Following the discovery of the empty tomb very early on Sunday morning, Jesus made several appearances to others before appearing that evening to a gathering of His disciples that included all but Thomas of His remaining apostles. He appeared first to the same two Marys who had found the tomb empty, but not until later that morning after first alerting Peter and John, who rushed to the tomb to also find it empty—no Jesus, but also no angels whom the women had seen. After they had left, for it was unsafe for them to remain at the tomb, Jesus appeared particularly to Mary Magdalene to console her deep sorrow, for in addition to His brutal death, now His body was also missing. Perhaps not much later He also appeared to Peter, presumably for the same reason. For Peter, not unlike Judas who had hung himself, was distraught over his own failures in regard to Jesus, even denying Him with an oath and a curse (Mat 26:72,74). Because this appearance to Peter is barely mentioned in Scripture, we might suppose that like Mary Magdalene who at first thought Jesus was the gardener, Peter didn’t at first recognize Him either, and perhaps only in hindsight through the eyes of faith. Then, on that afternoon and into the evening, He also appeared to two disciples on the road to Emmaus, again in a form that they didn’t at first recognize, but when their eyes of faith were opened to see it, they could never again un-see it. How is this like all throughout history who have met the risen Savior? And yet, in spite of the testimony from these three appearances the other apostles still couldn’t believe it—excepting John, who was the first to believe without seeing when he arrived earlier at the tomb; Joh 20:8. So, when Jesus did appear to them that evening they were terrified and supposed they must be seeing a spirit; Luk 24:36-37.
After convincing them that it was really Him and not just a spirit, and that He was alive and could even eat and drink and fellowship with them as before (Luk 24:38-43) what does Luke note that Jesus talked about at this first meeting with them after His resurrection? See Luk 24:44-48. How was this similar to what He had shared earlier with the disciples on the road to Emmaus? See Luk 24:25-27. Although His death and now His resurrection from the dead were both a shock to His followers that they could hardly believe, did these things happen totally out of the blue that they should have been caught so flat-footed? See Luk 24:44; cf. Mat 16:21, 17:22-23, 20:18-19, Luk 18:31-34, 24:6-8. In light of His repeated teaching about what was going to happen but their inability to actually comprehend and really believe it, what are we reminded about the great power of death as an impenetrable darkness that is the devil’s most potent weapon to keep men enslaved by their fears? Cf. Isa 25:7-8, Heb 2:14-15. What does it also remind us about the way Jesus disarmed the devil to remove that veil of darkness by first partaking of the death to which all men are destined for their sin, and then being raised from the dead to bring to light the blessed truth that death need not be something to be feared as our final reality? Cf. Mat 12:29, Luk 11:21-22.
In what parts of Scripture did Jesus say things were written about Him that had to be fulfilled? See Luk 24:44. Did He mean by this to say that there are other parts of Scripture that didn’t need to be fulfilled? See Isa 40:8, Mat 5:18, 24:35 and note that the Jews thought of the Scriptures we now have as our Old Testament as being composed of three parts: the Law of Moses or Torah, the Prophets or Nevi’im, and the Writings or Ketuvim; hence they often refer to their Scriptures as the TaNaK. Because the Psalms were the first and most prominent book of the Ketuvim, it often stood for the whole of the Writings. I.e., by referring to everything written in the Law and the Prophets and the Psalms, Jesus was referring to the whole of Scripture; cf. Luk 24:27. Why is it necessary that everything written in Scripture must be fulfilled? See Heb 6:13-18 and think: can God lie or be mistaken?
Even though Jesus had previously on multiple occasions shared with His disciples what was going to happen, because of the impenetrable darkness of death they were prevented from understanding; see again Luk 18:34. Until they actually saw Him die and knew in their hearts He was absolutely dead so that mortal life could not be restored to His body, but then experienced Him resurrected from the dead to immortal life, they had no frame of reference to make sense of His words, which could only be believed by faith and fully understood in hindsight. What does Luke then note that Jesus was now able to do after He had actually risen from the dead? See Luk 24:45. What does this teach us about there being both an experiential and faith dimension to understanding that goes far beyond our intellectual understanding? See Rom 1:28, Eph 4:17, 1Ti 6:5, 2Ti 3:8, Tit 1:15; cf. the first four words of Heb 11:3. What then is necessary for true salvation in regard to our mind and its understanding? See Rom 12:2, Eph 4:23. Again, is that understanding to which the spirit of our minds must be renewed just intellectual in nature? Think: Jesus’ disciples knew intellectually what He had said even before His death and resurrection, but did they really understand it? Which apostle seems to have understood it the best, by faith? See again John 20:8.
As important as it is for our minds to be renewed to rightly understand the truth intellectually as well as experientially and in faith, is that all that is necessary for the true salvation that leads to eternal life? See Psa 111:10 and cf. 1Co 13:2, Jam 2:19. Even if one’s mind is transformed to a sound doctrinal understanding of the truth and confesses Jesus as Lord and has many “works” to demonstrate his faith, if one is not saved from the sin from which Christ came to save us (Mat 1:21)—which sin is lawlessness (1Jo 3:4)—and actually does the will of the Father, is he really saved? See Mat 7:21-23. What is the significance that Jesus never knew those who practice lawlessness? See Gen 4:1,17,25 (KJV), 1Jo 3:9. If we refuse intimacy with our Lord so that the imperishable seed of His word finds no place in our hearts, can we expect to bring forth Christ in our lives and bear the fruit of righteousness, any more than a wife can bear a child who refuses intimacy with her husband? Cf. Gal 4:19, 1Pe 1:23, 1Jo 3:4-10.