Word of Salvation – Vol. 35 No. 14 – April 1990

 

He Has Risen

 

Sermon by Rev. G. H. Kleinjan on Luke 24:5,6

Reading: Luke 24:1-53

Singing: 58,291,356,358,360:1

 

Today, we are remembering the resurrection.  Of all events, surely this is the greatest of all events in history.  The resurrection is the basis of our whole faith, because Jesus thereby conquered death once and for all time.  We wish, therefore, to see why this event is so significant for us today.  Many people deny the resurrection.  It is not recorded in the normal annals of history.  And yet, it is the most significant event of all history.

Jesus, of course, had died and was buried before the Sabbath day, which began Friday evening.  The Jews remembered that Jesus had predicted that He would rise again on the third day.  In order to stop this event, they therefore sealed up the tomb and placed a guard on it.  We learn this from Mat.27:62-66.  The Jews, because of their unbelief, thought that the disciples would steal Jesus body.

But, from what we know about the disciples, they were too discouraged to even think of doing such an act.  We learn that they were absolutely devastated by Jesus’ death.  They could not understand why He had to die.  They were sorely disappointed too.  What would happen now?  What would become of this kingdom of God that Jesus preached about?  Was Jesus the Messiah or not?  They were both bewildered and afraid of the future.  Their Messiah was dead.  They felt defeated.  Jesus had not accomplished His mission.  It was all one big failure.  Unlike the Jews, they had forgotten Jesus’ words, that after being dead for three days, He would rise again from the dead.

The women too, followers of Jesus, felt defeated.  They went to the tomb in order to put spices in it, according to the Jewish custom of burials.  They fully expected to find Jesus in the tomb, and even discussed how they would roll the stone away, as we learn from Mk.16:3.

You can imagine, then, the absolute surprise when they learned that Jesus had risen from the dead.  This was a complete surprise to the women, who were terrified by the appearance of the angels.  This was also a surprise to the disciples, who at first did not believe the reports from the women.  Thus, the initial reaction of the disciples was unbelief.  So convinced were they that Jesus’ mission was defeated, that they would not and could not believe their ears.

The Jews too, would not believe this report.  They had suspected that He would rise again, but not so convincingly.  They knew that the guards were not kidding when they described to the Jews what had happened at the tomb that morning.  Nevertheless, they decided to pay the guards off – “You tell a lie, and we will cover you.”  We learn about this in Mat.28:11-15.  The lie was an absurd one – the disciples supposedly were to have stolen Jesus’ body while the guards were asleep!  Obviously, this would get the guards into trouble.  Hence the necessity of payment by the Jews.  And to this day, this is what the Jews believe – the disciples stole the body of Jesus, and said that He had risen.

Well, what is our reaction to the news of the resurrection?  Is it one of unbelief, like the Jews?  Is it one of sheer amazement and almost disbelief, like the disciples?  Or is it one of belief, a position the disciples came to later?  I would propose to you today that it is essential to believe that Jesus has indeed risen from the dead.  Of all people, it is vital that we believe in the bodily resurrection of Jesus in space-time history.  Why, then, is it important that we do this?  In giving the reasons, I will be pointing out the significance of the resurrection.  In other words, the importance for believing in the resurrection is due to the fact that it is very significant for us today.

1.  The first reason why it is important to believe the resurrection of Christ is because it proves that Jesus is God.  The resurrection shows us that Jesus is God, beyond a shadow of doubt.  Now today, we often think that if we lived at the time of Jesus and the disciples, we would have believed in Jesus.  Ah yes, we would have seen his miracles, and believed in Him.  We would have seen the significance of His death, and believed that He was the Messiah.

But this assumption is false.  It would not have been easier to believe in those days.  In fact, it would have been harder, strange as that may seem.  Just think of the difficulty you would have in believing that a man called “Jesus” claimed to be God Himself!  Jesus, who is God incarnate, walked on this earth in rags.  He was poor for starters.  He did not go to the press with His claims.  He did not announce to the world that He was God “In the flesh”.  To make matters worse, He even died the death of a criminal – death by crucifixion.  Would you have believed His claims?

But the resurrection, you see, made everything different.  He had claimed He would rise again after His death on the third day.  No human being can do this.  No one, by mere willing to do so, can raise himself from the dead.  It is just impossible.  But Jesus actually did so.

He lived up to His claim.  That is why the resurrection is proof positive that Jesus Christ is indeed God.  Only God can live up to such stupendous, enormous claims.

