Jesus Is Risen! He Is Risen Indeed!
That’s not something we just chant and repeat mindlessly over and over to convince ourselves of some unprovable fact. There are eye witness testimonies; over 500 eye witnesses at one time, in fact.
Luke 24:1-12 NIV
“On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.
“While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, ‘Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; He has risen!
“Remember how He told you, while He was still with you in Galilee: ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again?’” Then they remembered His words.
“When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles. But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense.
“Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, He saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened.”
This isn't something that was just invented to make Jesus look great! One of the most compelling accounts is given by Luke who was a highly educated physician who later became an investigative reporter in order to give an accurate accounting what what was seen and heard by a multitude of eye witnesses.
Luke 1:1-4 NIV
“Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word.
“With this in mind, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I too decided to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.”
(Other witnesses)
Acts 4:20 NIV
“As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.”
Acts 13:31 NIV
“But God raised Him (Jesus) from the dead, and for many days He was seen by those who had traveled with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem. They are now His witnesses to our people.”
1 John 1:3 NIV
“That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched - this we proclaim concerning the Word of life.
“The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us.
“We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.”
1 Corinthians 15:3-6 NIV
“For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,
“And that He appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. After that, He appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have died.”
Sometimes we as pastors struggle to find something new and interesting to preach about on the Sunday specifically set aside to remember and celebrate the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.
That is a crazy thought! What on earth could be more important than to proclaim.
Please stand and recite The Apostles Creed with me
:
I BELIEVE in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth:
And in Jesus Christ His only Son, our Lord;
Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried;
He descended into Hades; the third day He rose again from the dead;
He ascended into heaven, and now sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
from there He shall come to judge the living and the dead.
I BELIEVE in the Holy Spirit; the church universal;
the communion of saints; the forgiveness of sins;
the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting. Amen
Now, I realize that it is difficult for people to believe that Jesus rose from the dead and that’s where faith comes in.
Of course, in the past few decades we’ve all heard stories and read books and watched movies about people who have been declared dead and have come back to life and who genuinely believe that they went to heaven and a few believe that they visited hell.
And, while we’re on that subject, we need to be careful to never, never, never take those stories as the gospel. One neurosurgeon who had this experience claimed that he was certain that all roads lead to heaven. Where do you think that story had its origin. It wasn’t from God. These stories and everything in them MUST be checked against the Bible!
OK, so back to the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. Jesus rose from the dead, not with His same old body, but with a glorified body like what we who love and follow Him will be resurrected with when He returns.
So, what other proof do we have that Jesus was raised from the dead.
We have the indirect testimony of two of His half-brothers, James and Jude, the sons of Joseph and Mary.
Matthew 13:54-56 NIV
“Coming to His hometown, He began teaching the people in their synagogue, and they were amazed. ‘Where did this Man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers?’ they asked.
“Isn’t this the carpenter’s Son? Isn’t His mother’s name Mary, and aren’t His brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas? Aren’t all His sisters with us? Where then did this Man get all these things?”
Here we clearly see that the people of His own home town know Him and His family. Of course, they believe that Joseph, the carpenter, is His father. They know that Mary is His mother. They also know His brothers and sisters. They are describing a traditional Jewish family. So, here we see His brothers identified.
John 7:1-5 NIV
“After this, Jesus went around in Galilee. He did not want to go about in Judea because the Jewish leaders there were looking for a way to kill Him.
“But when the Jewish Festival of Tabernacles was near, Jesus’ brothers said to Him, ‘Leave Galilee and go to Judea, so that Your disciples there may see the works You do.
“No one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret. Since You are doing these things, show Yourself to the world.’ For even His own brothers did not believe in Him.”
In these verses Jesus’ brothers are basically mocking and challenging Jesus and they certainly don’t believe that He is the chosen One, the Messiah sent from God.
Mary and Joseph must have told them of the miraculous birth of Jesus. They must have told them about the angels visiting their Dad in his dreams and telling them to flee to Egypt and when to return to Israel. The must have told them about the prophecies of Simeon and Anna in the temple when Jesus was presented to the Lord. Yet, they still did not believe in Him.
Now, let’s turn in our Bibles to Mark chapter 3 because here is something we don’t want to miss.
Mark 3:20-21 NIV
“Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered, so that He and His disciples were not even able to eat. When His family heard about this, they went to take charge of Him, for they said, ‘He is out of His mind.’”
Now, let’s go down to verses 31-35
Mark 3:31-35 NIV
“Then Jesus’ mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in to call Him. A crowd was sitting around Him, and they told Him, ‘Your mother and brothers are outside looking for You.’
“Who are My mother and My brothers?” He asked. Then He looked at those seated in a circle around Him and said, “Here are My mother and My brothers! Whoever does God’s will is My brother and sister and mother.”
Wow! Did you get that? Jesus’ brothers don’t believe in Him and in this case even His mother thinks He is out of His mind!
And, you don’t see Jesus’ brothers at any of the events surrounding the trials and torture and execution of Jesus; only His mother and Jesus assigns her care to John the beloved disciple.
OK. So, what on earth does all of this have to do with the resurrection of Jesus?
There is absolutely NO evidence that the brothers of Jesus became followers of Jesus before He died on the cross!
But, what do we see AFTER the resurrection? We see that two of the brothers of Jesus who once mocked Him and thought He was crazy not only are believers but leaders. James became known as James the Just and was the leader of the church in Jerusalem. In Galatians chapter 1 the apostle Paul refers to “James, the Lord’s brother”.
In addition to James we see that Jesus’ brother Judas is now also a believer. Jesus’ brother Judas wrote the book of Jude.
Listen to James’ description of himself in the opening line of the first chapter of James
James 1:1a NIV
“James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ …”
What changed James from mocking His brother to calling Him the Lord Jesus Christ the Messiah?
THE RESURRECTION!
Listen to Jude’s description of himself in the opening line of the book of Jude
Jude 1:1a
“Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James …”
What changed Jude from mocking His brother to calling Him the Lord Jesus Christ the Messiah?
THE RESURRECTION!
The miraculous virgin birth of Jesus, His sacrificial death on the cross and His resurrection are all together one great dividing line in history and one great dividing line of salvation.
Every one of us is on one side of the line or the other.
James and Jude were on one side of the line before Jesus resurrection and then on the other side after His resurrection.
Which side of the line are you on?
John 3:18 (quote)
Romans 10:9-10 (quote)
Which side of the line are you on?
Conclusion and possible invitation
