Disappearing Act

HoHum:

Harry Houdini's "Chinese water torture cell" trick is considered one of the most iconic and influential escapes in the history of magic performance. The trick involved Houdini being suspended upside-down in a glass and steel tank filled with water, with his feet locked in stocks and his hands manacled behind his back. The audience would watch in suspense as Houdini struggled to free himself before drowning. Impressive but nothing matches Jesus coming out of that tomb on Easter morning.

WBTU:

3 elements of a miracle: 1). Visible. 2). Serve as a sign pointing to God. 3). Break laws of nature

The greatest miracle ever is that Jesus arose on Easter morning, never to die again. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are trying to communicate to us is: “He Got Up!” The message here is that Jesus rose from the dead just like He said He would. Started off the year talking about signs (of the end of the age), then miracles around the cross of Christ. Now talking about the sign of the undisturbed grave clothes of Jesus that point to his resurrection from the dead. Jesus left his grave clothes behind for a reason so that we would believe in Him.

Thesis: What is the message of the undisturbed grave clothes?

For instances:

I. A Peaceful Message

Think about the disciples at this time: They were grief stricken because they lost their master (or so they thought). They were afraid because of the threat of being killed themselves, due to their affiliation with Jesus. The disciples were feeling lost without any sense of direction because their leader was gone. So, when Peter and John got to the tomb and saw the “undisturbed grave clothes,” it spoke a message of peace to them. If the grave clothes had been “bloody,” tangled up, and thrown everywhere, this would have caused them to be more distressed and afraid. Matthew 28:5 the angel (on that Sunday morning) said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay.” The KJV says here, “Fear not ye.” Mark 16:6 the angel says, “Don’t be alarmed, You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him.” The KJV says here “Be not affrighted.” God’s Word translation says here, “Don’t panic.” Jesus left his grave clothes this way to communicate peace to his disciples and to us. John 14:27 Jesus said to them, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” Philippians 4:7 says, “And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

II. A Powerful Message

Just 3 days before, the disciples had watched their Lord be arrested, tried, convicted and crucified. The empty cocoon of grave clothes preached a powerful message early that Sunday morning. It told of the Risen Savior. This shows that he has power to carry through with His promises to us. It validates His claim to be the only way to God. John 14:6- I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. It is powerful because it gives hope to all those who trust in Him for salvation. Hebrews 7:25- he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them. It gives confidence to those who are lost in sin! It tells them that they can run to Jesus and find a living Lord who is the friend of sinners. Romans 1:16- For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes.

III. A Promising Message

1 Corinthians 15:20, 23- But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. But each in turn: Christ, the first fruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. We shall rise (hallelujah) we shall rise (amen) We shall rise (hallelujah) in that resurrection morning When these prison bars are broken We shall rise hallelujah we shall rise! Mentioned that Jesus’ grave clothes were a cocoon, left as if Jesus just disappeared or vanished. To understand this we need to compare Jesus’s resurrection with Lazarus’ in John 11. John 11:41 they took away the stone and in vs. 42 Jesus prayed. John 11:43-44: When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.” Notice the differences: Lazarus returned to the same life as before; Jesus did not. Lazarus came back to his fleshly body with the same weaknesses and sicknesses as before; Jesus did not. Lazarus died again, and even now waits for a “better resurrection” (Hebrews 11:35), while Jesus can never die again. What differences! The Lord had all the weaknesses of human flesh (although without sin) before He died. We he arose, he never had those same weaknesses. He was once a weary traveler, His feet sore and Himself exhausted. After He was risen, He was talking with the two disciples from Emmaus (Luke 24). When their eyes were opened to recognize him, he vanished out of their sight in much the same way he vanished from the tomb on Easter morning leaving behind His grave clothes undisturbed. The Lord’s resurrection is very different from Lazarus’s reviving from the dead. The true resurrection body, while still a body, is not simply flesh and blood. When Jesus Christ left His grave clothes behind, it was symbolic of the fact that He had gotten rid of the old flesh. When He left His grave clothes, emptying them of Himself by vanishing from within them, it demonstrated that He had attained to a spiritual body condition. 1 Corinthians 15:49- And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man (Adam and the corruptible condition), so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven (Jesus). 1 Corinthians 15:23- But each in turn, Christ first (fruits) and when he comes, those who belong to him. 1 Corinthians 15:50-52: I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed- in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. We find that our glorified bodies after resurrection will have a new molecular makeup. This will be another act of ex nihilo (out of nothing) creation, as God gives us a totally new kind of bodily material, adapted to our eternal home rather than to this present earthly one. This is the sense in which our bodies will be transformed (Philippians 3:21)