A. Happy Easter, Everyone!
1. This has to be one of the most unusual Easters in the last 100 years.
2. Most countries around the world are practicing social distancing because of the virus pandemic, and so churches are empty on this Resurrection Sunday in order to protect physical lives.
3. But that doesn’t mean that believers around the world are not pausing to give proper attention to one of the most important moments in human history – the day that Jesus arose from the dead.
4. I pray that God will give me the ability to bring hope and strength to all of us as we think about the significance of the resurrection of Jesus, and the hope that it brings.
B. Last week, we started a new sermon series on hope that I have titled “Hope: The Anchor of God’s Promises.”
1. Last week, we were reminded about the fact that our God is a promise making and promise keeping God.
2. God cannot lie and God has the power to deliver on any promise God makes.
3. God’s track record shows that He is faithful to His promises.
C. Today, I want to remind us of a specific promise of God and it is the promise that: Death is Not the End of Life.
1. Have you ever spent time in a cemetery? I’m sure most of us have.
a. Most of us have been in the cemetery for graveside burials, but have you ever just taken a stroll in a cemetery and thought about life and the lives of the people buried there?
b. I always find it so interesting to read the names and the dates, and any other things that might be carved on the gravestones or placed near them.
2. When Charles Lamb, the English poet and literary critic was just a boy, his sister took him for a long walk in a local cemetery.
a. As the precocious boy read aloud the epitaphs on the tombstones, he noticed they commemorated the deceased as “virtuous,” “charitable,” “beloved,” and so on.
b. Then he asked his sister this interesting question: “Mary, where are all the naughty people buried?”
3. Whenever I have spent time wandering through a cemetery, I always find it to be both a sobering, and an inspiring experience.
a. Two of the things that always hit me as I spend time in a cemetery are: first, how quickly time and earthly life passes, and second, how life goes on both on this side of the grave and on the other side.
4. Truly, death is not the end of life.
5. We all have seen “The Family Circus” comic over the years, it is always drawn in a circle.
a. In one cartoon, the family is out for a drive and they are passing by the hospital.
b. The children are in the back seat and one of the older kids explains to the younger ones, “When people die in the hospital, the angels move them to heaven’s eternity ward.”
6. How insightful and true: we are born in the maternity ward, and we end up in the eternity ward!
D. Over the years, I have been honored to be at the side of people when they passed from this life.
1. It is both a sacred and a strange experience – one minute the person is there, and then the next minute they are not.
2. Many of us remember a precious long-time member of Wetzel Road, named Charlie Vrooman.
3. Charlie was so full of life and love and faith, in spite of his severe physical disabilities.
4. A number of us from church visited or stayed with Charlie in the days before he died.
5. But the night he passed, it was just him and me there in his room at Syracuse Home from about 9:30 PM when Diana went home, and 3:30 AM when Charlie took his last breath.
6. The space between Charlie’s breaths became longer and longer, until he took one last deep breath and then exhaled.
7. He squinted his eyes, then his face relaxed and became peaceful.
8. Charlie, our good brother, was gone.
E. A similar scene was experienced on the afternoon that Jesus died.
1. Standing near the cross, keeping vigil with Him were some of those dearest to Jesus.
2. Mary, his mother, Mary Magdalene, and the apostle John, were among the crowd of onlookers.
3. Those six hours that Friday were excruciating for Jesus as he bore the physical toll of crucifixion and the spiritual toll of the weight of the sins of the world.
4. But it was also a horrifying and crushing experience for those who loved Jesus and had to watch him suffer on the cross.
5. They watched as some hurled their insults at Him, but meanwhile they heard Jesus express His forgiveness toward them.
6. They heard the other declarations He made from the cross, including His final one recorded by Luke: “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he said this he breathed his last. (Lk. 23:43)
7. And in that moment Jesus was gone.
F. We have interesting ways of describing that moment.
1. We say, “They just slipped away…they departed…they just left…they passed.”
2. And in truth, when people die they do pass, not away, but on.
3. Yet we wonder, on to where, to what place? And in what manner or form?
4. What does the person who passed on see? What do they know? What do they do?
G. We long to know the answers to those questions, because we know that barring the return of Christ in our lifetimes, we will all experience the same.
