Matthew 28:1-10

Open up your Bible’s to the book of Matthew 28:1-10

Matthew 28:1–10 ESV

Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you.” So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. And behold, Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.”

This morning we take a look at the greatest event in the history of the world.

The resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The resurrection is the cornerstone of our faith.

Without the resurrection, there aren’t any Christians.

Conversely, with the resurrection, our faith is affirmed as true.

In Matt. 28 we come to this greatest of all events.

It was the substance of The first sermon ever preached in the church by Peter in Acts 2, and it’s the substance of which all sermons should be preached.

it became the theme of all apostolic preaching.

Peter preached it again in chapter 4

and again in chapter 10.

Stephen preached the resurrection in chapter Acts 7.

Philip preached the resurrection in chapter 8.

Paul preached the resurrection in chapter 9 and chapter 13 and all the way on to chapter 28 of Acts.

This resurrection theme ran through the epistles

In Romans it says Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father.

And in 1 Corinthians it says He rose again the third day according to the Scripture.

in 2 Corinthians, He who raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise us up also.

Galatians says by Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised Him from the dead.

Paul says in Philippians that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection.

1 Thessalonians says, His Son whom He raised from the dead.

even when you come to the book of Revelation it begins by saying that Christ has the right to take the earth because it is He who was dead and is alive forever more.

The whole theme in the NT is the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Now, your reaction to this is either you believe or you don’t.

If you don’t, there’s probably several reasons why you choose to not believe.

- rationalism - you can’t explain it in human reason, therefore you don’t believe it.

- denial - you simply choose to reject the evidence, the eyewitness accounts, the facts surrounding it

- indifference - we saw this attitude last week, you just simply don’t care.

Unbelief is a wrong response, our response should be one of faith, one of affirmation as we are exposed to the truth.

This morning we read Matthew’s account, which focuses on the resurrection as seen through the emotions of a group of women.

You should be there, let’s begin to read.

28:1 Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb.

2 And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it.

3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow.

4 And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men.

5 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.

7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you.”

8 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.

10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.”

PRAY

our sermon this morning we will look at 2 things about this passage really, The angel at the tomb and the risen Lord.

I. THE ANGEL AT THE TOMB.

Our story begins at the dawn toward the first day of the week.

That first great Easter Day.

Sabbath officially ended with sundown on Saturday.

And We are introduced to...

1. The 2 Mary’s.

—Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, - that’s Mary the Mother of James and Joses

The emotion that had to run through their minds.

They loved Jesus

They had ministered with Jesus in Galilee.

They had attended to His needs.

They had provided for him in his Galilean ministry.

They had been there at the cross.

They were there when He was buried.

Now Matthew focuses on these 2, but they are not alone, we learn from Mark that Salome is there as well.

So here comes a group of women early.

They loved the Lord.

Now why did they come?

they came out of sympathy.

Did they come to see the resurrection?

No, they didn’t come to see the resurrection.

As many times as Jesus had talked about the resurrection, their faith could not handle that.

They couldn’t accept it.

They couldn’t understand it.

They didn’t believe it. You say, well why are they there?”

It says in verse 1 they came to see the grave, not to see the risen Lord.

They came to see the grave.

What’s the point of coming to see a grave?

Well Mark tells us, chapter 16:1,

When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him.

So the Sabbath was over at sundown the day before, no doubt they went and purchased spices then and was ready to anoint his body.

Their purpose was not to see a resurrection.

Their purpose was to anoint a corpse.

They came out of love

They came out of devotion

They didn’t have confidence in the resurrection.

They just had devotion, love, and sympathy and compassion.

What drives you to Jesus?

They haven’t yet come to the garden.

Instantly there is an earthquake.

Now there was an earthquake just a few day ago!

So great was that earthquake that it opened graves in the city

So great was that earthquake that the veil of the temple, (4 inches thick) was ripped in half from the top to expose the Holy of Holies. - There’s a sermon in there

The epicenter of the earthquake is at the tomb.

Now what caused the earthquake?

If you think “It was the resurrection of Christ” you’ld be wrong.

2. The descent of the angel.

The resurrection didn’t cause the earthquake.

Matthew tells us what caused the earthquake.

“There was a great earthquake for” – or because – “an angel of the Lord descended from heaven.”

When this angel hit the garden it created seismic waves. And when the angel hit the land it sent out an earthquake.

the earthquake was not caused by the resurrection of Christ, it was caused by the arrival of an angel to open the tomb.

Now, he opened the tomb so that people can see in, not so Jesus could out.

Think of it, God raised up Jesus but didn’t let him get out of the tomb?

So there is the angel.

He descends from heaven.

He came, verse 2 says, rolled back the stone from the door, sat on it.

So these women who have walked through an earthquake arrive at the garden.

They come into the garden and they see – they see the tomb is open.

At this point we have to digress to John’s gospel to insert what happens.

