In my last post I took a guess at what the eschatology of those at the time of Jesus was and what they might have been thinking after Jesus died. Eschatology is the study of end things and, from a Jewish perspective, the coming of the Messiah was all they were waiting for; they had no concept of a Second Coming. Jesus’ death, then, meant that either He could not have been the Messiah-King, or God had ultimately failed to save and redeem His people.
When we last left the story in Luke 24, Jesus was walking from Jerusalem to Emmaus with some two rather unidentified individuals (one of them is named Cleopas, though). They explained that they figured Jesus was a prophet whom they hoped would redeem Israel, but He can’t be what they hoped for because He had been condemned to death and crucified.
22 Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning, 23 and when they did not find his body, they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive. 24 Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see.”
Some women, Cleopas, had reported that angels were saying He was alive. Note the degree of separation. They never say whether or not they actually believe them. They say their might be some legitimacy, since some people had said his body wasn’t where it was supposed to be. It all seemed unlikely though. Prophets don’t come back from the dead and why would the Messiah (Christ) die?
25 And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” 27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.
We read over this and probably think “Yeah, they should have known Jesus would rise from the dead. He told them so!” At least, that’s what I used to do. It’s not what He says, though. The didn’t believe what the prophets had said. They foretold the suffering and the glory of the Messiah. Prophets in the plural, not just one. Then He started in Moses and went through the prophets to show how they all talked about Him. This is what they were missing. It’s why they had no hope.
To sum up what happens briefly so you’ll actually have a chance at reading this whole post: Jesus arrives at the house with them, reveals who He is, and when they figure it out, they head straight back to Jerusalem. They get there and start talking about the resurrection. Jesus shows up, scares the living daylights out of them, then proves that He is not a ghost by eating (since ghosts can’t eat, silly). That’s where we’ll pick it up.
44 Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” 45 Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, 46 and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, 47 and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.
This is great. Luke mentions it twice and makes a point to state it as explicitly as possible. Jesus tells them that He had testified, prior to His death, that the whole Bible was about Him (cf. Joh. 5:39). Moses, the prophets, and the Psalms… a phrase which, for the Jews, meant the entire Tanakh (Old Testament) all explained Jesus. He opens their eyes and tells them that the Old Testament says that He had to suffer and in three days rise from the dead.
It’s funny, too, because if you look through the Old Testament for death and resurrection, suffering and vindication… you find it everywhere. Jesus is called the Son of David a lot, let’s look at David.
“Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. 30 Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, 31 he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. 32 This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses.
David actually wrote the words, “For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption” about himself (Psa. 16:10) when he was in trouble (someone was almost always trying to kill David). Peter is in some sense saying that the trouble David endured was to be a giant picture of the suffering Jesus would endure. Virtually everyone hated him, wanted his throne, and tried to kill him. God delivered David and He raised Jesus. This sort of story, suffering and resurrection (or vindication) happens throughout the Bible. Think of Noah, Abraham, Joseph, Job, Daniel, Israel in Egypt, etc.
Jesus fulfilled it all. Those in the Bible who suffered and were delivered were delivered because they believed in a God who could bring them out of an impossible situation into something better than anything they could acquire on their own (cf. Heb. 11). Jesus endured the cross, despising the same, for the joy set before Him; He was then vindicated (Heb. 12:2). He didn’t just fulfill prophecy; He lived out the entire story-line of Scripture. He’s better than the prophets, priests, and kings. He is that to which they all pointed.
Jesus suffering is the ultimate suffering, not because He suffered more than everyone else. His righteous (and undeserved) suffering and death resulted in God raising Him from the dead. Now, if we’re in Him, when we suffer and die we are also raised with Him. God could vindicate those in the Old Testament through their faith in His salvation, in Jesus. God will one day vindicate us through our faith in Jesus. His resurrection is, in some sense, ours too.
The entire Old Testament testifies to this, and the New Testament explains it. What do you suppose we ought to do?
“…repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.”
God is restoring everything to Himself, making all things new, in Jesus’ resurrection. He’s getting rid of sin and death; we get to proclaim it, like the prophets did.
