The Glory of The Resurrection Matthew 28:1-20

Matthew’s Resurrection Narrative and the Big Idea of the Sermon

Matthew. When we started the sermon series, many of you had not yet started coming to this church. We started our journey through Matthew on October 20th, 2019. Now our journey through Matthew was not quite continuous over the past three and a half years.

When COVID hit in March 2020, I decided to step away from Matthew for a brief period. I first preached a sermon on how to process COVID -19. Remember COVID -19 hit this area in March of 2020. And because of the apocalyptic feel of the time, we did a 12-week journey through the chronological order concerning what God says about how the world will end.

We finished that mini sermon series mid-summer 2020 and then jumped back into Matthew. We have gone straight through Matthew to this day where we reached the final chapter, chapter 28. When we started our journey, my son Isaiah was only seven months old and now he's in children's church.

Think about that. And I think I have less hair today than when I started. The timing of landing on chapter 28 is not by accident. Last week we looked at the crucifixion of Christ in the second half of Matthew 27.

And today on Resurrection Sunday, we land on Matthew's narrative concerning the resurrection of Christ. The story of the events of that day with its details show up in four places. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

Each of these accounts gives a different perspective. Some give us more information and some give us less. But each gives us a slice of this most extraordinary day. So at this time, I encourage you to turn in a Bible with me to Matthew 28.

In this chapter, we will see the account of one of Jesus' disciples, Matthew. And if you do not have a Bible, we do have those red Bibles in the pews. This sermon is titled The Glory of the Resurrection.

And here's our big idea. Every sermon, we have a big idea. And every big idea is calling everyone in this room to do something. Every message is calling you to do something. This morning, the big idea is to carefully observe Matthew's account of one of history's pinnacle events.

Carefully observe Matthew's account of one of history's pinnacle events. And we're going to see three acts how. And the first act how is this. And you have outlines in your bulletins that you can look at.

The first act how is through seeing that Jesus appears first to several women. And we're going to see this in verses 1 through 10. Two days ago on Good Friday, down at First Baptist of Taylor's Falls, we looked at and remembered the death of Jesus.

Some of you were there. The death of Jesus would not have significance, of course, without a resurrection. We do not worship a dead Savior. If Jesus had stayed dead, it would have shown that he was an imposter, since he told his disciples several times that the Jews and the Romans were going to put him to death.

And then three days later, he would rise. But Jesus did rise from the dead. And we gather today to remember this enormous event in history. This event changed the world forever. The resurrection of Jesus is the reason there is hope in the world.

And it's the only reason. Whether people understand this or not, this is true. In this sin infested and world of suffering, he is the only hope. Altar Christians believe in a risen Savior. That even though we die physically, we live forever with Christ.

We live now and then when you die, you go to be with him forever. This is the hope that we have in Christ. So let's now take a close look at Matthew 28. I'm going to take it verse by verse. And my prayer is that this account of Christ's resurrection comes alive to you.

Imagine yourself being there. It might have been a day just like this, in the 50s, sunny, people not expecting anything extraordinary to happen when the most extraordinary happened. So as you look at this, put yourselves in their shoes and imagine what this must have been like.

The Women at the Tomb and the Angel’s Announcement

Verse one. Now, after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. Okay, we'll stop right there. After Jesus' body was taken down from the tomb on Friday, two men took his body to the tomb.

These two men were Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus. These were two higher up Jewish leaders. What's interesting is that Joseph of Arimathea going to the tomb and putting the body of Jesus in his tomb is a fulfillment of prophecy.

Isaiah 53 .9 says, they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death. After Jesus' death, as we read one week ago, Joseph of Arimathea asked the Roman governor Pilate, the one who sentenced Jesus to death, if he could take his body and bury it.

And this was an act of courage. He was among the people who delivered Jesus up to be crucified. And what Mark says in Mark 15, Mark says that Joseph of Arimathea took courage as he asked Pilate for the body of Jesus, which shows that Joseph of Arimathea was a believer.

And it wasn't just Joseph of Arimathea that took the body there. It was Nicodemus who was also in that number. And of course, Nicodemus, we know from John chapter three, where Nicodemus asks him, how can you be born again?

