We welcome you to worship in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are so thankful to have you with us today. Your continued prayers for the effectiveness of this ministry, as well as those we've been working with is greatly appreciated, God is moving in the hearts of men and women around the world, opening blind eyes and deaf ears! All praise and glory to God for the countless lives that are being transformed by the power of the Gospel globally.
Psalm 127 says "Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it; Unless the Lord guards the city, The watchman keeps awake in vain. It is vain for you to rise up early, to retire late, To eat the bread of painful labors; For He gives to His beloved even in his sleep."
Let's look at verse 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 grave." In Mark's gospel, he adds there was a woman named Salome, Mary the mother of James. In Luke's, he adds there was a woman by the name of Joanna, the wife of Chuza, one of the Herod’s stewards and the other women with them were telling these things to the apostles. In John's gospel he only mentions Mary Magdalene, however, he implies the other women are there by using the plural pronoun "we." So, after resting on the Sabbath, now it is Sunday and these women who had been sitting opposite the grave when Jesus was being placed there, came back to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared to anoint the body of Jesus.Therefore, there is absolutely no indication there was any thought of resurrection on their minds. Mark tells us "They were saying to one another, "Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?" Looking up, they *saw that the stone had been rolled away, although it was extremely large."
Verse 2, "And behold, a severe earthquake had occurred, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it."The word "behold" indicates surprise, it tells us that something dramatic has happened. They were startled by the intense rumbling through the earth beneath their feet. This cannot be explained as anything other than a supernatural act of God. The earthquake was caused by an angel of the Lord descending from heaven. By the way, the angel didn’t roll away the stone to let Jesus out; he rolled away the stone to let the unconvinced world in. He rolled away the stone and sat upon it. There is nothing that says that the angel let Jesus out of the tomb. There is no record of anyone actually seeing Jesus coming out of the tomb, He left in the same glorified manner He appeared to the apostles in the upper room with the door shut. Jesus was already gone by the time the angel arrived. The linen grave clothes were lying exactly as they were when He was wrapped in them.
In verse 3, as the women arrived, they see "his appearance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow." Notice Matthew's simplistic language, this is to indicate the angel's supernatural brilliance manifests purity, to distinguish him from just any man. It's difficult to find words to describe that which is heavenly. I imagine it's like looking directly into the blazing sun.
Verse 4, "The guards shook for fear of him and became like dead men." I love that the angel doesn’t even bother with the guards, because when they saw the angel and it terrified them and they shook for fear of him, notice Matthew uses the same Greek root word as he did for earthquake, indicating they were violently shaking. Then literally passed out. Matthew says they just fell over "and became like dead men." These soldiers have been around, they've seen some things, but this was unlike anything they’d ever experienced in their entire life and yet, the angel offered no comfort to them at all, they just lay there knocked out. Those who do not belong to Him have good reason to be terrified of the Risen Christ! It's interesting, the women experienced the same supernatural shaking of the earth, the same brilliance of the divine glory of the angel and they were afraid, and they're not unconscious, they were sustained by the angel himself. We know that by the next verse.
Verse 5, "The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid; for I know that you are looking for Jesus who has been crucified." The angel knew who they were, and He comforted them; "Do not be afraid." Those who belong to Christ have no reason to be terrified, for they will be comforted. Matthew 5:4 says "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted." Then he said, "I know you’re looking for Jesus who has been crucified." He knew they came expecting to find His body, and minister to Him, by applying some spices to preserve His dead body. Their devotion to Jesus was clear, their hearts were shattered, they didn’t understand His promise to rise on the third day, a reminder of their little faith. Mark adds the angel said "Do not be amazed."
Then, in verse 6, the angel says "He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said. Come, see the place where He was lying." He is not here, this was just too much to for them believe. They didn't understand He must rise again from the dead just as He said. "Come, see the place where He was lying," that's the reason he rolled the stone away, so they could come inside and see the empty tomb.
Luke adds "But when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men suddenly stood near them in dazzling clothing; and as the women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, "Why do you seek the living One among the dead? Remember how He spoke to you while He was still in Galilee, saying that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again." And they remembered His words." This was the most unbelievable thing they have ever seen, they needed to be reminded twice that He has risen, once outside and again inside.
The fact that the grave clothes were laying there unraveled, in the same exact form as when the body was in them was significant. If someone had stolen the body, being too afraid of being caught, they wouldn’t have bothered to unwrap it and carefully lay them in exact form as when the body was in them. They would have just grabbed the body, grave clothes and all and ran out of there before the Roman soldiers could awaken.
If the burial account is accurate and we know that it is, there’s no question that He was dead. And, everyone knew where Jesus was buried, so it is extremely difficult to object to the empty tomb on historical grounds. The proclamation of the resurrection could not have been maintained if the emptiness of the tomb had not been established as a
fact.
