Why do you seek the living among the dead? Easter 2019

Why Do You Seek the Living among the Dead?

But very early on Sunday morning the women went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared.

They found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance.

So they went in, but they didn't find the body of the Lord Jesus.

As they stood there puzzled, two men suddenly appeared to them, clothed in dazzling robes.

The women were terrified and bowed with their faces to the ground. Then the men asked, "Why are you looking among the dead for someone who is alive?

He isn't here! He is risen from the dead!

INTRODUCTION

Good morning, Southpointe Let’s celebrate Jesus this Easter morning.

Series: Easter Sermons

Easter cannot be understood without considering the grave. A little over 8 years ago my life change forever, dead became real, losing my precious daughter, Karissa in a car accident. and then a few years later my best friend, My dad.

Category: Sunday Morning Sermons

Keywords: easter, resurrection

I visit that cemetery from time to time. Plots have been purchased in advance for all the members of my family, and unless the Lord returns soon, I will be there again before too long to mourn. Or my family will go there to mourn over me.

ESV

Most of you have probably done the same and made visits to the graves of loved ones who are gone.

Easter cannot be understood without considering the grave. Almost exactly one year ago I stood by a fresh grave on a hilltop in Pennsylvania. A boyhood friend of mine had died unexpectantly. Only yards away on that hilltop, my grandfather is buried there as well. I visit that church cemetery from time to time when I am able. Plots have been purchased in advance for other members of my family, and unless the Lord returns soon, I will be there again before too long to mourn. Most of you have probably done the same and made visits to the graves of loved ones who are gone.

On a Sunday morning at dawn over 2,000 years ago, we have such a scene before us. The women of this passage were coming like mourners always come to the graveyard.

heir friend, teacher, and Lord has died. According to their customs, they were coming with spices to anoint the dead body.

Their friend, teacher, and Lord has died. According to their customs, they were coming with spices to anoint the dead body.

When they arrive, they find the stone rolled away and two men in dazzling apparel. And they are confronted with a question:

"Why are you looking among the dead for someone who is alive?

King James version “Why do you seek the living among the dead?” (5).

On any other morning in the history of the world, in any other graveyard, that would be a strange question.

The women, who came on that first Easter morning, came with the same expectation that you or I have when we visit the tomb or grave. They came to pay honor and remembrance to a dead person among the dead in the graveyard. They did not seek the living.

It is important for us to put ourselves in their mindset, to avoid missing the wonder of this moment that has become so familiar to us. We know what to expect. We know what is coming.

But think from their perspective: they had been present at Calvary. They had seen the lifeless form of the Lord Jesus Christ lowered from the cross.

They had witnessed the body, its warmth gone out, the color turned pale, the blood ceasing its flow from wounds that would have covered his body; wounds from the nails, thorns, beating, scourging, and spear that pierced his side.

They had seen his body wrapped in linen grave clothes and placed in a tomb cut in the rock. They had seen the stone rolled in front of it.

There was finality to these events as there always is with death. Jesus was dead. If there is anything certain, it was that fact.

The Romans agreed upon it. Even in our age of unbelief, that fact is widely embraced. Jesus of Nazareth died upon a cross, by Roman execution.

And here are the women, looking for him. Specifically, they are looking for a body. They are looking for a dead Jesus Christ.

They are acting according to the natural logic of this age: Death happens, and it is not undone. Death comes and you deal with it.

So they come seeking a dead Jesus and are confronted with this question: “Why do you seek the living among the dead?”

On any other Sunday morning, that would have been a strange question, but not that Sunday morning.

In fact, it is not so much a question at all. It is a statement of fact. It is an announcement—the first announcement, the first declaration of good and glorious news—that the logic of this age has been overturned.

The expectation of the mourners is wrong. There is no dead Jesus Christ here to be found.

The words of the angels in verses 5-7 are very few, very simple, and have behind them the entirety of the gospel of salvation.

These words overturn not only the logic of this age of the world, but they signify the overturning of this age of the world, itself.

And it is because of the person of whom they speak and what that person has accomplished.

Their two sentences are the focus of this sermon today. We begin with the identity of the person they speak of.

We know that person is Jesus Christ. He is the reason that the women came to the tomb and he is the reason why we are gathered here this morning.

But I want to begin by focusing on the word used by the angels to describe him. “Why do you seek the living…”

The Greek is actually singular, so some literal translations read, “Why do you seek the living One among the dead?”

I. Jesus Is Declared by the Angels to be the Living One

Now for someone to be described as “living” is not an unusual thing. We would all be described as “living” in this room. That is not hard to understand. But plainly in this context, there is profound meaning. This gets to his very identity.

It is more than even the fact of a resurrection. After all, there are other resurrections in the Bible.

Elijah raised the widow’s son. Jesus raised Lazarus. He also raised Jairus’s daughter.

And there are others; quite a number, in fact, who were raised again from the dead. All of them could have been described as “living.”

