On the Road to Emmaus

Well, with Pentecost a week away, there are some things that we can be thinking about. It strikes me when we enter into the spring holy day season, and rightly so, we do a lot of preparing of our minds and our heart for unleavened bread, for Passover, as the Bible would, and their life for the next few days was anything other than what they expected that holy day season to be like. But during that holy day season, their sorrow was turned to joy when they realized that Jesus Christ had been resurrected and that He lived again and that He would continue to live.

And so they went through a whole range of emotions. And the Bible records for us some of the things that happened between that time of the resurrection and that day of Pentecost in 31 A.D. or 30 A.D., whichever year it was, where the Holy Spirit was given to the church. And just like we can learn things from the Exodus and Christ's life leading up to Passover, we can learn something about ourselves and something about God's commission for us by what happened leading up to that day of Pentecost in 31 A.D., if that's when the year was.

So today I want to look at some verses in the Bible and see what the apostles and what the disciples went through and what Jesus Christ did before that time as we look toward next week in the day of Pentecost. Things that we can think about and see things that Jesus Christ Himself highlighted as perhaps weaknesses in their lives that we can look at in our lives and see how the Holy Spirit makes all the difference in the world to us as well.

So let's look at that. Let's start back in Matthew 28 with the most obvious thing that Jesus Christ did. He gave His church a commission. After He was resurrected, He told them they were going to go out and preach the gospel to the whole world. They were going to teach nations to observe everything that He commanded. And He told us that it is recorded in the three of the gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke. So let's look at Matthew 28, well-known verses here to begin in verse 19 because this is what He said after He was resurrected but before He ascended to heaven and before that day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came to the church.

Verse 18, Matthew 28, Jesus came and spoke to them saying, All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Oh, we know those verses.

He was telling the disciples, This is what you are going to do. And when the day of Pentecost came, you'll remember in Acts 2, they went out and they preached that gospel in power. They didn't do it before that. They didn't do it before that.

But He left that with them. Mark says the same thing. Mark 16, we'll turn there in a minute, says, Preach the gospel in all the world. Well, let's go back here. Well, let's go back first here a couple of verses in chapter 28 and notice something.

Notice something. Because God, then Jesus Christ, they can be pretty detailed in what they tell us. And sometimes we can miss the detail. You know, Moses, Moses missed the detail when God said, Speak to the rock rather than hit the rock. And perhaps the disciples, and perhaps even we, if we're not paying close attention, can miss some of the detail God gives us.

Let's look at verse 16 here. The eleven disciples went away into Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them. They went away to Galilee. Earlier in the chapter, chapter 28, when Mary came to the tomb and the angel was there and the body of Christ was gone, this is what it says beginning in verse 6.

The angel says to her, He's not here. He's risen, as He said. Come see the place where the Lord lay, and go quickly and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead, and indeed He is going before you to Galilee. There you will see Him. Behold, I have told you. They did. What? 26. We see that Jesus Christ, as He is discussing with His disciples on that night of the Passover, He told them where He would be after He was resurrected. Perhaps it got lost in some of their minds where they needed to be.

Some of the things that He told them as they were trying to stand them fully. In verse 31 of chapter 26, it says, Jesus said to them, All of you will be made to stumble because of me this night, for it is written, I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered. I probably caught their attention when He said that.

But in verse 32, He said, After I have been raised, I will go before you to Galilee. I will be there. But you know, I think, just like you and I, they heard part of it, but they may have heard the words, and later they remembered Him saying that.

But maybe they missed that detail. And maybe you and I missed some detail, too, along the way. And the Holy Spirit helps us to remember some of the detail because God expects us to worship Him and follow Him exactly as He says.

Not just what we remember, but what He says He intends to happen. And the disciples, to their credit, when it was brought to their attention, they did go to Galilee.

And you would think the disciples, as they went to Galilee and they remembered what He said and thought, Here's Jesus Christ, we saw Him dead, we saw Him die on that cross. We saw Him laid in the tomb. And now, now He's alive. And when they saw Him, you would think that they would have been absolutely 1,000% convicted. This is the Son of God. There would be absolutely no doubt in their mind He even told us where He would see us after He's raised from the dead. But if we go back over to chapter 28, we see that that just wasn't the case. In chapter 28, in verse 17, says, They went to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them. And verse 17, when they saw Him, they worshiped Him. But some doubted. Some doubted. Can you imagine that?

