WWUTT 2126 The Resurrection of Jesus Christ (Matthew 28:1-10)

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When Jesus rose from the dead, the testimony of his resurrection was given to a very unlikely group of witnesses, the women, who were the first to come to the tomb and see it empty, when we understand the text.

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This is when we understand the text, studying God's word to reach all the riches of full assurance in Christ.

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Thank you, Becky, and greetings everyone. This week, we bring our study of the

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Gospel of Matthew to a close. We are up to Matthew chapter 28, the final chapter in this

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Gospel, and a little bit shorter chapter, as a matter of fact, just 20 verses here, so I'm going to go ahead and read through the whole thing out of the

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Legacy Standard Bible, Matthew 28, verses 1 through 20. Hear the word of the Lord.

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Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other

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Mary came to look at the grave. And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the

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Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it. And his appearance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow.

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And the guards quaked from fear of him and became like dead men. And the angel answered and said to the women,

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Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who has been crucified.

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He is not here, for he has risen, just as he said, Come, see the place where he was lying, and go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead.

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And behold, he is going ahead of you into Galilee, there you will see him. Behold, I have told you.

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And they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy and ran to report it to his disciples.

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And behold, Jesus met them and said, Greetings, and they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him.

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Then Jesus said to them, Do not be afraid, go and report to my brothers to leave for Galilee, and there they will see me.

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Now while they were on their way, behold, some of the guard came into the city and reported to the chief priests all that had happened.

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And when they had assembled with the elders and took counsel together, they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers and said,

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You are to say, His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep. And if this is heard before the governor, we will win him over and keep you out of trouble.

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And they took the money and did as they had been instructed. And this story was widely spread among the

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Jews and is to this day. But the eleven disciples proceeded to Galilee, to the mountain which

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Jesus had designated. And when they saw him, they worshiped him, but some doubted.

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And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.

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Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the

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Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to keep all that I commanded you.

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And behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.

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And that is the conclusion of the Gospel of Matthew. I also preach from this chapter just yesterday.

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As a matter of fact, on Easter Sunday, we had been teaching through Matthew all week long from Matthew twenty one to twenty eight for Holy Week, as we were remembering some of those things that had happened in the life and ministry of Jesus leading up to his death on the cross and his resurrection from the grave.

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So just preached on this Sunday, and that was just yesterday, Easter Sunday.

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Providentially, all of these things have worked out just like this. So here we are the first week of April. We're jumping into the final chapter of Matthew.

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And then once we finish this, we'll start on the Gospel of Mark next week. But first of all, let's kind of do an overview of this particular chapter.

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You may have noticed that it very easily broke up into three parts, and those three parts are separated by the characters and their setting.

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So first of all, you had the tomb with the angel testifying to the women of Jesus' resurrection.

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And then the women got to see Jesus himself. Next the action shifts to Jesus' enemies, the

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Roman soldiers and the chief priests that had put Jesus to death. They have a conversation about Jesus' resurrection.

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So there's even a testimony of Jesus' enemies to his resurrection.

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That's here in this closing chapter. And then last of all, you have the testimony of Christ himself. The disciples go to the mountain in Galilee as they were instructed to do.

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They see Jesus himself and he commissions them, gives them an instruction as to what they are to do next.

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The great commission that we have in Matthew 28 verses 18 to 20. We'll talk about the great commission on Wednesday.

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Now, the great thing about this is that Matthew gives us application. He's not just writing a historical account of something and then we have to make sense of it.

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Okay, well, great to hear that Jesus rose from the dead. So what am I supposed to do about this? Matthew gives us an imperative.

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There is an exhortation at the close of this as to what disciples of Jesus should do in light of knowing that he has died for our sins and risen again from the dead.

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And that is the commission that we have at the close of the chapter. So great that Matthew gave us direct application to this.

