Easter an empty tomb not empty promises
It’s Easter Sunday evening on the 16th April 2017, but I want you to imagine it’s very early on the first Easter Sunday Morning, nearly 2000 years ago.
Imagine you are one of the disciples of Jesus and you wake up in a cold sweat remembering the horror of what had happened on Friday.
Your friend, your teacher, the one you gave up everything to follow is dead.
Crucified like a common criminal.
If only you could have done something.
If only the crowd had let Him go instead of that murderer Barabas.
Your shouts of “let Jesus go, He has done nothing wrong!”
Had been drowned out by the screams of the crowd yelling “Crucify Him, crucify Him! We will take responsibility for his death—we and our children! His blood be on us and on our children!”
You watched as He was beaten, you watched as a crown of thorns was pushed into His brow.
You watched as He was forced to carry the heavy wood of His cross to Golgotha, the place of the skull.
You watched as the soldiers nailed His hands and feet to the cross and raised it up into its stand.
You cried as you watched His last hours of pain and suffering till He shouted “It is finished” and breathed His last breath.
As He died, it felt like something inside you had died as well.
Your dreams shattered, your hope turned into fear, your purpose now purposless, everything gone.
For three years you had been His disciple.
How the days had flown by, it seems like only yesterday when He had asked you to follow Him and become a fisher of men.
You had listened to His every word as He spoke to you and as He spoke to crowds of people throughout the region.
Though if you are honest, there were times when you really didn’t understand what He was saying and you were always pleased He took the time to explain His words to you and the other disciples.
All He had wanted was everything, and you gave it.
All he had asked was that you believe and oh how you had believed.
You had seen the impossible,
you had seen blind men see,
you had seen lame men walk,
and you had even seen Lazarus, a dead man, live again.
You had believed with all your heart, but not any more, your belief was as dead as your master.
As you lay on your bed, you begin to cry again, seems like that is all you have done since Thursday night.
You think about your past, your present, even your future.
There is nothing left now, all you can do is go home,
to leave Jerusalem, to leave your hopes,
to leave your dreams and just go home.
You might as well try and recover your yesterdays,
try and go back to the life you had before.
Your dreams are as dead as Jesus in His borrowed tomb.
Captured, beaten, crucified, dead and buried.
But then you hear a shout from outside,
“He’s alive, the tomb is empty. Jesus is alive.
He has risen from the grave”
What? Can it be?
Suddenly your heart is filled with fresh hope.
You jump from your bed and rush out to discover the two Mary’s had seen an empty tomb.
Mary had seen empty grave clothes and then Mary had seen Jesus.
Jesus wasn’t dead, Jesus was alive.
Jesus was alive & everything was going to be ok.
Imagine you were His disciple that morning,
instead of mourning His death, you are celebrating His resurrection, you are celebrating Him being alive.
The sadness of Jesus’ death on the cross and crushed dreams are shattered.
Instead there is joy, exhilaration and peace.
Your focus, our focus has changed, it is not on death it’s on life.
Jesus is alive and the tomb is empty.
There is purpose, there is a future, there is hope.
If Jesus’ story had ended at the cross, hope would have died with him. But it didn’t.
Without the Resurrection following Jesus would be pointless. Belief in the Resurrection is central to the Christian faith.
We believe as did the early church that Christ has risen from the dead, there was actually a physical resurrection.
The miracle of the Resurrection really happened.
When we look back on the events of that first Easter, we are looking at more than events in history,
the events of Easter changed history,
the events of Easter changed our destiny.
In Romans 4:25 The Bible says Jesus was handed over to die because of our sins, and He was raised to life to make us right with God.
Listen to Romans 6:3-11, Have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in His death? 4 For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And Just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives.
5 Since we have been united with Him in His death, we will also be raised to life as He was. 6 We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. 7 For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin. 8 And since we died with Christ, we know we will also live with Him.
9 We are sure of this because Christ was raised from the dead, and He will never die again. Death no longer has any power over Him.
