Resurrection Reality

Matthew 28:8-9 KJV

8 And they departed quickly from the sepulchre with fear and great joy; and did run to bring his disciples word. 9 And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail. And they came and held him by the feet, and worshipped him.

Here in the month of April this year, we are in the Easter season. And what is it about Easter that is so significant? The resurrection of the Lord Jesus.

And the resurrection of the Lord Jesus is a very important doctrine within the Christian faith, as it is an event that truly and literally took place. In fact, this event is so important that had in not happened, truly and literally, then our faith, our entire religion would be a farce.

Thus, being aware of the event of the resurrection of Jesus, knowing the particulars on what exactly the resurrection accomplished for God’s people, and believing and trusting that it happened just the way that the Bible says it did is not only important, but it is necessary in order for someone to truly be a Christian.

Now, last week we talked about what happened at the exact time of the resurrection.

We said that there was a great earthquake as an angel of the Lord descended from Heaven and rolled the great stone away that was placed before the entrance to the tomb in which Jesus was placed in, we said that the sight of all of this caused the Roman soldiers who were guarding the tomb to tremble and become like dead men, and we said that this same angel told the women who had gathered there to go tell the Lord’s disciples what had just happened; That the Lord had risen indeed!

Now, these women had heard the report of the angel, and while they likely believed the report of the angel, they still had not seen the risen, resurrected Jesus… but that was about to change.

Our reading for today details how these women had saw the resurrected Jesus as they came to realize that the report of the Lord’s resurrection wasn’t just wishful thinking, but that it was reality.

But first, we see in our reading how these 3 women reacted when they were commanded to report the resurrection to the Lord’s disciples in verse 8, where it says:

Matthew 28:8 KJV

8 And they departed quickly from the sepulchre with fear and great joy; and did run to bring his disciples word.

So, these three ladies had just had an encounter with a supernatural being; an angel of the Lord. And no, they weren’t all simultaneously having a vision of what they just thought was an angel, no, they actually saw an angel with their own eyes. Now, that’s not something that happens every day…

And whenever something happens that doesn’t happen every day, you take notice and you’re much more apt to act swiftly and accordingly.

And this is how these women reacted as our reading says that after the angel told them to depart from the tomb, they definitely departed, and they did so quickly.

There was no hesitation on their part; this was not just a regular guy telling them to depart, it was a supernatural being telling them to depart, so there was no doubt that they needed to take this supernatural being seriously.

They departed quickly from the tomb, and they did so with fearand great joy.

The fear cited here, is a reverence or respect. A supernatural being from Heaven told them to depart, and because it was a supernatural being from Heaven who told them to do this, they knew that he needed to be obeyed… in this way, they feared, or respected and revered this angel.

But they also departed with great joy. There was a message that this angel told these women to relay, and the message was a good message, it was a message that brought them great joy. It was a message that would also bring great joy to those who heard it and believed it.

You see, the message that these privileged women were carrying was the most exciting message that anyone could carry. That message was “Jesus has risen! Death could not hold Him! He stands victorious over the grave! And because He stands victorious over the grave, He now extends eternal life to all who believe!”

Wow! That is an awesome message to bear! And for those of us who claim to be Christians, it should be a familiar message, because this is the same message that all of us are called to bear to a lost world.

And like these women, we should do so with fear, recognizing that the sovereign God of heaven and earth has commanded us to do so. And also like these women, we should do so with great joy as we recognize that it is a good message. A message that if believed, will extend eternal life to its hearers.

And also, like these women, we should carry this message quickly, recognizing that the clock is ticking, that salvation and eternal life will not always be available.

Yet so often, we don’t carry this message quickly, instead, we him haw around, saying that we know that we should carry the message, but now isn’t a convenient time to do so.

But though we aren’t always faithful to carry this message quickly and with fear and great joy, we see that carrying this message in this way is exactly what these women did as it says that they ran to bring this message to the Lord’s disciples.

But though they heard and likely believed the report given to them by the angel, these women were about to experience something that would take them from just hearing about the resurrected Lord, to actually seeing and experiencing the resurrected Lord.

We read about this in the first part of verse 9, where it says:

Matthew 28:9a KJV

9a And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them,

The last time that these women saw the Lord Jesus, He was suffering, bleeding, writhing in pain, a broken Man Who had been crucified and laid in a tomb.