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Of course, there is more application that comes in the epistles in the rest of the New Testament that talks more about what we as Christians are supposed to do and understand with regard to what our

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Lord Christ has done for us. He who was God in heaven, put on flesh to dwell among us, lived a perfect life, died the death that we were supposed to die, rose again from the dead, ascended into heaven, is seated at the right hand of God, is coming back again to judge the living and the dead.

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This is the declaration of the gospel. You know it. And if you believe it now, how are you to live according to it?

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And we have that commission at the end of Matthew that gives us that exhortation. So let's look today at just the first part of this resurrection account and that with regard to the angel, the testimony of the angel to the women who were at the tomb.

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So starting in verse one now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, there's no question that the resurrection happened on Sunday morning.

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No question about it. After the Sabbath, first day of the week. There are all kinds of debates that exist with regard to what day of the week

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Jesus was crucified. I stand solidly that it was Friday. But there are even some

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Orthodox teachers out there that would say it was on Thursday. And then the wackos, there's some wackos that say like Wednesday or Tuesday.

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You can get some pretty early estimations for when Jesus was actually crucified. But I think it's universally accepted that Jesus rose again from the dead on Sunday, or at least it's universally accepted that the

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Bible says Jesus rose on Sunday. So here after the

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Sabbath, the women come to the tomb. Only two women are mentioned here. It is Mary Magdalene and the other

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Mary, and we don't even know who the other Mary is. It could be Mary, the mother of Jesus, that Mary, of course, was mentioned at the close of Matthew 27.

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At least it's presumed to be the mother of Jesus. Those who are staunch advocates for the perpetual virginity of Mary will say that it was not

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Mary, the mother of Jesus, because it says that that this was Mary, who was the mother of James and Joseph.

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So that couldn't have been Mary, Jesus' mother, even though we know that Jesus' mother was there at the cross, according to what

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John tells us. But was she among these women that came to the tomb? That's up for debate.

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So the Mary, the other Mary is not specified, but we know there were three Marys that had accompanied

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Jesus at his crucifixion. There was Mary Magdalene. There was Mary, who was the mother of James and Joseph.

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There was Mary, who was Jesus' mother. And then there was also

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Mary, who was the wife of Clopas. I think I'm conflating two

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Marys in there. There were three Marys altogether. There was Mary Magdalene, Mary, the mother of Jesus. And then there was

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Mary, who was the wife of Clopas. And by the way, Mary, the wife of Clopas, was Mary, the mother of Jesus' sister.

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I know this is like, why couldn't they have named their two girls a different name? The parents named them both

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Mary. What were they thinking? Anyway, so there were three Marys. Matthew only mentions two.

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Luke in chapter 24, Luke 24 mentions that there were more women.

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So it was the three Marys, and it was also Salome, and there were other

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Marys. Or other Marys. Yeah, see, now I'm doing it. There were other women who were there with them as well.

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So this may have been quite a few women who had come to the tomb to anoint the body of Jesus.

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Now, it's not as if there's contradictions here. It's not like Matthew is saying, there were only two women there.

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So if anybody's telling you about a whole bunch of other women, then don't listen to them. That's not Matthew's approach to this at all.

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In the consistency of the story that he is telling, he is recalling a couple of those women that happened to be with Jesus at his crucifixion.

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They also came to the tomb to anoint him. Now, it doesn't say that that's why they were there.

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We know that from the other gospel accounts. All Matthew includes here is that Mary Magdalene and the other

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Mary came to look at the grave. Doesn't even say that they had any other business there other than just wanting to come look at the grave.

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But there was a great earthquake for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it.

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Now, that would have happened before the women got there. They most likely felt the earthquake, but they did not see the angel descend and sit upon the stone of the tomb or his dazzling appearance like lightning.

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He did have a dazzling appearance. He just didn't appear to them like, boom, lightning, and there he is.

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Nor did the guards. They did not witness Jesus come out of the tomb either.

