Easter 2014 Until the Lord Returns April 20, 2014
Introduction:
A I believe that the hinge of all of history is found at a lonely outcrop of rock just outside the Damascus Gate at the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.
1 The sight is a skull-shaped cliff called Calvary & just a stone throws away from that cliff is the empty tomb.
a In Jerusalem, there are two traditional sites that claim to be the actual burial place of Jesus:
aa Traditional Catholic called the Church of the Sepulcher.
bb Traditional Protestant called the Garden Tomb (Better known as “Gordon’s Tomb” after the late 19th century Major General Charles George Gordon, the one who excavated this area and found the tomb.
b The location of Jesus’s tomb was well known to the post-apostolic church.
aa In AD 333, a pilgrim from Bordeaux, France wrote, “As you pass through the gate of Neapolis (Damascus Gate) . . . on your left in the hillock, [is] Golgotha where the Lord was crucified, and about a stone’s throw from it, [is] the vault where they lay His body and He rose again on the third day.”
bb This is the exact location of the Garden Tomb/Gordon’s Tomb.
cc We know from Scripture that the cross & the tomb were close to each other; “So there they laid Jesus, because of the Jews’ Preparation Day, for the tomb was nearby.”
c The Garden Tomb has some very convincing evidence to being the site of Jesus’s burial place . . .
aa No human bones were found in the area . . .
bb There is a slot for a stone to roll . . .
cc There is an “anchor cross” on the outside wall . . .
dd There are carvings of the Greek letters alpha & omega . . .
ee It is in close proximity to the Skull Hill (Calvary) . . .
T.S.: Let’s explore the mystery of Jesus’ Tomb.
I Was the Tomb Really Empty?
A There are four independent accounts of Jesus’ resurrection (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John) as well as prophesied in the Old Testament.
Psalm 16:10 (NASB) 10 For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol; Nor will You allow Your Holy One to undergo decay.
1 The Gospel accounts were not made up in collusion to convince history of hoax.
a The first proof of the empty tomb is the apparent contradictions.
aa The number of angels at the tomb, number of women who went to the garden. (Get references)
bb The time of their arrival, and other points. (Get references)
cc These “contradictions” can be harmonized, but the point is that if the writers were writing in collusion to invent a story these seemingly apparent discrepancies would have been eliminated. (In other words, they would have got their stories straight.)
dd On the other hand, it’s obvious they didn’t make up their stories separately because there is an overriding agreement that the narratives posses (setting, characters, sequence).
ee THEREFORE, if the accounts weren’t made up in collusion (lying together), and if they were not made up separately, the only other possibility is that they are not made up at all. They are simply true/independent accounts by those who knew what they were writing.
b The second proof of the empty tomb is the broken seal
aa There was a Roman seal affixed to large stone outside Christ’s tomb at the request of the Pharisees; Jesus had made claims of resurrection before His arrests.
bb Matthew 27:62-66 (NASB) 62 Now on the next day, the day after the preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered together with Pilate, 63 and said, "Sir, we remember that when He was still alive that deceiver said, 'After three days I am to rise again.' 64 "Therefore, give orders for the grave to be made secure until the third day, otherwise His disciples may come and steal Him away and say to the people, 'He has risen from the dead,' and the last deception will be worse than the first." 65 Pilate said to them, "You have a guard; go, make it as secure as you know how."66 And they went and made the grave secure, and along with the guard they set a seal on the stone.
cc Get the picture: Guards are positioned around Christ’s tomb like a world leader in state, and the stone is sealing His tomb (According to historian Justin, removal of the stone was a capital offense.)
dd Do you think . . . . 1) The Romans would have put a seal on an empty grave? Absolutely not. 2) Which of the disciples do you think would have came out of hiding to risk death by fighting professional Roman guards, tamper with a government seal?
ee Jesus’s body was in the tomb BEFORE the seal was placed on the covering stone.
c The third proof of the empty tomb was the great stone.
aa In Mark 16 we read that Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, & Salome, were bringing spices to finish the burial of their friend, Jesus,
Mark 16:2-3 (NASB) Very early on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb when the sun had risen. They were saying to one another, "Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?"
