The Gospel of Luke 24:1-12 Surprise! Resurrection!

Good morning. We're going to be venturing into this wonderful, fantastic passage, Luke 24, 1 through 12 here, taking it one step at a time here. And we're going to begin by taking a look. You've got this chart that's kind of a half page in your handout, and it lays out the first day in which Christ was crucified. This was Passover day. In other words, they'd celebrated Passover the night before, but the way the Jews count their days, there was still, according to the Pharisees' timing of celebrating the Passover, it was still Passover on the day in which Christ was crucified, and it was going to begin Passover that night for the Sadducees. And so here on the day of Passover, the Passover lamb, and we put that capital L, the Passover lamb is slain. And as we've been pointing out, the evidence is increasingly pointing towards that being exactly April 3rd, 33 AD.

And so, just kind of stepping through what that was like, this was the most horrible, awful injustice. It made no sense at all to the disciples or any of those who were following Jesus. It didn't even make sense to Pilate, actually. It didn't make sense to Herod Antipas. It didn't make sense to them at all. It was a horrible injustice.

And there, at that horrible injustice where all the disciples were just in shock, Christ had his conversations from about nine o'clock until noon. Conversations first with the Father. Father, forgive them because they don't know what they're doing. Conversations with John and Mary. John, behold your mother. Mary, behold your son. Conversations with the thief on the cross today.

You'll be with me in paradise and Then at noon It turned dark That was also the moment that they began sacrificing the Passover lambs in the temple right in front of the the temple building, thousands of lambs began to be slaughtered, only they had to do it in the dark. And then that afternoon is when Christ bore our sins, when Christ did his cross work, at the end of which he said things like, my God, my God, Why have you forsaken me? He said things like, It is finished, and I thirst. And he deliberately gave up his life. He didn't have his life taken from him. For the love of you and me, his life was taken.

At about three o'clock in the afternoon, when they were supposed to be done slaughtering the lambs, but probably were not because of the delay of the darkness, All of a sudden, when Christ gave up his life voluntarily for you and me, there was an earthquake. There was a tearing of the temple veil in two. Right behind where the priests were slaughtering thousands of lambs and people were lined up to get their lambs slaughtered, all of a sudden, There were things happening over at the cross.

There was a huge darkness. By the way, that darkness was very, very widespread. Other parts of the Roman Empire reported that darkness. So that darkness wasn't just over Jerusalem, not even over just Israel. The darkness was huge and it was miraculous. There's no natural explanation for it.

So here the temple veil was torn in two. showing now access to God by everyone no longer just a once a year visit by the high priest but everyone having access to God when the earthquake took place many tombs were opened that day many tombs and we'll see what happens shortly Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea made arrangements, cooperating jointly, to have Jesus buried. Nicodemus gave Jesus a king's burial. Here's Jesus who died a death reserved for the worst of the worst, a horrible death, and yet he was given a king's burial for a couple of days. And so now we come to this remaining in the tomb for Saturday, what we call Saturday.

That would have been the second day. First day is Friday. Second day, Saturday, April 4th, 33 AD. And that brings us to this day, Sunday, the third day. April 5th, 33 AD, that is also the day of the Feast of Firstfruits, which is why the First Corinthians elective is going to get to the place where you're going to read Christ the Firstfruits, right? Christ the Firstfruits, because it's on exactly the right day. And now the events that we're going to be reading about this morning will unfold.

They took place, as we've been pointing out, in this area right outside the Ganoth gate, where Golgotha, or otherwise called Calvary from the Latin, or in English, the place of the skull, that was the place where Christ was crucified. The vicinity there is actually fairly well tied down and known.

Right nearby, across from where Calvary was, Golgotha, across a garden area, and at the edge of that garden was a brand new tomb, Joseph of Arimathea, had newly carved out, and Jesus was its first occupant, but not for long. And so here in this area, that's where Jesus was crucified, very nearby, the Bible says nearby, he was put into the tomb, And that garden was still in existence and recorded by Christians in the year 350. So that garden remained. Here we have kind of looking from the edge of the old city of Jerusalem, looking towards the temple, looking towards the Golgotha, you had an ancient query. That query had been in use during the first temple period. And Golgotha was a high area of rock that had been left over from that quarry because it was of lower quality.

And so that's where Jesus was crucified. There was a road that came out the Ganoth gate and people would walk by. The Romans were very deliberate about where they crucified people. They wanted a crucifixion to be a billboard. Don't mess with Rome. And so they crucified him right outside the Gnath gate, and it happened to be that the tomb was right nearby. where they buried Jesus.

