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to Matthew chapter 28. Matthew 28, I'll begin reading
in verse 1, and then our focus this morning will be verses 1
to 10, but I will read the whole chapter. 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 was
as white as snow. The guards shook for fear of
him and became like dead men. 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 has risen,
as he said. Come, see the place where the
Lord lay. And go quickly and tell his disciples
that he has 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. Now while they were going,
behold, some of the guard came into the city and reported to
the chief priests all the things that had happened. When they
had assembled with the elders and consulted together, they
gave a large sum of money to the soldiers saying, tell them,
his disciples came at night and stole him away while we slept.
And if this comes to the governor's ears, we will appease him and
make you secure. So they took the money and did
as they were instructed. And this saying is commonly reported
among the Jews until this day. Then the 11 disciples went away
into Galilee to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for
them. When they saw him, they worshiped
him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and spoke to them
saying, all authority has been given to me in heaven and on
earth. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and
of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that
I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you always,
even to the end of the age. Amen. Well, let us pray. Our
Father in heaven, we thank you for the written word. We thank
you for the gospel according to Matthew and for its subject
matter, even the life and the death and the resurrection of
our beloved Lord. How we thank you for the Lord
Jesus Christ. How we thank you that you made
him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become
the righteousness of God in him. We thank you for the fact that
you have, in grace, saved us, that you have given us the graces
of faith and repentance so that we may close with Christ, that
you have caused us to see that He is altogether lovely and chief
among 10,000. And our desire is that sinners
everywhere would see this, they would hear the truth, and by
the grace of God would believe that truth. Be merciful to those
in our midst that do not confess faith in Christ. We pray that
today would be the day of salvation. that as we behold this empty
tomb, we would see a risen Savior, a glorious and a triumphant Lord,
and that sinners would be drawn unto Him by the power of the
Holy Spirit. Do forgive us now for our sins
and transgressions, and help us to receive with thankful hearts
the Word of God. And may you send the Holy Spirit
to do this work, to illumine our minds and our hearts, for
apart from Christ we can do nothing. So we pray for the ministry and
the power and the aid of the Holy Spirit, and we pray through
Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Well, the various gospel
writers, or all four gospel accounts, contain the narrative of the
resurrection. There are some differences, not
contradictions, but some differences that can be harmonized. My purpose
this morning is not to try and harmonize, but to deal with Matthew's
gospel as we find it, of course, referring to a couple of the
other gospels along the way. But instead of, or not necessarily
instead of, but perhaps it's a bit misleading, to look at
this section under the resurrection of Jesus. We don't know, other
than the third day, when he actually was raised. What we find with
these women is a discovery of the empty tomb. And then we see
the appearance of the risen Lord. So we know that he was raised
from the dead. When the angel rolls away the stone, I don't
believe it's to let Jesus out, but rather it's to let the women
in, so that they may investigate and see. The angel doesn't say,
now, just believe what I have to say. Don't go in there. Don't
examine. No, he invites them. Come and
see. Christianity has nothing to fear. The empty tomb has nothing
to fear. We invite all comers to investigate
the glorious truth that Christ lived, that he died, that he
was raised the third day. And the best proof of that is
what we find here in chapter 28, the sublimity of the statement,
Jesus met them. I mean, just think about that
for a moment. Jesus met that. The Jesus they had seen brutally
crucified. The Jesus they had seen placed
into the tomb. The Jesus they had seen rejected
by their countrymen. The Jesus they had seen rejected
by the religious leaders. Jesus met that. As I've often
stressed, as we've gone through the study of this particular
section, everybody confirmed that Jesus was dead. Everybody
affirmed that Jesus had, in fact, really died. And then we read,
Jesus met them. So we'll look at, first, the
discovery of the empty tomb in verses 1 to 8, and then, secondly,
the appearance of the risen Lord. Now, when I said this doesn't
record for us the resurrection of Jesus, it most certainly does.
But I mean, we don't know the exact point. Again, the stone
wasn't rolled away so Jesus could exit. The stone was rolled away
so that the women could investigate. But let's look at this discovery
of the empty tomb. Notice the arrival of the women
at the tomb on the first day of the week. Now, after the Sabbath,
as the first day of the week began to dawn. One commentator
says, the literal dawning of a new day signals a new period
of history. And this is precisely why we
observe the Lord's Day. This is precisely why, from the
creation to the death and resurrection of our Lord, the Sabbath was
on the seventh day. But from the resurrection of
our Lord until He comes again in glory, that Sabbath is on
the first day. He has hallowed it. He has sanctified
it. He has rested on that particular
day. The theology of Hebrews 4 indicates
the reason for the day change, and it's connected. to what Christ
has accomplished. Now it doesn't indicate why the
women went to the tomb. The other authors tell us that
they went to anoint the body. And with reference to the presence
of the women, notice who is there. According to verse 1, Mary Magdalene
and the other Mary came to see the tomb. Mark tells us that
Salome was also present with them, and Luke 24.10 indicates
there were most likely other women. But the emphasis here,
I think, by Matthew is for this reason. This Mary Magdalene and
this Mary, the mother of Joseph and James, these Marys had been
present at the crucifixion. according to chapter 26, verse
56. They had been present at the
burial according to chapter 27, verse 61. And then we see them present
here very specifically at the discovery of the tomb. Now notice
the descent of this angel. Verses 2 to 4, it's a very intriguing
section. I think the young man of Mark
16 and the two men of Luke 24 is the angel. Some would say,
well, Luke has two and Matthew has one. Well, if there were
two in Luke, there was certainly one in Matthew. And most likely,
Matthew records the one who speaks to them, specifically concerning
the resurrection of Jesus. You need to appreciate that.
Some people think that this is a contradiction. Luke mentions
two, Matthew mentions one. That's a contradiction. It's
absolutely not a contradiction. A contradiction would be two
and not two. A contradiction would be two,
and it wasn't the case that there was two. That's contradictory.
