Hour 2: The Resurrection Appearances of Jesus Christ

Join Michael Rydelnik and Michael Vanlaningham as they walk chronologically through the post-Resurrection appearances of Jesus the Messiah to friends and others. They also examine why the gospel accounts differ in a few places.

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Episode Transcript

S1 (00:07):
Hello friends. It's time for the second hour of Open
Line with Doctor Michael Redlich. I'm Michael Redlich, professor of
Jewish studies and Bible at Moody Bible Institute, and I'm
coming to you from the Moody Radio Studios at Moody
Bible Institute in downtown Chicago. Although normally you call with
your questions about the Bible, God, and the spiritual life,
that's not what we're going to do today. Instead, there

(00:30):
will be a conversation, a little Bible study, if you will,
between me and my good friend, Doctor Michael Van Laningham,
the smartest guy about the New Testament that I know.
He always waves his hand off when I say that. Specifically,
we are going to talk about the New Testament records
about the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. Obviously, tomorrow is

(00:51):
Resurrection Sunday, and people are always talking about the resurrection
appearances as they are recorded in the Gospels and even
as they're mentioned in the epistles. And so we're going
to talk about those. And not only will we talk
about how to work them all together, but we are
going to talk about how important and significant they are.
You can still keep in touch with online via our

(01:13):
website openline. Radio.com. That's Openline radio.org. You can go there.
There's links there for anything you might need. If you
want to send an email, if you want to send
a message on Facebook, you can do that, but no
calls today. Just write to us if you like. I
hope you have your Bibles open. I hope you have
a second cup of coffee because we're ready to talk

(01:34):
about the scriptures. Okay, Michael, thank you for coming in
to talk about this.

S2 (01:39):
My pleasure. Michael. It's always good to see you and
to be able to do this and to talk about
the resurrection Easter. That's pretty cool.

S1 (01:46):
Yeah, I think that that's, uh, the most important issue
that we have. You know, I've often said this, that
there are about 20,000 Jewish men who were crucified by
the Romans. If Jesus were not raised from the dead,
he'd be just one of them, right? But the resurrection
is what makes it all different. And one of my

(02:08):
key frustrations here is I often hear people share the gospel,
and I'm grateful, by the way, that people share the gospel.
And I hear advertisements on various Christian radio networks, you know,
promoting proclaiming the gospel. And sometimes, sadly, they will talk
all about how Jesus died for us and never mentioned

(02:30):
the resurrection.

S2 (02:31):
And and it's interesting in the book of acts, there are,
I think, five different occasions where Christian evangelists or apostles
are witnessing to unbelievers. And if my memory serves me correctly,
on every single occasion, those evangelists refer to the resurrection.
We don't normally do that, but they did. And I
think that's instructive for us.

S1 (02:52):
Yeah, I've noticed, uh, back in the day when I
was doing my doctoral dissertation Anyway, I did some research
on how the book of acts proclaimed the gospel, and
there were two essential methods that they used in the
book of acts. One was through using messianic prophecy. That
was one evidence that they used the evidence of messianic prophecy.

(03:13):
And the second evidence was the fact of the resurrection
that Jesus has raised from the dead was most crucial.
So anyway, we're going to look at some of the
resurrection appearances. And the reason why I think this is
so important is one of the main questions I get
throughout the year is people trying to harmonize the Gospels
and harmonize how everything fit together. Bible chronology. It's really

(03:36):
not my strong suit, but people say, well, you know,
you have this gospel and it contradicts that gospel, and
I don't think they contradict, I think they complement. And
so often we've got these resurrection appearances and frequently people
will call with questions about that. So what I want
to do, if we can is kind of work our
way through what the gospels say and harmonize them. Show

(03:59):
how they fit together in terms of how the resurrection happened. Now,
here's what's really important is I think each writer wrote
from their own perspective. They didn't necessarily feel like they
had to put all the facts in. They were just
putting the facts in that fit with their message. On
the other hand, they didn't contradict each other. What they
do is they actually complement each other. So okay, so

(04:20):
let's begin. What's the first step in the whole story
about the resurrection?

S2 (04:26):
Well, it's, um, the the tomb being opened and the
body being apparent that it's gone. Mhm.

S1 (04:33):
Yeah. That's I guess you could look at that in
a variety of places in Mark 16, Luke 24, I
want to look at Matthew 28. And the reason why
I think that's interesting in Matthew is he doesn't really
put it in chronological order.

S2 (04:48):
Right.

S1 (04:49):
He starts with, uh, verse One, he says, after the Sabbath,
on the first day of the week was dawning, Mary
Magdalene and the other Mary went to view the tomb.
And then it says, suddenly there was a violent earthquake. Now,
I think the earthquake happened just before they got to
the tomb, right? But but nevertheless, uh, and the other

(05:10):
gospels all show it that way. So that's one of
the first contradictions that people often point out, that if
you look at the other gospels. Is that right? Is
that how they do it?

S2 (05:18):
That is exactly how they do it, right?

S1 (05:20):
So how do we justify that verse one and verse
two being sort of out of order?

S2 (05:26):
I you know, I'm not quite sure actually, Michael, it
is interesting. I think there's some other things as well, um,
where you've got people being referred to as being resurrected,
brought out of the tombs, um, earthquakes taking place. But
that's actually after the resurrection. But it's included in Matthew
27 before, before narrative account. And I think that's being done.

