Resurrection Sunday
Lanse Evangelical Free Church
April 5, 2026 :: Luke 24:34
Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed!
Indeed. Today, I want us to focus in on that last word of the “Easter Acclamation.” The word, “indeed.”
I almost entitled this message, “Indeed,” but I didn’t want you to think it was an ad for a job search company.
“Indeed.” That’s a word we all know, and we all know what it means, though we don’t tend to use it all the time. I wonder how many of us used the word, “indeed” this week outside of worship and outside of searching for a job.
It almost sounds like a “Lord of the Rings” kind of fantasy word, “Indeed.” You have to say it with a Shakespearean accent.
“Indeed, we had pizza for supper last night. Indeed.”
“Indeed, we hid 1,000 eggs for the egg hunt yesterday at the Ark Park, and the Challenge teens hid almost another 2,000 eggs at people’s houses. Indeed!”
“Indeed” means that it’s true. That’s it’s not just a story. It’s not just fiction. It’s fact. “Indeed.”
In a word, it means “Really!” This is reality. This is the way it really is. And in Luke 24:34, a bunch of followers of Jesus came to the same conclusion: That Jesus had really come back from the dead.
Look with me at Luke 24:34. There’s a group of Jesus’ followers who gathered in Jerusalem on or just after that amazing Sunday which we’ve been celebrating all morning. They had had the most bewildering day, and they were comparing notes.
In the room were the Eleven Apostles (minus Judas, of course, who had betrayed Jesus and left Him). And there were others with them who were also followers of Jesus, and there were these two disciples, one of them was named Cleopas (we don’t know the second one’s name perhaps Mrs. Cleopas?, these two disciples), who had just had the most amazing experience of their life! And they all got together back in Jerusalem and compared notes. Look at verse 33.
“They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together and saying, ‘It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.’”
(Simon is another name for the Apostle Peter.)
Do you see the word, “indeed” there in verse 34? It’s in there. It’s in the Greek original of Luke 24:34. The Greek word is “ontoes.” “Really.”
The NIV translates it, “It is true!”
The CSB, the Christian Standard Bible says, “The Lord has truly been raised and has appeared to Simon!”
The KJV and ESV both say, “The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!”
The NASB and the NLT both say, “The Lord has really risen, and has appeared to Simon.”
“Ontoes.” Really. This is a fact.
That’s so important! We have all gathered here today to make a big deal of the resurrection. And that’s because it’s true. This isn’t a myth or a fairy tale. It’s not just a story that we tell the kids or ourselves to make us feel good. It's not just a song. It's not just a season. It's not just a Sunday. The resurrection of Jesus is a fact! It’s real!
Do you believe that?
It is increasingly difficult these days to separate fact from fiction. There are a lot of scams out there. So many people are lying to us. And now we have robots to lie to us, too. Artificial Intelligence. A.I. Great tool, perhaps, in the right hands. Terrible tool in the wrong.
Sometimes, it’s hard to tell what is true and what is fake. I have a pastor friend who has begun gathering information about the common scams that target church members, and he’s been teaching his congregation how to keep from getting scammed these days, especially online. And one of the best ways is to check and make sure that the stories line up. Call the bank to make sure. Call your credit card company. Check with a different family member to see if what you are supposedly hearing from someone who needs money is true. Check with others to make sure the stories line up. And if they don’t line up, be very very wary.
These people in Luke 24 were checking with each other to make sure that the stories all lined up. And they concluded that they did!
It was all true. It was all real. Christ is risen indeed.
Do you remember when you first came to believe that Jesus had risen from the dead?
Maybe you’ve always been told it’s true. And maybe you believed it when you were little, and then you started to doubt and question. Do you remember when you were finally convinced?
Maybe you aren’t so sure. Maybe you have been dragged here by someone today. You’re not convinced yet that this is all true.
Can I encourage you to make it your life’s mission to find out? Because everything hangs on this.
If Jesus has come back from the dead, it makes all the difference in the world.
It means that that God is real.
It means that miracles are real.
It means that Jesus is trustworthy.
