A Necessary Death; A Necessary Resurrection

Introduction

Throughout human history there have been certain events which have marked us, changed us as and even changed the course of history. Even in just the last 200 years we see this reality.

There was the Civil War, and through that, the passing of the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments which abolished slavery in the United States.

The assassination of President Lincoln radically changed the course of history.

In 1914 World War I began, the war to end all wars.

In 1929 the Stock Market crashed which led to the Great Depression. Unemployment rose to 25% in US with output and trade falling around the world. It was the widespread poverty and sense of alienation which led to the growth of political extremes across the world. Which is what led to the second World War. A war which radically changed history. It was a war that ultimately ended with the dropping of the Atom bomb.

More recently, events that have shaped us would include the assassination of President Kennedy in 1963. The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. The attacks on September 11, 2001 and most recently a global pandemic.

The purpose here is not to give a history lesson but to remind us of how events in time shape the course of history. Throughout all of history though, there has been one event which has most radically changed the world. One event which has affected every human being, every nation, every people group, every culture. And that’s the resurrection of Jesus.

It’s an event like no other. Meaning, every other historical event I just mentioned earlier is informational to us, now our cultures and world have been shaped by these events for sure, but to us today, they’re nothing more than a couple paragraphs on Wikipedia or a history book that we read about and hopefully learn from, but that’s about it.

But the resurrection of Jesus calls us to action. It calls us to either believe it or reject it. The resurrection is absolutely vital to the claims of Christianity. If Jesus did not rise from the dead, then there is absolutely no point in listening to anything he said in the first place. But if he did, then we should listen to everything he says.

Tim Keller says it this way,

“If Jesus rose from the dead, then you have to accept all that he said; if he didn’t rise from the dead, then why worry about any of what he said? The issue on which everything hangs is not whether or not you like his teaching but whether or not he rose from the dead.” – Tim Keller

The apostle Paul, roughly 2000 years earlier said basically the same thing.

1 Corinthians 15:14-17, And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise, if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.

You have to do something with Jesus. His resurrection is not just a footnote in history, it defines it.

What do the angels tell the women visiting the tomb early in the morning?

Luke 24:5b-6a, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen.”

They were clearly expecting to see a dead body in that tomb, not an empty one.

Here’s what’s before us this morning. Either the resurrection of Jesus happened or it didn’t.

The resurrection of Jesus demands a response.

We either believe it or we don’t. These women believed. It wasn’t a blind faith; they saw the empty tomb. Jesus would soon appear to them and many others.

Many in the world today reject it, but they still have to do something with it because there are mountains of evidence that point to the resurrection. The tomb was empty that morning and so, from that moment the world has tried to explain it away somehow because it demands a response.

There are many theories out there today, here are a couple of my favorites.

The stolen body theory.

This theory proposes that the disciples snuck over to Jesus’ tomb in the middle of the night and stole the body and then came up with the story that Jesus had risen.

Both historically and biblically this theory falls apart. And here’s why. The disciples, throughout the gospels are never painted in a heroic light. They’re constantly missing what Jesus is doing.

On the night that Jesus is arrested they run like cowards and hide. In fact, in the gospel account of Mark, there are two little verses that speak of a young man who was following Jesus after he was arrested but the guards try to seize him and in order for him to get away, he leaves what he was wearing in their hands and Scripture says he “ran away naked.”

Now, I don’t know about you, but if you would rather run home through the streets naked instead of facing a fight. You’re a coward.

So, the disciples scatter. Peter, one of Jesus’ closest friends, who is often brash and a big talker, on this night denies three times that he even knows Jesus. They’re all hiding thinking they’re next to be caught and killed.

Yet this theory proposes that somehow, in the matter of just three days, these guys find the courage to sneak by Roman guards, remove the stone, drag Jesus away and then all of them commit to sticking with their made-up story, even to death.

And here’s the thing. Most of them will die horrific deaths for proclaiming that Jesus has risen. Time and time again, authorities beat them, throw them in prison, warn them to never speak of Jesus again and not one caves in and says it’s all a lie, we made it up.

None of them recanted. In fact, they only grew bolder in the face of intense persecution.

Many in this world have died for a lie. However, you’d be hard-pressed to find any who have willingly laid down their lives for what they know is a lie.

So, why this change in their demeanor? Why all of a sudden, this courage to stand up to authorities and to look death in the face and rejoice? Because Jesus was not in that tomb, he had risen, and they had seen him.

The swoon theory.

This theory says that as Jesus didn’t die, he just blacked out from blood loss. So, thinking Jesus to be dead, they buried him in the tomb and then three days later, he regained consciousness, rolled the stone away from the tomb and then projected himself to his followers as risen from the dead.

Here’s what took place during Jesus’ trial and execution.

Before the crucifixion even took place Jesus was blindfolded and beaten. He was spat upon, slapped and beaten in the head numerous times with a reed.

He was scourged which means that his hands were tied to a post while he was beaten with a leather whip that was interwoven with pieces of bone and metal. The scourging would bruise the body, tear through the skin often times exposing the person’s bone and intestines.

He has a crown of thorns shoved into his skull while they continue to mock and beat him.

The actual act of crucifixion is meant to bring the most intense amount of pain possible for the longest possible time. Many who were crucified took days to die.