(05:48):
So it's a not interrupt the actual, uh, reference to
the resurrection of Jesus. They don't. Matthew doesn't want to
interject that with other things. And so it seems to
me that, um, it's very it's quite possible, I think,
in verse one that Mary is coming to look at
the tomb. Mary. Um, both Mary Magdalene and Mary, the

(06:11):
mother of James, and, um, and Salome, actually, from another
passage come. And perhaps it's while they're coming that this
earthquake happens. But I don't think we have a contradiction.

S1 (06:22):
I don't think it's a contradiction. I think that's exactly it,
the way Matthew's telling it is. This is why they're
on their way. They're going to do this. And then
the resurrection happens and they get there. Right. And and
what do they see there? I think that's so cool.
They see, uh, it says there was an angel of
the Lord descended from heaven and approached the tomb. He

(06:43):
rolled back the stone and was sitting on it. I
just can't fathom what that would have been We'd like
to see him kind of nonchalantly sitting on the Rollaway stone,
don't you think? What a great image.

S2 (06:56):
Yeah, it's it's something to think about. I've heard all
the also, by the way, that there are scholars who
maintain that the verb rolled away doesn't really mean rolled away.
It means moved away, and that the stone may have
actually been a fairly large square stone with perhaps a
couple of those stuck into the opening. And so rather
than have the angels sit on a stone laying almost

(07:19):
flat on the ground, which would be sort of awkward,
he's actually sitting on the stone as if it's more
of a cube bench like thing. It doesn't. It doesn't
really matter. It doesn't really matter at all. But he's there.
And can you imagine the reaction of the women?

S1 (07:34):
Yeah. And his appearance was like lightning and his robe
was white as snow. And the guards, these tough Roman guards,
they're so frightened that they. They became like dead men. Right? Yeah.
So it is. But that's not an appearance of the Messiah.
That's just an appearance of an angel. Right. And an
empty tomb. And so they visit the tomb and they

(07:54):
discover that he is missing. And where do we go
from there? What's the next step?

S2 (08:00):
Well, I find it interesting that, um. What what the
angel tells them. It's really interesting in in Matthew 28.
You've got people being told to tell others about this. Yeah.
In verse seven, the angel says, go quickly. Tell his
disciples he's risen from the dead. Then look at verse ten.

(08:22):
He says, Then Jesus appears. Right. Yeah. Uh, then Jesus
said to them, do not be afraid. Go and take
a word to my brethren to leave for Galilee. And
there they will see me. And uh, in verse 15,
even the soldiers tell people of something that gives a
sort of a backward, a back door argument supporting the

(08:47):
resurrection that the body's been stolen. And so they're going
to tell people that. And then in verse 19, of course,
in the, in the um, in the Great Commission, you know, go, uh,
tell them. Yeah, teach them everything. So.

S1 (09:02):
Well, anyway. Right, right from the beginning, even before the
resurrection appearance. Right there from the angel. Right. There's the
the announcement or the the command to go tell. Right.
Go tell the disciples.

S2 (09:15):
That's I think this is one of the emphases in
Matthew is that they need to go. They need to tell.
And I think the implication for us is we ought
to be doing the same.

S1 (09:22):
Yeah, yeah. That's the I think that that's one of
the more interesting things that we are really compelled to
proclaim this. Uh, it's my wife's favorite verse. Just so
you know, yours is Romans 828. I've heard you say
that so many times. Uh, but my wife's favorite verse, interestingly,
is second Timothy two eight. And, uh, it's because, uh,

(09:46):
she loves that Jesus is the king. Yeah. That he's
fully human. And the king. And the resurrection. She loves
that because it proves he's God. And, uh. And so
she's she loves second Timothy two eight. Uh, keep your
attention on Jesus, the Messiah, risen from the dead, descended
from David. And, uh, and that's what that ought to be.

(10:07):
Our message. Yeah. Uh, then, because Paul goes on to say,
according to my gospel. Right. Uh, this is the good news.
Jesus is not just someone who died for us. He's
raised from the dead, proves he's God. So anyway, we're
going to talk about harmonizing some of the other appearances
in just a moment. And we're going to work our
way through all these resurrection appearances. Really appreciate those comments

(10:28):
on Matthew 28. You're listening to a special resurrection focused
open line on Moody Radio's Bible Study Across America. When
I come back, Mike V and I will be back
talking about the resurrection of the Messiah. So stay right there.
This is Michael Redlich and Michael van Laningham on Open Line.
We'll be right back. Have you ever wondered how we

(10:59):
got the Bible? The story of the Bible by Carl
Laney takes you on a fascinating journey through scriptures from
divine inspiration to modern translations. Doctor Laney reveals how God
gave us his word. This book will deepen your confidence
in the Bible's reliability while answering questions you've always had.
If you'd like a copy, it's yours. When you give

(11:20):
a gift of any size. Just go to our website,
online radio.org or call [phone]. Welcome back to Open Line
with Doctor Michael Redlick. If you want to know a
little bit more about me, you can head over to
my own personal web page. You can go to openlibrary.org.

(11:43):
That's the open line web page. Scroll down and you'll
see a link with my smiling face, and you can
click on that and it will take you to my
personal homepage. And there's that page has links to books
I've written, DVDs, I've done, speaking engagements, my blog, even
a link to trips to Israel. If you're interested, you
can go over there. Uh, this morning I am talking

(12:03):
with my guest, uh, Doctor Michael Van Laningham, the other Michael,
as some people call him. Uh, my colleague here at
Moody Bible Institute and also the co-editor of the Moody
Bible Commentary. And we are talking about the resurrection appearances
because people think you can't make heads or tails out
of all the New Testament comments about it. And I
think we can. We've already talked about the the stone

(12:27):
being moved away and an angel telling the women to
go tell, uh, what next happens really is that one
of the women goes to tell.

