WWUTT 1007 The Significance of the Resurrection?

Mary at the Empty Tomb and the First Eyewitnesses

The women who first came to the empty tomb, and then later the disciples, saw that the tomb was empty, the body of Jesus was gone. They recognized facts, but didn't yet know the significance when we understand the text.

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Here once again is Pastor Gabe.

Thank you, Becky. We come back to our study of the Gospel of John, Chapter 20. And I'll pick up where I left off yesterday, starting in verse 11 through verse 18. The Apostle John wrote,. But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept, she stooped to look into the tomb, and she saw two angels in white sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet.

They said to her, Woman, why are you weeping? She said to them, They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him. Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus.

Jesus said to her, Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking? Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.

Jesus said to her, Mary. She turned and said to him in Aramaic, Rabboni, which means teacher. Jesus said to her, Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father, but go to my brothers and say to them, I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.

Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, I have seen the Lord, and that he had said these things to her. So where we left off yesterday, we had Mary Magdalene go to the tomb. Unable to find Jesus there, she went and told Peter and John.

Peter and John went to the tomb. They went inside. John got to the tomb first. Peter was the first one in. And then John followed after him. And seeing, he also believed that the body of Jesus wasn't there.

The linen cloths were left behind. The face cloth was even folded neatly in one spot. But as it says in verse nine, as yet, they did not understand the scripture that he must rise from the dead. So all the disciples understood at that point were facts.

But they didn't understand the significance of it. They knew that Jesus wasn't there. They could say the body isn't here. Somebody didn't even come in here and take him out, take him with his grave clothes.

They took the grave clothes off. And the face cloth, well, what is this? Folded up and laying neatly over here? So they recognized that the body of Jesus wasn't there. Just as Mary had said. They could verify that the tomb was empty.

And there were two men that saw this. Peter and John. There were now enough witnesses, according to Jewish law, to be able to verify a story as true. The women being the first to the tomb, of course, were the first to see it empty.

But their testimony was not admissible in court. But Peter and John come and they see the tomb empty. And now this is signifying, according to even the law that had been written over a thousand years before, 1 ,500 years before this, even according to God's own law, the disciples able to verify eyewitness accounts, the tomb was empty.

Then the disciples went back to their homes, it says in verse 10. But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. And as she wept, she stooped to look into the tomb. So remember what I mentioned yesterday about the tomb, that it was cut low into the rock.

Now, your typical tomb was just a hole barely big enough for people to fit through. You couldn't fit two guys into the hole at one time. It would have had to have been one at a time. So when burying a body, one guy gets into the hole.

He takes the body as it's being handed into him and pulls it into the tomb and then lays it in the spot. The other guy follows in. Now, in this particular case, Joseph of Arimathea was a very wealthy man.

So he had a little bit nicer tomb than most of the tombs that have been excavated around Jerusalem, around this particular area. There are only about a thousand tombs that have been excavated that look like something Joseph of Arimathea would have had.

And one of the distinguishing characteristics of a rich man's tomb versus a poor man's tomb is the rolling stone. There's a stone that's able to be rolled out of the way. It would stand about four and a half feet tall, maybe.

And so that's low enough, you know, covering that hole, which may have only been about four feet tall or three and a half feet tall. You know, that's only big enough for a person to really stoop down and climb in there.

But it wouldn't have been a life size door that a person just walks in and out of. And that's typically the way that we picture the tomb. That's the way it's painted. That's the way that you see it depicted in movies.

It's big enough for a man to walk in and out of. But you wouldn't have been able to stand upright. You would have had to have stooped to be able to look in. So Joseph of Arimathea, being a richer man, had one of those rolling stones that you could roll back and forth and open it a little more easily.

The tomb is still empty. Mary Magdalene is there. She goes to the entrance of the tomb. She, too, stoops down and looks in. Now, there are our benches that have been cut into the rock. All of this is is one solid cut into the rock.

So it's not like a big roomy space has been cut into the rock and then somebody brought benches in and put them down. It would have been benches cut right out of the rock wall. So the bench where the first body would have been laid, there was a bench that kind of preceded other places in the tomb.

And by the way, those bodies only would have been laid in there for probably about a year. And then the bones, after all the soft tissue would have decayed, the bones would have been laid in another sepulcher later.

