Risen

Introduction

As Christians, we have a “living hope” in the person of Jesus Christ. Non-Christians love to try and state that “Easter” is in fact a celebration of a pagan god and that Christians have their day confused and are worshipping a different god than they think that they are. I’m going to set the record straight from the get-go this morning. Good Friday is the day in which Jesus Christ was crucified. We see from Scripture that He lived as the god-man for over 30 years but then He died on Calvary. He was as dead as dead could be, yet 3 days later we see that Jesus rose from the dead and that is what we celebrate on Easter Sunday! The resurrection of Jesus Christ. The victory of Jesus over sin and death and the power of darkness! We celebrate this fact because this is what sets Christianity against every other religion in the world. Other religions talk about what man must do to please God. Christianity shows what God has done for mankind. Jesus, the Son of God, fully God and fully man, lived a perfect life. He was tempted and suffered. He was fully like us but He was completely different than us in that He never once sinned.

Some individuals began to teach false things about Jesus in the years after His death, burial and resurrection. Some said that He was simply a “phantom” or a hologram. He was fully God but He was not a man, He simply looked like a man. Others taught that He was just a man who was given power by God and then His power was taken away right before He died. Still others believe that Jesus was completely made up altogether. As Christians, we know that these explanations are false! Today we are going to examine the account of Jesus’ burial and resurrection from the perspective of Luke in in order to gain a proper understanding of what we celebrate on Easter Sunday and to see how the Easter story is vitally important to our faith 2000 years later!

Luke 23:50–24:12 NASB95

50 And a man named Joseph, who was a member of the Council, a good and righteous man 51 (he had not consented to their plan and action), a man from Arimathea, a city of the Jews, who was waiting for the kingdom of God; 52 this man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. 53 And he took it down and wrapped it in a linen cloth, and laid Him in a tomb cut into the rock, where no one had ever lain. 54 It was the preparation day, and the Sabbath was about to begin. 55 Now the women who had come with Him out of Galilee followed, and saw the tomb and how His body was laid. 56 Then they returned and prepared spices and perfumes. And on the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment. 1 But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared. 2 And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men suddenly stood near them in dazzling clothing; 5 and as the women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living One among the dead? 6 “He is not here, but He has risen. Remember how He spoke to you while He was still in Galilee, 7 saying that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.” 8 And they remembered His words, 9 and returned from the tomb and reported all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. 10 Now they were Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James; also the other women with them were telling these things to the apostles. 11 But these words appeared to them as nonsense, and they would not believe them. 12 But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen wrappings only; and he went away to his home, marveling at what had happened.

Luke 23:50-

Jesus is dead

As mentioned above, one of the earliest heresies associated with Christianity (Arianism) denied the divinity of Jesus Christ. They said that Jesus was born as 100% man and was given the Holy Spirit during His life and then He died like any other man did. These individuals are correct in one thing: Jesus did in fact die. As the saying goes, 2 things are certainties in life: Death and taxes. This was the case in Jesus’ day as well and will remain constant until Christ returns. In we see that Jesus did in fact die and was buried. You wouldn’t bury a man who was “asleep”! We see that Joseph of Arimathea obtained permission to bury Jesus. Joseph took Jesus’ body down from the cross and helped prepare His body for burial and eventually laid his body in a tomb (most likely just outside the city of Jerusalem). This tomb was Joseph’s tomb and had never been used.

Think of how much burials have changed in the years since this time. Nowadays we know that people have a plot of land that they have their casket lowered into. In Jesus’ time, though, many people would be buried in tombs. It is interesting to note that Jesus, who died by crucifixion, would be buried in a tomb though because nearly all victims of crucifixion would simply be tossed into a common pit with other victims. Jesus was given a tomb, though, and the Pharisees sought to have this tomb guarded (according to ) because they believed that someone might try and steal his body in order to fake his resurrection. The fact of the matter is that Jesus suffered a long and brutal death, crucifixion on the cross. He died even though He did nothing wrong. He was sinless. He took our sins on the cross and He paid our punishment. He died. He was as dead as dead can be! Even though people knew that He had died, though, they acknowledged that His followers could be a threat and they protected the tomb.