After the resurrection, therefore, it would have been easier to believe that Jesus was indeed God.  Certainly this Jesus did live up to His claims.  But the Jews, of course, refused to acknowledge the fact of the resurrection.  If they had acknowledged His resurrection, then they would also have had to acknowledge that He was God.  They refused to do this, and therefore spread a lie about Him.  Their hearts were hardened, and no amount of facts would have changed their stubborn hearts.  Because Jesus has risen, therefore, we must believe that He is truly God.  We have less excuse for believing in Him today than the Jews did thousands of years ago.  We have the full account before us.  We know all the facts.  We have the faithful records of the actual eye-witnesses.  They too, had become convinced after initial doubts.  The resurrection was not their idea.  Certainly, Jesus is God.

I ask you, therefore, if you yourself believe that Jesus is the Son of God.  Many people in the world do not.  The people back in Jesus’ day did not either.  But then we can understand why many did not believe.  And yet, they are without excuse.  How much more, then, are you without excuse if you do not believe that Jesus is truly God, because He arose from the dead as promised?  We live in the post-resurrection era.  It has all happened.  We live in the full light.  Even the concealment of the facts by the unbelieving Jews could not suppress the truth.  Therefore, I urge you too, to stop disbelieving, but believe.

2.  The second reason why it is essential to believe that Jesus has indeed risen is because thereby, we know that death and sin is certainly conquered.  The fact of the resurrection tells us one great fact: death has been defeated, once and for all.  This is something that the women and the disciples did not at first grasp.  The angels at the tomb mildly rebuked the women for their unbelief.  They asked the simple question: “Why do you seek the living One among the dead?”  Why are you searching for Jesus among the tombs of dead people?  “He is not here, but He has risen.”  Don’t you remember His words which He spoke to you?  Yes, they had forgotten what Jesus had said all along.  He had already foretold His death after the transfiguration, in Lk.9:22.  And again, He had said the same thing in Lk.18:31-34.  The disciples did not understand what He was on about.  Thus, the significance of His words was lost.  Only afterwards would they fully understand.

The disciples’ initial unbelief, however, was not the same as that of the Jewish leaders.  Theirs was due to the absolute shock of Jesus’ death, to their dismay and depression.  They had resigned themselves to the fact that Jesus was dead, and that all was lost.  Death, after all, had won again.  Jesus had failed right where it counted with death, the final enemy.  He had promised much, but failed to “produce the goods”.  Who would face death and defeat it?  They did not believe that Jesus had actually defeated death.  They had not grasped the true meaning of Jesus’ death.  They had forgotten that Jesus would rise again after only three short days.  They had lost all perspective.

But the resurrection, congregation, proved to the disciples that Jesus did conquer death.  He was what He claimed to be after all.  He was more powerful than death itself.  We read Paul’s account of this not too long after the event in Rom.6:8-11.  Death no longer has mastery over Jesus Christ.  And because of this fact, sin has also been conquered.  Therefore, we too, who are in Christ by faith, have passed from death unto life.  And in response to these facts, we are to live a life pleasing to God, and to be dead to sin.

What would have happened if Jesus did not rise again from the dead?  Have you ever thought about that?  Well, this would have meant that Jesus, rather than conquering death and sin (the wages of sin being death), would have been conquered by death, not the other way around.  What would the result of this have been?

Well, Paul already thought of this in 1Cor.15:16-19.  There he says that if Christ had not been raised, then our faith is worthless.  We are still in our sins then.  Christ did not conquer death or sin or Satan.  Remember that the wages of sin is death.  No payment for sin, no salvation.  No resurrection, no conquering of death.  So therefore, there would also be no salvation,

But we know that Jesus did rise from the dead.  We have the proof from the eyewitnesses themselves.  Christ has defeated Satan and death.  What does this mean for us?  Well, we can be assured of at least three things.  In the first place, we are assured that our sins are forgiven once and for all.  Christ, having risen from the dead, has paid the penalty for sin – death.  His resurrection spelled the death knell for death.  All those whose sins are forgiven in Christ have no fear of hell, which is eternal death.  Believers, therefore, have no fear of hell or death.  They have already passed judgement day.  Jesus has gone before them.  The price has been paid.

We also have the assurance that Satan cannot take us captive again.  Christ has bought us with a price.  We no longer hold death up as a threat to the saints.  This, of course, is a great comfort to us.  We know that we are completely safe now.  Death and hell has been taken away by Christ.

