The Caldwell Commentaries Podcast

We take a look at the fifth post-resurrection appearance of the Lord Jesus in this lesson, "Behind Closed Doors".  It was now Resurrection Sunday evening.  All the Apostles, except Thomas, were gathered in the Upper Room with a group of other believers (including the two who had returned to Jerusalem after their journey with Jesus to Emmaus).

Wouldn't you have loved to be in that room when Christ suddenly appeared in their midst, even though they had the door locked and He had not knocked and waited for someone to open it?  They were "terrified and affrighted" and thought He was a ghost!  His first words to them after they had scattered from Him?  "Peace be unto you"!  What a gracious Saviour! 

This is an exciting lesson.  A lot of "meat" and good information.  We also discover what our own resurrected bodies will be like by observing the Lord and what He was able to do in His resurrected, glorified Human body!  Poor Thomas had to go through a whole additional week of disbelief and gloom because he had forsaken the assemblage with the others!

THIS IS ONE OF THOSE MESSAGES YOU NEED TO HEAR AND SHARE WITH OTHERS, especially with those who have not yet accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour!  There is no doubt He is the True Messiah of Israel and One and Only Saviour of mankind, and this lesson shows that fact from ALL the Scripture, Old and New Testaments.

This is the account of Christ's fourth recorded post-resurrection appearance; the one that launched us into a study of Old Testament Christology (see Lesson 1 in our Christ in Genesis series).  If it was possible to take a time machine into the past, I personally would join the two disciples on the Road to Emmaus Resurrection Sunday afternoon to hear the unrecognized Lord Jesus preach "the things concerning Himself" from the Old Testament Scriptures.  Having their eyes opened to see how Christ has always been the Subject of Scripture, from Genesis to Malachi (and, of course, the entire New Testament), is what dramatically changed those disciples!  They went from utter despair to the utmost delight during their 7-mile walk with the Greatest-ever Bible Teacher, and we're never the same again!  They became infected with spiritual heartburn and couldn't wait to spread it to others (see Lesson 188b)!

Matthew 28:11-15

Mark Twain once stated that a lie can go around the whole world while truth is still lacing up her boots!  Sinful human nature somehow causes men to prefer to believe lies than truth.  While the women were going about bringing the truth of Christ's resurrection to the disciples (who did not believe them), the soldiers assigned to guard the tomb were bringing their remarkable, eye-witness report to the chief priests.  However, because the priests DID believe what they heard, they paid the soldiers a large amount of money to spread the LIE that Jesus' disciples had stolen His body!

Since that original lie, many others have been concocted over the passing centuries regarding Christ's resurrection.  In this interesting lesson, we discuss many logical reasons why the chief priests' lie is false, before then showing why many other "theories" (lies) invented by unbelievers wanting to explain away the resurrection are likewise false.  Examples we consider are: "the swoon theory," "the no-burial theory," "the telepathy theory," "the séance theory," "the mistaken identity theory," and "the theft theory".  IT IS IMPORTANT FOR CHRISTIANS TO KNOW HOW TO REFUTE THESE LIES!!

The resurrected Lord Jesus' first two recorded conversations, which were with Mary Magdalene and the Galilean women, who (like Mary) had an encounter with the living Christ on Resurrection Sunday morning!