Beholdt the empty tomb | Luke 24:1–12

Church, Christ has risen! Those three words change everything. They’re the reason the church exists. It’s why we gather together not just this Sunday, but every Sunday and this morning I want us to marvel at the truth that there is an empty grave outside of Jerusalem this morning.

If you’re guest with us this morning I just want to say welcome. I know we’ve got a lot of family members joining us from out of town today and we’re glad you’re here. We love your family and are thankful they’re a part of this church family. My name is Matt & I’m one of the pastors here.

If you’ve got your Bibles, and I hope you do, would you flip on over to the book of Luke 24. If you don’t have a Bible then we have some back there on that back table right as you walk out of the main door. Those are for you. You can keep em. You can go grab one right now and return it later. Just know it’s available for you.

Luke 24 contains the story of the resurrection and then what happens after that. What we’re going to do is look closely at the first and last parts of the chapter. The middle part of the chapter is when Jesus appears to two of his followers on the road to Emmaus. We’ll kinda briefly look at a few things there, but really our focus will be on the beginning and end of the chapter. So with that said I want to pick up reading in Luke 24:1-12 and then we’ll jump down and pick up in verse 36

Luke 24:1–12 ESV

But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.” And they remembered his words, and returning from the tomb they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. Now it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles, but these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. But Peter rose and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; and he went home marveling at what had happened.

Now the next scene in this chapter is Jesus appearing to two followers who were on the road to Emmaus. He walks with them and begins to explain how the Scriptures had foretold all of this. He sits down to eat a meal with them when all of the sudden they realize who he is. Immediately he just poof, vanishes. So they up and run back to Jerusalem to tell the disciples what they’ve seen. Let’s pick up in verse 36…

Luke 24:36–53 ESV

As they were talking about these things, Jesus himself stood among them, and said to them, “Peace to you!” But they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit. And he said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. And while they still disbelieved for joy and were marveling, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate before them. Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.” And he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands he blessed them. While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven. And they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple blessing God.

This is the Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Let’s go to Him in prayer now.

Now if you were to ask Luke to take this chapter and summarize it into one sentence that described what he wanted the original readers to understand I think it’d have to be something like this: The tomb is empty. Jesus rose from the dead. Jesus is still alive. Luke 24 is entirely and completely about Jesus coming back from death after having been brutally, unjustly murdered. IF that’s a summary statement from this chapter then the main thing I think Luke wants us to do is the same thing he wanted his original readers to do: Behold the empty tomb. That’s the main thing I hope you do today is to, like Peter, run to the tomb, stoop down and look in and see for yourself that it is indeed empty and hear the angels message proclaiming the good news and that because of what you’ve seen and experienced you return marveling at what’s happened.

I want to take this passage and look at 3 specific points of application to us. Here’s the first:

Stop looking for the living among the dead.

If we back up to the very beginning of this chapter we find a group of ladies headed to the tomb with spices to try and cover the smell of a rotting corpse. Their embalming and burial process wasn’t quite like ours is today, so as they days passed by the stench of the body would begin to seep out of the tomb. Out of their love for the man who had brought them purpose in life, and as part of their grieving process in which they were trying to make sense of all the things that had just occured they decided to take some spices to the tomb where Jesus’ body lay so that the odor wouldn’t be quite as offensive as time goes on.

Now why would this be their response? The ladies, like the rest of the disciples & Jesus’ followers, didn’t remember or understand the Scriptures or Jesus’ teachings. What does the angels say in the middle of verse 6? “Remember how he told you…” Or look down to Lk. 24:25

Luke 24:25 ESV

And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken!

Or what did Jesus say to his disciples in Lk. 24:44

Luke 24:44 ESV

Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.”

They grieved and were attempting to make a corpse smell good because they didn’t understand what the Scriptures or Jesus had to say about where true life would be found. Their expectations that this man, who had performed all of these miraculous signs and wonders, who had transformed their lives personally and loved them truly, would deliver them from their oppressors and reign as their new king, but what God had intended all the way back from Genesis 1 was so much better and so much more enduring than what they had expected. He even told them about it, but they never understood. So when they show up to the tomb, in a sense they receive a rebuke from the angels saying, “Why do you seek the living among the dead?”

Friends, I think that same question needs to be posed to us today. You see we’re not that different from the rest of Jesus disciples. We run around looking for life from things that bring us death because we don’t remember or understand or know the Scriptures or Jesus’ teachings. You may be going, no way. I don’t do that. Let me give you a few examples.

