The Kings Resurrection
Matthew 28:1-11
Introduction:
- It must have seemed impossible to the two women followers of Jesus, as they hurried through the early pre-dawn light…
- Was it just 10 days ago they’d entered into Jerusalem, singing with the Crowd:
- Hosanna, Hosanna, in the Highest!
- Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord
- They had seen Jesus as he entered the Temple, later that day
- They had seen and heard Him, as He returned the next day:
- the shouts, and the crash of tables overturning, the bleating and bawling of sheep & cattle as he had cleared the Temple,
- They’d Heard His Strong, Loud & Clear Voice, rebuking them
- They’d heard of the conversations he’d had w/ Sanhedrin
- They’d heard His rebuke of the Pharis’s, Scribes, Elders
- Perhaps, as they witnessed these events, an uneasiness began to grow within their hearts….
- how was this all going to end?
- They’d heard the rumours that Judas, one of the Twelve, one of His friends, one who had shared in their ministry, had done, the unthinkable,
- for 30 silver pcs, he’d Betrayed Jesus
- With horror they remembered three short days ago as Jesus had been arrested –
- hands that once healed the blind, the lame, & the paralysed, the hands that even cleansed leprosy –
- Hands cruelly bound with ropes…
- His Voice so loud/strong in Temple – now, silent B4 his accusers
- They’d seen him drenched in blood, staggering under the cross
- They’d watched at a distance as he’d suffered long torturous hours on the cross,
- And they had heard Him Dying with a great shout of Victory!!
- Finished!
- They knew the place where he had been laid, and so they come
{Read: Matthew 28:1-15}
- They came in Sadness and Sorrow – But Left with Great Joy
- They had come seeking the dead among the dead, and discovered that He is Risen, Just as He said!
- And Becoz He’d Risen, Just as He said! –
- Everything has changed.
- As I studied & meditated on the text, the one verse that the Spirit of God kept drawing my attention to was vs.6…
- So, what I want to do, is using that verse as a springboard…
- I want to unpack what the Bible says about His Resurrection
- Why is this simple, yet utterly profound truth, so important?
- Why and How does it change everything?
First: The Kings Resurrection was Promised
The King has Risen, Just as He Said – Promised in OT Scripture:
- OT Writers, by God’s Inspiration, said things like these…
- Psalm 16:10, For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your Holy One see corruption.
- {Quoted by Peter in Acts 2:29-31}
- Isaiah 26:19, Your dead shall live; their bodies shall rise. You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy! For your dew is a dew of light, and the earth will give birth to the dead. –
- That’s Resurrection!
- Psalm 49:15, But God will ransom my soul from the power of Sheol, for he will receive me.
- He’s talking about Resurrection
- Hosea 6:2 After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, that we may live before him.
- The OT Scriptures promised Resurrection
The King has Risen, Just as He, Himself, Promised:
- Every gospel records His Promise of Rising from Death:
- Matthew 20:19, Jesus said He would “be mocked and flogged and crucified, and he will be raised on the third day.”
- Mark 9:9, after the Transfiguration, Jesus charged the 3 disciples with him, to tell no one what they had seen, until the Son of Man had risen from the dead.
- Luke 24:46, Jesus said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer & on the third day, rise fr. the dead,
- John 2:19–21, Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” 20… 21 But he was speaking about the temple of his body. Remember taunts made at cross
The King has Risen, Just as He Said!
- Just as He, Himself said in His own Words
- Just as the H. Spirit-Inspired-Prophets said in the OT
- God Keeps His Word – The Res. Proves God’s Word is reliable.
- If God kept such a massively important promise,
- will He not also keep every other Promise, He made?
- When we read the other promises: Christ has made to us in His Word – We know that because Christ Rose – His Word is True
- The OT promised that Jesus would suffer, die, and rise again
- If Jesus had not been raised from the dead – being truly God
- Then the OT would be left speaking in Error
- The OT would have nothing to say to us, it is of no more lasting value, than any other book, written in similar time-place
- If it is not 100% exactly reliable, and trustworthy, – its promises coming true, then it’s authority is stripped away.
