The Christ is Risen
Notes
Transcript
Scripture Reading
Scripture Reading
1 On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. 2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. 5 In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? 6 He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: 7 ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ” 8 Then they remembered his words.
9 When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. 10 It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles. 11 But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense. 12 Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened.
Introduction
Introduction
1 The Discovery (vv.1-3)
1 The Discovery (vv.1-3)
With this in mind, let us consider these events in terms of how they unfolded, and how the mourning and weeping that had been experienced just prior, would now be turned to exuberant joy!
The first thing that we see is the discovery of the fact that the body of Jesus was no longer there.
1.1 The Circumstances (v.1)
1.1 The Circumstances (v.1)
We read in verse 1…
1 On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb.
Just prior to this, at the end of chapter 23, we find that the women had followed those who had taken the body of Jesus and prepared it for burial. As they had followed those people, they had clearly noted where the body of Jesus had been laid.
They had then observed the Sabbath Day as was required. Following the Sabbath, at the opening of the market, they had gone out and purchased spices and prepared them. And then, on the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they took this mixture of spices that they had prepared in order to go and anoint the body of Jesus.
I’ve touched on this already, but I think we must just pause to understand something of the mind of these women as they were going out to the tomb.
We know and understand that when they were following and serving Christ in this world during the course of His earthly ministry, they believed Him to be the Messiah. They had observed His life, His actions, His words, and they were delighted to know that the Christ had appeared.
In this very moment, they would have been utterly devastated. We can well understand the sense of sadness and grief at the loss of a loved one. But in a sense, Jesus was more than a loved one to them. They had believed that this man Jesus was the hope of Israel; the Saviour - the one that would save them from their oppressors. They had pinned their hopes on Him. And now, He was gone!
Part of the evidence of this is the fact that they went to the tomb in order to take care of Christ’s body in the grave. In this sense, we must recognise both their devotion to Jesus, along with their lack of faith in Jesus in this moment.
They were devoted to Jesus, in that even after He had been crucified, they continued to show care for his dead body. They were compassionate and caring towards Christ.
However, the act of service in terms of caring for the body of Jesus was also a demonstration of a lack of faith, or at the very least, a lack of understanding!
Christ had taught on a good number of occasions that he would rise again on the third day. This thought should have stuck in their minds. They ought to have been reminding themselves of His promises to them.
And so while they were being very faithful in what they were doing, it betrayed a lack of trust in what Christ Himself had promised to His disciples.
This leads us to consider…
1.2 The Empty Tomb (v.2-3)
1.2 The Empty Tomb (v.2-3)
As these ladies approached the tomb where they knew Jesus to be, the first thing that they noticed as that the stone that had been placed in front of the tomb was now rolled away.
Recall that Luke didn’t actually record the placing of the stone in front of the tomb, but he certainly acknowledges the fact that it was there through verse 2.
2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb,
As the women had walked towards the tomb with the desire to anoint / embalm the body of Jesus, they had in fact been concerned about how this massive stone was going to be removed. We see this in Mark’s Gospel...
3 and they asked each other, “Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?”
But as they arrived the stone had in fact been rolled away, this due to the work of God. In Matthew 28:2 we read…
2 There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it.
This was a glorious intervention from the heavenly places! The Roman troop that had been sent to guard the tomb had fled out of great fear. of course, there would later need to be a story made up as to why the stone was rolled away… how this had all happened! But for now, you can imagine the surprise on the faces of these women.
There had been an exceedingly large stone in front of the tomb, which at their arrival was rolled completely out of the way.
Not only that, but they found an empty tomb! Verse 3 tells us…
3 but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.
The ladies go into the tomb, and look for Jesus, but his body is not there.
Now, at this point of time in terms of what was unfolding, we need to consider just how distraught the women would have been. It was bad enough that they had seen their Lord physically dead. Philip Ryken comments on it in these words…
Luke, Volumes 1 & 2 What the Women Found
When they discovered that the body was gone, this could only add bitter sorrow to their sad distress. It was the shock of their lives—the aftershock that followed the earthquake of the crucifixion. The Jesus who was crucified, dead, and buried had now disappeared.
At the beginning of verse 4, the NIV says they were “wondering about this.” The Word in the original really means “perplexed,” or “at a loss.” They were at a complete loss as to how to make sense of this!
But what follows is an important reminder…
2 The Reminder (vv.4-7)
2 The Reminder (vv.4-7)
As the women stand there, already perplexed at all these events unfolding, and now particularly the body also having disappeared, the women are confronted by angels from God.