The first is what Charles Spurgeon calls moral reformation. We think that by washing the outside of the cup and making it look all shiny and good that we can have peace. We say the right thing, we live the right way, we raise our kids in church or to be good people, but deep down “we’re still enemies of God, lovers of sin, and greedy seekers of the wages of unrighteousness.” In other words, we’re trying to save our selves. We’re trying to earn our own righteousness by our own attitudes and morality. If we can just become better people, than we’ll get our due. But if we’re counting on our efforts to prove our righteousness, then what does that actually declare about our view of the empty tomb? It says that the tomb wasn’t enough. We have to add some sort works to it. But Spurgeon’s says of this:

The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons, Vol. XIX “The Lord Is Risen Indeed” (No. 1,106)

If Christ were dead, we might well say to you, “Go and do your best to be your own saviours,” but while Christ is alive, he wants no help of yours—he will save you from top to bottom, or not at all. He will be Alpha and Omega to you, and if you put your hand upon his work, and think in any way that you can help him, you have dishonoured his holy name, and he will have nothing to do with you.

Why do you seek for life amongst your best efforts? Why do you think that your moral reformation will be what brings you peace? Moral reformation is one way we might seek for life among things that brings us death, but here’s another: personal image.

This is just taking what Jesus accused the pharisees of to the next level. First it is moral reformation which is an inward focus, but now that leads us to outward actions. We want people to think of us in certain ways so that we can prove our righteousness, not just to others, but to ourselves. I think of the pharisee who stood on the street corner and beat his chest praying and thanking God that he wasn’t like the tax collector. Maybe you’re not beating your chest on the street corner, but you are posting on social media. You’re primary motivation is let me show others how good I am.

Maybe though it’s not about what you post, but your focus in how you raise your children. How often, parents, do you discipline your kids solely because of what other people will think of them and in turn you? We jump on our kids and expect them to behave a certain way because they’re a reflection of us and we want people to see us a certain way knowing that if they do, then we will have proven our value and worth. But the problem with that is we’ve taken the opinions of other people and turned them into a god we worship and used our children as the sacrifice that must be made. Instead of finding life, we’ve really just brought death.

Or maybe, instead of trying to prove your righteousness or earn your righteousness, maybe you’ve just resigned yourself to say who cares? Why does it matter? This is all life has to offer. I’m reading through Ecclesiastes right now in my daily Bible reading and the preacher of that book says all of life is vanity. What more is there for man to live and die? Maybe you resonate with that and said what good is it for me to pursue any of this other stuff because at the end of the day what good does it do me? So for you, instead of being what Jesus would call a white-washed tomb you instead seek to escape from reality because everything else is terrible. For peace and for life you try to escape through some form of substance abuse. That might look like drugs and/or alcohol to escape or alleviate the pain. I’d be curious to know what percentage of our community or our world is in reality function alcoholics. Life can’t bring us what we want so we numb or seek to escape the pain and look for life somewhere else.

But maybe it’s not drugs or alcohol but some sort of pornography. Depending on where you look, but some studies show that 50% of men have a subscription to a pornographic website. Of those men, 98% if them are married. One study I found said that 60% of women have viewed pornography in the past month. Clearly, marriage isn’t the solution to our lack of feelings for intimacy & security so we begin to look on a screen, however, these same studies show that people are more insecure after viewing porn than before. The thing that promises comfort, pleasure, and security leads to the exact opposite of it. We’re looking for life among things that only in the end bring death.

But it doesn’t stop there, once we’ve realized that what we’re looking for leads to death, then we try to spice it up and cover up the smell. We become comparative in our righteousness. We show up to the graveyard of our works and then look at the tomb next to ours and go, well, at least I wasn’t like that guy. Or we have some sense of sentimentality that says at least we had fun doing what we were doing or made good memories. But do you realize where your seeking for life has led you? Do you realize where you’re standing? In a graveyard! These things that we have sought for life have only brought about death. Church, stop looking for the living among the dead. Stop trying to spice up the things that have brought death.

Instead, realize that God in his mercy has brought you to the graveyard to show you that these things bring death, but there is an empty tomb. There is something that has overcome death. There is one thing that truly bring life. However, in order to find that, you must listen to the angels message. That’s our second point this morning:

Hear the angels message.

The ladies arrive at the tomb and after the rebuke comes the statement that turned the world upside down. It changed the course of history. All of life is different because of these words: “He is not here, but has risen.”

