Resurrection

Matthew 27:57-28:20 and parallel passages
(Mark 15:42-16:20; Luke 23:50-24:53; John 19:38-21:25; Acts 1:1-11)


          Jesus' Burial


The work of Nicodemus

We have been fulfilling our sad and heavy responsibility to describe what Jesus suffered on a cross. But the story of His death is not a tragedy, for tragedy ends in sorrow and leaves us angry with the cruel twists of fate. Jesus’ crucifixion was not the senseless snuffing out of a young life. He died for a noble purpose—to save us all from our sins. In His suffering He bore the complete penalty for the sins of mankind so that we ourselves need never pay it. Nor was His death a victory of evil over good, for the victory belonged to Jesus. On the cross He defeated sin and Satan, and within a few days He defeated His last enemy, death itself, and rose from the grave. If our previous discussions have brought a measure of sadness to your heart, our discussions throughout the remainder of this book will bring you nothing but joy, because our topic will be Jesus’ resurrection. On the third day after his burial, He rose from the dead.

After Jesus’ death, the crowd of observers including His enemies near at hand and His followers standing farther off began to disperse. After awhile only a few remained. Men working for local authorities normally took down the corpses of condemned men and burned them in the Valley of Gehenna.1 Yet God did not permit such treatment of Jesus’ body. God raised up among the elite and powerful two men who resolved to give Jesus a proper burial (Matt. 27:57–60; Mark 15:42-46; Luke 23:50-54; John 19:38–42).

One of these was Joseph of Arimathaea, a member of the Sanhedrin. No doubt he had always been an honorable man and a sincere believer in God’s promise to establish His kingdom upon the earth. We do not know exactly when his heart turned to faith in Jesus. But his absence from the Gospel narrative until this point suggests that his admiration of Jesus had previously been kept quiet. Perhaps he was one of those John was referring to when he said that many rulers believed in Jesus, but refrained from supporting Him publicly, lest they be banished from the synagogue (John 12:42-43). Yet, according to Luke, Joseph refused to join with the majority of the council in condemning Jesus. Perhaps he had not even attended the trial, whether because he was given no advance notice or because he refused to participate. After Jesus’ death, Joseph threw caution aside and came forward as Jesus’ follower. He went to Pilate and requested Jesus’ body. Mark says that he went boldly, as if unafraid of the consequences that might follow.

Pilate was surprised to hear that Jesus—a man who had proved under the lash to be exceptionally strong—was already dead. He summoned the centurion in charge of the execution and found that Joseph’s report of Jesus’ death was correct. Since, as we have seen, Pilate was in his own way an admirer of Jesus also, he was by no means unwilling to give Jesus a decent burial. He gave the body to Joseph, without charging him with any impropriety in showing respect for a condemned man.

Joseph himself removed Jesus’ body from the cross. What a sad and solemn responsibility! There at the site of execution he wrapped the body in a linen shroud, intended only as a temporary covering, and carried the body to a tomb that he had recently carved for himself out of a rocky hillside. The unused tomb was located in a garden near the place of crucifixion. As a wealthy man with many servants, Joseph no doubt had many helpers in this task.

Among his assistants was at least one important man, Nicodemus. Like Joseph, he was a member of the ruling council and a secret admirer of Jesus. He had first approached Jesus several years earlier, seeking to ally himself with Him in the manner of one politician throwing support to another (John 3:1–21). Jesus bluntly told him that he was unfit for the Kingdom of God because he had not been born again. We do not know Nicodemus’s immediate reaction, but we know that he later rebuked the other rulers when they flippantly rejected Jesus’ claims without giving Him a chance to speak for Himself (John 7:45-53). Jesus’ death wrought the same transformation in him that it wrought in Joseph. For the first time, both men fearlessly stepped forward and identified themselves as Jesus’ followers. What enabled them to overcome their fears? Perhaps the miraculous signs attending Jesus’ death—the darkness, the earthquake, and the rending of the veil—convinced both men that the safest place was to be fully on God’s side.

The two men and their helpers prepared Jesus’ body in the customary manner. Nicodemus had brought a full supply of expensive spices, including myrrh and aloes, with a weight of about 75 pounds.2 Joseph provided the linen. The Jewish practice was to wash the dead body in warm water3 and then wrap it in linen cloths with spices set between layers.4 Yet in Jesus’ case, the Sabbath was drawing near, and time did not permit a careful preparation of the body. That is no doubt why the women came to the tomb on Sunday morning. They wanted to remedy any deficiencies in the work done hastily on Friday afternoon.

The tomb chosen by Joseph for Jesus’ burial had never previously received any bodies (Luke 23:53). Yet although it was a new tomb, it was already prepared for use. Its design, assuring that it would provide a permanent and secure resting place for the dead, shows that it was a tomb affordable only to the rich. Jesus’ burial in such a tomb was required by prophecy. “And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth” (Isa. 53:9). No doubt Joseph’s tomb was like others that were among the finest in his day. If so, it consisted of two chambers.5 The outer, a sort of vestibule, was empty. The inner contained one or possibly more raised slabs of stone where the bodies were laid. Along the walls were shelves for containers (ossuary boxes) holding the remains of bodies after they had fully decayed.6 The entrance was sealed by a huge wheel-shaped stone.


The women who were watching

The Galilean women who had accompanied Jesus to Jerusalem came to watch His crucifixion. While standing some distance away from His cross, they loudly bewailed His suffering and death (Matt. 27:55–56; Mark 15:40–41; Luke 23:49). Evidently they remained near Golgotha until Joseph came and removed Jesus’ body for burial. Then, as Joseph and his helpers carried the remains of Jesus to the place that would serve as His grave, the women followed after the sad funeral procession to learn exactly where Jesus would be buried (Luke 23:55; cf. Matt. 27:61; Mark 15:47). Joseph must have observed the women trailing after him, but he made no attempt to make the burial place a secret, for he undoubtedly knew who they were, and as a follower of Jesus Himself, he was wholly sympathetic with their grief.

Why were the women so determined to know where Jesus was buried? Because they knew that He would not receive a proper burial. Too little time remained in the afternoon for Joseph to finish wrapping His body in a customary manner designed to inhibit decay and repel scavengers. Sunset would mark the beginning of the Sabbath, when all work was forbidden. The intent of the women was to finish a proper burial on Sunday morning, the morning after the Sabbath. Indeed, after they saw where Joseph laid Jesus’ body, they returned to the places where they were staying in or near the city of Jerusalem and “prepared spices and ointments” (Luke 23:56).

Does Scripture identify any of these women? Mary, Jesus’ mother, was surely not part of the group. While Jesus hung on a cross, she did not stand with the Galilean women who were watching from afar. Rather, she stood with John beside her son’s cross. Probably they both waited there with grief-stricken hearts until Joseph of Arimathaea removed Jesus’ body for burial. The Gospels tell us nothing at all concerning her whereabouts afterward. We can be sure, however, that she did not accompany the other women. For what reason? Perhaps because she felt no need to give her son a proper burial. And why not? Perhaps because she, unlike the others, had been fully prepared by her loving son for the events of Passion week. To spare her from unbearable grief, He may have assured her that by Sunday morning the tomb would be empty. After all, He had even told His disciples that He would rise again (Matt. 16:21; 20:19; 26:32).

Yet the other Galilean women apparently did not expect Jesus’ resurrection, at least not so soon. From Friday night until Sunday morning, they were busy trying to give Jesus a decent burial. The Gospel narratives recounting their activity during this time name four individuals: Mary Magdalene (Mark 15:47), Mary the mother of James and Joseph (compare Mark 15:47 and 16:1 with Matt. 27:56), Joanna (Luke 24:10), and Salome (Mark 16:1). Who were these women?

  1. Mary Magdalene became a follower of Jesus after He delivered her from possession by seven demons (Luke 8:2).
  2. The Mary who was the mother of James and Joseph was a relative of Jesus’ mother. Although called her sister (John 19:25), she seems to have been her sister-in-law, whose husband Cleophas (actually, “Clopas”7) was a brother of Joseph.8 This conclusion rests on two considerations: first, it is unlikely that parents would give two of their daughters the same name, and second, the name Joseph had also been given to one of her sons. Her other son was James, elsewhere called James the Less (Mark 15:40), who was one of Jesus’ twelve disciples. In Luke’s enumeration of these twelve as they waited in the upper room for Pentecost, the same James is identified as the son of Alphaeus (Acts 1:13), which may have been the Aramaic form of the Greek name “Clopas.”9 It is also possible that Alphaeus was actually a previous husband of this Mary. As in our world, family relations in first-century Judea were sometimes a bit complicated. One contributing factor was a much shorter life expectancy.
  3. Salome was the mother of Zebedee’s children (compare Matt. 27:56 with Mark 15:40). They included two of Jesus’ chief disciples, James and John.
  4. Joanna seemingly had a very different background from these other women. She was the wife of Chuza, who was an official of Herod Antipas, the same Herod who tried Jesus (Luke 8:3). Chuza’s role in government was to serve as a “steward.” Although this title does not clarify his duties, it assures us that he held a highly responsible position. Luke tells us that his wife was a chief source of needed provisions for Jesus’ ministry.

Yet we need not imagine that there were only four Galilean women who followed Joseph to the tomb on Friday night. Luke informs us that they were accompanied by the other women who came with Jesus from Galilee (Luke 23:55), although he may not be referring to all the other women including Mary. So, there may have been as many as ten women, or possibly even more.


Securing the tomb

On the next day after the crucifixion, which was a Sabbath, the Jewish rulers went to Pilate and requested that a military guard be posted outside Jesus’ tomb (Matt. 27:62–66). They argued that if the tomb was not kept under close watch, Jesus’ disciples might try to fake His resurrection by stealing His body. Why were they concerned that the disciples might resort to such a charade? Because they remembered that Jesus had prophesied His resurrection after three days. To what prophecy were they referring? The same one that Caiaphas referred to when Jesus was being interrogated at the palace of the high priest (Matt. 26:60–63; Mark 14:57–61). Several years earlier, Jesus had said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:19). Caiaphas had wanted to use this prophecy to charge Jesus with threatening violence against the Temple and presumably against Jewish and Roman authorities as well. But it became clear that he could not quickly find witnesses who agreed on Jesus’ exact words. Therefore, he adopted a different strategy in building a case against Jesus. Yet the argument used by the Jewish rulers when they asked Pilate to make Jesus’ tomb secure shows that the true meaning of Jesus’ prophecy was perfectly evident to them all along, even though it escaped many of His own followers (John 2:22). These rulers knew that it was a promise not to rebuild the Temple in three days, but to rise from the dead in three days. Their comprehension of a message hidden in metaphorical language shows that in terms of intellectual achievement, they stood far above most of Jesus’ followers, who were young and unsophisticated by comparison.

In response to the request of the Jewish leaders, Pilate authorized placement of soldiers by Jesus’ tomb. He had already submitted to their demand for Jesus’ execution. Now that Jesus was dead, he had no desire for further involvement in His case. Whatever burial arrangements the Jewish leaders preferred was of no concern to Pilate.

The soldiers that were then posted by His tomb were drawn either from the Temple guard, which was Jewish in composition, or from the Roman force occupying the city. The debate over what kind of soldiers they were hinges on Pilate’s answer to the Jewish leaders when they advised him to secure Jesus’ tomb against intruders. “Ye have a watch: go your way, make it as sure as ye can” (Matt. 27:65). The translation, “Ye have a watch,” favors the view that the Jewish leaders used soldiers normally employed at the Temple. But Pilate’s words are actually ambiguous. They can also be understood as imperative, “Have a watch [‘guard’],”10 as if he were offering them his own soldiers for the assignment. Who exactly formed the guard at the tomb is now impossible to say, since good arguments can be stated in favor of either possibility. Yet no issue hangs on the answer. A guard detail consisting of Jews would have been no less effective than a Roman detail in deterring grave robbers.

