Our scripture reading this morning is from the gospel according to Matthew. We begin to read Matthew 27, beginning at verse 50, and read through verse 10 of chapter 28. Matthew 27, beginning at verse 50. Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost, and behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom, and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent, and the graves were opened, and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, and came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city and appeared unto many. Now when the centurion and they that were with him watching Jesus saw the earthquake and those things that were done, they feared greatly saying, truly, this was the Son of God. And many women were there beholding afar off, which followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering unto him, among which was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of Zebedee's children. When the even was come, there came a rich man of Arimathea named Joseph, who also himself was Jesus' disciple. He went to Pilate and begged the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the body to be delivered. And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out of the rock. And he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre and departed. And there was Mary Magdalene and the other Mary sitting over against the sepulchre. Now the next day, that followed the day of the preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees came together unto Pilate saying, sir, we remember that this deceiver said while he was yet alive, after three days I will rise again. Command therefore that the sepulcher be made sure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night and steal him away and say unto the people, he is risen from the dead. So the last error shall be worse than the first. Pilate said unto them, ye have a watch. Go your way, make it as sure as ye can. So they went and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone and setting a watch. In the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre. And behold, there was a great earthquake, For the angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone from the door and sat upon it. His countenance was like lightning and his raiment white as snow. And for fear of him, the keepers did shake and became as dead men. Now the text for the sermon is verses five through eight. The angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye, for I know that ye seek Jesus which was crucified. He is not here, for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. and go quickly and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead. And behold, he goeth before you into Galilee, there shall ye see him, lo, I have told you. And they departed quickly from the sepulcher with fear and great joy, and did run to bring his disciples word. And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them saying, all hail. And they came and held him by the feet and worshiped him. Then said Jesus unto them, be not afraid, go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee and there shall they see me. So far we read God's holy word. Beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ, these were two long, long days for the women who had followed Jesus and for Jesus' disciples. Friday, the women watched from afar the crucifixion of Jesus, watching with unspeakable horror. They observed his death. They observed his burial. Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus coming and taking the body of Jesus and they wrapped it in linen cloth and laid it in Joseph's tomb and rolled a stone in front of it. A few of the women followed them and saw where the body was buried, and a few of them went and purchased some precious ointment, yet then on Friday afternoon, late afternoon, intending to come after the Sabbath to anoint Jesus' body. And then the wait. With the horror of the cross, the death of Jesus etched into their brain, they waited. Friday night. And the Sabbath, according to Jewish law, begins when the sun goes down on Friday night. All day, Saturday, their Sabbath. Then at night, The Sabbath is over, but it was too late for them to go to the sepulcher then. So it is finally Sunday morning, and they will go to the place where Jesus had been buried. Who went? Mary Magdalene, out of whom Jesus had cast seven devils. Joanna, the wife of Chusa, who also had been delivered from the bondage of a demon. Mary, the mother of James and Joseph. Salome, the wife of Zebedee and the mother of James and John, and at least one other who was not mentioned. They came to anoint the body of Jesus. They came as soon as they could. They left their homes when it was still dark, knowing full well that dead bodies begin to decay quickly. This would be their last act of service upon the Lord whom they so loved. They wondered as they went whether they would be able to roll back the stone that Joseph and Nicodemus had placed in front of the tomb. Apparently, they did not know about the guard that the rulers of the Jews had requested and Pilate had given permission to have a guard posted at the tomb. They