There are a lot of lessons in Luke 24.

1. Luke 24 proves that Jesus arose from the dead on the first day of the week, Sunday, not on Saturday, the sabbath. You might be thinking, “We all know that. Who believes that He was raised on Saturday?” The Seventh Day Adventists believe he was raised on Saturday. Part of the misconception is Matthew 28:1 in the KJV: “in the end of the sabbath”… or the ASV “late on the sabbath…” The Greek for “late” is opse: Late, evening, after. So it can be translated as “late” on the sabbath, or “after” the sabbath which is how the NASB and NIV translate it: Matthew 28:1 Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the tomb.” Notice “as it began to dawn toward the first (heis: One, i.e. day one, Sunday, after the 7th day, Saturday, the sabbath) day of the week”. The sabbath was from 6pm our Friday to 6pm our Saturday, so it would not make sense that “late on Saturday, let’s say around 5pm Saturday, that “as it began to dawn toward Sunday” was true. It is not beginning to dawn toward the first day of the week late on a Saturday, but it beginning to dawn toward the first day of the week “after” the sabbath. The fact that the gospels say that the women came to the tomb on the first day of the week, Sunday, would not prove that He was raised on Sunday. But Luke 24 affirms that he was raised on Sunday. The 2 disciples were walking on road to Emaus, a village about 7 miles west of Jerusalem. They were discussing the recent events. Jesus asked them what they were talking about. One of them said, Luke 24:“Are You possibly the only one living near Jerusalem who does not know about the things that happened here in these days?” ¹⁹ And He said to them, “What sort of things?” And they said to Him, “Those about Jesus the Nazarene, who proved to be a prophet mighty in deed and word in the sight of God and all the people, ²⁰ and how the chief priests and our rulers handed Him over to be sentenced to death, and crucified Him. ²¹ But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened.”  So the very day he said that was the 3rd day since Jesus was crucified. What day was it when he said that? Luke 24:1 But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared.” No mention of the sabbath at all in 24:1, so the events on the road are definitely on Sunday. Sunday was the 3rd day since he was crucified. Jesus predicted that he would be raised on the 3rd day. If he was raided on a Saturday, then Sunday in Luke 24 would not be the 3rd day since he was crucified. Saturday would have to be the 3rd day and that would contradict Luke. Case closed: Jesus was raised on Sunday. The writings of early church fathers show that the early church assembled on Sunday. For example, “But Sunday is the day on which we all hold our common assembly, because it is the first day on which God, having wrought a change in the darkness and matter, made the world; and Jesus Christ our Savior on the same day rose from the dead” (First Apology 67 [A.D. 155]).
2. The Jews did not understand the Old Testament Scriptures very well! Jesus said to them, Luke 24:²⁵ You foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! ²⁶ Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to come into His glory?” ²⁷ Then beginning with Moses and with all the Prophets, He explained to them the things written about Himself in all the Scriptures.” In Luke 24:36 He then appears to the ten apostles (minus Judas and Thomas): Luke 24:³⁶ Now while they were telling these things, Jesus Himself suddenly stood in their midst and *said to them, “Peace be to you.” This is probably the same appearance mentioned in John 20:¹⁹ Now when it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were shut where the disciples were together due to fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst, and *said to them, “Peace be to you.” ²⁰ And when He had said this, He showed them both His hands and His side. The disciples then rejoiced when they saw the Lord.” That would be Sunday evening of the resurrection day, our Easter Sunday (which is coming up soon). At that Sunday evening appearance, he told them, Luke 24:“These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all the things that are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” ⁴⁵ Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, ⁴⁶ and He said to them, “So it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, ⁴⁷ and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. ⁴⁸ You are witnesses of these things. ⁴⁹ And behold, I am sending the promise of My Father upon you; but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.” Everything predicted by the prophets “must” be fulfilled or else the Old Testament is giving false predictions. So where does the Old Testament predict that the Messiah (translated as “Christ” in the Greek: John 1:⁴¹ He (Andrew) first found his own brother Simon and *said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which translated means Christ)” would suffer, die, and be raised? Isaiah 53 clearly predicts that God’s Servant the Messiah would be crushed, pained, humiliated, wounded, pierced, oppressed, afflicted, anguished, cut off (killed), his life poured out to death, buried, and yet he wll “prolong his day” (be raised from the dead). Jesus said in John 5:³⁹ You (Jews) examine the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is those very Scriptures that testify about Me”. They studied the Old Testament Scriptures meticulously, and yet they failed to understand Isaiah 53. They did not expect the Messiah to be killed, not to mention be raised from the dead. Luke 24:²¹ But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel.” That shows how frustrated they were that their supposed redeemer Jesus had died. How could they miss the predictions in Isaiah 53 that include his death and resurrection? There are several really good videos of a Jewish Christian talking to Jews in Jerusalem, reading Isaiah 53 to them and asking who it sounds like fulfilled the Isiah 53 predictions. They all say that it sounds like Jesus. They are shocked that the predictions come from their own Jewish Old Testament Scriptures and not the Christian New Testament. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GeeFe96-KnM It is critical to show that Isaiah 53 was written long before Jesus’ death and resurrection and not added “after the fact”, after the events predicted had already happened in order to make it look like he fulfilled OT predictions. Here is where the Dead Sea Scrolls found in 1948 are so important. A complete copy of Isaiah, the “Great Isaiah Scroll”, was found in the DSS that dates to at least 100 BC or earlier. Chapter 53 in that scroll is almost identical to the earliest Hebrew copy of Isaiah 53 which was about 900 AD (a thousand years later). The predictions about the Messiah were all in the Great Isaiah Scroll, proving they were written before Jesus was even born, and not “after the fact”.
