Matthew 27, we're going to begin
reading at verse, we left off last week. We're actually going
to begin reading here at verse 57, 56 and 57. We're going to
go through Chapter 28 also, we're going
to read through verse 8. So let's start at verse 56 of
Matthew 27 and read through verse 8 of Matthew 28. I want you,
before I read this, I want you to think about the significance
of what's happening here. We're about at that time of the
year called Christmas, where most of the people in this country
at least celebrate the birth of Christ. But here we're reading
about the resurrection of Christ. It may seem like the wrong thing to be looking
at and studying at this time. Let me assure you, it is the
right thing. The Lord Jesus was born to die. He was born to defeat
Satan, the one who overthrew our first father, Adam, in the
Garden of Eden, and by which we fell into sin. And that sin
that has rule over us and brings us to death, that sin against
which we have no power to remove either its guilt or its filth
or its power in us, The Lord Jesus Christ was born for this
purpose, to take away our sins and to redeem us from all iniquity
and from this present evil world, from Satan and from death in
the grave. And that's exactly what he did.
Now, we're going to read this here. It's a factual account.
It's a historical account. The gospel is a historical declaration
of the truth. not only of what happened, but
of what Christ accomplished in that. So when we read this, think
about that. This is so significant. And then
the other thing I want you to think about, like I was telling
Denise on the way to church, it's often the case that as I
entitled the message and create the bulletins at home, that then
after studying further and thinking about this, I come up with another
title. The title in the bulletin is what the angel said here.
He's not here. He's risen. But the other title
I was thinking about this is because it's so simple and yet
so profound. I could have called the title
of this message simply profound or profound simplicity. Because
that's what you see here is the simplicity of the gospel laid
out for us. What grace is that? Haven't you
ever wanted the Lord? We'll say this, too. I wish I
would have been there on the road to Emmaus to hear the Lord
speak those words and unfold all of Scripture to those two
about Himself. I do, too. I want to be there,
too. I want to be in glory. I want Him to tell me His heart.
But here the Lord, in profound simplicity, tells us the most
significant thing that's ever happened in this world. And that's
what we're reading here. The death of Christ, His burial,
and His resurrection. That's the gospel. So let's begin
at verse 56. It says among...actually in verse
55. And many women were there beholding
afar off, which followed Jesus from Galilee ministering unto
him. Among which was Mary Magdalene
and Mary the mother of James and Joseph and the mother of
Zebedee's children. Now Zebedee's children were James
and John. The other Mary, called Mary the mother of James and
Joseph, that's the other James, called James the less, and Joseph
is not mentioned as one of the disciples or the apostles, but
he must have been at some point in his life, I'm not sure when.
And then there was another brother whose name was Jude, or Judas,
or Thaddeus, or Labias is what Matthew calls him. He had like
four different names, it's confusing. But he was the one who wrote
the book of Jude. James here, James and Joseph, that James
wrote the book of James. Zebedee's children, John and
James, James and John, James was the first one always named.
That James was killed by Herod in the book of Acts. But I just
mention that so you kind of understand the connection. Mary Magdalene
was the woman out of which Jesus cast seven devils. You can imagine
how much love she had for the Lord Jesus Christ. She followed
him and ministered to him. And Mary, the mother of James
and Joseph, who was also the mother of Judas or Jude, seems
to be the sister-in-law to Mary, the mother of Jesus. It's a bit
confusing, but there's three Marys primarily mentioned in
Scripture. Mary Magdalene, and he puts her
first, Mary Magdalene. The one out of whom he cast seven
devils. And then Mary, the mother of James and Joseph. Who is also
the sister-in-law of the mother of Jesus, also called Mary. And
then this other woman who is called the mother of Zebedee's
children. Her name is also called Salome in scripture. So I don't
expect you to remember that, but if you do read through this
and you wonder who are all these Marys and these other people.
That's how they are connected. They seem to be almost closely
related. They were cousins and brothers and stuff. And that
reminds me of that scripture where it says in the Old Testament,
one of a city, two of a family, the Lord would save. What grace
is that? Out of the entire city, only
one, but yet two in a family. James and Joseph, James and John,
Peter and Andrew. These were brothers, apostles
of the Lord Jesus. But anyway, that was not the
subject of this that I wanted to get into that. I just mentioned
that in passing. So these women followed Jesus from Galilee and
they ministered to Him throughout His ministry. And here they were,
as I mentioned last week, beholding Him as He is taken tried, cruelly
treated, crucified, died, and now they're watching him from
afar, because they don't want to get close. The soldiers are
there, and they fear that if they're too close, they also
will be injured, or harm will come to them. So they stay back.