Some doubted what they were saying, even though they had that detail, even though everything had happened exactly the way Jesus Christ had said, might have gone over their heads, most of it, but they doubted. In Mark's accounts of the time after Jesus Christ was erected, was resurrected, and before He ascended into heaven, He sounds the same thing. Let's go back to Mark 16, the last chapter of Mark. And we'll pick it up in verse 7. Mark 16, verse 7.

Go, it says, Tell His disciples, this is the angel speaking, Go, tell His disciples and Peter that He's going before you into Galilee. There you will see Him as He said to you.

So they went out quickly and fled from the tomb, for they trembled and were amazed. And they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid. Now when He rose early on the first of the week, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom He had cast seven demons. She went and told those who had been with Him as they mourned and wept. And when they heard that He was alive and been seen by her, they didn't believe. They didn't believe.

After that, He appeared in another form to two of them as they walked and went into the country.

And they went and told it to the rest, but they didn't believe them either.

They just didn't believe. That's hard for us to believe, isn't it? On this side of Jesus Christ's life, as this side of Jesus Christ's resurrection, they didn't believe. But they were human beings. This was something that was not resonating with them. Someone died, and then they're resurrected back to life. After all we've gone through, you said you saw Him?

You said you saw Him? Mary? They just didn't believe. If we look at Luke's account, back in Luke 24, and we'll be spending some time in Luke 24 here today, Luke 24 and verse 6, again, the angel speaking says, He is not here. He is risen. Remember how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee, saying, The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified, and the third day rise again. And they remembered His words then. Then they returned from the tomb and told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. It was Mary, Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles. And their words seemed to them like idle tales, and they did not believe them.

Always spoken about the word believed in the Bible before. If you remember the Greek word bestoio, p-i-s-t-e-u-o. It's a deep-founded belief that changes the way you think about life. It'll change the way you act, change the way you react, change your scope on things. Well, this believe, when it says not believe, is from a different Greek word. It really comes from a word that would be more appropriately translated, disbelieved. It comes from the Greek word epistio, a-p-i-s-t-e-o.

It's number 569 in the Greek in strongs. It's the Greek strongs in accordance. It means not willing to be persuaded. Mary and the ladies came and said, he's risen. But the apostles, or the disciples that were there, didn't want to be persuaded about that. They were kind of rejecting what they had to say. Another, Thayer says that it is they were refusing to be faithful. That is, failing to trust a revelation from God. Well, that seems like a pretty, pretty serious thing.

Trusting, not, or failing to trust something that God has revealed. And here it was, the Savior of mankind. He had been resurrected. They were told that that would happen. He was alive. And when they heard it said that He is alive, they weren't having it. They weren't having it. Until later, when they saw Him, they were able to see His hands and see His ankles and know for sure that it was Him.

Now, these are apostles, disciples who walked with Jesus Christ for three and a half years.

They heard every word He said. They had the opportunity to talk to Him. They saw who He was, God, and revealed to them He is the Son of God. There isn't, well, I don't know about any of them, but I'm going to venture to say there wasn't one of at least 11 of them who wouldn't say He was the Son of God on the day that He was crucified. And they heard what He said because He said it many times, but it kind of went right over their head, what they said, when He said, I'll be crucified and I will rise again the third day. And when it happened, it should have been, wow, it's exactly what He said. This is proof positive, but they didn't believe. That happened between the time He was resurrected and the day of Pentecost. The question for you and I would be, do we believe God? Do we believe, and I mean believe in believe what He says, that we know what the end result is, and that we even believe it if it takes a different turn that we might personally think it'll take between now and then? Because you know the apostles, they had their idea of what Jesus Christ would do, and it didn't turn out exactly the way that they thought it would.

And so it may have thrown them for a little bit of loop that He was killed even though He told them He would be. And so when He was resurrected, they doubted. They didn't believe. What about us? Do we have our own beliefs on what will happen between now and the time of Jesus Christ's return?