Once to the place of execution, Jesus is thrown onto the rough piece of wood, no doubt his battered and torn up back caused him excruciating pain as he was thrust into place with arms spread wide and feet twisted together.

Once in position the guard would look for the depression at the front of the wrist where he would then drive a heavy, iron stake through the wrist and deep into the wooden cross. After both hands were nailed down, he would then head to the feet.

His left foot would be placed behind his right foot with both feet being extended. With the toes being pointed down another large iron stake is nailed through the arch of each foot leaving a slight bend in the knees.

To breathe, you would have to push up on the nail through your foot for every breath.

Jesus hung on that cross for six agonizing hours. Because of the unbelievable beating he endured leading up to the cross, his body was already near death.

To make sure that Jesus was really dead Scripture says that a guard thrust a spear into Jesus’ side and that immediately blood and water poured out.

This thrust of the spear went in-between Jesus’ ribs and into the heart. The water that came out was the water from the sac that surrounded the heart. This accounting leads many doctors to believe that Jesus did not die from asphyxiation as was common, but from heart failure.

To believe that after Jesus had endured all of this, was buried for three days with no food, no water, no medical care and yet regained consciousness and had enough strength to roll a stone away from the grave, elude or overpower the guards keeping watch, and then present himself to hundreds of people as this glorious and majestic resurrected King is insanity.

We are not here today celebrating a man who endured a tough beating yet pulled through.

We are here today celebrating a suffering King who endured a necessary death followed by a necessary and glorious resurrection.

The death and resurrection of Jesus was necessary.

The main section of our text that was read this morning centered around this interaction that Jesus had with these two guys walking to a village named Emmaus.

Emmaus was about 7 miles away from Jerusalem. So again, keep in mind that at no point in this 7-mile journey did either of these guys look at Jesus and ask him if he’s okay. It’s only been three days since nails were driven through his hands and feet and on top of that a spear thrust through the side.

But Jesus enters into this 7-mile walk and conversation with these guys asking what they’re chatting about like nothing significant had just happened.

Luke 24:17, “What is this conversation that you are holding with each other as you walk”

To which they’re both like, are you the only person in the world who hasn’t heard what just took place the other day?

And I love Jesus’ response.

Luke 24:19, “What things?”

Jesus was arrested, tortured and killed. We thought he was the Redeemer. We’re so confused at that alone and now there’s stories starting to circulate that he’s alive. We don’t know what’s going on!

And it’s here that Jesus begins to teach them the necessity of his death and resurrection.

Verse 25,

Luke 24:25, And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?”

The death of Jesus was necessary. Why?

My wife, Amy and I love watching crime documentaries. There’s something that just draws you in as you hear the case and the evidence, see them in court standing before a judge and a jury, finding them guilty and having a sentence pronounced.

People love when justice is handed down…to others. For ourselves, we love mercy.

The problem is, we’re all guilty before a holy God. We’re all sinners.

(What is sin? – Jeremiah 2:12-13 – a rejection of God as ultimate)

Sin must be dealt with just as a good father or mother deals with a disobedient child. Just like in order for a culture to be orderly, there must be a justice system that’s fair. God would not be a just God if he just let sin go with a slap on the wrist. Justice must be served.

The death of Jesus was necessary. Otherwise, we’re left to bear the penalty for our sin. When Jesus hung on the cross, Scripture says that Jesus became sin. Though he was sinless, he took on our sin so that through faith in Christ alone we would be justified. Meaning that in the courtroom of God, we’re declared innocent because Jesus took the blame and the punishment for our sin. So, because of Jesus we’re set free.

This is why Jesus said his death was necessary. Without it we’d be left in our sin, fully guilty and bearing the penalty for our guilt ourselves.

The resurrection was necessary because without it the payment Jesus made on the cross for our sin debt was no good.

Think of it this way. Let’s say you owed a massive debt of $100 million. I could write you a check right now for $100 million. Meaning, I could put those numbers down on a check and hand it to you. At first, you’d be pretty excited thinking the weight of debt is finally lifted. The problem you’re going to find pretty quickly is that when you go to cash that check, the bank isn’t going to find $100 million in my account and so the payment I give you is absolutely worthless.

Jesus’ death was the payment for our debt, the debt of sin and his resurrection was the verification that the payment he made with his life was sufficient to cover the cost.

These things had to happen. In fact, Jesus shows them that throughout all of Scripture it pointed to the necessity of a Redeemer who would die and be resurrected.

Isn’t that what it says in verse 27?

Luke 24:27, And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.

What did the angels tell the women who came to the tomb looking for Jesus that morning?

Luke 24:6-7, “He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.”

To anyone who was listening, these events of Jesus’ death and resurrection were not a shock. The problem was nobody was listening. Nobody was fully understanding the depths of their depravity. Nobody was fully understanding the height of God’s holiness. Nobody was understanding that in order to be reconciled back to God they needed a sacrificial substitute to stand in their place. Jesus throughout his life said, “listen, I’m that substitute and here’s how it’s going to happen. But it fell on deaf ears.

Are you listening today? The message of Easter is that God is holy, you are sinful, and we need the death and resurrection of Jesus to be reconciled and forgiven.

(gospel proclamation)