The disciples have all fled. John, James and John that John,
who wrote the book of John, he was at the cross when Jesus told
him to take Mary, his mother, into his own home. But you never
hear about the disciples. Where are they now? Are they
also watching far off? It doesn't mention them. Did
they help bury him? No. Doesn't mention them there
either. And did they come to the tomb
after he was buried? Doesn't appear so. But the women
are there. The women are there. And here
they are beholding the Lord Jesus. And you can imagine how their
heart was broken as they see their beloved Master. who healed
them, cast devils out of them, spoke to them the eternal truths
of God, so that they sat at his feet. And one washed his feet
with her tears and dried his feet with her hair, kissed him,
poured an alabaster box of ointment on him. These women loved the
Lord Jesus in a holy way, because He was their Savior and their
Master and their Lord, and they owned Him as such. And so we
see these three women here. But there are other women. Not
just these three, but these three are mentioned to give us the
representative sense of how the women watched Jesus. They were
witnesses to His death. They were witnesses to His burial.
And they were witnesses to His resurrection. And the fact that
they were women also teaches us that they represent all believers
who are also called the Bride of Christ. Because all believers,
by faith, look upon the Lord Jesus Christ, crucified for them. All believers see Him there as
they take Him to the tomb. As they take Him from the cross
to the tomb. And then, as the Lord declares Himself, He rises
from the dead. These women watched. They're
witnesses. And God is witnessing to their
faith about His Son. He witnesses to His Son, about
His Son, from their perspective. What a testimony from God. Verse
57, And when the evening was come, or when even was come,
there came a rich man of Arimathea, named Joseph, who also himself
was Jesus' disciple. Now this man Joseph of Arimathea,
he was mentioned here, and then it's also mentioned in the book
of John, but it's mentioned that he was a disciple of Jesus here. But in the book of John it says
he was not a disciple openly, but secretly. Secret disciple. The Lord does have secret disciples,
and you think about Joseph, and you might want to, and I've even
heard, I think I've heard preachers minimize his faith because he
was a secret disciple. But remember when Elijah was
offering the altar in the days of The woman's name escapes me,
Jezebel. And remember the prophets of
Baal were all there, 450 and he offers and the Lord sends
down fire from heaven and burns up the offering and the wood
and the stones and the water and everything burnt up. And
then Elijah tells them to take the prophets of Baal and kill
them. And then Elijah runs away. He's afraid because Jezebel says
she's going to kill him. And he runs away and he says,
Lord, take my life. He says, I'm the only one left.
And the Lord says, no, actually, you're not. I've reserved for
myself 7,000 men who have not bowed the knee to Baal, the idol
Baal. These were secret disciples,
weren't they? Elijah didn't know about them,
but they were there. But why hadn't they made themselves known?
Well, because it wasn't God's providence, it wasn't necessary.
Joseph was in the wings, as it were, waiting for the time when,
by God's grace, he would make known his love for the Lord Jesus
Christ. He was a rich man. He had the
means to do for Christ, on that day, what God wanted to be done.
And so he was there, a secret disciple. And he was in the council.
He was called an honorable counselor. He was called a just man and
a good man, a believing disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ, Joseph
of Arimathea. And also in the book of John,
Nicodemus helped him too. So that's one thing we see about
this man. He came out at the time when
Jesus was still on the cross and it says in scripture that
he boldly went to Pilate to ask the body of Jesus. If he had
made known to the council, the 70 elders in the council of Jerusalem,
that he was a disciple of Christ, what would have happened? He
would have been cast out. He probably would have lost his
living. He wouldn't have been able to do at this time what
he was able to do. Now Joseph didn't plan this out.
It was by God's grace in his life that it worked out this
way. God arranged for him just at that time to come forward
and to do what he did for Christ. It was an honor that he did it.
An honor to Joseph and an honor to Christ's body that he treated
him so respectfully. But he goes to Pilate boldly
and he asks for the body of Jesus. And remember last week I mentioned
that Pilate was surprised. Is he dead already? And asked
the centurion. And the centurion affirmed, yes he is. He's dead.
He's already died. It didn't take long. They hung
him on the cross at 9 a.m. in the morning, thereabouts,
at 3 p.m. in the afternoon. He cried, Father
into thy hands I commend my spirit. Just six hours on the cross.
