Easter Sunrise

Reading of the Synoptic Account

And Behold a sever earthquake had occured, for an angel of the Lord descended from Heaven, and came and rolled away the stone, from the door, and sat on it. And his appearance was like lightning, and his garment as white as snow. And the guards shook for for fear of him, and became like dead men. And the tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised. And coming out of the tombs after His resurrection, then entered the holy city and appeared too many.

Now after the sabbath was over, on the first day of the week, and very early, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, the mother of James, and Salome, came to the tomb to look at the grave, bringing the spices which they had prepared, that they might come and anoint Him, and certain others were with them. And they were saying to one another, “Who will roll the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?” when the sun had risen, as it began to be early dawn, and looking up, they saw the stone had been rolled back from the tomb, although it was extremely large.

But when they entered the tomb, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. And it happened that while they were very perplexed about this, they saw a young man sitting at the right, wearing a white robe, and they were amazed. Behold, two men suddenly stood near them in dazzling apparel. And the women were terrified, and bowed there faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the loving One among the dead?” And the Angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid or amazed, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, the nazarene, who was crucified. He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said. Come, see the place where He was lying. Behold, here is the place where they laid Him. Remember how He spoke to you while He was still in Galilee, saying that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified, and the third day rise again.” And they remembered his words. “But go quickly and tell the disciples and Peter that He has risen from the dead. And behold, He is going before you to Galilee. There you will see Him, just as He said to you.

What did they expect to see when they went to the tomb?

death, defeat, humanity lost.

They brought the spices, they expected him to be dead.

In 2012, I was in Israel. We went to the Garden Tomb, He wasn’t there.

We go in and look, everybody does, as if he is there.

I wonder if sometimes think of this as a bed time story. Some that is made up.

There are a lot of people who believe that about the Bible. It is here as good moral teaching, but it is a bunch of made up things to teach us about God.

But the Bible is not a bunch of made up stories. The bible is true. The bible is reliable.

As such, we know that the grave is empty that was occupied.

We know that the God of the universe who created all things came and died for His creation.

We know that the grave could not hold him! He is Alive!

Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is risen!