The Resurrection – 2018
MARK 16:1-8
ALTHOUGH THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST IS OFTEN CONSIDERED AS PART OF THE “PASSION,” THIS IS NOT ACCURATE. The Passion of Jesus Christ does not include the Resurrection. The Passion refers only to Christ’s suffering. The Resurrection is, obviously, not a suffering. It is the very opposite; it is an unparalleled expression of joy…
“REJOICE, ALL YE PEOPLE, your mighty anthems raise; The Savior victorious, is worthy of your praise. All glorious Lord, Thy triumphs we proclaim, Who from the grave has risen, O praise His name!” – Hymn
“ALLELUIA! ALLELUIA! Hearts to heaven and voices raise; Sing to God a hymn of gladness, Sing to God a hymn of praise. He who on the cross as Savior For the world’s salvation bled, Jesus Christ, the King of Glory, Now is risen from the dead.” – Hymn
PEOPLE HAVE ASKED THROUGHOUT THE AGES, “Did the Resurrection really happen?” “The body of Jesus was taken from the Cross and, in accordance with Jewish burial customs, was wrapped in a lined cloth. As much as 100 pounds of aromatic spices, mixed together to form a gummy substance, were applied to the wrappings of cloth about the body. Then the body was placed in a solid rock tomb. An extremely large stone weighing as much as 2 tons was rolled by means of levers against the entrance of the tomb. A Roman guard of strictly disciplined men was stationed to guard the tomb. If anyone tampered with the tomb or if somehow someone were allowed to take the body, the Roman soldiers would pay for it with their lives. A Roman seal, the stamp of Roman power and authority, was affixed on the tomb. Anyone trying to move the stone would have broken the seal and thus incurred the wrath of Roman law… But, in less than three days the tomb was empty.” (McDowell)…
THE EMPTY TOMB STANDS TODAY AS PROOF OF RESURRECTION… A.M. Ramsey wrote: “I believe in the Resurrection partly because a series of facts are unaccountable without it. The empty tomb was too notorious to be denied.” Paul Althaus states that the Resurrection could not have been maintained in Jerusalem for a single day, for a single hour, if the emptiness of the tomb had not been established as a fact for all concerned. Paul L. Maier concludes, “If all the evidence is weighed carefully and fairly, it is indeed justifiable, according to the canons of historical research, to conclude that the tomb in which Jesus was buried was actually empty on the morning of the first Easter. And no shred of evidence has yet been discovered in any literary source or any archaeological discovery that would disprove this statement.”…
THE RESURRECTION IS A FACT NO ONE IN 2,000 YEARS HAS BEEN able to disprove… And that includes the DaVinci Code and the Gospel of Judas…
THE CONSERVATIVE POLITICAL CRITIC GARY BAUER SAID… “Ultimately, it is not the birth of a man born into this world that we celebrate; rather, it is His death and resurrection as the living Son of God. If Christ had not risen from the grave and ascended into Heaven, He would have been forgotten as a common criminal whose birthday would have no significance. It is Easter, not Christmas, that makes us Christians!”…
WHILE THAT IS CERTAINLY TRUE, the Resurrection, I would suggest, is not separate from the birth and Passion of Christ. They go together; they are inseparable. The Resurrection is the other side of the coin with the Cross, and the Cross includes the life and ministry of Jesus. Without the Cross, there would have been no empty tomb. In order to have a Resurrection, you have to first have a Cross. Without first a death, there would be no Resurrection. And that is why I chose to title our Easter messages this year, including the Resurrection message this morning, “The Passion of Christ.” It all goes together and it is Jesus’ earthly ministry from beginning to end that is really the focus at Easter…
CHRISTIANITY BEGINS WHERE RELIGION ENDS… with the Resurrection… The Resurrection is the Key to everything! If Jesus Christ did not rise form the dead then the bible is not telling us the truth – BUT! He is risen!…
NAS 1 Corinthians 15:12-17 Now if Christ is preached, that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain. Moreover we are even found to be false witnesses of God, because we witnessed against God that He raised Christ, whom He did not raise, if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins.