We know that Jesus was dead! His followers thought that He was dead (). We know see at the end of that the women saw where He was buried and they prepared spices and perfumes to show proper respect to His body. You would only prepare a body like this if they were in fact dead. You don’t put steak sauce and spices on a living cow, do you? No! You put it on the steak. Some people try and make the claim that Jesus never died and that it was all a “fake”. Folks, the disciples were terrified and in hiding because of what they had witnessed. Some of the women who were followers of Jesus were getting ready to prepare His body for death. He was 100% dead. They were not preparing His body for resurrection, they genuinely thought He was dead (even though He had told them time after time that the Son of Man would raise).

Many people who read about Jesus acknowledge that He was a great teacher and healer. What we can fail to see though in His life, death and resurrection though is that He conquered death. Regardless of what we are going through, it seems as though death always is in the back of our minds, right? Whether it be a family member dealing with a health complication or simply turning on the news. We know what death means and it can be easy to simply think that Jesus died and leave it at that and focus on His life - especially individuals who reject Christianity. What separates Christianity from every other religion, though, is that our God did not stay dead! We can read the Gospel accounts and hear Jesus’ words from John 2:19

John 2:19 NASB95

19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”

and other places where He foreshadows His raising from the dead. We would think that the disciples would be confident that He would return and I think that many of us would think that we would not run into hiding and that we would have faith that He would raise, but that’s simply not what we find. The creator, the God-man, the wave-walker, the man who brought men back to life was in fact dead.

Jesus is Risen!

What is the best news that you have ever heard? A positive health report? A call from your dream college or job telling you that you have been accepted or hired? A call from a friend or family member letting you know of something positive? A friend accepting Jesus as their Lord and Savior? As good as this news might have been or might be today, it is significantly less important than what we find in . Jesus Christ, the Son of God, defeated sin and death.

In the book/movie, Case for Christ, Lee Strobel (an award winning journalist) begins to ask questions regarding the accuracy of Jesus Christ being who He said He was. He begins to critique Christianity by doing His own investigation and research. At one point, He visits a scientist who tells him that Christianity hinges on the resurrection of Jesus Christ. If Jesus truly rose from the dead, Christianity has something that no other religion has. If Jesus’ followers faked His resurrection and He never rose then Christianity is no different than other man made religions. Strobel, figuring out this potential weakness, began to study the resurrection in depth. Atheists inquire about the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus sometimes today as well! There has never been a legitimate argument, though, for this never transpiring. Many people say that they don’t believe that Jesus rose, however this is based upon the fact that humans don’t “come back to life” and not on any other evidence. Even to Christians, the resurrection can be a difficult thing to wrap our minds around, right? We know that once you are dead, especially after 3 days, you’re not coming back! The key at this point is to look at the death and what it means.

How many of you have seen the Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe? The books by C.S. Lewis turned into a near billion dollar movie series a couple of years ago and the 1st movie depicts Aslan, the Lion, dying on the stone table in the place of a human, Edmund. The witch and her army believe that Aslan has gone mad and is doing something foolish by offering up his life for a useless and powerless boy. As Aslan offers himself in Edmund’s place, though, the witch is unaware of what she is about to do. She believes that she has tricked the mighty lion to be slaughtered as a lamb. In actuality, and for those who have seen the film/read the book, Aslan rises because of the following inscription on the stone table, “"If a willing Victim that has committed no treachery is killed in a traitor's stead, the Stone Table will crack; and even death itself would turn backwards.” The stone table cracked in two and Aslan was alive because he had done no treachery. He died in the place of a traitor. Because of this, death had no claim on him.

