HE IS RISEN!!!
Luke 24:1-10
My brothers and my sisters we come today to celebrate our risen Savior. This morning it is not about fancy hats and new clothes nor is it about you and me, but it is about the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Throughout the week there has been services leading up to the resurrection of our Lord. We’ve witness services that had guided many through the events of the Holy Week particularly our Good Friday Services. In that service we heard the seven last sayings of our Lord while He was yet on the cross. If I had a chance to choose just one saying that had the most meaning to me it has to be “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” In that statement it solidified our redemption. Those who judged Him wrongly at that moment was forgiven. The people that beat Him, forgiven. The man who drove the nails and spikes, forgiven. In fact all that had taken part in His crucifixion were forgiven at that moment because they knew not what they had done. This profound statement simply asked the Father to “Forgive them”.
So as of last week we observed with heavy hearts what was done to our Lord, but today we have reason to celebrate and rejoice, because He is not dead and buried in a tomb as many would like for us to believe, but He is alive and risen.
So let us take a look at the events of that third day morning.
First of all they were asked a specific question...
1. WHY SEEK THE LIVING AMONG THE DEAD. (V.4&5)
“And it came to pass, as they were much perplexed about this, behold two men stood by them, in shining garments; 5. And as they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why seek the living among the dead?”
As the chapter opens Mary Magdalene, Mary James’ mother and Joanna went down to the sepulcher with spices to preserve or embalm the body of Christ. Upon arriving at the tomb early that Sunday morning they discovered the stone rolled away and when they entered the sepulcher they also discovered that the body of the Lord Jesus was not there. It was this discovery that caused them to be perplexed. But as the women were dealing their bewilderment, standing near them were two men in shining garments. It was these men that asked the question, “Why seek the living among the dead?” Now their reasoning for being there was logical, because the last time they saw the Lord was probably when they laid Him to rest in the tomb. And with their intention to embalm Him, the tomb would have been the logical place for them to find Him, but He was not there. You see we should not be to hard on the ladies because of what they had just been through. They watch as their Master was crucified, they observed as they tossed things at Him and spit on Him. I tell you because of their emotional stress they simply forgot what Jesus said to them about His resurrection of the third day morning. So they were still in the grieving stage of losing their Lord, the one they had grown to love.
Secondly...
2. THEY NEEDED TO BE REMINDED OF JESUS’ WORDS . (Vv. 6&7)
“He is not here, but is risen! Remember how he spoke unto you when He was yet in Galilee, 7. Saying, The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.”
After the question was asked about them searching for the living among the dead. The angels proceeded to remind them of what Jesus said in the 9 chapter of Luke. He said in verse 22, “The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be slain, and be raised the third day.” Here in the text they said “He is not here, but is risen! Remember how He spoke to you when He was in Galilee?” I must say, many times because of the calamities of life we have to be reminded of the promises of the Lord. The enemy of our souls is often found behind many of our hard times. He does not want us to remember the Lord’s promised. He would prefer us forgetting or twist what the Lord had said and then have us to doubt Him in the midst of it. But the two angels were not going to allow that to happen to these women who were already perplexed in the first place. So, they reminded them of what Jesus had said. They even let them know in the 7th verse of this chapter that although He would be delivered into the hands of sinful men and crucified, but He on the third day will rise again. That my brothers and sister is the reason we should celebrate and also the reason why we started this service with an out burst of praise because, HE IS RISEN!!!
Finally, we see that...
3. THE WOMEN COULD NOT KEEP THIS GOOD NEWS TO THEMSELVES. (Vv.8&9)
“And they remembered His words, 9. And returned from the sepulcher, and told all these things unto the eleven, and to all the rest.”
After hearing this good news these three women left the sepulcher to tell the eleven and the rest of the disciples. I can imagine how they must have felt when their hearts revisited the words of the Lord and discovery that He was not in the tomb. Their hearts were most likely beating fast, not from the run from the sepulchre, but from the fact that they knew first hand that their Lord was not dead and in the grave, but that He is risen.
Can you feel their excitement? Can you feel their Joy? In knowing that Jesus, the Lilly of the valley;
Jesus the bright and morning star;
Jesus our hope in a time of trouble;
Jesus our joy in sorrow;
Jesus my all in all;
He Is Risen!!!
CONCLUSION
Well, before I take my seat I read a funny Illustration on SermonCentral.com. It said a Sunday School teacher had just finished telling her third graders about how Jesus was crucified and placed in a tomb with a great stone sealing the opening. Then, wanting to share the excitement of the resurrection, she asked: "And what do you think were Jesus’ first words when He came busting out of that tomb alive?" A hand shot up into the air from the rear of the classroom. Attached to it was the arm of a little girl. Leaping out of her chair she shouted out excitedly "I know, I know!" "Good" said the teacher, "Tell us, what were Jesus’ first words." And the little girl said while extending her arms high into the air she said: "TA-DA!"
Funny as that might be but Jesus didn’t have to say TA-DA. Because when He rose from the grave,
He rose with all glory,
He rose with all power,
He rose not with a TA-DA but He rose as the Savior of the world, and by being our Savior we can say TA-DA!!!
He forgave me...TA-DA
He delivered me...TA-DA
He saved me...TA-DA