But now, as our reading says, the Lord Jesus meets these women. He comes to them where they are, and as they see Him, they see that He’s nothing like He was the last time that they saw Him. Rather, He’s alive and well, resurrected in a new body that cannot die.

They had heard the report of the angel, but now they see with their own eyes the reality of what the angel had reported to them: The Lord is not in the tomb, He has risen!

And as they see the resurrected Lord, this is what He told them:

*Matthew 28:9b KJV

9b All hail.

The Lord says, “All hail…” which means, “Rejoice ye!”

Now, what exactly does it mean when Jesus tells these women to rejoice?

Well, in order to really understand what the Lord means by this, we have to take a look at some words that He spoke that are recorded for us in the Gospel of John.

John’s Gospel records the Lord’s last meeting with His disciples before He was delivered to be crucified in much greater detail than the other Gospel writers do.

And over in John 16:20, we read of the precious words that Jesus spoke to His disciples in this last meeting that let them know that everything was going to be all right, when He said:

John 16:20 ESV

20 Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy.

Jesus tells His disciples, “You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy!”

And going back to our reading, these women were sorrowful, they came to the Lord’s tomb in sorrow, but now the resurrected Jesus stands before them, and He says, “All hail! Rejoice!” “You were sorrowful because I died, but now rejoice! For I live forevermore!” thus we see Jesus making good on His word when He told His disciples that they would be sorrowful, but their sorrow would turn into joy.

So, they see the One Who was crucified, the One Whom they followed while He was living, they see the One Who had told them, “A little while, and you will see me no longer; and again a little while, and you will see me.”

“How?... how did He do it?” they must have asked themselves. They must have thought to themselves, “This Man calmed the storm at sea. This Man gave sight to the blind. This Man raised others from the dead… now… this Man… He raised Himself from the dead! He conquered His very own death! How?!”

Well, there is only one possible explanation… and that’s that this Man must be God! and I think that that was the conclusion that these women came to, they said, “Jesus… He’s God!”

They were convinced that He was God, therefore they reacted how one should react when they come into the presence of God:

*Matthew 28:9c KJV

9c they came and held him by the feet, and worshipped him.

They held Him by the feet… this means that these women humbly threw themselves before Jesus. Now why would they do such a thing? Because they correctly understood the greatness of Jesus, they also understood their own unworthiness. Thus, they knew that being in the presence of God Almighty, the only proper place for them was on the ground before Him in humble submission and devout worship.

And as they lay on the ground before Him, the mighty Maker of heaven and earth; they worshipped Him… the way that these ladies knew Jesus now, was going to change them forever!

You know, I can speak for myself when I say that for the majority of my life, I knew of Jesus. What that means is that I had heard about Jesus from people. Every Christmas I would somehow, someway be reminded of how Jesus was born in a manger in the city of Bethlehem. And every Easter, I would somehow, someway be reminded of how Jesus rose from the grave.

I knew that, I had been told that, and for most of my life, I believed that that was probably all true. But even believing that that was true didn’t change me, it didn’t change my spiritual standing before God.

No, that didn’t change until, like these women, Jesus made known to me, Who He really was.

Now, in saying that, I’m not saying that like these women, the resurrected Jesus stood before me, what I mean is that in the fullness of time, that is, in God’s timing, when God saw fit for me to believe what was true, I saw that Jesus wasn’t just some guy Who died on the cross, Who rose from the grave, heck I saw that He wasn’t just Who we call, the Son of God.

In the fullness of time, God showed me, He made clear to me, He made me experience the fact that He wasn’t just something or someone that people talk about, but that He is unquestionably real!

What that means is that in the fullness of time, God apprehended me, and He forced me to see that He alone is worthy of all of my worship. And as He forced me to see that He alone is worthy of all of my worship, He demanded my worship of Him.

And like these women, I finally saw who I was, how little I was, how weak I was, how naturally evil I was. And yet I saw God and Who He was, how great He was, how powerful He was, how pure and good He was.

And thus, I worshipped Him… and I have been worshipping Him ever since then.

You see, being brought to the realization of Who Jesus is, changed me forever. Now, without even realizing it, or consciously being aware of it, I naturally desire God to be glorified above all else in every area of my life.

That’s what happens when like these women, you meet the resurrected Jesus.

Now, I ask you, if you have met the resurrected Jesus? Well, if today you feel your heart strangely drawn towards Him, then that means that He’s calling you to meet Him today.

So, meet Him now.

Let us pray…