It is likely that soldiers from the Temple guard were familiar with Roman military procedures and copied them as much as possible. Pilate exhorted the Jews, “Go your way, make it as sure as ye can.” In a literal rendering, his words take on a slightly different cast. ”Go make [it as] secure as ye know [how].”11 He seems to be implying that they themselves know something about proper security.

The Jewish leaders not only set a watch, but also sealed the stone so that any attempt to move it could not go undetected. They likely put one or more earthen seals along the crack between the stone and the rock face.12

The precautions taken by the Jewish rulers inadvertently served God’s purposes by making it impossible to deny that Jesus really did rise from the dead, for on the next morning, despite the guard outside, the tomb was empty.


          First Visit to the Tomb on Sunday Morning


No human being observed the Resurrection itself. Therefore, because the Gospel writers always content themselves with eyewitness accounts, they say nothing about it. Yet they clearly inform us that after Jesus was buried late on Friday afternoon, He rose early in the morning on the following Sunday. One traditional belief is that He rose at the very crack of dawn—that the Son who is our source of spiritual light rose from the grave when the sun which is our source of daily light rose in the sky.

The first event on Resurrection morning that the Gospels do record is an earthquake (Matt. 28:2). This violent shaking of the ground was perhaps simultaneous with Christ’s return to life within the tomb. Likely at the same moment an angel descended, “rolled back” the huge stone blocking entrance to the tomb, and sat upon it (Matt. 28:2). The Greek expression translated “rolled back” suggests that the angel simply tossed the stone aside.13 For an angel, a stone weighing at least a whole ton was a mere pebble. The countenance of this glorious being “was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow” (Matt. 28:3). The sight of supernatural glory saps the strength of any mortal man. It is therefore not surprising that when the soldiers guarding the tomb beheld the angel, they shook with fear, fell to the ground, and lay frozen like dead men (Matt. 28:4). We need not suppose that the angel opened the tomb so that Jesus could escape. A rock enclosure could not keep Jesus from passing through. Later, He suddenly appeared to the disciples when they were meeting inside a room with closed doors (John 20:19). The angel opened the tomb to show the world that it was empty. He then sat upon the stone cast aside from the entrance and let his glory shine upon the guards. Later, no doubt as soon as the angel withdrew from their sight, the guards recovered enough strength and presence of mind to investigate the tomb and flee back into the city with the intent of informing their superiors about what happened.

After the guards left, the same group of Galilean women who watched Jesus’ burial returned to His tomb with spices so that they might give the body more careful preparation than was possible on the day of His death (Matt. 28:1; Mark 16:1; Luke 24:1; cf. 23:55–56; John 20:1). As they were walking together, “They said among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre?” (Mark 16:3). On the previous Friday night, when they made plans to anoint and dress Jesus’ body on Sunday morning, they probably thought that men would be available to help them do the work. Travel to Jesus’ tomb from places east of the city where most of His male followers were now staying would have violated Sabbath law if they had come on the next day after Friday.14 The first opportunity for these men to visit His gravesite therefore came on the same morning when the women were going there. For this reason the women likely assumed that on their way to the tomb, they would cross paths with men who would be willing to assist them in giving Jesus a decent burial. But they saw none of His male followers on the road. It became obvious that they were all still in hiding. As a result, the women began to worry that their visit might prove to be pointless.

When did these women arrive at the tomb? The belief of some Bible students that Jesus rose before dawn on Sunday morning is based primarily on the following words of John.

The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre.

John 20:1

But the words “when it was yet dark” tell us not when she arrived at the tomb, but when she departed from her lodgings. Jerusalem was a large and complex city, so her walk early in the morning in the company of the other women that the Synoptic Gospels identify as her companions (Matt. 28:1; Mark 16:1; Luke 23:55–24:1) took more than a few minutes. Matthew and Mark tell us that by the time they reached the tomb, light had dawned (Matt. 28:1; Mark 16:1–2). What Luke says does not contradict their testimony. “Upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre” (Luke 24:1–2). When the women arrived at the tomb, it was open and the soldiers were gone. How much time must have elapsed since Jesus rose from the dead? Prior to their arrival, His resurrection had taken place, the angel had rolled away the stone, and the soldiers had lain for awhile as dead men. Then after the angel muted his glory, they had recovered their senses, looked in the tomb, and run away. We must be careful not to exaggerate the time required for this sequence of events. The whole scenario could have been completed within ten or fifteen minutes after sunrise. Thus, the failure of the women to find anyone outside the tomb when they arrived was entirely possible if day dawned at least fifteen or twenty minutes before Jesus’ place of burial came into view. The only assumption we must make is that the time and path of their approach did not enable them to see any of the fleeing soldiers. If, as many scholars believe, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem is actually located at the site of Jesus’ tomb15 and if the authorities sought by the soldiers were Jewish leaders at the palace of Caiaphas, the soldiers ran towards the south, whereas the women walking away from their lodgings in Jerusalem approached from the east.

When the women came within sight of the tomb, they saw that it was open, and immediately they were filled with dismay and uncertainty. If we compare the various narratives, we find that Mary Magdalene immediately turned around and fled back into the city.16 Her purpose was to find Peter and John and inform them that Jesus’ body had apparently been taken elsewhere (John 20:1-2). To make sense of the Gospel accounts, we must assume that on Sunday morning the eleven disciples were separated into two groups. Peter and John were together in Jerusalem, where they had come to watch Jesus’ trial. The other nine were in hiding outside the city, as they had been since their flight on the night of Jesus’ arrest. They were probably at the house of Mary and Martha in Bethany.17

After Mary Magdalene had departed from them, the other women proceeded to the tomb and looked inside. There they saw no corpse—Jesus’ body was gone—but instead they saw angels. The rather sharp differences among the three Synoptic accounts are merely the result of depending on different informants. For example, Mark’s informants spoke of a single angel with the appearance of a young man “clothed in a long white garment” (Mark 16:5). Luke’s, however, referred to two men inside the tomb who wore “shining garments” (Luke 24:4). Reconciling these accounts offers no great difficulty. Far from giving us reason to dismiss them as incredible, the discrepancies enhance their credibility, for they rule out any chance that the writers are telling us a myth invented by church leaders. If based on such an invention, their accounts would strictly agree. Still, why do we find discrepancies if all their accounts are true? Merely because different eyewitnesses recalled different details. From the perspective of some observers, the garment of one angel was “long and white.” From the perspective of others, it was “shining.” It is of course entirely possible that both descriptions are exactly correct. There is no reason why a long and white garment cannot be shining as well.

The women who were Matthew’s source were sure for some reason that the angel who spoke to them had earlier appeared to the soldiers (Matt. 28:1–5). The silence of the other sources in this regard offers no contradiction.

We must remember that the number of Galilean women visiting the tomb might have been five, ten, or even more, since Mark affirms that “many other women [besides Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and Salome] . . . came up with him [that is, with Jesus] unto Jerusalem” (Mark 15:41). Therefore, we may suppose that they did not enter it at exactly the same time. One possible reason is that the space inside the tomb was too cramped to hold more than a few people. Another possible reason is that they did not hang together as a single group when they approached the tomb’s mouth. Perhaps the younger women ran ahead and reached it several minutes sooner. Therefore, if the women entered the tomb in separate groups, they did not necessarily have the same experience. Luke’s source, perhaps Joanna or Mary the mother of James the Less (v. 10), remembered that when her group entered the tomb, they first became aware of the missing body. Only after this discovery did two angels in shining garments appear to them (Luke 24:3–4). Mark’s source, perhaps Salome or the same Mary (v. 1), reported a very different experience inside the tomb (Mark 16:5–6). Perhaps the angels understood that for one or more of the women in this group, too much fright might provoke a harmful reaction, so they designed the encounter to be as unfrightening as possible. When this group entered, all they saw was a single angel with the appearance of a friendly young man (seemingly the same angel described by Matthew). Moreover, he did not at first stand before them as an imposing figure. Rather, he presented himself as a smaller figure sitting down. Because we are naive human beings who were born only yesterday from the perspective of heavenly beings, we have no conception of how thorough and precise our guardian angels can be when they are designing circumstances for our protection.

The angelic spokesman inside the tomb instructed the women, “Go quickly, and tell his [that is, Jesus’] disciples that he is risen from the dead” (Matt. 28:7). He also announced that Jesus would soon meet with His disciples, evidently a reference not just to the Twelve but to all His followers, at a place in Galilee (Matt. 28:7; Mark 15:7).

With great joy the women ran out of the tomb and hurried to tell everyone the good news (Luke 24:8-9a; Matthew 28:8). Yet, to fit the various accounts together, we must assume that they did not go first to Jesus’ followers hiding in the city. The only members of the Twelve then in Jerusalem were Peter and John. Rather, the women went to the main body of the Twelve, now numbering only nine, who were somewhere east of the city.


          Second Visit to the Tomb on Sunday Morning


Meanwhile, Mary Magdalene reached the place in Jerusalem where Peter and John were staying. Yet because she ran away from the tomb before the other women went inside and learned that Jesus had risen from the dead, the only news she brought to the two chief disciples was that the stone seal on Jesus’ tomb had been removed. Early that morning when she approached the tomb, she saw its mouth wide open, leading her to conclude that someone had removed Jesus’ body and laid it in a different grave (John 20:2). Greatly alarmed by the news, both Peter and John immediately rushed to see what had happened (John 20:3), and at some distance behind them came Mary. The fastest was John, but the boldest was Peter, who went straight into the tomb while John, after peering through the opening, halted outside the tomb’s mouth (John 20:4–6). Soon John joined Peter and they both carefully examined the whole interior. Neither saw an angel, for they did not have as much need of an angel’s comfort and reassurance as the women did. Besides, they could tell at a glance what had happened. They found the graveclothes lying there neatly disposed (John 20:7–8). They instantly understood from their presence and arrangement that the removal of the body had not been the work of human intruders. Any who were Jesus’ friends would have left the wrappings intact on His body. Any who were His enemies might have removed the wrappings, but scarcely would they have troubled to pick them up and set them in good order. John testifies that the evidence within the tomb convinced him that Jesus had risen from the dead. He now “believed.” He adds that he was still unaware that His resurrection was prophesied by Scripture (John 20:9). By implication, he is admitting that throughout Jesus’ ministry, he had not fully believed in Jesus’ coming victory over death even though the Master had often predicted it, even once in a personal conversation with him along with Peter and James (Matt. 17:9). What Peter saw in the tomb did not, however, convince him that Jesus was alive, but instead filled his mind with a turmoil of hopes and doubts (Luke 24:12).


          Jesus’ First Appearance


After Peter and John finished looking around the empty tomb, they walked back to their lodgings within the city (John 20:10). As they returned, they were perhaps too stunned by what they saw in the tomb to notice Mary, who was still lingering in the garden outside. She was in tears under the crushing suspicion that someone had stolen Jesus’ body, probably with the intent of casting it into a pit instead of giving it a decent burial. Under the prodding of curiosity, she decided to look inside the tomb, and there to her amazement she saw two angels, no doubt the same two who had appeared to some of the other women (John 20:12). One was at the head and the other at the foot of the slab where Jesus’ body had lain, and they asked her, “Woman, why weepest thou?” She replied, “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him” (John 20:13). Then she turned around and saw a man standing behind her, but whether because her eyes were clouded by tears, or because she was too self-preoccupied to give Him more than a glance, or because He presented an unclear picture of Himself, she did not recognize who He was (John 20:14). In a voice of kindness softened by pity, the mysterious figure asked her, “Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou?” (John 20:15). Under the quick and thoughtless impression that He was just the gardener, she said, “Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away” (John 20:15). Jesus then drew her closer attention by saying, “Mary” (John 20:16). Use of her personal name greatly startled her, so she looked at the man who spoke and suddenly realized who He was. Doubtless with a voice full of surprise and joy, she cried out, “Rabboni,” a Jewish word that means “Master,”18 apparently a title that she was accustomed to giving Jesus. Her first impulse apparently was to come and embrace His feet—a form of tribute to a much higher ranking person that was customary among the Jews—but Jesus forbade her to touch Him. The reason is that He had not yet ascended to the Father (John 20:17). After her immensely uplifting experience in seeing the risen Christ, Mary hurried away and with fullness of joy told as many disciples of Jesus as she could that He was alive (John 20:18).