knew nothing of that. They arrived at dawn to discover the stone already rolled away, and the tomb, therefore, opened. Mary Magdalene jumped to the conclusion that someone had stolen the body of Jesus, and she went running to the disciples to tell them this horrible news. But the other women went on to investigate. They would be privileged to hear the first resurrection gospel. He is not here. For He is risen. And that's what we take as the theme for the sermon this morning. Risen as He said. Notice in the first place the wonderful discovery. Secondly, the unmistakable evidence. And thirdly, the joyous return. The wonderful discovery is that Jesus was risen from the dead. It is noteworthy that none of the four Gospels speak of the resurrection proper. Matthew comes the closest to it in that he writes of the great earthquake that occurred probably at the moment of the resurrection. He writes of an angel of the Lord coming from heaven and sitting, rolling away the stone rather, rolling it away and then sitting upon it. And how the guards were affected by that. Matthew describes that. They became as dead men. And you can understand why. Shortly after the earthquake, which is terrifying in itself, then an angel comes and appears to them. And remember his appearance, his face like lightning and his clothes as white as snow. And they became so afraid they didn't dare move. They were as dead men. But finally they gathered their courage and their strength and ran away. There is a reason why none of the Gospels give an account of the event of the resurrection. The resurrection of Jesus was a miracle, a spiritual, heavenly event, because the body of Jesus was raised not to come back to this earth the way Lazarus was. Jesus' body was lying in the tomb, and it wasn't that Jesus sat up and then, like Lazarus, had to somehow get the grave clothes off from him, which were wrapped around his arms and his legs and his body. That's not what happened. That's not what the resurrection was like. If you had been there, you would not have seen anything of the sort. No, Jesus was raised through the miracle of the body changing from an earthly, material, physical body to a heavenly and spiritual body. It was raised into eternal life, into glory. So one could say that the resurrection was not an observable event. No one could have witnessed it. He would have seen nothing. And there was no witness to the event. The stone was rolled away, not to reveal the event as it happened, but the stone was rolled away so that they could see that it had happened, that the resurrection had occurred, and the body was no longer there. The stone was not rolled away in order to let Jesus come out of the tomb. He was already gone when the angel came to roll away the stone. That resurrection is what the angel revealed to the women. They came to the tomb to improve on what they recognized was a very hasty embalming of the body of Jesus. That's why they came with the ointment. When they came, they found the stone already rolled away from the mouth of the tomb. And according to Luke, they were much perplexed. Much perplexed. What is happening here? They must have asked themselves in their own mind. They immediately thought some evil work had been done here. That someone had done something to the body of Jesus Had they not done enough to him, they had already crucified him. Now they come back and they do more to his dead body. They must have thought to themselves, But then the angel appeared. Luke says there were two angels that the women saw. Now remember the appearance of these women, of these angels rather, with their face brilliant like lightning, with their clothes shining the way snow shines when the sun is on it. And the women were afraid. Luke says, so afraid that they got down on the ground, they put their faces down to the ground, so afraid they were when they saw the angels. One of the angels immediately said, fear not ye, fear not ye. I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. As if to say, the night watchman, They were terrified. They had a reason to be terrified. They were unbelievers. They had no love for Jesus. But ye need not be afraid. We do not come in judgment. We come, in fact, knowing that you are seeking Jesus and we come to explain. The angel continued, he is not here. Imagine how the minds of the women raced. He is not here. Where is he? We saw. We saw with our own eyes. Joseph, take him. We saw him bring the body to this tomb. We saw the stone rolled in front of the tomb. He is not here. How could he not be here? And the angel explained, for he is risen. And it was true. The tomb was empty. What does that mean? He is risen. This is the wonder. The first point of the sermon is the wonderful discovery. And I mean to include in that the word wonder, miracle. This is a discovery of a miracle. What exactly is a miracle? Well, there's three things that are included in a miracle. First of all, a miracle is a work of God which is so unusual that it draws attention to it. We are surrounded by the works of God. The fact that the trees are budding in the spring is a work of God. The fact that the earth continues to revolve around the