And then Jesus explains that it is only through him that one may be born again. Now, as we just read in verse one, these women go to the tomb with the purpose of anointing Jesus with oils. This is what they would have done in ancient times when someone died.

They would anoint the corpse with oils. They couldn't go the day before because it was the Sabbath. The Jewish Sabbath was on Saturday and the first day of the week was Sunday. So these women going to the tomb is taking place early Sunday morning.

What we must understand is that these women go to the tomb not expecting to see anything. They are doing this to honor their friend. And then the incredible happens in verse two. And behold, there was a great earthquake for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it.

This earthquake and the angel from heaven moving the stone happened before the women arrived at the tomb. We know this because the accounts in Mark, Luke and John say that these women found the stone rolled away and the tomb empty.

This stone that was over the tomb was tightly secured. The Roman soldiers did this to make it so that it would be impossible for anyone to steal the body and lie saying he has been raised from the dead.

The chief priests and Pharisees, the very ones who delivered Jesus up to be crucified, were concerned that Jesus' disciples would take the body away and say that he had risen from the dead. We saw this one week ago in Matthew 27 verses 63 and 64, which says, Sir, we remember how that imposter said while he was still alive, after three days, I will rise.

Therefore, order the tomb to be made secure until the third day, lest his disciples go and steal him away and tell the people he has risen from the dead. And the last fraud will be worse than the first.

Then Pilate told the Jewish leaders to use their own guards to secure it. So this is what they did. Their own guards would have been the Roman soldiers who were stationed at the temple in Jerusalem. No mere man would have been able to overtake the guards and unseal this tightly secured tomb.

It's not going to happen. It would take a miracle for the stone to be rolled away. And this is precisely what happened. As we just read in verse two, an angel from heaven rolled it away. Verse three describes the description of the angel.

His appearance was like lightning and his clothing white as snow. What's interesting is that Josh McDowell wrote a book, Who Moved the Stone? You know, he's showing no mere men could move this stone away.

And what we read in verse three is it was an angel. This bright light comes and this angel moves the stone, this massive stone away from the entrance of the tomb. The brightest experience that we go through in this life is seeing the sun.

And we are told never to look at the sun because if you do, it'll blind you. A few years back, remember that solar eclipse we had? And they told you to get these special glasses and Brianne and I didn't listen.

And we kind of glanced up at the sun. And I'm not kidding, for a couple days our eyes felt funny. It was the brightest thing we'd ever seen. The light that came from this angel at the tomb was like the brightness of the sun.

I already mentioned the guards who secured the tomb. They were there guarding the tomb when this happened. And we see the reaction in verse four. And for fear of him, the angel that is, the guards trembled and became like dead men.

Throughout scripture, the first words that angels utter when they make an appearance to a human, what is it? Do not be afraid. They say this because they are so powerful compared to humans. The guards were terrified at seeing this angel.

All of this happened before the women arrived at the tomb. So the women go to the tomb and notice that the tomb is empty. There's no stone rolled over the entrance. The guards are gone. What an odd sight this would have been.

They did not witness this earthquake that happened. As the women see that the tomb is empty, they see something they have never seen before. They see an angel. Verse five, but the angel said to the women, do not be afraid for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified.

The gospels of Luke and John say that there were actually two angels present. The gospel of Luke also says there were several women who were with the two Marys. This is why it's helpful to read multiple gospels.

Each one sheds light to give a fuller picture of what happened. John tells us that Mary Magdalene stayed at the tomb where she saw two angels and then Jesus. She was the first one to see Jesus. As the women are en route to leaving the tomb, they see the angels and these angels say to the women, the words do not be afraid.

These angels know that they came to anoint Jesus' body. Then they deliver the incredible news in verse six. Verse six says, he is not here for he has risen. As he said, come see the place where he lay.

The angels explained to them why he is not present, why the tomb is empty. That reason is that he is alive. No one took the body. The reason he is not in the tomb is that he has risen just as he said he would.