And then shortly after that they took him down. It was in the
evening when Joseph of Arimathea came and asked the body of Jesus. And you can imagine what his
fellow council members thought when he did this. What? You? And he asked for the body of
Jesus. And Pilate, you know Pilate, he told the Jews three times
when they wanted to put Jesus to death. He said, why? What
evil has he done? He said, he's an innocent man.
He said, I'm innocent of the blood of this just man when he
washed his hands. So he knew he was a righteous
man. He knew he was just and yet he himself gave the sentence
that it would be according to their will and they crucify the
Lord Jesus. So Pilate had guilt and he tried
to rid himself of that guilt. So when Joseph came, no doubt,
He felt that this would be a way for him to show as a token of
his kindness towards those who love the Lord Jesus Christ, and
a kindness towards Christ, a respect for him. So he let him take the
body of Jesus. I'm sure that Pilate probably
thought that, because that's the way men's minds work when
they're guilty. But the Lord used all this for
according to his providence. He moves men's hearts. It says
the heart of the king is in the hand of the Lord. And he moves
it where so ever he will. And so we see this in this account
here. Joseph goes to Pilate and asks the body of Jesus. The disciples
weren't there. It's amazing, isn't it? That
the apostles weren't there. If the apostles had been there,
think of what would have happened. If they would have been around
the cross... Would the soldiers have taken them and hung them
on a cross too? As complicit with Christ? Perhaps. And if they had, then would they
also be said to have died with Christ? Yes. And then wouldn't
it have been said, see, the Lord had comfort from His disciples,
even in His death from His disciples, when God had forsaken Him? All
those things would have complicated it, would have been opposed to
what God had purposed before, that He be by Himself forsaken
by God, reviled and forsaken and crucified by men, and His
disciples would desert Him. And so they weren't there. They
weren't there to bury him. But here comes Joseph of Arimathea. They gave him no comfort in his
death. He was alone. He made atonement by himself. And so it's significant that
they weren't there because they were weak. But it's also significant
because Christ made atonement by himself. He died on Friday. We know it was Friday. Some people
wonder what was it? Was it Thursday or Friday? It
had to be Friday. Because look at Mark 15. Mark chapter 15, he says this
in verse 42. I think I've got the right reference
here. I wrote this down. It says in verse 42 of Mark 15,
and now, when the even was come, because it was the preparation,
that is, the day before the Sabbath. The Sabbath was on Saturday,
which is the sixth day of the week. I mean the seventh day,
the seventh day of the week, sorry. And so this would have
been the day before that day, which was Friday. And Joseph
of Arimathea, an honorable counselor, which also waited for the kingdom
of God, came and went in boldly to Pilate and craved the body
of Jesus. And that's where it says, Pilate
marveled if he were dead already, and calling to him the centurion,
asked the centurion whether he had been dead any while. And
when he knew it of the centurion, he gave the body to Joseph. So,
it happened on Friday, approximately, who knows what time it was, sometime
in the evening, but not too late, because he had to do all of this
before the Sabbath, which would have started that night. He couldn't
work on the Sabbath, so, but they did have this exception
where they could do certain things, and one of them was to bury someone
who had died. So Joseph does this. It's the
day before the Sabbath, which is Saturday, the seventh day of
the week. It had to be Friday evening when he did this. No
question about it. The Lord died on Friday. And
he was raised Sunday morning. And the scripture counts that
as three days. Friday night, Saturday morning and night, and
Sunday morning. Counted by scripture as three
days. I don't have to explain it. I'm happy with it because
I like the way when God affirms things and men go into a tizzy
and write volumes trying to explain how it could have mathematically
worked out to three. God says three. This is accepted
as a little child. Three days. As Jonah was three
days and three nights in the belly of the whale, so shall
the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart
of the earth. So he died on Friday. He was raised on Sunday. Scripture
says that they were buried that same day. So not only did he
die on Friday, but he was buried on Friday, and he was in the
tomb that night. So this man who came was an honorable
counselor, and I think that that's a wonderful thing. That the Lord
chose this man out and brought him to this place in order for
him to bury the Lord Jesus Christ. And what a gift this was. Remember
what Jesus told Nicodemus, who was with Joseph. He says, when
Nicodemus asked him, And the Lord Jesus told Nicodemus, unless
you're born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God. You cannot
enter the Kingdom of God. He that's born again has to be
born of the water and the Spirit, and the Spirit blows wherever
He pleases. And Nicodemus, he's a master
in Israel, he says, how can these things be? And Jesus goes on
and explains to him, and he comes to this point in John 3, verse
14, where he says, As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,
even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth
in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." That
was the fruit, that was the evidence that the Spirit of God had given
new birth. He tells that to Nicodemus. And so Nicodemus is there now,
with Joseph. And the scripture that Jesus
had quoted from Numbers chapter 21, that as Moses lifted up the
serpent in the wilderness, Even so, the Son of Man must be lifted
up on the cross as a serpent lifted on the pole. The people
who looked at that serpent on the pole lived. The people who
believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, cursed by God's law, lived. Because he was cursed for them.
