As powerful as the cross of Christ is, it would have no power had Jesus remained in the tomb

JESUS: HIS RESURRECTION

INTRODUCTION

When your leader dies, what do you do? When Jesus died the hopes of eleven men were shattered.
The disciples like many others had hoped for a kingdom.
The disciples expected Jesus to establish that kingdom.
They had argued over who would have the highest station in the kingdom (Matthew 18:1). Asked “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”
The mother of two of the disciples had tried to influence Jesus to give her sons places of preference in the coming kingdom (Mark 10:37 and Matthew 20:21).
The disciples of Jesus, like their fellow Jews, were looking for an earthly kingdom.
That kingdom would be brought about by a messiah.
The disciples and many others thought that that Jesus was that messiah.
The disciples’ hope for a kingdom was shattered.
Jesus, the man they thought was the messiah, was dead.
Jesus had been crucified as a criminal.
The messiah was to reign as king, not die as a criminal (or so the disciples thought).
The disciples deserted Jesus at his arrest.
Jesus was arrested by the temple soldiers.
The disciples fled for safety.
They did not want to be taken prisoner.
The conduct of the disciples after Jesus’ arrest.
Peter followed at a distance to see what would happen to Jesus (Luke 22:54f).

He denied Jesus three times.
As Jesus had predicted a rooster crowed.
Peter wept bitterly.

One disciple went in with Jesus (John 18:15).
Jesus’ acquaintances watched the crucifixion at a distance (Luke 23:49)
John, “the disciple whom Jesus loved”, was present at the crucifixion.
Apparently, none of the eleven had the courage to ask for the body of Jesus – Joseph of Arimathea, a secret disciple, buried the body of Jesus.
The disciples went into hiding.

Feared the Jews (John 20:19)

“On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews….”

They were afraid of being executed themselves.

The death of Jesus meant the death of the disciples’ hopes.
The coming of the kingdom was a dead dream, buried with the body of Jesus in the tomb.
Jesus had told the disciples about his death.
The idea of a dying messiah was so strange that the disciples did not understand it.
The apostle Paul later wrote, “…but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews….” (I Corinthians 1:23)
As far as the disciples were concerned the messiah was dead and the hope of a kingdom was shattered.
The disciples’ hope for a kingdom was restored.
In a little over a month a great change took place.
The disciples began to declare a new message in Jerusalem.
The disciples, who had given up hope and hid in fear, now boldly proclaimed that Jesus was indeed the messiah (Acts 2:36).

“Therefore let all the house of Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.”

They proclaimed that the death of Jesus had been in the will and plan of God even though it was an inexcusable murder (Acts 2:23).
They asserted boldly that the one the Jews had murdered was the author of life (Acts 3:15).
They stated that through this crucified Jesus, God offered to people the forgiveness of sins.
They proclaimed that Jesus had fulfilled the promises of God as recorded in the Old Testament prophets.
What made the change in the disciples?
Their conduct and their attitude toward Jesus had been radically changed.
Was it the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost?

Important to the birth of the church – very important
Not the only changing element in the disciples.
The disciples were changed from a terrified, hopeless band of men to the bold preachers of Jesus the messiah and savior.

What made the change?

The New Testament gives the answer.
In the Gospels we read of the event that transformed the disciples: the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.
The dead teacher had become the risen, living savior.

We have discussed the life and death of Jesus. We now turn our attention to his resurrection. (Those sermons are available upon request)
Three points need to be discussed.

The story of the resurrection
The certainty of the resurrection
The importance of the resurrection

THE STORY OF THE RESURRECTION

Jesus was buried just before the Sabbath began.

The women go to the tomb on the first day of the week.
Mary Magdalene
Mary, mother of James and Salome
They brought spices to anoint the body.
They wondered who would move the stone for them.