- But, PTL, Jesus Did rise again,
- The OT promises are all Yea and Amen, in Christ!
- The OT Scriptures, Being the very words of God are Reliabl, As Pauls wrote to Timothy, they’re: “profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in Righteousness that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work!”
Secondly: The Kings Resurrection Really, Truly Happened
But Before we see the evidence for that,
- Let’s consider the contrary view of the Jews & the Romans
- They claimed in 28:11-15, the Disciples came and stole away the body – that Christ did not really rise fr. dead
- But Jesus grave clothes were found lying, where He once lay
- The object inside a tomb, of great financial value, is not the decomposing Body, But rather…
- It is the Grave Clothes (Fine, new, linen shroud) & the spices
- While grave robbers consistently steal: valuable objects & leave the body, there’s no record of robbers stealing the body and leaving the valuable grave clothes and spices.
- To claim they stole the body, given known facts: senseless!
- The Reality:
- Priests Bought Judas’ betrayal: 30 pcs Silver
- Then they had to Buy the Guard’s Lies for more money
- Then, after that, they had to Buy Pilate’s co-operation
- {no doubt that cost them even more money….}
- Interesting: Truth is Free; Deception comes at a V. High Price
- So the Lies to Discredit His Resurrection are easily Dismissed.
So, How Did Jesus Rise from the Dead? – what Does the Bible say?
- Christ’s Res. happened by the Power of God
- Acts 2:24, Peter preaching on Pentecost morning said: God raised (Christ) up, losing the pangs of death, becoz it was not possible for him to be held by it
But, Just a sec., Why was it not possible for Him to be held by death?
- Follow the logic with me:
- 1) Sin results in Death:
- Ezek.18:4, the Soul, who sins will die,
- 2) Jesus had no sin:
- John.8:46, Jesus asked: Which one of you convicts me of sin? And Nobody! not Jews, not Sanhedrin, not Pilate or Romans – Nobody could Convict Jesus of sin
- 3) Jesus died on the cross, for our Sin
- 1 Peter 3:18 For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit;
- 4) Becoz He had no sin, Death had no power to hold Him
- God raised (Christ) up, losing the pangs of death, becoz it was not possible for him to be held by it
- 5) So, God raised Jesus Christ, the King & Son of God fr death:
- His Resurrection Displayed Him to be Righteous
- His Resurrection Declared Him to be Son of God
- Romans 1:4 His Son… was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from: dead…”
- God raised Jesus from death by the Omnipotent Power of God
- Eph. 1:20, Paul says that… (God) worked (his immeasurably great power) in Christ when He raised him from the dead…
Thirdly: The Kings Resurrection was Witnessed by Many
- Acts 3:15, Peter says to Jews: “you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses.”
- So, while there’s unanimous agreement among NT apostles & writers & key characters as to Reality of Jesus’ Resurrection,
- None of them actually saw event – His actual Resurrection
- All Accounts describing His Res. are from after the event
- Mark records it as a simple fact in His Gospel account,
- Mark 16:9, Now when he rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene… (after)
- Matthew & Luke record His Res. w/ Testimony of Angels,
- 28:6 & Luke 24:5–6, the (two angels) said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? 6 He is not here, but (He) has risen. (that’s said afterward)
- John, in 24:11-17, records the event, as 1st the angels speaking w/ Mary, then Jesus Himself speaking to her, after His Res.
- But while nobody saw actual event, the eyewitness testimony to seeing Jesus Raised and Alive fr. dead is Overwhelming
Four Key Witnesses:
1) The Res. King appeared to His women followers
- Matt.28:9 -> He appeared to the two Mary’s
2) The Res. King appeared to 12 Disciples, not all at once, to start
- Mark 16:7, Angel tells them to go & tell His disciples and Peter
- Last time I checked, Peter is a Disciple
- Why single Him out, why set Him apart
- Remember, One Betrayed, All fled, but only Peter denied 3x
- That message, from Christ to Peter is that:
- Becoz Jesus is Alive….