S2 (12:35):
Yeah in in John 20 and verse two it says, uh,
she and that's uh, Mary Magdalene Eggeling ran and came
to Simon Peter and to the other disciple I'm reading now.
She ran and came to Simon Peter, and to the
other disciple whom Jesus loved, and said to them, they've
taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we
do not know where they have laid him. That follows

(12:57):
from verse one, where she comes to the tomb early,
when it was dark and found the stone had already
been taken away from the tomb. So she goes and tells.

S1 (13:05):
She didn't wait for the angel to say what he
said to Salome and to the other Mary. She just
turns around and heads out, I don't know where the
body is. I don't know where it is exactly. And but,
you know, I think it's interesting that she goes to
the one that she thought could help her. So she
tells Peter and John. Right. And of course, what do

(13:25):
Peter and John do?

S2 (13:28):
Well, um, they run to the tomb. Yeah. Yeah. Um,
you know, before that, though, in, in, uh, Matthew 28,
5 to 7, Mary, the mother of James and Salome
saw an angel. Yeah.

S1 (13:40):
Inside the tube. Yeah.

S2 (13:42):
Who announced the resurrection? Directed the women to tell the
disciples that Jesus would meet them in Galilee. Um, again,
Matthew 28 5 to 7, where the angel says, let
him go to Galilee. They'll see Jesus there.

S1 (13:56):
Now, here's an interesting question someone asked me last week,
they said was the first appearance of the Lord Jesus,
because he says he'll meet them in Galilee was the
first appearance to the apostles in Galilee. It wasn't. Uh,
I think they should have gone right away, but apparently
they delayed.

S2 (14:13):
Right.

S1 (14:14):
And so twice he tells them to to meet them.
The angel tells them, and the Lord Jesus, uh, announces
that he'll meet them in Galilee. But they don't go.
They stay in Jerusalem for a few days, and apparently
they were planning on going. Uh, what do you. Is
that how you resolve that?

S2 (14:31):
Um, it. Yeah, I would say that that's probably the
best explanation as to as to why that is the case. Um, because.

S1 (14:39):
He appears to them in Jerusalem before he appears.

S2 (14:41):
To them. He does. And so, um, I don't know
that they're being disobedient. There may have been confusion, understandable confusion,
but for whatever reason they delay. And he appears to
them before Galilee.

S1 (14:53):
Yeah. He does. Uh, so they they make their way, uh, to, uh,
to the disciples. They talk about this, uh, and what
does it say? Uh, that they left the tomb quickly
with fear and great joy. This is Matthew 28 A
and ran to report to his disciples what the angel
had told them that he was risen. Um. And now

(15:17):
other women appear. Is that what happens next?

S2 (15:20):
Right? Um. Joanna, um, one of the women from Galilee
arrives at the tomb carrying oil, perfumed oil, to anoint
the body of Jesus. And, um, a they the other
women from Galilee and Joanna meet two men. Apparently they're angels,
according to Luke 24, verse four and 23. And then

(15:43):
they returned to report the angel's message of the resurrection
to the 11 and to all the rest. And we
find that in Luke chapter 24, verses one through nine. Um,
in Luke 24 2223, the disciples recap that episode, they say,
but also some women among us amazed us when they
were at the tomb early in the morning and did

(16:04):
not find his body. They came saying they had also
seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive.

S1 (16:11):
Yeah. Okay, so here's the question that people ask why
do they want to anoint Jesus with perfumed oil?

S2 (16:17):
Yeah, they that's that's not for embalming. The Egyptians did embalming.
The Jewish people didn't actually embalm the tombs that that
rich people were buried in, because not everybody was buried
in a tomb. Tombs were enormously expensive. Most people, when
they died, were buried in the ground after being placed
inside a shroud. But when the people were buried in

(16:39):
a tomb, the tombs were not typically airtight. And so
they were oftentimes anointed with these spices and these perfumed
oils to cut the odors of decomposition, which would have
been tremendously offensive. And so that's what they are doing.
They're trying to take a step to honor the the
body of Jesus in preparation for him being buried in

(17:01):
a tomb.

S1 (17:02):
Yeah. And I think that's so interesting to me is that, uh,
Mary in John 12, she's mentioned as one who anoints
Jesus before his death. And it's in Matthew, I think
it's about chapter 26. It talks there about how she
anointed him in preparation for his burial. Right. With, with.

(17:22):
And so I think it's interesting she's not one of
the ones that shows up here. She anticipated this, and
she wants to honor him even before he dies in
this way. It's really interesting. But they do come and
that's why they're doing this. And the other question that
I'll tell you how I answer it, because I don't
know the answer to all these things, but I can
guess people want to know, well, how did they expect
to move that that stone? I think they must have

(17:45):
thought they'd get those soldiers to help or something like that.

S2 (17:48):
Could be. Or that maybe they would find others who
would gather at the tomb as well, and altogether they
would move the stone and then anoint his body. And
who knows?

S1 (17:56):
I don't know, I just I just don't know. Uh,
but they certainly thought that they could they could get
in there and do that. So. Um, okay. Uh, so
then the very next event that happens is that, uh,
Peter and John run to the tomb, right?

