Resurrection Appearances (Acts 1:3)

Wayne Galloway
01/24/13 - N/A

Series: Resurrection

Introduction:

1.  “He presented Himself alive after His suffering, by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God” (Acts 1:3). 2.  Resurrection appearances are recorded in all four gospel accounts, in the book of Acts and in the Epistle of First Corinthians. 3.  The recording of Jesus’ resurrection appearances attaches special significance to actual physical resurrection as foundational to faith in Jesus as the Messiah.

a.  Jesus identified three days and three nights in the heart of the earth as the sign of Jonah serving as convincing proof of who He was (Matt. 12:38ff).

b.  Paul said, “I delivered as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures” (1 Cor. 15:3-4).

4.  If Jesus was raised from the dead then this is validation from God that He is who He claimed to be, the great Messianic King. 5.  If Jesus was raised from the dead then this is validation from God to actual physical resurrection. 6.  It is upon the basis of these two propositions that I base my hope on physical resurrection and citizenship in the kingdom of God.  Therefore it is important for me to think through the evidence of the resurrection appearances.

Discussion:

I.  The four gospels record a variety of resurrection appearances by Jesus.

A.  Matt. 28:9 records how the women on the way to tell the disciples about His resurrection saw and spoke with Jesus.  This may be the appearance described in Mk. 16:9 and Jn. 20:14 as an appearance to Mary Magdalene.  Lk. 24:10 identifies other women present and giving the report to the disciples.

1.  An appearance to a single individual might be open to more criticism that an appearance witnessed by multiple individuals.   Multiple witnesses testifying to the same event increases the force of the testimony.

2.  In this case we have specific individuals named:  Mary Magdalene, Joanna and Mary the mother of James and other women too that added credibility to the witness.

3.  They were not expecting the tomb to be empty.

4.  Their words seemed like nonsense to the apostles.

5.  Peter actually ran to the tomb to investigate for himself and went away marveling.

B.   Mk. 16:12 describes an appearance to two disciples walking in the country.  This is probably the same as the appearances to the two disciples on the Road to Emmaus (Lk. 24:13ff). Cleopas was one of these.

1.  The text indicates that they did not recognize Jesus, but that He appeared to them in a different form (Mk. 16:12).

2.  Later He revealed Himself to them.

3.  When they reported this to the others they did not believe them any more than they had believed the women (Mk. 16:13).

C.  He appeared to Simon Peter may have been the other (Lk. 24:34; cf. 1 Cor. 15:5, “Cephas” = the Aramaic equivalent of Peter).

D.  Three appearances are recorded in the gospel accounts to the apostles.

1.  Once when Thomas was absent (Mk. 11:14; Lk. 24:36ff; Jn. 20:19).

2.  Eight days later when Thomas was present (Jn. 20:26).

3.  At the Sea of Galilee eating breakfast (Jn. 21:1ff).  Verse 14 identifies this as the 3^rd time.

E.  Matt. 28:16ff records a time when He met them in Galilee on a mountain and gave them the great commission.  This may have been the time Paul describes in 1 Cor. 15 as appearing to more than 500 brethren at one time.

F.  The evidence is considerable even if it is hard to believe.

1.  Multiple witnesses confirm each other’s testimony.

2.  The evidence is presented in redundancy.

a.  Multiple witnesses.

b.  Those unbelieving and skeptical were convinced.

c.   The physical evidence was confirmatory.  Ex. nail imprints in hands, opening in side, eating, speaking, conversing.

d.  Evidence was repeated over an extended period of time.

II.  The book of Acts refers three times to a resurrection appearance to Paul.

A.  This experience is unique in that it occurs after Jesus’ ascension.

B.  Saul was in hostile opposition to the Way and yet saw the Lord on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:1-7).  The account in Acts 9 is given by Luke who was one of Paul’s traveling companions.

C.  In Acts 22:12ff Luke describes Ananias’ association and interpretation of Paul’s experience, but does it in Paul’s own words.

D.  In Acts 26:12—18 Paul describes what happened.

E.  If we might expect Jesus’ friends to create a story about His resurrection we certainly would not expect Paul to.  He is an enemy witness.

III.  First Corinthians 15 identifies a series of appearances in chronological order.

A.  An appearance to Cephas (cf. Lk. 24:34).  We know none of the details of this appearance.

B.  Then to the twelve.

1.  Whether Paul refers to a single one of the three or to all three appearances is not clear.

2.  But he acknowledges that Jesus appeared His closest companions.

C.  To 500 brethren at one time.

1.  This is likely the appearance in Galilee described in Matt. 28:16.

2.  Jesus had told the women to go into Galilee and there He would appear to them.

3.  Who were these people that assembled there?  There is a large group by comparison to the 120 described in Acts 1:15 when they selected a replacement for Judas Iscariot.

D.  To James.

1.  Evidently this is the Lord’s brother James.

2.  An unbeliever before the resurrection.

3.  Became a prominent member in the church at Jerusalem.

4.  James the apostle would have been included in the previous appearance with the twelve.

E.  To Paul last of all.

IV.  The question that remains is what are we going to do with this evidence?

A.  Some simply deny the credibility of the accounts and therefore dismiss resurrection as an impossibility.  Or perhaps they dismiss the resurrection as an impossibility and therefore deny the credibility of the accounts.  Either way resurrection and the accuracy of the accounts is dismissed.

1.  You cannot have credibility of the accounts and no resurrection.

2.  You cannot have no resurrection and yet have credible accounts.

3.  It is intellectually dishonest to simply dismiss what one simply chooses not to believe.

B.   On the other hand one can accept the accounts as accurate and along with that accept the resurrection as factual.

1.  Whatever way one goes there needs to be an honest investigation of the evidence. Simply dismissing the evidence is intellectually dishonest.

2.  The question involves a matter of belief.  Both the one who accepts the resurrection and the one who denies it does so as a matter of faith.

3.  Neither can reproduce it.

4.  This is the question most of the people of the first century faced.

a.  Most had not witnessed the empty tomb.

b.  Most did not see the resurrected Christ.

c.  They listened to witnesses and made their judgments—some believed and some disbelieved.

C.  That’s the question that faces you.  What do you make of the evidence?

Conclusion:

1.  It is evident that those who wrote these accounts believed it. 2.  It is evident that those described in the accounts believed it. 3.  Do you regard their testimony as accurate or inaccurate? 4.  Do you believe the evidence they have presented?