They look in faith. This is the sacrifice God has
provided. God has accepted him. And all
who look to him by faith. Him offering himself for them.
And they trusting that offering. Is their coming to God. And Nicodemus
goes to the cross with Joseph. And they had to remove the body.
Can you imagine what Nicodemus thought when he saw the Lord
Jesus hanging there? As he comes up to the cross.
Do you think that that scripture came to his mind? Whosoever believeth
on me, just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,
hear the Lord Jesus Christ hanging on the cross, lifted up, and
suddenly, if it hadn't come before, the full impact of what God did
there in the wilderness, when he lifted up, and Moses had to
hammer out that serpent on the pull that serpent out of brass
and put it on the pole. It came to Nicodemus and the
body of the Lord Jesus Christ slumps into his arms with Joseph
of Arimathea. And here he sees the master cursed
for him, dying on the cross, bearing his sin away. You know
that the Spirit of God had given him the new birth because he
believed in the Lord Jesus Christ. These two honorable counselors,
a rich man and a master of Israel, a Pharisee, came and took Jesus
down from the cross. It says in Isaiah 53 verse 9,
in fact let's turn to that, Isaiah 53 verse 9. The resurrection of the Lord
Jesus Christ. We're getting there. He says,
Isaiah 53 verse 9. He says, "...and He made His
grave with the wicked and with the rich in His death, because
He had done no violence, neither was any deceit in His mouth."
It's a very mysteriously worded text of Scripture. He made His
grave with the wicked and with the rich in His death. He was
crucified between two thieves. And then this rich man comes
and takes him and he puts him in a new tomb. No one had ever
laid in it. He prepares his body very respectfully
and lays him in his own tomb. And then they roll the stone
over the tomb. And it says here, there was a
prophecy that he had done no violence, neither was any deceit
in his mouth. It's a mystery, and I don't fully
understand this particular verse, but I want you to hold that thought
as we read through back in Matthew 27 and verse 58. So, Joseph of
Arimathea went to Pilate and begged the body of Jesus. This
is verse 58. of Matthew 27. Then Pilate commanded the body
to be delivered. And when Joseph had taken the
body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth and laid it in his
own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock. And he rolled
a great stone to the door of the sepulcher, and he departed."
So that's what happened. Joseph lays him in the tomb.
It was the tomb of another man. It wasn't Christ's tomb. It was
Joseph's tomb. And it was the tomb of a rich
man. The Jews had intended to shame
him by crucifying him between two thieves. But it was God's
will that he be crucified between two thieves. Because it says
in Isaiah 53-12, he was numbered with the transgressors. Numbered
means accounted. as a transgressor. And you would
say, well, that was by men. Men accounted him to be a transgressor.
His enemies did. No, God counted him as a transgressor
because He made him to be sin for us. He who knew no sin. That we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. We who knew no righteousness
in Him are made the righteousness of God. And so they laid him
in another man's tomb. Joseph was a sinner. Joseph knew
he was going to die, so he had prepared a tomb for his own burial.
Jesus was no sinner. Death wasn't for Jesus. He didn't
deserve to die. Yet He bore the sins of others.
Because the Lord Jesus Christ always did what He did for others. He was born for others. He lived
for others. He suffered for others. He died
for others. He was buried for others. And
He rose for others. He was the great substitute for
others. Those that God gave Him. Those
for whom He died. But the Jews intended that he
should be shamed by this, but God overruled their intentions.
They would have cast him into the heap of those unburied men
who died on Golgotha. That place, that hill outside
of Jerusalem. It's called the place of the
skull because the unburied bodies of these people would lie there
in shame. They would have thrown him out.