S2 (18:18):
Um, when Mary Magdalene heads back to the city and
she finds some of the other disciples, Peter and John here,
and maybe some others as well. Hear what she has
to say. And they run to the tomb. On the
way they do not meet Mary and Salome. They, when
they get to the tomb, they see the Graveclothes, and

(18:39):
then they head back to the city themselves. It says
in in Luke 2424, some of those who were with
us went to the tomb and found it exactly as
the women also had said, but him they did not see.
And in Luke 2412, just before that it says, Peter
got up and ran to the tomb. Stooping and looking in,
he saw the linen wrappings only, and he went to

(19:01):
his home, marveling at what had happened.

S1 (19:04):
Yeah, in the John passage that speaks about this, says
they saw the linen linen wrappings lying there and there
rolled up in a place by itself. And it's sort
of tidy, folded, rolled up or folded up. And there's
been a lot of speculation about this that I've been
hearing on the internet about some a lot of people
call with questions. What does the folded face cloth.

S2 (19:27):
The folded napkin.

S1 (19:28):
The folded napkin mean? And, uh, first of all, I
think people make a mistake. They say this cultural background because,
you know, with the internet, all sorts of wrong things
can get out there.

S3 (19:37):
Oh, really?

S1 (19:38):
Oh, yeah. Ever heard of that? Oh, no. Yeah.

S2 (19:40):
I thought everything on the internet is true.

S1 (19:42):
Yeah. Well, no, this one isn't. At least know the
cultural background that that people cite. As they say, when
you go to a meal in a Jewish cultural home,
first century, that if you still were coming back for more,
that you folded your napkin. Otherwise you wrinkled it up
and tossed it aside.

S3 (19:58):
Have you ever heard of that?

S1 (19:59):
No. It's nowhere in the. It's nowhere in Jewish culture.
Nowhere in the Mishna.

S3 (20:02):
I mean, I don't.

S2 (20:03):
I don't know, a 10th of it as you do.
But I've never heard anything even remotely like that.

S1 (20:06):
No. And I've read through the mission of trying to see.
But the other thing is, even if it were true,
this is not a meal that's not a napkin like
a napkin that you have at a meal. It's a
face cloth that was used for burial. And so it
has nothing to do with that. We don't know. It
doesn't say why everything is so laid out there orderly,
because the Bible doesn't tell us. But I can speculate,
since the first word for Mary Magdalene was they've taken

(20:29):
his body grave robbers. And so they come there. Peter
and John. And they see that it's all neatly folded.
Grave robbers don't do that, right. Something other than a
grave robbery has happened here.

S2 (20:40):
They would go in and just thrash everything around and
grab the body and take off, or grab stuff and
take off. But they would not be careful about folding
things up.

S1 (20:47):
Yeah. So to me, this is that's, I think, crucial.
But still. Do you know what I think is interesting
at this point? The Lord Jesus has not yet appeared. Right.
And it is right after this that there is that
the disciples leave. They go back. And Mary Magdalene, who
is so heartbroken, she is weeping at the grave. Right.

(21:10):
And that's what's next, right?

S2 (21:12):
That's what's next. Uh, Mary Magdalene, um, follows Peter and
John when they go back to the when they go
to the tomb and they see the grave clothes all
folded up. Mary follows them back there. They all see
two angels inside. And then Mary meets Jesus. It says

(21:34):
in verse 13 of John chapter 20. They said to her,
the angels did, woman, why are you weeping? She said
to them, because they have taken away, my lord. I
do not know where they have laid him. When she
had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there,
and did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said

(21:55):
to her, woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?
Supposing him to be the gardener, she said, sir, if
you have carried him away, tell me where you've laid him,
and I will, uh. I will take him away. Jesus
said to her. Mary. She turned and said to him
in Hebrew, Rabboni, which means teacher. Jesus said to her,
stop clinging to me, for I have not ascended to

(22:16):
the to the father, but go to my brethren, and
say to them, I ascend to my father, and to
your father, and my God, and your God.

S1 (22:23):
Yeah, that's one of my favorite scenes. Uh, this woman
is so heartbroken at the death of Jesus. And, uh,
and now that pain of loss is made worse because
she thinks someone has taken his body. And now some
people say, why didn't she recognize him? Did did Jesus

(22:45):
look different? I don't think that's the case. You know,
she was in the garden. It was early morning. He
may have been in the distance. He wasn't standing next
to her. And what was she doing? She was weeping.
She was crying hysterically. I mean, that's pretty clear from
what it's saying, that that she was just heartbrokenly weeping.

(23:08):
And so she thought, oh, there's someone else here early.
Must be the gardener, right?

S2 (23:13):
It's funny too, if you don't expect to see somebody
or you see somebody out of the normal context where
you know them, that happens to me all the time.
Where I'll know a student from a study abroad in
Israel from two years ago. And we were close and
we had a great time there. And then they show
up later at here at Moody in your class, in
my class and I go, do I know you? You know,

(23:33):
I said, you look kind of familiar to me. And
so it's embarrassing, but but I wonder if some of
that isn't what's going on here. Mary would not have
expected to have seen Jesus alive. She didn't. She hadn't
read this story yet. Plus, the last time she saw him,
he was beat up, crucified. He was in bad shape.

S1 (23:52):
Yeah. How could he look like this?

S2 (23:53):
And he wouldn't look like this now, in the resurrection.

