Chapter 24, as we read of the Lord's appearance to his disciples following his resurrection and then his ascension, which we'll focus on in verses 50 to 53. But Luke 24, beginning at verse 36. As they were talking about these things, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, Peace to you. But they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit. And he said to them, Why are you troubled and why do doubts arise in your hearts? See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have. And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. And while they still disbelieved for joy and were marveling, he said to them, Have you anything here to eat? They gave him a piece of broiled fish and he took it and ate before them. Then he said to them, These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled. Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures and said to them, Thus it is written that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things and behold, I am sending the promise of my father upon you, but stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high. Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands, he blessed them. While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven. And they worshipped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy and were continually in the temple, blessing God. This is the word of the Lord. May he write it upon our hearts. Let us pray together. We humble ourselves before you and under your mighty hand. We thank you that you are the author of truth and that you speak to us what is trustworthy and reliable, words full of comfort and consolation. We pray that we might receive this and respond with increased faith and hope and love. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. Names are very important for our identity. Having a name means you belong to someone, that you're part of a family. Christians are those who have new names in Christ. You are not your own, but bought with a price. We're called Christians, those who are in Him. receiving his benefits, those who follow him. There are many instances of God's naming and renaming of his people in scripture. Abram becomes Abraham, the father of many nations. Jacob, the striver, becomes Israel, the one who wrestled with God and was blessed. Simon becomes Peter, the solid rock, because of his confession. But there is a time regularly in our Christian lives when we receive and have the new name put upon us. And that is in the benediction. The worship service is a dialogue between God's people and him. We speak to him. with our praises and petitions lifting up and magnifying his name. He speaks to us in his word and in the visible confirmation of that word in the sacraments. Together with the benediction we read in Numbers chapter 6. What is the purpose of the blessing? So that they would put my name upon the people of Israel and I will bless them. It is as if he is writing his own name on our foreheads with ink more permanent than any tattoo, because he is saying to us, I am your God, you are my people, naming himself and naming us in relation to him. This word of blessing is something we can take great encouragement from as God's people, as it is pronounced. because of his command. Luke 24, as Jesus appears to his disciples, is really sort of an extended worship service. The first element in terms of the word is Christ instructing the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. What does he do? He opens the scriptures to them that they might see that all that he did, his suffering and his glory, was announced ahead of time in the scriptures of the Old Testament by Moses. the prophets and the Psalms and then he goes into their house to the house of Cleopas and his companion and verse 30 says while he was at table with them Jesus took the bread and blessed it and broke it and gave it to him a very sacramental action On his part, and at this point, verse 31 says, their eyes were opened and they recognized him. Jesus draws near once again in verse 36 to say, peace to you, confirming his presence among them. But he will leave them with this final word of blessing in verses 50 to 53. In worship, God has the final word. He speaks the final word of blessing. The Lord bless you and keep you. Jesus came to be marveled at by those who believe. Do you remember what Doubting Thomas said when he saw his hands on his side? My Lord and my God. A statement of faith, a statement of worship. Jesus does not appear to his enemies following his resurrection, but to his friends that they might share in this joy of the kingdom that he has secured as he emerges from the tomb. This morning, I want to focus on what the significance of his benediction is here in three points. Firstly, the blessing of Christ shows that the sacrifice is complete. Secondly, it shows that he is the son who brings comfort. And lastly, it shows that the Spirit is coming. Firstly, then, the sacrifice is complete. When Jesus raises his hands, the disciples would have recognized this as a priestly action, something that the Levites, particularly, were charged with doing. And yet, Jesus is not a Levite. He comes from the tribe of Judah. As the book of Hebrews reminds us, he is a different sort of priest, superior to those who served in the house of Levi, descendants of Aaron. He did not wear Aaron's robes or turban. He did not go into the temple to offer those sacrifices and offerings commanded there. But his priesthood is superior because he offers himself as the offering. He goes into the heavenly temple, not made with hands. The spirit takes that blood and sprinkles the heavenly altar. And yet, even though Jesus is