10 When He died, He died once to break the power of sin. But now that He lives, He lives for the glory of God. 11 So you also should consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus.
The focus of Easter is Jesus coming to earth, being nailed to a cross on our behalf and rising from the dead three days later.
We believe in a risen saviour, Jesus defeated death, death could not contain Him.
Sin and its effects are defeated.
Sin no longer has a grip on us.
This is our certain hope, just as Jesus was raised and restored, we will be raised and restored too.
Billy Graham once said, “The cross shows the seriousness of our sin – but it also shows us the immeasurable love of God.”
Jesus came to seek and save the lost,
Jesus came to set the captives free,
Jesus came to break the power of sin in our lives,
Jesus came to bear the punishment of our sin,
Jesus came to die on the cross in our place.
Then on that first Easter Sunday,
Jesus was raised from the dead,
so that you and I could be forgiven,
so that we could believe,
so that we could repent and be born again,
so that we could be assured of eternal life and a place in Heaven with God the Father for eternity.
And all you have to do is reach out and accept it.
Jesus overcame the grave, he’s still alive and available for you to personally encounter.
“He’s alive, the tomb is empty. Jesus is alive.
He has risen from the grave”
The four gospel writers, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John all record the events of that amazing day.
Each of them speak from their own viewpoint and there are no contradictions,
the accounts all blend into one beautiful narrative.
The first people to see Jesus alive after His resurrection were the women who went to the tomb early that Sunday morning.
Actually the writer of the Gospel of Mark starts the story the night before, Mark 16:1 tells us that on Saturday evening, when the Sabbath ended, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome went out and purchased burial spices so they could anoint Jesus’ body.
Then the Bible tells us very early on Easter Sunday morning the women were returned to the tomb where the lifeless body of Jesus had been placed after being taken down from the cross before the Jewish Sabbath.
They wondered about moving the great stone door of the tomb but when they arrived they found it had already been rolled away and the tomb was open.
Listen to John 20:1-2 Early on Sunday morning, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance. She ran and found Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved. She said, “They have taken the Lord’s body out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put Him!”
While Mary had gone to speak to Peter and John, the other women entered the tomb and saw an angel who told them that Jesus had risen.
Mark 16:5-7 tells us, The women were shocked, but the angel said, “Don’t be alarmed. You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth,who was crucified. He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead! Look, this is where they laid hHis body.
Now go and tell his disciples, including Peter, that Jesus is going ahead of you to Galilee. You will see Him there, just as He told you before He died.”
Then the women also went to tell the disciples.
Mary Magdalene had found Peter and John.
She told them what she had seen and then returned to the tomb.
It seems Peter and John arrived before her probably around 6.30AM.
John ran faster than Peter and arrived first, but he only looked into the tomb and did not enter it.
When Peter came, he went straight into the tomb, and then John followed him.
They saw the linen cloths lying together and the cloth that had been around the head of Jesus rolled up in a place by itself.
John was the first of the apostles to believe that Jesus had risen from the dead.
After Peter and John left, Mary Magdalene arrived back at the tomb a second time.
It was then that she saw Jesus and spoke to Him.
This was the first post-resurrection appearance of Jesus.
From then on events happened quickly.
It was probably around 7am when Jesus met the women as they were going to carry the apostles news of the resurrection.
Matthew 28:8-10, The women ran quickly from the tomb. They were very frightened but also filled with great joy, and they rushed to give the disciples the angel’s message. And as they went, Jesus met them and greeted them. And they ran to Him, grasped His feet, and worshiped Him. Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t be afraid! Go tell my brothers to leave for Galilee, and they will see me there.”
Then around 4pm Jesus appeared to Simon Peter.
Then probably between 4pm and 6pm Jesus was with two disciples Cleopas and his companion, who were on their way to Emmaus.
Luke 24:13-34, That same day two of Jesus’ followers were walking to the village of Emmaus, seven miles from Jerusalem.
As they walked along they were talking about everything that had happened.
As they talked and discussed these things, Jesus himself suddenly came and began walking with them.