S1 (23:55):
Yeah. And, uh, now, the other thing that people often
ask me about this passage, and I think you and
I are agreed on this. People say, well, if the
Lord Jesus has not yet ascended to his father, right? Uh,
that that he he has just been for three days,
three nights in the tomb. But his spirit was in hell.

(24:17):
And that's why he says, don't touch me, for I
have not yet ascended to the father. Uh, quick answer
on that.

S2 (24:23):
Yeah, I would say that that's that's reading really an
awful lot of theology in here that I don't think
you can actually get from the text. It seems better
to me that she's clinging to him and he's saying, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
I haven't ascended yet. I'm going to be around here
for a while and so we'll have a chance to interact.
But right now, don't don't be. Don't be clinging.

S1 (24:42):
She's not just touching him.

S2 (24:43):
She's she's.

S1 (24:44):
Grabbing.

S2 (24:44):
Grabbing him. Don't, don't. This is not a time for clinging.
Go and tell. Go tell the disciples I'm. I'm risen. Yeah,
that's what's going on here.

S1 (24:52):
Yeah, yeah. When? When the Lord Jesus died, uh, his
spirit ascended to the father. He said, father, into your
hands I commend my spirit. He said to the the
thief on the cross next to him, this day you'll
be together with me in Paradise. Uh, his spirit, uh,
at his physical body's death, went to the father.

S2 (25:09):
And this body stayed in the tomb.

S1 (25:11):
And then at the resurrection, he's telling her I'm. My
ascension is yet 40 days away. Right. That's what.

S2 (25:17):
I'm going to be around for.

S1 (25:18):
A while. I'll be around. And I think that's that's
important to understand. When we look at this, there's not
something supernatural, mystical happening there, right? You know, which is
how people want to do it well or see it well.
I can't believe it. We're going to be back to
talk more about the resurrection in just a moment. If
you have a question, you can always write to us.
Go to Open Line radio.org, and that will give you links.

(25:39):
So you can send a question. This is Michael Riedel.
More straight ahead with Michael van Laningham as we talk
about the most important resurrection of Jesus. Each week on
Open Line with me, Doctor Michael Riedel, we sit around

(26:00):
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(26:23):
Line radio.org. Welcome back to Open Line with doctor Michael
Ray Melnick. That's me. But joining me is my co laborer,
my co-editor in the Moody Bible Commentary, my colleague here

(26:45):
at Moody Bible Institute, New Testament professor doctor Mike Van Laningham.
And we are talking about the resurrection appearances and trying
to harmonize what all the New Testament has to say
about it. Uh, we last left. The last one we
talked about was Mary Magdalene meeting her Lord, risen Lord,
and being told to go back and tell the disciples,

(27:06):
does she obey?

S2 (27:08):
Yes.

S1 (27:08):
Yeah. What does she do?

S2 (27:09):
Well, she goes and and and in Luke chapter 20,
verse 18 says, Mary Magdalene came announcing to the disciples,
I have seen the Lord now before she saw an
empty grave. Yeah. Now she says I've seen him in
the resurrection.

S1 (27:26):
Isn't that great? Yeah. What? And now this changed her.
Remember what she was like at the start of that
passage in John 20? She's weeping. She's hysterically crying, and
she has been transformed.

S2 (27:38):
Not anymore.

S1 (27:38):
Yeah. Now she's declaring with joy. I think I've seen
the Lord. He's alive.

S2 (27:43):
And if he hadn't actually been raised, she would not
have had that kind of change.

S1 (27:48):
No, no. And that's one of the things that over
and over we see the resurrection changes people. Right? And
that's the transforming power of the resurrection. And right here,
Mary Magdalene goes from sorrow to great joy, great sorrow
to great joy. And I think that that principle of
the resurrection, when we meet Jesus, you know, our life

(28:08):
is not going to be all, you know, unicorn and bliss,
you know. You know, it's just happiness and joy. But
there will be an intrinsic joy. Whatever the difficulties that
we have in life. And I've talked to people who
have had tremendous sorrow just caused by their own sinful lives,
and they talk about the great change of coming to

(28:29):
know Jesus is being brought to joy. And I think
that that's the great model here from Mary Magdalene.

S2 (28:36):
Right?

S1 (28:37):
Yeah. So okay, then Mary, the mother of James and
Salome met Jesus, and they were directed to tell the
brethren to go to Galilee. So again, once again, they're
going to go tell them to go to Galilee.

S2 (28:52):
Right. And so and so now you know again Mary,
the mother of James and Salome. Now they meet Jesus
as well.

S1 (28:59):
Mhm. And that's in Matthew 28. They meet Jesus and
he tells them, Go to Galilee, which they will do ultimately,
but they will also, uh, for now they're going to
stay in Jerusalem. Maybe they're delaying, maybe I don't think
they're disobeying so much as delaying. But I actually think
the Lord Jesus said, and he said, Go to Galilee.

(29:20):
I think he wanted them to go to Galilee right then.

S2 (29:22):
And it could be because because of the next point. Yeah. Um,
that they may not have believed the reports of these people,
that they'd seen the Lord. And so why go to Galilee?
Because Jesus tell them to go to Galilee when they
still don't. Really.

S1 (29:34):
That's one of those things. You think I want to
see that with my own eyes before I start believing that?

S2 (29:38):
It is interesting. The next thing in Luke 24 1011
it says, um, and now they'd had reports from Mary Magdalene, Joanna,
and the women from Galilee, Mary and Salome. But the
disciples on the whole refused to believe. The report says.

S1 (29:54):
These words appeared to be nonsense.