In verse 4 we read…
4 While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them.
As they’re standing and trying to make sense of what was happening, they suddenly find themselves in the presence of two men. Luke records that they were wearing clothes that gleamed like lightning. This clearly shows us that these were not mere men, but rather were angels - heavenly messengers. The other Gospel accounts confirm that these were indeed angels.
The response of the women to these angels is in verse 5...
Luke 24:5 (NIV84)
5 In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground...
Clearly the women were aware that they were in the presence of supernatural beings. They bowed down low with their faces to the ground, in utter fear of what was happening.
This brings us to consider the words of reminder from the angels.
Luke 24:5–7 (NIV84)
5 ...but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? 6 He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: 7 ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ”
The Living Among the Dead
The angels begin by asking a question, but the question is designed possibly as an encouragement, but probably also as a mild rebuke. “Why do you look for the living among the dead.”
The women were fully convinced in their own minds that Jesus was still dead and buried in the tomb. They continued to work under the faulty assumption that Jesus’ death was final.
Because of this, they were looking for Jesus in the wrong place. They were looking for Jesus in the place where the dead are found. Thus was utterly inappropriate, because their Lord was not dead, but alive.
He has Risen. Remember how he told you...
The angels go on to say, “He is not here; he has risen!”
These are glorious words, and they go to the heart of the Gospel message. It’s really important that these words are not misconstrued or misunderstood. one commentator writes:
Luke, Volumes 1 & 2 What the Angels Said
When we say that Jesus rose from the dead, we are referring to his bodily resurrection. We are not merely saying that Jesus is alive in our minds, our hearts, or our memories. Nor are we simply saying that his soul is immortal. On the contrary, we are dealing with the objective facts and the physical reality of what happened to a dead man’s body. The physical body of Jesus was raised from death to life by the power of God. This was not simply a case of resuscitation: the coming back to life of a mortal body that would die again. Rather, it was a physical resurrection: the raising of Jesus Christ to the immortal splendor of a body that could never die again.
This is so important for us to keep in mind, because this resurrection of Jesus is the firstfruits… He goes before us. His resurrection assures us of our resurrection, if we are in him.
20 But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. 22 For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. 23 But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him.
But notice, the angels also say to the women....
Luke 24:6–7 (NIV84)
6 ...Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: 7 ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ”
Here were the angels needing to remind these women of what Jesus had been telling them all along.
Repeatedly through His ministry, Jesus had told his disciples that he would be put to death, but that on the third day He would rise again. Even as He had spoken those words to them, their spiritual eyes had remained closed (Luke 18:34 confirms this).
He had in fact spoken quite plainly to them about these things.
For us, in our context, looking back on the unfolding of events, we think to ourselves, why on earth didn’t they just take Him at His word? It’s so clear that He was saying that he was going to be put to death, and then have to rise again.
From their perspective, with their understanding or ideas of the coming Messiah and what He would do, the kind of deliverance they anticipated from him, the idea of a Saviour that died didn’t make sense. Their concept of the Messiah didn’t fit with the death of that Messiah… or of course, a resurrection.
Whatever their thinking, it is clearly conveyed in the Scriptures that the meaning was hidden from their eyes. God was not giving them insight at that time.
Back to our account here, the angels have reminded these women of the words of Jesus to them.
And suddenly at this moment, their spiritual eyes were opened to understand and to recall what had been said.
8 Then they remembered his words.
You can just picture the women, and suddenly their minds beginning to comprehend what it was that Jesus had said. What it was that Jesus meant when He said it!
Just give some thought to the entire process here.
They had gone through the events as they had unfolded over the last number of days. Luke has been careful to place these women at all the different events as they were unfolding.
They had just witnessed Jesus on trial before the Sanhedrin, all the religious leaders. In that moment, it hadn’t made sense to them. But now, the words that Jesus spoke, as recorded in Luke 9:22 flooded their minds…
Luke 9:22 (NIV84)
22 ....“The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law...”
They think back to Friday’s events, where Jesus was given over by the religious leaders to Pilate, and then to Herod, and then back to Pilate.
Coupled with that they think of the beatings that he suffered throughout these trials. And ultimately, Jesus being put to death on the cross.
Suddenly, the line connected the dots to the words that Jesus had spoken, as recorded in Luke 18:31-32…
Luke 18:31–32 (NIV84)
31 ....“We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled. 32 He will be handed over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, insult him, spit on him, flog him and kill him.
But then, most gloriously, with the tomb standing open before them, and the body of Jesus nowhere to be found, they recalled the words of Jesus as recorded in Luke 18:33
33 On the third day he will rise again.”
From a place of mourning and weeping; confusion and anxiety; dejected and without hope, to the sudden realization that it was said that this would happen, and everything had turned out according to the Words of Christ.
Not only that, but the Saviour was alive!! He was alive!!
I want to bring a very brief point of application here.
