The Empty Tomb Discovered
With reference to the discovery of the empty tomb, we've got three sub points. Notice in the first place,
Arrival at the Tomb
the arrival at the tomb. The time is indicated. Now, after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn. Now, we're going to continue in our study on the Christian Sabbath, God willing, next week.
And one of the reasons, one of the elements in terms of rationale for the church meeting on the first day is the resurrection of our Lord Jesus. It takes place on the first day of the week. Now, Hebrews 4 will illustrate the difference between Saturday Sabbath-keeping and Sunday Sabbath-keeping, and eventually we'll arrive there. But notice now, it's the first day of the week, and our blessed Savior has arisen from the dead.
One commentator says, the literal dawning of a new day signals a new period of history. Our blessed Christ lived, He died, but he was raised again the third day. The death had no dominion over him, as Paul tells us in Romans chapter 6. And then the purpose for which the ladies come is to anoint the body of our Lord Jesus.
You see that in Mark 16 and then as well in Luke 23. Now notice the two ladies that are mentioned. It says, after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. These two Marys are identified at the crucifixion according to chapter 27 and verse 56, and then they're mentioned with reference to the burial in chapter 27 and verse 61, and here they are at the empty tomb.
Salome is also present here at the empty tomb according to Mark 16. Now, notice how God is dignifying women. It was the male disciples that deserted the Lord Jesus. Now, I'm not stepping off from this point to say women should be pastors, women should be the officers in the church.
Paul makes all that very clear in 1 Timothy 3. But it does underscore that in terms of God, women aren't second-class citizens. And any man who treats women that way is not imitating his Lord. Men were to love our wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her.
We're not supposed to be despots and tyrants and those kinds of persons that rule with a heavy hand. The Lord God Most High, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, has dignified women's presence at the death, the burial, and the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now
Descent of the Angel
notice the descent of the angel in verses 2 to 4. There is an earthquake that happens. Interestingly, the death of Christ is attended by an earthquake, as is the resurrection of Christ. In chapter 27, at verses 51 and 54, you see that there is an earthquake at the time of His death, and here there's an earthquake at the time of His resurrection.
Behold, verse 2 tells us there was a great earthquake. John Gill says, and it was a symbol and a token of the presence and majesty of Christ, at whose rising, as at his death, the earth shook and trembled. C. H.
Spurgeon made the observation, 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. It's a blessed way to describe it and to underscore the pomp and the majesty associated with this. God the Lord raised His Son from the dead.
Of course the earth is going to quake. Of course the creation is going to take notice. Of course the world should bow in reverence and awe at the majesty of God Most High in orchestrating all of this for the salvation of His people whom He chose in Christ before the foundation of the world. Great events are attended by great circumstances and the greatest event is the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.
So we have the earthquake, and now we have the descent of this angel. Notice in verse 2, "...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." So the explanatory 4 indicates the supernatural character of the earthquake. This wasn't just a seismic shift. This wasn't just something that happened in Israel at that particular time.
No, it's associated with a supernatural event, vis-Ã -vis the resurrection of our Lord. This wasn't the normal kind of earthquake that affects California. This wasn't the normal kind of earthquake that affects persons from time to time, but it was supernatural in nature, just like the one that attended the death of our blessed Savior. So this angel is described for us in verse 2.
An angel of the Lord descended from heaven, 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. Now the young man in Mark 16.5 is no doubt this angel, and then the two men in shining garments in Luke 24, four are angels. Now, just a little word for those who say, the Bible is filled with contradictions.
Typically, those are dumb people. They're ignorant people. They're moronic people. Let me just give you a little lesson in logic.
If Luke had two angels, there was certainly one at the place what Matthew writes about. A contradiction is to say there's two, and it was not the case that there was two. To have two necessarily includes one, and that is not contradictory. Most likely, Matthew only identifies the angel that spoke.
So no antinomy, no disparity, no paradox, no contradiction. But typically, as Gordon Clark wisely pointed out, usually the problem occurs between our ears. It's not in the text of Scripture. There is no contradiction in the resurrection narratives.
And then notice the presence of an angel found at the incarnation. Chapter 1, verse 20. Chapter 1, verse 24. Chapter 2, verses 13 and 19.