S2 (29:57):
Yeah, that's exactly right. Luke 24, verse 11. Um, but
these words appear to them as nonsense, and they would
not believe them. Yeah. Understandable.

S1 (30:07):
Yeah, it's understandable. But, you know, I often think about
how in the Gospels, uh, it talks about how the
Lord Jesus would say, I'm going to Jerusalem, and there
the Son of Man will be crucified. And he'll be
raised on the third day. And they're like, no, no, no.
I remember in Matthew 16 Peter says, no, no, no, no,
that's not how it's going to.

S2 (30:26):
That's not going to, that's not how it goes.

S1 (30:28):
Yeah, right. So they didn't even want to believe that
he was going to be crucified, let alone raised. They
were not. It's it's just so incomprehensible right now. One
of my favorite appearances. And again, this is one of
the ones where they don't recognize Jesus because probably because
they were not expecting him. It's not. This is Cleopas
and his friends. Uh, and friend, I should say. Uh,

(30:50):
and they are, uh, they're part of the wider group
of disciples. But they're not the 11 that remain. And
they they meet the Lord Jesus in the it's described
on a road to Emmaus, which is just outside of Jerusalem.

S2 (31:08):
And it is interesting, though, that there is some suggestion
that it was actually hidden from them. They they were
not allowed by the Lord to recognize Jesus. In verse
16 it says, but their eyes were prevented from recognizing him.
And then in verse 30 and verse 31 it says,
then their eyes were opened and they recognized him. And

(31:28):
so I think there was something more going on here
as to why they were prevented from recognizing him. I
don't know, but.

S1 (31:35):
Maybe it was their lack of faith in the resurrection.

S2 (31:38):
Maybe, maybe there was more that he needed to interact
with them about before they would really believe it. I don't,
I don't know, hard to say.

S1 (31:45):
I do think it's interesting what they say to this
stranger they don't recognize. They say to him, are you
the only one in Jerusalem that doesn't know what happened?

S2 (31:54):
Right, right. And he goes and he says to them, um,
what events are you talking about? You know, this is
one of these these times where on occasion, God asks
questions of people. Yeah. And and God knows what's going on.
Jesus knows what's happening, but it's to draw them out.
It's to include them in an opportunity to learn and
grow and make progress and develop and. And I love

(32:17):
the fact that he he sort of welcomes them to
be able to do that by sharing with him.

S1 (32:21):
Yeah. And what I think is so interesting about it too,
is they are asking, are you ignorant? Right. You know,
but who is really ignorant?

S2 (32:29):
Yeah. Well they were, they were.

S1 (32:30):
Yeah. They're blinded to the whole thing. And then what
does he do? He immediately begins to teach them the scriptures. Yep. Uh,
and he says that beginning with, uh, he says to
them how unwise and slow of heart you are to
believe in your hearts. All the prophets have spoken. Didn't
the Messiah have to suffer these things and enter into

(32:52):
his glory? Then, beginning with Moses and all the prophets,
he interpreted them, uh, for them the things concerning himself
in all the scriptures. Now, I just think that is remarkable.

S2 (33:05):
I would love to have been a mouse in the
corner on that talk. I mean, there is, Michael, you know,
there's so much discussion in scholarly circles about how the
New Testament writers use the Old Testament and and what
they're doing with all of that. And and I it
would have been so wonderful to have heard Jesus unpack
the Hebrew Scriptures as a proof of pointing toward him

(33:28):
in order to convince these two on the road to Emmaus.

S1 (33:30):
Yeah. And it says that they said, were not our
hearts on fire as he explained the scriptures to us. Uh,
so it must have been a really powerful, powerful, uh,
Bible study. Uh, I think that's it's just remarkable that
they did that. And so, anyway, they have this meeting
with him on the road to Emmaus. I think that

(33:52):
is great. And I agree with you, the Lord Jesus.
This is something that A.T. Robertson once said. He said
the Lord Jesus seemed to be able to find himself
in the Hebrew Scriptures, something that contemporary scholars aren't able
to do. That's crazy right? I care about that so much.
I actually wrote a book about it.

S2 (34:09):
I know, I know, which is a great book, by
the way. It's a great book.

S1 (34:12):
But I care about it that the messianic hope was
really there in the Hebrew Bible. Right. Okay. So let's
move on, because we're going to run out of time. Right. Uh.
Next appearance.

S2 (34:22):
Well, apparently, somehow, somewhere in here. Jesus then appeared to Peter.
First Corinthians 15 and verse five. Yeah. Talks about that.
He appeared to Cephas and then to the 12. And
then in Luke 2434 says, I think the same is
referring to the same thing. The Lord has really risen
and has appeared to Simon, that is, to Peter.

S1 (34:40):
So it's mentioned that it happened, but we don't have
the narrative of it.

S2 (34:43):
We don't have a narrative of it. And I'm wondering
if maybe this is where Jesus and Peter meet for
the very first time. For there maybe to be some reproof,
but restoration.

S1 (34:56):
Mhm.

S2 (34:56):
Hard to say.

S1 (34:57):
Yeah. Maybe this is the reproof because later on it's
the restoration. Right.

S2 (35:01):
That's. That's right.

