Easter

SERMON - ALLELUIA! HE IS RISEN!

INI

Part I: The Evidence of Jesus’ Resurrection

Text: Matthew 28:1-10

Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came 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 from the door, and sat on it. His countenance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. And the guards shook for fear of him, and became like dead men. But the angel answered and said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. And go quickly and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead, and indeed He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him. Behold I have told you.” So they went out quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to bring His disciples word. And as they went to tell His disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, “Rejoice!” So they came and held Him by the feet and worshiped Him. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell My brethren to go to Galilee, and there they will see Me.”

In Christ Jesus, your living Savior, dear fellow-redeemed:

Yesterday was such a warm and beautiful spring day that I was able to get part of our lawn raked; and I have two pieces of evidence to demonstrate that I did indeed rake the lawn.

The first piece of evidence is a little harder to see because you have to know what you are looking for. But if you were to look at my lawn and know that you are looking for what is missing—the dried, dead, matted grass—you would be able to see that indeed part of it is raked. The second piece of evidence is much easier to see—I can show you the blisters on my hands.

The evidence of Jesus’ resurrection is of the same two types. The stone rolled away from the tomb and the empty tomb itself are evidence of Jesus’ resurrection as long as you know that you are looking for what is missing. However, if someone who was unaware of what happened on Friday were to walk by the tomb on Sunday morning he would not notice the evidence. It would only have been a tomb carved out of the rock and it wouldn’t mean anything.

The empty tomb and the rolled-away stone did mean something to the Roman soldiers. The soldiers knew what had been in the tomb. They knew that they had been commissioned by their governor to guard the tomb of the Jewish rabbi whom they had crucified on Friday. They knew about the stone because they were standing guard in front of it and it had borne Pilate’s own official seal. So when the stone was gone and the tomb was empty the soldiers had evidence of Jesus’ resurrection.

The women came “to see the tomb” [v.1] and anoint Jesus’ body. They knew the stone blocked the entrance to the tomb and on their way they discussed how they might move it (cf. Mark 16:3). When they saw the stone was missing from the tomb, they had evidence of Jesus’ resurrection. They came expecting to see Jesus’ body and to honor it, but when it wasn’t there what was missing became evidence of the resurrection.

The second type of evidence is what was seen. Again, the soldiers were the first to see the evidence. They saw the angel come down from Heaven. They saw his “countenance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow.” [v.3] They felt the earthquake. They had the evidence!

The women also saw the angel, sitting on the stone that had closed the tomb. The angel told them, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for He is risen.” [v.6] On their way back to Jerusalem, Jesus Himself “met them, saying, ‘Rejoice!’ So they came and held Him by the feet and worshiped Him”[v.9] The women saw Jesus, they heard Him speak, they touched Him. They had the evidence of Jesus’ resurrection!

Jesus appeared to others on that first Easter…Peter, Mary Magdalene, the two disciples on the way to Emmaus, and the 10 apostles gathered behind closed and locked doors that night; and He continued to appear to believers throughout the 40 days between Easter and His ascension into Heaven. In the words before today’s Scripture reading from 1 Corinthians, the apostle Paul used Jesus’ resurrection appearances as the evidence that Jesus did indeed rise. Paul even mentions a time when Jesus appeared to 500 believers at one time!

There is one more kind of evidence. Return back to the lawn for a moment. If I am a trustworthy person and I tell you that I raked part of my lawn, you don’t really need to see any other evidence. If my word is honorable and true, you don’t need to drive by my lawn to check it out and you don’t need to see my hands. My word is enough.

In a similar, but much higher way, God’s Word is all the evidence we need. God inspired all of these eye-witness accounts to be recorded in His Word in order to assure us that Jesus did indeed rise from the dead. We can be confident in that evidence. But God also speaks of Jesus’ resurrection independently from those eye witness accounts. Already in the Old Testament God declared that the Messiah’s body would not see corruption (cf. Psalm 16:10). Job had the confidence of a Savior who would rise and also raise him from the dead (cf. Job 19:25-26).

Jesus spoke several times to His disciples of how He would be taken by His enemies and then be crucified, but on the third day He would rise again. He told the disciples that after His death they should go to Galilee and He would meet them there. The angel reminded the women of all this and told them to likewise remind the disciples: “…He is risen, as He said…go quickly and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead, and indeed He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him.” [v.7] Jesus also instructed the women to tell the disciples that He was alive and to remind them of what He had said.

When the angel finished speaking to the women, he said, “Behold! I have told you.” [v.7] The angel was God’s messenger. The angel brought the message that Jesus was alive and that word from God was the best and most certain evidence of all.

You may recall that Thomas was not with the other disciples on Easter evening when Jesus appeared to them. Thomas heard the others’ experiences, but he didn’t believe them. The others’ word wasn’t good enough, he needed more evidence. Thomas could have gone to the tomb and found the evidence in its emptiness, but that wasn’t good enough either. Thomas said that he needed to have the evidence of personally seeing Jesus’ nail prints and pierced side, and of being able to touch Him before he would believe that Jesus was alive.

One week later, Thomas had his opportunity when Jesus again appeared to the disciples and this time Thomas was with them. When Thomas saw Jesus he exclaimed, “My Lord and my God!” Then Jesus gently and lovingly rebuked Thomas, “Thomas, because you have seen Me you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (John 20:28-29).

We can’t go to the tomb to see it empty—we don’t even know for certain where it is. We don’t see Jesus bodily walking on the earth and we cannot touch Him. But God’s Word tells us that Jesus lives. God’s true and abiding Word declares that Jesus has risen, and that is all the evidence we need! Amen.