But if there are two people in this room, we can certainly affirm
there's one person in this room. Again, the reason is probably
theological. It's probably with reference
to the emphasis. The author here, Matthew, speaks
concerning the angel that spoke concerning the resurrection.
But notice, this is attended by an earthquake. Verse 2, And
behold, there was a great earthquake. Now there was an earthquake that
accompanied the crucifixion, according to chapter 27, verse
51 and verse 54. And here there is an earthquake
that accompanies the resurrection. John Gill giving various reasons
for this ends by saying, and it was a symbol and token of
the presence and majesty of Christ at whose rising as at his death
the earth shook and trembled. It's a good way to consider this.
And then Spurgeon in his typical Spurgeonic sort of poetic way
says, when the king awoke from the sleep of death, he shook
the world. The bedchamber in which he rested
for a little while trembled. as the heavenly hero arose from
his couch. I quite like that. That's a beautiful
description of this earthquake. But notice, as we continue in
verse 2, Matthew indicates for us that this earthquake wasn't
due to natural phenomena. They weren't on a fault line.
It wasn't a shift of the seismic plates. It wasn't anything to
do with the natural order. But it's connected to the descent
of this angel. This is explanatory. Behold,
there was a great earthquake. Why? For an angel of the Lord
descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone from
the door and sat on it." Again, I believe this is the young man
of Mark 16, 5, and this is the two men in Luke 24, 4. Not literally,
one man is two, but they're speaking about these angelic beings who
attended the resurrection site of our Lord Jesus Christ. And
it's intriguing in Matthew's Gospel as well. Not that there's
no other references to angels, but there is a reference to an
angel speaking with reference to the Incarnation, and we see
angels speaking with reference to the Resurrection. So at the
beginning of our Lord's ministry, at the end or the beginning of
the new phase of His ministry, we see this angelic presence
instructing the people of God concerning the majesty and the
glory and the excellence of the Lord Jesus Christ. Notice, it
says, the angel of the Lord descended from heaven and he came and rolled
back the stone from the door and sat on it. Again, I don't
think it's to let Jesus out, but so that persons can get in,
they can investigate, which the women do. Again, the other gospel
writers evidence that for us, Peter and John enter into the
tomb. So it was open for investigation.
It's a scientific method right here. Oh, you Christians just
believe everything on faith. Yeah, but it's a faith rooted
in objective data. You understand that? We're not
believing some made-up fairy tale. We're not believing in
the existence of unicorns because we really wish there were unicorns.
We're believing in the God who has revealed himself in his inspired,
infallible, and inerrant Word. We're believing the data concerning
the Lord Jesus Christ, who actually did live, who was actually crucified,
and who was actually raised from the dead. We are believing objective
truth. It isn't some myth or mystery
or some cunningly devised fable. We are believing the reality
as it's revealed to us in the scriptures of both the Old and
the New Testaments. So he rolls back the stone from
the door and then notice he sat on it. This is an intriguing
picture, isn't it? He sat on the stone. Why? I think it's somewhat indicative
of or expressive of triumph. Victory. Remember this angel,
and it goes on to describe how he's clothed. And the way that
he's clothed is representative or signifies heavenly beings. We see this sort of a description
in Daniel 7 with reference to the ancient of days. We see it
in Daniel 10 with reference to the one who gave Daniel a particular
vision. And we see it even of Jesus on
the Mount of Transfiguration, Matthew 17, this blazing white
garment. This angelic being sits upon
the stone as a representative of heaven itself that no one
will ever again place a stone over a tomb that contains the
son of God most high. Matthew Henry said, there he
sat, defying all the powers of hell to roll the stone to the
grave again. I think that's how we ought to
understand it. Triumph, victory, glory, majesty,
excellence. And if that of the angel who
is the servant to testify concerning Christ, then what of the Christ
himself? What of this one who appears
to these women in verses 9 and 10? What of this one who is heaven's
darling, heaven's gem? If He, this angel, is triumphant
or expresses heaven's triumph, the fact that our risen Lord
is our risen Lord is expressive of His triumph and His victory
and His power and His dominion over the grave. This is a man
who was raised from the dead. This is a man who raised himself. Now, I know it's ascribed to
all three persons of the Trinity. There are instances where Christ
specifically says, I will raise it up, or I will raise up. according
to John 10. It's a glorious, wonderful situation. Now note the response of the
guards. Verse 4, the guards shook for
fear of him and became like dead men. The word earthquake is where
we get the word, it's a Greek word, where we get the word seismic.
You know what the Greek word for earthquake is? Seismic. Seismos. It's interesting because these
guards, they quake. They have their own seismic sort
of episode at this particular juncture or this particular time.
It certainly gives the background for the lie that we'll see in
verses 11 to 15, when the chief priests bribed the guards with
a great deal of money. They weren't sleeping. They were
terrified. They weren't snoozing. They were
quaking like dead men. That's what the text specifies
concerning this. And notice, the angel doesn't
say anything to the guards. The angel, other than sitting
upon the top of the stone, doesn't threaten to turn them into chickens
or donkeys or anything like that. He doesn't do anything like that.