- There’s Hope of Restoration,
- There’s Hope of Forgiveness, & Hope of Renewal
- There is Hope of renewed Usefulness to Christ
- We, who all stuff it up occasionally, have the great re-assurance that becoz Jesus is Risen and…
- Just as He Forgave, and Re-commissioned Peter,
- So there is Restoration available for us,
- there’s hope of Renewal and…
- there’s hope of further usefulness for Christ…
- He appeared to the Disciples and to Peter…
- John.20:19, He appeared to all Disciples except Thomas
- John 20:26, He appeared to all Disciples including Thomas
- How Kind is Jesus to both: Denying Peter & Doubting Thomas
- Luke 24:13-31, Jesus appeared to 2 unnamed Disciples
3) In 1Cor.15:6, The Res. King appeared to 500 Believing Brothers
4) The Res. King also appeared to the Apostle Paul.
- Acts 9:1-7, describes Christ’s Reveal. of Himself to Paul
- 1Cor.15:8, Paul states that Christ also appeared to Him
- One of Key require. for NT Apostles is Seeing the Res. Christ
- All but 1 Apostle Died violent death for test. to Christ’s Res.
- Paul specifically states in Acts 23, that he’s on trial for the Hope of the Resurrection of the Dead
But Jesus Christ wasn’t just seen by these eyewitnesses…
- Jesus also invited His eyewitnesses
- to Examine Him
- to Touch Him – the nail scars & the spear wound
- to See that He is truly Alive, truly flesh-blood
- He is twice recorded as eating: in Upper Rm., and on Beach
Listen,
Christian or Not: The Proof of Jesus’ Res. is Overwhelming.
- It’s not for lack of proof that men-women deny His Res.
- It’s becoz we-they don’t want to face, and deal with, the reality: that becoz Jesus Christ died and rose again,
- all that He claimed and said about Himself is true, and
- If it’s true, we have to deal with those claims:
- He is the Son of God
- He is the only means of access to God
- He is the only means of forgiveness of sin
- Coming to Christ requires us:
- To give up everything to follow Christ
- to deny ourselves to follow Christ
- to take up our cross, being willing to die for Christ…
- But, Oh the Joy we will have in Christ:
- forgiven,
- reconciled
- at peace,
- in fellowship with God, vastly outstrips the cost we pay.
Fourthly-Lastly: The Kings Resurrection “Changes Everything”
- The Implications of His Resurrection changes everything
- Since Christ is Raised, everything about this life is dif becoz:
1) The Kings Resurrection Proved His Deity
- If raising the dead &
- healing paralytics &
- cleansing lepers,
- walking on water,
- controlling weather,
- knowing the future, reading minds, seeing the invisible…
- if all that was insufficient to prove Jesus’ Deity – His Res. certainly removes all doubt!
- Acts 13:32–33, Paul preached the good news, “…that what God promised to the fathers, this he has fulfilled to us, their children, by Raising Jesus, as also it is written in the second Psalm, “ ‘You are my Son, today I have begotten you.’
- Jesus Christ’s Deity was decisively Proved by His Res.
- His Death could atone for Our Sin – for Mine & Yours!
- He is who He claimed to be
- Every Promise of His comes w/ the Almighty Stamp of God’s Absolute Approval, by His Res. from the Dead
- We have the Great Hope of our own Resurrection
- We have Guarantee of the Forgiveness of our Sin…
- We have Justification by God…
- We have Salvation from God’s Wrath and from sin
- Becoz Jesus: God, “He’s Not Here, He’s Risen, Just as He Said\
2) The Kings Resurrection Fulfilled Scripture.