3. The witnesses to the resurection of Jesus were reliable. Luke 24:¹¹ But these words (the report of the women that the tomb was empty) appeared to them as nonsense, and they would not believe the women. ¹² Nevertheless, Peter got up and ran to the tomb; and when he stooped and looked in, he *saw the linen wrappings only; and he went away to his home, marveling at what had happened.” Even when some of them went to the tomb and saw that the tomb was empty, they were still bewildered b/c they did not actually see Jesus alive as some of the women did that morning. Luke 24:²² But also some women among us left us bewildered. When they were at the tomb early in the morning, ²³ and did not find His body, they came, saying that they had also seen a vision of angels who said that He was alive. ²⁴ And so some of those who were with us went to the tomb, and found it just exactly as the women also had said; but Him they did not see.” The point is that these witnesses of the resurrected Jesus were not expecting Jesus to be raised. They found the report of the empty tomb and seeing Jesus to be “nonsense”. These are what we might call “hostile witnesses” who had to be convinced that Jesus really was raised from the dead. Some say the apostles made up the story of the resurrection, but what motive would they have had to do that? They gained nothing from being the witnesses of the resurrection for the next 40 years. As a matter of fact, they all died a martyr’s death b/c of their testimony. The same with the apostle Paul and James the Lord’s brother. Saul (later called Paul) was killing Christians who believed that Jesus was the Messiah. But he saw the resurrected Jesus on the road to Damascus and believed in Jesus and changed. James the Lord’s brother did not believe in Jesus’s miracles and was only convinced that Jesus was the Messiah after Jesus appeared to him after he was raised.1 Corinthians 15:⁷ then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles; ⁸ and last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me (Paul) also.” The eyewitnesses of the resurrection of Jesus are reliable!
4. The last lesson from Luke 24 comes from today’s My Utmost devo. “We need to learn this secret of the burning heart. Suddenly Jesus appears to us, fires are set ablaze, and we are given wonderful visions; but then we must learn to maintain the secret of the burning heart— a heart that can go through anything. It is the simple, dreary day, with its commonplace duties and people, that smothers the burning heart— unless we have learned the secret of abiding in Jesus.” Jesus walked on the road with the 2 men and then broke bread with them late on that Sunday. Luke 24:³¹ And then their eyes were opened and they recognized Him; and He vanished from their sight. ³² They said to one another, “Were our hearts not burning within us when He was speaking to us on the road, while He was explaining the Scriptures to us?” ³³ And they got up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together and those who were with them, ³⁴ saying, “The Lord has really risen and has appeared to Simon!” ³⁵ They began to relate their experiences on the road, and how He was recognized by them at the breaking of the bread.” Sure, they were super excited when they recognized that it was the resurrected Jesus who had been walking and talking with them. But notice that they said their hearts were burning even when he was speaking to them on the road while explaining the Scriptures about the OT predictions of his death and resurrection. So it was starting to understand the correct meaning of OT Scriptures that caused their hearts to burn, to get excited. If you believe the Scriptures, both OT and NT, to be the fully inspired Word of God, then it should get us excited intellectually and emotionally when we feel that we have correctly interpreted Scriptures, maybe even discovering truths we did not understand before. The goal is not to just tounderstand all Scripture perfectly, which is impossible. The goal is to understand Scripture correctly so that we can apply it. I will close with 2 Timothy 3:¹⁶ All Scripture is inspired by God and beneficial for teaching, for rebuke, for correction, for training in righteousness; ¹⁷ so that the man or woman of God may be fully capable, equipped for every good work.” When was the last time that your heart burned and got real excited when you dug into the meaning of a Scripture? When was the last time that your Bible study excited you as much as your college football or basketball team winning a big game? Or when you bought something new that really excited you? Or when you got a raise at work? Or when your child or grandchild won a big game in his/her sport? The excitement over understanding Scipture correctly led them to realize the presence of Jesus himself! Understanding Scripture will lead us to being in HIs presence through faith even though we can’t see him by sight. Don’t let the worries, riches, cares, doubts, and negative thinking smother the fire that burns in your heart for the Word and for being in the presence of Jesus.