Do we have it in our mind this will be the way it is? Even though the Bible tells us what the end will result will be, but it doesn't tell us every detailed step along the way. Some details it will tell us how to worship God, what to do, some of the milestones along the way. But if it doesn't happen or if we don't understand what is going on, would we not believe when something happens?

You know, last week we talked about separating fact and fiction, truth and error, reality of God's word versus our own fantasies or our own speculation, if you will. We have to be very sure that we know what God's result is and that we would believe even if life takes a turn that we don't expect it to.

Even if it takes longer for Jesus Christ to return than we would expect it to, would we still believe?

Peter talks about that. He says that some people say, there is the promise of His coming. We've been hearing about this forever and He's not here yet. Basically, they say we don't believe. Would that be us as well? You know, Jesus Christ in one of the very visual examples of Him with Peter, remember when Peter was walking on water? And as long as Peter kept his eyes on Jesus Christ, as long as he kept his eyes fixed on Him, he was doing the impossible. He was walking on water. But as soon as he took his eyes off of Christ and started looking around Him, He sank.

Jesus Christ said, oh you of little faith, why did you doubt? Why did you doubt?

I hope there's no doubt in any of us. I hope we know the Bible. I hope we know the truth.

I hope we believe that even if things don't turn out the way we think they should go, if this doesn't happen the way we thought it would, that we would still believe. Still believe that Jesus Christ is returning. Still believe He's our Savior. Still believe we need to follow Him and obey Him with all our heart, mind, and soul and not let anything take us away or make us think that this isn't right because you know what? God has led us to the truth.

And we must follow it and we must believe. We must believe. Let's go over to John 20.

John's account of this time between Jesus Christ's resurrection and the day of Pentecost follows the same that Matthew, Mark, and Luke have. In John 20, we find the very real or the very familiar account of Thomas. Let's pick it up in John 20 and verse 25. Thomas, you remember, he was the doubting Thomas. That's where he gets his name from.

Verse 24, Thomas called the twin. One of the twelve was not with them when Jesus came.

The other disciples therefore said to him, We've seen the Lord. So he said to them, Unless I see in his hands the prints of the nails and put my finger into the print of the nails and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.

Apposteo, I will not listen to you. I will not believe. And after eight days, his disciples were again inside and Thomas with them, Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst and said, Peace to you. And Christ said to Thomas, Reach your finger here. Look at my hands. Reach your hand here and put it in my side. Don't be unbelieving. Don't be apposteo, but believing. Pistoyo, don't you doubt. Don't you doubt what I have taught you, but you believe that I am the Messiah. And Thomas answered and said to him, My Lord and my God. And Jesus said to him, Thomas, Because you have seen me, you have believed.

Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.

We may not understand every single thing that is said in the Bible. We can speculate and we might have this spin on it or this spin on it. We might not understand everything that goes on in our life. There may be things that happen and we think, Why us? Why this? I didn't count on this.

Never stop believing. Always believe God and trust Him. Don't be like the disciples who learned a very big lesson during that time between unleavened bread and the day of Pentecost. That they must believe and in them they found something that Christ pointed out that they just didn't believe.

That was just one thing we can look at. Let's go back to Luke 24.

See some more things that happened in between the time of Christ's resurrection and the day of Pentecost. Luke 24 and verse 12 or verse 13. Luke 24, 13. Now behold, two of them, Mark talked about two that were talking by the countryside. Now behold, two of them were traveling that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was seven miles from Jerusalem. On that road to Emmaus, we're going to find a lot of things. These people that are walking, these two that are walking, will learn some things as well. They talked together of all the things which had happened, just like you and I would. If we lived during that time, we would be talking about Jesus Christ, that He was crucified. Then this rumor that was out there, that He had been resurrected again. They talked together of all these things which had happened. So it was, while they conversed and reasoned, that Jesus Himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were restrained, so they didn't know Him.

Here they were walking with Jesus, and they didn't even know. It reminds me of the verse that says, be careful that you entertain strangers because you don't know when you're entertaining angels. And here these two, these two, were actually talking with Jesus Christ.