When life doesn’t appear to be working out as you think best, it is when you bring those truths of Scripture, the promises of God to bear on your circumstances, and to shed light on your circumstances, that the perspective can be radically altered. Just the perspective of what’s happening… why is this trial happening; why is God allowing this; why did this tragedy unfold in my life; why.... why....
When the Word of God, the promises of God, the character of God are brought to bear, suddenly the perspective changes, and things make sense.
Now, that does not mean that everything challenging and trying suddenly falls away, and life becomes carefree and easy. But it does give you that perspective that is filled with hope and joy, because it makes sense! And we’re reminded that God is in control. He is sovereign over these events, and He told me about these things!
That leads us to consider...
3 The Report (vv.8-10)
3 The Report (vv.8-10)
Having suddenly come to the realisation of this profound truth, the women will now return and take this report back to the others disciples.
Now, imagine the excitement and enthusiasm in these women at this point!! Jesus had said to His disciples in John 16:20-22
20 I tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. 21 A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world. 22 So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy.
This is what was unfolding! The reality of what Jesus said. The truth that He is alive! The truth that the Jewish leaders, the Roman cross - were not ultimately the victors!!
Their Saviour was alive!!
3.1 The Report (v.9)
3.1 The Report (v.9)
Luke now records what the women then do… but only in condensed form!
9 When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others.
That’s a summary version of what happened. The other Gospel accounts give far more details…
8 So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. 9 Suddenly Jesus met them. “Greetings,” he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”
What a moment of joy this was for them - seeing Jesus alive!! By the time the women would have arrived at the other disciples, they would have been overjoyed!
The told the disciples the news, including the fact that they saw Jesus. This was then spread to all the others, which refers to other disciples of Jesus at that time. The word begins to spread to the disciples, these women have found Jesus alive!!!
Who were those who reported these things? Luke goes on to identify them. It was a group of women together. Verse 10 reads…
10 It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles.
These are the women that had gone together to the tomb in order to embalm the body of Jesus. It was not merely one or two women, but in fact a group of women that had gone together. These are the names of women that had in fact supported Jesus through his earthly ministry.
The “others” that are referred to in verse 10 is written in the original language as feminine, thus referring also to women. Here was a group of women that found the tomb empty, and then ran back to the disciples in order to convey this wonderful news of the Saviour that had risen from the dead!
Augustine said that these women were “the first preachers of the resurrection!” Proclaiming that Jesus who had died, was now raised to life!!
This is the appropriate action when we come to understand the Gospel and its meaning. We hear about a man, who was in fact the Son of God, perfect in righteousness, put to death on our behalf, taking upon himself the wrath of God, bearing our punishment; we hear about how He suffered for us; was killed; was then buried in the ground; but was raised to life. And because of this, we may have forgiveness of sin. We die to sin, and are raised to a new life in Christ.... that must move us to joy; gratitude; and declaration of the mercies of God to others!!
We must tell of a risen Saviour!
We that in mind, we can consider the responses to the news.
4 The Responses (vv.11-12)
4 The Responses (vv.11-12)
It is quite something that as we look to verses 11 and 12, the responses that we find are hardly those filled with the same joy that the women had.
Keep in mind, the women would have arrived with the disciples with a sense of great joy and excitement. Matthews Gospel spoke about them being filled with fear (awe) and joy!
I doubt they came into the room all calm and collected. It’s unlikely they spoke all calmly, one at a time. This would not have been a sit-down, explain the facts kind of conveying the news of Jesus.
Here was a group of at least 5 women - probably more - arriving at the disciples overwhelmed with joy and enthusiasm… and I imagine it was a flurry of words from all sides as they all together conveyed the news about a stone gone… men in bright clothes… seeing Jesus walking along the way…
But we see that there is a great lack of faith on the part of the disciples.
11 But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense.
In one sense, we can understand this.
We need to understand that there were a couple of things playing into the minds of the disciples as they were receiving the information.
Firstly, just the fact of the possibility of a resurrection. This was not something that could just be accepted as factual. How often have you seen someone raised from the dead? Most of us, probably never.
Jesus had been one who had raised people from the dead. We think about the widow’s son in Luke 7:12, where Jesus stopped the funeral procession and raised the young boy to life.
We think about the young girl that had died, and Jesus arrived at the house while the professional mourners were weeping and mourning over her death, and the way in which he simply said to her, little girl, stand up.
And then of course, Lazarus was also raised from the dead.
The disciples would have been aware of all of these accounts. But in this instance, the one who had done the raising of the dead was himself caught up by death. Who would raise Him?
