Resurrection Response Series

RESURRECTION RESPONSE

ACTS 4:32-33

Thus far in our study of the book of Acts we have seen the ascension of Christ, the arrival of the Holy Spirit and the birth of the Church. Since today is Resurrection Sunday, I thought it would be fitting to examine the lives of those first Christians and to see how they responded to the Resurrection.

A faithful few followers of Christ were present before His death, during the time when His body was in the tomb, and after He victoriously rose from the grave. These devoted disciples were vital to the success of the early church. It is apparent that a major change took place in their lives after they saw the Risen Lord.

Those of us who are truly born again have had a personal encounter with Jesus similar to those who saw Him in the days following His death, burial and resurrection. When someone truly encounters the risen Lord, their lives are never the same. Many of you have been transformed by Jesus Chirst; many others need to be, and the wonderful news is that you can be transformed today.

- Let’s walk through the scriptures and consider the thought “Resurrection Response”.

In order to understand the transformation that was experienced by those faithful followers of Christ, we must first review their mindset prior to their encounter with Him on Resurrection Sunday. First of all we will see that:

THE DISCIPLES COULD NOT COMPREHEND THE PROMISE OF CHRIST’S RESURRECTION

For months, Jesus had been telling His followers that He would soon suffer and die, but they could not comprehend His teaching. (Mark 8:31 And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.)

Upon hearing this information concerning His impending death, Peter took Jesus to the side and rebuked Him for saying such things. It was not just Peter who struggled with these truths; all of Christ’s followers had a hard time comprehending what He was teaching them. It was not just the teachings concerning His suffering and death that they could not understand; they also struggled with the subject of His Resurrection. By the time of His death, the Disciples had seen Jesus raise three people from the dead; but if Jesus was dead, who was going to raise Him?

It is easy for us to trust in the teaching of the Resurrection because we have the written testimony of the eye witnesses (and the aid of the Holy Spirit). But as Jesus lay in the grave for three days, the Disciples did not know that they were going to be eye witnesses of the risen Christ. That fact is evident based on their actions on resurrection morning. If they really believed what Jesus had been teaching them about His death, burial and resurrection, they would have been camped out at the tomb instead of hiding in fear. If the women who were the first at the tomb had believed His teaching, they wouldn’t have been there looking to anoint His corpse.

This had to have been some of the darkest days in the lives of these followers of Christ, but something amazing was about to take place. Very early on Sunday morning there was a great earthquake. An angel of the Lord descended from Heaven. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing was as white as snow. He rolled the stone away from the opening of the tomb and sat down on it. The soldiers who were guarding the tomb were understandably terrified and they became like dead men.

Shortly thereafter Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, Salome, Joanna, and other women came to the tomb as the sun was rising. They left their homes while it was still dark and on the way they said to one another “Who will roll away the stone from the entrance to the tomb for us?” (Mark 16:3) When they arrived they saw that the stone had already been rolled away. Mary Magdalene left the others and ran to tell Peter and John. She didn’t run to them with the news that Christ had been raised from the dead, when she found them she said franticly “They’ve taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they’ve put him!”

While this is going on, the other women enter the tomb and found that Jesus was not there. Then, to their amazement they saw two men (Angels) in dazzling clothes. They were terrified and bowed to the ground, and then they heard some of the greatest words in the history of the world; the angels said “Why are you looking for the living among the dead? He is not here, but he has risen!” The angels also reminded the women that this was exactly what Jesus had been teaching them for some time. They said “Remember how he spoke to you when he was still in Galilee, saying, ‘It is necessary that the Son of Man be betrayed into the hands of sinful men, be crucified, and rise on the third day’?” After this, the women were instructed to go and tell the Disciples that Jesus was alive and He would go ahead of them into Galilee.