The Resurrection Reassures us that Jesus has Risen

Too good to be true?

Things that seem to good to be true, often are.

Look at the heading of this email I got...

The Bible offers something that seems to good to be true. In the face of death, the bible offers hope, it offers a new and everlasting life in relationship with our father God, where Jesus has paid the penalty our rebellion deserves.

But is it too good to be true?

Luke’s gospel is written to give us hope. It says that death is not the end, and Luke says he put his gospel together so that we can be sure of this.

The resurrection reassures us that Jesus has Risen so that we can have hope.

As we hear from God’s word together today we can be sure that the Tomb was empty and we can be sure that Jesus is alive.

We can be sure the Tomb was EMPTY v1-5a

Listen to what Luke tells us from verse 1:

The New International Version (Chapter 24)

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.

The women who had followed Jesus we’re not expecting a resurrection, they fully expected to see Jesus dead in his tomb.

These are the women who watched Jesus be crucified just days before, they watched him breathe his last. They watched the soldiers pierce his side. They watched Joseph take his body to a tomb cut from a rock and saw how his body was laid in it. They saw Jesus dead. And so they went home and prepared spices and perfumes for his body, to help honor him in his death.

And so when verse 1 says the women went to the tomb carrying the spices they had prepared days before, it’s clear they went to that tomb expecting a corpse. Expecting to rub on the spices and perfumes on a lifeless body.

Jesus was dead when they last saw him.

Death is final. Death is crushing. Death defeats us.

Those women went expecting death.

And so verse 2 is the first sign of shock.

The New International Version Chapter 24

2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb,

Luke doesn’t tell us if they had a plan to roll it away themselves when they got there, it’s a moot point. They definitely didn’t expect to see it moved aside already.

The New International Version Chapter 24

3 but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.

Many people have tried to poke holes in this story in the past, saying things like;

“maybe they wen’t to the wrong tomb”

“maybe they didn’t look hard enough”

“maybe the disciples had already gotten there and stolen the body”

But this isn’t one of those instances of me having a boy look and then my wife instantly finding the thing I could have sworn was missing sitting right there in front of my eyes...

No, the fact Luke gets across is that this tomb that had Jesus’ body is empty!

And while the Women are completely flustered by this, God answers.

The New International Version Chapter 24

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

The women, are met by messengers of God. They know these men aren’t ordinary men, and they respond by bowing down to the ground, not daring to look.

They were already shocked and bewildered and now they’re full of fear.

Their expectations on this sombre morning have been rocked.

Jesus, their friend, leader, teacher, son, Lord. first he dies and now they can’t even find his body. you can only imagine all the emotions these women were feeling.

We know death stings, you might be feeling that especially this weekend.

But when it comes to Jesus’ death there’s no need for sadness or fear, for these men reveal a life changing message of hope!

We can be sure Jesus is ALIVE v5b-8

We can be sure that Jesus is alive because of the message God sends to the women.

The men reveal that Life has come where death stood. They reassure the women that life has come just as Jesus has told them. They give us hope that that death is not the end, Life is revealed.

The New International Version Chapter 24

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 over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ” 8 Then they remembered his words.

The men ask what seems like a silly question… why do you look for the living among the dead?

A tomb is a weird place to look for someone alive.

But, don’t these men know that the women are looking for someone who died?

The women saw Jesus die, they saw him buried. they aren’t there by accident.

But the men’s question tells them all they need to know. and it’s followed by 7 of the most amazing words you will ever hear in the Bible.

The New International Version Chapter 24

6 He is not here; he has risen!

I think 2000 years of this being shared can make these words seem a bit dull to us some times…

Jesus; brutaly crucified, nailed hands and feet, pierced in the side, tortured and killed by killing experts, laid in a tomb, dead for 2 nights.

He’s not here. he has risen!

Death has not won. This is not the end of this story.

He is not here. He Has Risen!

This has always been God’s plan, like we heard in our OT reading.

The New International Version (Chapter 25)

6 On this mountain the LORD Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples,a banquet of aged wine—the best of meats and the finest of wines.7 On this mountain he will destroythe shroud that enfolds all peoples,the sheet that covers all nations;8 he will swallow up death forever.

He is not here. He is Risen!

And we can be sure of this, not just from the Old testament, but Jesus’ own words.

That’s what the Men tell the women.

The New International Version (Chapter 24)

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 over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’”

Jesus had told his followers that he would die and that he would rise again on the third day.

In Luke’s gospel, Jesus predicts his death and resurrection 6 times.

Jesus wanted his followers to be sure that he would rise again. Jesus want’s us to be sure that he came back from death.

The empty tomb is not a tradgedy. It’s not a mystery.

It’s a sure sign that Jesus is who he says he is. It’s a sure sign that we can trust him.

If you are here today and you don’t yet trust and follow Jesus, let me encourage you to investigate Jesus and his claims.

We’ve got a number of resources for you to do that, We’ve got some copies of Luke’s gospel, we’ve got some dvd’s of _____’s gospel, or if you’ve got a phone with the internet you can scan the QR code on this card to watch Mark’s gospel on youtube.

Whether reading, listening or watching, let me encourage you to meet Jesus and hear his words to you this easter.

And even if you do already follow Jesus, the message of the 2 men to remeber Jesus’ words is for you to. I hope it’s a reminder to go back and explore a gospel and keep Jesus’ words on your heart and mind.

We can be sure Jesus is alive, just as he said he would be.

He is not in the tomb. He is Risen!

Are you sure? v9-12

We can be sure that the tomb was empty.

We can be sure Jesus is alive.

So, Are you sure?

These things were written so you could be sure. but are you?

Because these things seem too good to be true.

That’s what it was like for those there that first Easter day.

The New International Version Chapter 24

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.

The women have seen the empty tomb, they’ve heard the message of the 2 men and they go and tell the rest of Jesus’ followers.

And there are 2 responses

The New International Version Chapter 24

11 But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense.

The first response is to chalk this all up as nonsense and not believe like some of Jesus’ followers did at first.

Unfortunately, in the first century, people thought a women’s evidence couldn’t be trusted. They said women were unreliable, emotional. You couldn’t be sure.

And maybe after the stressfull and devestating weekend they had all had, the claim that someone had gotten up and left their tomb days after being crucified really did sound unbelievable.

But just like the women had initially, these followers had forgotten Jesus’ words.

And so if this is you, if you don’t believe Jesus really did rise from the dead, let me again encourage you to spend some time checking out what Jesus said.

Because Luke wrote these things so we could be sure. and he’s not making it up. The fact he includes the testimony of the women would be foolish if it wasn’t true.

And these are the apostles who are included here as not believing. surely if you were going to be the faces of a whole new movement of religion you’d squash this bad talk about you not believeing… unless this is really how it happened.

It might seem to good to be true… so instead of dismissing it as nonsense, respond like Peter did.

The New International Version Chapter 24

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.

Peter thinks it’s too good to be true so he gets up and runs to the tomb.

When it seems to good to be true, run to the empty tomb and see that it’s true. Run to the bible, listen to the accounts.

If it seems too good to be true, grab an easter egg, unwrap it, and look inside. It’s empty. Just like the tomb was.

Peter runs to see it for himself, and all he sees is the strips of linen.

He is not here. He is Risen!

This is just the start of the story. over the next two weeks we’re going to look at what happened next to turn all of those unbelieving apostles into believers. come with us and keep exploring the empty tomb.

Let me pray.