Another obstacle to them believing was the cultural bias of the day. Such a story coming from women would have been viewed at least with a measure of suspicion. The testimony of women was not highly regarded within society in general, and so that possibly would have played into the doubts in the minds of the disciples.
With that said, it’s also worth mentioning that the fact that it’s recorded that women found the body to be missing is one of the important elements that supports the credibility of the resurrection account. If this was going to be a made-up story, then those making it up would rather have documented that men found the body of Jesus missing. Just in terms of ensuring cultural acceptance.
As we continue to consider this report of the women to the disciples, we notice immediately that the disciples themselves rejected the idea of the resurrection of Jesus. The first skeptics of the resurrection were the very disciples of Jesus, the ones that Jesus Himself had told about the resurrection that was going to take place.
We see from this verse that when the disciples heard the account from the women, they rejected the report as nonsense. They simply did not believe what they were telling them. They said that the words they were speaking to them were nonsense - just idle chatter!!
As a point of practical application, we need to perhaps not be too hard on the skeptics of our own day that would argue against supernatural things such as the resurrection.
The disciples had been witnesses to all of the miracles of Jesus, including him raising the various people from the dead.
Add to this the fact that they themselves had been given power and authority to perform miracles as they had gone out and ministered the Gospel.
You would think that they were open to the possibility of the miraculous resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Such, they were not!
If we consider that the disciples were in fact quite hesitant to believe in the account of the resurrection in their own day, we should not be surprised if people today are hesitant to believe in the resurrection.
But, God opens the spiritual eyes for people to believe. And because this is a work of God, we can have confidence in the proclamation of the Gospel truths!
Coming back to the account in the text before us, we find that at this stage at least, there is a rejection of the words of these women.
However, they didn’t all simply stand there, rejecting the account without investigating for themselves. In verse 12, we read the following…
12 Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened.
As Peter hears this account from the women, he thinks of the first way that could possibly be used to verify the words of the women. If this was true, then surely he should be able to go and have a look at the tomb, and see if the body is still there (if the stone is still there) or if it has been rolled away. And so, he ran to the tomb.
According to John’s Gospel, Peter wasn’t the only one that ran to the tomb. John himself also ran to the tomb in order to see what had happened.
As they arrived at the tomb, the grave clothes in which Jesus had been wrapped in by Joseph and Nicodemus were lying in the tomb. Lying separate from these was the face-cloth that had been on his head.
The important point here is that although the grave-clothes were there, the body was missing.
Immediately this would have created a question.
The report that the religious leaders were spreading was that the disciples of Jesus had come by night, while the guards were fast asleep, had rolled this massive stone away (without waking the soldiers) and had then stolen the body. All of that made-up story was ridiculous. But another ridiculous element would have been that the disciples unwrapped the dead body in the tomb, and left the grave-clothes behind. It simply makes not sense!
At the end of the verse, we find that Peter went away, wondering to himself what had happened.
He’s still not convinced of the fact that Jesus risen to life. He’s trying to process things. He’s in the same place that the women were before the angels had spoken to them, and before they had seen the risen Savior.
Lessons
Lessons
As we begin to close, I’ll begin by asking a question here: What is your view of the resurrection account? Do you accept and fully acknowledge and agree that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead? Jesus did not appear to die while he was merely sleeping (which is known as the swoon theory). He really and truly died. He was wrapped in grave clothes, and his body placed in a tomb. There was a miraculous resurrection of the life of Jesus.
Do you believe this? While I think it’s true that most of us would hold to this as a true and factual account, there are many in our day, particularly given the skeptical nature of the hearts of people, who would not agree with such a position. They would hold to a view that says that Jesus could not have died and been raised to life again on the third day.
Resurrection is a doctrine that is hard to believe, but it is also one of those core Christian doctrines that must be believed.
1 Corinthians 15 makes it clear that if Christ has not been raised from the dead, then our faith is futile…
14 And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. 15 More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.
This doctrine is critical.
Another practical aspect is that we continually ask God for wisdom and spiritual insight… we need to ask for this!
The women and the disciples had the revelation of God through the Words of Christ, but until their eyes were opened to actually understand, it failed to have a proper impact on them.
For us it is much the same. We have the truths of Scripture. We can read those truths and study them. We can memorize the Scriptures and recite the verses. But if we haven’t been given the wisdom and insight to understand, then those words will not have their proper effect in our lives.
We truly need the Spirit of God to give us that insight that we need.
Are you asking the Lord for this? This is very much what Paul prayed for the Colossian believers. And his prayer is instructive for us…
9 For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. 10 And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.
Living a life worthy of the Lord requires those spiritual eyes to be opened.
May we ask God to open our spiritual eyes, both in order to be saved, and also in order that we might truly perceive our own lives in light of His glorious truth.