Now, often guys will take the verses surrounding that statement and use it to argue for the proof of the resurrection, and that’s a very worthy use of these texts. It’s obvious in the way in which this story is written, not just in Luke but in all gospel accounts, that this actually happened. But honestly, in our context I’m a little less concerned about your believing in the reality of the resurrection and more concerned with our understanding of how the resurrections really matters to us. So if that phrase is true, if the resurrection really did happen, then what? How does that affect you and me now? Why does it really matter to us?

I think Jesus & the angels answers this throughout this chapter. The angels say, remember what he said. Jesus tells his disciples this had to happen to fulfill the Scriptures. The reason this matters to us is because it verifies both Jesus’ words and the Scriptures. The question that naturally flows from that then is what do the Scriptures and Jesus tell us? They show us exactly what we were created for. They show us that we were created to live in a relationship with the triune God stewarding His creation for His glory and our good, but we rejected His calling and His ways and in doing so we rejected Him. That’s the purpose, the relationship, the intimacy and community that our hearts long for, yet we rejected it. The punishment for that rejection or sin is death, it’s brokenness, it’s a longing for more than all the things this world has to offer. But God in his mercy does what? While we were yet sinners, in the middle of our sin, Christ died for us. Luke 24:46-47

Luke 24:46–47 ESV

“Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.

The suffering for our sin Christ endured. Why would he do such a thing? Hebrews tells us it was for the joy that was set before him…Christ suffered the punishment for our sin because in doing so he was paying the debt that we owed because of our sin. Now because our debt is paid, it paid in full by the precious blood that my Jesus spilled, the curse of sin has no hold on me. Whom the Son sets free is free indeed. Now in that freedom, that relationship that we were created to enjoy has been restored. The joy before Jesus was purchasing yours and my redemption. That’s why Jesus says in verse 47 that in our repentance there is forgiveness for sins.

So the grave proves the validity of the Scriptures taht show us our creational purpose, our greatest problem and it’s only solution, the way in which our relationship with God can be restored, and it shows us exactly what kind of God it is that we can be in relationship with—one who keeps His promises. Back in Genesis God promised that he’d send a snake crusher—the one who deceived Adam and Even and in doing so brought with him death. Jesus defeated that and God had promised it. God promised to Abraham that he would bless all nations of the earth through His offspring. The sacrifice of Jesus wasn’t limited to the Jewish people but to all people of all nations that would repent and believe. But the promise, and the Scriptures, and the empty tomb don’t just show purpose and resolution and fulfillment but even more…Lk. 24:49

Luke 24:49 ESV

And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”

Luke is setting up the book of Acts. The power from on high is two things..well, one thing, that has two affects…it is the Spirit of God that gives us presence and power. In sending His Spirit, which only came because of the cross and the empty tomb we can now have the presence of God with us all the time. Since it’s the Spirit of God who raised Jesus from the dead then we have the power to be transformed from one image into another. We no longer have to seek for life amongst a bunch of things that bring death. But in beholding the empty tomb and hearing the message of the angels we can find the power of God through the presence of God with us right now. This means that the intimacy, the relationship, the approval, the security can all be found right here right now because Jesus walked out of the tomb to be with you.

I’ve used this illustration before, but I think it just so clearly depicts this for us. In C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe Edmund goes to the White Witch because he’s hungry. He wants some turkish delight and he’s had turkish delight before. He knows its good. So he’s willing to betray not just his siblings, but the entire kingdom he’s meant to rule over all for a little taste. He approaches the witch who in her fury locks him up because he didn’t deliver what he was supposed to. Once she learns of his siblings location she rallies her warriors to pursue them and overtake them. War is about to commence, but in walks Aslan, the trustworthy lion who is the one who really rules. He wants Edmund back, but the betrayal has happened and the witch demands that the only thing that will satisfy her is death. So Aslan offers himself in place of Edmund. The Witch thinks she has won. She has finally defeated the real ruler, not just those he intended to rule in his place. On the stone table Aslan is sacrificed in place of Edmund. It seems like all hope is lost for the kingdom of man. She will now continue her domination of the world. Just as all things seem to be coming to an end and the witch is proving victorious in her conquering the table is split, and with it death is overcome. Aslan comes roaring back, not just to defeat the witch once and for all, but also to breath life into those who had been deceived by the taste of death.

You see, that’s what Jesus did for us. He didn’t just come so that when we die we could go to heaven. He rose so that heaven could come into us now. Through the sending of His Spirit, He has restored our very lives to have purpose and to live now in relationship with the God who keeps His promises.

This is what the angels declared to the ladies that approached the tomb that first Easter morning and that’s what they’re declaring to you today. Stop looking for the living among the dead. He is not here. He has risen.

