The Aspen Grove

Resurrection in Luke-Acts

Note Planted:
7 min read

The Big Idea

  1. Easter in John—a tiny summary, since we did not talk about it last time …
    1. The Father raises the dead and gives like, and so does the Son (John 5:21-29)
    2. John 10:17-18—The Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep, in order that he might take it up again. He has this authority from the Father (cf. above, John 5:21-29). He can’t be anyone’s Good Shepherd—not yours or mine—if he is dead. If Jesus is dead, the wolves get us.
    3. John 11
      • Lazarus’ deadly illness is for the glory of the Father and the Son
      • “I am the Resurrection and the ______”
      • If Martha will believe, she will see God’s glory in the raising of Lazarus.
    4. John 13:1-30—Washing feet, he puts down and takes up his clothing (John 13:4; cf. 10:17)! He doesn’t stay unclothed. He doesn’t stay … dead.
    5. John 13:31 and John 14-17—it all just keeps running along.
      • Peter, you can’t follow me now (on my way to the cross), but you will follow me after (I am raised from the dead!) (John 13:36; cf. 21:19)
      • I go to prepare a place for you, and I will come again and take you to myself (14:3; 14:28; 16:16-24).
        • What is the Father’s house? Is it the Temple? Or the Temple?
        • Jesus doesn’t come and take his disciples away to the Father’s house. He says, “I will come again and take you to myself.”
      • You will see me again, and because I live, you will live also (14:19)
    6. John 19:30’s τετέλεσθαι cannot mean, “There’s nothing important still to be done.” It probably also does not mean “It has been paid.” It likely means “It has been completed / reached,” that is, the goal to which Jesus has been moving. He is laying down his life … in order that he might take it up again.
    7. John 20:9—Scripture said that Jesus must rise from the dead. The peace that the risen Jesus gives is inseparable from his physical, resurrection body (20:19-22).
  2. Easter in Luke
    1. Luke has some of the same “Easter is coming” material as that found in Matthew/Mark.
      • Psalm 118:22-23 are there.
      • Psalm 110:1 is there.
    2. One emphasis that is even stronger in Luke is that Christ’s suffering, death, and resurrection are the fulfillment of the OT Scriptures
      • What is implied in the Transfiguration scene, and the topic of Elijah’s and Moses’ conversation with Jesus (9:31)—what is his ἔξοδος?
      • Luke 18:31-34
      • Luke 24:25ff, on the road to Emmaus
    3. In a way that is more paralleled in John than in Matthew (and certainly Mark!), Jesus’ own physical (and transformed) body is emphasized, and crucial.
      • Luke 24:39—hands and feet show that ἐγώ εἰμι αὐτός
      • Luke 24:39-43—He had commended his spirit to the Father (23:46). But this is no mere spirit who stands before them, but the bone-and-flesh Jesus: “Gimme some fish!”
    4. REVERSAL has happened in the most important way in all of this Gospel’s story. And the proclamation of Easter as the reversal of Good Friday / Jesus’ death will utterly dominate the narrative of Acts as Peter and Paul and the others bear witness to His Resurrection. As with all of the Gospels, the good news is not delivered or accomplished at the death of Jesus. Death and resurrection/exaltation are the goal.
  3. Easter / Exaltation in Acts
    1. The theme of “witness / witnessing / testimony” is completely focused on the Resurrection. The new 12th apostle will be a witness to Jesus’ resurrection (Acts 1:22)
    2. The sermons in Acts all turn on the same hinge: You did injustice, murder, rejecting God’s chosen Man, and you killed him. BUT God raised him from the dead, and now he is ascended to God’s right hand. This was not the case before (according to his human nature). He was lowly and humble before. He is lowly and humble no longer. Something NEW has begun.
    3. Acts 2:22-36
      • It was God’s plan, but YOU killed him through lawless men (= Gentiles)
      • Psalm 16:10 was fulfilled, because David knew that God had promised that one would sit as a son on the throne.
      • Jesus is now EXALTED, and He has poured out the Holy Spirit. Psalm 110:1 has taken place.
      • God has made Jesus to be Lord and Christ.
      • God’s enemies have lost. Jesus is the appointed and the anointed. He is the Lord. Repent, and believe in Him.
      • THE HOLY SPIRIT AND JESUS” NEW OUTPOURING OF THE SPIRIT IS CENTRALLY IMPORTANT TO THE NEW LIFE THAT THE EXALTED JESUS GIVES TO ALL WHO CALL UPON HIS NAME. We will return to the Spirit’s work especially in part two of the course.
    4. Acts 4:5-31
      • The name of Jesus—whom you killed but God raised—has healed this man!
      • Psalm 118—Stone rejected, now head of the corner. And so, there is salvation in no one else than this exalted Lord.
      • Psalm 2:1-2 was fulfilled when Herod Antipas, Pontius Pilate, the Gentiles and the Israelites conspired against Jesus. But God in the heavens laughs!
    5. Acts 13:16-43
      • The sermon begins with Israel’s story, and focuses quickly on David and the promise of a king through his line. As announced by John, Jesus is this one.
      • Although he was innocent, they killed and buried him.
      • God raised him from the dead, and He appointed witnesses.
      • The promise to the fathers (a Davidic ruler, 13:23) has been fulfilled by means of Jesus’ resurrection
        • Psalm 2:7 says this: “You are my son, today I have begotten you”
        • Isa 55:3—the promises to David will come true for Israel
        • Psalm 16:10—no corruption for God’s Holy One.
        • Forgiveness is available through this Man!
  4. Basic Convictions (not mere “Models”) At Work—and looking forward to the Epistles’ Explicit Statements
    1. Death is the victory of Jesus’ enemies over him (Satan, leaders, ultimately also us)—but Easter is God’s reversal of that victory and His vindication of His Son. Walther’s Easter hymn (“He’s risen, He’s risen”) reflects this well.
      • Stone rejected; Stone exalted (Psa 118)
      • Holy One threatened by corruption, did not see corruption (Psa 16)
    2. Jesus dies in our stead, bearing our sins. He rises in our stead, living our life.
    3. In God’s way, humbling and humility come first, and are followed by exaltation. This is the pattern for Jesus, and for us. It’s a form of the “theology of the cross.” Now he is exalted, with all authority.
    4. God’s righteous verdict came against Jesus because he willingly stepped in to the lawsuit against us. The verdict? Guilty, and rejected, dead. But because God never lost sight of Jesus’ purity and perfection and righteousness, he raised him and pronounced the verdict “not guilty! Justified” (1 Tim 3:16!)—and so are we, in Him (Rom 4:25).
    5. As we will see in Hebrews, even our Lord’s identity as the vicarious atoning sacrifice requires his resurrection / exaltation. In brief, on the Day of Atonement, the divine act of atonement is not accomplished only when the animal is killed. The high priest has to take the blood into the holiest place and sprinkle it there. Hebrews presents Jesus’ death as the killing of the sacrifice, but his resurrection / ascension to God’s right hand is his entry into the true holiest place, there to sprinkle his own blood, make atonement, and eternally intercede for us as our great High Priest.
    6. The one biblical way of speaking with which I don’t understand how Easter “functions” is the “payment of the ransom” truth. Christ’s life is the ransom payment in exchange for the many (Matt 20:28, Mark 10:45). It’s not clear to me—and maybe it doesn’t need to be—how his resurrection supports and participates in this way of speaking about Good Friday.
    7. The different biblical ways to proclaim death and resurrection should all be in my preaching and teaching and pastoral care toolbox.

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