Luke says, “They found the stone rolled away from the tomb.” (24:2)

Matthew states that a great earthquake had occurred.
An angel of the Lord rolled the stone away.
The guards were frightened.
The women found the tomb empty.
The angels told them that Jesus had arisen from the dead.
The women brought the news of what they had seen to the eleven disciples.
The disciples did not believe the women.
Peter and John go to the tomb (John 20:1-9)
John outran Peter, stopped at the tomb’s entrance, and looked inside, seeing the linen cloths.
Peter entered the tomb.
The linens were neatly arranged.
Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene.
Jesus asked her why she was crying (20:15)
She thought he was the gardener.
Wanted to know where the body of Jesus had been taken
Jesus called her by name: “Mary” (20:16).
Mary recognized Jesus and said, “teacher”.
Mary told the disciples what had happened.
The guards report what has happened.
The guards told the chief priests what had happened.
The guards were bribed to say that the disciples had stolen the body of Jesus.
“…And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day.” (Matthew 28:15).
The road to Emmaus
Two disciples, Cleopas and another man, were walking to Emmaus.
They were discussing the events of the past several days.
Jesus joined them. They “…were kept from recognizing him.”
Jesus asked them what they were discussing. “Are you only a visitor to Jerusalem and do not know the things that have happened there in these days?”
They told him about the death of Jesus and the reports of his resurrection.
Jesus explained to them from the Old Testament the scriptures concerning himself.
The disciples asked Jesus to spend the night with them.
As Jesus blessed and broke the bread, they recognized who he was: he then vanished.
They reported these events to the eleven.
Jesus appears to ten of the disciples.
Jesus appeared to his disciples, except for Thomas.
At first, they were frightened.
The disciples were glad when they realized that Jesus was alive. “The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord” (John 20:20)
Jesus appears to Thomas and the other disciples.
Thomas was not about to believe that Jesus was alive. Read John 20:24-25.
Jesus appeared again when Thomas was present. Read John 20:26-28.
Jesus made other appearances.
John 21:1-24 – to seven disciples by the Sea of Galilee
Disciples fished all night but caught nothing.
Jesus instructed them to cast their nets again; caught more than they could handle.
Jesus quizzes Peter – “do you love me more than these”, “do you love me?” – asked three times, different words in Greek
Jesus appeared to the eleven on a mountain in Galilee.
Jesus made a final appearance to his disciples and then ascended into heaven. This event would change the world.

THE CERTAINTY OF THE RESURRECTION

Many find the idea of the resurrection hard to accept.
The disciples were hard to convince.
Many modern people, including some Bible scholars, consider the resurrection of Christ to be impossible.
Alternatives to the resurrection
The disciples stole the body, hid it, and claimed that Jesus had arisen.
Hardly the action of frightened, helpless disciples.

The disciples didn’t understand the nature of the kingdom even after the resurrection (Acts 1).
None of the disciples admitted theft, even in the face of execution.
What about the guards? Their story didn’t make sense. Asleep – didn’t know who

Someone else stole the body.

Thieves don’t arrange linens neatly.
If someone stole the body, why didn’t they produce it when the resurrection was preached? Would have ended the new religion.

Jesus was not really dead.
Only “swooned” from loss of blood and weakness.
The coolness of the tomb, the fragrance of the spices, and hours of rest revived him.
Left the tomb and told disciples he had risen from the dead.
Problems with the “swoon” theory

Jesus had been severely beaten – enough to kill many men
Jesus hung on the cross for six hours.
Loss of blood
Suffocation from exhaustion
If alive, he’d had no food or water for three days.
Jesus was pronounced dead by experts. The Roman soldiers had seen many crucifixions.
Pierced through the side, probably piercing the heart.
If he was alive, he would have had to have broken the linen wrapping, moved the stone, and walked past the guards. Even if Jesus had done all this, would anyone have believed he was raised?