And He said to them in verse 17, what kind of conversation is this you have with one another as you walk and are sad? And the one whose name was Cleopas answered and said to Him, are you the only stranger in Jerusalem? And haven't you known the things which happened here in these days? And Christ said to them, what things? So they said to Him, the things concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to be condemned to death and crucified Him. But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel.

That's what we were hoping. We were hoping that He came to restore the Kingdom to Israel. We were hoping that He was going to be the King who took that Kingdom over right then. That's what we had expected when we read Isaiah 9 verse 6. It said unto us the Son is born unto us a King is given.

Now we thought He was going to take the Kingdom right now. But then He was killed. He didn't take the Kingdom right now. We were hoping that it would be Him who did this. Let's go back to Acts 1.

That was not long after Christ was resurrected, but in Acts 1, we're at the time right before He ascended into the heaven, literally just days before the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit would be given to the Church assembled there then. Let's pick it up in verse 4 of Acts 1.

By this time, Christ had been with them for 40 days. He had taught them. He was doing a lot of teaching during that time because they had a commission going forward. He was telling them or showing them what they needed to do and teaching them the things that needed to happen. In verse 4 of Acts 1, it says, See what they believed?

They believed right then it was going to happen. They didn't understand Christ's first coming, and then He would go away, and then He would return again. There may be things we don't understand the exact timeline on, but even then, will you now restore the kingdom to heaven or the kingdom to Israel? The men on the way to Emmaus. Their view of the Messiah was a little inaccurate.

So it caused some discussion among them. We thought this was going to happen, and it didn't. They didn't say anything condemning. They just were speaking from their heart.

Do we know the Messiah? Do we know Jesus Christ? There's a whole world out there that would tell you we know Jesus Christ. We believe He's the Savior. We know He died that our sins could be forgiven. We know that He was resurrected to eternal life. But they have a total misperception of Jesus Christ. They will tell you that their Jesus Christ doesn't really care if you keep the Ten Commandments. Even though He specifically said, I didn't come to do away, I came to complete them and to fill them up so that you keep them physically as well as spiritually.

They would tell you it doesn't matter if you keep the Holy Days of the Bible. Jesus Christ didn't care about that. He's okay if you keep this Christmas that's mixed with paganism and a little truth of the story of His birth. They'll tell you it's okay if you keep Easter. Even though Jesus Christ never said to make a holy day of His resurrection, but He said and gave us clear instructions on the Holy Days to keep, they're a Messiah who they worship, who has the same name, is totally different. They don't understand the Messiah. In fact, when He returns to earth, they'll fight against Him. They won't know Him at all. They'll think they're being invaded from someplace else. Revelation tells us the nations of the world will turn on Him.

They didn't know Him. They misunderstand Him. You know, it says here that the men, Clopas and his friend, Cleopas and his friend, their eyes were restrained and their eyes are restrained in the world, but they don't know God. And you know some of those misperceptions can bleed over into us if we let them. Misperceptions like, it's okay with God if we don't keep this exactly the way He said. It's okay with God. Some people, I've heard it within the last couple weeks.

As long as we have been baptized, we're okay. You know, that's a dangerous thought. A dangerous thought because the Bible says anything but, that you're okay just because you've been baptized. Baptism is a beginning. And I said endure to the end. And yet the world around who misunderstands, who doesn't know the Messiah, who has a misconception of Him, would tell you, once you're baptized, you're always saved. The Bible doesn't say that. Jesus Christ never said it.

And yet, for those of us who were raised in that atmosphere, who may have had that in our brains implanted as we were growing up, it takes time to wash that out so that we have a true view of Jesus Christ. A true view of who He is from the Bible. Not from the internet. Not from TV shows. Not from our friends. Not from our neighbors. Not from our schoolmates. From the Bible.

Know Him. Know Him and follow Him and don't. And don't be deceived or led astray. You know, one of the things we need to know is the voice of Christ. We need to know what to follow. When those thoughts come into our minds, are they of God? Or are they of some other spirit? Let's go back to John 10.