Last I checked, there's a couple more copies of this picture if you want to have one for yourself to look at and study. Some scholars have, you know, kind of looked at different possibilities as to the location, but this general location is pretty well nailed down now in terms of the historical evidence and the archaeological evidence.

Now, so we're going to start with reading Luke 24-1, but I'd like you to try to put yourself in the mindset of these women who are coming to the grave, into the mindset of the disciples. Now imagine Jesus has been telling them that all this is going to happen, but they don't understand yet. One of the very big reasons they don't understand yet is they have not been given the Holy Spirit in the church context. Even then it would take time for them to come to understand a number of things about what's actually happening here.

So imagine the death of Christ is just a complete horrible shock. Instead of thinking as we do, This is Good Friday, right? But this is a horrible, awful, terrible event. Jesus, completely unjustly, absolutely no good reason at all, has been given the worst of the worst deaths. Horrible, awful death. And for no good reason.

You know He's completely innocent. So imagine, put yourself in that mindset and now you've got some guys on the Sanhedrin who are secretly coming about and burying Christ and you've watched it all. You've watched how they've treated his body with great respect and put him in this brand new rich man's tomb. And you watched as they did that, you even looked in or went in to see where the body was laid. But you know absolutely certain that Jesus, by horrible tragedy, is very, very dead. Imagine that.

Imagine that you don't have any insight into what's taking place. Even that Christ was identified, excuse me, that we were identified with Christ in this death, in this burial, in the resurrection, that wouldn't begin to be taught for another 15 to 16 years. that we were identified with Christ in his ascension, even though that would happen the next month, that we were identified with Christ in his ascension and his seating in the heavenlies would not be understood for more than a quarter of a century after these events. So all the things we understand, it took the Holy Spirit to bring about and it took even time for the apostles who had the Holy Spirit to understand and to be able to tell others about this. So just put yourself for a minute in their position where this is just one horrid tragedy and the idea that Jesus was going to get resurrected was completely unexpected. As a matter of fact, what we're going to find is extreme skepticism. And people will see the facts in front of them and not be able to comprehend them. So with that, let's take a look here at Luke 24 1.

But on the first day of the week at early dawn, they came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared. Now, the Jews referred to their days of the week just by number. They don't do like we do. Strangely enough, we commonly, even as Christians, will call our days of the week by pagan gods. But they call them simply the first day, the second day. So the first day of the week would be our Sunday. The second day of the week, our Monday, etc. And on to what they would call the Sabbath, which means seventh.

Again, going by the numbers. that we call Saturday. So using our calendar, we've been saying that the evidence increasingly, including evidence that has come up in the last few years, additional evidence, points to Christ having been crucified and buried on April 3rd, 33 AD. That would make this day of the week that we're talking about here the second day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which is also the day of the offering of firstfruits which is why Paul would write the first fruits of those who are asleep, in 1 Corinthians 15, and we would call that Sunday, April 5th, 33 AD.

That day. That place. That tomb. So it's now early dawn. The woman arrived at the tomb as they had planned before on the Sabbath. Remember how it had happened? Rather than waiting until that morning, they decided, you know, we're going to go to the tomb right after the Sabbath, early the next morning.

And so even before the sun goes down, we're going to get prepared all the spices and perfumes that we're going to take and show respect for Jesus' body. because we love him so much. So that was their mindset. It's a horrible tragedy what happened. We don't understand how that horrible thing came about, but we're going to show respect for this man who was our teacher, this man whom we loved.

So they prepared the spices and perfumes there just towards sundown on Friday. And so as the sun went down, they had to be ready for the Sabbath and done preparing the spices, right? And along with everything else that went with the Sabbath observations during the beginning of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. So as early Sunday morning as we would call it, they were expecting to arrive at the tomb in order to put more spices and perfume on and around Jesus' body. They did have a bit of an issue, though.

As Mark 16.3 records for us, they were saying to one another, who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb? So they were pondering that.

Here's Luke 24.2 and 3, and they found the stone rolled away from the tomb. And when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. Now imagine if you had thought that Jesus died a horrible, tragic, inexplicable death. It was nice that Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea gave him a respectable burial. Boy, the things that have happened in the last couple of days. But we're going to show our respects for our beloved rabbi.

And they come there, and the stone's been rolled away. By the way, why was the stone rolled away? Was the stone rolled away so that Jesus could get out? No. The stone was rolled away so that they could see there's no body here. That's not the same as saying there's nobody here, there's no body here. They looked, there was indeed no body.