But God overruled their intentions and purpose that he be buried
in a rich man's tomb with honor. in honor of Him. Christ was buried
in this man's tomb and not cast out to be buried with criminals.
It was Joseph's tomb, and it was for Joseph, but Christ lay
in it." Think about the substitution here we see. Jesus lived, all of his life without a home
called his. He says, the son of man doesn't
have a place to lay his head. All that he did, he did for his
sheep. He laid his life down for them. Now, the grave is a
place of rest and the bodies of believers go there and rest,
not to be punished, but rest waiting for the redemption of
their body. But when the Lord Jesus died in this tomb, When
He laid in the tomb, He laid in the grave because wherever
God's people are laid in the grave, Christ already laid in
that grave for them. He already laid in their grave
so that when they lie in the grave, then they will be raised
again because He was raised from the grave. You see the comparison?
Here, Joseph, a rich man, lays Jesus in his own tomb. Because
God laid Christ in the grave for every believer. So that the
grave for us would be a place of victory. Because he overcame
that grave in his own death. And now, look back in Matthew
chapter 27 again. It says, He rolled the stone over the
sepulcher. Now, it's obvious that this was
a heavy stone because they couldn't move it. The women were unable
to move it. Not just because they were women,
but because it was heavy. It was meant to be a place so
that they wouldn't disturb the body. It was meant to show that
Christ really died. The women saw him suffer and
die. They went to the place where
he was buried. They were mourning because of
his death. The centurion bore witness to the fact, yes, he's
dead already. And Joseph wrapped his body.
He was really dead. He really died. And he was really
buried. These things are meant to be
plain and undeniable in this text. Because He's going to be
raised from the grave. He's going to be raised from
a real death and from a real burial. And that's very significant. And we're going to talk about
that in a minute. But it's important, first of all, to realize He really
died and He was really buried. And there was a great stone rolled
across the grave so that no one could enter. No one could interfere.
No one could disturb Him and change the record,
the historical record of the fact that Christ lived, died,
and was buried, and was in the tomb. And no one could get in
the back of the tomb. It was hewn out of rock. No one
could get in the front because the stone was there. The disciples
weren't around. And then it says here, Now, the
next day that followed, the day of the preparation, the chief
priests and Pharisees came together to Pilate, saying, Sir, so these
are the enemies of Christ. They hated him. They wanted everything
that he said to be silenced and done away with. Remember, they
paid Judas to betray him. They tried him unjustly. They falsely accused him. They
hired witnesses against him. Then they go to Pilate and they
accuse him falsely to Pilate. The only crime they could find
him to be guilty of is that he said he was the Christ, the Son
of God. He actually said, he spoke the truth, and he was the
king of the Jews. These things were the facts,
and that was all that they could come up with. They hated him.
So, even in his death, they're still wringing their hands. How
can we get rid of him? Because they heard him say that
in three days he's going to rise again. So they go to Pilate,
and they beg Pilate this thing. He says, verse 63. They said,
Sir, we remember that that deceiver, while he was yet alive, said,
while he was yet alive, after three days I will rise again.
And now they say, command therefore that the sepulchre be made sure
until the third day. It wasn't theirs, they couldn't
go do it, it was Joseph's. But they asked Pilate to command
it, because he had authority over it. And so he said, make
it sure. Until the third day, lest his
disciples come by night and steal him away, and say unto the people,
he is risen from the dead. So the last error shall be worse
than the first." They were always worried about that. Remember
Caiaphas? What are we going to do? What
are we going to do? It's unnecessary that one man die for the people.
