Empty Tomb or Empty Life (Easter 2009)

Empty Tomb or Empty Life (Easter 2009)

“Empty Tomb or Empty Life”

(Matthew 28:1-10)

Easter Sunday

Rev. Todd A. Linn, PhD

First Baptist Church Henderson, KY

(4-12-09) (AM)

 

  • Take God’s Word and open to Matthew, chapter 28.

 

We are here today to “Behold the Lamb.”  Every Sunday really is Easter.  Every Sunday we celebrate the pivotal event of Christianity, the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  “Up from the grave He arose with a mighty triumph o’er His foes.  He arose a victor from the dark domain and He lives forever with His saints to reign.  He arose, He arose, Hallelujah, Christ arose!”

 

We’re going to be reading about the resurrection this morning in the first Gospel of the New Testament, the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 28.  The previous chapter tells us that Jesus was sentenced to die and crucified.  He was killed on the cross at Calvary. His body was taken down from the cross and buried.  Some women, namely Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Joseph, saw the tomb where Jesus was buried and made plans to return after the Sabbath in order to further anoint his body with spices.  Let’s read what happens on that day after the Sabbath, that first Easter Sunday over 2,000 years ago.

 

  • Stand in honor of the reading of the Word.

 

1 Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb.

2 And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat on it.

3 His countenance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow.

4 And the guards shook for fear of him, and became like dead men.

5 But the angel answered and said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified.

6 “He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.

7 “And go quickly and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead, and indeed He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him. Behold, I have told you.”

8 So they went out quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to bring His disciples word.

9 And as they went to tell His disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, “Rejoice!” So they came and held Him by the feet and worshiped Him.

10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell My brethren to go to Galilee, and there they will see Me.”

 

  • Pray.

 

Introduction:

 

Well I’ve already told you that I love Easter Sunday.  It is my favorite Sunday of the year.  I am so glad you are here to worship in this great church as we think about Christ’s resurrection and focus our attention on the Lord Jesus.  And I want to do something a little different this morning.

 

You know in the past I have preached Easter sermons that stress how Christianity is different from every major religion.  I have said that Christianity is the only major religion with an empty tomb.  It’s the only major religion founded by someone who came back from the dead.  The tomb of Mohammed is occupied.  The tomb of Buddha is occupied.  The tomb of Confucius is—what?—occupied.  But the tomb of Jesus is empty.  And so I’ve talked about that and laid out various arguments to show that the resurrection happened.  But that’s not what I want to do this morning.

 

In other sermons, I’ve appealed to logic and reason to support the truth that Christ rose from the grave.  For example, if God exists, then the resurrection is possible.  Right?  I mean if we believe that God created everything then certainly He is powerful enough to come back from the dead in bodily form.  If God exists, then the resurrection is possible.  But I would also argue that even if God did not exist, the resurrection would be possible.  Why?  Well think about it: if God exists, then the resurrection is possible.  And if God does not exist, well, then anything is possible, anything—including the resurrection.  So either way the resurrection is possible.  But that’s not what I want to do this morning, either.

 

Here’s what I want to do today.  I want to talk about what difference the resurrection makes.  I want to talk about the significance of the empty tomb.  How does the truth of the resurrection affect your life and mine?  Let me say that without an empty tomb we ultimately have empty lives.  If the resurrection doesn’t matter, then nothing matters.  Empty tomb or empty life.  So over the next few minutes I just want to share with you some practical truths for practical living, truths that come from the resurrection, some encouraging “resurrection realities.”  First:

I. No Past is too bad to God (1)

 

No person’s past is considered too bad to God.  Anyone can come to the Lord.  Look again at verse one:

 

1 Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb.

 

In a society where women were treated as second-class citizens, Jesus appears first to women.  That’s so like God!  It’s so like God to appear first to those whom society shuns.  Just as our Lord’s birth was first announced to those considered societal outcasts—shepherds, so His resurrection is first witnessed by those considered societal outcasts—women.

 

And not just any women, but Matthew mentions two by name, Mary Magdalene and “the other Mary.”  How do you like that?  “The other Mary.”  That’s how she’s identified.  It’s as though she’s not important.  “Here is Mary Magdalene who hails from the beautiful Galilean town of Magdala and then over here is “the other Mary.”  Have you ever felt like “the other Mary?”  Well, context tells us the other Mary is the mother of James and Joseph.

