EASTER - Matthew 28:1-10 - The tomb was opened for you
Words From The Cross • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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1 Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. 2 And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. 4 And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men. 5 But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. 6 He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. 7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you.” 8 So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. 9 And behold, Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.”
Leader: This is God’s Word
Everyone: Thanks be to God
Funerals are usually pretty predictable.
You kind of know the rhythm.
You gather, hug, cry, grieve, remember… Then leave.
When I preach funeral services, my job is usually the same thing.
To love on the family.
To remember the faith of their loved one.
To make some inside jokes at their expense.
To point to the hope of the gospel.
Then I pray, and we leave.
Graveside services are pretty similar.
All of the routines take place and then the director says, “This concludes our services.”
Then unless a dinner is planned for the family, the next line is, “Where are we eating?”
Matthew 28 starts as a funeral visit.
Two broken-hearted women were coming to a graveside service.
They were coming to do the thing.
Gather. Hug. Cry. Grieve. Remember.
When they arrive, it’s not the funeral rhythms they were mentally prepared for.
The arrive and find that the tomb has been opened!
Big Idea: The Tomb was opened for you!
Big Idea: The Tomb was opened for you!
The third morning after Jesus was crucified, a supernatural entrance occured.
An angel descended from heaven
The natural world shook as the supernatural happened.
His appearance was like a lightning storm.
There’s an overwhelming and dangerous power we feel during a lightning storm.
Although they are absolutely beautiful, lightning storms make you feel small and powerless
There’s nothing you can do to control something like this.
The guards protecting Jesus’s tomb were the elite of the elite.
The entire Roman Army looked like our special forces.
They were put there just incase grave robbers came in the night and stole Jesus’s body and made up rumors.
Their job was “If that stone moves, we’re killing everything on site.”
The tone changed in broad daylight.
This angel looked like a conquering warrior that could not be defeated.
They experienced this small and powerless feeling of this lightning storm angel, to the point it literally scared them to death.
He descended from heaven in power and rolled back the stone for another supernatural entrance.
You can imagine the surprise of the Mary’s when they got to the tomb.
A few dead men lying on the ground next to the grave of Jesus, who they saw die on the cross.
Oh, there’s also an angel sitting on the stone like a park bench.
I love this detail—The angel isn’t tired.
“I’m just going to roll this 2,000-4,000lb stone, and camp here for awhile. This stone only held the Savior of the world, but it’s so insignificant because it didn’t hold him very long. I’ll just sit here and enjoy the scenery.”
They walk up and the angel encourages them, “Don’t fear” (v. 5)
You know that feeling of going through a drive through, ordering a Coke and the passenger orders a Sweet Tea?
You like Sweet Tea, but you’re expecting Coke.
You take a sip and your head nearly spins off from surprise?
The Mary’s were expecting a graveside service, now they’re being told, “Don’t be afraid.”
5 But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified.
This is always God’s opening remark right before something amazing happens.
He leads in with this, because great things are terrifying.
If you’ve never felt the Spirit tell you “Do not be afraid,” you’ve likely never experienced something epic from the Lord.
When God walks in the room, His awesome power and glory changes the entire story.
He knows what they’re looking for.
They’ve had two nights of despair and a morning of confusion.
Bodies are on the ground, and now an angel is saying that the body they’re looking for isn’t there.
“Jesus did what He said He was going to do.”
6 He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay.
He’s not rising, it’s not in progress—He is risen!
Say: “He is risen”
The impossible has happened!
Then he invites them in (v. 6b)
Tombs weren’t something you’re supposed to be allowed into.
The stone was sort of like police tape on a crime scene.
You know somethings going on. It’s probably not good, but you can’t see it.
You’re not allowed in.
It’s off limits. Restricted. Not for you.
Sin, death, separation from God feels like a crime scene.
We know what’s there, but we can’t see it.
It’s closed off.
But on Easter morning, God tore the tape down.
Don’t stay out—Come in.
He didn’t move the stone to let Jesus out.
He moved the stone to let us in to see what God has done.
Church,
The tomb was opened for you to come in (vv. 1-6)
The tomb was opened for you to come in (vv. 1-6)
There are two things you’re going to see if you accept the angels invitation to come and see.
You’ll see that Jesus is alive
Jesus was crucified on the cross.
He had never done anything wrong.
You did.
According to God’s Law, you deserved to be put to death for your sins.
That tomb was supposed to be yours.
You deserved to be crushed under the full weight of God’s wrath for eternity.
You deserved to be separated from God.
Jesus took your place on the cross and the full weight of God’s justice toward your sins was poured out on Him.
Jesus took the punishment you owed.
He took all your sins onto Himself and surrendered to the death penalty that was for you.
It was your sins that Jesus took to the cross.
Death is radically undignified.
His cold, lifeless body was placed in a grave to be forgotten overtime.
But on the third day
Jesus’s heart began to beat.
Jesus’s lungs filled with new air.
Jesus’s lifeless body began to move.
Jesus’s tomb was vacated.
God rose Jesus from the dead because He was the perfect sacrifice for our sins.
Death had been overcome by life because death could not hold the King of life!
When you come to Jesus’s tomb, you’ll see that Jesus is alive
You’ll see that God has made it possible for you to come to Him.
The invitation of the gospel is to receive the good news of Christ’s victory over sin and death!
Those who come to Jesus with the empty hands of faith, turn away from their sins, and trust in Him can have assurance of eternal life!
