovered hopes that were, in a real sense, far grander in scope.

The Jews anticipated that their long-awaited Messiah would come to defeat the pagans by overwhelming force of presence or force of arms, who held sway over them, to rebuild the temple, and to establish God’s just reign upon the earth.

Theirs was a nationalistic hope—a hope that the Messiah would come and vindicate the nation of Israel.

Jesus’ arrival, along with the miracles He performed, stories He told, and the prophecies fulfilled, built to a great crescendo of the highest expectation among His followers. But just when they began to think He really would be the one to militaristically, politically overthrow Rome and redeem the people of Israel.

Hosanna! Hosanna! Hosanna! to the Son of David “Save us, we Pray!

However, at Calvary they saw all their messianic hopes hanging up on a Roman gibbet. When Jesus was so badly beaten and bloodied and nailed, and then when Jesus cried out, “It is finished” (John 19:30), many of them must have agreed.

How, then, did this group of believers, whose messianic hopes had been buried in a tomb, not only continue to believe that Jesus was the Messiah but stand in the streets near where He had been executed, make an unashamed declaration of His messiahship?

The answer which comes reverberating through the pages of the New Testament is found in the bodily resurrection of Jesus.

The angelic announcement to the women who had brought spices to embalm a corpse provoked a radical reassessment of what the believers had witnessed on the Friday and a complete change in their view of their lives and futures.

When the Messiah reappeared among them, as alive as ever, these previously sad, sorrowful, defeated, and brokenhearted disciples were transformed into bold, joyful witnesses.

They now bore testimony to the reality of Christ resurrected with a body that could be seen, handled, and touched, and yet possessing capacities to do what His pre-resurrection body had not done.

His work of salvation was finished; His life and His reign were most certainly not!

Only in the disciples’ recognition of His risen presence did Christ’s messiahship finally make sense.

Indeed, what the early Jewish believers discovered when they “found the stone rolled away from the tomb” (Luke 24:2) and saw that “Jesus himself stood among them” (v 36) was that an eternal hope, joy, and power ignited within their hearts.

And these remain available to all who put their trust in Jesus, the resurrected Messiah. It is the resurrection, and only the resurrection, that changes sadness, sorrow, and defeat into hope, joy, and power.

It is the resurrection, and only the resurrection, that declares our Messiah will defeat His enemies, will restore His people, and will rule from sea to sea.

The resurrection of Jesus will absolutely change everything about how you and I will go about your day today, tomorrow and as many tomorrows as God gifts us.

In the name of God, the Father and God the son and God the Holy Spirit,

Praying …

Psalm 24 Complete Jewish Bible

⁽⁰⁾ By David. A psalm:

⁽¹⁾ The earth is Adonai’s, with all that is in it,
the world and those who live there;
² for he set its foundations on the seas
and established it on the rivers.

³ Who may go up to the mountain of Adonai?
Who can stand in his holy place?
⁴ Those with clean hands and pure hearts,
who don’t make vanities the purpose of their lives
or swear oaths just to deceive.
⁵ They will receive a blessing from Adonai
and justice from God, who saves them.
⁶ Such is the character of those who seek him,
of Ya‘akov, who seeks your face. (Selah)

⁷ Lift up your heads, you gates!
Lift them up, everlasting doors,
so that the glorious king can enter!
⁸ Who is he, this glorious king?
Adonai, strong and mighty,
Adonai, mighty in battle.

⁹ Lift up your heads, you gates!
Lift them up, everlasting doors,
so that the glorious king can enter!
¹⁰ Who is he, this glorious king?
Adonai-Tzva’ot —
he is the glorious king. (Selah)

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

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