 

But why is Mary Magdalene mentioned so prominently in these accounts?  Have you ever wondered?  Mary Magdalene has a bit of a troubled past.  She is the woman from whom Jesus cast out seven demons.  Seven demons!  It would be bad enough to be enslaved by one demon, but seven!  What kind of things did those demons do in and through Mary Magdalene?  How many people knew Mary Magdalene and what did they see her do?

 

Her name indicates she came from Magdala, a city on the southwest coast of the Sea of Galilee, a place—according to the Jewish Talmad—that had a reputation for prostitution.  This is very likely the reason Mary Magdalene is often equated with the one Luke identifies as a “sinful woman” in his Gospel (Luke 7:36-50).  We don’t really know for sure, but you see her past is a bit shady and it causes us to wonder.

 

And I think Mary Magdalene is mentioned so prominently in these resurrection accounts because God wants us to remind us no person’s past is considered too bad to God.  Put another way: anyone can come to Jesus.  No person’s past is considered too bad to God.

 

Isn’t that the beauty of the story of the prodigal son?  The Bible says that he spent all of his money in wild, riotous living and he comes to the place of repentance and he travels back home to his father.  And you know he’s aware of his sinful past and how it will look to his father and so he’s preparing to confess his sinful past, but before he can even get it out his father sees him and runs to him and lovingly embraces him and forgives him.  Why?  Because no past is too bad to God.

 

Look at me!  Easter Sunday means that no matter your past, no matter what you have done, our Lord rushes to you in His love and meets you at the point of your repentance.  It doesn’t matter what you have done.  Our Lord Jesus loves with an everlasting and perfect love.  No past is too bad to God.  Here’s the second reality of the resurrection:

 

II.  No Problem is too great to God (2-8)

 

If our Lord can overcome the problem of death, there is no other problem too great for Him.  See the power of God in verses two and following:

 

2 And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat on it.

3 His countenance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow.

4 And the guards shook for fear of him, and became like dead men.

5 But the angel answered and said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified.

6 “He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.

 

The angel reminds Mary Magdalene and “the other Mary” that Jesus had told His followers that this would happen.  Verse 6: “He is not here; for He is risen, as He said.”  On three very specific occasions, our Lord told His disciples that he would die, be buried, and rise from the grave.  Three times!  Matthew records those three occasions in previous chapters 16, 17, and 20.

 

What strikes me is the blunt, matter of fact way the Lord shares the information with His disciples as they are nearing Jerusalem.  Three times He says something like, “Okay guys, here’s what’s coming: the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and elders and killed and will rise the third day.  Any questions?”  The disciples never fully grasped what Jesus was telling them until later, but our Lord’s frank, blunt statements demonstrate that Christ’s death on the cross was not an accident.  The cross was God’s perfect plan for humanity.  Jesus died for our sins, was buried and rose the third day for our justification.

 

The prophet Isaiah foretold the crucifixion 700 years before it took place.  Isaiah prophesied in Isaiah 53:5-6:

 

“He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.  All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”

 

Jesus died for your sins and mine.  He died on the cross to take the penalty we deserved.  Easter matters because the resurrection is God’s “stamp of approval” on everything Jesus Christ did.  The resurrection is God the Father’s way of saying, “I am pleased with what My Son did for you.  I am satisfied that in His death on the cross He has taken the payment you deserved.  I am raising Him from the dead to show that Jesus paid it all.”

 

So the angel reminds the women in verse 6 that Jesus is risen “as He said.”  The angel is like, “Jesus said He would rise from the grave.  No problem is too great to God!”  Verse 7:

 

7 “And go quickly and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead, and indeed He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him. Behold, I have told you.”

8 So they went out quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to bring His disciples word.

 

So the women hurry away from the tomb to tell the disciples what has happened: Jesus has risen!  No problem is too great to God.  If our Lord can overcome the problem of death, then there is no other problem too great to Him.  This is why Jesus can go on and say, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth (v.18).”  He is God.  He has “all authority.”  There is no problem too great to Him.

 

Jesus is commissioning His disciples to go out and share the Gospel and He says, “You need fear nothing because all authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.  I am in control.”  And you and I can share Jesus Christ with our family and with strangers and with unreached people groups across the globe because Christ has all authority.  If our Lord can overcome the problem of death, then there is no other problem too great to Him.