So this was even a temporary burial place. And the place where the first body would have been laid, that first bench, is where Mary would have looked in to see that the body wasn't there. Only when Mary looks in this time, she sees two angels.

She saw two angels in white sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. And they said to her, Woman, why are you weeping? And she said to them, They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.

Mary was just as clueless about what was going on as the disciples were. They did not yet know the scriptures. So Peter and John recognized the tomb was empty, and they just recognized facts. Mary, same story.

She looks into the tomb. She sees that it's empty. Two guys now sitting in there. So she's asking them, Where is my Lord? Where is he gone? But she, too, did not understand the scriptures. So she's just recognizing facts here.

The body of Jesus is gone. Where has it gone? And they didn't even take him out with the burial clothes. Somebody took his burial clothes off of him and actually moved the body somewhere else. What is the meaning of this?

If somebody was going to come as a grave robber, they wouldn't have taken the burial clothes off of him. They would have taken him completely out, moved him to another place. And if they were trying to rob the body for whatever reason, then they would have taken the burial clothes off.

But it didn't make sense that they did that all right there in the tomb and even neatly folded the face cloth. So these things were not yet understood to the disciples or the women who had come to the tomb and seen these things, that this was all in accordance to and fulfillment of the scriptures.

The Resurrection Fulfilled the Scriptures and Proved Jesus Is Lord

In Psalm 16 verses 9 and 10,. Therefore my heart is glad and my whole being rejoices. My flesh also dwells secure, for you will not abandon my soul to Sheol or let your Holy One see corruption. That's prophetic concerning Christ.

And when Jesus opened the minds of his disciples to understand these things, Peter goes to Pentecost preaching exactly that Psalm, Psalm 16, showing how Jesus is the one who fulfilled the law and the prophets just as he said he would.

Acts chapter 2 verse 27, Peter says, quoting Psalm 16,. For you will not abandon my soul to Hades or let your Holy One see corruption. Verse 29, Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David, that he both died and was buried and his tomb is with us to this day.

Being therefore a prophet and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne. He foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades nor did his flesh see corruption.

This Jesus God raised up and of that we all are witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing.

For David did not ascend to the heavens, but he himself says, The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool. Let all of the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.

And what was the evidence that God had made him Lord in Christ? He raised him from the dead. And then ascended to heaven where he is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. This all in fulfillment of the scriptures.

Seeing Jesus risen from the dead is the affirmation that this is the Holy One of God, the Savior of the world by whom God would judge the world. At the Areopagus when Paul preached in Acts chapter 17, he said to the pagans there, starting in verse 30, the times of ignorance God overlooked.

But now he commands all people everywhere to repent because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed. And of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.

That's very similar to something that Peter said at Pentecost in Acts chapter 2. He said, know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified by raising him from the dead.

And the Apostle Paul says, of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead. We know that Jesus is Lord and King and the God who will judge all men because he is the one who has been raised from the dead, that he would be a firstfruits from the dead, as Paul said in Romans chapter 8, and then also to the Colossians, so that we recognize Jesus is not the first, or I'm sorry, Jesus is not the only one who is going to rise from the dead, but he is certainly the first, for he's the firstfruits or the firstborn from the dead.

So there are many others who are also going to rise from the grave with him, all who are in Christ Jesus. He is our victory over death, for he's the one who conquered it. In 1 Corinthians chapter 15, starting in verse 3, the Apostle said, for I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried and he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve, then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep.

Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. What is the significance of Jesus then appearing to all of these disciples? Because these eyewitness accounts verify that Jesus is the one who was raised from the dead, and not just that he was raised from the dead in like a spiritual sense, but bodily.

The tomb was empty. His body was raised from the dead. Folks, it is heresy to say that Jesus did not rise bodily from the dead. Your body is going to die. Therefore, a spiritual resurrection is really of no use to you.

To know that God himself has power over the grave, there must be a bodily resurrection, and that's Jesus Christ, who rose bodily from the grave, and all who believe in him will likewise rise from the grave on the day of judgment, on the day of Christ's return.

1 Corinthians 15, verse 12. Now, if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.

And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that 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, get this, this is very, very important. 1 Corinthians 15, 17. Underline it in your Bible. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.

Your sins are not forgiven if Christ has not been raised from the dead. Verses 18 and 19. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.