They're just terrified at this particular spectacle. But it
is intriguing that these are Roman soldiers that no doubt
saw their skirmishes. A young man today could conceivably
join the military and not ever see any sort of altercation or
any sort of action whatsoever. Not so true in this particular
context. Roman soldiers were always fighting,
there were always tumults, there were always trials, there were
always difficulties. Calvin makes this observation
concerning the fear of these soldiers. The soldiers who were
accustomed to tumults were terrified and were so completely overwhelmed
by alarm that they fell down like men who were almost dead,
but no power was exerted to raise them from that condition. You
see the irony? These soldiers are given a task,
one task, guard this dead body. Not only do they not do that,
but the body that was dead is now alive. And they themselves
have quaked themselves into a fearful state where they are almost like
dead men. The irony is just pleasantly
sweet at this particular point. But they are fearful concerning
this situation. Now note the commission the angel
gives to the women. He first encourages them, do
not be afraid. Why would he say that? because
they were probably afraid. They come to investigate the
tomb, or rather to come to anoint the body. The stone is rolled
away, and there is the angel sitting upon the stone. I would
probably be a bit scared of that. I don't know about you. You're
all macho. It's a Sunday morning. Everybody's
full of vigor and energy, and if you saw such a thing, you
wouldn't be afraid. I think most people would at
least be, to some degree, a bit afraid. And it's intriguing,
because both Angel and Jesus encourage the women with, do
not fear. Spurgeon says, let the soldiers
tremble. Let them lie as if dead through
fright. But fear not ye, for I know that
ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. Those who seek Jesus need not
fear. Isn't that beautiful? Those who
seek Jesus need not fear. Now note, after he encourages
them or comforts them, he now instructs them or explains to
them. He first acknowledges the reason
for their presence. They're not there to see the
tomb of any other man. They're there to see the tomb
of the Lord Jesus. He as well confirms that Jesus
had died. I've mentioned that idea, that
attack upon the resurrected. Well, he wasn't really dead.
The swoon theory. He was injured. He went into
a coma-like state, and it was then that he was deposited into
the tomb. Everybody else, everybody contemporary with the situation,
everybody connected to the situation, all testified that he was dead.
The soldiers who murdered him. The pilot, the governor, gave
the order. He verified it was his own centurion.
The religious leaders knew that he was dead because they said,
while he was alive, he said this, everybody confirms and affirms
that Jesus was dead, including this angelic being. Notice he
is not, I'm sorry, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. Now the angel announces the resurrection. He is not here for he is risen.
Isn't that what we hang our souls on? Isn't that the basis upon
which we have everlasting life? Now, encompassing not only the
resurrection itself, but everything leading up to it. Life, death,
resurrection. You see, if there was no he is
risen connected to the Lord Jesus Christ, he would have been a
martyr, a valiant martyr, a noble martyr, a martyr who fought to
the very end, but ultimately the grave contained him. He is
not a martyr, He is a Savior. He is not a martyr, He is our
Lord. He is not simply a martyr, that
ultimately means testifier or witness, and He did do that.
He is the Redeemer of God's elect. He is risen is one of the most
glorious things that has ever been said concerning anyone else. And we are the blessed recipients
of that truth by God's grace. He is not here for he is risen. And then the angel reminds them
of his often repeated assertions. The Lord's often repeated assertions. Notice what he says. He is not
here for he is risen as he said. You see what that empty tomb
does as well? Not only affirms and confirms
everything Jesus predicted or prophesied concerning his own
resurrection, he does it in Matthew 12, he does it in Matthew 16,
he does it in Matthew 17, he does it in Matthew 20, and he
does it again in Matthew chapter 26. On those several occasions,
Jesus announces that he will be raised from the dead, that
he will exit the tomb. Now whether everybody received
that and believed it and affirmed it and lived in light of that,
that's not the point. That empty tomb not only underscores
the reality that all those predictions or prophecies concerning his
resurrection were true, but it also validates everything he
says. It seems to me it's very difficult for persons to try
to pick and choose the Jesus they want. You know, we like
this about Jesus, but we don't like this so much. We like that
Jesus is always gentle, meek, and mild, but this wrath of the
Lamb thing that we see over here in Revelation 6, that just doesn't
fit with our sort of conception of who Jesus is. Do you realize
that your conception of who Jesus is matters not one bit to anybody
but you? It matters what God's word says. We're not to be subjectivists.
We're not to be relativists. We're not to be those who are
shopping at the buffet. Well, I like this, but I don't
like this. I like that, but I don't like this. If Christ announces
by prophetic word that he's going to be raised from the dead, and
he is raised from the dead on the third day, as he said, then
we have to take everything what he said to heart. No picking
and no choosing. But it's intriguing because the
verb form used here in verses six and seven, with reference
to him being raised, it's what's called a passive verb. I don't
wanna confuse the adults, the kids would probably track with
all this, no problem. But it's a passive verb. That
means that the subject is being acted upon. An active verb would
be as if I hit the wall. A passive verb is the wall hit
me. Jesus was acted upon. Again, he has power, authority
to take up his life again, according to John 10. The resurrection
is ascribed to Jesus as the Son of God, but it's ascribed to
persons of the triune God. And here, specifically, what
we see is the Father. He was raised from the dead.
And I think we ought to appreciate there's more going on with this
particular use of the verbal form than just the historical
affirmation, but the theological beauty. He was raised by the
Father. Why? Because he did what the
Father gave him to do. He was raised by the Father.
Why? Because Jesus came into this
world, sinners to save. He was raised by the Father.
Why? Because Jesus always did what
was pleasing to the Father. He always obeyed the Father.
He laid down His life in obedience or compliance to the Father's
plan and purpose and cause. And as a result of that, Christ
offered up a perfect sacrifice for the glory of the Father and
for the good of His people for whom it was made. In other words,
Christ accomplished everything the Father had given Him. So
what does the Father do? The Father raises Him from the
dead. The Father, according to Ephesians chapter 1, puts Him
at His right hand. Therefore He has exalted Him. Philippians 2, He has given Him
a name which is above every name. Brethren, I think we ought to
take our cue from the Father on how we ought to esteem the
Son. We say we are Christians. We
say we are Christ followers. We say we are devoted to the
second person of the triune God. That's our identity. That's our
identification. If anybody were to ask you, how
do you identify? You say, I'm of Christ. Well,
brethren, how does the Father view Christ? The Father is so
pleased with what Christ does, He raises Him from the dead.
