Jesus Has Risen ἠγέρθη

Scripture foretells the coming of Jesus to be raised and forgive sins.

The morning of the third day after the crucifixion, the disciples would wake up believing they were still in the same world the same fallen world as had always been. Since the beginning as things had always been, and although they believed Jesus was the Messiah because he healed and he preached with authority, that morning they believed nothing had changed. This is why when they went to the empty tomb they were struck with disbelief.

You see, the world they lived in was a world that was under submission to the Roman Empire. Furthermore, their keepers of the law, the Pharisee, which took advantage of the poor and stole from the old, and whom Jesus accuses of being  “like tombs that have been whitewashed” (Matthew 23:29) the Pharisees,

weren't they still in power? 

Had they not killed their prophets before in the past? This is why there was doubt in the disciples when the women returned and exclaim about the empty tomb and what they saw and heard from the angels at the tomb.

Peter runs to the tomb, he looks in, and he “wonders what had happened” 24:12.

Peter, whose name was Simon, and whose name is changed to Petros, which means Rock. This is also Peter who denies Jesus three times. Seven miles away two of the disciples are walking to Emmaus, they are downcast as they talk about the events of the last few days, when Jesus approaches. They too believe they are still in the fallen and troubled world. They also believe they have witnessed the murder of their Messiah. Not just that Christ dies, but that many of the disciples if not all watch what Jesus must endure before he is nailed to the cross.

In disguise Jesus asks, “what are you discussing?” 24:17

They tell him that Jesus of Nazareth has been crucified after the chief priests and rulers sentence him to death. And that he was their hope for the redemption of Israel. 24:20

He reminds them of what he had been telling them all along,

“Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things

and- then enter his glory”  24:26

First, he tells them, “How foolish you are” 24:25

Finally, Jesus appears to the disciples in Jerusalem, by now they are all discussing what the others have seen. When he appears to them, the Bible says they were “startled and frightened, as if they had seen a ghost.” 24:37

He says to them, “this is what I told you while I was still with you:

Everything must be fulfilled that is written in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.” 24:44 ISAIAH 52-53

He says

“The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, (24:46)

And forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning in Jerusalem” (24:47).

He says to them “you are witnesses of these things.” 24:48

Today, modern historians affirm the historicity of Jesus, that a man a prophet named Jesus preached in the first century and was crucified, there are plenty of records to show this is true.

Jesus small group of disciples will take their commission to preach repentance and forgiveness of sins to all nations, and here today we can say we are witnesses of these things, that the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been preached to all nations.

We are witnesses to the miracles told in the Bible because the very Faith itself is proof of God’s power.

Verses 24:52 and 53 state that after Jesus’ ascension to Heaven, “they worshipped him and returned home with joy.” Joy replaces utter despair.

PAULS TESTIMONY IN 1 CORINTHIANS 15, 20 YEARS LATER

3 παρέδωκα γὰρ ὑμῖν ἐν πρώτοις 

3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first things:

ὃ καὶ παρέλαβον ὅτι χριστὸς ἀπέθανεν ὑπὲρ τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν ἡμῶν κατὰ τὰς γραφὰς 

that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 

4 καὶ ὅτι ἐτάφη καὶ ὅτι ἐγήγερται τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῇ τρίτῃ κατὰ τὰς γραφὰς 

4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 

5 καὶ ὅτι ὤφθη Κηφᾷ, εἶτα τοῖς δώδεκα. 

5 and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. 

6 ἔπειτα ὤφθη ἐπάνω πεντακοσίοις ἀδελφοῖς ἐφάπαξ 500 at one time,

ἐξ ὧν οἱ πλείονες μένουσιν ἕως ἄρτι, of whom most remain alive until now

τινὲς δὲ ἐκοιμήθησαν. 

7 ἔπειτα ὤφθη Ἰακώβῳ, εἶτα τοῖς ἀποστόλοις πᾶσιν. 

7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 

8 ἔσχατον δὲ πάντων, AND LAST OF ALL

/ὡσπερεὶ τῷ ἐκτρώματι/

ὤφθη κἀμοί. HE APPEARED TO ME

Jesus has Risen, he sits at the Right Hand of The Father,

He has erased our sins and sends the Holy Spirit so that

“we may be clothed with power from on high” Luke 24:49