John 10. We need to know who Jesus Christ is. We need to know what He came to earth to do. We need to know that He's going to return to earth, set up His kingdom. We need to know that we need to follow Him. His commission was, teach all nations to observe the things that I have commanded you. That includes enduring to the end. That includes keeping His commandments. That includes letting God's Spirit develop the agape love in us for all of mankind. And in John 10, Jesus Christ, as He is speaking, talks about His voice. Let's pick it up in verse 1. John 10, verse 1, Most assuredly I say to you, He who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same as a thief and a robber. There's just one way to salvation, and that is through Jesus Christ. But He who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To Him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear His voice. And He calls His own sheep by name and leads them out. And when He brings out His own sheep, He goes before them. And the sheep follow Him, for they know His voice.

They know who's talking. They know what is leading Him. They know the Bible. They know who Jesus Christ is. They know what He stood for. They know what He preached. They know and understand from what God has given them the way to eternal life, the way to the kingdom. They know His voice.

Yet, verse 5, they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from Him, for they don't know the voice of strangers. When they hear this on the Internet, or this on the TV, or this that the friend is saying, or this that some acquaintance is saying, oh no, this is the truth. They think, no, no, no, that's not it. That's not the voice of God. That's contrary to the voice of God. They follow the shepherd wherever He goes. They know His voice. They won't have misconceptions. They won't be misconstrued. They won't be led astray. They will follow His voice because they know it. Because His Holy Spirit is in them, and because they know the Word of God. Let's drop down to verse 14. Christ says, I am the Good Shepherd, and I know my sheep, and am known by my own. As the Father knows me, even so I know the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep. And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold, them also I must bring, and they will hear my voice. And there will be one flock and one shepherd. They'll know His voice. And you know, during that road to Emmaus, Cleopas and his friend recognized Christ's voice. We'll get there in a minute.

Let's go back to Matthew 20, though. Or, I'm sorry, John 20. It's a few times when Christ's voice, in the physical sense, was recognized and the light bulbs went on. Much like when we hear something and we know what the light bulbs go on. John 20, in verse 15. After the resurrection, Mary is at the tomb. She's weeping because the body is gone. Jesus approaches her in verse 15 and He says to her, Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking? She, supposing Him to be the gardener, said to Him, Sir, if you have carried Him away, tell me where you've laid Him, and I will take Him away.

Jesus said to her, Mary. And she turned and said to Him, Rabboni, which is to say, Teacher. She recognized His voice the way He said her name. She didn't recognize it with the first few words, but she recognized it and I know that God opened her mind to know who it was. But when she heard His voice, she turned to Him and immediately recognized who He was. Let's go back to Luke, Luke 24.

Luke 24 on the road to Emmaus.

Verse 22. Luke 24 verse 22. Cleopas and his friend still talking to Jesus as they walked along with Him, not knowing who He was. In verse 22, they're continuing on after they said, We're hoping it was He who would redeem Israel. Yes, in certain women of our company who arrived at the tomb early astonished us. When they did not find His body, they came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels and said He was alive. Who said He was alive? And certain of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said. But Him, they didn't see. And then Christ said to them, Oh, foolish ones, slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken.

Audant the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory. And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.

You would have thought the light bulbs were beginning to go on. Who is this that we are walking with? Look at the things that He is saying. Look at His command of the Scriptures.

Look at Him, what He is doing, as He explains to us what went on. But that didn't dawn on them at that time. Verse 28, they drew near to the village where they were going and He indicated that He would have gone further. But they constrained Christ, saying, Abide with us, for it is toward evening of the day as far spent, and He went in to stay with them. Now it came to pass as He sat at the table with them that He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him, and He vanished from their sight. When He paused, when He broke the bread and He blessed it, their eyes were opened. Oh, God opened their eyes, but they recognized something about Him. They didn't recognize it in the teaching of the Scriptures and what Moses and the prophets had said about Him. But when they saw that familiar thing that they had either seen or heard of, they knew that it was Jesus Christ that they were with.