So the incarnation of our Lord is heralded by the angels. as well as the resurrection of our Lord, it is heralded by the angels. That anthem, as it were, has become something co-opted by the church on earth. It is a great confession of faith to exclaim with the angels and with the hosts of heaven, He is risen. That's probably the reason most of us get out of bed on any given day, is because He rose from the dead.
He has secured our life eternal. He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing, and He has encouraged us immensely by His grace and for His glory. And then as far as the description is, well, back to the removal of the stone. Look at this for a moment.
It says, He rolled back the stone from the door and sat on it. The passage technically does not narrate the resurrection of our Lord Jesus. It rather narrates the empty tomb. Christ had already been raised.
Christ had already been gone. The angel rolls back the stone, not so Jesus can get out, as if Jesus needed help from an angel, but it's so that the women and the disciples could investigate. This is another blessed thing in scripture. The scientific method is employed by the angel.
He doesn't say, trust me, he's risen from the dead. Just take my word for it. No, come on and see. In John's gospel in chapter 20, the narration of the resurrection account there, we have Peter and John running to the tomb.
And when they get to the tomb, they see the grave clothes folded up and laid in a pile. Why is that detail necessary? To indicate that this wasn't the work of grave robbers. I've never robbed a grave.
I've done a lot of things I'm not proud of, but I've never robbed a grave. If I had, though, one thing that I don't think I would ever do is clean up after. I wouldn't fold what remaining clothes were there and lay them in a pile. All of the details narrated by these evangelists are given there to underscore the historicity of it.
In the early part of the 20th century, you had the rise of theological liberalism. Unfortunately, that's almost orthodoxy today, but theological liberalism denied the supernatural. They denied what? Atonement.
They denied resurrection. They were, in many respects, like the Sadducees that we find in the first century that were sort of combatants with our Lord Jesus. And for them, it wasn't that the facts needed to be there. History didn't really count or really didn't matter.
What really is the impact is the feelings or the way it affects us. So it's the existential connection. It's not really the history that's involved. That's why Machen says there's history and there's doctrine.
And the church cannot jettison the history and somehow survive with the doctrine. That didn't work with theological liberalism. It is bad. It is obviously bad when you deny the historicity of resurrection, of blood atonement, of anything that the Bible tells us is history.
So the angel doesn't roll back the stone to let Jesus out, but to let the women investigate. And then notice that the angel is sitting on the stone. That's an indicator of triumph. Matthew Henry made this observation.
He said, there he sat, defying all the powers of hell to roll the stone to the grave again. So the angel's sitting on that stone. It ain't going back. The Savior's not going back.
This is triumph pronounced or preached by the angel in terms of his action. And so the angel is then described as his countenance was like lightning and his clothing as white as snow. You see that manifestation on the Mount of Transfiguration when Jesus is transfigured before their eyes and he's shining brightly and glorious. As well, it goes back into the prophet Daniel, where personages, or angels rather, that appeared to Daniel took on these like characteristics.
So the scene is supernatural, but the scene nevertheless is historical. It occurred, it took place, and we understand it that way. And then notice, with reference to the descent of the angel, the effect it had upon the guards. Verse 4.
And the guards shook, they literally, quaked, just like the earth had quaked, now the guards are quaking. The guards shook for fear of him and became like dead men. The angel didn't scream at them, the angel didn't terrify them, the angel didn't appear to them in some monstrous form that would have produced in them this fear or trembling. No!
He just descended, he rolls back the stone, and he sits upon the stone, and yet these soldiers are quaking. This account, or verse 4, demonstrates the lie of verse 13. Notice in Matthew chapter 28 at verse 11. 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." How would they know that if they were sleeping? Everything about this is ludicrous. And if you read this section 11 to 15, it is the contrast to the Great Commission of verses 16 to 20. Christ commissions His church to go out and preach the truth, to make disciples, to baptize them.
On the other hand, the opponents of Christ lie. They engage in deception. They engage in ludicrous explanations to try and cover up. This is the backwards Great Commission on the part of the God-haters.
Verse 14, and if this comes to the governor's ears, we will appease him and make you secure, which further underscores the nature of Pontius Pilate. I mean, if he's that malleable, if he is that formable, if he is that easy to manipulate, he's even worse than we ever imagined. And then verse 15, they took the money and did as they were instructed, and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day. Now notice, back to verse 4, the guards shook for fear of him and became like dead men.
