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All Nations Church
Life Group Study
Resurrection Sunday
Week of April 17th, 2022
Study by Wayne Arcand
The resurrection of Christ our Saviour is central to the Christian faith. Because of Jesus resurrection those who believe in him have the promise of 1 Thessalonians 4:16For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.
If you are able to, pull up a YouTube video of “Open My Eyes Lord”. Goober Sir or the Maranatha Singers have a couple of great versions. Listen to the words and make this your prayer as we read God’s Word.
Matthew 27: 62 The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate. 63 “Sir,” they said, “we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’ 64 So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first.” 65 “Take a guard,” Pilate answered. “Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how.” 66 So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard.
- The Pharisees and Sadducees wanted to maintain the religious status quo. For personal gain, they were prepared to sacrifice the life of an innocent man. After inciting the mob to have Jesus crucified, they wanted to ensure his disciples would be discredited. Matthew 27:62-66 recounts some of the steps they took.
- What does verse 63 suggest about the closeness with which the religious leaders were following what Jesus was doing and saying?
- The first deception referred to in verse 64 was Jesus’ claim he was the Messiah. What was the second deception they wanted to guard against?
- What steps did they take to ensure this second deception did not happen?
- Read Matthew 27:63 and compare it to Luke 24:8.
- What is different about the message these verses convey? Consider the context in which they are written?
- Do you think a different purpose was served in each situation? Explain.
- Consider Luke 24:16 and Luke 24:31:
- What do these verses tell us about the power of God in our lives?
- What took place between these two verses?
- Why would the Lord keep who he was hidden from them for a period of time?
- What principle might Luke 24:31 suggest in the way we pray?
- We can read the Bible as an interesting story or we can read it as the living Word of God.
- Explain how each approach would impact your life?
- What do we learn from Luke 24:25?
- Discuss the steps a person might take so they do not face the same admonition?
- Why was it important for Israel to regularly celebrate the feasts God established in the Old Testament?
- Why is it important that we annually remember Christ’s death and resurrection?
- From this study, is there one thing you learned or perhaps were reminded of, that you can apply to your life?
Luke: 24 (NIV) 1On 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.
On the Road to Emmaus
13 Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles[a] from Jerusalem. 14 They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. 15 As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; 16 but they were kept from recognizing him.
17 He asked them, “What are you discussing together as you walk along?”
They stood still, their faces downcast. 18 One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, “Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?”
19 “What things?” he asked.
“About Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. 20 The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; 21 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. 22 In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning 23 but didn’t find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. 24 Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but they did not see Jesus.”
25 He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” 27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.
28 As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus continued on as if he were going farther. 29 But they urged him strongly, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them.
30 When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. 32 They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”
33 They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together 34 and saying, “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.” 35 Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread.
