What The Resurrection Is

Biblical Text -

Matthew 28:1–20 NKJV

Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat on it. His countenance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. And the guards shook for fear of him, and became like dead men. But the angel answered and said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. And go quickly and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead, and indeed He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him. Behold, I have told you.” So they went out quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to bring His disciples word. And as they went to tell His disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, “Rejoice!” So they came and held Him by the feet and worshiped Him. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell My brethren to go to Galilee, and there they will see Me.” Now while they were going, behold, some of the guard came into the city and reported to the chief priests all the things that had happened. When they had assembled with the elders and consulted together, they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers, saying, “Tell them, ‘His disciples came at night and stole Him away while we slept.’ And if this comes to the governor’s ears, we will appease him and make you secure.” So they took the money and did as they were instructed; and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day. Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them. When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted. And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.

-[Prayer]-

Life Principle - The Resurrection Is A Miraculous, Happy, And Still A Life Changing Event.

Life Point- The Resurrection Is A Miraculous Event

Exegetical -

Matthew 28:1–4 BSB

After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. Suddenly there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, rolled away the stone, and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards trembled in fear of him and became like dead men.

Homiletical -

Several things come into play here. I’m not going to spend a whole lot of time here in the story as it were. I am going to spend some time here relating a few things that jump out.

First it was after the Sabbath that Jesus rose. So from Friday night to Sunday he laid in the tomb.

Why?

Well we something similar happened to another man in the scriptures.

John 11:1–7 BSB

At this time a man named Lazarus was sick. He lived in Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. (Mary, whose brother Lazarus was sick, was to anoint the Lord with perfume and wipe His feet with her hair.) So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one You love is sick.” When Jesus heard this, He said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So on hearing that Lazarus was sick, He stayed where He was for two days, and then He said to the disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.”

John 11:20–44 BSB

So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet Him; but Mary stayed at home. Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that God will give You whatever You ask of Him.” “Your brother will rise again,” Jesus told her. Martha replied, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me will live, even though he dies. And everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?” “Yes, Lord,” she answered, “I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world.” After Martha had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside to tell her, “The Teacher is here and is asking for you.” And when Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to Him. Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met Him. When the Jews who were in the house consoling Mary saw how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there. When Mary came to Jesus and saw Him, she fell at His feet and said, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.” When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. “Where have you put him?” He asked. “Come and see, Lord,” they answered. Jesus wept. Then the Jews said, “See how He loved him!” But some of them asked, “Could not this man who opened the eyes of the blind also have kept Lazarus from dying?” Jesus, once again deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. “Take away the stone,” Jesus said. “Lord, by now he stinks,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man. “It has already been four days.” Jesus replied, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” So they took away the stone. Then Jesus lifted His eyes upward and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. I knew that You always hear Me, but I say this for the benefit of the people standing here, so they may believe that You sent Me.” After Jesus had said this, He called out in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The man who had been dead came out with his hands and feet bound in strips of linen, and his face wrapped in a cloth. “Unwrap him and let him go,” Jesus told them.

You see Lazarus had been dead for four days. For three days there would be rituals that were normally done to a body in order to preserve it for the resurrection. Oils would be applied.

But there comes a time when a body has gone beyond the point of freshness and literally will stink. So in verse 39 Jesus is told “by now he stinks.”

But to prove that He has authority over death and that there would be no doubt of His power Jesus did not come right away to Lazarus’ aid when he heard he was sick. He waited another 2 days and by the time he shows up, Lazarus has been dead 4 days buried in a cave with a stone in front of it, which was a common burial of the time.

Jesus orders the stone be moved and the paid mourners and friends of the family are probably sitting there thinking to themselves “This guy is nuts! Not only is there nothing Jesus can do in the face of death, but the dude stinks!” But they move the stone anyway and low and behold Jesus calls him forth and he rises from the dead.

There was no doubt Lazarus was dead. There was no doubt Jesus was dead either. He had been beaten, he had been whipped he had a crown of thorns shoved down on his head. He was weak already when they crucified him. As a matter of fact, because it was the Sabbath and they wanted to move things along they broke the legs of the thieves that were with him in order for them to drown in there own bodily fluids and die faster.

This was not done to Jesus, not a bone was broken. To be sure they shoved a spear in his side and found blood and water flowed out. The Romans knew how to make sure someone was dead.

But for 3 days he stayed in that tomb, which proved to all that not only was he dead but that he was really dead. On that day He rose from the grave on the first day of the week. Not only that but there was an angel there declaring it to the women who had come to perform the burial rituals.

