Matthew 28:1-7
~19 min read
TRANSCRIPT
I greet all of you in the blessed name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Our text for this morning's message is taken from Matthew 28:1-7. Today is Resurrection Sunday. Churches all over the world are commemorating the resurrection of Christ. Indeed, the resurrection of Christ is the most crucial doctrine. It is at the very heart of the gospel. It is the foundation of our faith, without which Christ's death on the cross will be nothing but an awful tragedy. In fact, it was so important that the first sermon ever preached after the resurrection of Christ [included the resurrection, and not was subsequently preached upon many, many times]. In fact, in the book of Acts, Peter not only preached on the resurrection in chapter two, he preached on it also in chapter 4 and again in chapter 10. Stephen, the first Christian martyr, preached on the resurrection in chapter 7. Philip the evangelist preached on the resurrection in chapter 8, and Paul the apostle preached on the resurrection in chapters 9, 13, 28, and of course, he also preached on the resurrection throughout his epistles.
The resurrection is the very hope we as Christians cling onto as we live our lives on this temporal world. Without the resurrection, there will be no worship service this morning, there will be no church here or anywhere else in this world. Without the resurrection, even if there is a service, Christianity will be just one of the thousands of religions that worship a dead human martyr. But praise be to God, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. He died and rose again, therefore it brings hope, meaning, and truth to our Christian faith. The title of our message is "He Is Not Here, For He Is Risen." If the resurrection is true, then it must also affect our lives. It must affect the way we view life and death. The resurrection of Christ demands our response.
I. The Love (03:28)
So this morning, as we consider this passage, we want to focus on the response of the first eyewitnesses of the resurrection, a group of women who went to visit the tomb of Jesus Christ. Our first point is the love. Let us begin with verse one, "In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre." The Sabbath had ended, and early in the morning on the first day of the week, which was Sunday, it was not only these two Marys who were there. The Gospel of Mark recorded that Salome, the mother of James and John, was also there. The Gospel of Luke tells us that there was a woman by the name of Joanna. She was there too.
Why were they there so early in the morning as it began to dawn? These women had come all the way from Galilee. When Jesus was crucified on the cross, all the disciples had deserted him, perhaps except John, but these women remained with Jesus, stood at the foot of the cross. They were there at his burial, and now they return to visit the tomb. As they came to the tomb, they did not come to see the resurrection, neither did they expect to see the resurrection. The resurrection was not on their minds. So why did they come? Mark 16:1 tells us that Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Salome had bought sweet spices that they might come and anoint him. You see, in those days, the Jews did not embalm their bodies. If you remember in John 11, Lazarus had been dead for four days, and when our Lord Jesus asked for the grave to be opened, Martha immediately said, "Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days.” (John 11:39)
So these women were trying for one last effort to put some sweet spices on Christ's body that it might bring forth a fragrance that would overpower the stench of decaying flesh. Christ had just died a most painful and devastating death on the cross of Calvary. These women did what they did out of love for someone whom they loved so dearly. Whatever respect, whatever honour they could give to him, they would do.
So in Mark 16:3 they said among themselves, "Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre?" Remember, the Jewish leaders had gone to Pontius Pilate to make sure that he would put a seal and a watch at the tomb because they were afraid that the disciples might steal his body. Most likely these women did not realise that the tomb had been sealed with the Romans' authority that could not be broken. Nonetheless, they came out of this great love for Christ.
Whenever someone whom we love dearly, our loved ones, pass away, our hearts will be filled with great love and pain, right? We are willing to give whatever we have, we are willing to do whatever we can for the person we love. Once a friend of mine asked me, "What kind of salesperson doesn't need to do much persuasion and yet makes the biggest profit in sales?" When I replied, "I don't know," he said to me, "The one who sells coffins or the one who sells caskets.” People are willing to pay thousands and thousands of dollars just for a few pieces of wood. They are willing to pay. You do not need to persuade them to part with their money. Why? Because of love.
II. The Fear (09:27)
These women had come to the tomb out of great love for Christ. But that wasn't where it ended because immediately another emotion replaced their love. The next thing they felt was fear. In verse 5, the Bible says, “And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified.” All of a sudden, their feeling of love had turned to fear. But how can they not be afraid? Verses 2 to 4 says, "And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it. His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow: And for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men.”
