Easter Service- 2008
Title- He Has Risen Indeed!
Text- Matthew 28
Matthew 28:1-20 Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the grave. 2 And behold, a severe earthquake had occurred, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it. 3 And his appearance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. 4 The guards shook for fear of him and became like dead men. 5 The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid; for I know that you are looking for Jesus who has been crucified. 6 "He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said. Come, see the place where He was lying. 7 "Go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead; and behold, He is going ahead of you into Galilee, there you will see Him; behold, I have told you." 8 And they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy and ran to report it to His disciples. 9 And behold, Jesus met them and greeted them. And they came up and took hold of His feet and worshiped Him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid; go and take word to My brethren to leave for Galilee, and there they will see Me."
11 Now while they were on their way, some of the guard came into the city and reported to the chief priests all that had happened. 12 And when they had assembled with the elders and consulted together, they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers, 13 and said, "You are to say, ’His disciples came by night and stole Him away while we were asleep.’ 14 "And if this should come to the governor’s ears, we will win him over and keep you out of trouble." 15 And they took the money and did as they had been instructed; and this story was widely spread among the Jews, and is to this day.
16 But the eleven disciples proceeded to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had designated. 17 When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some were doubtful. 18 And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."
I. The Confirmation
II. The Cover-Up
III. The Commission
Please turn to Matthew chapter 28 with me. Matthew 28 offers us a brief description of the resurrection of Christ and the events that followed. This isn’t the most detailed account; Luke and John have details that Matthew doesn’t include.
Each of the four gospel writers wrote from their own personal perspective and for a particular purpose.
- Mark wrote to show that Jesus was the suffering servant.
- Luke wrote to show how Christ was the son of man.
- And John wrote to show how Christ was the Son of God.
- Matthew’s reason for writing his gospel was to prove to the Jewish people that Jesus was their long awaited messiah and king.
Matthew was trying to convince the Jewish people to believe in Jesus. Even here at the very end of the book, Matthew is giving us all the evidence we could ever need to see that Jesus is alive, He has risen from the dead, He is who He said He was. He is risen!
(You need to be on your toes today. I’m going to make the claim that He has risen a number of times this morning/evening; when I do you need to respond accordingly.)
Follow along as I read Matthew 28…
In this passage we see three evidences to the fact that Jesus Christ has in fact risen from the dead. The first one is the confirmation that He is alive by eyewitnesses.
If we were investigating a crime scene, one of the first things we would want to collect is eyewitnesses. People who were actually there, who saw the event, who can give a testimony to what it was they saw. Well proving Christ’s resurrection is exactly what Matthew sets out to do. He wants his readers to hear these firsthand reports of the resurrection of Jesus.
The first two eyewitnesses were Mary Magdaline and the “other” Mary. This “other” Mary was probably the mother of James and John. These two women come to the tomb to mourn.
- When they arrive they feel the earth shake beneath them
- An angel descends out of the sky and rolls this huge stone out of the way and then sits on it.
- It says that his appearance was like lighting and he was dressed in a white robe.
- Something about his appearance radiated light. This reminded me of the aura of light that surrounded Moses when he came down off the mountain after witnessing God’s glory first hand.
- I wonder if this light from the angel was a reflection of God’s radiance.
- The guards say this and freaked out. It says they became like dead men, they didn’t die, they just passed out. They didn’t witness what would come next.
The angel said to the women: "Do not be afraid; for I know that you are looking for Jesus who has been crucified. 6 "He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said. Come, see the place where He was lying”
He’s not in this tomb anymore. He is alive. As proof, come in and see. See the empty grave clothes, see the empty slab, no stench of death, no body, He is has risen!
So these ladies get their first glimpse that something miraculous has happened here at the empty tomb. They were the first to hear the great news. But this angel from heaven and empty tomb aren’t the only evidence that Jesus is alive.
The angel instructs the women to go to the disciples and let them know the good news. On their way they are met by Jesus Himself. They fall to His feet, touch Him, hear Him, worship Him. They saw Jesus die, and now they have seen that He is alive.
Later in the passage we see that Jesus does indeed meet up with his disciples. His resurrection is confirmed by a bunch of people. Later on in the book of 1 Corinthians Paul uses these eyewitness accounts as a proof that the resurrection was true.
1 Corinthians 15:4-8 4 and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; 7 then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles; 8 and last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also.
Paul explains that a bunch of people, many who are still alive, can give a testimony to having seen Jesus risen from the dead. I love how Paul explains how Jesus even appeared to him. Even though he was chosen as an apostle after the resurrection. Even though he wasn’t expecting to witness Jesus, he did.
The evidence for the historical reality of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ is very weighty.
In his book, "Evidence of the Resurrection" Josh McDowell cites two historians as they offer their conclusions on the historical reliability of the resurrection:
Professor Thomas Arnold chair of modern history at Oxford,
"I have been used for many years to study the histories of other times, and to examine and weigh the evidence of those who have written about them, and I know of no one fact in the history of mankind which is proved by better and fuller evidence of every sort, to the understanding of a fair inquirer, than the great sign which God hath given us that Christ died and rose again from the dead."