In summary, Mary Magdalene was the first person to see the risen Christ. Why did Jesus appear to her first? For several reasons.

  1. His resurrection was a token that God can keep His promise to raise every believer from death to eternal life. Therefore, Jesus went first to Mary, a woman who had been possessed by seven demons, to stress that this promise excludes no believer, even one who was formerly among the greatest of sinners.
  2. Perhaps He went to her first as an act of mercy, because sorrow and confusion weighed more heavily on her than on His other followers. She was still in a state of emotional turmoil on Sunday morning (John 20:11). Thus, we may imagine that she had the greatest need of comfort. As always, He was attentive to the special needs of each person and was quick to help the weakest. As Isaiah prophesied of the coming Messiah, “A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench” (Isa. 42:3; cf. Matt. 12:20).
  3. Perhaps also He was rewarding her for faithfully staying near Him throughout the days of His ordeal. She had watched His death and burial (Matt. 27:55–56, 61). Matthew gives us the impression that she and some of the other women had even kept vigil at His tomb until late on Friday night (Matt. 27:61).

          Jesus’ Second Appearance


While Mary Magdalene was bringing Peter and John to the tomb, the other Galilean women who were Jesus’ followers were hastening to inform Jesus’ disciples east of the city that He had risen from the dead. As we said before, the eleven disciples were at this time ap-parently separated into two groups. Peter and John were together in Jerusalem, where they had come to watch Jesus’ trial (John 18:12–16). The other nine were in hiding outside the city, as they had been since their flight on the night of Jesus’ arrest (Mark 14:50). They were probably at the house of Mary and Martha in Bethany.

Mark’s statement that the women told no one (Mark 16:8) means that they told no one in Jerusalem. As they rushed through the city, they said nothing to the curious on every hand about the amazing sights which had greeted them in the garden—the empty tomb, the great stone heaved aside, and the mighty angels who spoke of Jesus’ resurrection. One reason for their silence was fear—probably a fear that any story of Jesus’ resurrection would provoke the authorities to take even harsher measures against Jesus’ followers. Therefore, without dawdling in conversation with anyone along the way, they went straight to their destination, likely Bethany, which was several miles east of Jerusalem. They were reserving their amazing news for the main band of disciples.

While they were rushing along some road beyond the city, they suddenly met Jesus (Matt. 28:9–10). When He greeted the women, saying, “All hail,” they were so overcome with joy that they rushed to Him, took hold of His feet, and gave Him worship, declaring their confidence that He was no less than God in the flesh. He then assured them that they could put aside all the fears troubling their hearts, and He gave them a message for all of His followers, not just His disciples. They all should be told that they would soon be able to see Him in Galilee. He was repeating a promise that He had given His disciples right after the Last Supper (Matt. 26:32).

After the Lord dismissed the women, they fulfilled their errand. They went to the place where all the disciples aside from Peter and John had taken refuge and gave them a full account of what happened after they set out for Jesus’ tomb early in the morning. Likewise Mary Magdalene, after seeing Jesus outside His tomb, hurried to tell others the good news of Jesus’ resurrection (Mark 16:10, 11; Luke 24:9b–12; John 20:18). Luke lists the women together not because they remained in a single group but because he wishes to give them all credit for an act of faith. But instead of responding with similar faith, the men who heard the women let their shallow hearts brim with unbelief. They looked on the women’s stories as female fancy, proving how gullible they were. Doubtless one reason for the men’s unbelief is that they could not comprehend why a risen Jesus would reveal Himself preferentially to the women among His followers. These women had been promised no special role in the future days of His religious movement, whereas He had told many of the men that they would be prominent leaders.

Why were the women first to see Jesus? Likely because they had hearts that were more inclined to believe in His resurrection. It is generally God’s policy to reveal Himself to people who are ready to respond with faith rather than with doubt. Incidentally, since the Gospels were all written either by one of the original disciples or by a man close to male leaders of the church, their affirmation that Jesus appeared first not to the men but to the women is a strong mark of credibility.

Nevertheless, Matthew’s account of Jesus appearing to the women rushing away from the tomb is cited by critics as proof that the Gospels preserve fiction rather than fact. Why? Because earlier on Sunday morning Jesus forbade Mary Magdalene to touch Him, and the reason He gave was that He had not yet ascended to the Father (John 20:17). Yet a short while later, when He met the women carrying news of the empty tomb to disciples east of the city, He allowed them to grasp His feet in worship (Matt. 28:8–10). Critics say, here is a contradiction. No, here is a source of extremely valuable information. What obviously happened between these two appearances is that Jesus broke the bonds of this world and moved into His Father’s presence for the first time since His incarnation. His purpose was to present the Father with His blood and broken body as a sacrifice for the sins of mankind. When this transaction was completed, He returned to this world and engaged in more fellowship with followers who were still in bondage to mortal flesh.

During His visit to heaven, the Father accepted Jesus’ blood as a sufficient sacrifice to recompense all sin forever. Immediately afterward, Jesus ascended His throne.

11 And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins:

12 But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;

13 From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool.

Hebrews 10:11–13

The Epistle to the Hebrews provides yet another text affirming this sequence of events.

Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;

Hebrews 1:3

We conclude that the day of Jesus’ resurrection was also the day of His enthronement. Sitting down at the Father’s right hand brought Jesus’ redemptive work to an end so that He could begin the work of building the church (Matt. 16:18).

Critics are not satisfied. They reply that the time between Jesus’ appearances to Mary and the other women could not have been long enough to allow for such an epic ceremony in heaven as well as for Jesus’ travel to and from a place beyond our universe. How Jesus could have returned so quickly is a question that naturally occurs to us all. But the answer is not difficult. Heaven does not use an earthly clock. Moreover, any interaction between persons of the Trinity takes place altogether outside the created dimension known as time.

Consider these arguments in favor of our interpretation.

  1. Why would Jesus have waited any longer for a joyous reunion with the Father?
  2. In His encounter with Mary, Jesus instructed her to tell the disciples, “I ascend” (John 20:17), apparently to be understood as the reason He was not coming to them directly.
  3. Soon after Jesus’ resurrection, perhaps at the same time He was meeting with Mary or with the other women, the supernatural world intruded upon life in Jerusalem in a marvelous way, although Matthew reports the incident offhandedly.

    52 And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose,

    53 And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.

    Matthew 27:52–53

    This report implies that after appearing to many on Easter morning, these risen Old Testament saints were never seen again. The reason is that their souls were then in transit from one place of residence to another. Formerly, their dwelling place had been Abraham’s bosom, a place of joyful rest occupying one portion of Hades in the center of the earth (Luke 16:19–26). After Jesus died, His soul also descended to Hades, but on Easter morning, when He Himself rose from the dead, He removed all the righteous souls from the underworld and ushered them to their eternal dwelling place in heaven. Previously, they had not been qualified to live in the holy presence of God the Father because their sins were not yet forgiven. But the doors of heaven, their eternal home, were thrown open to them as soon as Jesus completed His redemptive work on the cross. In fulfillment of a prophecy of Hosea, the transfer of their souls from Hades to heaven coincided with Jesus’ resurrection from the dead (Hos. 6:1–2). As we learn in Matthew’s account, at least some were taken to heaven in risen bodies.

          Maneuvering of Jewish Leaders


When the soldiers posted at Jesus’ tomb ran away after seeing a glorious angel, where did they go? They did not go to the Roman governor, Pilate. They went to the Jewish leaders and reported everything that happened (Matt. 28:11). The authorities they chose to inform strongly suggests that these soldiers were not Romans, but Jews normally employed as Temple guards.

To justify their flight from the tomb, they likely told the truth—that they had beheld a glorious being who was able by his own strength to cast aside the enormous stone blocking the tomb’s entrance. Blaming their flight on some kind of intervention by supernatural forces was in fact their best strategy for escaping punishment. How could they resist any spiritual being, whether angel or demon? Furthermore, as religious leaders, the high priests were in no position to deny that such beings exist.

The news of Jesus’ open tomb disturbed the chief priests so much that they immediately summoned “the elders,” which probably refers to a major portion of the Sanhedrin, and debated how they should respond. As in Jesus’ trial, any members known to be sympathetic with Jesus were probably excluded (Matt. 28:12a). They decided to circulate a story that they knew was absolutely false. They instructed the soldiers to tell people that Jesus’ disciples had come during the night and stolen His body while the guard was asleep. For reasons we will consider later, this was a preposterous story that only the most gullible Jews would have believed (Matt. 28:13). When the soldiers consented to blab these lying words everywhere, the Jewish leaders gave them “large money” as a reward (Matt. 28:12b). Yet the soldiers were still uneasy about what might happen to them if the disappearance of Jesus’ body came to Pilate’s attention. To calm their fears, the high priests promised that they would persuade Pilate not to take any punitive action (Matt. 28:14). All this maneuvering by Jewish leaders proved to be so successful that the falsehood which they invented to hide Jesus’ resurrection was later seen by many Jews as the real truth. The success of these soldiers in deceiving so many Jews is another clue that they were Jews themselves, not Romans.


          Jesus’ Third Appearance


This appearance is often overlooked in discussions of Jesus’ resurrection because, although it is remembered in one of Paul’s epistles (1 Cor. 15:5), only one Gospel refers to it, and there it is mentioned only in an incidental remark. On Sunday evening, after the main group of disciples had come back to Jerusalem and assembled in a private gathering place, probably in the same upper room where they had shared the Last Supper, they said to some other disciples coming to join them, “The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon” (Luke 23:34).

We have no idea exactly when or where Jesus met with Peter during the previous hours of the same day. A reasonable timing of events supposes that Peter saw Him after Jesus had manifested Himself to the women outside the city and after Peter had finished walking back from the tomb to his lodgings in Jerusalem. The reason that Jesus gave high priority to visiting Peter on Sunday morning is quite obvious. On the night of Jesus’ arrest, Peter descended into a horrible offense against his Lord and Master by denying Him three times. As a result, he not only forfeited any right to act as leader of the Twelve, but he also positioned himself as an actual enemy of Jesus. Yet as a beautiful touch of divine mercy, Jesus soon came to Peter and gave him an opportunity to repent of a sin deserving nothing less than full divine wrath. Subsequent events leave no doubt that Peter, with an inexpressibly grateful heart, responded by telling Jesus how sorry he was. We know from his self-sacrificing service to Christ throughout the remainder of his life that his repentance was absolutely genuine. According to tradition, his many years of faithful ministry ended in martyrdom.


          Jesus’ Fourth Appearance


Later on Sunday, the exact time being uncertain, two of Jesus’ followers were walking from Jerusalem to their home in Emmaus, a small village which Luke informs us was about sixty furlongs (seven and a half miles) away from the city (Luke 24:13). Although modern scholars have never been able to prove its exact location,19 some identify it as the village whose remains are found in a beautiful valley about seven miles northwest of Jerusalem.20 As the two men proceeded along their road, they talked with sad and doubting hearts about stories they had heard claiming that their Lord was no longer dead but alive (Luke 24:14; their sadness mentioned in v. 17).

Suddenly, a man who appeared to be another traveler drew close and began talking with them. He was the risen Jesus, but because He had either altered His appearance or obscured their perceptions, they failed to recognize Him (Luke 24:15–16). When He asked why their conversation was so sad (Luke 24:17), they were surprised. The man whose name was Cleopas asked Jesus if He was a stranger in Jerusalem; in other words, whether He was ignorant of the tragic event that had taken place in the city because He was a foreigner passing through the region. Cleopas’s words imply that the trial and crucifixion of Jesus were, for everyone living in Jerusalem, no less than a major news story (Luke 24:18). When Jesus again asked what they were talking about, they answered that in their grieving words they were remembering what had been done to Jesus of Nazareth. As a demonstration of their heart’s devotion to Jesus, they called Him “a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people” (Luke 24:19). And with mourning hearts they added that despite His obviously high stature in God’s sight, the religious leaders sent Him to the cross (Luke 24:20), an immeasurably great disappointment to His followers, who had trusted that He would be the Savior of Israel. This stroke of black injustice had been delivered three days ago (Luke 24:21).