Finally, we have the assurance that because Christ arose from the dead, so also will we arise from the dead.  The Bible says that Jesus is the “first-fruits” of the resurrection.  Because He has risen in the past, this means that we too, will one day rise again in the future.  And we can be certain about that.

Unbelievers, however, have no such assurance at all.  They have no comfort in their death.  They don’t know what happens after death.  They wish for life or nothing.  But they are not sure of anything.  We know that their end is eternal death, in hell.

How is it with you today?  Do you know that your future, up-coming death has already been conquered?  Are you sure that you too, will be raised from the dead?  We do not like to think about death too often, but it is a reality nevertheless.  So, let us think about it today.  We will all die one day.  Are you prepared for that death?  The only way to be prepared is to believe in the resurrection of Christ.  Without Him, you will only have the “hope” of facing eternal death.  Seek the death of Christ for you today, and you will never have to face this everlasting death.

3.  In the third and final place, it is essential that we believe in the resurrection because then we can truly celebrate what is known as “Easter”.  The real celebration of Easter is what we now call “Sunday”.  Jesus arose from the dead on the first day of the week, which is the Sunday.  Hence, ever since His resurrection, Christians have come together to worship Him instead of on Saturday, which is the Jewish Sabbath.  We have proof of this in the N.T. itself.  For example, we read in Acts 20:7 that the believers in Troas met together on the first day of the week in order “to break bread”.  This was a worship service, and Paul preached to these people long into the night.  Also, in Rev.1:10, John says that he was in the spirit “on the Lord’s Day”.  We have the same phrase today, and it simply means the Sunday.  It is the Lord’s Day because that was the day on which our Lord Jesus arose again.

Why do I say all these things?  Well, the true celebration of the feast of Easter is the regular Sunday worship.  Every time we meet together on Sundays, we are in fact celebrating what the world calls “Easter”.  The real significance of Easter is realized every Sunday worship service.  When we meet together, we are celebrating the eternal rest that we are all yet awaiting.  It is the eternal rest that Jesus has earned for us by His death and resurrection.

Why is this significant?  Well, I see a great danger in our churches of putting man’s ordinance above God’s ordinance.  In other words, the danger is that people in the church will regularly attend Easter services, but not the regular worship services every Lord’s Day or Sabbath.

Thus, some church members make an ordinance of man more important than God’s.  This is wrong.  The result of this is that they reverence and fear a man-made thing, but disregard the real thing.  So they are slack about regular Sunday attendance.  And they become indignant when Easter or other man-made celebrations are brushed over lightly.  Congregation, these things ought not to be.  We celebrate Easter every Sunday.  It is a not once a year occurrence, which ought to be celebrated with all pomp and circumstance.  It is celebrated every week.

Therefore, avail yourselves of the worship service.  Again, it is “ordinary”.  It is not spectacular.  It does not mean that we have special services.  But it is God’s appointed way of proclaiming the Gospel.  It is God’s appointed way of the preaching of His Word.  It is His appointed way of having fellowship together.

This means, therefore, that we are to attend faithfully to the regular preaching of the word of God, week by week, here at church.  Again, it may not be spectacular, and it certainly is not led by the best of God’s servants.  But we are commanded to attend nevertheless.  Do not forget your priorities.  Do not exalt man above God.

In conclusion, congregation, the resurrection has great significance for us today.  In the first place, it shows us that Jesus Christ is truly God.  Only God can raise Himself from the dead.  And this means, therefore, that we are to believe.  There is far less excuse to believe today than there was when Jesus died.  Secondly, because Jesus has risen from the dead, we now know for certain that death, sin, and Satan have been conquered.  Jesus alone was powerful enough to conquer death, and thereby pay for all our sins.  Therefore, we are not to fear and worry about our future, if we truly believe.  But if we do not believe, we have everything to fear.  Finally, the resurrection teaches us the true significance of Easter – every Sunday Sabbath is Easter.  This means, therefore, that we are not to place man’s ordinance above God’s.  We are not to attend regularly man-made days and celebration feasts as if these were more important.  Thus, we are not to neglect meeting together, but avail ourselves as much as possible of these ordinary means which God uses to strengthen our faith.

Let us never forget, beloved in God, that we are sitting here today precisely because of the resurrection.  Let us make this fact known to those we know around us, so that they too, can sit with us in celebration of this most significant event.

AMEN