sun is a work of God. The fact that the clouds come and bring rain is a work of God. Yet we do not think about that. We do not think about it being a work of God, and we will even say it is reigning, ignoring the fact that God is there. So God's works are all around us, but miracles are unusual ways in which God works that draw attention to it. Secondly, the miracle then reminds us that the power of God is there. And it's the power of God to save His people. So it's an unusual work that draws attention to it, and it reminds us of the sovereign power of God to save. And then third, the miracle has this character that it is indicating that power of God is the power to save his people from sin, from this earthly life, and from the curse, and to transform them, to bring them into eternity, into heavenly life. And not merely the people, but this whole creation will be lifted up. This whole creation will be transformed into a new and heavenly kingdom. The first miracle of Jesus was pointing to that, taking ordinary water and transforming it into wine, indicating something far better, that he would take this earthly creation and lift it up and transform it into a heavenly, the new heaven and earth will be one glorious creation. Every miracle, therefore, points to that power of God. So it's an unusual way that draws attention to an unusual work of God that draws attention. It reminds us of the power of God to save, and it's pointing to the fact that He's transforming by His power the earthly into the heavenly, and saving His people into that kingdom. Surely we see all of that. in the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. The presence and power of God was there. Here is a body lying dead in the grave, the place of corruption, very obviously under the power of the curse and death, and God is able to quicken the dead, and to take that mortal, fleshly body and transform it into a spiritual, glorified body, possessing a life which it did not have before, but a life that is now heavenly and spiritual. In the resurrection, we see what is the heart of all miracles, the physical, earthly body of Jesus in the grave, subject to death, but the power of God, that life-giving power that burst through the bars of death and the grave and gave spiritual life, transforming the body into something spiritual, a body that could live in heaven. We speak of Jesus being the wonder, the wonder, and he is that, of course. God and human flesh united. That surely is a way that God would lift up that human flesh of Jesus. through the resurrection. Jesus is the wonder. Notice that he is very much involved in this miracle. The angel says he is risen. Not he was raised, that's true too. Many times the Bible uses that language that God raised Jesus from the dead, reminding us it is the power of God alone that raises from the dead. But here the angel says he is risen, that is to say he arose. He's part of the work. Because he's very God, very God. And. He is the resurrection and the life, and it is fitting, therefore, that the wonder Jesus also be the one who is rising from the dead, not merely being raised so that he's passive and someone does something to him, but that he's involved in it. in this miracle rising from the dead. This is the wonder that the women discovered at the tomb. He is not here, for He is risen. He is risen. They do not understand it fully. It would take the spirit being poured out on the church. It would take Jesus explaining to them what this was and why this happened. It would take the rest of the scriptures. The whole New Testament had to be inspired yet for them to grasp what happened here. But they could see something of the wonder. This was not a normal resurrection. They had seen Lazarus after he was raised from the dead. Whether they were there or not, they had witnessed, they had talked to Lazarus. This was different. Jesus is risen. But obviously, when they first came and saw the open tomb, when they heard the words of the angel, it was a very difficult thing for them. A major part of it was the totally unexpected nature of it and the inexplicableness of it. How could you explain this logically and how did it all fit with the cross that they had seen and now risen? How does this fit together? It is, of course, true of all miracles. They are unexpected and even unexplainable, exactly because they're part of the hidden counsel of God, which is far higher than us, than our thoughts, than our way of thinking. Man could never plan out I don't care how brilliant you could have a group of people come together and plan out the course of history, plan out the course of salvation, the kingdom of God, the covenant of God. No one, no one. could ever plan that out. God works by unexpected power. You think of Israel at the Red Sea and Pharaoh is coming down and it looks as though they will all be killed or enslaved and God opens up the way through the Red Sea and saves them and destroys their enemy. Or Israel marching around the walls of Jericho day after day and the walls come down and they are able to defeat the enemy totally. God's ways are not our ways. And so the women coming to the grave, expecting to find the