"jesus Arose!"

“JESUS AROSE!” MATTHEW 28:1-10

CWBC – 4/21/19

Jon Daniels

INTRO – This is it, Christ-follower! This is the day!

- The day of victory!

- The day of rejoicing!

- The day of celebration!

- The day of conquest!

- There’s no other day like it on the calendar!

- There’s no other event like it in history!

- There’s no other religion like this in the world!

- There’s no other reason for joy like this in our lives!

WHY? B/C HE. IS. ALIVE!!! Love what Hank Hanegraaff said about Jesus’ resurrection: “The resurrection is not merely important to the Christian faith; w/out it there would be no Christianity. It is the singular doctrine that elevates Christianity above all other world religions. Through the resurrection, Christ demonstrated that He does not stand in a line of peers w/ Abraham, Buddha, or Confucius. He is utterly unique. He has the power not only to lay His life down, but to take it up again.” (https://gracequotes.org/topic/jesus_christ-resurrection/)

Open your Bible or your Bible app to Matthew 28:1-10 (page 835 in pew Bible).

But before this glorious day happened, there were some other experiences that Jesus had that we need to be reminded of.

VIDEO ON CRUCIFIXION

HIS CRUCIFIXION: AN AGONIZING DISPLAY OF CRUELTY

Luke 23:33 – “And when they came to the place that is called The Skull, there they crucified Him, & the criminals, one on His right & one on His left.”

Frederic Farrar: “One thing is clear: The 1st century executions were not like the modern ones, for they did not seek a quick, painless death or the preservation of any measure of dignity for the criminal. On the contrary, they sought an agonizing torture which completely humiliated him. And it is important that we understand this, for it helps us realize the agony of Christ’s death.”

HIS SUFFERING: AN AMAZING DISPLAY OF COMPASSION

Long before Jesus was scourged, beaten, abused, humiliated, & crucified, the prophet Isaiah wrote these words – Read Isa. 53:1-12.

Listen to these words that describe the suffering that Jesus endured for us:

- despised

- rejected

- man of sorrows

- acquainted w/ grief

- He has borne our griefs & carried our sorrows

- Smitten by God

- Pierced

- Crushed

- Chastisement

- Wounds

- Oppressed

- Slaughter

- Cut off

- Stricken

- Anguish

- Poured out His soul to death

All of this to display the compassion of God, to deliver us from eternal suffering & death, & to deal with God’s requirement for a perfect sacrifice to pay the price for our sins.

But, that’s not the end of the story!

HIS RESURRECTION: AN AWESOME DISPLAY OF CONQUERING

Yes, He paid the price for our sins. Yes, He drank the entire cup of God’s wrath so we would not have to. Yes, the veil in the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. Yes, He was & is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Yes, He suffered, & suffered greatly. Yes, He died, & He died cruelly. Yes, He was laid in a borrowed tomb.

But, that’s not the end of the story. The angel’s declaration says it all in v. 5: “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. HE IS NOT HERE, FOR HE HAS RISEN, AS HE SAID!”

This moment, this declaration, this earth-shaking, death-shattering, demon-destroying truth is the crowning fulfillment of God’s promise all the way back to the Garden of Eden when He told Satan, “I will put enmity [open hostility] between you & the woman, & between your offspring & her offspring. He will crush your head, & you will strike His heel” (Gen. 3:15 NIV). That wasn’t some empty threat; it was the first pronouncement of the Gospel plan that has always been in God’s heart – the protoevangelium – the first Gospel. Because of His great love for us, God’s plan for all eternity has been to provide His Son for our salvation. 1 John 3:8 – “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.” Charles Wesley’s great hymn has this line in it: “Amazing love, how can it be, that Thou, by God, should’st die for me.”

Jesus is alive & has conquered death! Jesus is alive & has conquered sin! Jesus is alive & has conquered Satan! John Piper: “When Christ died for our sins, Satan was disarmed and defeated. The one eternally destructive weapon that he had was stripped from his hand, namely, his accusation before God that we are guilty and should perish with him. When Christ died that accusation was nullified. All those who entrust themselves to Christ will never perish. Satan cannot separate them from the love of God in Christ.” (https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/the-fall-of-satan-and-the-victory-of-christ)