(covered all this earlier)
3) The Kings Resurrection is for our Justification {Slowly}
- Becoz He is God and He is Raised, Our Justification is Possible
- First, Remember: The Wages of SIN is DEATH, 6:23
- The reason we Die, is becoz we’re all born in sin & commit sin
- But in 4:24b–25a Paul says that Jesus our Lord,… was
- 1) delivered up for our trespasses and
- 2) raised for our justification.
- To re-state that:
- 1) Jesus Died for our Sins & Iniquities & Transgressions
- He died to pay the penalty for them
- 2) Jesus was Raised, so we could be Declared Righteous
- 1) Jesus Died for our Sins & Iniquities & Transgressions
- Why is Jesus Res. necessary for our Justification?
- Jesus Res. Proved He is God, and He has no sin
- Jesus Res. Proved that He, Himself is Righteous As God is.
- Becoz He Is Righteous, His Righteousness can be Applied, to us, who Believe on Him – in Him
- We Hear the message, We Believe-Trust in Christ, that:
- His Death, is the Full Payment, for our Sin
- God forgives us for our sin, based on Christ’s death.
- God applies the Righteousness of Christ to us!
- Forever after God regards us: Righteous as Christ is R.
- The King’s Resurrection is for our Justification
4) The Kings Resurrection Gives us a Living Hope
- Jesus, Raised, Alive, is the First-fruits – the promise of what’s yet to come for us – He did not merely come back to life
- Christ was raised to Absolute Essence and Perfection of Life
- He is our Living Hope, of one day, being fully perfectly, conformed into His Image, just Like Him!
- He is the Living Hope of our Inheritance
- 1 Peter 1:3–6, According to his great mercy, (God) has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials,
6) The Kings Resurrection is Eg. of God’s Power Working Toward Us
Christian, How’re we going to get thru all God is putting us thru?
- How will we cope
- with the trauma of grief & loss of loved ones?
- with the pain of sickness & disease
- with the pain of seeing loved ones not walking w/ Christ?
- How will we cope with the pain of loneliness?
- of persecution,
- of rejection, and
- of suffering for Christ?
- “Because He Lives, I can face tomorrow…”
- “Because He lives, All fear is gone…”
- It’s Becoz the Power of God at work to Raise Christ fr. death…
- Is also at work, in U & I, to live this Christian Life… w/ Joy,
- We can face the difficulties,
- And the hardships,
- And the struggles of this human life, with Joy…
- Becoz Christ is Raised from the dead, and….
- Becoz the Power that Raised Christ from the dead, is also at work in us, to carry us thru this life…
- We Live, for today, tomorrow, this week and next, only in the Resurrecting Power of God!
- In 1:19–2:10, Paul prays… that we may know… what is the immeasurable greatness of His power toward us who believe…
- He worked that power in Christ when he Raised him from the Dead and Seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places,
- He worked that same Omnipotent power when… “God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love, with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places….
- Listen Christian, what gets U & I thru every single moment, of every single day, throughout the entire journey of this faith-life, from Conversion to Completion;
- From Repentance to Rapture,
- is the Resurrecting Power of God at work in us.
- Paul could write from his Prison-cell to his friends-fellow believers in Philippi, This was His Desire… His Prayer:
- 3:10–11… that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
- Brother and Sister in Christ, make that prayer yours!
- Pray & Plead with God that the Power to Raise Christ, and Make us Alive will continue and finish its work in us to guard and keep us through the remainder of this life and all its difficulties
- Remember Phil. 2:13, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure
- Christ was raised by God’s Power – same power at work in U!
So, What do we do with all this?
- Start where the angel started with the two Mary’s
- He is Risen, Just as He Said
- Start by looking, searching, studying, for yourself, to see if these things be true
- Cry out to the Living God to open the eyes of your heart to see!
- Trust Christ to save you
- Turn away from your sin
- Recognise that every promise he made us in His word is guaranteed,
- becoz Christ is Risen
- Becoz Christ, the King is Risen, Just as He said,
- Everything changes!