The Father is so pleased with what Christ does, He puts Him
at His right hand. The Father is so pleased with
Christ that He gives Him absolute, universal dominion over all things,
both in this age and in the age to come. That's what the Father
views with reference to our Lord Jesus. This passive use of the
verb in verses 6 and 7 point to the divine purpose for Christ. God the Father raised Him from
the dead. The Father raised Jesus, Chamberlain
says, from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit, thereby honoring
His beloved Son, lauding His obedience unto death, and ratifying
the new covenant established by His atoning sacrifice. So the angel acknowledges the
reason for their presence. He confirms that Jesus had died. He announces the resurrection
with He is risen. And he reminds them of the many
times that Jesus had said that he would be raised the third
day. And then he invites them, invites them to examine the tomb. Think about this. Again, I think
throughout the gospel narratives, throughout the various accounts,
there's all these sorts of things that are there to shut the mouths
of gainsayers. You know, somebody's going to
come along in church history not long after this event and
say, well, you know, they stole the body away. Well, Matthew
includes that, both the plot in chapter 27 and the actual
execution of that plot in chapter 28. Some will say, well, you know,
the angel didn't let them go in and see the tomb. Just trust
me on this. You don't need to look behind
that. You don't need to go in there. He says, come and see.
Come and see where he lay. Again, Christianity has nothing
to hide. You young people need to get
this because as we live, as we move, as we have our being in
an increasingly secular culture, the object of absolute disdain
is objective truth. You can believe anything you
want as long as you don't tell somebody it's actually true.
You can believe anything you want as long as you don't insist
that it's the only truth. You can believe anything you
want. You can be anything you want in terms of your own identity
or whatever. But when you say, I'm a Christian
and I believe that I speak the words of truth and reason. I
get that from Paul before Festus. Remember when Paul is testifying
and Festus says, much learning is driving you mad, Paul. What
does Paul say? I'm not mad, most noble Festus,
but speak the words of truth and reason. On the one hand,
we esteem Paul for doing that. Wow, he's speaking the words
of truth and reason. On the other hand, we need to
esteem Paul for what he's doing by implication. Everyone who
doesn't speak as I do, everyone who doesn't believe as I do,
everyone who doesn't hold to the Christian faith as I do,
is not speaking the words of truth and reason. You see, this
positive affirmation that Christianity is true and reasonable is an
indictment against the spirit of the age, and they don't want
that. You young people need to gird yourselves up in the truth
of Holy Scripture. The sorts of muddled thinking,
the sorts of confusion, the sorts of inability that perhaps you've
seen evidence in some of the superiors in the midst. I don't
mean superior in rank, but in age. You gotta step it up. We're coming up on times where
things that used to be locked down, like male and female, that's
not locked down anymore. If you can't lock down that,
then everything's up for grabs. And it certainly won't do for
young people. On the modern university campus,
well, I think the Bible says. I heard it preached before. I think it's, you know, these
authors, brethren, weren't doing apologetics in the first place,
but they were doing apologetics. They were heading off at the
past the cables of men. They were heading off at the
past the modern university scene. They were heading off the past
those people that say, well, it's a cunningly devised fable,
it's myth, it's just an illusion. The angel himself, they say,
well, we don't believe in angels. Various persons saw these beings. The angel says, come and investigate. Come and see where he lay. The
very details presented to us in the gospel records. Some suggest,
well, the friends of Jesus stole his body away. They were too
timid to identify with him. Where are they up to this point? Presently, they're hiding in
a room, according to John's gospel, without Thomas, just because
they're afraid of the Jews. You don't get the impression
that these were shotgun-wielding, bandolero-wearing dudes that
had big beards and ate meat all the time and busted bodies out
of the tomb. You see just the opposite in
the Gospel record. You see just the contrary with
reference to the disciples. Some say, well, his enemy stole
his body. Why? Why would they want to give any
truck to the idea that he was raised from the dead? Well, it
was grave robbers. There were laws specifying that
there was severe punishment for grave robbers in the Roman Empire. What grave robber is going to
take the clothes off of a body and carry around a dead, naked
body? And in John 20, verses 6 and
7, they see the cloth that was wrapped around his head, again,
not the shroud of Turin, but they see that folded and laid
down on the bench there in the tomb. Now, I don't know what
the ethics of grave robbers are, but I can't imagine they're tidy
after they ravage a grave. All right, you take that, you
take that, and fold the garments before we leave. See, I think
that embedded in the narrative, It's the sort of ammunition that
the people of God today need to be armed with so we don't
kowtow to an increasingly secular age that says, well, there's
no such things as angels. There's no such things as God.
There's no such thing as a resurrection from the dead. The Bible says. Thus saith the Lord, needs to
be, again, recovered by the church in the face of, well, it's not
even science is proven anymore. It's my feelings warrant or my
commitments or my this or my that. We're not even in the age
anymore where science is proven. No, it's every man is, you know,
every man does what's right in his own eyes. You want to identify
as a three-year-old girl? Go ahead. Who am I to question
that? You wanna identify as a 50-year-old man? Go ahead, who am I to question?
But does it ever dawn on anybody, but you're not a three-year-old
girl. That doesn't matter anymore. And see, the people of God that
can't give answers from the scriptures, who can't speak the words of
truth and reason, are gonna be chewed up and spit out in the
modern climate. Pay attention to narrative. Pay
attention to detail. Pay attention to what the authors
are doing in the texts that we read. Come, see the place where
the Lord lay. Now notice the specific word
of instruction in verse 7. The women become the apostles
to the apostles. Don't they? Talk about the dignity
of women in this passage. And even that detail. If somebody
was going to fake a gospel record, if somebody was going to fake
a resurrection story, the last person they would use as the
first witness would be women. They just would never do that.
Josephus in his antiquities indicates the value of women in a courtroom.
I don't mean to offend you ladies, I don't mean to upset you, but
this is what Josephus wrote in this particular context. But let not the testimony of
women be admitted on account of the levity and boldness of
their sex. So if in a context where women
testimony was basically null and void, If you were going to
fake this, wouldn't you have the first ones to discover the
tomb, men? Wouldn't you have it be a man?
