The Empty Promises of Easter

Introduction

I heard about a little boy sitting next to his friend at church one Easter Sunday. His friend asked, "How did you get that bruise on your arm?" The boy replied, "I ate some Easter candy." His friend said, "Eating Easter candy won’t give you a bruise." The boy quipped, "It will if it’s your big brother’s candy!"

I heard another one about two brothers who were getting ready to boil some eggs to color for Easter. "I’ll give you ten dollars if you let me break three of these on your head," said the older one. "Promise?" asked the younger. "Promise!" Gleefully, the older boy broke the first egg over his brother’s head, then another one. The younger brother braced himself for the last egg, but nothing happened. "Ain’t ya gonna break the third egg?" the boy asked. His brother replied, "Nah, if I did that I’d owe ya ten dollars!"

The truth of the matter is; the world is full of empty promises. TV advertisements tell us that we can be happy, sexy, rich, or famous, if we only purchase a certain product.

“If it sounds to good to be true, it probably is”

But, God is different! On Easter, instead of promises full of emptiness, GOD GAVE US EMPTINESS THAT IS FULL OF PROMISE.

Luke 24:1–12 NIV

1 On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. 2 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 wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. 5 In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? 6 He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: 7 ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ” 8 Then they remembered his words. 9 When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. 10 It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles. 11 But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense. 12 Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened.

On Easter, instead of promises full of emptiness, GOD GAVE US EMPTINESS THAT IS FULL OF PROMISE.

1. The Empty Cross

Luke 24:1 NIV

1 On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb.

Imagine if you would, the women passing the empty crosses on their way to the tomb

The Empty Cross Represents The Promise of Forgiven Sins

states that sin came into the world through one man and death came through sin

Romans 5:12 ESV

12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—

tells us that the sting of death is sin

1 Corinthians 15:56 ESV

56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.

1 Corinthians 1:18 ESV

18 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

Romans 6:22–23 NLT

22 But now you are free from the power of sin and have become slaves of God. Now you do those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.

romans 6.

Colossians 2:13–15 NLT

13 You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. 14 He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. 15 In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross.

“He forgave ALL our sins”

Colossians 4. The Work of Jesus in His People through His Work on the Cross (13–15)

Having forgiven us is the ancient Greek word charizomai—a verb form of the ancient Greek word charis (grace). We are forgiven by grace.

“the record of charges against us” (“The record of DEBT” ESV)

Some take it in a legal sense - the charges against a prisoner or confession of wrong made by a prisoner

Others - in a financial sense and see it as a debit or ledger sheet that shows we are bankrupt before God

The New American Commentary: Philippians, Colossians, Philemon The Answer to the Threat (2:9–15)

Literally, the handwriting is a certificate of indebtedness written in one’s own hand. Taken this way, this means that there is a pronouncement that the personal note which testifies against us is canceled.

colossians

Colossians 2:15 The Message

15 He stripped all the spiritual tyrants in the universe of their sham authority at the Cross and marched them naked through the streets.

Colossians 2:14 ESV

14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.

COLOSSIANS 2.

In the Bible - Nakedness = Shame

The cross reminds us of the depths of our sin. We don’t realize what sin is in God’s eyes. Sin deeply offends God. God cannot look upon sin. Sin separates us from God!

Colossians 4. The Work of Jesus in His People through His Work on the Cross (13–15)

Before a person comes to new life in Jesus, he is not a sick man who needs a doctor; he is a dead person who needs a Savior.

In Christ, sin was nailed to the cross. It was disarmed of its power!

1. The emptiness of the cross reminds us of the promise of the forgiveness of sins!

2. The Empty Cave

Luke 24:2–3 NIV

2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.

After Peter and John discovered the empty clothes, they returned to town. But Mary and some of Jesus’s female followers lingered at the empty tomb. Suddenly angels appeared to them:

Luke 24:4–6 ESV

4 While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. 5 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? 6 He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee,

Matthew 28:5–6 NIV

5 The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. 6 He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay.

matt 28.

The tomb of Jesus remained empty as a symbol of life that outlasts the grave—life everlasting. In other words, the empty cave promises forever.

He told Nicodemus

Represents: The Promise of Eternal Life

John 3:16 NIV

16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

He assured the woman at the well

John 4:14 NLT

14 But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.”

He announced to the crowds

John 6:47 NLT

47 “I tell you the truth, anyone who believes has eternal life.

The empty cave serves as a powerful reminder that Christ rose from the grave, never to die again. He promises that if we believe in him, then we will live with him… forever!

The Empty Grave represents The Promise of Eternal Life

Romans 8:11 NIV

11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.

Acts 1:10–11 ESV

10 And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, 11 and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”

Philippians 3:21 ESV

21 who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.

3. The Empty Clothes

John 19:40 NLT

40 Following Jewish burial custom, they wrapped Jesus’ body with the spices in long sheets of linen cloth.

For John, who witnessed all of this first hand, the arrival of the burial clothes represented the departure of hope. These linens were a tangible reminder that his faith and future were wrapped in cloth and sealed behind a rock.

John didn’t know on Friday what you and I know now. In fact, John would later confess that he and the others “still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead” ( NIV).

John and the others believed in Jesus. They put their faith in Jesus. All their hopes and their dreams rested in a man they believed was God in human flesh. But then He died.

The body of Jesus was wrapped in strips of linen and laid to rest. All of Jesus’s followers were discouraged and disillusioned. Jesus’ death dealt a crushing blow to John’s faith.

Luke 24:12 NIV

12 Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened.

On the first Easter Sunday, God took burial clothing—a tangible reminder of Jesus’s death, a symbol of tragedy—and made it a symbol of hope!

They ascended Golgotha bearing burial clothes—long stripes of linen cloth. Pilate supplied permission. Joseph supplied a tomb. Nicodemus supplied the spices.

John 19:40 NLT

40 Following Jewish burial custom, they wrapped Jesus’ body with the spices in long sheets of linen cloth.

Then the Bible says, “Following Jewish burial custom, they wrapped Jesus’ body with the spices in long sheets of linen cloth” ( NLT).

The Empty Clothes represents the promise of His return

Acts 1:10–11 NIV

10 They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. 11 “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”

We no longer need grave clothes because we will

1 thess

1 Thessalonians 4:13–18 ESV

13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. 14 For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. 15 For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.

2 Timothy 1:10 NRSV

10 but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.

“abolished” = to render powerless

The Empty Cross, The Empty Cave, and The Empty Clothes remind us that Sin, Death and the Grave was arrested by the Grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!