The Scriptures in Luke between Jesus’ resurrection and his ascension into heaven reflect a period of forty days, as a comparison with all the Gospel accounts will prove. For instance, the Great Commission (Luke 24:47-48) was delivered to them in Galilee (cp. Matthew 28:10, 16-20), and Jesus ascended into heaven from Mount Olivet (Luke 24:50-51; Acts 1:1-3, 9-12) forty days after his resurrection. Nevertheless, there is a reason why Luke’s account appears as it does, giving one the impression that all of what Christ did was in a single day.
The apostles represent the typical unbeliever! They would not believe anyone who preached the Gospel to them (Luke 24:11; 33-35; Mark 16:12-13). They had no faith at all (John 20:29; Hebrews 11:1; cp. Romans 8:24-25) in a Living Savior. They mourned over their dead hero.
Christ appeared to them, but they still didn’t believe it was Jesus. They thought what they saw was a spirit (Luke 24:36-37; cp. Acts 10:10-17; 12:6-11). These men acted exactly like those wise men of today who want to take all that is spiritual, which they like to call paranormal, and put it in predictable parameters. The apostles were trying to explain the appearance of Jesus as though he was not there (Luke 24:38). The Greek word for “troubled” is tarasso (G5015), and for “thoughts” it is dialogismos (G1261), from which we get our word “dialogue.” Dialogismos means “inward reasoning” or “imaginings.” It has the sense of deliberate questioning of oneself, not for the purpose of deciding good or bad, but to put forth doubt and explain away the good. It is always used in the New Testament in an evil sense (cp. Luke 5:21-22; 6:7-8; 9:46-47). Tarasso (G5015) has the sense of stirring up something. In John 5:7 it is used of “stirring up” water. In Acts 17:8, 13 it is used of “stirring up” a crowd of people. Acts 15:24, Galatians 1:7 and 5:10 give the sense of “stirring up” the minds of believers with evil or false doctrine. The apostles listened to and believed the scribes (Matthew 17:10), and the scribes and Pharisees had a way of using their teaching to make the listener act and think exactly like themselves (Matthew 23:13, 15). The reason why the apostles could not believe Jesus was actually alive was because they were not careful about what they labeled as the truth (Luke 8:18). They did not heed the warning of Jesus when he told them to beware of the evil teaching of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. Therefore, what they thought was true, kept them from believing the real Truth standing before them (Luke 24:37-38; John 9:39-41). Doctrine, true or false, is spiritual and will cause me to believe or reject a thing according to its power over me. You have heard of the saying, “Seeing is believing,” yet the stronghold of error (2Corinthians 10:4-5) was so great with the apostles that they didn’t believe what their own eyes told them was true.
The next thing Jesus did was to give them more sensual evidence. He told them to handle him, but when they did, they assumed it was all too good to be true (Luke 24:39-41). They saw Jesus die. A living Jesus was just pie in the sky! They still refused to believe (Luke 24:41). Jesus then challenged their unbelief by consuming a few real physical objects that had occupied space, a very scientific demonstration (Luke 24:41-43. Nevertheless, the text does not say they believed this scientific ploy on the part of their Savior, consuming physical reality as they watched. Jesus then resorted to fulfilled prophecy (Luke 24:44)! There is an enormous amount of prophecy fulfilled in Christ. The amount of fulfilled prophecy in the Old Testament is a statistician’s dream. Nevertheless, we all know many will reject the claim of prophecy. Likewise, Jesus recalled to the minds of the apostles all he had told them, concerning what the Scriptures revealed about him. However, neither did they believe him as he explained the obvious fulfillment of prophecy about his life and death. The stronghold of false doctrine had captured their minds (2Corinthians 10:4-5). It was a great obstacle to the truth. Had they believed anything about the resurrection up to this point, there would be no need for Jesus to open their minds to understand the Scriptures (Luke 24:45).
Unbelievers are not really impressed with apologetics. Scientific proof builds up the strongholds of believers in Christ, but for the most part unbelievers remain unimpressed. Neither will fulfilled prophecy nor any physical evidence diminish their doubts. Their arguments are thought out, not to seek the truth, but to fortify doubt. If one argument doesn’t work, they will go to another. Having already decided that the resurrection of Christ cannot be true, they will go from one vain imagination to another, seeking to fortify their unbelief wherever possible. They never really take to heart how many of their arguments have been proved wrong or how strong is the argument of the opposing point of view.
It takes the mercy and power of God to open the mind of an unbeliever (Luke 24:45) and do away with his stronghold (2Corinthians 10:4-5) once and for all. John says Jesus “…breathed upon them and said ‘Receive the Holy Spirit’” (John 20:22). Luke merely says that he “…opened their understanding that they might understand the Scriptures” (Luke 24:45). None of the physical evidence or logical proofs was enough to convince one unbelieving apostle. It was only after Jesus “opened” (dianoigo, G1272) their minds that they believed. The Greek word, dianoigo, is used in Luke 2:23 for “opening” a womb. In Luke 24:31 it is used for “opening” the eyes of the two on the road to Emmaus, so that they knew the Lord. Jesus “opened” the minds of the apostles and the stronghold of doubt disappeared, just as darkness disappears when light enters a room.
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