priestly ministry, is superior, it still follows in the same pattern as that of the Levites. In other words, the question is not simply what the word of blessing said and how it was said, but when was it spoken? If you look at the Old Testament, you will see that it happens after the sacrifice has been offered. After the sacrifice. has been offered. In Leviticus 9, we have a description of various offerings, sin, burnt, rain, peace, wave offerings. And following all this, we read in Leviticus 9.22, then Aaron lifted up his hands toward the people and blessed them. And he came down from offering the sin offering and the burnt offering and the peace offerings. And Moses and Aaron went into the tent of meeting. When they came out, they blessed the people and the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people. The benediction, when it was pronounced, was God's confirmation that the atonement has been accepted. The sacrifice is complete. Under the time of Hezekiah's restoration of the temple and the grand celebration of the Passover, when the priest had for several generations neglected their duties, following the celebration we read in 2 Chronicles 30, 27, then the priest and the Levites arose and blessed the people and their voice was heard and their prayer came to his holy habitation in heaven. If there was no blessing given, you would ask the question, was the priest received? Was the sacrifice accepted? Luke's gospel, in fact, begins with such a sacrifice. Zachariah goes in to offer incense. And you remember, the people are outside waiting for him and praying. And Zachariah receives news that John is to be born to him and his wife, Elizabeth. And he does not believe that word. And so he is struck dumb and unable to speak. And so as he emerges from his ministry of offering incense, the people are waiting for him. What do they expect him to do? To pronounce the benediction. to bless them. And yet, because he is mute, he cannot do this. And so the Gospel of Luke is really filled with this unfulfilled expectation of this blessing, which had not been pronounced. It would have been ominous, particularly to a Jewish listener, for the benediction not to have been completed following the offering of the sacrifice. But from the perspective of Luke's gospel, the silence is broken here as Jesus himself lifts up his hands and blesses them. The priest, you would see his back turned to go into the tabernacle. He would take those hands And he would place them on the head of the lamb or the bull. And the text says that he not only placed it, but he leaned upon it, conveying the sin of the people to that substitutionary sacrifice. And then as the priest comes back, you see his face and you see the same hands that leaned upon that sacrifice now lifted up to bless the congregation to say grace. and peace to you. This is what happens with Christ when you see he turns his back to go to Golgotha, to that place of offering outside the camp. But he turns back toward them in his shining face and says again in the blessing, it is finished. It is complete. The final Passover day, the final Yom Kippur, the day of atonement, has been brought to pass. And now the Lord says, I bless you and you are kept. This is a great way of thinking about the covenant, for it is not simply he and them, but I and you. I, the Lord, bless you. This is what Christ speaks to his people as he emerges from the tomb, speaking these words of comfort. Notice how it contrasts with the doubts that they had so fallen into, and how at each moment Christ was reassuring them of his favor, of his pardon. Jesus shows the sacrifice has been completed. The temple veil was ripped in two. The earthquake, the darkness, all testified that the day of judgment had come in Christ for those he purchased. And now the day of light and gladness is poured out. The sacrifice is complete. But secondly, he is the son who brings comfort. Here are familiar words for Christians, the Aaronic benediction. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine upon you. The Lord lift up his countenance. Have you thought about how this is fulfilled in Jesus? For Hebrews 1 tells us that he is the radiance of the glory of God, the exact imprint of his nature. Colossians 1 says he is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. And 2 Corinthians 4, Paul writes, for God who said, let light shine out of darkness, has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Jesus is God's smiling face toward sinners. I think some Christians have this uneasy sense that Jesus is loving, but that he is sort of a mask hiding an angry father. But this is not true. Jesus is the true visible expression that presents to our eyes the very hearts of God in His love, in His zeal, in His care for us. He has made the Father known. His word is the Father's word. And this comes in the context of the covenant, which is centered around blessing. When God comes to Abraham and says to him, I am your shield, your reward will be very great. What does he tell him? I will bless you. I will bless your seed. Your seed will be a blessing. Five times in the first several verses of Genesis 12, the word blessing is used. And so to be in the covenant means to be in the circle of God's blessing. and favor and the benediction is God's yes and amen to this reality. Now, in the covenant of Sinai under Moses, there were two words, the word of blessing and of course, you remember, evil and garrison to mountains, half the tribes to stand on Mount evil, reciting the curses of the covenant for disobedience. half of them to stand on Gerizim to recite the blessings for obedience. In the New Covenant, where is the word of curse? Galatians 3 tells us, as