Now, the other thing to point out, and this comes out of the Gospel of Matthew and out of Mark, It was a large stone that was rolled away. It was not a small stone, but a large one. So this was extraordinary. In the range of stone sizes, this one was big. In fact, one of the Gospels even says very large.

So it would make the women kind of wonder, do we need to get some help moving the stone? So this was one of the things. They were thinking, okay, if we need to get help moving the stone, who do we go to? They were right next to the Ganas Gate and the road that went there, so it was kind of early, but maybe a passerby could help. Maybe several of them might be able to help move the stone away.

You can kind of imagine what they're thinking here. So would it take all of them to do it? Would they be able to do it at all? Would someone passing by coming out of the Ganoth gate or going into it at those early hours help? Could they find somebody to help?

They seemed completely unaware, because they hadn't visited on Sabbath, that Pilate had authorized a guard to watch the tomb. Over a dozen soldiers would be there. the tomb had been sealed with the seal of Rome. They were completely unaware that that had taken place. However, they seem to be completely unaware that the soldiers were scared to death and scared away.

So now, here's this large stone that at first they thought was going to be a big problem because they had seen the tomb, they had seen in the tomb, they had seen You know, the stone that was over the entrance to the tomb, turns out it wasn't going to be a problem at all. Can you imagine what they're thinking? You know, what? The tomb is already open. Well, the answer is our question. We don't need someone to help move the stone, however.

But, but, but, where's the body? Where's the body? Where could it possibly have gone? Somebody take it? The wrappings are still here. That's weird. But the body is gone. Can you imagine what's going through their minds? Completely unexpected. They were coming expecting, because they had started work on it late in the day on Friday, coming expecting to be able to put spices and more perfume on the body, and to show respect that way. They can't do that. The body's gone. They have no explanation for why. So Luke 24, 4 reads like this, And while they were perplexed about this, behold, two men suddenly stood near them in dazzling clothing. Now, I have a question for you.

What is dazzling clothing? Does it look like this? Does dazzling clothing look like this? Or maybe like this? It may be closer to something like this. Actually, as I look at this kind of dramatization, these are pictures from a movie that was made supposed to portray the Gospel of Luke. The word that's translated dazzling actually means flash of lightning. Flash of lightning clothing. It's like, woo! And if you've ever been fairly close to when a lightning bolt hits, I mean, it's just suddenly very, very bright, right? And so it was flash of lightning clothing, which you can hardly portray in this, right?

Now, first of all, it says that they were perplexed. That word means they couldn't draw a conclusion. What conclusion do we draw? Why is the body gone? And now we've got this additional occurrence with these guys that look like flashes of lightning talking to us.

They had seen Jesus die right before their eyes, and we knew that the Romans didn't let anybody off the cross until they were really, really dead. They had watched as the soldier put the spear in his side. Blood and water came out. They had seen Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea do, yes, a very respectful burial in a brand new rich man's tomb right nearby, right across the garden from where Jesus had been crucified. And they had seen the tomb location, even seen where Jesus' body had been laid, but they were quite certain that Jesus was very, very dead.

They'd seen everything about this tomb before the stone was rolled in front of it. They were not confused as to which tomb. They all went to the same tomb. And by the way, we're going to see shortly, the picture shows five women. There were, putting all the logic together, at least six and probably more. at least six, and probably more, and they had no confusion at all about where's the tomb. It's this one. It's right here. They didn't say, now, have we got the right place? That never occurred to them because they were absolutely certain this is the right tomb.

Now, the two men suddenly standing near, what we find as we look at scripture is sometimes the angels will appear to be just plain men. And like with Abraham, he served as host to three what he thought were men. And in no sense at all, this is a miraculous creature, it's just another man. And so that was the case in some cases in Scripture. This one was different.

In other cases, the angels reveal the glory of God. As a matter of fact, in the last chapters of Revelation, twice, John begins to bow down in worship to an angel because the angel is so intense, he's out of calibration, and the angel says, no, stop. He says, I'm not God. Oh.

So these angels are so intense, Word that Dr. Luke used, flash of lightning intense, right? Only it's not like lightning that's there and then gone. It remains there and you can hardly look at it. That's what these angels look like. Flash of lightning intense. These two men.

And by the way, this is not the only case where Luke describes angels as men. We'll see that again. So the rather sudden appearance of these men was also startling that they were dazzling to look at like a flash of lightning added to it. So here's Luke chapter 24 verses 4 and I have 5a which means the first part of verse 5. While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men suddenly stood near them in dazzling clothing. Again, flash of lightning clothing. Matter of fact, that's exactly how Kenneth Weiss translated that. Flash of lightning clothing.