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They definitely saw the angel, but they did not witness Jesus come out of the tomb. In fact, no one saw

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Jesus come out of the tomb. They witnessed the empty tomb, but no one actually physically saw him walk out.

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I always thought that was kind of fascinating. I don't really know why. I don't know that I've tried to form an opinion on that. But no one saw

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Jesus come out of the tomb. The witness to his resurrection was seeing him alive, and that's enough.

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But they didn't actually see him come out. So anyway, there's this great earthquake. An angel of the Lord descended from heaven, came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it.

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And his appearance was like lightning and his clothing as white as snow.

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That's a very Daniel -esque way of describing the appearance of this angel.

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Because when you go to the book of Daniel, the way that he describes the angel Gabriel, when

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Gabriel appears to him, very similar to what Matthew is recalling about this angel here. And the guards quaked from fear of him and became like dead men.

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And the angel answered and said to the women. So this whole thing about the angel descending, the guards quaking in fear, and then fainting at the sight of him, that all happened before the women got there.

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And unlikely that the guards were still there when the women arrived.

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So they come to the tomb, and the guards aren't there anymore. They have woken up now and have run away.

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They're probably not laying on the ground. There's nothing in the gospel accounts that says, you know, the ladies are stepping over bodies trying to...

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What's up with these guards? Why are they asleep? And they're trying to get over to the tomb. The angel appears to them and said to the women, do not be afraid for I know that you are looking for Jesus who has been crucified.

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He is not here for he has risen. Just as he said, come and see the place where he was lying.

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So that they could even step into the tomb. They could look at the place where the body was.

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The linen that would have been folded neatly as recalled in another gospel.

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They were invited to see. They were invited to investigate for themselves.

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The body of Jesus was laid here. And he is no longer there.

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Now, let me recall something for you from the end of chapter 27.

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When Joseph of Arimathea took the body of Jesus and laid it in his tomb.

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It says in Matthew 27, 61, and Mary Magdalene was there. And the other

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Mary sitting opposite the grave. These two Mary's, at least these two

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Mary's, maybe other women as well, but certainly these two were there when Jesus was buried. They saw the body wrapped, placed in the tomb and the stone rolled into its place.

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They watched that they saw it. They loved Jesus so much that they were with him to his death.

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And even after that witnessing what had happened to his body when he was taken off the cross and buried in a tomb.

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Matthew is very meticulous about that. The two women that sat there at the tomb and they watched him buried.

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Those same two women are who is mentioned at the start of chapter 28. That's why

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Matthew singles them out. Because those two Mary's for sure were right there at the tomb to see him buried.

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They were there on Sunday morning among the first that came to the tomb and saw the stone rolled away and no one was there.

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The angel was there testifying to the fact that he is risen. Not just the body's gone.

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It's certainly not that it was stolen, but he has risen. He got up out of this tomb and walked out.

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Come on in and look, look for yourselves. His body's not there. The women are not left to try to figure this thing out for themselves.

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Coming to the tomb and the stone is rolled away. And like, wait, what is going on here? What happened to his body?

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But an angel is there to testify to them that Jesus has risen.

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And the women were the most unlikely of witnesses of the first witnesses to the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

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If you'll remember that at the birth of Christ, who were the first witnesses that heard the testimony of the arrival of the savior in Bethlehem?

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The first witnesses to this testimony were shepherds. And who did they hear it from? Angels. So you had angels announcing to shepherds, most unlikely witnesses to the birth of Christ.

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Because these were men who were outcasts. It may have been entire families that were living out in the field, tending their sheep.

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Not just men, but also women. And here, these angels appear to them and tell them.

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Born to you this day in the city of David, a savior who is Christ the Lord. And this will be assigned to you.

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You will find the baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. And then there's a whole host of angels that appear with that one and say, glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace and goodwill toward men or peace on whom

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God's favor rests. And so then the shepherds went and saw the Christ child and they rejoiced and they went and told other people what had happened.

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These men would have been unwelcome in the temple because they were unclean.