bb Obviously, the ladies had no idea about two other key issues: The Roman guards & the government seal.
cc If we use the Garden Tomb as a templet, the opening was about 6" tall so the stone needed to cover it would have been similar in height.
dd The channel in front of the door opening, which was cut into the rock, is about a foot deep, weighed about 1.5 to 2 tons, taken several men to dislodge it.
ee But in verse 4 of Mark 16 we read these wonderful words,
Mark 16:4 (NASB) 4 Looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled away, although it was extremely large.
d The forth proof of the empty tomb is the state of the tomb.
e The fifth proof of the empty tomb is the change in the disciples
aa In the closing chapters of the Gospels we see a group of men as cowardly as any who have ever walked the earth (defeated, downtrodden, running for the hills).
bb In 50 short days these men went from being cowards running scared to being emboldened proclaimers who had witnessed with their own eyes the risen Christ!
cc So profound was the truth they unleashed on the world, that they were willing to die for it, all but one would.
dd I can’t tell you a person I’ve ever met that would die for a lie!
2 The Sixth proof of the empty tomb is the conversion of James.
a Irregardless of what the Catholic church says, Mary, the mother of Jesus, had other children. (How many we don’t know, but the Gospels tell us that Jesus had brothers, with the most noted being James.)
aa James 1:1 (NASB) James, a bond-servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes who are dispersed abroad: Greetings.
bb The words are pretty but they are as rich as they are eloquent.
cc He states he is a “bond-servant/slave” to God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.
dd James doesn’t play on the fact that Jesus is his real brother, grew up together.
b So often in church we see people climbing up the coattails of their familial standing in a local body because their mom/dad/grandparents went to church every time the doors were open, and often, brought them to church.
aa God doesn’t have grandchildren. . . He has children.
bb You’re not a Christian because grandma was . . .you must have your own relationship with Jesus.
c James was greatly changed by the empty tomb.
aa We find a real indication of James in Paul’s writing of Jesus singling him out . . . in reference to defending the truth of the empty tomb!!!!
1 Corinthians 15:6-7 (NASB) 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;
bb James was called “Camel Knees” because he developed calluses on his knees because he spent so much time in prayer;
James 5.16 (NASB) “. . .The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.”
B The most important thing about Jesus’s tomb is not whether it’s at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher or the Garden Tomb. . . but that the tomb is empty!
1 Famed British educator/historian Thomas Arnold said that the resurrection of Jesus is the best attested fact in history.
a John Warwick Montgomery of the Dean Simon Greenleaf School of Law said, “It passes the bonds of credibility that the early Christians could have manufactured such a tale and then preached it among those who might easily have refuted it simply by producing the body. -EMPHASIS ADDED
b Dr. R.W. White, told of a brilliant Chinese man who came to services that White was preaching and the man asked for a New Testament and was given one, later he came to confess Christ and gave this testimony:
I took the New Testament home with me. I sat down on the floor and read it through before I did anything else. I have read the great writings of Confucius. I wanted to satisfy my hungry heart there. I knocked at the door but no answer came for Confucius was dead. I read the message of Buddhism seeking that for which my soul so profoundly longed. I knocked at the door of Buddha but no answer came for Buddha was dead. I read the Koran. My soul longed to find peace there. I knocked at the door but no answer came for Muhammad was dead. I read the writings of the greatest patriots and religious leaders of the past. I knocked but no answer came. While reading this New Testament, I found that it claim its Author to be alive. I knocked at that door. I found the living Christ. He came into my soul. Here my hungry heart found peace, a peace for which it has longed.
2 Maybe you were raised in church/or you never joined a church; maybe doubt has been sown into you; maybe you never really believed Jesus was alive.
a I pray you understand/believe I’m not telling you about a fable/myth/legend.
aa The tomb of Jesus is empty, it bears silent witness that He is alive and He is Lord.
bb The same Jesus who came out of that grave has made it possible for the same:
Romans 8:11 (NASB) 11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.
b If you ask Him to live in you, He will. Will you?
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