Matthew 28:1-10 | He is Risen

Empty is typically negative, except when it isn’t!

Amen!

Perhaps you are asking the question, what is the big deal about this Jesus Christ and him being raised from the dead?

And friend, that’s a valid question.

And our initial response is that it is the central point of our eternal hope as humanity!

Paul put it this way in 1 Corinthians, when he said:

1 Corinthians 15:14 ESV

14 And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.

For thousands of years millions of people have been gathering on this day to commemorate and celebrate the resurrection of Christ. If he did not raise, then we all have been meeting in vain. There is no point to this tradition.

Paul takes it a step further then in v. 17

1 Corinthians 15:17 ESV

17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.

Not only is meeting futile, but your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.

What does that mean?

Scripture teaches in Genesis 1 that we are all Created by God.

We did not create ourselves. Friend, you are too intricate to be the result of cosmic chance. You are a created being. And the Scriptures give us the best explanation of that created existence.

Further we learn that as Created beings, that we chose and continue to choose to sin against God. In 1 John 3 we learn that sin is lawlessness, or the breaking of God’s Law.

And because we have broken God’s law, we have earned a punishment for our choices which is separation from God, for all eternity, in Hell.

If we die still in our sins, then we will die an eternal death.

When Paul says if Christ is not raised, then you are still in your sins. This is what he means. If Christ is not risen, then you and I are to be pitied, because there is no hope to escape eternal torment!

However, he did rise again. He did prove Himself to be true. He did resurrect conquering death, hell, and the grave.

Friend, this is the good news of Jesus Christ. He came, lived a perfect, sinless life. He died a substitutionary death, and rose again victorious!

And with that victorious resurrection, he provides life to all who will respond to Him in repentance and faith!

This is why we celebrate today! This is why, week after week, we get together to remind each other of our mutual love for this wonderful Savior!

Christ became what he was not, so that we could become what we had no hope in becoming without Him.

Christ died to provide life for sinners. And His resurrection proved everything He said was true!

HIS STORY CHANGES EVERYTHING ABOUT OUR STORY, and we are going to see this in our passage of study this morning.

If you grabbed a bulletin this morning, you’ll find an outline of this study in that bulletin, and you are welcome to follow along and take notes.

This section of the sermon has a header entitled “The Story of Resurrection” That word resurrection simply means going from death to life.

Leading up to Matthew 28, Matthew gives his perspective of what happened leading up to the resurrection that we read of in chapter 28.

In chapter 26, We see the last supper and Christ foretelling of Peter’s denial which comes true later in the chapter. We read of Jesus’ prayer at Gethsemane, and Judas’ betrayal prior to Jesus’ arrest. We read of Christ on trial before the Sanhedrin and the High Priest Caiaphas. In chapter 27 we read of Judas’ suicide, Pilate’s interrogation, and his eventual decision to crucify Christ.

Jesus is then severely beaten, mocked, spit on, his beard is plucked from his face, a crown of thorns is beat into his head, and he is led to Golgotha.

There, his clothes are stripped and divided among the Roman Guards. He is nailed to a cross and hung between two thieves. From noon to 3pm, Matthew records a darkness over the earth, and at 3 pm Christ cries out Eli, Eli, lema Sebachthani?

Bystanders don’t know what is going on, he later cries out, it is finished, and yields up his spirit, and dies.

Then in chapter 27, Jesus is taken down, wrapped in cloth, and laid in the borrowed tomb of Joseph of Arimathea.

A Roman guard was set before the tomb to protect it and it was sealed with a wax imprint of Rome. Pilate and the religious leaders of Jerusalem did not want anything to happen at the tomb.

And all of that leads up to what we read a few moments ago with Keely.

Now, we are going to notice three main parts to the Story of the Resurrection of Christ here in Matthew 28.

Look with me, if you would, again to Matthew 28.

Beginning with v. 1, we see the first part of the story - which is Sorrow

Matthew 28:1 ESV

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.

Matthew 28:2–7 ESV

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.”

Matthew 28:8–10 ESV

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.”