dead body of the Lord. Otherwise, why would they have been coming with this ointment? That's what they expected to find, a dead body. And yet the angel pointed out to them, you should have known, you should have. He has risen, as he said, so many times Jesus had told them that he would rise from the dead. He had said it to unbelievers, those who rejected him as the Messiah, as a sign to them, he said, This is the sign I will give you. Jonah. Jonah and the fish. Three days and three nights. So shall the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights. And again to the same unbelievers, destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it again, referring to the temple of his body, but to his own disciples. Six other times, Matthew, referred to the fact that Jesus instructed his disciples that he would rise again. After Peter's marvelous confession, thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. I'll just quickly run through this. You won't have time to look up all the passages, probably, but Matthew 16, 21, from that time forth, we read, Jesus began to show unto his disciples how they must go unto Jerusalem, suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, be killed and be raised again the third day. Matthew 16. Matthew 17, nine, after the transfiguration, they were coming down the mountain and Jesus said, tell the vision to no man until the Son of Man be risen again from the dead. Matthew 17, 22 and 23, they were in Galilee on one of the trips there, and Jesus began to instruct them about how he would betray, they shall kill him, and the third day he will rise again. Matthew 20, 17 and following, they were on their way to Jerusalem, the last week of his life, on their way there, and he expounded to them what would happen to him, even that he would be crucified and the third day he shall rise again on wednesday of that week he reminded them of that again that he would be betrayed and be crucified he said in two days in two days is the passover and i will be crucified, didn't say resurrection at that point, but he did the night of his betrayal, the night before he was crucified, Matthew 26, 32, but after I am risen again, I will go before you into Galilee. Five other times, other than those two when he had spoken to the crowd and told them The signs of his, which the unbelieving Pharisees remembered, and they went to Pilate and said, sirs, we remember that this deceiver said while he was yet alive, after three days I will rise again. They knew what he meant. The women should have known. Especially the disciples should have known, but these women should have known that Jesus would rise again. They didn't remember. And yet, it was not until the angel reminded them that Luke said, then they remembered his words. But the angel did not leave it at that. Just say, he is risen as he said. The angel gave them unmistakable evidence that Jesus was risen. Three things in particular. First of all, the empty tomb. Obviously, Jesus' body was gone. Perhaps the women saw this even before the angel spoke to them, before they saw the angel. We read that they were puzzled, and of course, Mary Magdalene ran to tell Peter and John, and she said, they have taken away the Lord out of the sepulcher, and we know not where they have laid him. The body was gone. But the angel definitely wanted them to see this. Look. Look at this. Come see the place where the Lord lay. And notice the tense of the verb. Lay is past tense. He's not there now, but that's where he lay. That's where it was. Come see this place. This is the first evidence of the resurrection. The body is gone. The empty tomb. But the angel gave them more. Secondly, the testimony of the angels themselves as messengers from God. Lightning is the way their face looked, their clothes shining. This was the glory of heaven. These were messengers from God who said, He is not here. For he is risen, as he said. This is the word of the angel to the wondering minds of the women. The Lord sent them there to roll away the stone and to show them the tomb, but then to explain why the body was gone. It is not stolen. Jesus did not get up and walk away. He is risen. He is risen. And he adds the command, go quickly, tell his disciples, tell them what? Tell them that he has risen from the dead and behold, he goeth before you and shall see you in Galilee. Now, imagine that for a moment. If you can think of someone that you love is dead. And someone comes and says, quick, quick, go, because the person who has died will meet you at such and such a place. What a horrible, cruel joke that would be. Unless it's true. And this is true. The word of the angel is absolutely true. He is risen. He will meet you in Galilee. This is their testimony. Notice the end of what he says here in the text. Verse seven. Lo, pay attention, I have told you. God sent me here. This is the word he wanted me to speak. Believe the messengers of God. He is risen. the empty tomb, the word of the angels, messengers from God saying, he is risen, and then the third evidence is the grave clothes themselves. They were left behind. Now, first of all, if someone were to come and steal the body Surely they