The irony is obvious. The men charged with guarding a dead man are now like dead men. They quake, and they fear, and they shudder, subsequent to the resurrection of the one they were guarding. John Calvin says, 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.
The power of God is manifested in the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. These men are cowering. There's no equal power to raise them to a position of not fearing. So we have this magnificent event, the empty tomb discovered by these women.
And now notice that
The Angel's Instruction to the Women
the angel gives instruction to the women. In the first place,
Word of Encouragement
note the word of encouragement in verse five. The angel answered and said to the women, do not be afraid. Why do you think he says that? Because it's not normal to go and attend to the body of somebody that you love and find them to be absent.
It's not a normal occurrence. That's why we call these miracles. That's why we call this supernatural. And so in the thought of that, or with the realization of that, the angel calms them.
Do not be afraid. They, like the soldiers, were terrified at the scene. Spurgeon again says, let the soldiers tremble, let them lie as if dead through fright, but fear not ye, for I know that you seek Jesus which was crucified. And then he says, those who seek Jesus need not fear.
What a blessed reminder from our brother Spurgeon. What a blessed reminder from the angel attending the resurrection of our Lord. In other words, when you serve a Lord that was crucified and has been raised from the dead, as a general rule, you don't have to fear anymore. As a general rule, God's got this.
As a general rule, everything's going to be okay. Because if God did not spare, but delivered up His own Son for us, how will He not with Him freely give us all things? Paul makes that statement in Romans chapter 8. We are not to be a fearful people.
We are not to be paralyzed. We're not to undergo that withdrawal from anything that we fear or that we think may affect us. That doesn't mean that we're fools. It doesn't mean that we're morons.
It doesn't mean that we jump off roofs and think that God's going to spare us or save us or keep us or do those sorts of things. But at the same time, Christians who are in fear, not of God, but from circumstances, Now, I'm saying Christians, this is one of those instances where I should be in the front row sort of preaching to myself, as one has said, you got one pointed out, you got three pointed back, right? The tendency to fear is real, and that's why from Genesis to Revelation, God emphasizes over and over and over again that his people do not need to fear. Fear him who has the power to kill body and soul and hell, but don't fear man.
Now, man can do some pretty horrific things. Man can inflict a lot of suffering, a lot of hardship, a lot of pain. Man can engage in dastardly deeds, but ultimately, the body gives up. Ultimately, you do exit and you do go to be in the presence of God Almighty.
So the first word to these ladies as they find the empty tomb is do not fear. And then the angel explains, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He knows their presence is there for a particular reason. In Luke 24, the angel asks, why do you seek the living among the dead?
Now notice as well that the angel confirms that Jesus died. See, Muslim theology, or Islamic theology, is a form of the swoon theory. The swoon theory was posited by theological liberals, suggesting that Jesus really didn't die on the cross. I mean, certainly it took a toll on his body, certainly he went into the tomb, but he rejuvenated, he was refreshed, and ultimately he exited from that tomb. of his own accord, but the angel underscores the crucifixion.
Notice in verse six, he is not, I'm sorry, verse five, do not be afraid for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. That actually happened. Again, this idea, brethren, that historical facts aren't that important when it comes to Bible study is an absolute atrocity. If the Bible's history is wrong, then likely the Bible's theology is wrong.
If there was no first Adam, we have no assurance that there was a last Adam. If there was no blood atonement, if there was no resurrection, if there was no ascension, if there was no current session, if there is no coming again in glory to judge the living and the dead, then as Paul says, we're miserable. We are pitiable. If we don't have resurrection hope founded on an empty tomb and a glorified Savior, then we are men that are above all miserable in this life and in the life to come.
The angel then announces the resurrection with that blessed anthem taken up by the church. Verse 6, he is not here for he is risen. Now again, this wasn't the first. Christ himself raised people from the dead.
But in terms of the theology of resurrection, it's all connected to him. We see that in Paul's defenses before the Sanhedrin and his defenses before the Roman government. It is because of the resurrection of the dead that Paul finds himself on trial. But as we move through the narrative, that resurrection from the dead is connected to our Lord Jesus Christ.
If there is no Lord Jesus Christ, if there was no life, death, and resurrection of Him, then there wouldn't be for us as well. There'd be nothing more on our horizon than simply a dreamless sleep. And then the angel reminds them of Jesus' oft-repeated assertions. Look at what He says, He is not here, verse 6, for He is risen as He said.