Let’s bring this back into our passage today. Jesus Christ died in our place. We do not have to pay the debt that we owe. Our savior died, yes, but the powers of darkness had no idea what they had done. Where Satan thought that he had just put God in “checkmate”, this was all a part of God’s plan from the beginning. Death had no claim on Jesus Christ, therefore the grave could not contain Jesus Christ! We see that when Jesus died, the veil in the temple (according to ) was torn in two. There is (as the author of Hebrews puts it in ) a great high priest who intercedes on our behalf. From the moment that Jesus Christ died, He became our high priest. The temple veil was torn because there was no longer any need to go through a priest to access God, Jesus Christ has broken down every barrier and He provides access to the Father. Jesus’ death acts as a bridge of sorts between God and man. We have access to Him through the death of Christ and the temple being torn bears witness to that fact.

Jesus did not stay dead, though. His death acts as a bridge but He comes back to life. Why does this matter? If we look at the Old Testament, we see David prophesy about the resurrection as he said

Psalm 16:10 NASB95

10 For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol; Nor will You allow Your Holy One to undergo decay.

Isaiah had this to say

Isaiah 53:5–11 NASB95

5 But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed. 6 All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him. 7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He did not open His mouth; Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, So He did not open His mouth. 8 By oppression and judgment He was taken away; And as for His generation, who considered That He was cut off out of the land of the living For the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due? 9 His grave was assigned with wicked men, Yet He was with a rich man in His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was there any deceit in His mouth. 10 But the Lord was pleased To crush Him, putting Him to grief; If He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, And the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in His hand. 11 As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, As He will bear their iniquities.

Isaiah 53:5–10 NASB95

5 But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed. 6 All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him. 7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He did not open His mouth; Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, So He did not open His mouth. 8 By oppression and judgment He was taken away; And as for His generation, who considered That He was cut off out of the land of the living For the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due? 9 His grave was assigned with wicked men, Yet He was with a rich man in His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was there any deceit in His mouth. 10 But the Lord was pleased To crush Him, putting Him to grief; If He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, And the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in His hand.

If we go forward to the New Testament, we see John say:

John 2:19–22 NASB95

19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” 20 The Jews then said, “It took forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?” 21 But He was speaking of the temple of His body. 22 So when He was raised from the dead, His disciples remembered that He said this; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had spoken.

Later in John, Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead and says this:

John 11:25 NASB95

25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies,

Later in Matthew, we see Jesus say:

Matthew 12:40 NASB95

40 for just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

So what is the big deal about the Resurrection, you might ask? Jesus did what no other god or man could do. He conquered death - the universal enemy of life.

Hebrews 2:14–15 NASB95

14 Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.

Acts 13:33 NASB95

33 that God has fulfilled this promise to our children in that He raised up Jesus, as it is also written in the second Psalm, ‘You are My Son; today i have begotten You.’

John, in the Revelation, shows us that Jesus has power over death!

Revelation 1:17–18 NASB95

17 When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man. And He placed His right hand on me, saying, “Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, 18 and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades.

We see that the Resurrection seems to run against our natural line of thought, right? It is almost “too good” to be true! It seems outrageous. The Easter message calls you from your old belief in death to your new belief in life! We see that the disciples heard the story from the women and they would not believe them. Unfortunately, this is the response by many individuals in our culture today. They are told the truth and they treat it as foolishness and they reject it. Thankfully, though, we see Peter become intrigued by what the woman say and he runs to the tomb and “went away marveling at what had happened.” Praise God that this is our response to the resurrection. We see the reality of what has happened. Jesus Christ, fully God and fully man, died on a cross. He was as dead as dead can be. He was buried and guarded by Roman soldiers to ensure that no one would be able to steal His body. The stone was rolled away on the 3rd day and behold, He was not there for He had risen just as He had told His disciples that He would.

