Appears After His Resurrection

Matthew 28:9-20

As the women are going to tell the disciples, as the angels had directed, Jesus met and greeted them. They grabbed his feet and fell down and worshipped him. He then instructs to tell the apostles that they have seen Him; and that they should go to Galilee and there they shall see Him. In verses 11-15, the soldiers, who were in the watch by the tomb of the Savior, came into the city to see the chief priests. The elders assembled and gave the soldiers large sums of money to lie that they were asleep and that the disciples stole the body of Jesus. Even though sleeping on a watch was punishable by death, the chief priests reassured the soldiers that they would intercede with the governor and secure everything for them so that they would not be killed. They took the money and left. The saying that they were not awake was used by the Jews to say why the body of Jesus was gone. In verses 16-20, the disciples go to Galilee, as the Savior told the women to tell the disciples. They also probably remembered that the Savior had told them to go to Galilee. The disciples met the Savior at an appointed mountain in Galilee. There on the mountain, the Savior bears testimony that “all power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.” By completing the infinite atonement, all power was now His. He then charges the Twelve as follows: “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” That charge is the charge given to the apostles today as well.

Mark 16:9-18
In Mark’s account, we learn that the Savior first appeared to Mary Magdalene. Mary goes and tells the disciples that she has seen the Lord and was alive, and they did not believe her. Next the Savior appeared to two of the disciples as they walked, probably on the road to Emaeus. They quickly returned and reported that they had seen the Lord. The other disciples believed them not. As the eleven were gathered together for dinner, he appeared unto them and chastised them for their unbelief and hardness of heart. He had sent three witnesses and they believed them not. The Savior then charges the eleven to “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that abelieveth and is bbaptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be cdamned.” They are to preach the Gospel to all and the importance of baptism is clearly stated. He continues with the signs that shall follow them that believe: “In my cname shall they dcast out edevils; they shall speak with new ftongues; They shall take up aserpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not bhurt them: they shall lay chands on the dsick, and they shall recover.” There are signs of the true Priesthood. The Savior then ascends into heaven and sits of the right hand of God. They must have seen this vision. The disciples went forth preaching everywhere. The Lord continued to bless them and confirmed the word with the fore-mentioned signs.

Luke 24:13-50

Luke opens with the two disciples, Cleopas and another disciple, were walking to the village of Emmaus. Jesus joins them but his identity is withheld from them. He listens as they talk about His crucifixion, and He then converses with them. They mention how they trusted that He should redeem Israel. Isn’t this interesting for they did not realize that He had redeemed Israel in a way that they did not understand. They related how the women and the apostles had gone to the tomb and that they had not found His body. Then the Savior gently chastises them and then lays out all the scriptures about the Savior and how He fulfilled them. As they drew near to the village of Emmaus, they invited the Savior to turn in to the village. He does so and eats with them. Then he took bread, blessed it, and brake and gave to them. Then their eyes were opened and they knew who he was. Immediately he vanished out of sight. The ensuing conversation is very interesting as they talk about how their hearts burned within them as the Savior talked about the scriptures and explained them. They then quickly returned to Jerusalem to relate their experience to the eleven apostles. In verse 34, it appears that the name of the other disciple was Simon. The cross reference on the footnote is to Cephas or Peter. It would appear that Simon Peter was the other apostle. That makes sense because as the leading apostle the Savior’s instruction about scriptures would be important so that he could teach the other apostles and disciples. There is significance of His being made known unto them as He broke bread.

The scene changes to the place were the eleven Apostles are met. The Savior appears, and the first words to them are “Peace be unto you.” Here is reassuring them that there is peace in His death and resurrection. They are afraid and think that Jesus is a Spirit. Then He invites to touch Him and have a sure physical witness that He is the resurrected Savior. He shows His hands and feet. They are still doubtful and He asks for some food, which they give to Him—a piece of broiled fish and honeycomb. He took and ate the food. He then reminds them that He came to fulfill all the prophecies and words about Him in the law of Moses, the prophets and the Psalms. It is interesting that He mentioned the Psalms. There are many prophecies concerning Him in the Psalms. He then continues and teach the doctrine and helps them understand the scriptures about His death and resurrection so that repentance and remission of sins through the atonement of Jesus Christ could be preached in all the world. They are witnesses of this. I am sure that many more things were spoken at that time and others. He ends by promising to send a gift of His Father. They are to remain in Jerusalem until they are endowed with power from on high. Again, later, He goes with them to Bethany, blesses them and departs into heaven.