S1 (35:02):
Yeah. That's it. Uh, because Peter denied the Lord. Or
maybe it was just to show him. We don't know that.
That it was reproof. Uh, maybe it was just to
show him that he was raised right. But they didn't
interact long. But at least Peter now knows it's true.
And now, in Luke 24, it's almost as if it's
just going on right at the same level. Although there's

(35:23):
these other things that happened in between. Luke, he's not
caring about all that so much. And so we're going
to talk about the next one in just a moment.
We're going to talk about the Bible study in the
upper room with the disciples. You're listening to Open Line
with me, Michael Melnick, and my guest today, Michael Van Laningham.
We're talking about the resurrection appearances. Can't beat that. It's

(35:46):
most important thing in the Bible. We're going to be
right back in just a moment, so stay with us.
Jewish people will complete our annual Passover observance this weekend.
This festival is such a meaningful celebration of redemption to
help us learn the rich significance of this holiday. Chosen

(36:06):
People Ministries, one of our partners is offering a free booklet,
Passover A time for redemption. Chosen People Ministries is an
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Good News of Yeshua Jesus. Besides explaining the significance of
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open our eyes to the way the Passover sacrifice foreshadows

(36:30):
the death and resurrection of Yeshua, our Passover Lamb. Additionally,
comprehending Passover will deepen our understanding of Yeshua, the Bread
of Life. Celebrating the Lord's Supper will never be the
same after grasping the significance of this festival. For a
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(36:54):
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to a page where you can sign up for your
very own copy of Passover A time for redemption. Welcome

(37:15):
back to Open Line with me. Doctor Michael Ray Melnick.
Joining me right now is my guest once again all our.
The other Michael Michael Van Laningham. And we're talking about
the resurrection. Let's talk more. What you have are a
couple of other appearances that follow. Right after the teachings
of the Cleopus and his friend on the road and

(37:36):
and those kinds of things, what happened next.

S2 (37:38):
That that very night, Sunday night, Resurrection Sunday. Jesus appears
to the 11, but Thomas is not there.

S1 (37:47):
So they're called the 11. But there's really only ten.

S2 (37:49):
That's that's true. Yeah. At that point, there's Thomas is
not there. Um, but a one week later it says
in John 20, starting at verse 26, after eight days,
his disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Now
Thomas is there. Jesus came and said, peace be with you, Thomas.
You know, he says, Thomas, look, touch my hands. Put
your hand in my side. It's me. Thomas says, my

(38:12):
Lord and my God. Also in that in the in
the week before that, when Jesus appears, he actually eats.
He says, look, I'm not just like Casper the Friendly ghost,
you know? He says, you got food, give me food.
And he eats and you can't see the food going
down his gullet or anything like that. Um, and so
he really was raised. But so now Thomas season, he believes.

S1 (38:32):
That's a great transformation because people call him Doubting Thomas.
But what does Thomas always say? Unless I see him,
unless I touch those wounds, I will not believe. He's unbelieving. Thomas, right?
And Thomas is transformed from unbelief to faith.

S2 (38:46):
It's amazing.

S1 (38:46):
Yeah. And, you know, once I had a there was
a couple in my congregation many, many years ago, she
came from a muslim background and her husband was a
committed believer. And she would come to services from time
to time and say, oh, I could never believe this,
because you believe that Jesus is God. Scott, and one
day she came with him. On a day when I

(39:08):
was speaking about unbelieving, Thomas turned to believing Thomas, and
at the end of it just she says, I know
he's alive. I'm ready. I believe. And that's how she
came to faith, not just as her Redeemer, but as
her her God. That she believed Jesus was God. It
was really cool. Uh, okay. The next encounter is at

(39:30):
the Sea of Tiberius. Or the lake. Lake Kinneret, Sea
of Galilee. And that's where he speaks with Peter.

S2 (39:38):
Right there. Peter's out fishing. In fact, Peter just says,
I don't know if he's dejected or not, but he
says in John 2121 three, I'm going fishing. Yeah. You know,
who knows why he says that? And so they go.

S1 (39:52):
Don't you think he was saying, you know what, I'm
not very good at being a disciple. I've denied the
Lord three times. I think I'll go back to what
I was also not good at, but maybe better at.

S2 (39:59):
Yeah, I probably won't be all that good at being
a fisher of men. So I'm going to go fish
for fish. Yeah, exactly.

S1 (40:04):
Yeah. And then so he meets Peter. And I think
that this is a remarkable encounter. And you're the Greek scholar.
And so three times the Lord Jesus asks Peter, do
you love me? And he uses the verb from agapao.
And three times Peter responds by saying with the word,

(40:24):
I love you phileo. So what's up?

S2 (40:28):
Well, it's hard to say, actually. Michael. It could be
just a stylistic change. It could be that that, um,
that Peter is saying, you know, Lord, I don't have
the sort of agape love, the sort of deeper kind
of love that maybe I should have. But I do
have tremendous affection for you. I have the fill for you.

S1 (40:45):
Don't you think by that time it was in the
Koine Greek, it was pretty much they were synonymous.

S2 (40:48):
I think they were actually, I really do. So it's
very hard to say. But at the very least, one
thing that's interesting is that when Jesus comes and he
appears to them in verse nine, it says, so when
they got out on the land, they saw a charcoal
fire already laid and fish placed on it, and bread.
The only other place in any of the Gospels where

(41:09):
it mentions a charcoal fire. Fire is in John chapter 18,
where that happens in the courtyard of the high priest.
And Peter is there, and on that occasion he denies
Jesus three times. So now we have another charcoal fire.
But Jesus, I think, emphasizes and reminds Peter. Peter does
love Jesus. And Jesus's job for Peter in being restored

(41:33):
is to take care of his lambs.