That's what we'll do. We'll kill him. And then they
go through the whole process of taking Jesus and having him
crucified. And now, even after he's dead,
he's been dead on the cross, taken from the cross. And I think,
we've got to make sure that we do something. So that if his
words come to pass and he actually raises from the dead. That we
silence it. That we make it look like it
couldn't happen. That it didn't happen. And so they said, we've
got to seal that tomb. Maybe his disciples will come
and take him by night. Well, these guys are way out. They're
not coming. They're afraid. They thought
they're going to steal him away. So this is put there on purpose
by God. So that we'll know that there
was no monkey business going on here. Jesus was really dead
in the tomb. And the stone was sealed as tightly
as they could make it secure against anybody interfering with
what was going on. The enemies of Christ made sure,
by what they did, that they gave testimony to the fact that Christ
was dead and in the tomb and he could not be taken away. And
so, on top of that, he says, Pilate tells them, Not only seal
it, he says, Pilate said to them in 65, he says, you have a watch,
go your way, make it as sure as you can. So take the men that
you've been assigned as guard, and take those men and put them
at the tomb to guard it. So they went and made the sepulchre
sure, sealing the stone and setting a watch. Now in chapter 28, he
says, in the end of the Sabbath, So the end of the Sabbath would
have been the late night of Saturday. As it began to dawn toward the
first day of the week, Sunday, came Mary Magdalene and the other
Mary to see the sepulcher. The other Mary was Mary the mother. She was a mother of grown men,
James and Joseph and Judas, as I said before. And behold, When they came at
this time, there was a great earthquake. So it was Sunday
morning when the earthquake occurred. For the angel of the Lord descended
from heaven and came and rolled back the stone from the door
and sat upon it. That's amazing, isn't it? The
angel of the Lord. I like to think about this. God
sent His messenger To open, to remove the stone and sit on the
stone. No one is going to get past the
angel. First of all, look what happens. His countenance was like lightning
and his raiment white as snow. And for fear of him, the keepers,
these men, the high priest and all these guys put there. Now
you go guard it. They did shake. and became as dead men. They were so afraid, these men,
and rightly so, God sent an angel from heaven, and his countenance
was like lightning, and his clothing was like snow. This indicates the holiness that
of this messenger sent from God. Because in Daniel chapter 10,
a similar thing happens. I want to take you to that. Look
at Daniel chapter 10. Daniel saw an angel also and
he had a reaction which we would all have if we had seen the angel. He says here in Daniel chapter
10 and verse 6, Speaking about this, he says
his body was like the barrel and his face as the appearance
of lightning. This is in Daniel 10.6, "...and
his eyes as lamps of fire, and his arms and his feet like in
color, to polish brass, and the voice of his words like the voice
of a multitude." And verse 7, "...and I, Daniel, alone saw
the vision. For the men that were with me saw not the vision,
but a great quaking fell upon them, so that they fled to hide
themselves. Therefore," Daniel says, "...I
was left alone, and I saw this great vision." And there remained
no strength in me." Now Daniel, of all the men in the Bible,
there's only a few like this. You never read anything that
Daniel ever did wrong. And yet he says this, "...there
remained no strength in me. For my comeliness was turned
in me into corruption, and I retained no strength." In the presence
of God's messenger, this holy angel, the keepers of the tomb Shook and became as dead men
because they were sinners in the presence of this angel. And
that's our reaction as sinners. And it was meant to be that way.
This angel came down to make sure that no one tampered. And that the record, the facts,
were going to be as they truly happened. So he's going to come
down and he's going to make sure, he's going to move the stone.
Christ is going to come out because he is a man, remember? He has
a real body of a real man. He doesn't walk through the wall.
He comes out through the opening as a man, resurrected. And so
the angel moves the stone away. You'd think, well why didn't
Jesus move the stone away? Because the angels are servants
to the Lord. Remember in Hebrews chapter 1,
they're ministering servants to the Lord. They worship Him.
He created them. They're His servants. They do
His bidding. And so He gives them this charge. God the Father,
Christ by His Spirit was in heaven. He sends His angel and the Lord
Jesus raised Himself from the dead. The Bible talks about how
He was raised and I'll speak to that in just a second here.
But I just want you to see how the angel here... was a great
and mighty messenger from God who could move the stone without
difficulty. And he did all that God said
and he made sure that the record given to these women was the
right record. He spoke to them and told them
what happened. It says in verse 5, And the angel
answered and said to the women, Fear not ye, for I know that
you seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here, for He is risen,
as He said, Come, see the place where the Lord lay. You see that,
what the angel said? Fear not ye. Now those little
words, fear not ye, it's really, there's two groups of people
here, where the angel is. There's the men guarding the
tomb, and there's the women. And when the Lord spoke to the
women, He says, you fear not. And it's not clear when we read
it, but in my reading this from people who understand the language,
they said it's very, it's a strong, forceful emphasis on this word
you. You fear not. The rest, He didn't
speak to them. You fear not. They were terrified
as dead men, but you fear not. And the reason that the Lord
speaks to the women in that way is because believers are those
like the women. They seek the Lord Jesus Christ
who was crucified. And because He was crucified,
and they seek Him, there's no reason for us to fear. Because
when the Lord When the Lord speaks to His people, the reason there's
no reason to fear is because there's no sin anymore. Death
has been conquered. Satan has been defeated. God
has been satisfied. Peace has been made between sinners
and God. And so the Lord, the angel speaks
to them. You who love the Lord Jesus Christ,
fear ye not. Don't you fear, is the way it's
worded. Don't you fear. And then he says,
I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. The angel knew
who they were looking for, because these angels are ministering
spirits sent forth to minister for those who are heirs of salvation. And then in verse 6, here's the
simplicity, here's the profound simplicity I was talking about
earlier. He says, he's not here, for he
is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the
Lord lay. What simplicity is this? Have
you ever wondered? I just want to understand what's
really... What does the scripture really mean? Here's what it means.