But God kept them from recognizing him.
He asked them, “What are you discussing so intently as you walk along?”
They stopped short, sadness written across their faces. Then one of them, Cleopas, replied, “You must be the only person in Jerusalem who hasn’t heard about all the things that have happened there the last few days.”
“What things?” Jesus asked.
“The things that happened to Jesus, the man from Nazareth,” they said. “He was a prophet who did powerful miracles, and he was a mighty teacher in the eyes of God and all the people.
But our leading priests and other religious leaders handed him over to be condemned to death, and they crucified him.
We had hoped he was the Messiah who had come to rescue Israel. This all happened three days ago.
“Then some women from our group of his followers were at his tomb early this morning, and they came back with an amazing report.
They said his body was missing, and they had seen angels who told them Jesus is alive!
Some of our men ran out to see, and sure enough, his body was gone, just as the women had said.”
Then Jesus said to them, “You foolish people! You find it so hard to believe all that the prophets wrote in the Scriptures.
Wasn’t it clearly predicted that the Messiah would have to suffer all these things before entering his glory?”
Then Jesus took them through the writings of Moses and all the prophets, explaining from all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.
By this time they were nearing Emmaus and the end of their journey. Jesus acted as if he were going on, but they begged him, “Stay the night with us, since it is getting late.” So he went home with them.
As they sat down to eat,he took the bread and blessed it. Then he broke it and gave it to them.
Suddenly, their eyes were opened, and they recognized him.
And at that moment he disappeared!
They said to each other, “Didn’t our hearts burn within us as he talked with us on the road and explained the Scriptures to us?”
And within the hour they were on their way back to Jerusalem. There they found the eleven disciples and the others who had gathered with them, who said, “The Lord has really risen! He appeared to Peter.”
So it’s now about 8pm.
Jesus appears to the disciples, except Thomas, in the upper room and a week later to the disciples, including Thomas.
What a day, what a rollercoaster of emotions,
He’s dead,
His body has gone,
the angels say He has risen,
Mary sees Him, He is alive,
Peter sees Him,
Cleopas and his friend see Him, speak to Him, and even invite Him home for dinner!
Then the disciples see Him for themselves.
“He’s alive, the tomb is empty. Jesus is alive.
He has risen from the grave”
That first Easter Sunday was certainly unlike any other day a day that would never be forgotten.
The fears of the disciples were dispelled, they became men of joy, boldness, and dynamic energy.
They experienced for themselves proof that Jesus was alive.
The resurrection of Jesus Christ turned eleven men who were utterly defeated into a bold completely committed band of witnesses.
From the time of these disciples of Jesus Christ,
to the present day, the message of the resurrected Jesus has been proclaimed.
His resurrection power is available to us today!
In many ways, our world is living under the same conditions as those discouraged, depressed, and defeated disciples were from Friday to Resurrection Sunday.
The power and the presence of God is with us because Jesus is alive today.
In Him, by faith, we have victory over Sin, we have the assurance of eternal life.
A week later Thomas believed because he saw the risen Jesus for himself, Jesus said to Thomas,
“You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who believe without seeing me.” (John 20:29).
Friends, Jesus was talking about us!
We have seen and believed not with the eyes of flesh but with the eyes of faith.
Faith brings dynamic power.
The Apostle Paul wrote to the Philippians 3:10) concerning the great desire of his life, he said, I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised Him from the dead.
It was in the power of the risen Jesus that the early Christians went out to change the world and we are called to do the same.
Do you feel you have a weak faith? Have you surrendered yourself completely to the risen Jesus?
Do you need God to help you to change your life?
“He’s alive, the tomb is empty. Jesus is alive.
He has risen from the grave”
Friends, this evening, this Resurrection Sunday, put your faith, put your trust in Jesus, the risen Lord and Saviour.
Trust the One who loved you so much He was willing to die for you.
Trust the One who has conquered death and the grave.
Christ alone deserves to be the Lord of our lives.
May the risen Christ be real in your heart today and everyday.
