Open Tomb, Closed Case
Text: John 20:1-29
So we just celebrated the Resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And like I said last Sunday, it’s the most amazing event in all of human history. So even though we’re going to be back in John’s Gospel this morning, we’re right at the point where we’re still looking at the Resurrection of Jesus and the aftermath of that.
Now before we get to our text in John, I’m going to zero in on the resurrection a little more, because I think it will really help us, as believers, get a good grasp of why it’s so important, and why the things that happen next happen the way they do.
So let me read to you Romans 1:1-4, “Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the Gospel of God, which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning His Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh, and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness BY HIS RESURRECTION, from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Now that’s kind of where I finished off last Sunday – the Resurrection proves everything. Jesus being raised from the dead, proves that He is the Son of God, that He really did do everything that was needed for our salvation. Right?!?!
Ok, 1 Peter 1:3… “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to His great mercy, He has caused us to be born again to a living hope THROUGH THE RESURRECTION of Jesus Christ from the dead.” And what Peter was saying there is that the resurrection shows us that our sins have been paid for, atonement has been made, redemption has been accomplished.
So it’s by the resurrection that we can be assured of all this. When we sing, “Jesus paid it all, we can sing it knowing that He really did pay it all.” But for the person who rejects Christ… the resurrection is a scary thing…
Let me read to you Acts 17:30-31, “The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now He commands all people everywhere to repent, because He has fixed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by a Man whom He has appointed, and of this He has given assurance to all by raising Him from the dead.” In other words, the resurrection of Jesus is also the assurance that God is going to bring judgment. Jesus is going to return – and judge the world. And the resurrection is the assurance and proof of that as well.
One more… 1 Corinthians 15:14, “And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain, and your faith is in vain.” In other words, IF Jesus wasn’t raised, then He didn’t pay for our sins… and we are still at enmity with God… BUT HE WAS RAISED! Amen!
Now the reason I wanted you to look at those passages with me, is to give us all a good sense of the importance of the resurrection to us who are Christians. All of those things hinge upon it. And if Jesus wasn’t raised, then our faith is in vain. We’re still in our sins. We’re doomed!
So, the question we’re going to ask today is – HOW DO WE KNOW IT’S TRUE?
What evidence is there that the resurrection of Jesus Christ actually took place?
Well… the biggest thing is the eyewitness testimony of the disciples.
So put your thinking caps on, and we’re going to work this case like a detective.
#1. None of the disciples at first believed that Jesus would be raised from the dead. And that’s important. There’s a whole study on this, and it’s called, “anticipation in simultaneous interpretation.” Let me give you an example. I’m going to say something, and I want you to complete the sentence ok….
So let’s say you’ve been under the weather with the flu, and I call you up and I say, “How are you…” What’s the next word? “FEELING”? Right!
Or let’s say you were on vacation in Hawaii and I called you and I asked, “Man, they say Hawaii is beautiful this time of year. So how’s the….?” What’s the next thing I’m going to say? “WEATHER”.
Now if you’re able to complete my sentence, does that make you a prophet, or does that just mean you’re anticipating what I’m going to say?
Now what about this – let’s say, that I got up to preach, and instead of coming up here and standing behind the pulpit, I ran to the restroom and hid in the stall. That would be weird right? That would be totally unexpected. You wouldn’t have anticipated that, and so… if I had done that, none of you would have interpreted that as normal behavior.
Now where I’m going with this is - that none of the disciples anticipated the resurrection. In-fact; they anticipated repercussions for having followed Jesus. So when He was raised up, and they began telling others and giving their eyewitness testimony – that actually adds credibility to their account. Because they didn’t have an anticipation in which to interpret the events that occurred.
So yeah… it adds to their credibility.
Turn with me over to Mark 9:30-32 (READ).
So Jesus had told them, but they didn’t understand. So, they weren’t anticipating it… and therefore, they had to be persuaded of it.
And that brings us to our text. It’s John 20:1-29 (READ).
So first off, we’ve got Marry Magdalene, coming to the tomb. Now why was she coming to the tomb? Was it to see if Jesus was resurrected? No… Mark and Luke both tell us that the ladies went there with spices for the funeral rites. They had seen Joseph and Nicodemus put the body in the tomb, and they were probably thinking, “Those men did a pretty poor job. Ok ladies let’s go do it right.”
