The Truth About Easter

The Truth about Easter

April 21, 2019 Morning Service

Resurrection Sunday

Immanuel Baptist Church, Wagoner, OK

Rick Boyne

Message Point: Jesus really did die, was buried, and rose again.

Focus Passage: John 20:1-18

Supplemental Passage: For as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead. (John 20:9 NASB)

Introduction: Ah Easter. Visions of bunny rabbits, colored eggs, and chocolate everywhere! Only problem, is that these things have absolutely nothing to do with the resurrection of Jesus! Even the word Easter is borrowed from a pagan goddess. “Bede (a British monk who lived in the late seventh and early eighth century) wrote that the month in which English Christians were celebrating the resurrection of Jesus had been called Eosturmonath in Old English, referring to a goddess named Eostre. And even though Christians had begun affirming the Christian meaning of the celebration, they continued to use the name of the goddess to designate the season.” [https://theconversation.com/why-easter-is-called-easter-and-other-little-known-facts-about-the-holiday-75025] Even the “schedule of events” are wrong. According to Scripture, Jesus was already in the tomb on Friday and was more than likely crucified on Wednesday. The Roman Catholic church, when formulating the church calendar, failed to take into count the High Sabbath of Passover. In other words, there were two Sabbaths the week that Jesus died.

I. Death

a. Brutally tortured before crucifixion

b. Made to carry the heavy crossbar to Golgotha (place of the Skull)

c. 6-8” spikes through the wrists

d. same through both feet

e. stabbed in the heart

i. Prior to death, the sustained rapid heartbeat caused by hypovolemic shock also causes fluid to gather in the sack around the heart and around the lungs. This gathering of fluid in the membrane around the heart is called pericardial effusion, and the fluid gathering around the lungs is called pleural effusion. This explains why, after Jesus died and a Roman soldier thrust a spear through Jesus’ side, piercing both the lungs and the heart, blood and water came from His side just as John recorded in his Gospel (John 19:34). https://www.gotquestions.org/blood-water-Jesus.html

II. Burial

a. Buried in a borrowed tomb

b. The governor made sure it was sealed because Jesus said He would come back to life

c. They sealed it and placed guards around it so that His disciples wouldn’t steal the body

III. Resurrection

a. The tomb was empty

b. He first appeared to women. In this culture, women were not trustworthy witnesses. If they were making up the story of the resurrection, they would have said that He appeared to men first.

c. “I know the resurrection is a fact, and Watergate proved it to me. How? Because 12 men testified they had seen Jesus raised from the dead, then they proclaimed that truth for 40 years, never once denying it. Everyone was beaten, tortured, stoned and put in prison. They would not have endured that if it weren't true. Watergate embroiled 12 of the most powerful men in the world-and they couldn't keep a lie for three weeks. You're telling me 12 apostles could keep a lie for 40 years? Absolutely impossible.” – Chuck Colson

d. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles; and last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also. (1 Corinthians 15:3-8 NASB)

Application/Invitation: If you do not believe in the resurrection of Jesus, you ARE NOT SAVED. It is at the very center of our faith. If Jesus didn’t raise from the dead, we literally have no hope of eternal life!

Romans 3:23- “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”

Romans 6:23- “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Romans 5:8 - “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us”

Romans 10:9-10- “That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.”

Romans 10:13-”Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?" (John 11:25-26 NASB)