It means that there is life after death.
It means that forgiveness is real.
It means that resurrection is real.
If Jesus can be raised from the dead, then so can you and I.
If Jesus is raised from the dead, then His kingdom will come.
And all bad things must come to an end.
Really!
It means all of that and so much more if this is all real.
It gives us something to build our lives upon. I don’t know about you, but I want to build my life on fact, not on fiction and certainly not just on feelings. Feelings come and go. They lie to us. But I want to know what is really real and build my life on that.
Whenever I struggle in my faith (And I do. Pastors struggle, too.), I start back at this foundation. Did Jesus rise from the dead? Yes! And then I build everything on that bedrock fact once again.
If you are trying to figure this out right now, there are many books I could recommend that examine the evidence and help you make up your own mind.
This week, I read this little book, “Did the Resurrection Really Happen?” by Timothy Paul Jones. I’d be glad to loan you my copy.
Whatever you do, don’t put this off. There’s too much at stake.
The group said (v.34), “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon [v.35]. Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread.”
That’s amazing story, too, that you can read in verses 13 through 32. These two disciples, one of them named Cleopas were walking on the road to a village named Emmaus about seven miles from Jerusalem. And they were bewildered by everything that had happened that week.
What a week! Starting on Sunday with the triumphal entry of Jesus on that little donkey’s back, “Your king comes to you!” And everybody thought they knew what was happening. The King had come! “It’s happening!” And then it all went sideways.
Well, these two are talking and a third person joins them on the road. And it’s Jesus. But for some supernatural reason, they can’t tell that it’s Him.
And He asks them, “What are you guys talking about? What’s going on?”
And Cleopas is like, “What rock have you been hiding under?! We’ve been talking about Jesus.”
“He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place.
In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning but didn't find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see” (Luke 24:19-24.).
Cleopas there is talking about the first part of Luke 24. You might want to read that yourself this afternoon. We studied it in-depth a few years ago as a church.
These women had gone to the tomb where Jesus was buried. Yes, He was buried! That’s what you do with a corpse. You bury it. But these women had gone to visit the tomb, and they found that the stone was rolled away and the tomb was empty!
#1. HIS TOMB WAS REALLY EMPTY.
There was nobody there. No body there.
There were a couple of angels...whose clothes gleamed like lightning. I can’t imagine what that was like. They did had not yet harnessed electricity. There were no LED lights. Aside from the sun, lightning was the brightest thing you can imagine. These two angels were like made of lightning. Ever close your eyes after seeing lightning, and you can still see the outline behind your eyelids?
And these electric angels had a message, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you...The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.” (Luke 24:5-7).
And the ladies ran back and told the Eleven, and Peter (and John) ran to the tomb, and they saw that it was empty. Really!
Peter saw the strips of linen that Jesus had been wrapped in. But no Jesus. And he wondered what was going on.
Cleopas and his friend are telling Jesus this story as they walk to Emmaus together. They were having the hardest time putting it all together.
And Jesus is right there with them, and He actually rebukes them and explains to them how all of this was predicted in the Old Testament. He said, “‘How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?' And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.” (Luke 24:25-27).
There’s part of me that would have loved to be a fly on the wall for that Bible study!
But I’m also not too sure I’d want to be rebuked like that by Jesus or to not know that it was Jesus who was explaining the whole sweep of the Bible from Moses and all the Prophets how the whole Old Testament is about Jesus Himself.
#2. THE SCRIPTURES ARE REALLY FULFILLED.
In the suffering and death and resurrection of Jesus the Scriptures are really fulfilled.
The Christ had to suffer these things and then enter His glory. The Bible says so.
I want to invite you all to come back next Sunday as we continue our study of the Letter to the Hebrews. Because we have been learning this very thing–that everything in the Old Testament pointed towards Jesus. Right now, we’re in chapters 3 and 4 where we’re learning that the Promised Land pointed to Jesus.
The whole Bible is about Jesus. According to Jesus! And it’s all coming true in Jesus. And these two disciples are learning this from Jesus, as they approach Emmaus. And Jesus acts like He’s going to continue on the road, but they ask him to stay with them, and they stop somewhere to eat.