There was something about that moment that registered with them. Now, I don't know about you, but I would venture to say if Jesus Christ was giving a prayer over a meal and He was breaking bread and thanking God for it and blessing it, it's probably a prayer we would remember. It would probably be the most heartfelt thing we have ever heard in our lives. And perhaps, perhaps, Cleopas and his friend had seen that someplace in the past and it registered with them because there's a few places in the Scripture that it talks about Christ breaking bread and blessing it. Let's go back to Matthew 14. Matthew 14. And in verse 19, this is the occasion where He was speaking to 5000. The day grew late. Christ wanted to feed the people that were assembled there. They only had five loaves and two fish, but He told them, bring them to Me in verse 18. In verse 19, He commanded the multitudes to sit down on the grass, and He took the five loaves and the two fish. And looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke and gave the loaves to the disciples, and the disciples gave to the multitudes. I don't know if it was the habit of the Jews back then to break bread and ask God's blessing on it. There's something notable about it, and I would dare say that Jesus Christ never ate a meal without thanking God and asking His blessing on the meal. A pattern that we could follow, a pattern that He showed even after His resurrection with Caeliopas. And certainly it's recorded for us back on the Passover evening in Matthew 26. Caeliopas and his friend may not have been there, but in Matthew 26, words that we read every Passover as He was showing them how to observe Passover going forward in chapter 26 of Matthew in verse 26, says, as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, take, eat, this is my body. And of course, He was speaking of the bread that we should eat, His body that was broken for us, that we should eat of the bread of life and eat of that body and who eats of that body has life everlasting. But when Caeliopas and his friend heard Jesus Christ asking the blessing over the bread, they knew, they knew, and as soon as they knew, He vanished. He vanished.

They knew who they had been speaking with. They knew His voice. We need to know His voice. When we hear something, we know it's of God. Other things we hear and we think it's not of God and we dismiss it. People will know His voice. Let's go back to Luke. Luke 24. And continue on the road to Emmaus. Pick it up in verse 32. Their eyes were opened. Christ had vanished from them. In verse 32, they said to one another, Didn't our heart burn within us when He talked with us on the road? And while He opened the Scriptures to us, can you imagine if you were one of them and you realized, I've been walking with Jesus Christ all day. How come we didn't recognize that? Why didn't we pay attention? Why didn't it come to us when He was talking about these things? Of course we're talking with someone who is not just another human being that we passed by. So, verse 33, they rose up that very hour and they returned to Jerusalem and found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together saying, The Lord is risen indeed and has appeared to Simon. And they told about the things that had happened on the road and how He was known to them in the breaking of bread. Now, as they said these things, Jesus Himself stood in the midst of them and said to them, Peace to you. Peace to you. So, as they came and told those things, Jesus appears.

He had vanished before their sight. Now He's there and He's saying, Peace to you.

It isn't the only time that He said peace to you during the time between His resurrection and ascension into heaven. Over in John 20, we see Him saying it several times to the disciples who are gathered there. Let's go back to John 20. John 20, verse 19. John 20, verse 19. The same day and evening, being the first of the week, when the doors were shut, where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst and said to them, Peace be with you. And then He showed them His hands and His side.

Verse 21. So, Jesus said to them again, Peace to you. As the Father has sent me, I also send you.

And indeed, He was going to send them out to do the commission that He had given them. Preach the gospel. Teach all nations to observe all things. Baptize them into the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. Down to verse 26. After eight days when they were assembled together with Thomas this time, His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them, Jesus came. The doors being shut and stood in the midst, and He said, Peace to you. Peace to you. Apparently, it was one thing that He said as He entered a room, Peace to you.

You know, when we see someone, we might say, Hey, how are you doing? I hope everything's going well. Something friendly, a nice gesture to show that we're not an adversary but a friend. And some of the commentaries would suggest that was just Jesus's way of showing that He was a friend and was wishing them well. Same way we might with some of our sayings, but He said, Peace to you.

And you know, that wasn't the only time that He said, Peace to you. You may remember back in John 14.

Let's go back to John 14, so we're just a few chapters away, where He talked about peace as He was talking to His disciples on that Passover evening before He was arrested in verse 27 of John 14. He says, Peace, I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. I give you my peace, peace to you. And that wasn't the first time He talked about peace either. When He sent the disciples out earlier, He told them how to greet the people when they went into their house. Let's go back to Luke 10. Luke 10, and the same thing is recorded in Matthew 10. Luke 10.