Paul writes, all who rely on works of the law are under a curse. For it is written, Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law. and do them. But then in verse 13, he says, Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. For it is written, cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree. Jesus condemned Jesus. receives the word of malediction, that we would receive the word of benediction. The mountain of curse is Mount Calvary, the place where God dealt with our sin, where Christ drank the cup of God's wrath to the very bottom. And so now, where do we see the curse? It's in the very hands that are lifted up as Christ blesses his church. The nail marks showing that he has absorbed the condemnation, the curse on our behalf. He has worn the cursed crown of thorns, been lost in the darkness, been crucified outside the gates all alone. all showing he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. He is the son who brings comfort and now speaks to us this word of benediction. This is what Simeon praises God for us. He anticipates this light shining in the dark place. Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace according to your word. For my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel. is God's shining face of glory. He who has seen me, he says, has seen the father. He who has heard his word of favor now belongs to the father. Lastly, we see that this benediction shows the spirit is coming. Verse 51, while he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried in to heaven. We see that the benediction he pronounces is not simply his last word, but it defines the very meaning of his ascension as he goes up to the right hand of the father, as he rides that chariot of victory as the king of glory. He shows that leaving is actually good, beneficial for his people. Now, this is something that is not expected, and we can't really judge by our own intuition because we would think the distance, the separation is not good, is in fact a hindrance to our faith. And yet Jesus reminds his disciples. John 14 through 17, what does he consistently exhort them to remember? I am leaving, but another comforter will come. I will not leave you as orphans, he says. I will come to you. As a child, I got separated once from my parents in a mall, could not find them and they could not find me. I grew incredibly anxious and frightened and There is this fear that comes with being inaccessible to one another, but not so with the Lord. Though he is absent in body, he is not in knowledge or sympathy or by his Holy Spirit. In other words, although Jesus goes, he really does go. He is not gone. He still presides over his kingdom. now a new and marvelous way, now showering the blessing of the Holy Spirit upon us. Remember, he at his baptism received a heavenly benediction himself. You are my beloved son. In you, I am well pleased. But as John says, he who was baptized by water will be baptized, will baptize with the Holy Spirit. And this is what's going to happen for the disciples just 10 days after his ascension. 40 days he spends with them on earth, proving that he has risen, just as he said. And then 10 days later, on the day of Pentecost, on the day of harvest. He sends down the spirits from heaven like rain upon thirsty ground. And as the church receives the Spirit, they receive that empowerment that enabling to be his witnesses. Notice what he says in verse 48 and 49. You are witnesses of these things and behold, I am sending the promise of my father upon you, but stay in the city until you are closed with power from on high. The Great Commission in Matthew 28 does not appear in Luke in so many words. You remember the last promise he makes, Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. But here in a different way and in different words, he is saying the same thing as he blesses them. He promises his safekeeping, his presence, his purposes to be worked out in their lives. This comes by the giving of the Spirit whom Christ has possessed in heaven. Peter says it this way in Acts 3, repent therefore and turn again that your sins may be blotted out that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus. This is how Christ comes to us in this age, by the Holy Spirit. And what does the Spirit then do for the people of God? It causes us to receive the blessing, but also then to be a blessing. God says to Abraham, I will bless you. And then that's not it. And you will be a blessing. You see, the word of benediction is not simply God's pronouncement of favor to his church, but also to send them in his service to equip them so that they would know that his presence will never be taken from them. as we sang from Psalm 67, that the Lord's blessing might rest upon us, but then that the fruit of his name might be known among all people. May all the peoples praise you. And so they praised him. Verse 52 and 53. They worshipped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy and were continually in the temple blessing God. Like the rainbow of Noah's covenants, the benediction shows us that we live under the banner of God's grace and favor, the banner of his blessing. And what can we say but amen to this reality? The word Amen I think is underestimated because it is saying that what is spoken is complete, is perfect, is fulfilled. When Abraham looked into the stars and believed that God would do as he had promised, he simply said by faith, Amen. And so in response to Christ's benediction, that indicates the sacrifice is complete, that shows He is the Son who brings comfort, that secures the presence of the Holy Spirit with us. We can say with great joy, with great encouragement, Amen. Let us pray.