See, I think at times we just run through passages like that, or we run through fulfillment of Scripture passages. But brethren, this underscores the beauty of the Bible. It underscores the unity, the consent of the parts. It underscores the scope of Scripture, which is the glory of God and the salvation of sinners by Jesus Christ, our Lord.
On several occasions, Jesus spoke not only of his death, but of his resurrection. He told his disciples what was going to happen. Now, obviously, that would have been a difficulty. In fact, look at 28, 16.
Then the 11 disciples went away into Galilee to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them. When they saw him, they worshipped him, but some doubted. Why do you think they doubted? Because it's hard to believe that a man that was crucified in such a horrific way would be raised again from the dead.
And as well, look at what this says concerning divine inspiration of Scripture. Brethren, if I was writing the Bible to try to formulate a response on the part of people, I wouldn't indicate there were doubters. I'd say everybody was right there on board. They were all amazed at the glory of Jesus Christ.
It's that kind of stuff. It is those kinds of details that indicate to us the veracity of Scripture. If men sat in a room and took pains to put together an account of the resurrection, there wouldn't be the differences that you see in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Now, listen to what I'm saying.
Not contradictions, not paradoxes, not an antinomy, but rather differences. Differences that can be harmonized, which underscore the reality that they didn't get together and engage in some sort of act of deception and take pains to hunt-wink people that would fall prey to their methodology. And with reference to the resurrection in this instance, look at what it says in verses 6 and 7. Verse 6, He is not here for He is risen.
And then again in verse 7, And go quickly and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead. Both of these are passive verbs. That means that the Father raised Him from the dead. Now, there are obvious implications to this with reference to the Trinity I don't want to get into, but I want to quote Francis Turretin, who indicates the reality behind this.
But there is a peculiar reason why it, the resurrection, is ascribed to the Father. Now, it's ascribed to Jesus in other instances, but here it's ascribed to the Father. He says, "...on account of the obligation which Christ took upon Himself, from which He ought to be released by the Father as Judge, who, as He had delivered up Christ to death for our sins, so He ought to raise Him up again for our justification, in order to testify that a full satisfaction had been made by Him." So the Father raises the Son from the dead as a full testimony that a full satisfaction had been made by Him. And before we move on, again, I want to direct your attention to that scientific methodology.
Come see the place where the Lord lay. The end of verse 6. The truth has nothing to fear. Have you ever had a visit from Jehovah's Witnesses?
What do they do? They want to hand you stuff, don't they? I mean, they want to bug you and talk to you. you know, go on about, I wouldn't be bugging if they had good theology. Sure, I'd like to talk theology, it's always fun.
But they're always denying the deity of Jesus and they're always denying the doctrine of hell. Walter Martin, the original Bible Answer Man said, his idea was they talk about, they deny the deity of Jesus and they deny the existence of hell. And he said, knowing full well that if Jesus is God, they are going to go to hell. And I always thought that was an interesting perspective.
But have you ever tried to give them something? It's kind of like trying to hand them a 100-pound Rottweiler that wants to eat them. Nope, they can't take it. Why not?
If your truth cannot stand to examination or investigation, you need to recheck your truth. If the scientific methodology cannot be applied to the empty tomb, then brethren, we've been hoodwinked. But that's not what happens. The angel says, come and see, look at where he lay.
Peter and John go into that tomb. They survey the inner sanctum, as it were. They see the grave clothes. This idea that to ask questions is misinformation, to ask questions is somehow anti-science, is anti-science itself.
Science is about investigation, it's about comparison, it's about hypothesis, it's about testing, it's about verifying, it's about proceeding from that vantage point. The angel doesn't say, just take my word for it, you don't need to go see. No, come and see where he lay. See what God Most High did with reference to his beloved son.
So there is this word of encouragement in verses 5 to 6, and now
Word of Instruction
this word of instruction in verse 7. He goes on to say, 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 the women become the apostles to the apostles. Please listen to what I'm saying. I'm not suggesting they were actually officially apostles, but they're becoming sent ones, which apostle means by the angel to the apostles. to instruct them that Christ had risen from the dead.
The women are to tell the apostles to go to Galilee in order to see Jesus. Go back to Matthew 26 and verse 32. This confirms what Christ had said prior to his death. But after I have been raised, I will go before you to Galilee.