But the stone had been rolled away, and so Mary Magdalene runs and tells the disciples. And we’ve got Peter and John running to the tomb. John’s quite a bit younger than Peter, so he outruns him. But John pulls up at the entrance of the tomb, and Peter just rushes in…
Typical Peter right?
And there’s the burial clothes. Now look at verses 8 and 9, “Then the other disciple who had reached the tomb first (that’s John) also went in, and he saw, and believed. For as yet, they did not understand the Scripture that He must rise from the dead.”
What John is saying here is that he saw the empty tomb, and believed, but the rest of the disciples still didn’t… they were still in unbelief.
And so, Peter, and the others were like, “Ah, let’s go home.” And that’s what they did… but Mary was distraught. She’s upset. She thinks they’ve probably desecrated the body in some way. It wasn’t enough to have Him crucified, now they have to go steal the body away… So she stayed behind and was crying.
And she has this angelic encounter… doesn’t even realize that she’s talking to angels. Which is consistent with other angelic encounters in Scripture… I mean, when the angels came to Sodom, they just looked like handsome men… when Mary spoke with Gabriel, he looked like a man… The Bible even tells us that we might entertain angels unaware. It’s only in the heavenly visions that we read about these angelic beings with multiple eyes and six wings, and – just – frightening in appearance.
But when they are on the earth, delivering a message, or doing the work of the Lord, they always appear as men – male… I don’t know why that is… but that’s what we see in Scripture.
And so, she thinks Jesus’ body has been taken away. But then Jesus comes up to the tomb. Now, understand, it may have been a little bit dark outside at this time, so she doesn’t initially recognize that it’s Jesus she’s talking to. She thinks He’s the gardener. But then Jesus calls her name. He says, “Mary.” Remember, “My sheep hear My voice”, “and I call them by name.”
She instantly knows it’s Jesus!
She’s hugging Him. She’s filled with joy, awe, and wonder. She’s excited. He’s alive. And Jesus makes Mary the very first evangelist of the New Testament. She goes and tells what she has seen and what the Lord has told her.
The disciples… are still afraid.
There’s a principle for evangelism here. At first, people may not believe when you tell them about Jesus, but that doesn’t mean that God is done with them. Ok!
So they don’t believe Mary at first, Mark 16:11 tells us that they refused to believer her. Why? Because they’re not anticipating that… and because the things of the Spirit are spiritually discerned that’s why. And so… they decide to have a meeting, and they lock themselves in a room, because they’re afraid, and Jesus comes and appears in the room, in the middle of group, and He says, “Peace be with you.” And He shows them the nail prints in His hands and the spear wound in His side. And John 20:20 tells us that their fear turned to rejoicing! “They rejoiced when they saw the Lord!”
Now Thomas wasn’t with them, and so when they told him about it, basically Thomas says, “Well fella’s I’m not going to believe you unless I see what you got to see.” And so 8 days later, Jesus shows up again, and He shows Himself to Thomas, and Thomas says one of the greatest statements of faith in all of Scripture – “My Lord and My God.”
And for the next 40 days, Jesus continued to make appearances… He showed Himself to His disciples on numerous occasions, and also others… more than 500 eye witnesses saw Him.
Now the secular world will try to say, “Well that’s just a story they made up.” Uhm… no… not when you’ve got over 500 eye witnesses.
But also let me ask you this – how many people are willing to die horrible deaths, suffer immense persecution, and lose everything for something that they know is a lie? One, after another, after another, after another – of these disciples were put to death. They were beaten, hanged, stabbed, beheaded, crucified, fed to wild animals… but they all went rejoicing!
They were given opportunity after opportunity to recant and deny their faith, and deny the resurrection. But they didn’t.
Pretty strong evidence huh?
But there’s one more piece that we might want to consider this morning… Look around this sanctuary.
Every single one of us, could stand up and share how Christ has changed us. And how He is continuing to work on us, and in us, and through us.
Well can look back and say, “I am not what I used to be…”. But we can also say, “I’m also not what I’m going to be. I have not yet arrived. When I see Him, I will be made like Him.” What a glorious day that will be.
CLOSING