He's not here. He's risen. Come, see the place
where the Lord lay. Even a child can understand that,
can't they? The angel guarding the tomb, sitting on the stone,
no one's going to disturb it, and yet he tells the women, you,
don't fear, come. See the place where the Lord
lay. He's not here, he's risen. He gets the facts straight. There's
no jumbling of the information. The message from heaven is that
Christ has risen. See the place. And it wasn't
just a man who lay there. It was the Lord who lay there.
The Lord laid there. See the place. Let those words
reverberate and ring in our ears. Come. See the place where the
Lord lay. He's risen. He's not here. As
He said, As Scripture said, Jesus said, Heaven and earth can pass
away, and shall, but my words shall never pass away. He had
told his disciples, the Son of Man must go, He must be betrayed,
delivered to the Jews, the Jews to the Gentiles, crucified, and
then buried, and on the third day He would rise again. He told
it to them many times. And the angel says, that's what
happened. He did exactly what he said he
would do. Come. See the place. See the evidence.
He's not here. He's risen. The messenger from
heaven doesn't lie. He gives the truth. And so they
go quickly and they tell his disciples in verse 7 that he's
risen. And this is what the angel told
them to do. Go quickly and tell his disciples that he's risen
from the dead and behold he goeth before you into Galilee. There
you shall see him. Lo, I have told you. That's an
underscore. Make sure you understand this.
I've told you. He's risen. He's going to go meet you in
Galilee. Go tell his disciples that he's risen from the dead.
And so they departed quickly from the sepulcher with fear
and great joy and did run. Now, look at that verse. Look
at verse 8. They departed quickly from the
sepulcher with fear and great joy. Have you ever... Have you
had that combination of emotions? Fear and yet great joy? It's something, isn't it? I've had... Have you ever had... Maybe you've had a dream at night.
I've had this. Where I dreamed in my dream that
the Lord returned. And I was unable to speak. I
was so... I was terrified and yet full
of joy at the same time I didn't know what to say. I couldn't
talk, because I'm sleeping of course. But in my dream I couldn't
talk. And you can never sort those
things. And I'm not putting any stock in dreams at all. But I'm
just telling you those emotions I experienced where I was afraid.
It's the Lord, He's coming. But it was also joy because I
knew... that the Lord was coming and my only hope for glory was
in Him. Now these women loved the Lord
Jesus. They truly did love Him. They
weren't thinking about all of the... They were not thinking about
the details. They just loved the Lord Jesus
Christ. And they were seeking for Him. And the angel says,
He's not here, He's risen. And then He sends them to the
disciples. And so they take off. And these
were women with grown men children. Women don't run normally. I don't
normally see women running. Especially when they've got their
full lengthy dress on. Or their clothes. But these women
ran. And so I think about that. That's
significant. They were so excited. They were
inspired to run to tell the disciples. They didn't have to be coerced
to do what the angel said. Man, let's go see the disciples
and tell them what happened. They went and proclaimed the
good news of the resurrection of Christ. And they couldn't
be held down. And they did it with great joy
because they anticipated The delight and joy of the disciples
that together they would reunite. They had been completely dismayed
and distressed about the whole death of Christ and now they
were so excited. And yet they were more excited
because they knew that He was going to Galilee and they would
see Him there. This is what the attitude of
believers is. They look for the Savior. In
1 Thessalonians it says, they look for the Savior. Let me see
if I can find that verse for you. Look at 1 Thessalonians. 1 Thessalonians. He says in chapter 1, Verse 9, he says, "...for they
themselves, these people who heard, show of us what manner
of entering in we had to you, how you turned to God from idols
to serve the living and true God, and to wait for His Son
from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered
us from the wrath to come." That's not the exact verse I was looking
for, but it's good enough. To wait for the Savior. That's what the women did. They
wanted to go see Jesus. And in fact, the Lord appears
to them, which we aren't going to get to that point now. But
I want to turn to 1 Corinthians 15, just real quickly here. I
know it's, the details are, there's quite a few details here, but
I want to wrap this up by underscoring what has happened here in the
court of heaven and the significance of it for our hope, two things
have happened. All of God's people were justified
when Christ rose from the dead. And two, we have a hope for glory
because sin could not keep us in the grave. The grave can't
keep us. We're going to be raised again.