Cleopas admitted that rumors were now spreading that Jesus rose from the dead. He and his companion heard before they left the city that some of the ladies close to Jesus had gone early in the morning to His tomb and found it empty. The same women even claimed that angels appeared to them and affirmed that Jesus was alive. Others later visited the tomb and found that it was empty indeed. Cleopas was evidently unaware that Jesus had already appeared to some of His followers (Luke 24:22–24).

The words of Cleopas must have been riddled with serious doubt. Perhaps he and his companion were wondering whether some of Jesus’ followers had indeed stolen His body, for Jesus answered Cleopas with strong words of rebuke.

25 . . . O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken:

26 Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?

Luke 24:25–26

The Greek word rendered “fools” is not full of contempt, as its translation here suggests. A better rendering would be “thoughtless.”21 Jesus said, “How thoughtless and slow of heart to believe.” They had failed to believe the many prophecies in the Old Testament as well as in the words of Jesus that foresaw both His agonizing death and His resurrection. Ever since His Transfiguration, Jesus had told His disciples that “he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day” (Matt. 16:21). Now as He walked on the road to Emmaus, Jesus gave His two companions a much broader knowledge of Old Testament prophecies concerning the coming Messiah. “Beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself” (Luke 24:27).

Perhaps after thirty minutes or an hour, they reached the village where apparently both of these men lived. Jesus then began to break away from their company (Luke 24:28), but His gracious spirit and deep wisdom had made such an impression upon them that they resisted His departure. They “constrained him”—that is, they pleaded with Him in words expressing a strong and sincere preference—not to leave immediately, but to come into their dwelling and remain overnight. After all, they said, “It is toward evening, and the day is far spent” (Luke 24:29). Of course, when giving them the impression that He meant to continue on the road, He was merely testing whether they had responded to His teaching with hearts of faith, and as the very God who always rewards faith, He consented to “tarry with them” (Luke 24:29).

As an expression of their true hospitality, they not only provided lodgings for Jesus, but also food. Yet they hardly expected what would happen when they all sat down together. Recognizing Him as a spiritual mentor, they found it completely proper and natural when, at the table, He assumed the role normally assumed by the father of a family. He “took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them” (Luke 24:30). Now they suddenly realized who He was. “Their eyes were opened, and they knew him” (Luke 24:31a). The exact reason is not stated. But we can be sure that the basic cause of their fresh insight was an inner work of the Holy Spirit. Yet we can also be sure that what they saw and heard made their minds more receptive to truth. Jesus’ words of blessing which were no doubt addressed to the Father may have marked the speaker as no less than the Son. Also, His act of breaking and distributing bread may have reminded them of earlier occasions when He used the same ceremony to demonstrate that He is the Bread of Life (John 6:48).

At the very moment when they realized who was sitting before them, He disappeared (Luke 24:31b). Their response was joyful excitement. The man who had been teaching them with unique kindness and wisdom was no less than Jesus Himself! As they recalled their interaction with Him, they remembered how deeply His words had touched their hearts, even setting them on fire with a longing for more truth about the ways of God (Luke 24:32). Then they felt a strong sense that God had put them in a position of great responsibility. As witnesses of the risen Christ, they now had to tell others about what they had seen.

Luke’s detailed account of Jesus’ appearance on the road to Emmaus makes it probable that he drew the facts directly from someone who was there.22 In the judgment of the great English writer C. S. Lewis, the account bears all the marks of an actual interview that Luke had with one or both of these men.23 Scripture gives us no clue as to how either was connected with Jesus and His followers.24 Yet from the attention Jesus gave them, and from His lengthy tutoring of them in Messianic prophecy, we may assume that He was preparing one or both for a future ministry vital in building the early church. Perhaps the one who is unnamed was Philip the evangelist, who played a prominent role in expanding the early church in multiple directions: toward Samaria, Ethiopia, and northwest Judea (Acts 8:5–13, 26–40). From what we read in the Book of Acts about Luke’s own ministry, we know that he met Philip and his daughters, gifted as prophets, when he accompanied Paul on the apostle’s last journey to Jerusalem (Acts 21:8–15). Paul and his party stayed awhile in Caesarea, where Philip and his family lived. After arrival in Jerusalem, Paul was taken into custody and escorted back to Caesarea for imprisonment, which lasted two years (Acts 23:23–35; 24:27). Throughout much of this period, it is likely that Luke, seeking to remain as close to Paul as he could, was also in Caesarea.25 If so, he had opportunity for lengthy conversations with the family of Philip, and from these he could have learned much about events both before and after the Resurrection, especially about Philip’s own ministry. Luke’s access to this source of information may be why Philip is a prominent figure in the Book of Acts. Also, based on Luke’s personal connection to Philip, we can claim as a good possibility that Philip was one of the men in Luke’s account of Jesus’ appearance on the road to Emmaus. Perhaps Philip, as an expression of deep humility, told Luke not to identify him as one of the travelers lest some readers infer from the special attention given him by Jesus that he stood higher in God’s sight than other saints.


          Jesus’ Fifth Appearance


Whoever the two men were, their sudden discovery that they had been speaking with Jesus risen from the dead left them full of joy. It also made them eager to share the good news of Jesus’ resurrection with His other followers so that they might be full of joy also. Without delay, even within the same hour as Jesus’ departure from them, they rushed back to Jerusalem (Mark 16:13; Luke 24:33). They evidently knew where these other followers had gone into seclusion.

Upon entering the room where they had gathered, the two men saw nearly the whole group who remained after the death of Judas. In John’s Gospel we learn that Thomas, however, was missing (John 20:24). All the rest were huddled together as if they wondered what would happen next. We learn from Luke’s Gospel that when the two men from Emmaus told everyone about their encounter with the Lord, many answered by affirming that Jesus had indeed risen from the dead, for He had also appeared to Simon Peter (Luke 24:33b, 34). Yet Mark’s Gospel tells us that the general response was unbelief (Mark 16:13b). How do we reconcile these two accounts? There is no contradiction here. The men who spoke up were merely mouthing what they had heard as if it were truth lest they arouse the disapproval and anger of others, but in their hearts they did not yet really believe the stories being circulated. What comes from a person’s mouth is not necessarily the same as his inner thoughts. Perhaps many of the disciples attached little credibility to what emotionally overwrought women like Mary Magdalene were saying or even to what Peter was saying, for, after all, he had denied the Lord, and likely he now felt a great need to recover everyone’s confidence by convincing them that he was not a hypocrite, but a real man of faith. Perhaps gnawing at the hearts of some of these skeptics was a suspicion that someone had indeed stolen Jesus’ body.

While the disciples listened to the two men as they recalled their encounter with Jesus (Luke 24:35), the Lord Himself suddenly appeared in their midst and said, “Peace be unto you” (Luke 24:36; John 20:19). To see Him standing before them was a great shock to many, not only because they were still wrestling with doubt that He had really appeared to some people earlier in the day, but also because the doors were locked for their protection (John 20:19). They were shut tight because of fear that after the authorities heard about the empty tomb, they would send out soldiers to seize His followers (John 20:19). How could any man of flesh and bones enter a fully sealed room? The solution to this riddle that came to the thoughts of many was that He was not flesh and bones, but a spirit that merely looked like flesh and bones (Luke 24:37).

Perceiving what was passing through their minds, Jesus denied that He was no more than a spirit. As proof, He let them see and touch His hands as well as His feet, which they discovered were exactly like the extremities of ordinary people (Luke 24:38–40; John 20:20). He stressed that a spirit lacks flesh and bones (Luke 24:39). In other words, it is not composed of matter. Although it looks like a body, it is not made of actual atoms and molecules. But Jesus’ body was different. When His disciples reached out to touch Him, they could feel His flesh on the surface as well as His bones underneath.

Yet their discovery that He had a real body hardly solved all the mysteries surrounding His presence among them. First, He appeared out of nothing. As the disciples sat in the Upper Room, He suddenly became visible in their midst. Second, He passed into a closed room. What was the explanation for these unnatural and seemingly impossible abilities of Jesus’ resurrected body? The true explanation may exceed the limits of our comprehension. Perhaps barriers in three dimensions could not hinder Him because He existed in four dimensions. (If, by using chalk on a blackboard, a teacher draws an overview of a room with a closed door, he need not open this door in order to enter the room set in two dimensions with his piece of chalk movable in three.)

According to Luke, “They believed not for joy” (Luke 24:41). Since they dearly wanted to believe that Jesus had risen, the sight of Him standing in their midst indeed brought joy to their hearts. Yet at the same time this joy fanned an unpleasant sense that they were giving way to wishful thinking. He therefore offered another proof. He asked for food, and, when they provided a broiled fish and a piece of honeycomb, He ate both morsels as they watched, no doubt with huge curiosity and amazement (Luke 24:41–43).

Then, after compassionately dealing with their unbelief by showing that He had indeed risen from the dead, Jesus let them know how much God was displeased with their unbelief (Mark 16:14). Often when we hear that a miracle has taken place, it is of course merely common sense to respond with skepticism. But to respond in this way is altogether wrong and dangerous if the claim points to facts that clearly display the hand of God. Jesus therefore proceeded to show His disciples that His resurrection was a fulfillment of divinely inspired prophecy.

44 And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.

45 Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures,

Luke 24:44–45

Jesus informed them that glimmers of the coming Christ achieving victory over death occur not only in the prophetic books of the Old Testament, but also in the Books of Moses and in the Psalms. Later in our discussion we will examine many of the prophetic texts that probably were cited by Jesus.

Then, before departing from His disciples and bringing to a conclusion His last appearance on Easter Sunday, Jesus gave them three glimpses of their future mission as leaders of the universal church to be founded fifty days later, at the Feast of Pentecost.

  1. He said, “Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you” (John 20:21). He held Himself before them as an example they should follow. In obedience to His Father’s will, He had left heaven and assumed the identity of a mere man so that He might die for the sins of all mankind. At an immeasurable cost in pain and suffering, He had provided eternal life for millions in the future who would accept Him as their Savior. Likewise, the disciples would be asked to turn their backs on lives of success and comfort in order to take the news of salvation to a lost humanity. Whereas God the Father sent Christ from heaven to this world, it would be God the Son who would send the disciples from their homeland to places far and wide.
  2. “And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost” (John 20:22). The task they would be given would be impossible to accomplish by human strength. No group of mere men relying solely on their own resources and abilities could, within the next fifty years or so, evangelize the entire Roman empire. The dynamic progress of the gospel even within their lifetimes would be an achievement made possible by the Holy Spirit. Only by relying on the Spirit as their source of supernatural power to travel, preach, do miracles, build churches, and overcome persecution could they establish the religion that would someday be the largest on planet earth.
         The disciples did not receive the Holy Spirit at this moment when they stood in Jesus’ presence. What Jesus did was meant to prepare them for this wonderful gift that they would receive fifty days later at the Feast of Pentecost. On that day, following ten days of seclusion in an upper room where they would go after Jesus’ ascension to heaven, the Holy Spirit would descend upon them. In ages past, the Holy Spirit had always possessed and empowered the people of God whenever they required supernatural help to accomplish the work of God. But after the coming Feast, the Holy Spirit would continually indwell all believers in Christ, not only to give them the wisdom and strength that they needed to serve their Savior, but also to provide them with eternal membership in the universal church, which is the invisible body of Christ.
  3. “Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained” (John 20:23). Basically, Jesus was warning the world of mankind that there is only one way to heaven. It is by receiving the gospel that would be proclaimed to the world by the disciples and by all the generations of preachers who would follow in their steps. Anyone who accepts the offer of salvation through Christ that the gospel proclaims will have his sins forgiven. Anyone who rejects this kind offer by a merciful God will retain his sins and suffer the consequences.
         Jesus was also warning all His followers down through the centuries that if they fail to make a proper contribution to the work of evangelism, they will be retaining the sins of others. They will be held responsible for souls being lost.