And the angel underscores his message with authority. At the end of verse seven, he says, behold, I have told you. Now why Galilee? Why does the Great Commission obtain in Galilee?
Well, remember, Galilee was Galilee of the Gentiles, according to Matthew chapter 4. The nature of the Great Commission is not just to Jews, but it includes Gentiles. It is the most fitting and appropriate place to launch the new covenant mission, to send forth the church, to send forth the apostles, to preach the gospel, to make known Jesus, to make disciples and then to baptize those disciples and to teach them in local churches. France says, but 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. So Galilee is where the ministry begins and Galilee is where the ministry continues in Matthew 28 in terms of Christ's instruction or commission to his church to go out and multiply disciples and to make new churches or to found new churches. And then notice what the women do in verse 8. So they went out quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy and ran to bring his disciples word.
They obeyed. They didn't say, well, no, they just did what they were told, right? See, brethren, that's the response of the people of God to the Word of God. It's not a million questions.
It's not the but-whys that you get from your two-year-old. It's the, yes, Lord, I'll do what you command me to do. Now, he's not Lord in the sense that they would worship him, but he's an angel representing the sovereign Lord of all the universe. And if he commands you to go to Galilee and to tell the apostles, Then you go to Galilee and you tell the apostles.
And notice the disposition they manifest. They went out quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy. Those things aren't contradictory to true religion. See, we have this idea that how can we be fearful and joyful at the same time?
Because we're in the presence of God Most High. And when you're in the presence of God Most High, you fear, because He's God Most High. He is Creator and we're creature. But when you're in the presence of God Most High, you're joyful because you're in the presence of God Most High.
Fear, trembling, and joy ought to be pervasive in the hearts of God's people in private worship, family worship, public worship. There ought to be a reverence and a respect for God and an awe for God that is mingled with great joy and thanksgiving. David's instruction in Psalm 2 is to serve Yahweh with fear and rejoice with trembling. These two are consistent in biblical religion, and these two must be operative in the hearts of those who are conquered by biblical religion.
Fear and great joy. And notice it's fear and great joy. The great may modify the fear too, but in the English translation, it looks the way it does for a reason. We have this fear and great joy.
Now,
The Appearance of the Risen Lord
notice secondly, the appearance of the Lord Jesus in verses 9 to 10. 9 and 10, we have his appearance, verse 9, and then his message in verse 10. So
Christ Meets the Women
9a, and as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them saying, rejoice. The extraordinary sight, Jesus met them. When had they last seen Jesus? They had last seen Jesus on the cross.
Now the women attended to the burial, so they had seen his body placed into the tomb. But as far as they were concerned, he had been broken, he had been bloodied, he had been beaten, he had been bruised, he had been battered, he had been murdered by an ungodly state, driven by an ungodly religious body who got the people to cry out, away with him, away with him, crucify him. So now as they're going to tell the disciples, Jesus met them saying, And what he says is quite curious. He says, rejoice.
France makes this observation. 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, it's not just rejoice, it would be akin to our hello. Imagine that, you've raised from the dead, you see your disciples and that's what you have, hello.
It's sublime, isn't it? We'd expect, guess what? Here I am. I don't know what I would do.
I wouldn't make it to be known by everybody. He just simply says, hello. So back to France. 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, it's carete, which is hello, is almost banal in its everyday familiarity. In other words, it wasn't the pomp and show that we would expect. It wasn't attended by all of the angelic hosts. Jesus meets them and Jesus says hello to them or rejoice to them.
And then note their response, which is absolutely appropriate and which we should imitate. It says, so they came and held him by the feet and worshiped him. The women held him by the feet. Turn over to Luke 24 for just a moment.
Luke chapter 24. One of the emphases in the post-resurrection appearances of our Lord to his disciples was to underscore that he wasn't a phantom, to underscore that it wasn't ethereal, but rather that it was physical, that it was historical, that it was a detail and a fact that was verifiable. Notice in Luke 24 verse 39. Behold, my hands and my feet, that it is I myself.
Handle me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have." When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. But while they still did not believe for joy and marvel, he said to them, have you any food here? So they gave him a piece of broiled fish and some honeycomb, and he took it and ate it in their presence. Now, we might think that's a curious statement because Luke wants to tell us that Jesus liked fish and honeycomb.
No, it's underscoring the historicity of the resurrection of a physical being. He was crucified. He was broken. He was destroyed.