This is very important to note. He says things are going to happen and then they happen. He says he's going to be crucified. He's crucified. He says, who is going to crucify him? The Jews are going to deliver him up to the Romans and the Romans are going to hang him on the cross.

And then he says, I'm going to rise on the third day. And then he says the temple in Jerusalem is going to be destroyed in 70 AD. And then he says he is going to return in the future. Everything he says comes to pass precisely how he says it is going to come to pass.

It's worth noting that. Jesus in our journey through Matthew has told his disciples five times that he would rise from the dead. These women hear the incredible news that this really happened. The angels then give them the task to tell the disciples that Jesus had risen from the dead.

Verse seven. They say, then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead and behold, he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him. See, I have told you. The angel tells the women to tell the disciples that they will see Jesus in Galilee.

The region of Galilee was the location where Jesus and the disciples were from. It's interesting. Jesus spent most of his time in the backwoods in the region of Israel. Galilee was about 60 miles north of Jerusalem and Jerusalem was the place where all the hustle and bustle happened.

But Jesus spent most of his time out in the sticks, as we say. And what these angels are telling these women is that he is going to meet the disciples in this place at Galilee at a time in the near future.

At this time there would have been 11 disciples because of course Judas had betrayed Jesus and at this point Judas had already taken his own life. And what we're going to see in a bit is that there were more than just the 11 disciples at Galilee to see Jesus.

And it was the responsibility of these women not only to tell the 11 disciples that they had seen the Lord and that they were to go to Galilee on this day, but they were to tell all of these disciples, all of these followers of Jesus, to go to this location.

Now the women, as they hear this command to inform the disciples of the resurrection, they obey the command as verse 8 says. So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy and ran to tell his disciples.

The passage that Keith read, it says that they were trembling and they told no one. But Matthew tells us something different. It says that they went to tell the disciples. It sounds like a contradiction, but it's not a contradiction.

What is being communicated is that at first they told no one, but then they overcame their fear and then they go and tell the disciples that Jesus is not in the tomb. He has risen. So they go to tell the disciples that he has risen.

They just saw an angel sent from heaven and they were told that Jesus, their dear friend, who had just died a brutal death on the cross, is now alive. And as they are running to tell the disciples, they are filled with fear and great joy, as verse 8 tells us.

You ever have those moments in life where you're so excited, something amazing happens, and you're just shaking? This is their experience right now, and it's a hundredfold than anything we've ever experienced.

Could you imagine going through what they are going through right now? They are shaking, realizing they just saw this heavenly being, and not just one heavenly being, but two heavenly beings, and they are filled with great joy knowing that the one they loved so much and the one they followed now has risen from the dead.

Good Friday to this morning probably felt like about two years. This man they followed, this man who did all these wonderful deeds, this man they admired more than anyone, was brutally crucified. He was humiliated.

And two days pass, less than two days pass, and it feels like forever. But then they hear the news. The reality of how wonderful this is hits them. They know that the words Jesus spoke to them while he was alive were true.

This promise of receiving eternal life by believing him is true. It's all real. The hope they had is true. As these women are en route to tell the disciples that Jesus has risen from the dead, they are met by the man himself in verse nine.

And behold, Jesus met them and said, Greetings. And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him. The joy that they had as they saw Jesus overflowed. They just saw two angels and now they see Jesus alive.

The last time they saw him, he wasn't just dead. He was as dead as dead could be. Remember before he went to the cross, he was scourged. And then he hung on the cross for six hours and he died the most horrific death ever.

He lost almost all his blood. He was so marred that you couldn't even recognize him. And now they see him. Think of loved ones that you've lost. Could you imagine seeing them again? And if they're believers, you will see them again.

But could you imagine that? These women are not only with their Lord and Savior, they are with their dear friend. He's not dead. He is alive and they are overjoyed. Note here too that they did not see a ghost.

They saw Jesus with a body. It says they took hold of his feet. Spirits don't have feet. He was bodily raised from the dead. So when we talk about the resurrection of Christ, we're not talking about a spiritual resurrection.

There's pulpits in America right now that are saying, Jesus spiritually raised from the dead. And these are people who deny this book. If you don't believe in the bodily resurrection of Christ, you're not a Christian.