Pick it up in verse 2. He says, it tells us in verse 1, He's sending out 70 people, sent them out two by two. And He told them what to do. In verse 2, He says, The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few. Therefore, pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest. Go your way. Behold, I send you out as lambs among wolves, carrying either money bag, knapsack, nor sandals, and greet no one along the road.

Keep your eyes focused on your goal. You don't worry about the rest. I'll take care of all your needs. You don't have to worry about that. Verse 5, But whatever house you enter, first say, Peace to this house. Peace to this house. What was Jesus Christ talking about? Was it just nice, a nice way of saying, Hi, how you doing? Hope all is well. Hello. Peace to you.

What was He telling the disciples after He was resurrected? What was He telling the people as He sent out? Peace to you. Well, we learn about peace in the Word of God and the peace that Jesus Christ would be thinking about. Let's go back to Philippians. Philippians 4.

Philippians 4. Let's pick it up in verse 5.

Paul writing, he says, Let your gentleness. Don't be adversaries when he says, don't be adversaries of the Word of God or don't be adversaries to people when you go out there. Let her gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your quiet requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

The peace of God. The peace that we have when things just don't go the way that we expected them to.

Maybe there is a health setback. Maybe there is a financial setback. Maybe there is something that goes on in our lives. And we don't fret. We might worry a little little because we're not perfect yet. But if we have the peace of God in our hearts, we know that all will be to good. We know that He is there. We know that He is aware of what's going on. We know what His truth is. We know what road He has us on. We know that He will return. We know that He will establish His Kingdom. And we know if we follow Him, follow His voice and listen to Him, that we'll be there.

You know, as those who were, well, Pontius Pilate, for instance, when he was watching Christ, and he saw all these accusations that were made against Him, and all these people who had all these comments, and he knew that they were all wrong. He knew that the man was innocent.

And he marveled, it says, that Christ didn't do what most humans would do. He didn't retort back. He didn't justify himself. He didn't defend and say, but this, but this, but this. He simply took it. He was at peace. And I think that's what Pilate saw in him and thought, how can this man be at peace? They want him dead. They're saying these things that I know aren't true. Maybe we've had that happen to us. Maybe in times of turmoil or whatever, your family or friends or whatever have said, how can you be calm through that? It's because of the peace of God. The peace of God that is in our hearts. The peace of God that surpasses all understanding. The peace of God that the world doesn't understand at all. We understand it. The disciples would understand it. And as Christ said, peace to you, he wanted them to feel that peace. My peace, he said, I leave with you. My peace I give to you. He knew what lay between them at that time and the time they would die. And most of them would die horrific deaths. They would be persecuted. They would be tried. They would live tough lives.

You know what? They came to understand what the peace of God was because they stood right through at all. They didn't disbelieve. They didn't waver. They didn't doubt. They kept their eyes on God. They knew what the truth was and they marched right through it with the peace of God. The same peace of God that he will give you and me because he knows what will happen between now and the time of his return, whenever that may be. A short time or maybe a longer time than what we think it might be.

That peace that comes from God is a very, very valuable thing. Isaiah 26 talks of the same peace. Over and over again we see the unity between the Old Testament and the New Testament. Isaiah 26 verse 3 says, you will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you because he trusts in you. You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you.

Christ wanted his people to be at peace and so he said peace to you. Many of the writers of the New Testament, Paul, Peter, James, they many times say the peace of God be with you because they came to understand what that meant and they wanted the same thing as people would follow God and yield to him that they would have that peace in their lives. Let's go back to Luke 24.

Luke 24. Luke 24.

Verse 41-43, he eats with them. Verse 44, after he was done eating, Luke 24, verse 44, he said to them, these are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms concerning me.

And he opened their understanding that they might comprehend the scriptures. Now they got it. When God opens our minds, we see it. And when we see it and he calls us and we get it, we have a responsibility just like the disciples then did. And he said to them in verse 46, thus it is written and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day.

And that repentance and remission of sin should be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And you are witnesses of these things.

Behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you, but tarry in the city of Jerusalem, until you are endued with power from on high.

You wait, he told them.

In John 20, as he told them, I didn't read a verse when he said, peace be to you. And then it says he breathed on them and said, receive the Holy Spirit.

They didn't receive the Holy Spirit right then. They received it on the day of Pentecost. And he tells them, this is your job. You're going to go out. You are going to teach my way.

People will be taught to repent. People will be taught to be baptized. People will be taught to follow Jesus Christ. You're witnesses of all these things, but you wait here. You wait here.

Waiting is something that's hard to do sometime, isn't it? We all have to learn to wait. I've been reading along in Samuel. He saw where? Saul.

What was the first thing he did that God said, I'll let God, your kingdom is not going to be given to your descendants?

He didn't wait. He told them, Samuel said, you wait seven days, and then I'll be there, and I'll offer the sacrifices. Seven days came and went. Saul got a little anxious, got a little ahead of himself, and he thought, he's not coming, I'll do it myself.

God said, you didn't wait. And because I see this in you, your kingdom won't be to your descendants. Later, he stripped the kingdom from Saul.

David, on the other hand, did wait an awfully long time, far longer than he may have ever thought he needed to. He was anointed king of Israel. And how many years did he wait before God actually put him in that position? He waited, and he waited, and he waited for God to give him that position. And even though he had a couple opportunities to kill Saul, and might have reasoned among himself, to himself, thinking, obviously, God, the time is for God wants me to kill him, he didn't. He waited for God. God said David was a man after his own heart. Jesus told his disciples, you wait. He could have given them the Holy Spirit right then. He could have said. When he said receive the Holy Spirit, he could have put it all on them. He told them, you wait. You wait. He tells us, you wait. You wait until Jesus Christ returns. You wait until he appears. You endure to the end. You don't lose focus. You don't lose heart. You don't lose belief. You just keep going, and you keep your eyes focused straight ahead, and you follow that voice that you hear, and you don't listen to other strangers. That'll pull you off the path. You keep on the straight line to where he is taking us. And he told them, you wait.

You wait until you receive power from on high, and it happened. It happened. Let's go back to Acts 2.

On that day of Pentecost, not too many days after Jesus Christ ascended into heaven and told them again to wait there. That we read in Acts 1 verse 4. It says in Acts 2 verse 1, when the day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. They waited. They didn't say after three days, well, obviously nothing's happening. I'm going to go home to wherever they were going home to. They waited. And on that day of Pentecost, they didn't know it was going to happen on the day of Pentecost. They knew it was a holy day. They knew it was a commanded assembly. They knew God would expect them all to be there. And good for them, all 20 of them that were there.

They were there, right, where God had commanded them to be.

And on that day of Pentecost, as we'll talk about on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came.

Now imagine, just imagine if a few of those who believed thought on that day of Pentecost, I just don't know if I feel up to going to Pentecost today.

I think I'll just stay home. Not a big deal. God understands I'm keeping the day holy. Do I really need to be there at His commanded assembly? What would they have missed? What would they have missed if they had not been all in one accord and one place?

Something was for us all to think about. But the Holy Spirit came to them. The Holy Spirit of power and love and a sound mind. And when that Holy Spirit came, you read in the next chapter of Paul going, or Peter, going out and speaking the gospel in power, so powerful, he and John, the three thousand were baptized. That Holy Spirit gave them the power to go out and do that. They knew and they had done exactly what God had told them to do. You know what? Those disciples, they believed from that time on. They may have doubted in the early days when the Holy Spirit was with them but not in them. Now they believed. And they believed right to the very tough end of some of their lives. They never wavered. They never doubted. They kept marching forward.

They knew who the Messiah was. They never doubted. They heard His voice and they followed it. Even though it may have taken directions they never thought it would take, they kept following Him. They knew His voice and they listened to it. And they were ready to do His commission. The Holy Spirit in us gives us the things that God wants us to have if we use it, if we apply it, if we give Him ourselves. So as we look toward the Day of Pentecost next week, think about some of those things. Be very thankful for God's Holy Spirit.

Be very thankful for what He's done in our lives.

And let Him lead you and guide you into all things.