Word of Salvation – Vol.33 No.14 – April 1988
Christ Has Risen
Sermon by Rev. W. Wiersma on Luke 24:5-8
Readings: Luke 24:1-16; 1Cor. 15:1-11
Singing: 356; 357; BoW.H.402; 209; 360
Christ has Risen!
Dear Brothers and Sisters, young and older,
Easter is about the resurrection of Jesus. The same Jesus who on Good Friday was crucified, who was dead and buried, rose up from death on Easter Sunday. That is what Christians all over the world are celebrating today. We celebrate that Jesus is alive; He came out of the grave; He is no longer dead!
Now as I was reading the gospels on Jesus’ resurrection, I found that when his followers first heard that Jesus was alive, they did not immediately jump for joy. And I asked myself: Why? Why were Jesus’ disciples not ready to welcome Him back to life? I think there is one word which describes the events of Easter and explains the behaviour of the disciples. That word is ‘different’. The resurrection of Jesus from the dead is an event so different from everyday experience that everyone who first hears about it finds it hard to believe. The resurrection of Jesus was so different that it caught the disciples completely by surprise. It was contrary to everything they had expected.
When the women came from the tomb, early in the morning, they were surprised not only that the stone was rolled away from the entrance of the tomb, but more particularly that the body of Jesus was gone. And when, after hearing from the angels that Jesus had risen from the dead, they told the other disciples, the menfolk thought they were talking nonsense. And when, later on, those same disciples started preaching the resurrection of Jesus, many of their hearers turned away – because the resurrection of Jesus from the dead is so different, so unique, that people naturally find it hard to believe.
Our natural experience tells us that dead men don’t just get up out of their graves. And that is true. Generally, dead people stay in their graves, no matter how much some may wish them to come to life again. So it is not surprising that ever since Jesus rose from the dead, people have asked: Can this be really true? Well, that is precisely the question which the early Christians answered with a positive and resounding, YES.
Those who had been surprised and sceptical were convinced by the FACTS. Those who were asking all sorts of questions were given clear and inescapable answers. The Lord Jesus Himself made sure of that. First, we read, that two of his perfect servants were placed at the tomb to meet any disciples that might come there to look for Jesus. The angels were to tell them what had happened. And how gently the angels handled the bewildered women, who had come to pay their last respects. How well Jesus knows our needs and our difficulties. How well He knows how to treat us to bring us to faith. The angel started with a question, ‘Why do you look for the living among the dead?’ There is a mild rebuke here, but there is above all a hint at the glorious truth that Jesus is alive. The angel calls him the living – the living one. Had Jesus not used similar a term to describe himself? When He raised Lazarus from the dead, had He not called Himself the Resurrection and the Life? The angel suggests that one should not look for the living among the dead. Then he explains: He is not here, He has RISEN! He is not in the grave because He is not dead anymore. Jesus has risen from the dead. He is ALIVE. This is the glorious fact announced by the messenger of God. Jesus has got up from death. He is alive and active again.
The angel tied his message to something the women already knew. He said: Remember! Remember how Jesus told you? While He was still with you in Galilee. You heard it with your own ears, from His own mouth! “The Son of Man must be delivered up… and on the third day be raised again.” Remember! Yes, then they remembered His words.
Why only then? Why only after the resurrection? Because it was so different that when they first heard it, they did not hear it. It simply did not sink in. (God’s actions are so great that often we just don’t see them for looking. His Word is so marvellous, we just can’t grasp it. Until He opens our eyes or our ears). But now, in front of that empty tomb, or even in it, with the bright angels standing beside them, they remember the words of the Son of Man. How different from what they had expected and understood.
The Son of Man had been delivered up into the hands of sinful men. He had been tried, condemned and crucified. They had not expected that. But it had happened, and it had devastated them. And now, Jesus raised; that’s happened too?
Who is this Son of Man? So different that even His followers find it hard to understand and believe Him. He is the Living One. And the Living One is the same as He who calls himself, I AM. I am who I am. The One who is alive forevermore.
The apostle Paul, in his letter to the Romans, gives us the key to the whole riddle of the difference of Easter. In Romans 1:4 we read that, through the Spirit of holiness, Jesus was declared with power to be the Son of God by the resurrection from the dead. Jesus is the Son of God. Jesus is that different. Jesus is God Himself, who has the power to lay down His life and to take it up again. The disciples understood that fully only on Pentecost when the Spirit was poured out on them. Then they realised the greatness of the One they had seen in the flesh after his resurrection. By the Spirit they saw: Jesus is God, Jesus is Lord.
No wonder that people want to reject the resurrection of Jesus. It is not simply a question of the resurrection being something so different that it is almost unbelievable. It is also a matter of not wishing to be confronted by God. For if Jesus is God (as proved by His resurrection) then we had better take note of Him. Then we had better follow Him in adoration and obedience. Jesus is rejected, not just on the basis of what is possible or not possible. (For how do we know what is possible or not? Many of us remember the days when it was said that man would never walk in space, let alone on the moon). We do not know what is possible. We should be open for new experiences.
No, Jesus is rejected because men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil. In other words, they live ungodly lives and they don’t want to change. They want to keep God at a distance even if they have to do that by denying what deep down in their heart they know to be true.
The Christian faith is not just a matter of ideas or notions or mental crutches. The Christian faith rests on FACTS; FACTS which are there whether you believe them or not. The facts of the person and life of Jesus of Nazareth. A man seen and heard and reported by real historical men and women. We have the reports, we have the records. Also of that strange event of Jesus, who died on the cross, coming out of his grave and meeting with His disciples. In one case 500 were present. When Paul wrote His letter to the Corinthians, some of whom had difficulty believing the facts, he told them that they could check with the people Paul was referring to. Many of them were still alive. Christ has risen. It is the fact above all others which proves not only the identity of Jesus, it also proves the reliability of His words. In fact it proves the reality of God’s Word. For if Jesus had not risen from the dead we could not be sure that God is able to keep His word. How could we be sure that God is able to bless us if Jesus, who deserves all God’s blessings, only died? If there is no hope of resurrection how shall men and women who live in sorrow, fear and pain, be comforted? How could the martyrs go to their death with a song of praise? The proof that God can be trusted, that you can rely on His promises, is found in the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. And it is the living Jesus who shares the spoils of His victory over satan, sin and death, with His people. It is the risen Christ who poured out His Spirit upon the church.
It is by that Spirit that we are brought into fellowship with Christ, through faith. And it is by that same Spirit that Christ lives in our hearts and brings out the fruits of the Spirit. The risen Christ renews us, makes us more like Him. Only the living Christ can do that. For what inspiration would there be for us in a man who could not keep his promises? What strength could a dead man impart to us? Christ is Risen! It is the message of angels, the witness of those who saw and touched him and the conviction of those who have been saved and changed by Him. Jesus lives.
May you too be sure of that fact, so that you may share His life and live in hope of the day that you will be raised from the dead and see Him as He is. For on that day, when He returns to this earth in glory, everyone will recognise and admit, Jesus is Lord. Jesus is all He said He was. Jesus is all that Christians believed Him to be. Jesus lives. Do you believe that? Your life depends on it!
AMEN.