He was dead. He goes into the tomb, and now he comes out of the tomb, the self-same Jesus, albeit glorified. And the fact that these women hold him by the feet to worship him, underscores the blessed truth that we call the hypostatic union, the two natures in the one person, the divine and the human. Now, feet aren't essential to humanity.
You can be a human without feet, but it certainly does underscore the reality that one with feet was an object of worship and adoration and praise. by virtue of the union of the two natures in the one person. Matthew is doing theology. Matthew is narrating history. But Matthew is also educating, and encouraging, and nourishing, and sustaining, and blessing, and helping the church of Jesus Christ.
He underscores both natures of Christ in terms of divinity and humanity. So that is the appearance of Jesus. Now
Christ's Message to the Women
notice Jesus' message to these ladies. Verse 10, Jesus said to them, do not be afraid. He says the same thing that the angel says. There is similarity there.
He gives the same instruction that the angel gives, but there's a bit of dissimilarity. Look again at verse 7. Verse seven, and go quickly and tell his disciples. Look at what Jesus says, go and tell my brethren to go to Galilee and there they will see me.
This reiterates an emphasis in Matthew's gospel that those who believe in Jesus are his sisters, his mothers, his brothers. There is that intimate connection between the head and his church. He refers to us as my brethren. And in terms of the grace and the mercy, it is obvious in this particular instance.
It reflects the glory of the relationship between Christ and his people, and it rehearses that grace and mercy. For instance, go and tell my brethren to go to Galilee. We get to verse 16, there's 11 disciples. What does that do?
It encourages the church that while Peter denied his Lord, the Lord didn't cut him off. While Peter did what we should never do, there nevertheless was forgiveness with Peter. The 12th, obviously, Judas was an apostate. There's no 12 apostles gathered at Mount Galilee.
But there are 11, including Simon Peter, the one that Jesus says before the rooster crows three times, you will deny me. And he said, I'll never deny you. He was that sort of a man. And then he denies Jesus to the slave girl.
In fact, look at Mark's account in Mark 16. And most of scholarship tells us and sees some connection between Peter and the gospel of Mark. I've shared my position that Mark was basically the recorder of Peter's sermons in Rome, and that became the gospel of Mark. But look at verse six in chapter 16.
But he said to them, do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is risen. He is not here.
See the place where they laid him. But go tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you into Galilee. There you will see him as he said to you. Now here's the connection.
The 11 disciples are present. Mark is writing at the behest of Peter. Peter draws attention to Peter. He wants to underscore the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ.
Peter knows he denied the Lord. Peter knows that the rooster crowed. Peter knows that Jesus looked at him and then Peter wept bitterly. So Peter tells Mark as he's writing or when he's preaching to make sure you underscore that I'm a part of that blessed lot.
Now here's the point, not so that people think they can go and deny me, but so that if they do sin, they'll remember they have an advocate with the Father, even Jesus Christ the righteous. So in something as obscure as this, we see a world of grace. and mercy and loving kindness on behalf of or on the part of our blessed Lord. Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brethren to go to Galilee and there they will see me." Calvin says it is proper to remark the astonishing kindness of Christ in dating to bestow the name of brethren on deserters who had basically forsaken him.
Grace Toward Deserters
Go back to chapter 26. Chapter 26 indicates not just Peter in verses 69 to 75, but as well all of the disciples according to verse 56. But all this was done that the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled, then all the disciples forsook him and fled. Again, let me put this in theological language.
What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? May it never be. But when we sin, we are never to forget the advocacy of our blessed Lord Jesus.
Apostates will never seek to fetch out forgiveness. Apostates will never seek to repair as far as they're able to breach. But Christians that do horrifically sinful things will. Witness Peter.
Witness David. Witness persons in the history of the church who have done something sinful. Witness yourself. When you go back, there is forgiveness that he may be feared.
And that is a very blessed and most encouraging thought that arises from this passage. Go and tell my brethren to go to Galilee, and there they will see me. And that underscores the essence of eternal life. This is eternal life, that they may know thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.
Notice what he says, and there they will see me. Isn't that the essence of our religion? Isn't that the sum and substance of everything? I mean, brethren, when we get to heaven, I don't think we're going to be looking at the gold on the ground.
We're not going to be looking at the pearl on the gates. We're going to be looking at Immanuel. We're going to look at the king. We're going to look at the glorious Lord.