 

If our Lord can overcome the problem of death, then we can overcome the problem of death.  If we place our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and if our loved ones place their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ then the grave is not the end!  That’s why funeral services are different for Christians.  There is grief, yes, but grief mingled with the certainty that we are burying only the body of a Christian, a believer whose soul is with our Lord in heaven.

 

If our Lord can overcome the problem of death, then there is no other problem too great to Him.  What do you fear?  Jesus says, “All authority has been given to Me.”  Everything is under His control.  He has “all authority.”  He has authority over creation.  He has authority over the universe.  He has authority over time.  He has authority over His perfect plan for this world.  So He has authority over the economy.  He has authority over Wall Street.  He has authority over your street.  He has authority over your health.  He has authority over your job.  He has authority over the climate.  He has authority over global warming.  He has authority over politics.  He has authority over your fears.  He has authority over your clouds of darkness.  Listen: He moved the stone and He’ll move your stone, too.  No problem is too great to God.

 

The resurrection means no past is too bad to God, no problem is too great to God.  Thirdly:

 

III.  No Person is too close to God (9-10)

 

Easter is a reminder that the great God, the powerful God, and the authoritative God somewhere up there came way down here so that we may know Him personally, intimately, and up close.

 

9 And as they went to tell His disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, “Rejoice!” So they came and held Him by the feet and worshiped Him.

 

Don’t miss this!  Here is the resurrected Jesus Christ in glorified bodily form.  Here is God raised from the dead and the Bible says that these women fell before Him and took hold of Him.  They “held Him by the feet and worshiped Him.”

 

What a contrast with the old order of worship in the Old Testament.  The Old Testament stresses man’s sinfulness in the presence of God’s holiness.  Man could not get physically close to God.  Man could not expect to even stand in the presence of God or look upon His face.  The veil in the Jewish Temple was a reminder of the separation between the holiness of God and the sinfulness of man.  And when Jesus died on Calvary’s cross, the Bible says that the veil in the Jewish Temple tore in two from top to bottom signifying that God in Christ had forever taken care of the separation and that man could now get up close to God, personally and intimately.

 

These women “held Him by the feet and worshiped Him” because no person is too close to God.  I mean Jesus came to them.  The Bible says in verse 9, He “met them.”  He said, “Rejoice!”  He comes to them.  He desires intimacy with His followers. He meets them and they grab hold of Him and worship Him.  You see more of the intimacy in verse 10:

 

10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell My brethren to go to Galilee, and there they will see Me.”

 

Do you hear the love in this?  Christ refers to His disciples as “My brethren.”  These were the same guys who had left Him on the night He was arrested.  I feel like if it had been me, I would have said, “You tell those deserters that if they come anywhere near me…!”  Have you ever deserted Christ?  Have you ever left Him when the going got tough or when things didn’t turn out the way you wanted?

 

God comes to us in the person of Christ that we may have relationship with Him.  He loves us.  He seeks us out to meet with us that we may worship Him.  Christianity is not legality.  Christianity is not even about morality.  It is about intimacy.  It is not the following of a bunch of rules.  It is about pursuing a relationship.  God desires closeness with us that we may love Him and glorify Him and worship Him.  He loves us.

 

God wants our number one relationship be with Him.  He says we are to love Him with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength.  We should love Him more than we love anyone else, because that’s why we were created.  He must have first place.

 

Have you been hurt in a broken relationship?  Maybe you’ve been divorced.  Stop!  Take several months if not years to be intimate with God.  Learn what it means to grab hold of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Learn what it means to really love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength and then you’ll be ready for the next human relationship. God loves you.  He desires intimacy with you.

 

Do you remember when you first experienced love?  Maybe you heard someone say at school, “I know someone who likes you!”  And when you first found out, your heart skipped a beat.  You were like, “Really, that person?  Wow!  That person likes me?!”  Well, listen: God not only likes you, He loves you.  No matter your past, no matter your problem.

 

The God who desires intimacy says in the last verse of the chapter, “I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”  Christ was commissioning His followers to share the Gospel with the world.  In one sense, He was sending them to their deaths, but He promises, “I will be with you no matter what.”  There are no dead ends.  Whatever you’re going through, trust the Lord Jesus Christ and know that He is there.  He is with you.  He loves you.

 

To God…no past is too bad, no problem too great, no person too close.

 

  • Stand for prayer.

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