Nothing was mentioned about Jesus coming out of the tomb. Nothing. Why? Because Jesus was already gone. His resurrection had already happened. The angel did not roll the stone away to let Jesus come out. The angel rolled the stone to let the women in. Jesus did not need the stone to be removed to get out of the tomb. Later on, when Jesus appeared to his disciples in the upper room, he did not need the door to be open. All of a sudden, he appeared in their midst. That tells us what the glorified body could do. It could pass through the door, it could pass through the wall. It is a supernatural body.
My friends, one day we will also have that glorified body. Yes, we will die. When we die, our souls go to be with the Lord, our bodies will be buried. But when our Lord Jesus comes in the clouds, our bodies will be risen from the grave to be united with our souls in a glorified body. That is the blessed hope of the resurrection. That is what all of us look forward to. But nonetheless, there was a great earthquake and there was the presence of the angel of the Lord, so even the Roman soldiers were afraid. These were Roman soldiers and they were the instruments of terror in the Roman Empire. They had encountered many experiences in their life, perhaps fought many battles and helped Rome to expand her empire. They were ready for anything. But now they trembled and they froze like dead men. Most likely they were paralysed with fear, so much so that they fell down unconscious. And this is just the angel of the Lord, not even the Lord himself.
One day, if the unbelievers would stand before our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the judge, what do you think it will be like? My friends, what is your greatest fear? People are often fearful of the unknowns. The world has seen many tsunamis, earthquakes, hurricanes, and other great calamities. What is the greatest fear of the common man? For most people, death is the most frightening of all the unknowns. Our limited human minds cannot fathom, cannot comprehend this complex subject: death. When I was very young, I was always very fearful of seeing the casket being lowered into the grave. What makes me even more fearful was the sand covering the casket. I cannot imagine myself being left there all alone in total darkness. How long would I remain in the grave? From then onwards, I was very fearful. I never had peace after that, I always had nightmares, until I heard the gospel of the resurrection. My friends, without the resurrection, all of us will be consumed by our greatest fear, and that is death.
III. The Invitation (15:56)
Our third point is the invitation. There was no comfort for the soldiers, but comfort was given to the women. The angel of the Lord said unto them, verse 6, "He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay." An invitation was given to the women to come. This was an important invitation because there were so many things that might hinder the women from coming. Think about this: the great earthquake – the angel of the Lord might have caused this fear in the hearts of these women to be so tremendous that they did not take one more step forward, right? What about the Roman authorities who had put a seal on the tomb? For the seal to be broken, that would be a crime. They might be implicated in a great crime, a very serious crime. So they will be thinking, "We cannot go closer, we are afraid, Rome forbids us."
But that did not stop the women from coming forward because this invitation was initiated by God. The women recognise it, they obey. Whenever an invitation is being issued, a response is expected, just like whenever the gospel message is faithfully preached, the Lord invites all who hear to respond by coming to Him, right? Each time the gospel message is preached, it is an invitation to come, to come to the Lord Jesus Christ. It is so sad when people hear the gospel and then they would not respond, they would not accept the invitation, because there can be no salvation unless they come to Jesus Christ.
The second invitation is to see. “Come and see,” the angel said, “see where the Lord lay.” What could these women see in the tomb of Jesus Christ? Many years ago, I had this blessed opportunity to visit Israel, the Holy Land, and one of the places I visited was the Garden Tomb, or the Empty Tomb. I was very excited – how can I not be excited? I cannot imagine myself staring at the place where my Lord was once laid. I cannot fathom this thought that this would be the place, the Creator of the Heavens and the Earth who came into this world as a man, He died, He was buried, and He lay in that tomb. I was thinking, how should I prepare myself? How should I prepare myself to go in and see where my Lord once was laid?
I remember the message preached by Charles Spurgeon many years ago based on this verse, "Come, see the place where the Lord lay," and he suggested certain things one could see in Christ's tomb, and I would like to borrow some of his points. Firstly, when we look into Christ's tomb, we see the condescension of Jesus Christ. There is nothing marvellous about the grave of a man. It is one of the saddest places where you and I will visit. In fact, it is the place where you and I would end up one day, but it is the natural process of life. We live our days on this earth and at a designated time, no more, no less, appointed by the Almighty God, we will die, we will be buried in the grave. There's nothing spectacular about it. But it is different for our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Almighty God. He is the Alpha and the Omega. He is the beginning and the end. We would not expect Jesus to die, but Jesus did die. He was buried for us, He was laid in the tomb. When we look into the tomb, we will understand how much He loves us. He loves us so much that He was willing to come into this world, to live as a man, to suffer, He was crucified on the cross, He shed His precious blood, and then He was laid in the tomb. So when we look into the tomb, we see how much our Lord Jesus loves us.
