By Believing, You May Have Life

Benefits and Blessings of Jesus

His Life

His Righteousness

His Sonship

His Unity

His Peace

His Home

The Resurrection of Jesus is for our resurrection, if we believe. Every benefit and blessing of Jesus is for our benefit and blessing, if we believe.

1. Resurrection - 1-7

a. Fears Unmet By Reality

“they have taken his body”

The whole scene both real and poetic. A dark scene, not quite the brightness of dawn, a burial place.

feeling

mourning

heaviness

fear

uneasy

seeing

a stone rolled away

thinking

from bad to worse

From bad to worse - grave robbers were such a common problem, that a short time after these events, The Emperor Claudius ordere that capital punishment be the sentence for anyone caught tampering with or destroying a burial site.

For Mary, the natural expectation was not resurrection. The natural expectation was to find a normal tomb, to continue her normal mourning process by honoring the body of her dead Lord and friend.

The natural answer is not always the correct answer. Jumping to conclusions based on what we observe can fuel our fears more and more.

b. Faith met with Sight

Moving to the next characters in this account, we find Peter and John.

Now alarmed by Mary’s cry of grave-robbery, the two Apostles run.

We can’t know what they were thinking when they were running.

We know that their curiosity - or distress - mixed with faith, led them just a bit further than Mary.

Perhaps they wanted to believe that the body was still there. Was resurrection on their minds?

What they thought, though, was quickly overshadowed by what they saw.

Grave cloths - linens, lying there.

The face cloth - which had been on Jesus’ head - folded up in place by itself.

Not strewn around as if someone had hurriedly removed them, not tossed aside as if it were dropped in the process.

More than first met they eye.

To Mary, an open grave - a robbery.

To Peter and John, grave clothes set aside - not needed anymore.

More than meets the eye. With Jesus, it is always so. Beyond expectation, beyond first glances, beyond what we think, beyond what we reason.

If “grave robbery” is our reason, our fear, our discernment - “resurrection” is the Lord’s way of saying “My power and grace at work are much more than your natural expectations.”

2. Realization - 8-23

a. “It all makes sense now”

Saw and believed - believed what?

Mary’s report?

No grave robbery would involve left behind grave clothes and a neatly folded shroud.

resurrection

Did not yet understand the scripture

A specific scripture?

Psalm 16:10 ESV

For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption.

Hosea 6:2 ESV

After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, that we may live before him.

He believed

what Jesus had said

Mark 9:31 ESV

for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him. And when he is killed, after three days he will rise.”

Not just in an empty tomb, but in empty grave-clothes.

For John, the lights went on immediately.

For Peter, it seems to have taken a bit more.

For John, his faith immediately came to life by this sight. Not a sight of the risen Lord, but a sight of his empty grave-clothes.

b. “I heard his voice”

The account as a story, Mary ran to tell the first of the disciples she could.

They ran to the tomb, found the unneeded grave-clothes, and went back home with their fledgling faith.

Meanwhile, Mary is still convinced he was stolen - removed. They didn’t cross paths. Picture here people at three points of faith.

John, faith young but fully alive. The light came on.

Peter, seeing the same evidence, but quiet. Silent. Pondering. Not jumping ahead.

Mary, convinced of the worst. Not a lack of faith, but has been given no hope.

To Mary comes the grace of our Lord in not just an empty tomb or empty grave-clothes, but with a personal interaction.

A calling of her name.

You see, it was not that Mary would not believe, it was that faith had not yet been quickened by the author of that faith.

But when he spoke her name, she knew.

John 10:27 ESV

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.

Perhaps you find yourself in this place this morning - not unwilling to believe, but simply never having been moved.

Perhaps, this Easter, in hearing again the account of the resurrection, through His Word, the Master’s voice is calling to you.

Today, if you hear his voice, listen to Him. Listen to Him and believe. Not because I told you to, but because he has called to you.

Notice, Jesus was not immediately recognized by Mary. Though he was there, alive, resurrected - her not-yet faith did not make his resurrection any less true.

And so, for you - perhaps you have heard of this story, this resurrected Savior your whole life. He has been there all along, and perhaps yours is a not-yet faith. You have not utterly shut the door, you have just not given it a second thought.

Know that your not-yet faith does not make the message of the Gospel any less true. It is true whether you believe or not, but know that it is urgent.

c. “I saw his wounds”

Jesus’ words to mary about not embracing, not clinging to him, give us a little picture into the miracle of resurrection.

Jesus had apparently risen through his grave clothes.

He was not quite recognizable to Mary.