But none of them fulfill all that was behind this statement made by the angels about Jesus Christ. “Why do you seek the living one among the dead?”

The angels were telling the women because Jesus himself had predicted his death. He had predicted the cross and he had predicted a resurrection.

He had told these things plainly to his followers. And they did not remember. They did not believe.

And they did not grasp that Jesus would rise to an indestructible life; an everlasting life; a life that was utterly beyond the clutches of death.

We are sure of this because Christ was raised from the dead, and He will never die again. Death no longer has any power over Him.

He is the Living One because death no longer has dominion over him

He is the Living One because death no longer has dominion over him

Right there, that sets him apart from Lazarus and Jairus’ daughter and all the rest. They all died again. We don’t know where their graves are, but they are there.

Or we might consider the founders of major religions of the world. You can visit the tomb of Confucius in China. You can visit shrines that contain pieces of Buddha’s cremated body. If you had permission, you could travel to Saudi Arabia and see Mohammed’s tomb.

On that Sunday morning 2,000 years ago, the angels declared in

He isn't here! He is risen from the dead!

He was the Living One that day. And today, Sunday morning, April 20, 2019, He is the Living One. He has not returned to the tomb.

“Death no longer has dominion over him”

He was the Living One that day. And today, Sunday morning, April 5, 2015, he is the Living One. He has not returned to the tomb. “Death no longer has dominion over him” ().

Have you ever really considered who Jesus is? Perhaps you are here this morning and you have been to church before. And maybe you have various reasons for not being terribly interested in the church or in Christians.

But let me ask you this: have you truly dealt with the person set before us in this scripture. The Bible drives us again and again to consider the identity of this man, Jesus Christ. He is the one you have to deal with.

We are so familiar with this story that we gloss over the fact that there are angels here, speaking. Consider that for a moment.

On that morning of resurrection, the angels were present to announce Jesus. In John’s account, we are given a detail that the two angels had taken up positions, one at the head of where Jesus had lain in the tomb and one at the feet.

On that morning of resurrection, the angles were present to announce Jesus. In John’s account, we are given a detail that the two angels had taken up positions, one at the head of where Jesus had lain in the tomb and one at the feet. It was a configuration that resembled the golden statues of Cherubim that were found in the Temple.

And we come to this inescapable truth about Jesus’ identity.

He is the Living One, and Death has No Dominion over Him, Because He Is the God, the Author of Life

Jesus said plainly in

, "I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.”

, "I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.”

We hear three things there: First, When he said, “I am the first and last,” he was identifying himself as one and the same as God Almighty, who is the Alpha and the Omega.

And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.

He is the Holy One, before Him angels stand in bowed reverence.

Second, when he says, I am the Living One, he is reinforcing the same. As John taught,

This One who is life itself was revealed to us, and we have seen Him. And now we testify and proclaim to you that He is the One who is eternal life. He was with the Father, and then He was revealed to us.

The One who is life itself was revealed to us.

In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

That is the very expression of the Divine Essence.  He is The Life, in human form.

That is the very expression of the Divine Essence.  He is The Life, in human form. , he “is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.”

, he “is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.”

Third, he has the keys of death and hades. Not only does death not have dominion over him, but he has dominion over it. He has the keys of death and hades, which means that he opens and closes death and hell at his pleasure.

Peter preached in “God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.”

Death had swallowed a person unlike any other. In the Person of Jesus Christ, Death itself had met its match. Death met its master. And death was undone.

So we sing “Vain the stone, the watch, the seal; Christ has burst the gates of hell, Death in vain forbids his rise; Christ has opened paradise.”

He is, supremely, the Living One. 

That is the identity behind the angel’s words. But they do not only refer to his identity. They also proclaim to the women on that Sunday morning the work of Jesus Christ. And that brings us to our second consideration:

II. The Angel’s Remind the Women of What Jesus Christ Must Accomplish, and Has Accomplished

And that word “must” is key. Look at verses 6 & 7 again; the angels say, “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” (, ).

Before he came to Jerusalem, before these events took place, Jesus had said that they “must” take place. There must be an arrest. There must be a betrayal. There must be a cross. There must be a resurrection. Why? What is behind this?

The scriptures “must” be fulfilled

Well, we know that Jesus taught that the scriptures must be fulfilled. And one of the most remarkable features of the Bible that you hold in your hands is plain testimony of the cross and resurrection. We read , which is written by king David, a thousand years before Jesus was born. Did you hear how it spoke of the crucifixion?

David wrote, “They have pierced my hands and feet-I can count all my bones – they stare and gloat over me; they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots” (). David was speaking beyond himself. “You lay me in the dust of death” ().If you do not believe in Jesus Christ, what do you do with this? These things are not found in the account of David’s life! This is plainly prophetic of the Messiah to come. But then the Psalm turns to the resurrection: “You have rescued me…I will tell of your name to my brothers;” (, ).