Secondly, when we look into Christ's tomb, we should see the horror of our sins, because it was for our sins that Jesus was laid in the tomb. Death is the punishment for sins. For the wages of sin is death. But Jesus was sinless. He was perfect, He was without guilt. So why then was Jesus buried in the tomb? The answer is very simple. Isaiah the prophet said, "But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed." (Isaiah 53:5). So when we look into the tomb, we ought to see the horror of our sins. It was our sins that put our Lord there, and we ought to develop a proper hatred for sin in our hearts. The true believer must learn to hate sin. We are not perfect, all of us are vulnerable to fall into sin, but the true believer will hate sin because it was because of sin that our Lord Jesus died and was laid in the tomb.
Thirdly, when we look into Christ's tomb, we should be reminded that we one day will die too, unless the Lord returns for us before that moment in the Rapture. Otherwise, we will also die, we will be separated from our loved ones. The grave speaks of our mortality, the grave warns us that there is life beyond the grave, and we must be prepared. We have only one life to live, a very short one though, but how have we lived our lives? How much of our time, effort, and resources have been spent in the eternal things of God? If today we were to do an account of our lives, how much of our lives have been spent in the eternal things of God? Or is our life just about accumulating more and more? Is our life just about enjoying ourselves, making preparations for our retirements, eat, drink, and be merry, and then make this physical and temporal life a little bit more comfortable? The grave should humble us. Life is like a vapour, it appears for a little while and then vanishes away. We all know that, but we don't take time to consider that someday in the near future, we will find our place in the grave. For some of us, it may be sooner than we think, it may be sooner than we expect.
Fourthly, and most importantly, when we look into Christ's tomb, we see that it is empty. Jesus was not in the tomb. “He is not here: for he is risen,” as He has promised. Our Lord Jesus has conquered death. The empty tomb was the evidence of the resurrection. The fifth point, when we look into Christ's tomb, we must learn that we shall also rise as Jesus did if we truly believe in Him, if we are truly joined to Him. It is not only through His death and the shedding of His precious blood, but also through His resurrection. Jesus has saved us.
Jesus came to save us completely. Jesus said, "because I live, ye shall live also." (John 14:19) My friends, this is the greatest assurance and comfort you and I can ever have as we live on this Earth. Then, one day, we will be risen from the grave as our Lord Jesus did. It was an empty tomb. The resurrection was real, it was true, it was according to what Jesus has promised. "He is not here: for he is risen."
IV. The Command (28:27)
From a heart of love to a heart of fear, and then from fear to an invitation to come and see, and finally the command to go and tell. "And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead". The women could have lingered around the tomb, spent all their time to marvel at this most wonderful truth, "My Lord is risen! My Lord is risen!" and perhaps spend the rest of their lifetime to visit the tomb every day and enjoy for themselves this good news that the Lord is risen. But my friends, that is not the way the gospel would end, and most certainly not God's intent for the gospel to be received by His people.
The last words of our Lord Jesus to His disciples in the book of Matthew was, "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen." (Matthew 28:19-20)
Of all the people God has chosen, these women to be the first eyewitnesses of the resurrection. These women had come to the tomb out of their love for Him. They are not expected to see a resurrection; they were invited to come and see. They have seen the empty tomb, they believed that the Lord had risen from the dead, and now the command is, "Go and tell." Take a moment and consider this: of all the people in this world, God has chosen to reveal to you and me this most powerful, infallible, and inerrant word of God. By faith, we saw the empty tomb, by faith, we believe our Lord Jesus had risen from the dead. But this good news is not for us to receive and then keep it to ourselves, we must go and tell.
Whether we tell it to our unbelieving loved ones or in the Sunday School or in the elderly homes or in giving out gospel tracts or in supporting gospel mission works, we must go and tell. The last part of verse seven, "and, behold, he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him: lo, I have told you." When did Jesus tell His disciples that He would go to Galilee? One week or earlier in the week when our Lord Jesus was still alive, He said this to His disciples (Matthew 26:32), "But after I am risen again, I will go before you into Galilee." And here it was, a fulfillment that truly He has gone before them into Galilee.
What was so special about Galilee? Galilee was the place where our Lord Jesus began His ministry. Galilee was also the place where the disciples received the Great Commission. From Galilee, they went into Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the world. The disciples faithfully obeyed this command, "Go and tell." Almost 2,000 years later, someone faithfully obeyed this command to go and tell. That was how you and I came to hear the gospel, that is how you and I had believed in the gospel. Now, the responsibility is given to us that we must go and tell.