Verse 7, "Go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead; and behold, He is going ahead of you into Galilee, there you will see Him; behold, I have told you." The angel tells them there’s going to be a personal verification He's alive, you will see Him there, they will all see Him; He's going to Galilee where the He first ministered, where He was first hated and rejected.
Verse 8, "And they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy and ran to report it to His disciples." They were both frightened and ecstatic. John tells us "So she *ran and *came to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved," the term John used to describe himself. "And *said to them, "They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him." She concluded the body has been stolen, and in her fear, all she can imagine, is whoever took His body must be desecrating and humiliating Him.
Mark says "Now after He had risen early on the first day of the week, He first appeared to Mary Magdalene, from whom He had cast out seven demons. She went and reported to those who had been with Him, while they were mourning and weeping. When they heard that He was alive and had been seen by her, they refused to believe it."
Back to Matthew verse 9, "And behold, Jesus met them and greeted them. And they came up and took hold of His feet and worshiped Him." They immediately recognized He was not a figment of their imagination. This is amazing, it was Him, and they knew it. So "took hold of His feet and worshiped Him," recognizing His deity. That’s the proper way to respond to the resurrection! Worship is the evidence of true salvation.
John tells us, "But Mary was standing outside the tomb weeping; and so, as she wept, she stooped and looked into the tomb; and she *saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had been lying. And
they *said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping?" She *said to them,
"Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have
laid Him." When she had said this, she turned around and *saw Jesus standing there, and did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus *said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?"
Supposing Him to be the gardener, she *said to Him, "Sir, if you have
carried Him away, tell me where you have laid Him, and I will take Him
away." Jesus *said to her, “Mary!" She turned and *said to Him in Hebrew, "Rabboni!" (which means, Teacher). Jesus *said to her, "Stop
clinging to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to My
brethren and say to them, ‘I ascend to My Father and your Father, and
My God and your God.’" Mary Magdalene *came, announcing to the disciples, "I have seen the Lord,” and that He had said these things to her." He met them in resurrected glory!
That brings us to verse 10, "Then Jesus *said to them, "Do not be afraid; go and take word to My brethren to leave for Galilee, and there they will see Me." Not only is He alive, but they're all going to meet Him
Luke says "Now they were Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James; also the other women with them were telling these things to the apostles. But these words appeared to them as nonsense, and they would not believe them." Over and over again, the Bible emphasizes that He said He would be raised on the third day, but their faith was so shallow, they didn't believe them. Why were the women first to see the risen Christ? Because they were faithful enough to be there. I believe if you're loyal enough to stay close to the Lord and what He’s doing, the more you’re going to experience.
These women were apparently still so in shock, they'd forgotten the encounter with an angel, all they remembered was that the stone was rolled away, the grave is opened and the tomb was empty; He wasn’t there. On the other hand, can you imagine the Jewish leaders waking up, thinking Jesus they had finally killed is dead, buried and still lying there in the tomb, only to learn that He was no longer dead, He is alive, risen exactly as He predicted. That all of their efforts would only increase His influence and validate His resurrection. Wow, it can't be that He really is the Messiah! The Jewish religious leaders could not deny that the tomb was empty, so how would they explain this? In trying to provide an alternative to the resurrection, they claimed that the body had been stolen. The guards knew the truth, that He had risen. Later, we'll learn they actually bribed the soldiers to claim the body was stolen.
I love the way John remarks that he ran faster than Peter, as if it were a competition. "So Peter and the other disciple went forth, and they were going to the tomb. The two were running together; and the other disciple ran ahead faster than Peter and came to the tomb first; and stooping and looking in, he *saw the linen wrappings lying there; but he did not go in." Of course, Peter runs right past him and goes in to see for himself that He isn’t there.
"And so Simon Peter also *came, following him, and entered the tomb; and he *saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the face-cloth which had been on His head, not lying with the linen wrappings, but rolled up in a place by itself. So the other disciple who had first come to the tomb then also entered, and he saw and believed. For as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead. So the disciples went away again to their own homes."
Charles Hodge, a nineteenth century Reformed Presbyterian theologian, who taught at Princeton Theological Seminary for fifty years, and was its "principal" for over twenty-five years, was said to be one of the most learned and influential of his time, said of the resurrection. "It is the best authenticated event in ancient history."
In Closing..
The evidence for the resurrection is overwhelming, the empty tomb, the undisturbed grave clothes in the form of His body, the faithful women who followed Him from Galilee, the testimony of angels, the Roman guards, and hundreds of other eyewitnesses. The first sermon was preached in Jerusalem shortly after the resurrection, the same city where Jesus had been crucified, buried. No one would be foolish enough to listen to them, much less believe them, had the tomb not been indisputably empty.
The resurrection validates that whenever the Bible says, it is the truth, as well as the absolute veracity of the words of Jesus. Furthermore, the resurrection proves that God being satisfied with His sacrifice, made Him both Lord and Christ. The resurrection proves, because He live, we will live also!
And now may the Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen
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