And, you know, just backing up a bit in the narrative, if you're
going to fake this, would you have the man that's going to,
at least for a time, be recognized as the leader of the church after
Jesus is risen and exalted back on high, deny Jesus? You'd clean
that up too, wouldn't you? You would tend to clean up the
narrative if it didn't advance your particular purpose. The fact that there are differences,
which I announced at the beginning, that can be harmonized, but some
of it is a bit tricky, that's another evidence. What do you
think men would do, a Matthew, a Mark, a Luke, and a John, that
were going to fabricate a resurrection story of the Lord Jesus? They
would meet in the equivalent of their fellowship hall or of
their study. They'd open up, they'd brew some
coffee, they'd get out their notepads or their iPads or whatever
pads they had, and they would collude. They would clean. They would smoothen out. They
would fix it. Well, if we have these disagreements,
well, let's shore that up. The very differences themselves
are an evidence to the veracity of it. Fakes fake it well. The truth has nothing to hide.
You see, all of this taken into consideration by the people of
God. Notice, the women become the
apostles to the apostles to declare the truth of the resurrection.
The women are to tell the apostles to go to Galilee in order to
see Jesus. Go back to chapter 26, verse
32, another announcement where Jesus would be raised. I mentioned
this one earlier. Notice in verse 32 of Matthew
26. But after I have been raised, I will go before you to Galilee.
Why Galilee? What's so special about Galilee?
Why does Jesus want them to meet him in Galilee? Why does Matthew's
gospel end in Galilee? Isn't Jerusalem better? In Jerusalem,
the political and religious capital of the world or of the country
at that particular time, you know, some suppose it's because
of how apostate Jerusalem had been. This is another sign or
indicator that Jesus is leaving their house desolate. He's going
to go to Galilee. Others suppose that it has something
to do with his beginning of his ministry. He starts in Galilee,
according to Matthew chapter 4. And a prophecy from Isaiah
the prophet, chapter 9, is applied to that particular beginning
of ministry. And it's called Galilee of the
Gentiles. So I think that this Galilee
has to do something with what we find in the actual Great Commission. He's in Galilee of the Gentiles
to send out his people on a worldwide mission. In other words, the
Christian faith is not confined to the physical, literal descendants
of Abraham. The Christian faith goes out
to the spiritual descendants of Abraham, men from every tribe,
tongue, people, and nation. or in the verbiage used by our
Lord, go therefore and make disciples of all the nations. Galilee of
the Gentiles is a most fitting place to launch a worldwide mission
to men from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation. But Jesus
had already told them, after I have been raised, I will go
before you to Galilee. The angel rehearses this with
the women. And France says, now the corollary
of his going ahead is spelled out. When they get to Galilee,
they will see him, not just an empty tomb, but a living Jesus. Now, look at the women. What
do they do? They do what a lot of Christians
today don't do, they obeyed. Well, you know, my time, I've
got to go fold laundry. Just go. When an angelic being
tells you to go find disciples and tell them that their Lord
is risen and to meet him in Galilee, you just do it. You don't go
fold laundry first or, you know, split the Adam. You just do what
you're supposed to do. But an intriguing statement here
in verse eight. Notice, so they went out quickly,
not just compliance, but quick compliance, from the tomb with
fear and great joy. Fear and great joy. You meet
people sometimes, they say, you know, you talk about being a
God-fearing Christian, and that just sounds miserable. What good
could there be in this fearing God? Well, you know as well as
I, much of the Old Testament, or many references in the Old
Testament, fear of God is just another description for believer.
The fear of God is just another description for a Christian,
and you know, obviously, the Old Covenant scenario. But I
think the point that we need to stress or emphasize here is
that fear and joy, and notice it's not great fear, it's fear,
it's great joy. These are not enemies in the
Christian life. These are not foes in the Christian life. One
only needs to ask themselves, when I stand in the presence
of the God of heaven and earth, or better when I bow in the presence
of the God of heaven and earth, or best when I fall on my face
before the God of heaven and earth. What kind of a disposition
ought to characterize my heart? Jokes, levity, frivolity, fear. It's intriguing that when the
angels get this view in Isaiah 6, these six-winged seraphim,
with two, they fly, with two, they cover their feet, and with
two, they cover their face. You see, no one in the Bible
runs into the presence of the Holy One of Israel and puts their
arm around him and says, how you doing, buddy? It's a modern
conception. We have lost the fear of God.
We have lost reverence in the presence of the Holy One of Israel.
John Murray well described the fear of God as the soul of godliness. I quite like that. Fear and great
joy are friends in the Christian heart. Fear and great joy are
companions in the Christian heart. We learn this from King David
in the second Psalm. He says, serve Yahweh with fear
and rejoice with trembling. I would suggest that if we don't
know these twin concepts in our heart, we better learn them,
we better discover them, we better seek them, because these are
things that characterize the blood-bought children of God.
We come into the presence of the High King of Heaven, and
it's not for joke time, it's not for casual time, it's not
for chat time, it's to be in the presence of the God of Heaven
and Earth time. One of the reasons why, just
personally, probably you'll be offended, but I really can't
stomach preachers with hands in their pockets. The United
States Air Force, they said, if you put your hands in your
pockets, you're gonna get in trouble. Most airmen, at least in my day,
sewed their pockets together so they wouldn't be tempted to
put their hands in their pockets. You're doing that in the presence
of an earthly commander and men who represent the God of heaven
and earth, ambassadors for heaven, are going to stand behind pulpits
with hands in pockets, giving chats? We're with God. We're in the presence of the
Holy One. You know what's fitting? Fear
and great joy. I would suggest the great joy
is facilitated by the fear. We need both in our service to
God. Serve Yahweh with fear and rejoice
with trembling. Now, let's look secondly at the
appearance of the risen Lord, verses nine to 10. They have an extraordinary sight. And as they went to tell his
disciples, behold, Jesus met them saying, rejoice. Behold,
Jesus met them. Again, they had seen him brutally
crucified. They had seen him executed at
the hands of Roman soldiers. They had seen him placed in the
tomb. I don't think that you and I
can fully enter into what that may have been like. Imagine that. You were one of
the women that saw this brutality take place and of one that you
loved. Why are they at the cross? Why
are they at the tomb? And why are they discovering
this? Because they love Jesus. They were devoted to Jesus. Look
at that beautiful relationship Jesus bore with these women.
