Sermon Tone Analysis

Good morning Calvary Chapel Lake City!

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If you don’t have a Bible...

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Pray for Ukraine… that God would use this bad to draw many hearts to Him.

Announcements:

Next Sunday… we will have a Special Lunch after church celebrating our 2 year anniversary and finishing the Gospel of Matthew.

Passover Seder: April 15th… details to come.

If you’re new to Calvary Chapel…I’m Pastor Marc, welcome!

Thanks for joining us today!

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Please turn in your Bibles to Matthew 28.

Today, we are enter our final series for the Gospel of Matthew… which I am titling “The King’s Resurrection.”

This is only a two-part series as we finish the Gospel of Matthew.

Today, we will look at verses 1-6, and next week verses 7-20… a short chapter.

Over the last several weeks we have looked at Jesus’ final week prior to the cross.

His final week of ministry in Jerusalem…

The Last Supper…

The Garden of Gethsemane…

The Trials, Passion, & Cross…

His Death & Burial.

A Roman Guard was set, and the tomb was sealed as best as the chief priests and Pharisees knew how… which failed… and leads us to today as we look at the King’s Resurrection...

Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection are two bookends… they are central events… key foundations to the Christian faith.

One scholar stated, “The resurrection was not only the supreme validation of [Jesus’] deity; it also validated the Scriptures, which foretold His coming and resurrection.

Moreover, it authenticated Christ’s claims that He would be raised on the third day.

In fact, apart from Christ’s bodily resurrection, we have no Savior, no salvation, and no hope of eternal life.

As the apostle Paul said, our faith would be “useless” and the life-giving power of the gospel would be altogether eliminated.”

And, so today, we are going to look at this most central topic of our faith.

The sermon title for today is, “He is Risen.”

Let’s pray!

Matthew 28:1 “Now after the Sabbath [Saturday], as the first day of the week [Sunday] began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb.”

In Verse 1, we see that this is a Sunday morning, and Mary of Magdala and the other Mary come to see the tomb.

Mark 16:1-2 provides additional detail, “Now when the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene [whom Jesus cast out seven demons], Mary the mother of James [or Joses, also called “James the Less”], and Salome bought spices, that they might come and anoint Him. 2 Very early in the morning [John records it was still dark], on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb when the sun had risen.”

So, these women came to see the tomb, and to anoint the body of Jesus.

Jews did not embalm, so spices were used to neutralize the smell of decay… and as a expression of love and devotion.

These were faithful women.

They were followers of Jesus, and when the majority of the males Disciples had scattered… these women were present at the cross, the burial, and at the tomb the following day.

Following Jesus was not just a once a week event for them…

Daily they were seeking the Lord…

They were flexible to follow Him at personal peril…

They followed Him when it emotionally tore them apart (like at the cross)…

They followed him when He was not physically present (as His body was in the grave)…

And they followed Him in the early hours of the morning.

And, this challenges me… do we follow the Lord like these faithful women?

Are we following Him daily… at personal risk… when life is hard… when He doesn’t seem present… are we seeking Him early in the morning?

These women did.

They were steadfast.

There is much to be learned from these faithful women.

We also see from this verse the foundation for why we worship on Sunday, and not on Saturday or Sabbath.

The first day of the week/ Sunday was Resurrection day…

And, the first day, appears to be the day the disciples assembled for worship… Act 20:7 “Now on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread… ”

From Acts to Revelation, Sabbath is only mentioned in the context of Jewish evangelism… and after Paul declared, “From now on I will go to the Gentiles…” (Acts 18:6) … Sabbath is no longer mentioned.

But, there is freedom… it’s not sin to gather Saturday… or Wednesday… or Sunday…

To the Romans Paul declared, Rom 14:5 “One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike.

Let each be fully convinced in his own mind.”

Now whether Paul had feast days or Sabbath days in mind is difficult to say, but certainly Christian liberty or freedom IS in mind here.

Paul declared to the Colossians… Col 2:16-17 “So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, 17 which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.”

OT legal rules regarding food, drink, feasts, and Sabbaths… were a prophetic shadow or “type”… an anticipation of things to come… things fulfilled in Christ.

The essence of Sabbath is not a day of the week, but rest… and only Jesus is our Sabbath rest as thoroughly explained in Hebrew 4.

Well, this is a great segue to the next topic… Jewish Feasts.

Jewish Feasts you say?

Yes… Jewish Feasts.

Well, Pastor Marc, what do Jewish Feast have to do with Jesus’ Resurrection… isn’t that the topic today?

It sure is… and all of these events (crucifixion, burial, resurrection) were simultaneous to three Jewish Feasts… all shadows of things to come, but the substance… or reality… is of Christ.

Three Spring Feasts were fulfilled at this time of Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection: The Feast of Passover, The Feast of Unleavened Bread, and the Feast of Firstfruits.

What the OT foreshadowed, Christ fulfilled.

Lev 23 speaks about the 7 Feasts of the Lord… which is a fascinating study, because in these feasts, God laid out His prophetic plan … the shadow… for mankind.

Lev 23:5-6 reads, “On the fourteenth day of the first month at twilight is the LORD’s Passover.

6 And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the LORD; seven days you must eat unleavened bread.”

And, then the following verses speak about the Feast of Firstfruits and that this feast is celebrated “on the day after the Sabbath” (V11 of Lev 23) placing the Feast of Firstfruits on the first Sunday after the Passover.

So, back to back these three feasts are celebrated…

Jesus was sacrificed on the cross during Passover…

… was buried during the Feast of Unleavened Bread and…

… Jesus rose again the first Sunday after Passover… during the Feast of Firstfruits.

Passover is the feast that commemorated God’s passing over every house in Egypt that painted the blood of a lamb on their doorposts and lintel.

Exo 12:13-14 “Now the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are.

And when I see the blood, I will pass over you; and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.

14 ‘So this day shall be to you a memorial; and you shall keep it as a feast to the LORD throughout your generations."

Jesus’ shed blood on the cross… was for the remission (or forgiveness) of our sins.

The lamb’s blood in Exodus pointed forward to what Jesus would do on the cross.

As the first Passover in Egypt marked the release from Egyptian bondage for the Jews.

So, does the Jesus’ death on the cross mark the release from the bondage of sin for all mankind.

In type, Passover represents what is said in 1 Cor 5:7, “For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.”

At the crucifixion, Jesus fulfilled the feast of Passover.

The day after Passover is the Feast of Unleavened Bread which commemorated the Israelites quickly fleeing from Egypt with no time to let their dough rise.

Leaven or yeast… which allows dough to rise through fermentation… is a picture of sin in the Bible.

Fermentation by def. is “the chemical breakdown of a substance by bacteria, yeasts, or other microorganisms.”

And, sin breaks down the soul.

Thus, part of this feast is the cleansing of leaven from the home… a picture of cleansing the home of sin.

Exo 12:15 “Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread.

On the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses.

For whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel.”

There was to be no sin in the camp.

God took this very seriously.

In type, the Feast of Unleavened Bread pointed to and was fulfilled in Jesus’ sinless life.

1 Pet 1:18-19 “...you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.”

No imperfections.

No sin.

2 Cor 5:21 “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

The Great Exchange.