John 20:11-31

TThe account of John gives us a much more detailed of what happened that resurrection morning. In John’s version, only Mary Magdalene is mentioned. She did see the two angels, one sitting at the end and the other at the feet of where Jesus’ body was laid. Mary asked the angels where Jesus has been taken. She turns around and there is Jesus. She does not recognize Him, and He asks her why she is weeping and whom she is seeking. She supposed Him to be the gardener and asks where the body of Jesus has been laid so that she can take him away and probably give Him a proper burial. Jesus says her name and then she recognizes Him and calls Him, Rabboni, or in other words, Master. Then Jesus tells her not to touch him, because He has not yet ascended to my Father. He instructs her to go and tell the disciples that He ascends unto His Father and your Father, to My God and your God. Mary is obedient and tells the disciples that she has seen the Lord and what He spoke to her.

On Sunday or the first day of the weeks, the disciples were assembled together behind closed doors, and Jesus came and visited to them. This first words are so meaningful, “peace be unto you.” One of the greatest blessings of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and being in His temple is to feel His peace. I am sure that there was a great spiritual, if not physical, outpouring that came with those words. He then showed Himself to them, the marks in His hands and the wound in His side. The disciples recognized Him and were glad, glad that He yet lived and was resurrected, glad that He was alive, and glad that He had come. Again the Savior said again, “peace be unto you.” He testifies that He is sending forth His disciples and the Father sent Him forth. In verse 22, he breathed or said unto them “Receive the Holy Ghost.” I would not have been surprised that He individually laid His hands on their heads and conferred the gift of the Holy Ghost. He then gives them the power to remit and retain of sins. It is clear that John is not giving the full account here, there must have been much more said and given to the disciples.

Thomas was not with the Twelve when the Savior came and did not believe that the witness and testimonies of the other Twelve of the risen Lord. Either he would not believe, or he desperately desired to have a similar witness and experience. A week later, the Savior came again and Thomas feels the marks in the hands and side. The Savior encourages him to be not faithless but believing. We need to remember that he day, be not faithless but believing. The Savior continues that those who do not seen the Savior but believe. That is most of us today. John refers to many other signs that the Savior gave to the Twelve, but they were not written in his Gospel, because we are not ready to receive them. What was written was written so that we may believe that Jesus Christ is literally the Son of God and that by believing in Jesus Christ, we may obtain eternal life.

Acts 1: 3-8

This is one of the most interesting and extensive scripture that tells us about the activities of the Savior after his resurrection. After His resurrection the Apostles were with him forty days. During these forty days, he spoke and taught them pertaining to the kingdom of God. To me, this is one of the most striking reasons that the Bible is not the only place for the Word of God. It is clear that the Savior had many, many other things to teach his Apostles. They are not included in the Bible, because some were too sacred to record for all but also because the Kingdom of God and its mysteries are so broad and deep that it took the Savior forty days to cover them and to instruct and teach His Apostles. What a glorious opportunity it must have been for the Apostles to be instructed by Him after His resurrection, when their understanding of His Gospel had been significantly strengthened.

They were instructed to remain in Jerusalem so that the gift of the Holy Ghost could be given them. This gift was promised not many days hence. The gift of the Holy Ghost was given during the feast of Pentacost, which was fifty days after the Passover. The Savior instructed them for forty days, they only had to wait a week or so. The Apostles asked when the kingdom of Israel would be restored again. They were told that it was not for them to know the time of the season. Then comes a powerful promise in verse 8: “But ye shall receive apower, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be bwitnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judæa, and in cSamaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” The Savior is prophesying that they will receive power from the Holy Ghost and then be witnesses of Him in Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samaria, and the uttermost part of the earth. What a special promise, and it came and has come true.


1 Corinthians 15:5-7

In these short versions, five appearances of the Savior after His death and resurrection are mentioned: Peter saw Him (maybe on the road to Emmaus); He was seen of the Twelve; He was seen by 500 brethren at once; He was seen of James; and He was seen again by all of the apostles. Obviously, all these appearances were well known to the Corinthians, the way that it was mentioned.