The bodily resurrection of Christ must be true for Christianity to be true. You'll notice also that they are bowing down to him. They are worshiping him. And you only bow down in worship one, God. These women knew that he was so much more than a man.

He is God. Throughout his ministry, Jesus claimed to be God's son. In fact, that's why the Jewish leaders delivered him up to be crucified. And they give him the worship that he is due. And Jesus receives it because he is God.

Before these women met Jesus, apparently they were afraid to tell the disciples, as I mentioned, because they knew the hostility of the Jews who had just put Jesus to death. To embolden them, this is what Jesus says in verse 10.

Then Jesus said to them, do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee. And there they will see me. Earlier the angels told these women to tell the disciples that Jesus had risen. Jesus expands it even more as to who should go to Galilee.

He tells them to tell his brothers. Throughout Jesus' ministry, he had many people who followed him. The word was to spread that Jesus was going to Galilee. Jesus had multiple appearances after his resurrection, but this one appearance that is being described here in Matthew is this grand appearance where he's going to appear to several hundred at one time.

In fact, the apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 15 .6 explains that Jesus appeared to more than 500 brothers at one time. Jesus made many appearances, but this is the one that Matthew focuses on. So carefully observe Matthew's account of one of history's pinnacle events.

The Cover-Up by the Chief Priests and the Soldiers’ Lie

And the first act how is through seeing that Jesus first appears to several women. The second act how, you are to carefully observe Matthew's account of one of history's pinnacle events is through realizing that the ones who killed Jesus tried to cover up his resurrection.

And we're going to see this in verses 11 through 15. We just saw the perspective of the women seeing the angels, seeing Jesus, and then going to tell the disciples and the other followers of Jesus concerning his resurrection.

Now we are going to see the side of those who unjustly murdered him. That, of course, is the Jewish leaders, specifically the chief priests. Let's look at verse 11. While they were going, behold, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests all that had taken place.

So we just saw this perspective, and now we see this perspective of the soldiers going to the Jewish leaders. And while the women went to tell the disciples and the other followers of Jesus that Christ had risen, word got out about what happened at the tomb.

This could not be made a secret, obviously. Certain guards went to tell the chief priests. As we are about to see, the chief priests met with other leaders known as the elders, and they come up with a plan.

A devious, wicked plan. Before we go any further, we need to contemplate how sinful their actions were. Any person with integrity, any person with an ounce of goodness in them would have looked at the irrefutable evidence that Jesus has risen from the dead, and they would have said, okay, we were wrong.

We were terribly wrong. He is really from God, and we are the phony ones, not him. But is this what they do? Of course not. They already murdered Jesus, and now they want to cover up the reality that Jesus rose from the dead as he said he would.

They show their egregious sin and the cover-up attempt in verses 12 -15. Let's read this together. And when they had assembled with the elders and taken counsel, they gave a sufficient sum of money to the soldiers and said, tell people his disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep, and if this comes to the governor's ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.

So they took the money and did as they were directed, and this story has been spread among the Jews to this day. So they decided to come up with a plan, a lie that the disciples stole the body. In order to prevent the truth of what really happened, they paid the soldiers who were on guard when the earthquake happened.

The angel appeared and the stone was rolled away. They pay off the guards to tell the lie that the disciples stole the body. If somehow the Roman governor Pilate hears about this, which he would, the Jewish leaders are going to defend the soldiers who were supposed to guard the tomb.

It is interesting that the day before, they suspected the disciples may attempt to do this very thing, steal the body. This is why they put guards there in the first place. They go from believing the disciples might steal the body to telling the lie that the disciples did steal the body when of course they know full well that a miracle from heaven happened.

You can see the hardness of the human heart here. Jeremiah 17 .9 says that the heart is desperately sick. Who can understand it? And we see this in our day, do we not? The truth is revealed, lies are covered up, it's obvious for everyone to see, and yet they dig their heels in, they double down, and they continue to tell the lie.

What we see in our day is nothing new. They did this 2 ,000 years ago, and it's the same design. It comes from the same person. The same person is Satan. He is the father of lies, and anybody who follows Satan does this very thing.