As we see, Jesus did not just raise and wonder around aimlessly. He revealed Himself to hundreds of people in the weeks that followed and 40 days later, He ascended into heaven where He is currently at right now. Interceding on our behalf before the Father and acting as a bridge between God and man. We see that His resurrection gives us hope and sets Christianity against every other religion. Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Mormonism and any other religion that you want to throw in there will tell you that you must do certain things to inherit eternal life and to please God. Christianity tells us that “it is finished”. Christ has paid our bill. He has satisfied the wrath of God against sin! For those of us who call on His name, we will be saved and raised from the dead as well. We are able to have eternal life not because of our works or deeds but because of Christ’s blood shed on Calvary!

Conclusion

Think of the most beautiful place that you have ever been to. You could have seen pictures and postcards from this place and gotten an idea of what to expect, however those images pale in comparison to actually visiting that place for yourself, right? Think of the disciples and followers of Jesus at this time. They had heard Him say that He would rise from the dead. They knew what to expect, but they doubted because it was hard to believe that someone would do this. Just as it is hard to put into words the majesty and beauty of a mountain or waterfall, it was hard for the disciples to believe that their Lord would conquer death.

Unfortunately, it is still hard for people to understand this today. There are several different reactions that people have to the Resurrection story today. Rejection and Realization. Many people will reject this story because they say that it contradicts the laws of nature (everything dies). Others will reject it upon the grounds that they simply don’t believe the Bible. Others will realize that this is in fact truth. If we look at the lives of the disciples before and after this event, we notice some very interesting changes. Men who were in a room hiding from the local authorities and in fear that they too might be crucified like Jesus was begin to share their faith and the teachings of Jesus Christ with everyone they come into contact with. What brought about this dramatic, 180 degree change? What brings about 180 degree changes in our lives? The conviction we feel from the Holy Spirit! Men who at one point were terrified for their lives laid their lives down because of what they had experienced. They were beaten, mocked, tortured and executed because they refused to reject Christ. What on earth could have given them the boldness and courage to do this? Simple. Christ really rose from the grave. For those of you who know about the “Watergate” scandal from the 1970s, you know how hard it is for people to continue to tell a lie (and never once fold). In Watergate, it took a matter of weeks before these men started to confess. The disciples never once denied their faith in Jesus Christ even though they suffered and many were executed. They could have simply said that they made it all up and walked away, yet they stayed true to their story even though it cost them their lives. The only plausible explanation to this fact is that they did this because they had seen the Resurrected Christ.

What will you do with this message? I pray you do 3 things:

Believe. Without believing in the resurrection, you are still lost. All the Biblical truth in Scripture will do you no good if you deny the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. You must believe that He was the Son of God and that He raised from the dead.

Be transformed. calls us to not conform to the ways of the world but be transformed by the renewing of our mind. Our society tells us that the resurrection is a fairy tale and unbelievable. As Christians, we must be transformed from this mindset and seek first the Kingdom of God. If Christ is who He said He was, everything changes.

Finally, we must be active. Just as the disciples were terrified for their lives, we can feel terrified about sharing our faith in Jesus or even that we attend church sometimes, right? The Resurrection story shows us that we must be active. We see the disciples rise to share this good news with others even though it cost them their lives. We see Jesus give the Great Commission after the Resurrection as He instructs His followers to go into all the world and preach the Gospel. That is a task for us today as well from the Resurrected Christ.

As we close, I pray that the hope of the Resurrection would bring encouragement to your life today. We share in that hope in that we believe that because Christ defeated sin and death, we will as well! Does this mean that we will noT die a physical death? No. Does it mean that we avoid an eternal death? Yes. Rest in that hope today, that nothing you experience is too great for our God because He defeated sin and death once and for all! They have no grip on us because we have a “living hope”. Sin and death have no claim on us because there is salvation in the name of Jesus Christ and Him alone. There is victory in Him. Rest in that fact today, regardless of what you are going through!

Let’s pray