There was no impurity, no wickedness, there was no, you know, wretchedness
whatsoever. Children, when he needed one
for an illustration, not that he needed, you know what I mean,
a child come climb up into his lap. Sometimes I wish I was more
like Jesus in that regard. He got along with people very
well. Children weren't afraid of him. I don't want to go near
him. When he needed a child, they would come, flock to him.
These women loved him. They were devoted to him. They
adored him. And now they've seen him with
their eyes. Again, just try to jump in and
imagine the scene. Mary Magdalene, this one that
in many respects is just esteemed above many, many others in the
gospel narratives. She was forgiven much, so she
certainly loved much. She and the Mary Mother of Joses
and Solomon, again, probably others. They saw Christ. He'd gone into the tomb, and
now he was there standing before them. The sublimity of it, Jesus
met them. The way Matthew records, almost
just so matter of fact. If we were there, we'd say, Matthew,
don't you wanna do the equivalent of blowing a horn here, or underline
it, or boldface it? I mean, it just sounds almost
so casual. But then what Jesus says is just
ordinary. I know it's translated here,
rejoice, and that's a legit translation of the word, but it's the way
that people greeted each other in Greek. It was the common parlance. In fact, I think they still use
this word, kairate. It means akin to our, hello,
hi, The sublimity of it. One man
makes some observations here that I'm not sure I agree with
all of it, but he just points to the earthiness of Jesus. What would you and I say? Ta-da! And you thought I couldn't do
it, didn't you? Wouldn't we rub it in? Wouldn't
we seek to dazzle? Wouldn't we seek to shine? Jesus
says, hello. Jesus met them and he says to
them, kairate, hello, hi. Frantz says to say simply that
Jesus met them when the last we saw of him was as a corpse
sealed in a tomb is a masterly understatement. And his greeting,
kairate, or hello, is almost banal in its everyday familiarity. It's just so uncommon. in the
sense that he doesn't seize upon it. I remember making this observation
when we traced through the Samson narratives. How do most people
see Samson? This big, bumbling oaf. He's
got muscles upon muscles, and every woman he sees, he just
has to be with them. That's not the way Samson was. Four times in the Samson narratives,
the Spirit of the Lord came upon him. I don't know how many people
in the Bible have that said of them four times. But one of the
things that I brought out, maybe it was obscure, maybe it's not
accurate, but I'm gonna throw it out there again anyway. When
he kills the lion, what does he do? He doesn't tell anybody. That's so contrary to us. We would tell everybody. It would
be Facebook. It would be Instagram for the
next five days. This is me killing the lion from
this angle. This is me killing the lion from
that angle. This is me coming home and having
told my mom I kill. Wouldn't we? Same thing. No, ta-da. No, you fools didn't
think I could do this. No. Hello. What's their response? It's beautiful. It's glorious. It's amazing. It's majestic.
So they came and held him by the feet and worshiped him. What does this indicate to us?
He's not a phantom. He's not an apparition. He's
not a ghost. He has feet. Davies and Allison,
in their commentary, they seem to give evidence of knowing a
lot. And they say that according to
worldwide folklore concerning ghosts, ghosts never have feet. Now, I didn't have the time to
verify worldwide folklore, I certainly didn't have the time to investigate
feet on ghosts or not, but I don't think they're far off the beaten
path with reference to the meaning here. Because Jesus does this
very thing in Luke's gospel. He shows them his physicality. He shows them that he is flesh,
that he is bones. He cautions them against assuming
that he is a phantom or that he is a ghost. They've got a
hold of his feet. He is real. After that instance
in Luke 24, what do they do? They feed him fish and honeycomb. Beautiful thing, our Lord that
went into the tomb comes out of the tomb. Not certainly glorified,
resurrected, you know, takes on this glorious dimension, but
the Jesus that went into the tomb is the Jesus that came out
of the tomb. Now, I really don't want to stretch
this, but there might be an analogy here. I would affirm that feet
are not essential to humanity. In other words, if your feet
are chopped off, you're still a human being. But it is intriguing,
and I think, again, just by way of analogy, let's think of hypostatic
union. They're holding him by the feet,
and they're affording to him worship. He is true humanity. He is true deity. He is God. He is man. He's got feet. He is worthy to be worshiped
and praised and glorified and honored. It's a beautiful thing. Now note the message of Jesus.
Some have said, well, he says the same thing that the angel
said. The angel said to the women, go tell the disciples to meet
Jesus in Galilee. What does Jesus do? Jesus says,
go tell. my brethren, to meet me in Galilee."