          Jesus’ Sixth Appearance


Missing from Jesus’ meeting with His disciples on Resurrection Sunday was the disciple whose name was Thomas. He was also known as Didymus (John 20:24), which means “twin.”26 His twin brother, if indeed he had one, is never mentioned in Scripture. The difference between these two men who looked alike—the one destined to total obscurity, the other eventually assuming a high place in the kingdom of God—should serve both as comfort and warning to any other pair of twins. Each can know that he or she is in no way bound by the failures of an identical sibling. Nor is he or she guaranteed the same success.

The reason for Thomas’s absence when Jesus first appeared to His other disciples is not provided by any Gospel writer. But soon afterward, whether on the same Sunday or later in the week, Thomas heard from them about this appearance, and his response was skepticism, to say the least (John 20:24–25). In fact, he stated bluntly that he refused to believe their story, although he was apparently willing to accept the possibility that they saw His disembodied spirit, for after all, death does not terminate the life of a person’s spirit, only the life of his body. Therefore, if he himself saw Jesus, he would not believe that he was looking at His actual body unless he saw on it the marks of crucifixion, including the print of nails. Indeed, to verify that what he saw was not just a picture in his own mind, he would insist on touching these scars with his own hands. In more specific terms, he would refuse to believe unless he was able, as he said, to “put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side.” John in his Gospel chooses not to criticize Thomas for his lack of faith, but it has brought upon him the undying shame of being known as “doubting Thomas.”

Yet Thomas was actually no worse than most of the other ten remaining disciples, for with the probable exception of John, whose role in standing by the cross and taking care of Jesus’ mother surely raised him to higher wisdom, they had all greeted the risen Christ with doubting hearts. As Jesus dealt with the disciples He met earlier, so He dealt with Thomas, for He provided every one of these beloved followers with undeniable proof that His body had overcome death. The most dramatic proof was presented to them eight days after His resurrection (John 20:26). By the Jewish way of measuring time, known as inclusive reckoning because it counts both the first and the last day in any block of time, eight days is the same as one week. Thus it was one week after Jesus’ resurrection, on the following Sunday, when He appeared to all of His disciples including Thomas as they were gathered in a closed room, no doubt because they were still keeping out of sight lest they become targets of the same vicious mob which had demanded that Jesus be put to death.

Suddenly Jesus appeared in their midst and said, “Peace be unto you.” Then He addressed Thomas personally and said, “Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing” (John 20:27). Although the mere sight of Jesus may have been enough to overcome his doubts, Thomas undoubtedly did as he was told, and his response was a strong affirmation of faith, for he said, “My Lord and my God” (John 20:28). Jesus then in very mild words rebuked him for his previous lack of faith. “Because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed” (John 20:29a). In His loving mercy for this disciple, Jesus imposed no penalty on him even though He had been slow to believe in Jesus’ triumph over death. Unbelief concerning an actual fact can have many causes. One is a passionate hope that it is false. Yet another is a passionate fear that it is not true. No doubt Thomas’s unbelief was of the latter kind. Such fear is still no excuse if the fact is a work of God. Yet it may receive divine mercy, as in the case of Thomas.

Jesus took Thomas’s lack of faith as an opportunity to teach a critical lesson. He said, “Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed” (John 20:29b). He was speaking directly to us all, because none of us will ever see the bodily presence of Jesus while we are living in this world. Some have claimed that they saw Him in dreams or visions. Perhaps they did, especially if they were living under circumstances that largely deprived them of Scripture and Christian testimony. But anyone who insists that they have seen Jesus with their human eyes is surely incorrect, for Jesus’ words to Thomas on this occasion were addressed to all men in the coming Church Age. They would have a choice. Although lacking any opportunity to see the risen Christ, their eternal destiny would depend on whether they chose to believe in His resurrection. If they accepted the gospel message that He died and rose again to provide us with salvation, they would receive God’s blessing, even to the extent of enjoying a blessed life forever.

Now, before proceeding to tell us about Jesus’ visitation that would serve as the subject of what has become the final chapter in his Gospel, John speaks to us directly, admonishing us to accept his testimony that Jesus truly rose from the dead. Why should we? Because Jesus gave him and the other disciples many proofs that He was standing before them in a living physical body. Indeed, He gave them many more proofs than John reports (John 20:30). These are not recorded in his Gospel or in the other Gospels because the testimony which they do furnish is sufficient grounds to respond in faith (John 20:31).


          Jesus’ Seventh Appearance


During Jesus’ appearance to the disciples including Thomas, He probably told them that they should now leave Jerusalem and walk to Galilee, where He would see them again at a mountain near the lake (Matt. 28:16). Now that a week had gone by since His body disappeared from its tomb, their enemies had probably turned their attention to other matters, so that it was safe to leave their hiding place and walk out of the city.

In obedience to Jesus’ instruction, the whole group of eleven disciples as well as all the other Galilean believers who had accompanied Jesus on His last journey to Jerusalem hastened back to their home territory. Whether they knew exactly where and when Jesus would meet them in Galilee is not revealed to us. But John’s account makes it clear that they did not see Him immediately upon their arrival. Rather, they took up lodgings near the lake, known both as the Sea of Tiberius and the Sea of Galilee, and spent at least a few days waiting for His next appearance (John 21:1). The delay was undoubtedly a gift of kindness from the hand of God, who knew that a period of rest would be good for the group of men and women who had endured the trauma of Jesus’ crucifixion. While they were enjoying this newfound peace and safety, some of the men decided to pursue one of their favorite forms of recreation—fishing. Of course, fishing had, at least for Peter and the sons of Zebedee, been their means of livelihood. They had spent much of their young adult life catching fish in the sea. But undoubtedly it had not been just a dreary job that they accepted because they had no other way of supporting themselves. Instead, they must have enjoyed their exercise of skill in managing boats and in overcoming dangers of wave and storm and in conquering whole schools of fish.

So, one evening in Galilee, Peter announced to some of the other disciples that he intended to go “a fishing.” The others were James and John, Thomas, Nathanael of Cana, and two others who are unnamed (John 21:2). Probably they were all staying together at his home near the lake. The boat he intended to use was probably one in his possession that he had used while pursuing a fishing trade in years past. The other men replied that they would be glad to go with him. They welcomed the opportunity to get some exercise, which is always good for relaxation and for escape from all kinds of worry. The time Peter chose for this excursion into the lake was after sunset. Why has nighttime always been generally preferred by professional fishermen? Because they have understood that it gives the best results, especially when the target is large fish. After darkness falls, these are more active and more willing to swim near the surface.27

Peter and his six companions departed from shore in the same boat and began to manage the fishing net. But after casting it out and regathering it time after time throughout the whole night, they “caught nothing” (John 21:3). Then at daybreak, as they were hovering not too far from land, they saw a man standing beside the lake (John 21:4). For some reason they did not recognize Him, nor did they recognize His voice when He shouted a question, “Children, have ye any meat?” (John 21:5). Here is a touch of realism joining a multitude of other like touches throughout the Gospel accounts. If John did not see Jesus on this occasion but wanted us to believe that he did, why would he tell us that they did not at first recognize Him? We suspect that His risen body presented a stronger presence than His mortal body. The word “meat,” by the way, refers to any food other than bread.28 The reference here is obviously to fish. No doubt because they perceived the voice as friendly, the disciples shouted back, “No.” That is, their fishing expedition was a total failure.

But then what Jesus said next took them by surprise (John 21:6). A bystander onshore told professional fishermen how to catch some fish and confidently predicted success if they did what He said. He called out to them, “Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find.” They were so frustrated by all the hours of failure that they were willing to try anything new, so they took the stranger’s advice and shifted the fishing net from the left side of the boat to the right side. Within a short time the net was full of fish, so full that they could not even pull it out of the water.

The fishermen were then so amazed at their catch that they must have looked at each other with wondering faces. Suddenly the truth dawned on John’s mind, probably because Jesus had performed a similar miracle on an earlier occasion (Luke 5:1–11). Then John said to Peter in a decisive voice full of reverence, “It is the Lord” (John 21:7). As soon as Peter realized that the man speaking to them was Jesus Himself and that He had just performed a miracle on their behalf, He was so overcome by joy that he quickly put on some clothes, jumped overboard, and swam to shore. One reason he and the others were virtually “naked” is that the work of fishing was easier when they stripped themselves to the waist by removing their outer garments.29 So, in a dry place on board, they set these garments aside while they were busy doing their work. But now Peter wanted to be fully clothed when he met the man on the beach, so he swam through the water wearing his fisher’s coat.

The other disciples were more practical in their response to the Lord’s presence (John 21:8). They understood that it would be wise to protect the boat and fishing apparatus as well as to keep the fish. So, they rowed back to shore. But to save time, they did not pull their huge catch on board. They simply dragged behind them the full net drawn up into a tight bundle. The distance they had to go was only two hundred cubits, which is about three hundred feet or a hundred yards.

After coming aground, they saw that Jesus had already stoked a fire of coals for the purpose of preparing food (John 21:9). In fact, some fish which had already been cooking over the fire were now ready to eat, and besides the fish, they also saw a supply of bread. Why did Jesus go to the trouble of building a fire and cooking food when He could have miraculously created food that was fully prepared, as He did when He fed the 5000? Likely one reason is that the fire itself was beneficial to the disciples, who were cold and wet. Likely another reason was to demonstrate that for the purpose of helping others, even God’s Son was willing to assume the role of a lowly servant. His servant’s heart was of course intended as an example for us. We too should never imagine ourselves too big and important to reach out with a helping hand.

Jesus instructed the disciples to bring Him the fish that they had caught (John 21:10-11), and Peter, perhaps with the help of others, drew the net onto the land—a major undertaking because it was so full and the fish were unusually large. When they removed and counted all the fish, they found that the number was probably more than they had ever previously seen in a single fishing net. There were no less than 153. Counting the fish taken after a day’s or night’s work was no doubt standard procedure for men whose livelihood was fishing.

Jesus then invited them all to share the meal He had prepared (John 21:12). He said, “Come and dine.” John’s next words have raised a question in the minds of many readers. He says, “And none of the disciples durst ask him, Who art thou? knowing that it was the Lord.” The question is, why did they both recognize Him and not recognize Him? Here is another touch of realism. In Jerusalem they had only seen Him in a poorly lit room, but now He stood in broad daylight covered with sunshine, and they could see that He looked different from the Jesus they had previously known, although His words and conduct left no doubt that He was truly Jesus. What had changed in His appearance? No Gospel writer furnishes this information. But we can surmise that His risen body realized the full potential of His inherited genes, fully half of them coming from His divine Father. For the sake of His original disciples as well as all others who would accept Him as their Savior, His risen body still carried the scars of His redemptive work. Everyone could still see the wounds in His hands and side. But overall He was missing the features of a body marred by age and the effects of a hard life. Rather, His body showed the perfection of a heavenly Being. Despite some puzzlement over Jesus’ appearance, the disciples who were gathered around Him quickly came to certainty that it was Jesus. His wisdom, His caring attitude, and His wholly righteous character as well as the major features of His physical body left no reasonable doubt as to His identity.

What was the significance in the miracle performed by the risen Christ at the Sea of Galilee? When He originally called Peter and Andrew to be His disciples, He approached them while they were fishing at the same sea, perhaps near to exactly the same place on the western shore, and He called out to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men” (Matt. 4:18). On the day more than three years later when He gave them an abundant harvest of fish, the miracle He performed was intended to teach them the secret of success in their future work of evangelism. Without Jesus’ help, their work was unproductive and pointless. They caught no fish at all. But with His help, they caught fish in abundance. Likewise in the future, when they would be sent out as fishers of men into the whole world, their attempts to fulfill the Great Commission would yield no eternal results if they depended solely on their own labor and talents. They would need to rely on the power of God. Solely by declaring the name of the Son while relying on the guidance and power of the Spirit and submitting to the authority of the Father would they and their successors be able to build a worldwide church.