Christ conquered death so that you can live forever in a right relationship with God the Father!
All your sins forgiven!
All your past shame forgotten!
Jesus died so that you can stand before God as a holy, adopted son or daughter.
The tomb was open for you to come in!
Will you come?
Transition
The angel doesn’t only invite them to see, but he also sends them to speak.
The first is to come, see the place where He lay.
The second is for them to go.
7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you.”
Jesus’s closes friends had last saw Him taken away to be crucified.
They watched as He was beaten beyond recognition.
They watched as He was nailed to the cross.
They abandoned Him in His last hours.
The last they had heard was that their teacher and best friend for three years had died.
The one they trusted in to save them. The one they thought would bring the kingdom of God.
The one they left everything to follow.
They felt the doom, despair and finality of death.
And they abandoned Him.
These women who just encountered the most unbelievable and extraordinary thing are now tasked to go give them the news.
Jesus is alive.
You’re going to see Him in Galilee.
So they respond in faith and go to tell!
8 So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples.
Fear and great joy!
Their lives have been changed forever!
They don’t just walk, they run!
“No one is going to believe this!”
“This is the most amazing news ever! We have to go!”
Then their faith became sight!
9 And behold, Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.”
They saw the risen Jesus!
He honors their faithfulness and meets them as they run to the disciples!
Jesus’s first words post-resurrection isn’t “Ta-dah!” or “Told you so!”
It’s “Greetings!” or “Hey y’all!”
He’s cheerful to see them!
Jesus gave them the same commission the angel did.
“Go, tell my brothers”
Not “my disciples/friends”
“Tell them to come to where I am.”
Church,
The tomb was opened for you to go out (vv. 7-10)
The tomb was opened for you to go out (vv. 7-10)
As a believer, when you have encountered the risen Christ, you cannot keep it to yourself.
We have a personal faith, not a private one.
If you have been made new in Christ, if the Holy Spirit has revealed to you the beauties of God, if you have had an encounter with the living God, Jesus looks at you right now and says, “God, tell them to come to me.”
This commission ought to shape the believer’s life.
We are to respond to our salvation with fear and great joy as we run to tell our friends, family members, and everyone who will listen that
Jesus,
who was crucified for our sins,
is alive!
There was a preacher from Glasgow, Scotland, John Harper.
He’d been called by Moody Church in Chicago to come preach a revival—this lasted 3 month.
When He came back to Scotland, he was a widower. His wife had passed.
He was raising his daughter, Anna, 6 years old.
Moody Church called and asked him to come back and minister to them.
He answered the call and boarded a ship to cross the Atlantic.
The ship’s name? Titanic.
Prior to sinking that Sunday, Harper led a church service on the ship.
When the ship was going down, he put Anna on a life raft.
He had every right to get on: “Her mother’s passed and I’m her only guardian.”
Instead, he set her there and stepped back knowing there wasn’t enough room for him.
4 years after the sinking of the Titanic, there were Christians gathered in Canada.
A man spoke up named Aquilla Webb.
His testimony of God’s love and grace through Christ said this:
“I am a survivor of the Titanic. When I was drifting alone on a plank that awful night, the tide brought Mr. John Harper on a piece of wreck near me. ‘Man,’ he said, ‘Are you saved?’ ‘No,’ I said, ‘I’m not.’ He replied quoting Acts 16:31, ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved!’ The waves bore him away, and strange to say but the waves brought him back a little while later and he said again, ‘Are you saved now?!’ ‘No,” I said, ‘I can honestly say that I am not.’
John Harper took off his life jacket and put it on Aquilla Webb and said, ‘You need this more than me,’ and said again, ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.’
Shortly after, he went down. And there, alone in the night, with two miles of water under me, I believed! I am John Harper’s last convert.”
John Harper lived with the proof of God’s love and the good news of an empty tomb!
He lived with this purpose and understanding that the empty tomb was opened for us to go out!
You and I were Aquilla Webb—Lost and drowning in the sea of our sins.
We were hopelessly floating in our cold sea of sin.
When here came Jesus on a rescue mission for us, taking off His robe of righteousness and putting them onto us so that we might live.
Not being made better, but being made new!
And like Aquilla Webb, not just to be saved from the sinking of sin, but to tell others “I was saved! I’m Jesus’s convert! And I’m here to tell you, you can be saved too.”
Take the Next Step
Take the Next Step
If you’re not a Christian, come see Jesus.
I may not be the first Christian who has invited you to come to Jesus, but I’d love to be the last—Turn from your sins and see the life that Jesus has provided for you.
Come to Christ by faith in Him and be saved!
Tell someone about your experience with Jesus.
Send a text today.
If today was your first day, tell them about what you heard.
The Church was called to go and proclaim.
The message of the resurrection was given to those women to proclaim to the disciples, who went and proclaimed it to the next person, who proclaimed it to you. Now you have the baton—“go, tell my brothers…”
Here at Harvest City Church, we strive to glorify God by making disciples and planting churches.
It starts here.
The tomb was opened for you
So you could come in and see that Jesus is alive.
And so you could go out and tell the world that He saves.
And now the question isn’t,
“Did Jesus rise?”
The question is:
Will you come and see?
Will you go and tell?
And the invitation still stands.
Come in.
And then don’t stay there.
Go and tell someone else, “The tomb was opened for you”