He was able to appear, here, as through a wall. Through a locked door.

Why was the door locked?

for fear of the jews

Why was the grave sealed and guarded?

for fear of the body being stolen

Why was Jesus’ body wrapped and spices brought?

for fear of decomposition

Think of the immediate reaction when another person was suddenly standing with them in this locked room.

While the Jews were afraid that Jesus’ followers would steal the body and fake a resurrection, Jesus’ followers were afraid that the Jews were after them next.

All the while, Jesus bypassed all those fears with his resurrection.

This is summed up, perhaps, in the line in verse 20

then the disciples were glad, when they saw the Lord.

“We saw his wounds! Its him!”

He’s not stolen, he’s not decomposed, and we’re not dead!

For all this fear, Jesus offers what?

Peace - twice. Peace to you.

in Hebrew, Shalom. Order. No hostility, threat, fear of disaster.

One of the benefits, again, of Jesus that is ours in His resurrection, if you believe.

3. Reservation - 24-29

a. “I will never believe...”

We find another character on his road to faith, Thomas.

Thomas was no-nonsense. The words of 10 other disciples and the women were not enough for Thomas.

“I will never believe!”

We could contrast John and Thomas - John, who believed just by seeing empty grave clothes. Thomas, who would not believe no matter how many of his friends told him.

And perhaps that is you. Perhaps you, in your mind, being unconvinced, might say “fill in the blank.... I will never believe!”

Know that Jesus is not limited by your stubborness of heart. He is not limited by your unwillingness to believe.

Do you know that Jesus is in the business of turning disbelief into belief, whether from a heart ready to believe like John, a heart bewildered and overcome with sadness like Mary, or a heart cold and unconvinced like Thomas.

You may have the stoniest, coldest heart toward the Gospel message that one could imagine. Don’t underestimate Jesus’ power to break through that stone, and turn it into a soft place that harbors warm, living faith in stead of cold, stony doubt.

Ezekiel 36:26 ESV

And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

b. “Do not We disbelieve, but believe”

Notice, the two things that Jesus gave thomas.

evidence

Romans 1:19–20 ESV

For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.

a command

believe.

Repent and believe.

Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved.

c. “Blessed are those who have not seen, but believe”

You say, “but I haven’t felt the nail prints like Thomas, I haven’t seen the grave-clothes like John and Peter, and I haven’t met him face-to-face like Mary and the disciples.

For this, Jesus has a word.

John 20:29 ESV

Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

Belief is a blessing from God, and God blesses those who believe.

Faith, in scripture, is something both granted - given - and realized, exercised.

If you are waiting until every last question, every misunderstood element or mystery is explained, then you will wait yourself into an eternity apart from the Love of Christ.

But If you, like Mary, hear his voice - even in the shadows of the garden, even if you don’t quite recognize Him yet, but there is a familiarity, a calling through His Word, a sense of urgency in your heart, then believe. Not because you see - understand everything, but because He has called. And through Him, you will see.

“I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.”

4. Revelation - 30-31

“I’ve seen too much”

As John closes the writing of his Gospel record, he accounts how Jesus did so many signs, more than could be recorded in the book.

The disciples were overflowing with what Jesus had shown and given them, “I’ve seen to much.” This is just the summary. This is just the basics.

But John says...

You’ve seen enough

Going back to that, what Jesus gave to Thomas

Evidence

A command

Well, that is where the Word of God, and the account of the resurrection of Christ leaves us.

Evidence - these are written

Command - that you believe.

Result - believing, you may have life in his name.

Life eternal, life peaceful, life full of his righteousness.

Christian - we are being reminded, joyfully reminded today, of the resurrection of Christ - we have seen enough! We have more than enough, we are overflowing with Christ’s blessings to us.

because of this, it is enough to give our lives to Him. To honor him with every part.

He has said, “peace to you.”

He has said, “receive the Holy Spirit”

He has said “go and tell.”

Unbeliever, today you have seen enough. You have the testimony from God, in His Word, that Jesus Christ, His Son, is the only source of life and light. That he died for you, was buried, and rose again, and believing you may have life in His name.

He has said, “blessed are you if you believe.”

He has said, “these are written so that you may believe.”

The God of all heaven and earth, Lord and master of all things, maker of the universe, the sky, the sea, the land, all living creatures and you and I, has spoken to us. Not because he had to, but because he chose to.

And he has given you, today, a chance to hear his voice in His Word. If you hear it, come to Him.

Know the

life

righteousness

kinship

unity

peace

eternal home

believeing, you may have life in His name.