We're going to look at the altogether lovely. We're going to look at the chief among ten thousand. We're not going to look at the crown he gifted, but we're going to look upon his pierced hand. Why?
Because the Lamb is all the glory of Immanuel's land. The essence of our religion is found in this statement. and there they will see me."
The Glory of the Resurrection
Now, in conclusion, we have first the glory of the resurrection. J. C. Ryle makes the observation concerning the resurrection.
It is the crowning proof that he has paid the debt which he undertook to pay on our behalf. He won the battle which he fought to deliver us from hell and is accepted as our surety and substitute by our Father in heaven. Davies and Allison say 28.1 and following is the necessary ending to Matthew's story. Without the resurrection, Jesus' words are vacant and his opponents exonerated.
With it, Jesus is vindicated, his cause and authority confirmed, and his opponents are disgraced. Praise God Almighty for that empty tomb and everything that was ever said ill about the Lord Jesus Christ. It was vanquished. It was banished.
Christ is risen. Christ is enthroned at the right hand of God Almighty and Christ will return in glory to judge the living and the dead. He will vindicate His bride. Every bit of suffering, every bit of persecution, every wrong that has been inflicted upon the people of God will be made right by the Redeemer.
Scripture tells us that when we enter into the New Jerusalem, God Himself will wipe away every tear from our eyes. You parents understand something of that by way of a human analogy. Your kid gets hurt, he comes running in. What do you do?
Do you mock him? Do you upbraid him? No, you comfort him, you cheer him, you encourage him, and you wipe the tears from his eyes. Revelation depicts for us not a bunch of bluebirds attending our way onto heaven, but it shows the suffering and the distress and the tribulation associated with life in Christ's Church.
But it ends with that blessed beatific vision of God Most High and the Lamb who sits upon the throne, where the curse is eliminated and where the nations dwell there in the presence of this blessed King. In terms of the fact of the resurrection, we have the confirmation of his death by soldiers, pilots, Jewish leaders, and the angel. The swoon theory and the Muslims are wrong! He died!
That was the reality of it. It wasn't that he was mostly dead, placed into the tomb, and then rejuvenated and left on his own accord. He was dead. He was buried.
That was confirmed by professionals. Do you think Roman soldiers didn't know what a dead man looked like? Do you think Roman soldiers didn't know how to dispatch persons? Do you think crucifixion was a way of escape with reference to capital punishment?
No, when you got crucified, you died. The confirmation of his resurrection by the angel and Jesus himself. So it's not only the angel, but we have the Lord himself. And then subsequently, I'm just going to run through the resurrection appearances.
He appeared first to the women who had left the tomb, Matthew 28, and then to Mary Magdalene, John 20. He appeared to Cleopas and the unnamed disciple on the road to Emmaus, Luke 24. He then appeared to Peter sometime that same afternoon, Luke 24, 1 Corinthians 15. He appeared to the 11 minus Thomas on the day of the resurrection in the upper room, Luke 24, John 20, and 1 Corinthians 15.
He invited his disciples to touch him and he ate broiled fish and honeycomb among them, Luke 24. He appeared a week later to his disciples, this time Thomas was present, John 20. He appeared to seven of his disciples by the Sea of Tiberias, or Galilee, and prepared and ate breakfast with them, John 21. He appeared to the eleven on a mountain of Galilee, Matthew 28, and this occasion could have possibly been the one when he also appeared to the more than 500 people, 1 Corinthians 15.
He appeared to James, his half-brother, 1 Corinthians 15. He appeared again to the eleven on the occasion of his ascension into heaven, Luke 24, Acts 1. He appeared to Saul of Tarsus some time later. Now listen, in terms of these appearances, he appeared to individuals, he appeared to a pair of disciples, he appeared to small groups, he appeared to large assemblies, he appeared to women and men, he appeared in public and in private, he appeared at different times of the day, and both in Jerusalem and Galilee.
Now, this is not the testimony of a mass hallucination. This is history, theological history with great implications in terms of our justification, but it's history. It is replete, it is emphasized, it is repeated and reiterated a lot in the New Testament so that we'll understand it. You don't simply confess the Christian faith without any foundation or substance.
The Christian faith is glorious because it's rooted in the finished work of our blessed Redeemer. It's not some existential leap, and we hope everything works out. We have the surety in the Savior himself who brought us life and salvation through his life, death, and resurrection. The recurring emphasis on seeing, come see the place, verse 6, there you will see him, verse 7, and there they will see me, verse 10.