1. We will all experience a last breath, and a final pulse.
2. Our lungs will empty, our heart will stop, and we will be gone.
3. But what will we be and where will we be after we die?
4. As you know, people offer many different answers.
5. Some believe that after we die we will be nowhere and we will be nothing – they believe death is the end.
6. Some believe that those who die become ghosts or spirits.
7. Others believe that after you die you become something else, a hawk or an ant, or a farmer in Ecuador.
8. Still others believe that you simply become part of the universe – eternity absorbs you like a lake absorbs a raindrop.
H. Christianity, on the other hand, advances a very different and hopeful idea.
1. Christianity offers this promise: “Death has been swallowed up in victory” (1 Cor. 15:54).
2. According to this promise, we, people of faith understand that the cemetery is less a place of loss and more a place of gain.
3. That doesn’t mean that the dead in Christ are not mourned – we do mourn for our loved ones, because we miss them so, and losing them is so hard.
4. But we don’t grieve like the rest of humanity that have no hope.
5. We know that our loss is their gain – we believe that they have gone to a better place, and we envy them and long to be where they are.
I. As God’s people, we hold on to the unshakable hope that hinges on the resurrection of Jesus.
1. The Christian hope depends entirely on the truth that Jesus died a physical death, was placed in an actual grave, but then on the third day after His death He vacated that grave.
2. Let’s return in our minds to that Sunday morning that followed the Friday execution of Jesus.
3. Picture the sky being dark as the sun had not yet risen.
4. Picture the Roman soldiers guarding Jesus’ tomb wondering about what to have for breakfast, or what they would do on their next day off.
5. I’m guessing the last thing on the soldiers’ minds was the fellow who had been nailed to the cross and who had been buried in that tomb – that was old news, right? Jesus was dead and gone, right? Wrong!
J. Let’s let the apostle Matthew share what happened next: 1 After the Sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to view the tomb. 2 There was a violent earthquake, because an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and approached the tomb. He rolled back the stone and was sitting on it. 3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing was as white as snow. 4 The guards were so shaken by fear of him that they became like dead men.
5 The angel told the women, “Don’t be afraid, because I know you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. 6 He is not here. For he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. 7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has risen from the dead and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; you will see him there.’ Listen, I have told you.” (Mt. 28:1-7)
1. Had such words never been spoken, had the body of Jesus decayed into dust in the borrowed tomb, then you and I would not be discussing this promise.
2. But these things took place, and these words were spoken, and the promise was made.
K. And as you know, Jesus then went on a “resurrection tour.”
1. That resurrection morning, Jesus appeared to Mary near the tomb.
2. That resurrection afternoon, Jesus appeared to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus.
3. That resurrection evening, Jesus appeared to the disciples in the upper room – minus Thomas.
4. On Sunday evening a week later, Jesus appeared to the disciples again and this time Thomas was present and Thomas was encouraged to stop doubting and believe – and if he needed to, Thomas could put his finger where the nails had pierced Jesus’ hands and where the spear pierced His side.
5. Later Jesus appeared to His disciples on the shore of Galilee – where He spoke with them and ate with them.
6. And Paul tells us that Jesus at one point appeared to more than 500 of the brothers at the same time.
L. Because of these appearances, the followers of Jesus were convinced that Jesus was raised from the dead.
1. And they also believed that His resurrection is the preview and promise of our own resurrection.
2. They believed that what God had done for Jesus, God would do for them and for us.
3. When Jesus rose from the dead, He was the “firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1 Cor. 15:20, 23)
4. The “firstfruits” is the first taste of the harvest and the farmer can anticipate the nature of the crop by sampling the first batch.
