Matthew 28:1-10

Introduction

#1: Expecting Death (v. 1)

Once someone writes your obituary and puts the final period on the final sentence, nothing else will be added because you’re dead - and once you’re dead there are no more accomplishments or adventures - it’s just the end.

Perhaps that’s how these women in were feeling as they went to care for the body of Jesus three days after his crucifixion.

Genesis 2:1–3 NASB95

1 Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts. 2 By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.

[CONTEXT] Jesus had been arrested, beaten, convicted, crucified - these women witnessed his death and then watched as his corpse was hastily placed in a rich man’s tomb.

Exodus 20:8–11 NASB95

8 “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 “Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a sabbath of the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you. 11 “For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and made it holy.

Hebrews 4:9–10 NASB95

9 So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. 10 For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His.

[CIT] But now in , instead of finding Jesus dead, they heard the glorious news of his resurrection and then, amazingly, they met their beloved Jesus raised to life.

Hebrews 4:9-10

[PROP] As it did in the hearts of these women, anytime we talk about the resurrection of Jesus it hopefully creates in us unyielding and certain hope - hope of our own resurrection from the dead - hope in the midst of any situation or any set of circumstances - hope of eternal life after the obituary.

Major Ideas

#1: Expecting Death (v. 1)

Matthew 28:1 NASB95

1 Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the grave.

[Exp] The Sabbath ran from sundown Friday evening until sundown Saturday evening.

As a commemoration of God’s resting after creation, the Sabbath was to be a day of rest and worship for Israel - as it says in ... [] Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. [9] Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, [10] but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. ... [11] For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day.

But here in , this was not just after the Sabbath - this was after the last divinely ordained Sabbath God ever commanded for His people.

On the day after that Sabbath Jesus rose from the dead and the New Covenant in His blood had been ushered in - now all of God’s people would find their rest in Him.

These women didn’t understand these things when they went to the tomb after the Sabbath but soon they would.

They would understand that because Jesus rose from the dead, they could rest from all their works and rest in the grace of God who gave Jesus as the sacrifice for their sins.

tells us that Jesus is that Sabbath rest for the people of God and that whoever has entered God's rest (i.e., whoever has come to God through faith in Jesus Christ) has also rested from his works as God did from His.

[App] We can’t do good works good enough to earn the salvation that we so desperately need.

We are all sinners in need of a savior and the only Savior has been provided by God in the death and resurrection of His perfect Son Jesus Christ - He is our rest.

Perhaps you wonder if you are good enough for God - you’re not - but Jesus is - rest in Him.

Perhaps you wonder if you’ve done enough to earn God’s favor - you haven’t - but Jesus never did anything to lose God’s favor and did all things well - rest in Him.

All my goodness is not good enough - all my working will fall short - but Jesus is my rest!

His death the payment for my sins - His blood my righteousness - His resurrection life the guarantee of my right standing with God - so I will rest in Him!

Will you? Where is your rest?

[Exp] When we compare the other gospels we find that not only were Mary Magdalene and the other Mary there at the tomb but so were many other women who were followers of Jesus.

They had witnessed His death and His hasty burial before the Sabbath and now, after the Sabbath, they came to do a proper job of preparing His body for the tomb.

says they bought spices, so they could go and anoint him.

These women were not mistaken about which tomb Jesus was in - they were not apart of some conspiracy to move the corpse of Jesus so as to fake His resurrection - when they came to the tomb on that Sunday they expected to find Jesus dead just as He had been a few days earlier.

[App] Now, at this point in the story these women haven’t heard that Jesus has been raised from the dead - so they do not expect to find Him dead despite the news of His resurrection - no, they expect to find Him dead because they haven’t heard any differently - but there are those living today who have heard of Jesus’ resurrection and yet still expect to find Him dead - or, even worse, they hope to find Him dead.

There a lot of people today who are more willing to honor a dead Jesus than they are to follow a resurrected Jesus.

[Illus] John Dominic Crossan is a liberal scholar who considers himself to be a Christian although he doesn’t believe in the resurrection of Jesus.

Despite what the Bible says, he believes that Jesus’ body was likely taken down from the cross, tossed in a shallow grave, where it was then eaten by dogs.