All underscore the historicity of the resurrection. Now there are problems with the resurrection according to Psalm. Some suggest that these persons would have never recorded the appearances to angels. In fact, Josephus indicates, let not the testimony of women be admitted on account of the levity and boldness of their sex.
Ladies, I don't read that to upset you, but just to make the point. Again, it underscores this reality. They report the facts. They don't massage the facts, they don't manipulate the facts, they don't present the facts in the way that they think the facts should be presented.
They simply record the history. And if women are the first to discover the empty tomb, they're going to tell us that women discovered the empty tomb. And then the fact that the gospel records are not smoothed out. It was a man in the church, and he's dead now.
And this was what brought him to Christ. He was an atheist. And he had a wife, and he had a couple of kids. And his wife said, can one of the kids go to the Sunday school?
And he agreed. He thought that might be a good idea. And so he thought, well, I'll read through Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, just to get an idea of what's happening. It was that point that these gospel writers didn't smooth it out.
They didn't massage it that underscored or indicated to him that it wasn't fabricated. Fabricators always put it in a way that they think will make the most impact. Again, witness the fake news. They present a narrative and they present it in such a way that you take it and you don't ever question it.
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are not beholden to some higher agency save God Almighty. And under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, they're going to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. So the things that may seem to be obstacles in the reception of the historicity of the resurrection, all are actually seen as reasons why, or additional reasons why, we should accept that. And then finally, the theology of the resurrection.
This is the fulfillment of the promises made concerning Jesus. The fact that he would be raised from the dead, you see it in Psalm 16, you see it at least implicitly in Psalm 22, you see it in the prophet Isaiah chapter 53, you see it in Daniel chapter 9. Those prophetic words concerning the life and ministry of Messiah indicate resurrection.
Resurrection and the Glory of God
Secondly, it's the means by which glory is given to the Father and to the Son. Notice in John 17. John 17, verse 1. Jesus spoke these words and lifted up his Father to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come.
Glorify your Son that your Son also may glorify you. Yes, death, but yes, resurrection. And then turn to Romans chapter 1 to see the glory of the Son associated with the resurrection. Romans 1, beginning in verse 1. a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God, which he promised before through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures, concerning his son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.
It's not that he was made the Son of God, but rather he was declared to be the Son of God. There is a big difference in terms of Christology that we will not get into presently.
Resurrection and Justification
Thirdly, it is the crowning proof that he had accomplished the mission which the Father gave him. Romans 4.25, delivered up because of our offenses and raised for our justification. Hodge describes, he says, with a dead Savior, a Savior over whom death had triumphed and held captive, our justification had been forever impossible. John Fesco says, Christ's death atones for the sins of God's people.
His resurrection is the evidence that death had an illegitimate claim upon Him, for He lived His life in perfect obedience to the law. Attempt to extract one of the three, life, death, or resurrection, from justification, and our redemption collapses. In other words, it's all of Christ for His people that is desperately necessary, because without all of Christ, we will go entirely to hell. And then
Resurrection as Necessary Truth
the final observation, this is the truth without which we will die in our sins. Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 15, we'll end here. 1 Corinthians chapter 15, the implication if Christ is not risen. Verse 12, 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? 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 rise. 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.
Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable. A denial of a future bodily resurrection on the part of the Corinthians was tacit to saying that Christ himself had not been raised. And so obviously that Christ has been raised ensures the resurrection of the dead for all of God's people.
It is upon this hope that we find our souls. It is upon this hope that we find great encouragement. It is upon this hope that we soldier on and we hold the line. Let us pray.
Closing Prayer
Our Father, we thank you for the resurrection of our blessed Savior. We thank you for not only the resurrection, but his life and his death. We thank you for the ascension, for the current session, the exaltation of our blessed Redeemer. And we look forward to his return and glory to judge the living and the dead.
God, I pray that all of us would be fit and ready for that day, that we would be forgiven, that we would be clothed in his righteousness, and that you would bless us immeasurably. Go with us now and help us to glorify you on this day. We pray for this coming week that the hope, the thought of resurrection, glory will fill our hearts with great cheer and with great joy so that we can indeed persevere. And we ask this through Christ our blessed Lord.
Amen.