On the day when Jesus enabled seven disciples to achieve a big catch of fish, He offered them food after they came ashore. A night of hard work had left them hungry, so they came forward without hesitation and began to eat (John 21:13). As John reminds us, this was the third time a group of disciples saw the risen Jesus (John 21:14). He had appeared a fourth time to Peter individually and one less time to Thomas, who missed Jesus’ first visit to the Twelve. Five disciples were missing when the disciples met Him on this occasion beside the Sea of Galilee. Yet there would later be two occasions when He would be seen by all eleven remaining disciples.

After dinner, Jesus took Peter aside and began a conversation with him that in later years, this disciple may have remembered as the most important in his whole life experience.

15 So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs.

16 He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep.

17 He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep.

John 21:15–17

Three times Jesus asked the question, “Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me?” There are very subtle nuances in this conversation that are easy to overlook. A reader of the KJV misses some of them because they were ignored by the translator of this passage, probably because preserving them would have required too many words in English. For example, the KJV presents Jesus’ three questions as exactly the same, but they are not. The first two times when He asked if Peter loved Him, the Greek word for “love” was agape.30 It is fruitless to look for the meaning of this word outside the New Testament, because it scarcely appears in earlier Greek literature.31 The word in the special sense that it has for Christians is virtually an invention of the New Testament. Certain key texts give the essence of agape in its highest form.

  1. It is unselfish. Because God loved the world with agape, He gave His Son to die for the sins of mankind (John 3:16).32 He gave what was most valuable to Himself to those who deserved nothing and who were powerless to give anything to Him. This act of love, being wholly untarnished by selfishness, serves as the supreme example of agape. When describing agape, Paul in First Corinthians 13, known as “the love chapter,” says that “charity [that is, agape] . . . vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up . . . , seeketh not her own” (1 Cor. 13:4–5).33 Whereas every other form of love requires something in return from the beloved, agape requires nothing. Unlike eros, which is romantic love,34 it requires neither beauty nor virility. Unlike storge, which is family love,35 it does not require sameness of blood. Unlike phileo, which is love between friends,36 it does not require sameness of mind. Hence, it is perfectly unselfish.
  2. It is all-consuming. The first and greatest commandment is that we love God with agape and that we draw upon the resources of our whole being to make this love as intense as possible.37

    37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

    38 This is the first and great commandment.

    Matthew 22:37–38

    Perfect agape when God is the object must therefore be all-consuming.
  3. It is indestructible. The second greatest commandment also requires love. For whom?

    39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

    40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

    Matthew 22:39–40

    It requires love for our neighbor, and again the love it specifies is agape.38 How do we love ourselves? Self-love is innate and permanent (Eph. 5:29). Nothing can remove it. Likewise, nothing can overthrow true love, of the kind called agape. According to “the love chapter,” agape “beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never faileth” (1 Cor. 13:7–8). In other words, it is indestructible.

In response to Jesus’ first two questions, Peter did not use the word agape to affirm his love for Jesus. Instead, he described his affection as phileo, the word ordinarily used for mere friendship.39 Jesus also decided to use this word in His third question, where it replaces agape, and Peter again used phileo in his third answer.

Yet we should not be too hard in judging Peter for his choice of words. It is very likely that he avoided the word agape because he perceived the true weakness in his love for Jesus. He could hardly claim that it was agape when a few days before he had denied the Lord three times. Jesus fully understood that Peter’s choice of words did not express how Peter wanted to feel. Rather they expressed his sense of failure. Therefore, Jesus did not chide him for avoiding the word agape. He even changed His third question, substituting phileo for agape, to spare Peter from any deeper guilt and discouragement. Yet Peter was nevertheless very grieved that the Lord was not satisfied with his first two declarations of love. He apparently felt that repetition of the question was a refusal to believe what Peter had said. So he replied, “Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee.”

Peter apparently did not at first comprehend what Jesus was doing. He was not testing Peter’s loyalty and love. Rather, He was giving his wounded servant a healing touch. Peter’s recent denial of Jesus was still a raw wound within His conscience. Therefore, because he had denied Jesus three times, Jesus drew from him three affirmations of his love for Jesus. He was giving Peter a chance to erase each of his lies with words of truth. In the future, when Peter looked back on this conversation with Jesus, he would always be deeply grateful that he was given the opportunity to apologize for his denials in the most convincing way—by insisting repeatedly that love was the true feeling of his heart.

Each time in response to Peter’s answer, Jesus issued him a command. The first time He said, “Feed my lambs.”40 The second and third times He said, “Feed my sheep.”41 Here was clear advice that when Peter and other church leaders undertook the work of instructing believers in the whole counsel of God, they should follow the same strategy followed by good parents. As spiritual babes who resemble lambs of the flock, new believers should be fed the milk of the Word. More mature believers who resemble adult sheep should be fed the meat of the Word. The same counsel appears throughout New Testament epistles (1 Cor. 3:1–2; Heb. 5:12–14; 1 Pet. 2:2).

Jesus’ words so far left no doubt that Peter would play a major role in spreading the good news of salvation. But for Peter’s sake, He did not close their conversation until this disciple received a balanced picture of things to come. Yes, Peter would enjoy great success as a leader of God’s people, yet his future years of ministry would not be travel down an easy path. On the contrary, his life would be a continuing battle against forces of evil. Just as Jesus Himself provoked the violent opposition of wicked men, so would Peter. Indeed, what may have been Jesus’ last words addressed to Peter alone were extremely sobering, to say the least. Jesus said, “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not” (John 21:18). Jesus was evidently referring to the dressing of Peter’s corpse and its removal to a place of burial.

To amplify the Lord’s meaning, John adds, “This spake he, signifying by what death he [Peter] should glorify God” (John 21:19). What in Jesus’ words points to the manner of Peter’s death? The phrase ‘stretch forth . . . hands’ is, literally, ‘hold out . . . hands,’ an expression often used to describe someone being crucified.42 Perhaps it spoke of his position not only on the cross, but afterward as well. If a dead victim was not brought down immediately, rigor mortis was in some cases able to set in and stiffen his arms so that they remained outstretched even when pulled loose from the nails. According to tradition, Peter was indeed crucified as Jesus foretold, and by his own choice he was crucified head down.43 However the cross was rotated, the victim’s arms must have reached sideways.

But notice that Jesus also told Peter the time of his death. He would not come to it until he was an old man. These were words that served in future years as great encouragement to Peter. He knew from Jesus’ prophecy that all the threats and attacks that Satan would mount against him in his younger years would not succeed in taking his life. A few years later, when Herod imprisoned him in Jerusalem, he slept so soundly during the night that an angel had trouble waking him up (Acts 12:6–9). Since at that time he was only in his forties, he felt totally secure that neither tomorrow nor any day soon would be his last.

Why did Jesus have this conversation with Peter a few days after the Resurrection? Probably for two reasons.

  1. Ever since Peter denied Jesus, guilt tormented his heart. Jesus was easing Peter’s guilt by assuring him that his future manner of death—evidently by crucifixion—would be full payment for his failure to fight against Jesus’ crucifixion.
  2. He was telling Peter that his present inability to pronounce true agape love for Jesus would be overcome. How? A long lifetime of Christian service would provide him with many years of spiritual growth.

Jesus concluded His foreglimpse of Peter’s future by saying, “Follow me” (John 21:19). In other words, the ultimate proof of Peter’s love for Jesus would be his willingness in coming days to walk in obedience to God’s leading. What he said on the day of their conversation was of far less significance than what he would actually do throughout the remainder of his life.

On this day, Peter showed that he was still very immature in the sense that he was still very self-centered. After the Lord gave him a glimpse of how he would die, Peter pointed to John and asked, “And what shall this man do?” (John 21:20). He apparently wanted to know whether he faced a worse fate than John’s. Yet it is unlikely that he was inquiring whether, in comparison to John, he would suffer more agony before he died. We suspect that Peter’s chief concern was whether he had lost an opportunity to escape death altogether. Some months before and again at the Last Supper, Jesus had told the disciples that when He set up His kingdom, they would assume positions of high authority (Matt. 19:28; 20:20–23; Luke 22:29–30). Perhaps these disciples including Peter were under the impression that Jesus would return and set up His kingdom soon, within the next few years. They no doubt realized that if they were correct, likely all of them would never die. Therefore, Peter’s question sought to find out whether John, who was evidently Jesus’ most beloved disciple, would also be a victim of death someday. If not, then Peter would infer that his own fate, including not only suffering but even suffering unto a death that he might have escaped, would be truly horrible. He could only view it as punishment for betraying Christ. Such a prospect amplified the guilt bearing heavily upon his soul.

Support for our interpretation comes from Jesus’ response to Peter. “If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me” (John 21:22). In the words of down-to-earth language, “If it is my will that John will never die, that’s none of your business.” Yet while rebuking Peter for his immaturity of outlook, Jesus was also reminding him of the one good solution for his guilt. That solution was to follow Jesus, living for Him day-by-day in the future. Only in that way could he prove that he loved Jesus. And the reward for loving Jesus is forgiveness of sin. And with forgiveness of sin come joy and peace and escape from all memory and all lasting consequences of our former wanderings into wickedness.


          Jesus’ Eighth Appearance


Jesus’ announcement to the Twelve that He would appear in Galilee (Matt. 28:10) suggests in several ways that this appearance would be for the benefit of as many followers as possible.

  1. It would be in Galilee, where most of His followers resided.
  2. He postponed this appearance until news of it could spread to as many followers as possible.
  3. Now that Jesus had been condemned and executed by Jewish and Roman authorities, Galilee was by far a safer place for a great number of His followers to gather together. His appearance in Galilee is undoubtedly the one that Paul, when he lists many of Jesus’ post-resurrection appearances, describes in these words. “After that [being seen by the Twelve], he was seen of above 500 brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep” (1 Cor. 15:6).

From Matthew we learn that the place where everyone gathered to see Jesus on this occasion was upon a mountain (Matt. 28:16). Which one is not identified, but it seems likely that it was the same mountain in Galilee where Peter, James, and John had seen His transfiguration (Matt. 17:1). The reaction of the observers was mixed. Whereas presumably all of them worshipped Him, some did so with doubting hearts (Matt. 28:17).

It was unto this large assembly that He delivered the words of instruction which have become known as the Great Commission.

18 . . . All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.

19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.

Matt. 28:19–20

Here, Jesus presented His program for the church. His followers were to go everywhere, teach (literally, “make disciples of”44) all nations, baptize new believers, and teach them Jesus’ commandments. Here also He instituted the Christian rite of baptism, which was to be administered to all who believed the gospel. And in His baptismal formula setting the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost on the same exalted plane of spiritual authority, He, perhaps for the first time in His recorded ministry, clearly identified the Holy Spirit as a divine person distinct from the Father.

Even though Jesus’ disciples were grounded in Jewish rabbinic teaching, which recognized only one person in the Godhead, perhaps many of them had, in the course of Jesus’ ministry, come to understand that Jesus is the fully divine Son in a Godhead uniting a Son with His Father. But although Jesus had often referred to the Holy Spirit, they may not have realized that the Holy Spirit is also fully divine, ranking even as the third member of a divine Trinity. Now that these disciples and other followers of Jesus stood at the dawn of the Church Age, Jesus illuminated all the doctrines that He wished to be included in the creed of orthodox Christianity. Among the most important and fundamental expressions of Christian faith would be the doctrine of the Trinity. The careful sequencing of new ideas that we find in the Gospels is another evidence that they are authentic. Such subtlety would never have appeared in fictional Gospels put together in later years by religious enthusiasts.