And that’s when they recognize Who He is! He took bread, gave thanks, broke it with His nail-scarred hands, and gave it to them. And then He was gone!
But it was Him! They knew it was Him. And they were saying to each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”
And aren’t all of these Scriptures really fulfilled in Him?! That’s the kind of heart-burn that I want to have!
And they can’t sleep. They are so excited by what has happened, that they turn around and go back the seven miles to Jerusalem and find the others. Verse 33 again.
“They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together and saying, ‘It is true! [“ontoes,” really!] The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.'”
And we don’t even know when Jesus appeared to Simon Peter. None of the gospels recount that part of the story. It’s clear that it happened, we just don’t have the details. Paul talks about it again in 1 Corinthians 15. Peter got his resurrection appearance. What a moment that must have been!
It was real. This wasn’t a hoax. It wasn’t a scam. It wasn’t a hallucination. It was real.
And then Jesus showed up again! Look at verse 35.
“Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread. While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’ They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. He said to them, ‘Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.’ When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet. And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, ‘Do you have anything here to eat?’ They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate it in their presence.” (Luke 24:35-43).
#3. JESUS IS REALLY ALIVE!
He’s not a ghost. He may have abilities to come and go in ways that mortals do not.But He is flesh and bones.
He showed them His hands and feet. He said, “Touch me.” “Really! This is Me.” And He eats a piece of fish. “Watch me. Here I go.” He’s not a ghost.
And He’s not a zombie. A dozen years ago, I preached a sermon on Resurrection Sunday, “Jesus Is Not a Zombie.” He is not the un-dead that can be killed again. He is alive and now has the power of an indestructible life (Hebrews 7:16)!
Really! Really! Indeed!
This is worth singing about.
This is worth building your life upon.
This is worth staking everything on.
We have all gathered here today to make a big deal of the resurrection.
And that is totally right as long as this is true.
But what fools we are if it is not! If Jesus has not come back from the dead:
that means that God is NOT real.
that means that miracles are NOT real.
that means that Jesus is NOT trustworthy.
that means that there is NO life after death.
that means that forgiveness is impossible.
that means that resurrection is a fake.
If Jesus has not been raised, then we are still in our sins and won’t rise again (see 1 Corinthians 15:13-17 for more on this). If Jesus has not been raised, then you are I certainly won’t be.
And Jesus’ kingdom will never come. And all good things will come to an end.
What do you think? We all need to decide. And we need to be honest about it. There’s too much at stake to play games here.
For me, I believe Cleopas and Simon Peter and Mary Magdalene. I believe His tomb was and is really empty. I believe the Scriptures were and are and will really fulfilled in Jesus. I believe that Jesus is really alive.
And because I believe, I rejoice. I love verse 41 where it says that they were struggling to believe because of the joy and amazement! This seems too good to be true. Jesus was dead. He was a corpse. All of our hopes and dreams had died with Him. And yet here He is!
Hallelujah! Praise the Lord! Here He is. Showing us His nail-scarred hands and feet. And sending us on a mission to proclaim the good news.
The chapter ends with the risen Jesus giving His disciples one last reminder of the gospel and a mission to share it the whole world. Look at verse 46.
“He told them, ‘This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. I am going to send you what my Father has promised [the Holy Spirit]; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.’ [And then 50 days later.] When he had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven. Then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. And they stayed continually at the temple, praising God.”
And then (the book of Acts says) they proclaimed that gospel from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth–even to Central Pennsylvania.
Really! And we’ve all gathered here today to make a big deal of it. And that is absolutely right.
Who can you tell today that all of this is true? That you have become convinced that His tomb was open and really empty. That the Scriptures were really fulfilled. And that Jesus is really alive.
And that means that repentance and forgiveness of sins can be preached in Jesus’ name. We can turn from our sins and be forgiven because Jesus has paid for our sins and was raised for our justification. We get the gift of His righteousness because Jesus is really alive.
And one day all bad things must come to end.
Really!
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