Listen the appearance of the angel was so spectacular and fearsome that these battle hardened Guards who of the Roman army were so afraid they coward and were like dead men before the angel.

Notice Jesus starts the New Covenant triumph on the first day, not at the last day of the week. Notice that Jesus has fulfilled the Old Covenant and starts something new. This is a type and a shadow for the church age.

Notice Jesus is not dead, but He is alive!

To deny the power of the literal resurrection of Christ is to deny the Gospel. To deny the Gospel makes you no Christian at all. If you cannot believe the story as it is written in the scriptures, then you are an unbeliever. You are not a Christian. You either believe it all or you are not His at all.

Life Point - The Resurrection Is A Happy Event

Exegetical -

Matthew 28:5–10 BSB

But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; He has risen, just as He said! Come, see the place where He lay. Then go quickly and tell His disciples, ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see Him.’ See, I have told you.” So they hurried away from the tomb in fear and great joy, and ran to tell His disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” They came to Him, grasped His feet, and worshiped Him. “Do not be afraid,” said Jesus. “Go and tell My brothers to go to Galilee. There they will see Me.”

Homiletical -

The women are not told to just take the angel’s word that Jesus rose, they were invited to look in the tomb and see where he had been and that he was there no more.

These women knew where Jesus’ body was because they had performed rituals since he had been dead.

They didn’t start the day happy about Jesus. They started it in mourning. They started it in sadness.

But you see God doesn’t do the things you expect Him to do. He usually does things in a way you don’t understand. Whether it a trial or tribulation to get you to where He wants you or it be something supernatural to get His will done. We in our little brains, though we should see it coming and know He can do the miraculous always seem to be shocked when He does His thing.

We are so shocked and so amazed that we tend to tell people about it. We are happy and want to proclaim to the world what God has done.

The sad part is, unlike the women who are on their way to tell the disciples, when Jesus shows up we get so focused on what He has done that we forget to Worship Him.

These women didn’t forget though, they bowed down and worshipped Him. Notice He didn’t chastise them for their worship. He just said “Don’t be afraid.”

Then he sends them on their way and tells them to tell the disciples where to meet Him.

If we as Christians would just worship Him when God has called us to something we would find that He might give us a direction to make our busy lives better, happier.

We are so busy about being busy that sometimes we forget to sit at the Master’s feet, we forget to bow down and worship Him. If we would just take the time out of our busy lives to worship Him, we might find he will change our lives. We might find that He will make our lives more fulfilling than it ever could have been if we had stayed on the trajectory that we were headed.

Life Point - The Resurrection Is Still A Life Changing Event

Exegetical -

Matthew 28:16–20 BSB

Meanwhile, the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain Jesus had designated. When they saw Him, they worshiped Him, but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Homiletical -

We call this the great commission. The great mission of the church folk.

So what is the problem?

A true disciple of the Lord will be one who gives up their time for others. I don’t mean to make converts. I mean to make disciples. A disciple looks like their teacher.

We are to help others on their walk with Christ to look like Christ. We are also to baptize them and to teach them to obey all the commands of Jesus.

What is His main command?

To go and make disciples of all nations.

This means the religious who don’t really know Him

This means the irreligious in our midst.

This means the tattooed biker, the thief, the prostitute.

It means we are to reach the so-called undesirables of this world.

Someone is saying, “but pastor I am afraid of that person.”

Hey man, Jesus said he would be with you even to the end of the age.

You gotta just do it.

“But what if they kill me.”

Then be a martyr for Christ. I don’t see that happening in America too much but definitely in other countries and you know what those Christians do? They do it anyway. They share Jesus anyway. Why can’t you again?

Remember as Christians throughout time who have been martyred remembered. This life is no longer about you, it is about Jesus and His will. Not yours, and remember 2 cor. 5:8

2 Corinthians 5:8 BSB

We are confident, then, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.

It is every Christians desire to be away from the body and Home with the Lord, where there is no more tears, no more pain, and no more sin to get in our way.

But God in His ultimate wisdom has decided that we are here not for our own wants and desires but that were are still here on this earth to do the mission of the believer. That is, to share Jesus with those that are dyeing and going to hell.

How about it church? Will you share Jesus with others or will you be selfish and do what you want to do?

Life Principle– The Resurrection Is A Miraculous, Happy, And Still A Life Changing Event.

Call to Action – altar call….