So if your reading the accounts, this is probably the place to talk about this

The women come into the garden

When Mary Magdalene comes in, all she sees is this hole and the stone is gone.

she doesn’t take note of this angel.

John tells us her reaction.

Let’s look at John 20:1-4.

John 20:1–4 ESV

Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” So Peter went out with the other disciple, and they were going toward the tomb. Both of them were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first.

20:1 Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb.

2 So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.”

3 So Peter went out with the other disciple, and they were going toward the tomb.

4 Both of them were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first.

She just missed the angel.

The angel is described for us in verse 3. “His appearance” was like lightning.”

Now that’s a pretty graphic description. Isn’t it?

This is the glow of God.

The Shekinah glory somehow transmitted from God to that angel, like Moses when he came down from the mountain in Exodus.

His clothing white as snow

emblematic of purity, of holiness, of virtue.

So here is a holy angel from God.

– God’s own assigned witness.

And verse 4 says,

And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men

The earth quaked, and sure it might have caused the soldiers concern, but when they saw the angel, they became like dead men.

Knocked unconscious out of fear.

I don’t blame them

Were the women afraid?

Yes, But the angel addresses the women.

3. His address to the women.

The angel said Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified.

Now the soldier had reason to be afraid,

Those who love him have no reason to be afraid.

The angel new they were seeking Jesus

The women were coming to see Jesus whom they thought was dead.

Remember, They came out to anoint a dead body

But Jesus wasn’t there.

And so The angel had a special message for the women.

To them he announced the fact of the Resurrection,

the One they sought was no longer there, he had risen just as He said.

Now He had told them several times He would rise on the third day (Matthew 16:21; 17:23; 20:19).

His death was so traumatizing, their faith couldn’t handle it.

Now If He had failed to rise, He would have been a deceiver unworthy of further devotion.

Proof He had risen was the empty tomb.

6 He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay.

Vs 7 says

7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead,

II. THE LORD HAS RISEN!

1. The women on their way.

They went at once, they ran.

Their hearts were filled with mingled feelings.

There was fear,

- even though the Angel said fear not, there was still some trepidation.

- the bright lightning flash, so forth.

Jesus had risen! Such joy in their heart!

The thought was too great for them;

it was thrilling!

On their way vs 9 says Jesus met them

2. The meeting with the Lord.

It was sudden, in a moment

Jesus appeared before them in his resurrected body

Alive from the dead!

Having just conquered death and he says hello

Greetings, like it wasn’t a big deal.

Guys, when we have faith, when we believe that God will do what he said, we won’t be surprised that Jesus came through

they looked upon his face,

no longer stained with blood

No longer fixed in death,

but gazing on them with heavenly love in the full majesty of manifest Deity.

Fear and joy were struggling in their hearts;

What a triumph!

“They held Him by the feet and worshiped Him.”

They knew who He was.

They knew He was the risen Christ.

And this was their recognition of His deity.

They recognized that He was to be adored and praised and glorified and worshiped and honored.

Our story wraps up with..

3. The message.

The Lord calmed them.

“Do not be afraid!”

The angel had said the same, but this time it’s the Lord’s voice.

He sent them away with the first Easter greetings

go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.”

It was a message of love,

a message of forgiveness.

Let’s not forget, the disciples didn’t act the way brothers are supposed to act...remember they forsook the Lord in the hour of danger.

And The Lord forgave their weakness, continues to call them brothers.

They were to meet the Lord in Galilee;

there he would announce to them his Divine power and majesty;

there they should receive their full apostolic commission

Now, There were other meetings during the time before this took place,

But it’s here that Jesus appeared to over 500 people at one time in Galilee

But let us not forget, Matthew focuses on the majesty and glory of the risen Lord

And so, we come then to the end of Matthew’s brief glimpse of the resurrection.

Lessons...

What does the resurrection mean?

Let me suggest several things for you to think about.

First of all, it means that the Word of God is true. Jesus said it over and over again,

“I’ll rise. I’ll rise. I’ll rise. ” And He did.

the resurrection means that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, as He claimed to be, that He as God has power over death.

Thirdly, it proves that salvation is complete, on the cross He conquered sin, death and hell and rose victorious.

Fourthly, the resurrection proves that the church is established. You remember in Matthew 16 He said, “I’ll build My church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it?” hell can be used as an expression for death in that culture. He says, “I’ll build My church and death won’t stop Me,” and it didn’t.

it also proves that judgment is coming. The judge is alive, and court will be in session to determine the eternal destiny of every man and woman.

And sixthly, the resurrection of Jesus Christ proves that heaven is waiting. In John 14 He said, “I’m going to go away, but if I go I will come again. And when I go, I go to prepare” – what? – “a place for you, because in My Father’s house are many rooms.” Heaven is waiting and Christ is preparing it for His own.

1 Th. 5:23-24 - Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.