My friends, who have you told the gospel to? One life to live, maybe 70, 80 years as a believer – whom have you told the gospel to? Someday we will have to bury our loved ones. Someday our loved ones will have to bury us. The separation at death is a most painful experience. How can our hearts be comforted? Only one comfort: the hope of the resurrection.
One of the most difficult tasks of a pastor is to conduct a funeral service. Sometimes when we conduct the funeral service of a believer, we know that to be apart from the body is to be present with the Lord, and we are happy to go on and speak about what this brother had done in the Lord when he was still alive. And then we will go on to speak about the hope of the resurrection. The body may be laid to rest in the grave, but it will be risen in glory one day. But at other times when we have to conduct the funeral of an unbeliever, and we know in our hearts too, to be apart from the body, this person is not present with the Lord, the soul is in a place the Bible calls Hell. What can you say in such a time? Without Christ, without the hope of the resurrection, it can be most difficult. The only thing you can do is to preach the gospel to those who are still living.
Perhaps you are the believer. What about your unbelieving loved ones, your elderly grandparents, your parents, or your children? How can we look them in the eyes and then say to them, "Mom, everything will be all right. Go in peace. Go peacefully," when we know in our hearts without Christ, they will be lost forever in the street by and by, we will never meet again? How can we look them into the eyes and say, "Go in peace"? No peace. No matter how difficult it is, no matter how many times they may have rejected us, we will not give up, we will still share with them the gospel. As long as they still have breath in their lungs, still opportunity, we will not give up and we just plead with God, be merciful, be gracious. But once they draw their last breath, it is too late. Let us not give up. The resurrection of Christ demands a response from us, and this response is, "Go and tell."
For the rest of us who are believers, we have been sharing the gospel. If we are truly convinced of the empty tomb, if we are truly convinced and believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, then it must affect our lives. We cannot believe in the gospel and the resurrection of Christ and yet there's no radical change in our lives, no transformation, no new perspective. It cannot be. The gospel will change our lives and every moment of our lives we will live to glorify the One who was laid in the tomb, the One who was risen from the dead because of us.
Jesus said, "Because I live, ye shall live also," and we live our lives every moment to glorify Him. This is the only way for us to live our lives. So, my friends, if you have forgotten whatever I've said, remember this: love caused the disciples, the women, to go to the tomb, out of love for the Lord. But soon, the heart of love turned to fear. How can they not be fearful? There was an earthquake, there was the presence of the angel of the Lord, but yet there was great comfort. The angel of the Lord said, "Come, see where the Lord lay." These were the first eyewitnesses of the resurrection. They saw it was empty, they believed, and the command was given: go and tell. They went, they told the disciples. They also did the same thing. They went and they told, from Jerusalem to Judea, Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the world. Two thousand years later, someone told us. Now it is our responsibility to go and tell. Will you obey God? Do you love the Lord Jesus so much that no matter what happens, you will obey Him, to go and tell? Let us pray.
Father in heaven, we thank Thee for Thy word. We thank Thee for this Resurrection Sunday that we can worship Thee and be reminded of the resurrection of Christ. Indeed, it is a most crucial doctrine. It is at the very heart of the gospel. It is the foundation of our faith. We believe that the tomb was empty, and like the women, when we look into the tomb, we saw the condition of Christ, how much He loves us. We saw the horror of our sins. It was because of our sins that our Lord Jesus was laid in the tomb. He died, He was buried in the tomb, and as we look into the tomb, we are also reminded that one day, perhaps soon, we will die. Life is like a vapour, it appears for a little while and then vanishes away. One day, we will also be laid in the tomb. But praise be to God, our Lord Jesus was risen from the dead, the tomb was empty, and we know that we would also be risen, just as He has promised us.
When our Lord Jesus comes in the clouds, our bodies will be raised from the grave to be united with our souls in Heaven in a glorified body. This is the blessed hope of the resurrection. This is how, as believers, we can be bold, encouraged, to live our lives the remaining days of our lives to glorify the One who was risen from the dead. Oh Lord, work in our hearts in such a way that we will go and tell wherever we go. We will tell to our unbelieving loved ones, friends, relatives, elderly grandparents, parents, children, colleagues. We will tell. We will not give up. We may be rejected, but as long as they still have breath in their lungs, as long as we are still breathing, there is still opportunity before it is too late. We want to go and tell. We give Thee thanks, and we pray all this in Jesus' name. Amen.
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