—Pastor Wayne C. Eichstadt

Part II: The Evidence of Jesus’ Resurrection

In Christ Jesus, who turns fear into joy, dear fellow redeemed:

You have heard the evidence provided by St. Matthew—Jesus’ tomb was empty, an angel of God appeared to the women and affirmed Jesus’ word of promise that He would indeed arise, and Jesus Himself appeared to the women returning to Jerusalem from that empty tomb and allowed them both to hold on to and worship Him. The evidence is compelling and the other New Testament Gospels as well as many of the New Testament epistles provide eye-witness accounts of the same—assuring and then reassuring us of the truth of Jesus’ resurrection. There is no reason to doubt the fact of Jesus’ bodily resurrection on that first Easter morning!

But what effect did and does God want Jesus’ resurrection to have upon our hearts? There are two distinct reactions documented by Matthew in his account of Jesus’ resurrection—that of fear and that of joy! In their unbelief the soldiers at Jesus’ tomb reacted with fear to the earthquake, the angel, and the evidence of the empty tomb. Likewise, in their uncertainty the women reacted with fear to an empty tomb that they assumed would be occupied. When two angels appeared to them and one of them addressed them, they likewise were initially filled with fear, for everything that was happening was most unexpected. But their fear turned to joy, and their joy ultimately led them to rejoice! Let us, therefore, this morning consider THE EFFECTS OF JESUS’ RESURRECTION!

I.

The reaction of unbelievers to Jesus’ resurrection was and remains fear! The soldiers were afraid at the natural wonder of an earthquake, as are many people. But they were even more afraid when they beheld the unnatural presence of an angel descending and rolling back the stone. They were even more afraid when they awoke from their stupor to find the tomb empty. Jesus’ resurrection was frightening for the soldiers, because they did not understand it—it was completely contrary to their reason, and it posed an immediate danger to their personal welfare. They were charged to guard a tomb and make sure that what it contained—a dead body—was not removed! Their failure to accomplish their mission would surely be punished, perhaps even at the cost of their own lives. It was customary, after all, for any Roman soldier guarding a prisoner to be executed should that prisoner escape. Yet, how could a dead man escape? The whole situation was disturbing, and it was with great fear that the soldiers made their way into the city that first Easter morning to report what had happened to the chief priests (cf. Matthew 28:11).

The chief priests also reacted with fear. The worst possible scenario from their perspective was now beginning to occur. They had posted the guards to prevent something like this from happening. Could this blasphemer actually have arisen from the dead? It was completely unthinkable! He had opposed everything they taught and everything for which they stood. It was contrary to their vested interests. They were religious leaders of the Jews—not that wretched rabbi-want-to-be from Nazareth. Surely, His disciples had rigged something up to frighten these soldiers and make them believe an angel had appeared. Surely, they must have stolen the body while the soldiers lay senseless. An actual resurrection? The implications of the very thought of such a thing caused their skin to crawl. It could not be, and so they felt themselves completely justified in bribing the soldiers to tell people Jesus’ disciples had stolen the body, and in promising to protect them should reports of the incident reach Pilate’s ears.

Times really have not changed for those living in unbelief. The thought of a physical resurrection is still feared by many today. It is unnatural and, therefore, unscientific—people simply do not arise from the dead! It is inconvenient, for if Jesus really did arise, then He is who He claimed to be—the Son of God, and I really am responsible to Him. His resurrection would put at risk all of my personal choices which conflict with His will. It is inconceivable, because the vested interests of all of the materialists of this world—those with positions and powers tied to the major universities and research organizations—would immediately be put at risk, and they ultimately would have to stand before the judgment throne of Christ. Yes, the reaction of unbelievers to Jesus’ resurrection was and remains fear!

II.

The reaction of believers to Jesus’ resurrection was and remains joy! The initial fear felt by the women at Jesus’ tomb on that first Easter morning was changed to joy, as they listened to the message of the angels and remembered Jesus’ own words and promises. “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified: He is not here; for He is risen, and He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. And go quickly and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead!” The uncertainty, which had resulted in initial fear, yielded to the evidence, which in turn produced joy! Jesus was not dead, but rather was alive! All of the things that they had heard from Jesus’ lips about His upcoming passion and resurrection to follow came flooding back into their memories. It now began to make sense. They had to go and tell the others, who remained at that hour cowering behind closed doors back in the city. “So they went out quickly,” Matthew says, “with fear and great joy, and ran to bring His disciples word.” The “fear” they were now experiencing was an unprecedented awe to the greatness of Jesus. They always believed that He was who He claimed to be—but now, in the face of the resurrection, they possessed great confidence in the truth of what they had been told!

Jesus then met them as they returned to the city. He encouraged them to “rejoice!” The effect of Jesus’ resurrection can be and always should be that we, as His believing followers, are moved to rejoice! His resurrection assures us that He is the very Son of God! His resurrection assures us that we have indeed been justified by our heavenly Father and that our sins have indeed been forgiven. His resurrection assures us that He has conquered death—the consequence of sin, and Satan, death’s master. Jesus allowed the women to hold Him and worship Him, and then He instructed them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell My brethren to go to Galilee and there they will see Me.”

There would be times in the future when these women would face situations that might cause fear to enter their hearts, even as there are situations at times which cause fear to enter our hearts. But they and we do not need to be afraid! Jesus lives! He is no longer dead. He is at God’s right hand watching over us and filling our lives with His blessings. We need never fear; He is the Good Shepherd leading us through the valleys of the shadow of death. He has us in His hand and no one can snatch us from Him. Our future is secure because the resurrection assures us of our resurrection, even as Jesus’ promise assures us of everlasting life! ALLELUIA! HE IS RISEN! May our hearts, therefore, ever be filled with joy! Amen.

—Pastor Paul D. Nolting
To God alone be the glory!