THAT’S HOW MUCH THE RESURRECTION MEANS…EVERYTHING!…
IN PERHAPS THE KEY VERSE IN THE BOOK OF MARK, 10:45, WE READ…
NAS Mark 10:45 “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”
JESUS HAD INDEED “GIVEN HIS LIFE A RANSOM FOR MANY” by dying on the Cross… He had drunk the bitter cup of God’s wrath so that wrath would not be poured out on all who would come to Him by faith. And because of His obedience, because it was the predetermined will of God for Christ to die, God has now raised Him from the dead…
SOMETIMES THE BIBLE SAYS GOD RAISED JESUS FROM THE GRAVE, sometimes the Bible says Jesus raised Himself from the dead… That reality, to me, is another proof of the Trinity. If the Bible says God raised Jesus from the dead, and if God is the only One who can give life, and the Bible says Jesus raised Himself up, then if Jesus is not God, and if there are not multiple Persons of the Trinity, then you tell me who Jesus is and how we can get around this without acknowledging the necessity of the Trinity – you tell me…
JESUS SAID…
NAS John 10:17 “For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father.”
WHO ELSE BUT JESUS CHRIST COULD MAKE SUCH A STATEMENT and have the authority and the power to make His words come about?… No one, no one but Jesus, the God-Man…
“RESURRECTION” IS THE GREEK WORD αναστασις (a-na-sta-sis – Beautiful word, isn’t it?) to stand up. Resurrection, recovery. (1) A standing on the feet again or rising as opposed to falling. (2) Resurrection of the body from death, return to life…
“RESURRECTION” LITERALLY MEANS “to stand again.” A dead person does not stand. Unless it is otherwise supported, such as in the case of a mummy made upright by the casket, a dead body is horizontal, not vertical. When Jesus died, His body was laid down horizontally; He was not standing. When He rose again, He stood again…
RESURRECTION SUNDAY IS “THE THIRD DAY”…
NAS 1 Corinthians 15:3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,
LISTEN CAREFULLY TO THE BRIEF, EVEN BLUNT WORDS OF MARK as he tells about the Resurrection of Jesus Christ…
NAS Mark 16:1-8 And when the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, bought spices, that they might come and anoint Him. 2 And very early on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb when the sun had risen. 3 And they were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?” 4 And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled away, although it was extremely large. 5 And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting at the right, wearing a white robe; and they were amazed. 6 And he said to them, “Do not be amazed; you are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who has been crucified. He has risen; He is not here; behold, here is the place where they laid Him. 7 “But go, tell His disciples and Peter, ‘He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him, just as He said to you.'” 8 And they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had gripped them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.
EASTER IS NOT ONLY A PASSPORT TO ANOTHER WORLD, it is a quality of perception for this one…
NAS 1 Peter 1:20-21 For He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you who through Him are believers in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.
“FOR US”… He died on a Cross for us; He rose from the tomb for us; and He now wants to life His life through us…
NAS Romans 6:4 Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.
NAS Romans 8:11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who indwells you.
NAS 1 Corinthians 6:14 Now God has not only raised the Lord, but will also raise us up through His power.
WHEN WE DIE, GOD WILL RAISE US… WHILE WE LIVE He is calling us to live a resurrected life for Him by faith and good works. There is no greater promise; there is no greater hope…
“I SERVE A RISEN SAVIOR, HE’S IN THE WORLD TODAY; I know that He is living, whatever men may say; I see His hand of mercy, I hear His voice of cheer, And just the time I need Him He’s always near. He lives, He lives, Christ Jesus lives today! He walks with me and talks with me along life’s narrow way. He lives, He lives, salvation to impart! You ask me how I know He lives: He lives within my heart.”
“ALLELUIA! ALLELUIA! Now the iron bars are broken, Christ from death to life is born, Glorious life, and life immortal, On the Resurrection morn; Christ has triumphed, and we conquer By His mighty enterprise, We with Him to life eternal By His resurrection rise.”
BY HIS RESURRECTION WE RISE! Because He lives we can face tomorrow! You ask me how I know He lives; He lives within my heart! God is alive! Jesus is alive! We serve a risen Savior! And because of that, we have hope. Because of that no difficulty we face is too great, no darkness too deep. Because He lives, I can face anything!…
THAT’S WHAT THE RESURRECTION MEANS TO US TODAY – HOPE!
HE IS RISEN! HE IS RISEN INDEED!
– Professor Thomas A. Rohm
By God’s grace I was saved 38 years ago Easter Sunday, Thank You, Jesus!