The closing text of Mark’s Gospel seems to provide further words of Jesus when He appeared on the mountain.

15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.

16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.

17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;

18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.

Mark 16:15–18

Jesus assures the disciples that their message would have an importance worthy of their hard labors. Those who believed it would be saved. Those who did not would be damned.

He also declares that God would verify their message by blessing their ministry with supernatural signs. They would cast out demons, speak in tongues, heal the sick, and enjoy immunity to serpents and poison. He was referring to signs that would accompany the work of the apostles themselves. All these signs except immunity to poison are recorded in the Book of Acts. Yet the Christian writer Papias, living in the early second century AD, affirms that Justus, one of the disciples who heard these promises (Acts 1:23), did on one occasion drink poison without harm.45 We may presume that he was forced to drink it by enemies of the gospel.


          Jesus’ Ninth Appearance


When Paul lists the appearances of the risen Christ, he states that after Jesus was seen by 500 people, He visited His brother James (1 Cor. 15:7). The timing of this encounter, coming next after His appearance in Galilee, strongly suggests that James was among the 500 who saw Jesus earlier. Perhaps Jesus’ whole family, His mother Mary as well as all of His brothers and sisters, came to see Him on the mountain. It is unthinkable that Mary would not come. She had been prominent among His followers during much of His final year of ministry and perhaps earlier as well. And it is unthinkable that she would not bring with her as many of her children as possible. Coming to the event may not have been an option for any sisters who were married, but it is likely that nothing prevented His brothers from attending. In the depths of their hearts they knew after a lifetime of watching Jesus that He was truly no ordinary person full of imperfections—that instead He was free from sin and full of love. So, in response to the inward prompting of the Spirit and the outward prompting of their mother, they surely decided to attend the gathering on the mountain and verify that their brother had truly risen from the grave.

How many siblings did Jesus have? The Gospel of Matthew informs us that He had sisters, but discloses no further information about them. Yet it does list all of His brothers by name (Matt. 13:55). They were James (an English distortion of his real name, Iakobus or “Jacob”46), Joseph (“Joses” in the KJV), Simon (perhaps a contraction of “Simeon,” referring to one of the twelve tribes47), and Judas (a common form of the tribal name “Judah”48). Since Jesus was conceived in the Virgin Mary before she and Joseph came together in marriage, all the younger boys in Jesus’ family were only His half brothers.

Of these, James was the oldest. Although some jealousy may have soured his past relationship with Jesus, he was now mature enough to see the wisdom in joining the others who ascended the mountain in Galilee to behold the risen Christ. There, the certain proof that his brother had indeed escaped from death and the grave was probably a life-changing experience, not only for him but also for other members of his family. The mind-stretching truth that Jesus, his own brother, was undeniably also God in the flesh likely had a transforming impact upon his heart.

If we have recreated the true scenario, it is obvious why Jesus’ next appearance, His ninth, was to James. He wanted to give James a chance to set their relationship upon a much better foundation. How? By affirming that his older brother was also his Savior and Lord. The exact time of his spiritual conversion was probably earlier on the mountain, but as a new believer, he needed to tell others about the change in his heart. Sharing his testimony with Jesus Himself was especially helpful. Not only did it allow him to confess sins of the past; it also allowed Jesus to respond in love. No doubt Jesus took the opportunity to express delight in James’s decision, to extend forgiveness for His brother’s failures in the past, and to assure Him of God’s blessing if he would persevere on the path of serving God.

James later became a prominent figure in the early church. Right after Jesus appeared to him, he must have joined Jesus’ disciples and accompanied them back to Jerusalem. There he was a witness to Jesus’ ascension and a recipient of the Holy Spirit’s baptism on the day of Pentecost. But he was not the only member of Jesus’ family who underwent a spiritual transformation in the days after Jesus’ resurrection. All the other brothers of Jesus were also recruited to His service at this time. They all were numbered among the 120 believers who became the core of the early church (Acts 1:14). And we may presume that they all spent the rest of their lives in fruitful Christian service. James eventually became leader of the church in Jerusalem. Yet his prominence there was not personal success by the world’s standards. In about AD 61, he met a martyr’s death similar to Stephen’s. A Sanhedrin persuaded that he was a law-breaker dragged him out of the city and stoned him.49 Some years before his death he wrote the Book of James, later included in the New Testament. Another brother of Jesus also became an author of Scripture. The one whose name was Judas wrote the epistle known as the Book of Jude.


          Jesus’ Tenth Appearance


After Jesus’ appearance to 500 on a mountain in Galilee, the whole body of His faithful followers traveled back from Galilee to Jeru-salem, where the risen Jesus appeared to them again, right before His ascension to heaven. In Paul’s list of His appearances, he agrees that the last was to all of His apostles (1 Cor. 15:7). The distinction that Paul makes between “the twelve” who saw Jesus soon after His resurrection (v. 5) and “the apostles” who saw Him before His ascension strongly suggests that the second group included more people, including all those who would undertake the Great Commission. The Greek word generally translated “apostle” does not always refer to one of the twelve leaders of the early church. It can also refer to anyone sent to do the work of God.50 The likely reason that the first group is called the twelve despite Judas’s death beforehand is that the man soon chosen to be his replacement (Acts 1:15-26) was among them.

Although Luke does not reveal specifically when Jesus spoke the following words, the references to Jerusalem strongly suggest that they directly preceded His ascension.

46 And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day:

47 And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.

48 And ye are witnesses of these things.

49 And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.

Luke 24:46–49

Besides reaffirming that the mission of the church would be to preach repentance and remission of sins among all nations, Jesus added that the starting point should be Jerusalem. He also underlined the core doctrine of Christianity that His death and resurrection were necessary to provide us with a way of salvation. Yet salvation would not be a gift bestowed on every lost soul. Only those would receive it who repented of their sins and received Jesus as their Savior. Jesus’ death provided an acceptable atonement for their sins, and Jesus’ resurrection demonstrated that at His return in the distant future, God would be able to raise all dead believers from the grave and furnish them with immortal bodies.

But despite the need of men everywhere to hear about the only way of escape from God’s wrath, Jesus did not immediately send out His disciples to preach the gospel. Rather, He informed them that they were not yet ready for this task. Before undertaking it, they had to wait in Jerusalem until they were “endued with power from on high.” What did He mean? He then provided further explanation.

4 And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me.

5 For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.

Acts 1:4–5

What they needed before they could be effective evangelists was baptism with the Holy Spirit. The word “baptize” means to dip or immerse.51 Jesus’ promise meant that they would be saturated with the Holy Spirit, much as a cloth dipped in water becomes soaked. The idea is that the Holy Spirit would possess them fully. Why was it essential for them to receive the Holy Spirit before they embarked on their mission to the world? Because He would supply them with power and guidance. If they relied on mere human ability, they would fail. It is impossible to accomplish any work for God without God’s help.

After His initial encounter with His disciples gathered in Jerusalem, Jesus led them eastward out of the city to Bethany about two miles away on the far slope of the Mount of Olives (Luke 24:50). This village had been a safe retreat for Jesus’ Galilean followers since they came with Him to Jerusalem before His death (Matt. 21:17; 26:6). His purpose in going to Bethany now was doubtless to gather more disciples including not only visiting Galileans, but also local believers such as Mary, Martha, and Lazarus (John 11:1–46). After all were assembled, the whole company walked back toward the city until they were a Sabbath day’s journey (that is, less than a mile) from the city gate (Acts 1:12). There, on the western slope of the same mount, they stopped overnight. The companions of Jesus were accustomed to sleeping beside the road (Luke 9:58).

When the disciples awoke in the morning, they reverently drew near the Master to hear more instruction (Acts 1:6). From the beginning of His ministry, they had expected Him to overthrow the Romans and set Himself up as king. They had even quarreled among themselves about who would become His chief minister. After His crucifixion, their confidence in His leadership wavered in the winds of disappointment and fear. But His resurrection, showing that He was more powerful than any earthly foe, revived their hopes. Thus, as they stood with Jesus on the Mount of Olives, they asked whether He was ready to restore the kingdom to Israel. We too would like to know the answer to that question, for He will make Israel dominant in the world after He returns. First, He will come secretly and remove all Christians at an event called the Rapture. Later, He will come glor-iously and establish His throne in Jerusalem.

Jesus told the disciples that they had no right to the information they sought.

And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.

Acts 1:7

They were prying into a secret known only to the Father. They should have anticipated the answer, for Jesus had taught, “Of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only” (Matt. 24:36).

Down through the centuries many have tried to predict when Christ will come back to our world. Still today there are date setters. But if you ever hear a date for Christ’s return, you can be sure that it is wrong, because Jesus said that such knowledge would be withheld from His followers.

Although the disciples had asked an improper question, Jesus answered it anyway, for two reasons: (1) the answer did not require that He reveal the time of His final descent to overcome His enemies; (2) the answer pictured their coming task in larger dimensions so that they might move forward with greater dedication and energy. The basic answer to their question was, no. The time had not yet come to establish the Kingdom. Why? The disciples had a job to do first. He wanted them to carry the gospel to the whole world.

But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

Acts 1:8

The work of spreading the gospel is, of course, called evangelism.

When Jesus said that beginning in Jerusalem, the church should move outward in its work of evangelism until it reaches “the uttermost part of the earth,” He was obviously defining a corporate rather than an individual responsibility. Only the church as a whole can take the gospel everywhere. Yet if an obligation falls on the whole church, each believer must bear some of the weight. The whole world will not hear the gospel unless each believer proclaims it within his small corner of the world.

The disciples listened with eager attention until the Lord finished instructing them. It is doubtful that they had any notion of what was going to happen next (Acts 1:9). As they watched Jesus intently, He suddenly began to rise in the air. The account suggests that He moved upward gradually, remaining in view until He disappeared behind a cloud. Jesus’ departure to heaven as His disciples watched is known as the Ascension. The onlookers must have stood transfixed and breathless. It was an amazing display of divine power over earth and sky. They responded by staring upward with determination not to lose sight of their beloved Master.

When we read “a cloud received him”—words that seem to personify the cloud—we are prone to pass over the language as merely picturesque. But in Scripture, a cloud is seldom just a cloud. Often it is the visible form of the divine presence. Observers usually saw a brilliant light shining from within. This earthly manifestation of the Father became known as the shekinah glory. The Father’s descent as a cloud, doubtless with a white radiance dazzling in its effect, to meet the ascending Christ was a beautiful picture of the Father’s love for His Son.

When the children of Israel abode in the wilderness, God constantly manifested Himself over the Tabernacle either as a cloud by day or as a pillar of fire by night (Num. 9:15–17). He had first appeared to them in this manner when they escaped the armies of Pharaoh (Exod. 13:21–22; 14:19–24). Later, at a time when they incurred His displeasure, they saw the cloud infused with fiery light, as it were, for “behold, the glory of the LORD appeared in the cloud” (Exod. 16:10). This glowing cloud revealing God’s presence—the shekinah glory—was seen when God visited Mt. Sinai to give Israel the tables of the law (Exod. 19:16; 24:15–18; 34:5), when the Tabernacle was placed into service (Exod. 40:33–35) and afterward whenever anyone entered the Holy of Holies within the Tabernacle (Lev. 16:2, 13), when God anointed the seventy elders with the Holy Spirit (Num. 11:25), when He came to chasten Miriam and Aaron for opposing Moses’ decision to marry (Num. 12:5, 10), when He displayed His support for Moses and Aaron after bringing judgment on Korah and his allies (Num. 16:42), when He publicly authorized transfer of authority from Moses to Joshua (Deut. 31:14–15), when Solomon’s Temple was dedicated to divine worship (1 Kings 8:10–11), and on two occasions when He appeared to the prophet Ezekiel (Ezek. 1:4, 28; 10:3–4).