It's interesting, this lie that the disciples stole the body, it's still around today. A few years back, my dad sent a message on Easter to one of my relatives, and he said, he is risen. This unbelieving relative of mine said, no, the disciples stole the body.

There were people in Matthew's day who believed this fable that the disciples stole the body, and there are still people today who believe this. Almost all scholars, Christian and secular, agree on four facts regarding the resurrection.

And this is very interesting. Let me give you these four facts. Number one is this, Joseph of Arimathea buried Jesus in his tomb. Number two, several women found the tomb empty on Sunday morning. Number three, many people claimed to see Jesus after the tomb was found empty.

And fact number four is this, the Christian movement started from these events as witnesses sincerely reported that they saw him alive. Let me say that again, not just believing scholars say this, secular scholars say this.

The disagreement among scholars is on the explanation of these four facts. I'm here to tell you that the only explanation that makes any sense is that Jesus really rose from the dead. You might say, well of course you're going to say that, you're a pastor.

But I wouldn't be a pastor if it wasn't true. An impartial person who examines the evidence must conclude the bodily resurrection of Christ is true. Given the evidence, it makes sense, while the other views do not.

Let me give an example of how ridiculous the other views are. One scholar has said that Jesus had a twin brother. Yes, you heard that right. Others have said Jesus really didn't die, but he survived the crucifixion.

This is silly. Do you think the disciples would boldly call people to believe in an almost dead man and say his resurrection will change your life and then they themselves die telling the story? Jesus rose never to die again.

One scholar said all these witnesses of the resurrection did not really see Jesus, but they had visions of him. Now one person or a few can have hallucinations if a dear friend passed, but over 500? Not a chance.

As I showed you earlier, 1 Corinthians 15 says that Jesus appeared to over 500 people at one time. The other ridiculous view is the lie told that we see in our text. The lie that the disciples stole the body.

These scrawny 20-somethings, they might have even been teenagers, we don't know how old the disciples were, overtaking these Roman soldiers who just crucified Jesus. Do you think that's going to happen?

No. The disciples would have been like ants compared to them. The only logical way to explain the evidence is the credible testimony described by the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. What this shows is the truth claims of Christianity can stand against any attack since truth always prevails.

Carefully observe Matthew's account of one of history's pinnacle events and the second act how is through realizing that the ones who killed Jesus tried to cover up his resurrection. The third and final act you are to carefully observe one of history's pinnacle events is this, through understanding that Matthew highlighted Jesus' grandest appearance.

Jesus’ Grand Appearance in Galilee and the Great Commission

Matthew highlighted Jesus' grandest appearance and we're going to see this in verses 16 -20. Now we transition to this grandest appearance that Jesus had with the disciples and many of his followers in the northern part of Israel in the region known as Galilee.

I once looked at a source that placed each of his appearances in the four Gospels in chronological order. This source listed ten documented appearances that Jesus made after his resurrection during the forty days he was on the earth.

We have already seen Matthew highlight the appearance of Jesus to the women, the first appearance. Matthew also highlights the eighth appearance that took place on a mountain at the Sea of Galilee. We see this in verses 16 -17.

Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them and when they saw him they worshipped him but some doubted. The eleven disciples and many other people took the sixty mile journey to Galilee.

As verse 10 says, the women were to tell not only the eleven disciples but also the other followers of Jesus that he was going to meet many in Galilee. They would all go to the mountain that Jesus told them to go to.

At this point Jesus had already appeared to the eleven on several occasions but this meeting was an opportunity for a large number of his followers including his disciples to see the resurrected Christ together.

As I have mentioned a couple times in this sermon, the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 15 -6 describes this event where Jesus appears to more than 500 brothers. Brothers can be used as a general term to describe men and women that were followers of Jesus.

What verse 17 says is that they saw him and worshipped him. Just as the women in verse 9 worshipped him earlier, hundreds of people on this mountain see Jesus alive and they worship him. This belief in doctrine that Jesus is God is clear in the pages of scripture and we see it right here.

