The Voice Of Victory

The Voice of Victory

John 20:11-16

Intro. A study of the Gospel of John will reveal that the author is the Apostle John, one of four books of the Bible he wrote. This is of course the fourth and last Gospel. We can see that Matthew presents Christ to the Jews as the Messiah-King, Mark to the Romans as the Conquering Servant, Luke to the Greeks as the Son of man. The Gospel of John presents Christ to the Christian as the Son of God, the incarnate Word of God. We know that the key words of the Gospel of John are believe and life. Probably one of the most famous Bible verses in all the world is found here in John 3:16. The theme of the Gospel of John can be found in its key verse, John 20:30,31. "And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book: But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name." Of course the greatest of those signs that the Lord did is recorded here in our text verses, as we read about the resurrection of our Lord.

Read verses 11-16

The resurrection of Christ is the most important doctrine of the entire Christian faith. Everything stand or falls on the Lord’s resurrection. Paul said in I Corinthians 15 that if Christ is not raised from the dead than we are all liars and our faith is in vain. That is certainly true. In his book Evidence that Requires a Verdict, Josh McDowell made the statement that the identity of Jesus was one of three things, He was either a liar, a lunatic, or Lord.

There are those that would like to proclaim Christ as a great teacher, but not as Lord. I proclaim to you that He is Lord of Lords and King of Kings. He is the one that spoke the universe into existence. Throughout the New Testament we see Him healing the sick, making the blind to see, raising the dead, feeding the hungry, or loving the unlovable. However, above everything else that Jesus said or did, it is His resurrection from the grave that proves Him to be the Son of God. If we are unable to believe His statements concerning His resurrection, how are we to believe anything else. To doubt the resurrection is to doubt the entire Bible.

There were many great miracles that we see Christ doing throughout the pages of scripture. We see blinded eyes made to see. We can see the five thousand being fed with two fish and five loaves of bread. We see Lazarus being raised from the dead, the water into wine, and many other great miracles. Yet, one of the greatest things we see the Lord doing is healing the broken heart of one of His children. This is exactly what we see taking place in our text verses. Notice three things with me tonight that happens here, three things that I trust will be an encouragement and a help to you.

I. Mary’s Valley

The first thing I want you to notice tonight is Mary’s valley. Geography teaches us that a valley comes between two mountains. It is a low place. Surely that would describe this point in Mary’s life. One the one side, a mountain. She has spent time with the Lord, loving Him and learning from Him. Life was truly good. Until the valley. Now, she has watched as they have taken her Lord away. She watched as they crucified Him on Calvary’s mount. Now, as a final act of love, she wants to anoint His body for a proper burial.

No doubt you can imagine the questions racing through Mary’s mind at this point. Why did He have to die? How could this happen? No doubt as she went to the tomb that day she was still broken hearted and in shock at what had happened just days earlier.

It would be easy to imagine then how the shock and terror quickly grew as Mary made her way to the tomb. Imagine the horror and the thoughts that no doubt flood her mind as she approaches the tomb and sees the stone is rolled away. They have moved the Lord. They did not want Him to have a proper burial and so they have stolen His body. Mary went back to the disciples to inform them of what had happened. We then see her coming back to the tomb with Peter and John. As the two disciples look into the tomb, they see the linen clothes lying, yet they go not in. They simply go back home, leaving Mary there at the sepulchre, heartbroken.