S1 (41:35):
Yeah. Feed my sheep. So really, what he's doing is
once again transforming Peter through the resurrection from a failure
to a shepherd to a faithful servant. And I think
that that's remarkable, because now he gives him three times
to affirm his love for him after his three denials. Okay.
Next very important appearance is on a mountaintop in Galilee.

(42:00):
And what happens there? The great commission.

S2 (42:02):
Great commission. All authority has been given to me in
heaven and on earth. Go therefore, and make disciples of
all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the father, son,
and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that
I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you always,
even to the end of the age. Very, very important text.
Important episode here.

S1 (42:19):
So they were told right from the beginning. Go tell
them the Lord is risen. Go tell. Now the disciples
are told. Go tell the whole world about this. And
you know, some people say, well, that doesn't really apply
to us. That's to the 12. What I always look
at is he says, I am with you even to
the end of the age.

S2 (42:34):
Right?

S1 (42:35):
That means it's not just them.

S2 (42:36):
No it's not. It's. We're to be like them.

S1 (42:38):
Yeah. Uh, to the end of the age, we're supposed
to be proclaiming that good news. Uh, of Jesus being
dying for us and being raised again. And that's what's
going to transform people. Uh, now Jesus appears to 500 brethren.
Where does that happen?

S2 (42:54):
Well, best guess is that that happens also in Galilee.
Hard to say for sure, but we get a hint
of that in Luke 24, verses 44 to 49. He
reminds them of the kinds of things that he has
taught them. And then in first Corinthians 15 six it says,
after that he appeared to more than 500 brethren at

(43:15):
one time, most of whom remain until now, but some
have fallen asleep. I think probably the best idea is
that that's in Galilee.

S1 (43:22):
Yeah, and that's what sometime after that, he appears to James, right?
That's his brother Jacob, actually. Don't you think? Yep. Uh,
English says James. But yeah. Jacobus. In the Greek it is. Uh.
And then to all the apostles. Do you think that is.
I mean, they obviously have met as a group before,
but maybe individually with the apostles. What do you think?

S2 (43:44):
Um, again, could be very hard to say. I think
it I think it could be just another meeting with
all the apostles to somewhere, probably in Galilee.

S1 (43:52):
And because it says in acts one that he was
with them for 40 days teaching them all about the
kingdom of God.

S2 (43:57):
He was with them all kinds of times.

S1 (43:58):
Yeah. So now the thing about the 500 brethren, some
people have said this is just an hallucination. When people
think they saw someone that they've feared dying. Is there
such a thing as a 500 person hallucination?

S2 (44:13):
I think that's very unlikely. I you know, I think, um, um,
not only is it unlikely, I don't impossible. It's impossible.
I don't believe that that happened. The Bible doesn't say
that it happened. They saw him.

S1 (44:25):
Yeah, but when you have 500 people to see something,
it's amazing.

S2 (44:28):
You know, if somebody's super deep in grief, maybe they're
going to be so emotionally distraught. They might see something
and see their loved one or whatever. But that's not
that's not going to happen with that many people who
are level headed and who have been followers of Jesus,
and they are probably not going to be prone to
such sort of, um, difficulty mental, emotional.

S1 (44:47):
So we've got the 500. We've got James, and then
we've got the last resurrection appearance recorded is really, uh,
Before his ascension. Is that would you say. Aha.

S2 (45:01):
Yeah. And acts one six through 11 they say, Jesus,
are you going to restore the kingdom now to Israel?
And he says not. You don't need to know the timing,
but which.

S1 (45:11):
By the way, means he will restore the kingdom.

S2 (45:13):
He will.

S1 (45:13):
Oh, yeah. Just not.

S2 (45:14):
Now. He's going to do that. Yeah. And then he says,
you're going to be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, even
to the remotest parts of the earth. And then he
ascends from there into heaven, and they watch him go,
and two angels show up and say the same way
he left. He is coming back. It'll be physical. It'll
be to this spot. There will be a literal, physical
second coming, not just a spiritual second coming, like some

(45:37):
people say.

S1 (45:38):
Just like first Corinthians. Uh, first Corinthians, Zechariah 14 says
his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives. Olives, right? Yeah.
It's going to be just exactly, literally.

S2 (45:48):
Literally.

S1 (45:49):
To.

S2 (45:49):
That.

S1 (45:49):
Spot. Yeah. So some people say, well, he comes to
us sort of spiritually in our hearts.

S2 (45:53):
And he does.

S1 (45:54):
He does. But that's not enough.

S2 (45:55):
That's not.

S1 (45:56):
Enough. We have to be looking for his appearance more.
That's the blessed hope. Thank you for joining me. This
is a great quick Bible study. I appreciate it so much.
Thank you, Mike Vanlandingham, for helping me do this. And
thanks Ryan McConaughey for engineering this. Our thanks, Courtney, for
making us sound good. And remember, you can keep in
touch with Open Line during the week by going to
Open Line radio.org. That page is everything you need past programs,

(46:19):
email links, uh, links to Facebook, Twitter, whatever you want.
There's also a link for the free monthly resource from
Chosen People Ministries. Another link there that you'll find is
a link to my personal web page. If you want
to find out stuff I've done. What's still coming up,
including a trip to Israel, if you're interested in that, uh,
you know, just go over there, keep reading the Bible.
We'll talk about it next week. Have a glorious resurrection

(46:42):
Day tomorrow. Open line with Doctor Michael Ray Jelinek is
a production of Moody Radio, the ministry of Moody Bible Institute.