would not take the time there in the tomb to unwrap the body. They would simply whisk it away and do whatever they wanted to later, but why would they unwrap the body and leave the grave clothes lying there? That first, but in addition, it seems clear that there was something unusual about those grave clothes. The fact that the angels bid the women come and see the place where the Lord lay. Not merely to see the empty tomb, see the place where the Lord lay. John records that when Peter and John came later, from Mary Magdalene's word, they came running and they went down into the tomb and they saw, both of them saw the grave clothes. And John records in his gospel, when he saw the grave clothes, he believed. He believed. The grave clothes themselves made him to believe that Jesus was risen from the dead. Why is that? Apparently, it is because the grave clothes were lying there in the form of Jesus' body, as they had been wrapped around His body, but they were empty. Nothing there. The body was gone. How can that be? You could not possibly unwrap a body and then put the clothes, the strips of cloth, back in such a way that it would look just like it had before the body was taken away. You could not. And yet, this is the way it was, because Jesus arose from the dead with a new spiritual body. did not have to be unwrapped. The body simply left that because it was not a material body such as we have. It was now a spiritual body. And walls and doors and grave clothes do not inhibit a heavenly body. They do not restrain it. He did not arise to walk on this earth in the body that he had, but he was given a body that was heavenly. Come see the place where the Lord lay. Look at the grave clothes. The fact that the tomb was empty, no body, the fact that the messengers from God gave them the word, he is not here for he is risen, and the grave clothes were the evidences he is risen. This was necessary evidence. The women had to see this. So that they would know indisputably that Jesus arose from the dead. God did not ask them to believe something like this without evidence. Imagine that the disciples are gathered together in their upper room. Some of the women are there and a voice from God. Jesus is risen. And now they just have to believe it. What does that mean? Where is Jesus? Even if they said, he's now in heaven. All right. Well, they, they believe that they knew he was in heaven in his soul. But even if they would say, well, his body is in heaven. Well, all right. Maybe it's like Enoch. Maybe it's like Elijah. But what would they believe? What would they hold on to? They needed this evidence. God does not work that way. He commands people to believe what is obvious, what is plainly true. We see the evidence of God's creating power all around us. The evidence is unmistakable for those who have faith. But he also gave them clear, unmistakable evidence of the wonder of Jesus' resurrection, that transformation of the body that could simply leave the grave clothes behind. The women needed to see that, but so do we. We need to have this evidence, not that we have to see it with our eyes, but the evidence is for us. We and the children of all ages have to know that the resurrection of Jesus Christ is real. It is so crucial. It is the very foundation of our salvation. It's proof of our justification. It is the ground of our hope of eternal life. We must be absolutely convinced that Jesus is risen from the dead, and therefore God helps our faith and gives us this evidence. The fourth evidence would be, of course, right after the text, Jesus begins to appear to them and to speak with them. And they know he is alive, his body is risen. Their response is they returned with fear and great joy. That's how they left the tomb of Jesus. Yes, yes, with fear. And yet not the same kind of fear that had smitten their hearts when they saw the angel. And that was a fear of terror, of confusion, of suddenly beholding this angel from heaven with the glory of God shining from him. That's the fear all sinners have when God suddenly manifests his glory to them or when God would send an angel from heaven with the glory of God there. The angels always had to say to God's people, fear not. But this is a different kind of fear. This is the fear of reverence and of love. It's the fear that has seen something of the power and the majesty of God. God revealed himself in his power there in the tomb of Jesus, that he is in fact God of all. Heaven and earth are in His hand and He has all power and glory. And they had seen that, not in kind of a general abstract way, but in this very event of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. This is His power, God's power and glory. They feared in the face of such power, amazing power. But it's also the fear of love, because that power of God was displayed, was executed for their benefit. Out of love for them, God raised Jesus from the dead. It provoked a fear, therefore, that is governed by love. Those who had been first loved by God now loved him. And the fear that they had in their heart was that kind of a fear that stands in awe of God and that simply wants to please him because they love him. Yes, there