1 Corinthians 15. In verse 3, Paul says, I delivered
unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ
died for our sins according to the Scriptures. that he was buried,
and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures,
and that he was seen of Cephas, that's Peter, then of the twelve,
and after that he was seen of above five hundred brethren at
once, of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but
some are fallen asleep. After that he was seen of James,
and then of all the apostles. Last of all he was seen of me
also, as one born out of due time." What does he say here?
Paul is giving eyewitnesses who have seen the Lord Jesus Christ
after his resurrection. He died for our sins, that's
why he died, according to the scriptures. And he was buried
and he rose again the third day. A real death, a real burial,
a real conquering of death and sin and the grave and hell and
the devil and all these things. And so he says, that's the gospel
I declare. He says in verse 12, Now if Christ be preached that
he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is
no resurrection of the dead? But if there be no resurrection
of the dead, then Christ is not risen. Because some of the Corinthians
were saying that there's not truly a resurrection of the body.
But he argues from their Their false claim that there's no resurrection
of the body, well then Christ isn't risen. In verse 14. And
if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain. And your
faith is also vain. We're preaching for nothing.
And you believe for no good. There's no profit in what you
believe. You believed in vain. It was
for nothing. And we also have found false
witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that He
raised up Christ, whom He raised not up, if so be that the dead
rise not. If the dead aren't risen, then
God didn't raise up Christ, and we're telling everybody that
He did. And we're suffering and dying for it, but we're false
witnesses if Christ didn't rise. Now, verse 16. For if the dead
rise not, then is not Christ raised. And if Christ be not
raised, your faith is vain. You are yet in your sins, and
then they also which are fallen asleep in Jesus are perished.
If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all
men most miserable. But now is Christ risen from
the dead and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since
by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the
dead. As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made
alive." That's the resurrection. By the resurrection of Christ,
we've been justified. One more verse, look at this.
Romans chapter 4. Why did the Lord Jesus die? Why
did He come? Why was He buried? Why was He
raised again? Verse 20, he says, He staggered
not at the promise of God, talking about Abraham through unbelief.
When God promised that He would have a son in His old age by
Sarah, He didn't stagger in unbelief. But he was strong in faith, giving
glory to God by believing Him, and being fully persuaded, that's
what faith is, that what HE had promised, HE was able also to
perform. That's what faith is. It's just
believing God's word. He promised. He'll do it. Therefore
it was imputed to him for righteousness. What he believed was imputed.
He believed that God would give him a son in foreshadowing how
God would give his son and raise him from the dead. Now, it was
not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, righteousness
that is, but for us also to whom it shall be imputed if we believe
on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead. Not that
God has a transaction where when you believe, then before God
you become righteous. But because you believe, it evidences
the fact that you have been given righteousness. You shall be imputed
because God has imputed it already to you by the offering body of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith is the evidence that that
is imputed to you. Verse 25. This is the verse I
wanted to get to. Who was delivered for our offenses. That's why he died. That's why
he suffered. For our offenses. And having
been delivered for our offenses, was raised again for our justification. Our sins put away. We're made
righteous before God. He's therefore raised from the
dead. If Christ is not risen, you are yet in your sins. But
because Christ is risen, you're justified from all things. How
do I know I was justified when Christ died? How do I know He
died for me? Because you believe Him. The women sought for Him.
Fear ye not. Fear ye not. He's not here. He's
risen. Justified. Hope for glory. When we lie down in death, it's
sleep. We are not buried... We're not to treat our bodies
as something that's casually. We're to think about
it respectfully. When we are buried, we are being
buried in hope of the resurrection of Christ. So when we're buried,
like Joseph did, they wrapped Jesus' body. They prepared it
for burial. They didn't just cast him over
the cliff. They prepared it for burial. They honored his body
because of the resurrection to come. So when a believer dies,
we should honor the fact that God is going to raise them from
the dead and give them a proper burial. Let's pray.