But then Paul will go on to say in verse 20, but in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. Once again, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. So Christ has been raised from the dead. Therefore, we know we have been forgiven our sins and we will have everlasting life with God.

But wait just a moment. In John chapter 19, when Jesus died on the cross, the last words he said were, it is finished. So if what Jesus said was it is finished, then what reason would there be for him to have to rise from the dead for the forgiveness of sins if forgiveness of sins was accomplished with his death on the cross?

Because it wasn't just enough that Jesus died. He also had to rise from the dead. Look, the resurrection from the dead is the gospel. We have the forgiveness of sins through Jesus Christ and resurrection from the dead because he himself rose from the dead.

There's no good news in this. If we just die, if we die and we go into the ground and that's it, then it's it's what Paul said to the Corinthians later on in first Corinthians 15. He says, eat, drink and be merry then because tomorrow we die.

There is no meaning or purpose to life if we just die. But we have a resurrection that has been promised us in Christ that the grave is not the final resting place, that the grave will not be victorious over us.

Everything that we opine of philosophically that we think about, that we theorize, that we search for meaning and purpose in this life. All of it comes down to how do we conquer death? How do we get over death?

Who is the one who has victory over the grave? And there's only one. And that's Jesus. There's all kinds of people who say that they have the answer to the death problem. Atheists will say, well, you just cease to exist so you don't have to worry about it.

Well, then there's no meaning or purpose in life. You got a guy like Ray Kurzweil, who's kind of one of those future technology prophets. Guy that likes to say, you know, here's where we're going in the future of technology.

Well, he says there's going to be a day we're going to achieve some kind of a conscious singularity. And then we'll just exist downloading our memories into some sort of computer base. And that's going to be our eternal life.

And he thinks we're like 40 years away from that or something. Well, that really stinks for all the other billions of people on the earth that have lived prior to this accomplishment. There is no hope in anything but Christ.

There is going to be no accomplishment of eternal life by man except by faith in Jesus Christ. The resurrection is the gospel. The resurrection is inseparable from the gospel of Christ. Paul says in first Corinthians 15.

This is the gospel that I preach to you by which you are being saved. When he said he rose again from the dead, according to the scriptures. The resurrection is our salvation. It's it's how we know there is a purpose to the suffering that we are going through.

And that's this suffering will end and that there is something greater on the other side. Romans 818 for I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

Ten verses later, verse 28. And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good. For those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

And those whom he predestined, he also called. Those whom he called, he also justified. And those whom he justified, he also glorified. This is the resurrection of Christ that we have been promised for all those who believe in him.

Mary didn't understand it. The disciples didn't understand it. But a day would come by the blessing of the Holy Spirit of God when their eyes would be open to understand all that had been prophesied concerning the resurrection before it even happened.

And then the apostles writing what they did about the significance of this. So we would know that we have hope in Christ. He has conquered death for us. Death, which is the wages of our sin. And we know that he has died to forgive us our sins because he has conquered that which was the result of our sins, which is death.

And it is through him that we have life everlasting. Jesus said to Mary, woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking, supposing him to be the gardener? She said to him, sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him and I will take him away.

And Jesus said to her, Mary. And calling her by her name, Mary knew she turned and said to him in Aramaic, Rabboni, which means teacher. And Jesus said to her, do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the father.

Now, this doesn't mean that Mary couldn't go over to him and and cling to his robe, which she may have done. Jesus was simply saying that. Don't hold on to me as though you think that I'm going to stay because I'm not.

Don't get too attached because I am going back to my father, for I have not yet ascended to the father. But go to my brothers and say to them, I am ascending to my father and to your father, to my God and to your God.

Likewise, this is not Jesus saying that he had not yet gone to the father, for indeed he had. When he died on the cross, his spirit went to be with the father before his body was raised from the grave.

And in saying to her, tell my disciples, I am ascending to my father and to your father. More specifically, he says, go to my brothers and say to them. All of this showing a an intimate personalness that Jesus has with his followers, my father and your father.

He's not just my father in heaven. But if you believe in me, he is your father in heaven. He is not just my God who has raised me from the dead. He is your God who will also raise you from the dead. Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, I have seen the Lord and that he had said these things to her.

And we will pick up there tomorrow.

Closing Exhortation and Ministry Sign-Off

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