was fear, the fear of reverence, the fear of love, but also great joy. There was a natural joy. Their beloved Jesus was not dead. Think about that. When someone that we love dies, there's a hole there. There's something missing there. There's something very difficult. To have that person back, to be able to speak with that person, That's what our heart desires. Well, Jesus was risen. He is not dead. Jesus who had taught them. who had led them, who had delivered some of them personally out of afflictions or even demon possession. They had seen His crucifixion standing afar off, the horrible agony in their own soul, watching the one whom they loved suffer. And now to hear He is risen, great joy, a joy in Him. their Lord, because they had beheld something of the power and the wisdom of God in his resurrection. They couldn't understand all the implications, surely not yet at this point, but this they knew, their certain belief that Jesus was the Messiah was confirmed. He had not gone through this life only to be miserably treated by men and put to death and lay then in the grave defeated. He is the Messiah, risen with power and glory. That they knew. They didn't understand the cross yet. They didn't understand yet why he had to die. But they knew beyond any shadow of a doubt, this Jesus is the promised Messiah. That they knew. And so they were filled with great joy and ran without delay to tell the disciples the good news. He is risen. Is that our joy? We have a lot of joy on Christmas, the birth of Jesus, but this is far more cause for joy. As I said, early Christians for years would come to church every Sunday morning with the cry, he is risen, so important. Such a joyful event this is. We do not leave as the guards fled in terror and unbelief. We leave as the women with fear and great joy. In awe of this God is power and wisdom, but really more even than the awe of these women because we have much more. You know, I'm sure you're like me would say, I sure wish I could have been there. I sure wish I could have seen it. Seen the empty tomb, seen the stone rolled away, seen the clothes lying there. Wouldn't it be wonderful to have seen that? And yet, we have far more than that. We have the Scriptures, which tell us the why of the cross and the why of the resurrection and the relationship between the cross and the resurrection, redemption, victory. We have preaching that expounds the wonder of the resurrection. In fact, the risen Lord speaks to us through preaching and expounds what He has done. We can behold with much more understanding and clarity before the power and wisdom of God and bow in worship and in awe. So this morning we depart from the sepulcher with great joy. He is risen. Without that we are lost. Without that, we are of all men most miserable. Paul writes to the Corinthians, if Jesus did not rise from the dead, we are of all men most miserable because we know our sin. We know what it deserves. And without the resurrection, we have no hope. But because of the resurrection. We have hope. This is the seal of God's approval. This is God's way of saying, Jesus accomplished it all. There is no sin left to his people. He has redeemed you. He has destroyed the power of sin and death. He has entered into glory as our head. It's the proof that you will be raised from the dead. Your bodies will not lie as we sang and will sing in the grave. Because as Christ arose as the firstfruits, even so all those who are Christ's, His beloved people, will be raised into a new and glorious heavenly body made like unto His most glorious body. That's our hope. He is risen, as He said. Amen. Let us pray. Father in heaven, we thank Thee for Thy abundant goodness in the salvation of our Lord Jesus Christ. And this morning we reflect on the glorious resurrection the beginning of His exaltation, the victory over sin and death clearly indicated, and the way into eternal life paved by His resurrection. So, Lord, we thank Thee for Him and for this work and pray that Thou will cause us to live out of this glorious life. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. We sang Psalm 16 in Psalter number 29. Now we go to Psalter number 31, which is a versification of Psalm 17, and that ends in verse seven, stanza seven of Psalter number 31. When I in righteousness at last thy glorious face shall see, when all the weary night is past, and I awake with thee to view the glories that abide, then then I shall be satisfied. That's our hope. because of the resurrection of Jesus. We sing stanzas 1, 3, 4, and 7. 1, 3, 4, and 7, number 31. Thee, I, I, I, I pray, promise this. the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air, gave proof through the night that our flag was still there. the mighty aim, and be thy loving kindness To thee, to thee I cry. To thou, my rest and refuge be, O let thy grace be. When all the weary night is past, When I'm awake with Thee, Then I shall be satisfied. Thou my Savior, ♪ And deeds in glory that excel ♪ ♪ And blessed be his glorious name ♪ ♪ Long as the ages shall endure ♪ ♪ For all the earth extend his praise ♪ ♪ Amen, amen, forevermore ♪ The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.