5. And so, we can anticipate our own resurrection by viewing the resurrection of Jesus.
M. So, what actually happens the moment we die and pass on?
1. Scripture reveals that our spirit will immediately enter into the presence of God, and our body will join us later.
2. We will immediately enjoy a conscious fellowship with the Father and with those who have gone before us.
3. We believe this to be true because of verses like 2 Corinthians 5:8: In fact, we are confident, and we would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.
4. Isn’t that the promise that Jesus gave the thief on the cross, when He said, “Today you will be with me in paradise”? (Luke 23:43)
5. We notice that Jesus promised that it would happen “today” – that there would be no delay, no pause, no purgatory or soul sleeping.
6. The thief breathed his last, closed his eyes and woke up in paradise.
7. The soul of the believer journeys home to paradise while the body of the believer awaits the resurrection at the second coming of Jesus.
8. This is also the kind of situation we see in Jesus’ story of the rich man and the poor man named Lazarus from Luke 16.
a. The rich man went to Hades, while Lazarus went to Abraham’s side.
b. One was in torment, and the other was in comfort.
c. The chasm was fixed between them and no one and nothing could cross back and forth.
d. The rich man begged that someone be sent to warn his relatives who were still alive so that they might not end up in the place of torment.
N. Over the years, we have heard anecdotal evidence of people who have had what we call “near death” experiences who have lived to tell of going to the other side.
1. Some have reported that it was paradise and so wonderful and beautiful, and how they didn’t want to return to earthly life.
2. Others have reported that they went to a horrible place, a place of terror.
3. These immediate places where people go when they die are just the first stages of eternity.
4. Paradise and Hades are not the final version of heaven or hell, but are just the first stage.
5. The final stage will begin when Christ returns on the final day.
6. The Bible tells us that the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout (1 Thess. 4:16).
7. Before we see the angels and hear their voices and trumpets, we will hear the voice of the Lord.
8. Jesus will awaken the bodies and summon the souls of the dead.
9. Jesus said, “Do not be amazed at this, because a time is coming when all who are in the graves will hear his voice and come out—those who have done good things, to the resurrection of life, but those who have done wicked things, to the resurrection of condemnation.” (Jn. 5:28-29)
O. The next time you are in a cemetery, try to imagine what that moment might look like.
1. The same God who shook the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea where Jesus was buried, will shake the soil of every cemetery on earth.
2. I’m not sure what that will look like – I don’t know if the actual grass and dirt will be pushed back, and the caskets will open – but I know that God’s promise will come true.
3. In what form will the resurrected body be? What will it look like? Will it be like the living dead? No, not at all.
4. Our resurrected bodies will not be like our earthly bodies.
5. Paul explained it this way: 35 But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? What kind of body will they have when they come?” 36 You fool! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. 37 And as for what you sow—you are not sowing the body that will be, but only a seed…42 So it is with the resurrection of the dead: Sown in corruption, raised in incorruption; 43 sown in dishonor, raised in glory; sown in weakness, raised in power; 44 sown a natural body, raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. (1 Cor. 15:35-37, 42-44)
6. Our spirits will somehow be reunited with our resurrected bodies, and we will be completely whole and perfect.
7. And not only will our bodies be perfected, but so will be the heavens and the earth, for we will be in the new heaven and the new earth.
8. John describes it in this way: 1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 I also saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband. 3 Then I heard a loud voice from the throne: Look, God’s dwelling is with humanity, and he will live with them. They will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them and will be their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; grief, crying, and pain will be no more, because the previous things have passed away. 5 Then the one seated on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new.” (Rev. 21:1-5)
a. Doesn’t that sound wonderful and amazing? And don’t you long to be there?
b. That is what the people of God have to look forward to.
c. But that’s not all that will happen at the time of Christ’s coming.
9. John also tells us that: 10 The devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet are, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever…14 Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. 15 And anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire. (Rev. 20:10, 14-15)
a. I know for sure that none of us want to end up there in the lake of fire, nor do we want anyone we know to end up there, and praise God that no one has to end up there.
b. God sent Jesus to die on the cross and be raised from the dead so that everyone who believes in Jesus can go to heaven and not to hell.