Now, if this is all true, then the question is, now what? Well that leads us to our third point:

Return marveling & witnessing

The group of women approach the tomb, they encounter the angels and hear their message, then in Luke’s narrative they remember what Jesus said, return and tell the disciples of everything that’s just happened.

Now we know that in that day the testimony of women was of no value. It had to be the witness of two men to be substantiated, so the disciples couldn’t believe what they heard, because how could it be true? So Peter, and according to the Gospel of John the much faster John, jumped up and sprinted to the tomb. John won. When they arrive what does Peter see? Linen cloths by themselves. How could it be? Is it really true? Peter’s only response is to marvel. But what is it that is worth marveling over?

It’s as if they had been standing in a dark room and all the sudden someone begins to draw the curtain back and let light in. Now everything begins to make sense.

Peter marvels over the fact that Jesus’ words & instruction, that the very Scriptures themselves are true. To think that this book comprised over several thousand years by a bunch of uneducated men has proven to be true is absolutely incredible. So whether you know the Scriptures inside and out, or this is your fist time hearing them, I know we haven’t really covered a lot of different passages today, but that they are all interconnected and have proven to be true is marvelous.

But it’s not just that the Scriptures are true that’s marvelous, it’s also the message of those words. What ultimately is it that the Scriptures and Jesus say is essential message? Lk. 24:47

Luke 24:47 ESV

…repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name…

Repentance is necessary for your forgiveness. There is forgiveness for sins for those who repent! What does it mean to repent? I saw something this week that talked about how there’s two essential parts of repentance. We often think that of repenting as turning away or a change of direction or mind, which is absolutely one part of it. But what must there be for a turning? An agreement that the way you’re walking is wrong. The things that you are pursuing for life actually only bring death, just like the Scriptures say. So then, the heart of repentance is agreement and turning.

Isn’t that miraculous? That for God to forgive you for your rejection of him you are simply called to repent and believe. Agree that the world can’t satisfy, that you can’t earn or prove your righteousness, and agree that what Jesus did on the cross was sufficient for you. In doing that you turn from seeking the living among the dead and instead seek the one who forever lives and gives life.

Look at what he’s done! What he’s done! All the glory and the honor to the Son, my sin is forgiven, my future is heaven, I praise God—I marvel at what he’s done!

Forgiveness for sin through repentance and faith is marvelous, but it doesn’t stop there. The empty tomb means there’s hope in life and death. The cross might’ve killed him, but the grave couldn’t keep him! No matter how horrible things might seem, for those who believe in Jesus there is marvelous hope in life and death. Our future is ultimately in heaven which means in the presence of the one who loved us enough to give himself for us. Being fully known and fully loved. Sounds peaceful, doesn’t it?

That’s another reason we can marvel…what’s the first thing Jesus says to his disciples when he appears to all of them in the room? “Peace to you!” The king of peace has arrived. 1 Pet. 2:24 says that our hearts our healed and peace is given because his wounds have healed our hearts. The one thing that was left that could ultimately strip away peace has now been conquered and the empty tomb proves it. Marvel at the perfect peace that is yours in the person of Jesus.

Where does perfect peace come from though? The permanent presence of Jesus. His reappearing, his sending of His Spirit is what provides that and is available for those who repent and believe. Part of the hope now is that in life we can walk through the storms and trials with peace because of the presence of Jesus

But that presence doesn’t just bring peace but powerful transformation. When you have an encounter with the Living God you can’t be the same. When you spend time meditating on His Words and with His people you don’t leave the same way you came in but in the power of his presence you are transformed.

Not just transformed for your good, but for the sake of the nations. Jesus said his followers would be witnesses of the things they had seen and heard. His followers are given an eternal purpose to proclaim to the nations that there is forgiveness of sins for those who repent.

He took my sin and my sorrow He made them His very own He bore my burden on Calvary He suffered and died alone

Oh, how marvelous, oh how wonderful and my song shall ever be Oh, how marvelous, oh how wonderful Is my savior’s love for me?

When with the ransomed in glory His face I at last shall see twill be my joy through the ages to sing of His love for me, singing,

Oh, how marvelous, oh how wonderful and my song shall ever be Oh, how marvelous, oh how wonderful Is my savior’s love for me?

Have you marveled at the empty tomb? Has it called you from death and into life? Have you heard the angels message? Friends, behold the empty tomb this morning. Repent of your sin and find the forgiveness, the peace, the purpose, the presence that your hearts are longing for.