You only worship God and this is what these people are doing on the mountain in Galilee. They are worshipping the God man. What is incredible about this is that Jesus once again receives the worship. At the end of the book of Revelation in chapter 22 verses 8 and 9, John falls down to worship an angel who revealed the prophecy to him.

The angel said, you must not do that. I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers, the prophets and with those who keep the words of this book. Worship God. There is one instance in the book of Acts with King Herod Antipas where this evil king wrongly received worship.

When Herod gave a public speech, the people shouted the voice of a God and not of a man. Then the account says that the angel of the Lord struck him dead. So receiving worship as one who is not God is very dangerous.

But Jesus here gladly receives the worship and nothing happens to him. He rightly receives worship because he is God. He is fully God and fully man and the early followers of Jesus knew this. Now it is interesting that the end of verse 17 says that some doubted.

When you first look at this you might think that this is referring to the eleven disciples, but it is not. It is referring to some of the several hundred who would have been present seeing this appearance.

Remarkably some doubted even though they saw the resurrected Lord. And this shows the hold that unbelief can have even though something is so obvious. He is there right before them but some remarkably still have doubts.

Now what you can see in this appearance at Galilee is how God planned that the news of the resurrection would get out. He didn't have one person see it and report it, but he had many. The Old Testament talks about the value of multiple witnesses in the court of law and the Lord planned that there would be many witnesses here to spread the truth of the bodily resurrection to the world.

They would tell everyone this news that Jesus had risen from the dead. A small number of these people who were mostly apostles would write down not only that they saw Jesus after his death, but also the significance of his whole ministry and what this means for everyone.

And these documents are known as the New Testament. What is interesting is that when the apostle Paul wrote that more than 500 people witnessed the resurrection of Jesus in 1 Corinthians 15 .6, he wrote that some of these people are still alive.

Paul wrote 1 Corinthians in about 55 AD, so it is about two decades after this event. And think about that. Some of these people were dead, but some of these people were still alive in 55 AD and so someone who did not see the resurrection could go talk to someone who saw it and they would say, I saw it.

On Good Friday, I explained this. Think of the major events we have experienced in our lifetimes. And those of you who are older, you remember Kennedy's assassination. But more recently, you have 9 -11.

And then three years ago, COVID -19 and everything that has come with that. If Christ tarries, we are going to be able to tell people of these events that we went through. You went through COVID -19? Yes.

And this is what it was like. And this is what it would have been like in 55 AD as people went up to him. You actually were on that mountain? You saw him alive? And they would say, yes. Believe in him.

Eyewitnesses of historical events can tell you what they saw. And you can tell with their tone of voice, their sincerity, and the detail with which they describe the event that they are telling the truth.

And let me ask you, when you read the New Testament, do these sound like trustworthy eyewitnesses? And the answer is a resounding yes. These witnesses would be commissioned by Christ, as Jesus says, in what is famously known as the Great Commission.

Many kids memorize this in their Iwana and different classes. Then Jesus came to them and said, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.

And surely I am with you always to the end of the age. These are the words that Jesus left these 500 people with as they stood on this mountain. So you and I are to carefully observe Matthew's account of one of history's pinnacle events.

And in this text, Matthew has recorded three acts how. The first is through seeing that Jesus first appears to several women. The second is through realizing that the ones who killed Jesus tried to cover up the reality of his resurrection.

The third, as we have just seen, is through understanding that Matthew highlighted Jesus' grand appearance, this appearance at Galilee. If this is true, and any honest person must say this is not a fairy tale, this is real history, the question we have to ask is how does this change your life?

Think about this, liberal scholars and worldly people, they're willing to pick pieces out of what Jesus says, but they don't want to acknowledge the reality of Jesus' bodily resurrection. Because if he truly is raised from the dead, it changes everything.

It means that this book is true. It means that every other holy book is false. Every philosophy is false. Think about that. Think about how much is riding on this. If he's truly risen from the dead, then you're going to have to answer to this God.

You can't just live however you want. And these people whom Jesus appeared to at Galilee were given a commission. They were given the commission to make disciples. They were commanded to share the gospel.