P. Praise God for the hope we have because of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.
1. God has promised us that death is not the end of life.
2. God has promised us that “death has been swallowed up in victory” (I Cor. 15:54).
3. Let’s make this promise one of the blocks in our foundation of faith.
4. Let’s allow this promise to anchor us through the storms of life and the storms of death.
5. Let’s make sure we view death through the lens of Christ’s resurrection.
6. The grave brings us sorrow for sure, but it need not bring us despair.
7. The tomb could not hold Christ, and since Christ is in you and in me, then we will not long be in our tomb either.
Q. In Peter’s second letter, he wrote: But based on his promise, we wait for new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness dwells. (2 Peter. 3:13)
1. This is God’s promise to us – death is not the end, but is just the beginning of something far better – and we know this because of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.
2. Many people assume that this life is as good as it gets, but we, believers understand that this world is as bad as it gets, and that heaven is going to be so much better than the best of earth.
3. Let’s allow this hope about tomorrow give us strength for today.
4. Our finest moment will be our final moment.
5. For most people, death is to be avoided, postponed and ignored.
6. But those people don’t have what we have, we have the hope of the promises of God.
7. We believe that our death will be swallowed up in victory.
8. We believe that Jesus rose from the dead, not just to show us His power, but to show us our path.
9. Jesus will lead us through the valley of death to the mountain top of eternal life.
R. Max Lucado tells the story of picking out his cemetery plot and gravestone.
1. He asked the cemetery director if it would be possible to have a gravestone with a button with a recorded message.
2. And after looking into the possibility, the cemetery director informed Max that they do make a gravestone with a button that when pushed plays a pre-recorded message.
3. So, Max went to work writing his message and came up with this message people will hear when they visit his grave and push the button: Thanks for coming by. Sorry you missed me. I’m not here. I’m home. Finally home. At some point my King will call, and this grave will be shown for the temporary tomb it is. You might want to step to the side in case that happens while you are here. Again, I appreciate the visit. Hope you’ve made plans for your own departure. All the best, Max.”
S. I read about another gravestone that had this message engraved on it: “Pause now, stranger as you pass by; As you are now, so once was I. As I am now, so soon you’ll be. Prepare yourself to follow me!”
1. Someone else had placed a piece of wood next to the gravestone that read: “To follow you I’m not content, until I know which way you went!”
T. We are all going to die, and we will all go to one place or the other.
1. God’s promise is that death is not the end of life.
2. God’s promise through Jesus is: For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. (Jn. 3:16)
3. And because Jesus was raised from the dead all of us will be raised as well.
4. We noticed these words from Jesus earlier in this sermon: “Do not be amazed at this, because a time is coming when all who are in the graves will hear his voice and come out—those who have done good things, to the resurrection of life, but those who have done wicked things, to the resurrection of condemnation.” (Jn. 5:28-29)
U. This hope that the resurrection gives us is not just a hope in “the sweet-by-and-by-when-we-die.”
1. It is a hope that gives us strength, and joy, and courage right now.
2. It is a hope that gives us a sense of confidence and an invincibility, because we know the end of the story.
3. For us, who believe, life isn’t win/lose, rather it is a win/win!
4. Paul’s understanding and attitude can be ours, Paul wrote: “For me to live is Christ and to die is gain.” (Phil. 1:21)
5. That truth applies whether we are facing the coronavirus, or job loss, or car accidents, or personal failures.
6. Our hope in the promises of God allows us to live in a hope-filled and grace-filled environment.
7. God is with us, no matter what, and God forgives us, no matter what.
a. Prodigals are welcomed home.
b. People who messed up bigtime are given more chances.
c. Just ask King David and the apostle Peter.
8. How’s that for hope?!
V. Let’s put our faith in Jesus, and walk by faith as we live in God’s bubble of hope and grace, so that when we die, we will experience the resurrection of life, and be with the Lord forever.
Resources:
Unshakable Hope, Max Lucado, Thomas Nelson, 2018
