Thoughts From Luke - Day 103

                                        Luke 24:1-12


On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. ² They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, ³ but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. ⁴ While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. ⁵ In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? ⁶ He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: ⁷ ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ” ⁸ Then they remembered his words.
⁹ When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. ¹⁰ It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles. ¹¹ But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense. ¹² Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened.

        As we studied Mormonism in Sunday School this week, I am once again amazed that anyone believes this. From the wearing of special underwear to protect you from Satan, secret handshakes and signs, and holding your arm at a right angle to divert floods and lava flows, to Jews crossing the ocean long before Columbus and becoming the Native Americans, the star Kolob, skin turning lighter when you become a Mormon, and the Garden of Eden being in Missouri, the teachings of the Mormons baffle the mind. I am so glad that Christianity has archaeologic, philosophical, and manuscript evidence that enables us to make an intelligent case for our beliefs. One of the best cases to argue is the resurrection. If this didn't happen, to explain how this hoax was pulled off takes much more faith than believing that it truly happened. But even with the evidence we see three reactions to the presenting of the case for the resurrection.

         The first is seen in verse 11 - unbelief "because their words seemed to them like nonsense." It is sort of like Felix telling Paul that his great learning has caused insanity. Paul writes to the Church of Corinth and talks about how spiritual things aren't grasped intellectually and ends the discussion with

"My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, ⁵ so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power"

       Even with all the proofs for the resurrection, http://thoughtsfromtherightbrain.blogspot.com/2016/08/apologetics-week-8-resurrection.html  , the concepts of sin, atonement, sacrificial death, being born again, and others can't be intuited. These have to be spiritually discerned. This is probably what our Mormon friends would say about their religion and this is probably why they believe such crazy things. To us their words seem like nonsense but they would probably say that if you convert you will understand them. However, the difference is that once you receive Christ and the gospel, then apologetics can defend Christianity. If you receive Mormonism, apologetics still can't defend the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants and The pearl of Great Price. So the bottom line is that as you go out to share Christ, don't be discouraged, even though it makes perfect sense to you, if people don't get it. Witnessing needs to be preceded by much prayer for the Holy Spirit to open the eyes of the blind that Satan has blinded.

       The proof of this is seen in the women. Even though they saw everything, they were "wondering what happened". Then an angel came and spoke to them and they remembered and understood Christ's words. You see, it took a supernatural touch to understand. John Piper talks about this in his book, Filling Up the Afflictions of Christ. He talks about William Tyndale, who was burned at the stake by the Catholic Church for translating the Bible into English which gave the every man access to the scriptures. The Catholics didn't want the people to know that so many of their teachings weren't in the Bible. Meanwhile, there was another great religious mind that wrote prodigiously on Christianity named Erasmus, who was accepted and revered by the Church. Although his writings were true, compared to Tyndale's they were a lightening bug as compared to a lightening bolt. They were intellectual fodder lacking power because he never had the "supernatural touch" like Tyndale that invaded his soul and transformed his mind. The women that day went from knowing about Jesus to knowing Him and could say, like Thomas a few days later, "My Lord and My God."

        Lastly, we see Peter. He heard the words, didn't understand them, but was inquizitive enough to check it out. It left him still wondering because he had not received the supernatural touch like the women, but it put him in a position to believe. When we witness, we pray that the Holy Spirit would be going ahead of us preparing hearts and minds. But even if people don't get saved, our hope and prayer is that we would have planted a seed that would make them think and explore and seek the truth. Our words, testimony, presentation, arguments for should be at least interesting and wooing enough to, when we leave, make them run to the tomb and "wonder".

        We will see some more responses to the resurrection in the upcoming verses, but I say, especially to me, don't stop telling of the wonders of Christ just because you get a lot of blank stares. Keep sharing. Some of it will hit home and change lives forever.