Brooke Foss Westcott, an English scholar, said: "raking all the evidence together, it is not too much to say that there is no historic incident better or more variously supported than the resurrection of Christ.
There are some doubters and skeptics that just plain don’t believe that Jesus was even a real person. However, there is so much archeological and historical evidence to show that He did live that it’s hard to maintain this belief.
There are some who will admit that He was a real historical person, but that He didn’t rise from the dead. But the eyewitness accounts from people who saw Him alive are hard to deny.
So there are some who have created what is known as the “Swoon Theory”. Has anyone heard of this? It’s the theory that Jesus didn’t really die on the cross, he just passed out. He revived in the tomb and His disciples nursed him back to health.
Now obviously that theory is a contradiction to the plain teaching of scripture. But I think that the fact that someone even came up with the “swoon theory” shows just how much evidence there is that Jesus was really alive.
Dealing with mistaken ideas and false reports about Jesus isn’t a new thing. There have been a lot of different theories and explanations offered that attempt to explain away the events of the resurrection. This isn’t just something we face today, it goes all the way back to the beginning.
In his attempt to prove that the story of Jesus’ resurrection is true, Matthew even gives us some insight into the attempt to cover up the resurrection. Let’s take a quick look at this cover-up.
- The guards go report to the chief priest what they saw. (These were not Romans guards, but Jewish temple guards. If they were Roman guards they would have reported to Pilate, but the fact that they went straight to the chief priest shows that they were temple guards.)
- These guards tell what they have seen. Remember, they haven’t seen everything, just this scary dude and then an empty tomb.
- The elders met together and came up with a plan. The solders where supposed to say that they saw the disciples come and steal the body while they were asleep. Can you see any possible problems with this explanation?
- First of all, how do you know it was the disciples who took the body if you were asleep?
- Second, for a guard to admit to falling asleep at his post would be a very bad thing. If these were Roman solders this kind of admission would be suicide. But the Jewish leaders promise to keep these temple guards out of trouble.
- It’s interesting to note that it took a large sum of money to get the job done. I wonder if these guards were reluctant to lie about what they had seen. In the end it didn’t matter, they took the money and the promise of protection and spread the false claim.
Matthew knows about the false story that has been circulated about Jesus. He knows who started the rumor and why they started it. He also knows that the Jewish readers he is addressing will likely have heard that theory. So Matthew addresses the cover-up head on. He exposes it as the false testimony that it really is and then goes on to finish given his own testimony about what really happened.
What an illustration of hardness of heart. These Jewish leaders know the truth, but for some reason they chose to ignore it and believe a lie of their own creation. It’s appalling and hard to believe they would make this choice, but I can understand why they would do it.
If Jesus really was alive that must mean that He really was the messiah. He really was who He said he was. If that was true then these Jewish leaders were faced with the choice of either admitting that they had murdered the messiah, or create some other explanation. The weight of guilt and shame and remorse one the human sole would have unimaginable. It would have been very easy for them to assume that the disciples took the body, and then allow themselves to fully believe that lie.
Matthew includes this side note to prove to us that Jesus wasn’t stolen, He isn’t still dead, He has risen!
The guards where paid a large sum of money and commissioned to spread a lie, by contrast, Matthew shows how Jesus appeared to them and commissioned them to spread the truth. Look again at the great commission found in verses 16-20…
They met up with Jesus in Galilee. They saw Him and worshiped Him. They were eyewitnesses to His resurrection. But there were still some who were doubtful. What more could you want? How is it possible that a person could stand face to face with a guy that had been crucified, pierced with a sword, and laid in a tomb for three days, and still have any doubts?
Some people are just so hard of heart that they are incapable of seeing God even when He is right there in front of them. Our study in the book of Romans gives us some insight into why this is the case. People are just completely blinded by sin.
This reference to some who were doubtful might be referring to Thomas. The other disciples had told him the good news of Jesus’ resurrection, but Thomas said, unless I see the nail marks and put my hand in his side, I will not believe it.
Jesus did appear to Thomas and Thomas had the chance to put his hands in the nail holes and in His side. Thomas believed because of what he saw.
29 Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."
On that mountain Jesus gave them their marching orders. He instructed them about what they were to do next. He gives them three commands. Go isn’t one of them. He doesn’t expect that they will spend the rest of their lives up on that mountain, at some point they will go out into all the world.
The first command is to make disciples. Bring people into the family. Spread the new life that is found only in Jesus Christ.
The second command is to baptize these disciples. Once they have believed and been made followers of Christ, take them through that important step of the public identification with Christ’s death, burial and resurrection.
And finally, teach them. Help them understand who they are in Christ and what they are supposed to do.
The great commission is for us to go out and explain what Christ’s resurrection means.
- Because He has risen indeed all our sins are paid for.
- Because He has risen indeed we can now have new life.
- Because He has risen indeed we can have a close relationship with God.
- Because He has risen indeed we can spend eternity in heaven.
The book of Matthew was written to give evidence to the fact that Jesus Christ rose from the dead, just like He had promised. But my guess is that most of us in here believe that Christ has risen because we have met Him ourselves. We know that He lives because He has made us new. He lives within our heart. Just like he promised here at the end of Matthew 28. He is with us all the way to the end of the age because… He has risen!
