Confronted With the Empty Tomb: Three Reactions
Luke 24:1-7
I. Some Reacted With Hopelessness turned to Excitement (v. 1-9)
A. The women were going to tend to a dead man
1. Due to their respect for Jesus
2. Due to their lack of remembrance
3. Due to their lack of real hope
B. The women approached the tomb expecting:
1. A place of death
“..Why do you seek the living among the dead?” – Luke 24:5
2. A place of mourning
“But Mary stood outside the tomb weeping…” – John 20:11
3. A barrier between them and the Savior
“…who will roll away the stone for us?” – Mark 16:3
C. The women left the tomb changed
1. They remembered the words of Jesus
“They will scourge Him, Kill Him and on the third day He will rise again” – Luke 18:33
2. They begin to spread the good news
“Then they returned from the tomb and told all these things..” – v. 9
II. Some Reacted With Unbelief (v. 11)
“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” – Hebrews 11:1
A. Unbelief because it required faith
B. Unbelief because they had lost hope
C. Unbelief because they had not seen the empty tomb
III. Some Reacted by Responding to the Message (v. 12; John 20:3-8)
A. Peter and John reacted with haste
“So they both ran together….and came to the tomb” – John 20:4
1. They did not wait until a better time
2. They did not try to another way
3. They simply responded to the news of the risen Christ
B. Peter and John reacted despite what others thought
“.. they did not believe them. But Peter arose and ran to the tomb..” – v. 11b &12a
1. The other 9 disciples did not believe at first
2. The majority did not respond
C. Peter and John reacted with belief to the empty tomb
1. Peter reacted with amazement
2. John simple saw and believed
WHAT IS YOUR REACTION TO THE EMPTY TOMB