Mary mistook the gardener for Jesus. Actually, she thought Jesus was the gardener.
The disciples had visions of a risen Jesus. Hallucinations
The disciples had given up hope.
They would not have had visions of a risen savior.
They didn’t believe in the resurrection at first. Hard to convince.
Would over five hundred people have the same vision? I Corinthians 15
Several years ago, British historian-investigative journalist Ian Wilson wrote Jesus: The Evidence in which he found “that the many old and new theories discounting the resurrection don’t stand up” (“Resurrection remains unexplainable event.” George W. Cornell, Associated Press)
The apostles and other witnesses had to be convinced that Jesus was alive.
Notice the reaction of the apostles to reports that Jesus had been raised.
Mary Magdalene – Mark 16:11 – “they did not believe it”
Two disciples – Mark 16:13 – “did not believe them either”
Mark 16:14 – “Later Jesus appeared to the Eleven as they were eating; he rebuked them for their lack of faith and their stubborn refusal to believe those who had seen him after he had risen.”
Thomas refused to believe that Jesus had been raised unless he saw and touched Jesus.
Robert Stackel tells about a judge in Yugoslavia who had a shocking experience – literally! He was standing in the bathtub and reached up to turn on a light. He received a tremendous jolt of electricity and fell out of the tub. His wife called the doctor. The doctor pronounced the judge dead. In accordance with the government health regulation, his body was placed in a vault beneath the cemetery chapel. Some hours later, in an open casket, the judge regained consciousness. At first, he had no idea where he was or what had happened. He climbed out of the casket to find the vault door closed. He shook the door and cried for help. The guard was terrified and fled. Finally, the guard got some help and came back and opened the door. The judge phoned his wife that he was coming home. She shrieked, hung up the phone, and fainted. Next the judge tried going to several homes of his neighbors. They took one look at him, standing outside the front door, and slammed the door in his face, thinking that he was a ghost. At last, the judge found a friend that had not heard that he was dead, whom he convinced that he really was alive, who acted as a go between. Gradually this man was able to convince his friends and family that he really was alive!
The resurrection had to occur.
God, the creator, made the “laws of nature”. He can also break them.
If the resurrection did not occur the rest of the story does not make sense.
Just because we have not seen a man raised from the dead does not mean it could not happen.
We are confronted with an empty tomb.
How can we explain it?
There was a resurrection.
“In the late 1920s Frank Morrison sat down to write a book to refute the resurrection of Jesus Christ. He had been educated in the rational, cynical climate of the 1890s and his faith in Scripture was decimated. He was an Anglican by faith, but he could not say when repeating the Apostles’ Creed, “He was raised again from the dead after the third day.” Frank Morrison, therefore, determined to take the evidence and prove the falsity of the resurrection. In 1930 when he finished this book, Who Moved the Stone?, he had proved exactly the opposite. As he examined the evidence, he came to see that the compelling evidence was on the side of the resurrection.” (Ronnie White)

THE IMPORTANCE OF THE RESURRECTION

The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the central event in Christianity.
Early preaching centered on the fact of the resurrection.
Jesus had been raised.
Jesus was exalted to God’s right hand in heaven.
The apostle Paul clearly shows the importance of the resurrection.
Some were saying the dead would not be raised.
Read I Corinthians 15:12-19
If Jesus was not raised our faith is worthless, we are in sin, and the dead have perished.
Jesus must have arisen from the dead or we are without hope.
Leon Barnes – “As powerful as the cross of Christ is, it would have no power had Jesus remained in the tomb. The act which validated His death was the resurrection (Romans 1:4). The resurrection of Christ is central to the gospel itself. There would be no good news without the resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:1-3).”
F. Bruce – “The crucifixion and the resurrection are necessary to each other. There can be no gospel without both, for neither is meaningful without the other.”
J. Hoover has well written: The Resurrection isn’t just a pretty optional extra of Christian theology, invented by some Pollyanna theologian to give a happy ending to the tragic death of Jesus. No! The Resurrection is the linchpin of our complete system. Remove it and the whole structure of Christianity collapses. . .. If the cross was the last thing we knew about Jesus we would judge him a failure. His death would have justified the Sanhedrin in executing him for blasphemy.” (A. J. Hoover, The Case for Christian Theism (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Book House, 1976), 227.)
Professor C. E. M. Joad, the noted philosopher of London University, was asked which one of all the figures of history he would most like to meet, and what he would most like to ask that person. He replied that he would most like to meet Jesus. The question he would most like to ask was what he described as “the most important question in the world”: “Did You or did You not rise from the dead?” (Quoted in Michael Green, The Day Death Died (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1982), 15. – Tommy South)

CONCLUSION

Jesus did arise from the tomb.
I Corinthians 15:20 – “But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.”
“Jesus is well and alive today.

He makes his home in my heart.

Nevermore, will I be alone, since he

Promised me that we never would part.”

Jesus lived and died.
Jesus arose from the dead to die no more.
Paul Harvey – “And that’s the rest of the story.”
We believe in a living Jesus.

This sermon was prepared and first preached in 1979. It has been revised and expanded. I do not remember the sources first used.

Tom Keener