He is Risen

Luke 24:1–9 NASB95

But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men suddenly stood near them in dazzling clothing; 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? “He is not here, but He has risen. 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, and returned from the tomb and reported all these things to the eleven and to all the rest.

Pray: Lord, Jesus, we thank you for this Easter morning, this day we have to celebrate Your resurrection. It feels so good, Lord, to be gathered together, even if it is not how we would normally meet. Thank you for the chance to be together on such a blessed day of celebration. We ask that You would be with us as we enter into this time of study in Your Word together. Holy Spirit, would You come move in and among us so that we can understand it rightly? Would You change us through it to be better reflections of Your Son because of our time here this morning. It is in the precious and Holy Name of Jesus we pray, Amen.

Beloved, it is truly good to be with you this morning. Today is a day of celebration. For in our world today, though our country and the entire world has been covered in a shroud of darkness these last few weeks, though we grow weary and are ready for life to resume as it always has been, and though we stand uneasily watching the numbers of infections and deaths climb higher and higher, even still, this morning we are here.

And as the sun rises over the horizon, we are reminded once again that the Light of the World, the Son of God, is risen! He has risen! He is alive! And we have no reason to fear. For though the sorrows of this world may last for the long night we are in, His joy comes with the morning. And in this day when there are so few things that we can trust, there are so few things that we can believe in, we can trust and believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And in our passage this morning, we see at least three reasons that we can have the confidence to believe. Look at verses 1-3 with me:

Luke 24:1–3 NASB95

But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.

Our hope for eternity hinges on the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is an audacious claim on which you and I hang all or our faith. But in our text, this morning we can have absolute confidence in it for three reasons, and the first is this, that:

The tomb was empty

People have looked and looked and looked for the tomb of Jesus Christ. They have never found it and they never will. You see, Jesus was buried in a borrowed tomb because He only needed it three days. Jesus is risen!

The critics would have us believe that Christ’s disciples overpowered an entire unit of highly trained Roman Soldiers, rolled the stone away and stole the body so that they could pretend He rose from the dead. Matthew 27:63-64 says (The Jews went to Pilate…)

Matthew 27:63–64 NASB95

and said, “Sir, we remember that when He was still alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I am to rise again.’ “Therefore, give orders for the grave to be made secure until the third day, otherwise His disciples may come and steal Him away and say to the people, ‘He has risen from the dead,’ and the last deception will be worse than the first.”

if you believe that 11 fishermen, tax collectors, and the like managed to fight off trained, professional soldiers, you may need to go to the doctor.

Not only were the soldiers gone, but the stone was rolled away. This stone, weighing several thousand pounds had been rolled into a slot meant to be permanent. They had used a lever to do this, and then it had been sealed by the Jews. And not only was the stone rolled away, the body was gone.

You know, that body was never found. If it had truly been stolen, it would have shown up, and we would have a recorded record of the crime. And yet, there is no such record because Jesus Arose. Don’t you think that if the Jews could have found that body, they would have! But they couldn’t find a body because there was no body to find. Dead people leave their bodies in tombs, but the living take our bodies with us.

Jesus is alive!

Look at verses 4-6 with me:

Luke 24:4–5 NASB95

While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men suddenly stood near them in dazzling clothing; 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?

As we move forward in our text, our second reason we can have confidence in resurrection this morning is

The women and the Heavenly Witness

Now, why would I say that these are proofs of the resurrection? I’ll tell you. In the ancient world, women were not considered to be credible witnesses. If you were going to present your case in court, you certainly wouldn’t have chosen women as your witnesses. So, if you were going to lie about what actually happened that day, if we were going to buy into one of the ideas about a stolen body, you had better believe that the witnesses to the resurrection here would have been men.

Why? Because you want your story to be credible. But the one we find is audacious. In fact, in all four Gospels, it is women that first find the empty tomb, and it is women that first encounter the Risen Savior. I think if I were trying to make up a story, I could have done a better job than that!

What’s more, who is it that tells the women that Jesus had risen? Heavenly messengers. Men in dazzling white clothes. The messengers were from heaven, and no one else saw them, and the people telling us about it are women. Why not have Jesus greet them Himself right there? Why not say the 11 disciples were with them?

And this thing about it: the things in this account that seem unlikely and unbelievable are the very things that should help us to have confidence that they are true. Because here’s the thing: you don’t worry about trying to build a credible case when what you are saying is the truth.

The Empty tomb, the missing guards, the stone rolled away, the missing body, the women that stood as witnesses, and the Heavenly messengers are all astonishing details in the story of Christ’s resurrection. Several of them could be refuted if they were not true. The rest may have been thrown out in a 1st century court room: And yet these are the precise reasons we can have confidence that Jesus rose from the grave!

Jesus is alive!

Look at verses 6-9 with me:

Luke 24:6–9 NASB95

“He is not here, but He has risen. 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, and returned from the tomb and reported all these things to the eleven and to all the rest.

The final reason that we have to believe with confidence in the resurrection of Jesus Christ from our passage this morning is that

Jesus told us it would happen

Jesus told us He would rise again. Why did the women have confidence to go tell the others of the resurrection? Because they remembered His words! Why were the Jews so insistent in guarding His tomb? They remembered His words!

Over and over and over again, Jesus astounded men with His words. Over and Over again, He backed up the things that He claimed. Over and over again, Jesus spoke with power, and authority, and truth. And Jesus, the great teacher, told us that He would die and rise again on the third day.

And He did it! He arose! Don’t your eyes burn in the rising sun! It’s light can’t compare to the glory of Jesus. And though we sit some 2000 years after that glorious day; Though we sit in our cars instead of the warmth of our building on this beautiful Easter morning; though we live under the threat of death from an enemy we can’t see, we are the church of the Living God! And this morning we can throw our hands into the air, and with confidence shout HE AROSE! He AROSE! CHRIST IS RISEN, He IS RISEN IN DEED!

If there is life still in your lungs this morning, from now until your final breath let this be your victory cry. He is Risen, He Arose. Our Savior lives forever! And even as the sun came again this morning, one day soon Jesus is coming again to take us to His side forever.

Today is a day of celebration, Friendship family! Let’s worship and glorify our King that Arose!

Would You Pray with me: Lord, Jesus, we praise You on this blessed Easter morning as our Risen Savior! We praise our God that defeated sin and death and sits at the Right Hand of the Father. We praise You, Jesus, the King that is coming again in glory to judge the living and the dead. We praise You, that Your Kingdom will reign forever and ever. Lord, Jesus, in this hour so filled with anxiety and fear, would you hold us close to You, as we celebrate Your goodness? Would you draw us to yourself, out of our stress and into your celebration, as we wait with expectation for that moment our Savior comes in glory. In Jesus’ most wonderful and precious Name we pray, Amen.