Same message, but we do err if we think it's exactly similar. The angel refers to the disciples
as the disciples. Jesus refers to the disciples
as my brethren. And I think there's a world of
encouragement in this sort of statement. Notice, it reiterates
an emphasis in Matthew's gospel. Matthew 12, behold, your mother
and your sisters, your brothers. No, those who do the will of
my Father in heaven are my brothers and mothers and sisters. Matthew
23, when he cautions his disciples against calling men rabbi and
teacher and the right reverend sir, he says, you're all brethren. Jesus in the Olivet Discourse
in Matthew 25, as the king of the nations, what you did or
you didn't do, for the least of these, my brethren, you did
or didn't do unto me. This underscores the special
relationship between Jesus and his people. It's a beautiful
statement in Hebrews 2. In fact, you can turn there for
just a moment. Hebrews chapter 2, it's a quote
from Psalm 22, but let's look at the Hebrews 2 version. Hebrews 2.10. Actually, let's just look right
at verse 12. saying, I will declare your name
to my brethren. In the midst of the assembly,
I will sing praise to you. That's Psalm 22, 22, applied
to our Lord Jesus Christ. And he says, I will declare your
name to my brethren. In the midst of the assembly,
I will sing praise to you. You actually meditate upon that
verse. It speaks wonderful things concerning public worship. Christ
is in the midst of the assembly with his brethren. He's the choir leader. He's the
choir director. He is the worship leader when
we gather together with one another. It's a beautiful thing, but the
point here is that he calls them my brethren. Now, going back
to Matthew 28, verse 10, go and tell my brethren to go to Galilee,
and there they will see me. It reiterates an emphasis in
Matthew's gospel. It reflects the glory of the
relationship between Christ and his people, and I would submit
that it rehearses the great grace, the goodness, the kindness, and
the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ. When's the last time we have
collectively seen the disciples? In 26, 56, when they forsook
Him, when they abandoned Him, when they departed from Him. And then subsequent to that in
chapter 26, Peter's in the courtyard and denies Him three times. Brethren, if you ever compare
this section with what we find in Mark, Mark 16, Jesus' instruction,
go tell my disciples and Peter. Well, that's the angel. Go tell
the disciples and Peter. Why and Peter? Most scholars recognize, most
Christians have known that Mark is dependent upon Peter. In other
words, Mark's gospel is Peter's gospel. I would suggest that
it was a series of lectures done by Peter in the city of Rome
and Mark was the transcriber, the recorder, but you don't have
to follow that. But if it's got Peter's fingerprints
on it, why and Peter? To emphasize this very point,
the one who denied him is still his brother. And Peter's not
left out in this narrative when we get to 2816. It's the 11 that
gather. Brethren, Jesus is calling brethren,
those who abandoned Him, those who forsook Him, and one who
denied Him three times to a slave girl. Do not think for a moment
there isn't forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared.
Do not think for a moment that 1 John 1, 9 is a fake. Do not
think for a moment that the psalmist's argument in Psalm 25, 11 is crazy,
where he says, pardon my iniquity, for it is great. Are you crazy? You're going to plead for forgiveness
because of how great your sin is? It's because of the greatness
of my sin that I do plead for forgiveness. There is forgiveness
with God. It is manifested in this two-word
difference from the same instruction that the angelic being gave.
Go and tell, or go to Galilee, I'm sorry, go and tell my brethren
to go to Galilee. John Calvin observes. He says,
it is proper to remark the astonishing kindness of Christ in deigning
to bestow the name of brethren on deserters who had basely forsaken
him. So same instruction, go to them
and tell them to go to Galilee, a little bit different nuance. The angel says, disciples, Jesus
says, my brethren. Now I'm not suggesting you go
out and sin against Jesus and he'll keep calling, you know,
just rest in the fact that he calls you my brethren. But when
we do sin, John continues, we have an advocate with the Father,
even Jesus Christ, the righteous. Never forget that. We are His
brethren. When once we enter, by the grace
of God, into that covenantal relationship with our Master
and Redeemer, He doesn't let us go. You know how offensive
the view is that true Christians can lose their salvation? You
know what that means? That Christ can lose one that
He saves. Because if it were up to Christians,
if it were up to us, if you could lose your salvation, you would
most certainly lose it. No doubt. No doubt whatsoever. The only reason why you're saved,
why you continue saved is because of the master, because he's got
us in the grip of his hand and no one can pluck us out. We are
his brethren. And I think this last statement
just reminds us what the glory of the gospel entails. Go to
Galilee and there they will see me. Isn't that the height of
our Christianity? Certainly, we rejoice in the
ordo salutis. We have been forgiven of our
sins and justification. We are growing in grace and in
the knowledge of our Lord and sanctification. But all that,
not but, and all of that is heading toward glorification. You know
what the chief boon of glorification is? It isn't, well, I'm going
to have a resurrected body. You know, these old tired bones
aren't going to weigh me down anymore. We're gonna be with
Jesus. Can't wait to get to heaven,
because I hear it's, you know, big basketball court in the sky.
Jesus is what heaven is. This is everything for us in
our Christian life. Go to Galilee, and there they
will see me. That's the boon in our religion. Well, brethren, I think that
we see a few things in the passage, a few things I already dealt
with, so this shouldn't take long. First, the glory of the
resurrection. It's a beautiful thing, isn't
it? And you might have wondered this morning, we sang resurrection
hymns, and it's not April. Every Sunday is Resurrection
Sunday. Every Sunday. We are tacitly
announcing at our entrance upon this place of worship, He is
risen! That's what we do. Revolutionary. We worship a man who was dead
and was raised the third day. Ryle said this, can't preach
a sermon on the resurrection and not quote J.C. Ryle. He says,
it is the crowning proof that he has paid the debt which he
undertook to pay on our behalf, won the battle which he fought
to deliver us from hell, and is accepted as our surety and
substitute by our Father in heaven. We have dealt briefly, or at
least in some respect, with the apologetics of the resurrection. Everybody confirms his death.
Everybody associated with the event at that time affirms that
he was dead. Man, angel. We could add to that
list Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus. Certainly as they
collect the body of Jesus from Pilate, or Pilate's people, as
they bury Jesus in Joseph's tomb, they would be able to determine
whether or not he was dead. Some suggest the women went to
the tomb for this very reason, that Jewish tradition specified
that loved ones would go to the tomb for a period of three days
after the fact to make sure they were really dead, that it wasn't
an accident, that it wasn't a mistake, that, you know, beloved Aunt
Betsy wasn't put in the grave when she wasn't actually dead.
Brethren, everybody testifies. Why isn't the 21st century, it's
so easy to say, well, they didn't really die. He wasn't really
dead. You know what's intriguing as
well? Luke, the beloved physician,
how does he announce his gospel? He announces it in several ways,
in verses 1 to 4, but one of the things that he says, essentially,
is, you know what? I went out and talked to people.