Crossan asserts that it is not necessary to believe in the resurrected Jesus - so long as one is willing to honor the dead Jesus for how he lived.

Listen to me, there is no honoring Jesus unless you believe that He lives!

[Illus] Another liberal scholar who would probably consider himself a Christian, Robert M. Price, has written a book the title of which gets right to the point - the book’s title is Jesus is Dead.

Price says that there is no proof that Jesus was ever raised from the dead - or, taking it a step further, that he ever existed at all.

Price does more than expect Jesus to be dead - he hopes that Jesus is dead.

He hopes that Jesus is dead because if Jesus has been raised from the dead as the Word of God says, then Robert M. Price is condemned and will spend eternity in hell.

Listen to me, there is no salvation unless you believe that Jesus lives!

[TS] If you don’t believe on Jesus crucified and resurrected, you won’t just go to the grave expecting death. You’ll find it eternally.

#2: Finding Life (vv. 2-6).

[Exp] There was an earthquake at Jesus’ death (27:51) and now there is another at His resurrection because an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it.

Matthew describes the stone as a “great stone” in and Mark says that the women were discussing who would roll the stone away for them because it was “very large” (16:4) - but it was no match for this angel of the Lord, who simply rolled the stone away and sat on it.

His appearance and clothing reflected the glory of God in heaven and for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men.

The word trembled or shook in relation to these guards in v. 4 translates a Greek word that has the same root as earthquake in v. 2 - so it seems that these well-trained and capable, professional Roman soldiers had within themselves a personal earthquake and then seized up with fright as they beheld the heavenly splendor of this angel of the Lord.

But notice what this angel who scared these guards nearly to death said to these women in v. 5, “Do not be afraid...”

Now, that’s the command but go in v. 5-6 and read the basis for the command... [] 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.

The guards have reason to fear God for they are not followers of His Son, Jesus Christ - but these women, these followers of Christ, have nothing to fear because Jesus has been raised from the dead!

All of God’s wrath that caused them fear was poured out on Christ on the cross and now they have peace with God through the death and resurrection of Jesus as they trust Him.

[Exp] Also, there are a few things in vv. 5-6 that this angel of the Lord states rather matter of factly and, thus, they should be believed as matters of fact.

First, he says that Jesus was crucified - the crucifixion of Jesus was not a mirage - it was and is a historical reality.

Heaven doesn’t claim that what took place as Jesus hung on the cross was misunderstood by those who observed it - Heaven says that Jesus was crucified.

Second, the angel of the Lord says that Jesus is raised - not just raised from the tomb but raised from the dead.

This is an important distinction because there have been those who claim that Jesus didn’t actually die but only passed out on the cross and was later revived in the tomb.

This is of course utter nonsense.

Third, all of this happened just as Jesus said it would.

Three times before His crucifixion Jesus foretold not only of His death but also of His resurrection - but these women, like the rest of His disciples, were not even able to comprehend that the Messiah would die, not to mention rise from the dead.

These women expected death and instead heard life - it might have been scary, confusing, and even incomprehensible for these women but the fact of the matter was and is - Jesus was not there at that tomb, for He had risen, just as He said.

[App] Pull out your hymnal and turn with me to hymn #338 - we sometimes sing the hymn Wonderful Words of Life - and I want you to notice the third verse of that hymn - it says... “Sweetly echo the gospel call, Wonderful words of life. Offer pardon and peace to all, Wonderful words of life. Jesus, only Savior, Sanctify forever, Beautiful words, wonderful words, Wonderful words of life; Beautiful words, wonderful words, Wonderful words of life.”

You might wonder as we sing that hymn from time to time, what specifically are those wonderful words?

Well, surely they are the words of Scripture and include these words as found in ... [] 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.

But notice the first verse of that hymn Wonderful Words of Life... “Sing them over again to me, Wonderful words of life. Let me more their beauty see, Wonderful words of life.

Now, I think the hymn writer is onto something here...

...why is it that we need these wonderful words sung to us over and over again?

...why is it that we must continually ask God to let us see more of their beauty?

Is it not because if we Christians aren’t careful, we can grow deaf to this wonderful news of Jesus’ resurrection?