But we should not hastily conclude that the privilege of seeing the shekinah glory was reserved for God’s people before the era of Christ. As Jesus was talking with Moses and Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration, “behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him” (Matt. 17:5). The Father’s presence will take the same form also at times in the future. Specifically, the shekinah glory will receive the two witnesses who are raised from the dead during the Tribulation (Rev. 11:12), and it will hover over Jeru-salem in the days of Christ’s Millennial Kingdom (Isa. 4:5).

Not only did observers on the Mount of Olives see a cloud enveloping their Lord; they also had an even larger vision of the heavenly world. When the disciple Nathanael first met Jesus, he marveled greatly that while he was still out of sight, Jesus knew that he was sitting under a fig tree. Jesus then instructed him,

50 . . . Because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig tree, believest thou? thou shalt see greater things than these.

51 And he saith unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.

John 1:50–51

Jesus seemed to be anticipating an event while Nathanael still lived on the ground of this world. If so, the fulfillment was probably at the Ascension. Angels ascending and descending upon the Son of man were a glorious picture seen then by all of His faithful disciples.

Luke omits this detail probably because he does not want to derail the reader onto side tracks not only irrelevant to his main message, but also leading possibly to confusion, or silly questions, or even harmful doubt. Instead, in these opening verses of the book giving the history of the early church, he wants to stay focused on the important facts: first, that after His resurrection, Jesus gathered all His disciples and defined exactly what they were to accomplish in future ministries, and second, that He afterward ascended into heaven.

Then another amazing sight caught the attention of the disciples.

10 And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel;

11 Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.

Acts 1:10–11

Two men in white clothing suddenly appeared on the ground nearby and asked why the disciples were still gazing into the sky. By suggesting that it was foolish to continue looking for Jesus, they seemed to be hinting that He would not be returning soon.

The conventional interpretation is that the speakers were not men, but angels. Yet it is hard to understand why Scripture here, and elsewhere for that matter, would fail to make the distinction. It never refers to donkeys as horses or to dogs as wolves despite the resemblance. If these so-called men were indeed angels, what they said sounds a bit curious. They addressed the crowd as “men of Galilee,” as if they viewed them as differing from themselves in their place of origin. They then spoke words of rebuke, in essence saying that the crowd before them should stop gazing skyward and get busy doing the work that Jesus had just assigned. Their concluding words were further rebuke if the intent was to remind the disciples of something that they should have already known. But why, when scolding the disciples, would angels leave the impression that they were speaking for themselves? Angels are messengers who are normally careful to identify God as the source of their message.

If the two speakers were actually men, who were they? It is by far most satisfying and reasonable to identify them as Moses and Elijah. There is little doubt that they will be the two witnesses who appear on the earth during the Tribulation (Rev. 11:3–12). They had previously appeared with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration (Luke 9:28–36). Also at that time, they were arrayed in white apparel. Neither came from Galilee. Moses was born in Egypt, and Elijah was a Tishbite, from Gilead east of Jordan (1 Kings 17:1). Together they personified the law and the prophets. Speaking in that authoritative voice, they were uniquely qualified to chide the disciples for their hesitation to get on with fulfilling the Great Commission and for their foggy uncertainty as to how Christ would return, since both failures revealed ignorance of the Old Testament. The Great Commission is anticipated by Isaiah: “And he [the Father speaking to Christ] said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth” (Isa. 49:6; see also Gen. 22:18; Ps. 22:27; Isa. 60:3; Hos. 2:23). We will soon show where the Old Testament also speaks of Christ’s future descent in glory.

Yet the two men immediately added words of encouragement, for us as well as for the disciples. They said that Jesus had not departed forever. Someday He would return. Although nearly two thousand years have gone by since the Ascension, we dare not doubt this promise that Jesus will come again.

In his last epistle, the apostle Peter anticipated that men would someday grow impatient as they waited for Christ’s second coming.

3 Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,

4 And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.

2 Peter 3:3–4

Jesus has delayed His return only because the Father wants as many to be saved as possible. “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Pet. 3:9; see also Jas. 5:7 and 1 Tim. 2:4).

Are you not glad that Jesus has postponed His return until after you were born and after you had the opportunity to receive life forever through His gospel? Yet make no mistake. He will return.

As the two men said, Jesus will return in “like manner”; that is, in the same manner that He ascended two thousand years ago. Just as He went up gradually into a cloud, so He will descend gradually from the clouds. Jesus taught, “They shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory” (Matt. 24:30b). He was speaking of His descent not when He comes at the Rapture, but when He comes after the Tribulation to set up His kingdom on the earth. The same event was foreseen by Isaiah.

1 Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee.

2 For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee.

Isaiah 60:1–2

Zechariah informed us that Christ will first set foot on the Mount of Olives, the last place where He stood before leaving.

3 Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.

4 And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.

Zechariah 14:3–4

Many texts state that Christ will come in the “clouds” or “clouds of heaven” (Matt. 24:30; 26:64; Mark 13:26; 14:62; Rev. 1:7). Luke is the only writer to affirm a single cloud (Luke 21:27), no doubt to draw a clear parallel between Christ’s ascension and His return.

Christ now exists in a glorified state, as will all the saints who accompany Him when He comes to do battle with the Beast (Rev. 19:11–16). Heavenly glory is a sight unbearable to mortals. So, if we may venture speculation, the descending army may cover themselves to some extent with what appear to be clouds, just as the Father has often done. Therefore, the one cloud mentioned by Luke is Christ’s own glory shroud. The clouds “of heaven” (a needless and peculiar addendum if they are only clouds of the sky) refer to the whole sea of glory shrouds that will appear in His train.

Footnotes

  1. J. Dwight Pentecost, The Words and Works of Jesus Christ: A Study of the Life of Christ (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan Publishing House, 1981), 501; T. W. Hunt, The Mind of Christ: The Transforming Power of Thinking His Thoughts (Nashville, Tenn.: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1995), 123.
  2. Marvin Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament, 4 vols., 2nd ed. (n.p.: [c. 1888]; repr., McLean, Va.: MacDonald Publishing Co., n.d.), 2:289; Erich H. Kiehl, The Passion of Our Lord (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Book House, 1990), 150.
  3. Kiehl, loc. cit.; Mishnah Shabbath 23.5; Josh McDowell, The Resurrection Factor (San Bernardino, Calif.: Here’s Life Publishers, 1981), 51; T. W. Hunt, 123.
  4. Kiehl, loc. cit.
  5. Kiehl, 151–152; T. W. Hunt, 124
  6. William L. Coleman, Today’s Handbook of Bible Times and Customs (Minneapolis, Minn.: Bethany House Publishers, 1984), 246–247.
  7. George Ricker Berry, Interlinear Greek-English New Testament (N.p., 1897; repr., Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Book House, 1981), 410.
  8. Frederic Louis Godet, Commentary on John’s Gospel (New York: Funk & Wagnalls, 1886; repr., Grand Rapids, Mich.: Kregel Publications, 1978), 946–947.
  9. Ibid., 947.
  10. John A. Broadus, Commentary on Matthew, originally, Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew (Philadelphia: American Baptist Publication Society, 1886; repr., Grand Rapids, Mich.: Kregel Publications, 1990), 582; Kiehl, 152; Merrill C. Tenney, The Reality of the Resurrection (New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1963), 111.
  11. Broadus, loc. cit.
  12. T. W. Hunt, 125.
  13. McDowell, 66–68.
  14. ”Sabbath Day’s Journey,” Oxford Reference, 2023, Web (oxfordreference.com), 4/13/23. A Jew was permitted to travel 2,000 cubits on the Sabbath (Exod. 16: 29 and Num. 35: 5), about 1.2 km. (¾ mile), and the Mount of Olives was within this distance from Jerusalem (Acts 1: 12).
  15. John Wilkinson, The Jerusalem Jesus Knew: An Archaeological Guide to the Gospels (Nashville, Tenn.: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1978), 144–150; “The Church of the Holy Sepulcher,” Jerusalem 101, Web (generationword.com/jerusalem101/52-holy-sepulcher.html), 4/13/23; Todd Bolen, “Church of the Holy Sepulcher,” BiblePlaces.com, Web (bibleplaces.com /holysepulcher/), 4/13/23.
  16. John Wenham, Easter Enigma, originally, Easter Enigma: Are the Resurrection Accounts in Conflict? (Exeter, Devon, UK: Paternoster Press, 1984; repr., Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan Publishing House, n.d.), 83-84, 90-91; the nascent idea appears in Frank Morison, Who Moved the Stone? (repr., London: Faber and Faber Limited, 1958), 77-78.
  17. Morison, 79-87; Wenham, 58-60, 75.
  18. Berry, Interlinear New Testament, 414; William F. Arndt and F. Wilbur Gingrich, editors, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1957), 740.
  19. Kiehl, 155; Wenham, 101; Tenney, 126.
  20. Kiehl, 155–156.
  21. Berry, Interlinear New Testament, 321; Arndt and Gingrich, 70.
  22. Wenham, 100–101.
  23. C. S. Lewis, Christian Reflections (London: Bles, 1967), 155 (cited by Wenham, loc. cit.). Lewis points out that fiction simulating the real world—that creations like modern novels, TV dramas, and movies—were unknown in ancient cultures.
  24. Wenham, 37–38. Wenham suggests that Cleopas is the same person as Clopas, Jesus’ uncle (John 19:25). This is certainly a possibility, yet it seems unlikely that Clopas was still alive and abiding in either Jerusalem or Caesarea when Luke was writing his Gospel.
  25. Ed Rickard, In Perils Abounding: A Commentary on the Book of Acts, 2 vols. (N.p.: The Moorings Press, 2020), 2:159–165, 206–208, 219–221, 254–255.
  26. Berry, Interlinear New Testament, 415; Arndt and Gingrich, 191.
  27. William Jackson, “Reasons Why It’s Better to Fish at Night,” County Clerk, 6/13/20, Web (kscountyclerks.org/reasons-why-its-better-to-fish-at-night/), 4/17/23.
  28. Berry, Interlinear New Testament, 416; Arndt and Gingrich, 726.
  29. Ralph Gower, The New Manners and Customs of Bible Times (Chicago: Moody Press, 1987), 128–129; Dio Chrysostom, The Seventy-Second Discourse: On Personal Appearance, in vol. 5 of his discourses, translated by H. Lamar Crosby, The Loeb Classical Library (London: William Heinemann Ltd; Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press, 1951), 176–177.
  30. Berry, Interlinear New Testament, 418.
  31. Leon Morris, Testaments of Love: A Study of Love in the Bible (Grand Rapids, Mich: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1981), 123–125.
  32. Robert Young, Analytical Concordance to the Bible, 22nd American ed., rev. by Wm. B. Stevenson (repr. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1976), 623.
  33. Ibid., 155.
  34. L. Morris, Love, 120.
  35. Ibid., 114–117.
  36. Ibid., 117–119.
  37. R. Young, 623.
  38. Ibid.
  39. Berry, Interlinear New Testament, 418.
  40. Ibid.
  41. Ibid.
  42. Arndt and Gingrich, 244.
  43. William Steuart McBirnie, The Search for the Twelve Apostles (Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House Publishers, 1973), 66–75.
  44. Arndt and Gingrich, 486; W. E. Vine, An Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, in An Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words, by W. E. Vine, Merrill F. Unger, and William White, Jr. (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1984), 308.
  45. Eusebius Pamphili, Church History, translated by Arthur C. McGiffert, in vol. 1 of The Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace (N.p., 1890; repr., AGES Software: Albany, Ore., 1996, 1997), 3.39.
  46. Merrill F. Unger, “James,” in Unger’s Bible Dictionary, 3rd ed. (Chicago: Moody Press, 1966), 552.
  47. Unger, “Simon,” Dictionary, 1027.
  48. Unger, “Judas,” Dictionary, 615.
  49. Josephus Antiquities 20.9.1.
  50. In 2 Cor. 8:23 and Phil. 2:25 the word is translated “messenger.” See Unger, Dictionary, 72–73; Berry, Interlinear New Testament, 654, 703.
  51. Vine, 88–89; Arndt and Gingrich, 131.