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And yet this is who the angels appeared to first and announced to first that the savior of the world had been born.

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Now, here are these women that come to the tomb. A woman's testimony was not even admissible in court.

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She couldn't stand up in court and testify. It had to be the testimony of a man. And yet it's to the women first that the angel appears and says, he is not here for he is risen the

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Lord, including them in the message of the declaration of the gospel that would go out.

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The Christ who was crucified for our sins has been risen again. And then the angel said to them, go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead and behold, he is going ahead of you to Galilee.

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There you will see him. Behold, I have told you. Now we know from the other gospel accounts that the disciples, there were disciples that came to the tomb and found it empty and Jesus would appear to them in inner rooms and then he would vanish.

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He appeared to a couple of the disciples on the road to Emmaus, ate with them and then vanish. So we know some of those appearances indeed took place.

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But this is not the story that Matthew is telling the narrative that he is crafting here. It isn't necessary for him to recall some of those other instances.

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We do get those from the other gospels, which is great to read. But Matthew is he's just laying out here at the very conclusion, those immediate witnesses to the resurrection of Christ.

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The women who testified to his resurrection, even Jesus enemies that had seen him risen from the dead and they gave their testimonies.

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And then last of all the disciples, you have the mention of the 11 disciples in verse 16.

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We know from first Corinthians 15 that there were many, many more than that. There were 500 brothers at one time who saw him risen from the dead.

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Hundreds of people saw Jesus alive from the dead between his resurrection and his ascension into heaven, which was a period of 40 days.

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According to Acts chapter one, there were literally hundreds of witnesses to the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

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Matthew is just singling out a few here. And all of this stays in context with the story that he's been telling from the very beginning.

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And we'll come back to these other witnesses here in the next couple of days. The witnesses,

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Jesus enemies, what it is that they have to say with regard to the resurrection and then the testimony of the disciples, the testimony of Christ himself to his disciples, and then the exhortation of the great commission that we have at the close.

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But in the meantime, here is the first testimony that we have to the risen

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Christ. You have the angel that appears, testifies to the women, and then the women go and they tell the disciples he is not here.

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He is risen from the dead and not just figuratively risen, not spiritually risen.

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He physically rose from the dead. The same body that was put to death on the cross is the body that was laid in the tomb is the body that came out of the tomb.

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And so because Jesus has risen from the dead, we can know and be assured that we will also receive a resurrection like his.

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That's stated exactly in Romans chapter six. We also have from the apostle

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Paul in Philippians three, that he Christ will transform our lowly bodies to be like his glorious body by the power that enables him to subject all things to himself.

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We will receive resurrected bodies like his. And so we look forward to that day.

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This gives us hope to be reminded of Christ's death and resurrection for us and that all who believe in him will also, though we may be laid in tombs, will come out again and we will be raised to live forever with Christ in glory in perfected bodies.

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I'm looking forward to that because I don't know about you. This one can disappoint me from time to time, but we are holding fast to that hope that has been given to us in a risen savior.

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Let us pray. Heavenly father, we thank you so much for what we've read here. We thank you for giving your son to die for our sins and to rise again from the dead as he has risen from the dead.

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So we also will receive the resurrection from the dead. Jesus, after he died, his spirit went to be with you in paradise, as said in Luke's account into your hands,

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I commit my spirit. And he also said to the thief on the cross next to him today, you will be with me in paradise.

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So our spirits also, when we die, we will go be with the Lord, but we're holding fast to that promise that is given to us in the resurrection of Christ that just as his body was raised, so our bodies will be raised.

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And may this be a hope that we continue to cling to a promise that we have in Christ alone.

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My hope is found. It's in Jesus name we pray. Amen. Thank you for listening to when we understand the text with pastor

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Gabe Hughes. If you'd like to support this ministry, visit our website, www .wutt

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.com and click on the gift tab in the top right corner of the page. Join us again tomorrow as we continue our