[Illus] There’s a story about Curtis Pride, an almost totally deaf baseball player, who came up big in a clutch situation. Tight game. Men on base. Curtis, without a major league hit, hit a double and brought in two runs. 45,000 go crazy.

After the game, a reporter asked, “Could you hear the fans at all?”

Curtis pointed to his heart and said, “I could hear them in here.”

45,000 fans go crazy

That’s how we must hear the words of Jesus’ resurrection if they are to remain wonderful words of life to us. We must hear them with out hearts.

#3: Seeing Jesus (vv. 7-10)

Matthew 28:7–10 NASB95

7 “Go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead; and behold, He is going ahead of you into Galilee, there you will see Him; behold, I have told you.” 8 And they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy and ran to report it to His disciples. 9 And behold, Jesus met them and greeted them. 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 take word to My brethren to leave for Galilee, and there they will see Me.”

[Exp] The good news of Jesus’ resurrection is not for these women only - these witnesses are to witness to Jesus’ other disciples - they would see the resurrected Jesus in Galilee.

Galilee was 120 miles or so to the north of Jerusalem if one avoided a route through Samaria.

The women had followed Jesus from Galilee (27:55) where Jesus’ public ministry began and now they would return there to see their risen Lord again and to receive new orders concerning their ministry in Jesus’ name.

As wonderful as all this was, the events of the empty tomb were still very strange, to say the least, for these women.

The fear, at first, seized them - as says... [] And they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.

But soon the joy at the prospect of Jesus’ resurrection took over and they ran to tell His disciples - but before they could reach the other disciples, they met Jesus.

Look at vv. 8-9 again... [] 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.

Of all the things Jesus could’ve said, “Greetings,” seems humourous - what is the appropriate greeting when appearing to people after one has been raised from the dead?

They took hold of His feet and worshipped Him - the heart-brokenness they felt as they looked on from a distance as Jesus yielded up His spirit is now supplanted by inexpressible and shocking joy when they see His face.

All they can do is bow at His feet and worship Him in stunned adoration - but worship like this, worship in the physical presence of Jesus, will have to wait until the mission is complete.

As the angel said, so Jesus reiterated to these women, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me,” (28:10).

Those who follow Him have nothing to fear from the resurrected Jesus - just as He said to these women, “Do not be afraid,” so He says the same thing to all of us if we will follow Him as Savior and Lord.

To trust Him is to know Him and to be at peace with Him.

To refuse Him is to declare war against Him, a war that His resurrection from the dead proves can’t be won.

The mission given to these women is simply go and tell - in a sense, it’s the same mission given to all of Jesus’ disciples at the end of .

Jesus’ resurrection appearance will not be limited to these faithful women - He will appear to His other disciples on a mountain in Galilee.

[TS] {see below}

CONCLUSION

Why is it that people don’t believe the resurrection of Jesus? Why is it that only a few have met the resurrected Christ?

A primary reason is a lack of understanding as it concerns the Word of God.

When Jesus was walking with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus in (vv. 13-35), Jesus rebuked the two disciples for their slowness to believe in light of the prophecies concerning the Messiah’s suffering and glorification, and “beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.”

Jesus was fixing the problem identified by John when he writes in , ‘For as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead’ (),” (Kostenberger and Taylor, 189).

says that Jesus “opened their minds to understand the Scriptures,” and that was a process that took place over the entire time of His resurrection appearances.

Why bring this up? Because if you want to met the resurrected Jesus you must first meet Him in His Word.

Perhaps you’ve thought to yourself, “Well, if I saw Jesus like these women saw Jesus, then I would believe,” but remember what Jesus says, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed,” ().

There’s no believing apart from the Word of God and that’s my challenge to you if you don’t believe in the resurrection of Jesus - study the Word of God concerning the resurrection of Jesus and see if you don’t find yourself believing in Him along the way.

If you already believe in the resurrection of Jesus and follow Him as Savior and Lord, well then you know that one day you will be absent from the body, but present with the Lord.

Here’s what I mean - most obituaries just end - but if you’re a Christian, your obituary won’t be the end for you.

And in His physical presence, you and I will worship Him together.

Absent from the body, you’ll present with the Lord - existing before Him as glorified spirit until your own bodily resurrection from the dead when the Lord Jesus returns.