People do try to explain these away, but we could look at scripture after scripture. where God says, they will “look on me, on him whom they have pierced….” We could look as well at “For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption.” Or we could look at . We could study the types of the Old Testament, foreshadowing these events; Jonah in the belly of the fish, that realm of the dead, brought back on the third day to the land of the living. Daniel, cast into the pit of death among the lions, raised up again and elevated to power. Israel itself in its national experience prophetically foreshadows the Messiah: Hoseah 6: “After two days he will revive us; and on the third day he will raise us up, that we may live before him.”

The scriptures must be fulfilled. God has spoken through the ages past. The scripture powerfully evidence the coming of the Messiah in his death and resurrection.

But there is a deeper level yet to the “must” of these things

Through the course of Jesus’ life, this “must” arises again and again. As a child he said, “Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house” ()? In his ministry, “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well….” To Zaccheus in : “I must stay at your house today.” In : “And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also….”

And that “must” comes to its focal point in the cross and resurrection. Jesus is constrained, yes by the prophecies of long before in the scriptures. But he is constrained by something deeper yet, that those prophecies reflect. Those prophecies are not arbitrary. That should be obvious, but it needs to be pointed out: the words we hear from all the Old Testament Scriptures lay out a plan. It is an eternal plan. It is described in , “this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified.”

In the bible, the veil is pulled back and the mind of God from eternity is shown to us. We see in the scriptures discussion between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, in the mystery of his timeless, eternal decree, what “must” come to pass in time and history.

In one of my favorite quotes, Thomas Goodwin refers to this plan as “the greatest affair, between persons of highest sovereignty and majesty, that ever was transacted either in heaven or earth, or ever will be.”

And what is the meaning of this Divine Plan? It is a plan of salvation and grace. Simply put, it is a rescue plan.

Rescue from sin and sin’s penalty

When you stand in the graveyard, everything there declares that this is not the way it should be. This is not the way it originally was. Isaiah describes death as this veil, this covering cast over all people. Death came through sin. Death displays the curse of God upon sin.

It is appointed a man once to die and then the judgment. Have you considered this condition? Have you considered how you have broken God’s law? “The wicked will not stand in the judgment” (),and, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” ().

But in the eternal plan of God, He who is the Author of Life would die. Jesus Christ hung on the cross, cursed. But he hung there in grace and love. He died as a substitute for sinners. He died in the place of all who trust in him. He died to fulfill the rescue plan of God.

That is our only hope. 

And here we are at the empty tomb in . As Geerhardus Vos puts it, “It is impossible for us to imagine a spot more radiant with light and joy than was this immediately after the resurrection.”

This is because the resurrection signals that the rescue plan which “must” be accomplished, has been accomplished. 

III. This has everything to do with today

Today is Sunday morning, April 5, 2015. The resurrection is just as relevant today as it was two thousand years ago, because Jesus is the Living One. And the eternal plan of salvation has been accomplished. And it must be applied.

Everyone here today is in one of two positions:

Either you are apart from Christ or you are in Christ.Either you stand distant from him; or you are united to him.Either you are under the power of sin; or the very power that raised Christ from the dead, is active in you.Either you will face death unto judgment; or death will usher you into the presence of Jesus Christ.

Where do you stand? If you don’t know how to answer that, let me ask you, what do you think of the these words declared by the angels?

“Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” -

Do you believe? Faith is the call of the scriptures. If you never have believed upon him, the call is to you this morning. Believe in Jesus. Trust him for the forgiveness of sins. Believe he is resurrected from the dead. And confess that he is Lord, which means submit your life to him.

And if you have believed upon him, remember this morning that our faith is a resurrection faith. When Christ is in your life, sin is not only forgiven, you are not only justified graciously once for all, but sin’s power is broken. A whole new life comes forth. It is a resurrection of the inward person. You share in his resurrection.

That does not mean some sort of victorious life where you never struggle with sin and temptation. But it means sin’s power is broken, and there is a glorious optimism to the Christian life. You will not, you cannot, ultimately be defined by sin. You cannot ultimately be defeated. The resurrection is the final word, for our Savior and for all who are in him.

We do not seek a dead Jesus. Jesus Christ is Risen! Can I hear an Amen?

The Lord’s Supper

When Jesus shared a final Passover meal with his disciples before his crucifixion, he said, “I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom” ().

He would drink of it no more, because he would soon die and be finished with his earthly life. But do you hear the promise here? “I will drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”

There is a precious promise in this bread and wine. At this table, we remember Jesus’ pledge and promising that he has accomplished salvation. And we share with him in his resurrection.

If Jesus’ is not resurrected, this table has no meaning and no value. Period. It is a lie and a sham. But Jesus is resurrected, and we have here the pledge of forgiveness of sins, reconciliation with God, and resurrection with him unto everlasting life. We have the hope that faith will give way to sight. 

Come to this table humbly. Quietly confess your sins to the Lord. Confess your doubts. Come to be renewed in faith. Come trusting that this is a foretaste of that promise—that you will drink of new wine with Jesus in the kingdom of God. Come and believe that “He is not here, but has risen.”