I took my notepad, I took my pen, I took my, you know, coffee
or water, whatever, and I talked to people, I investigated. I
asked questions, I surveyed witnesses, I talked to people that were
there, I used the scientific method. Luke was a beloved physician
and a wonderful historian. He actually talked to the sources
at the time. Brethren, if this was a fake,
where are the enemy's testimonies to the contrary? Certainly if
it was just so outlandish and it was so fake, why don't we
have a Luke that was out there verifying and confirming and
writing detailed records to show that it was a fake or it was
a fraud. There's everything here for us
to latch our faith onto. It's a beautiful thing. The confirmation
of his resurrection by the angel and Jesus himself, and then subsequently,
just to run through the appearance accounts in the New Testament.
He appeared first to the women who had left the tomb. He appeared
to Cleopas and the unnamed disciple on the road to Emmaus. He then
appeared to Peter sometime that same afternoon. He appeared to
the eleven minus Thomas on that day of resurrection in the upper
room. He invited his disciples to touch him, and he ate broiled
fish and honeycomb among them. He appeared a week later to his
disciples. This time Thomas was present. He appeared to seven
of his disciples by the Sea of Tiberias and prepared and ate
breakfast with them," John 21. He appeared to the 11 on a mountain
of Galilee. This occasion could have possibly
been the one when he also appeared to more than 500 people, according
to 1 Corinthians 15. He appeared to James, his half-brother. He appeared again to the 11 on
the occasion of his ascension into heaven. And he appeared
to Saul of Tarsus sometime later. Now, he appeared to individuals,
he appeared to a pair of disciples, to small groups, to large assemblies,
to women and to men, in public and private, at different times
of the day, and both in Jerusalem and Galilee. This is not the
testimony of mass hallucination. This is not the testimony of
a mass hallucination. It's too varied, it's too broad,
it's too different, too wide. And you have Luke, the beloved
physician, talking to people and writing these things down,
verifying, confirming, affirming the things that he had heard
and that he had taken on to investigate, to compose the Gospel of Luke. The recurring emphasis in the
narrative on seeing. Come, see the place. There you
will see him, verse seven. There they will see me, verse
10. The fact that our Lord had feet, again, not essential to
humanity, but certainly indicative of the fact that he wasn't a
ghost, he wasn't a phantom, he wasn't an apparition, he wasn't
the idea of Jesus, he wasn't the concept of what it might
have been had the Savior arisen. He was Jesus with feet. They
grabbed onto those feet and they worshiped the man who owned those
feet. It's a beautiful, wonderful thing. Tonight we'll consider a bit
more concerning the theology of the resurrection, but suffice
it to say it was the fulfillment of the promises made concerning
him. As he said, not only what he said, but everything preceding
that in the Psalms, in the prophets, the means by which glory is given
to the Father. Again, I think at times, when
we are trained in some respects to think this way, what does
it mean to me? What does it mean to God that Jesus does what Jesus
does? It brings glory to the Father,
and that ought to cause us to rejoice. It brings glory to the
Son. He was declared to be the Son
of God with power. Romans chapter 1 and verse 4. It's the crowning proof, Ryle's
terminology, that he has accomplished the mission the Father gave him.
And finally, it is the truth without which we all die in our
sins. Turn over to 1 Corinthians 15.
1 Corinthians 15, we end here on this sober note concerning
the reality of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus. The larger context in chapter
15 is on the resurrection of the dead. In other words, believers
are going to be raised from the dead. Verse 12, the apostle indicates
for us how important this doctrine of the resurrection is. Now,
if Christ is preached that he has been raised from the dead,
how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the
dead? You see the logic. If Christ is raised, then? Believers
are going to be raised. Some were denying that, or perhaps
suggesting that it had already occurred. Some sort of hyper-preterism
in this first century context. But if there is no resurrection
of the dead, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen,
then our preaching is empty, and your faith is also empty.
Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God because we have testified
of God that He raised up Christ, whom He did not raise up, if
in fact the dead do not arise. For if the dead do not rise,
then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, your
faith is futile, you are still in your sins. You see how important
this is? There's no resurrection. If Jesus'
tomb is still filled or full, then we have a nice martyrdom.
We have akin to or equivalent to the Fox's Book of Martyrs.
The fact is, if he has not risen, we are still in our sins. The
glory is, is that He is risen. The glory is, is that we have
been forgiven. And the glory is, is that forgiveness
of sins is preached to every creature under heaven. And all
sinners everywhere are told, hopefully, pleaded with, to believe
the gospel, to believe these truths, to believe what Paul
specifies in the first part of chapter 15. For I delivered to
you first of all that which I also received, that Christ died for
our sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that
he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he
was seen by Cephas, then by the Twelve. After that he was seen
by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater
part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. After
that he was seen by James, then by all the apostles. Then last
of all he was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time."
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, specifically death, burial, resurrection. Well, life, death, burial, resurrection. Those are the facts of the Christian
message. As we considered yesterday in
our studies in Birkhoff, sinners are told to believe that gospel.
And if they believe, they will be saved. Beautiful thing, the
forgiveness of sins. It's a beautiful thing to be
able to say, my sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought.
My sin, not in part, but the whole, is nailed to the cross,
and I bear it no more. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord.
That's the best thing that we can say on this side of heaven,
and it's because of what Christ has done. And by God's grace,
one day, it's not Galilee, but it's the new Jerusalem where
we will see him. Let's encourage our hearts with
that thought because this world can be very discouraging. The
sorrows and the pains and the troubles and the difficulties
that are associated with life in this world can get believers
down. You know what gets them up? Is
to look up. It's to look to the right hand,
where Jesus Christ is, and to realize that one day in that
new Jerusalem, we will see him as he is. Let us pray. Our Father
in heaven, we thank you for your word. We thank you for the hero,
the champion of all scripture, even our Lord Jesus Christ. We
thank you for your grace and your mercy. We thank you for
your loving kindness. We thank you for the power displayed
in the resurrection of our Lord. Bless and help us to internalize
these truths, help us to live in light of them, and may it
be the case that all over the earth today, as the gospel is
preached, sinners would believe and be saved. Go with us now,
we pray, through Christ our Lord. Amen. Let's stand and close by
singing the doxology unto our triune God.