And as the women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground. Now, not only would I slightly critique the dramatization here with five, I think it's at least six, and you'll see what I mean in a minute. But also, they don't look terrified enough. They need to look more terrified, and just kind of bowing their head might not have been what happened.

They may have fell, you know, face to the ground. As a matter of fact, if you suddenly, okay, here you are pondering, there's no body here. Why is there no body here? And all of a sudden, two flash of lightning people stand in front of you, only unlike lightning, it doesn't go away, and they start talking. Okay? Whoa!

That's going to floor you, right? And especially if you don't understand what's happening here. You're expecting, okay, I'm hoping to get in here to this dead body to put some perfume and spices on it so it doesn't smell so bad, right? That's what you're expecting. Maybe need some help getting that stone rolled out of the way. And now the stone's already rolled out of the way, the body is gone, you've seen these two flash of lightning men, and the flash doesn't go away. they're floored and they're terrified instantly.

See, you've gone from perplexed to ahhh! Right? Okay. So in moments they went from being perplexed to terrified to bowing their faces to the ground. All six or more of them. Right? That didn't mean that they understood anything better. As a matter of fact, from one moment to the next it was getting worse in terms of understanding. Right?

Uh-oh, these flashes of lightning are now talking to us. Now, a common human response to seeing an angel, we have an example from earlier in Luke where the angels come and announce to the shepherds, right? So to get an idea what this would have been like, look at the shepherds who are used to facing predators, they're used to seeing Roman soldiers going by, and it says in Luke 2.9, and an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared before them.

That's just one. and the glory of the Lord shone about them and they were a little bit frightened? No, terribly frightened. Now inside a tomb you have two of these guys, right? And these women are very, very frightened. The angels would at times begin their address to the person, but don't be afraid, right? Which might be kind of, you're kidding me, right?

So now, here's Luke 24, and this is the last part of verse 5, we'll call it B and C, into verse 7. And the men said to them, Why do you seek the Living One among the dead? He is not here, but He has risen. Remember how He spoke to you while He was still in Galilee, saying that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.

Here's an example, Luke 9.22, Jesus told the disciples and those among him, for the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and be raised up on the third day.

He told them that. Did they understand that? Not at all. In Luke 18, 31-33 is another instance, and by the way, this is like right before crucifixion week here. He took the twelve aside and said to them, Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and all the things which are written through the prophets about the Son of Man will be accomplished. For He will be handed over to the Gentiles, and will be mocked and mistreated and spit upon. And after they have scourged Him, they will kill Him, and the third day will rise again. How much of this did they understand? Zilch. Nothing. Zip. Right? It was that response.

Christ had told them many times in advance about what would happen here. And often when these women were present, and that's why the angels, the two bright as lightning men, right? That's why the angels would refer to these things, because these women had also heard this before. They would suffer from the Jewish leaders, be crucified, and of course only the Romans are going to do that, and die and rise on the third day. Told them that in advance. Even told parables about this. The problem wasn't that the didn't hear him with their ears. The problem is they didn't understand what he was saying to them. Not until later would they comprehend.

So here's Luke 24, 8 and 9. And they remembered his words, and that's about all, and returned from the tomb and reported all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. So there was gathered together the eleven and others. They're all gathered together trying to make sense out of the crisis that they were in. How's this going to turn out? Well, let's find out. So they get in there. And they're going to start telling these guys all the things that happened. Now, mind you, it might come across a little excited. Imagine they'd come in there and start talking to these guys, and it might be, you know, stone, gun, nobody! Who knows how it exactly came across.

But there are these women, and they're trying to recall things that He said that they didn't understand, and the disciples didn't either. We never understood that he meant this, and it says they couldn't draw a conclusion. The twelve disciples, and of course all twelve were not present here, also heard the words that Jesus said, and the angels repeated, but they never understood those words either. So these women went and told the eleven, twelve less Judas, and the others that were gathered, but they still did not understand. They still did not believe.

Here's Luke 24 10. Now they were Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and also the other women with them were telling, now it's plural, right? Were telling these things to the apostles. So let's put this together from the four Gospels. What you have is consistent in all four Gospels, Mary Magdalene is one of them, right? We have the other Mary which equals Mary the mother of James and Mary the mother of James in Mark and in Luke, right?

So that's the other Mary. You also have Salome and we'll talk in a little bit who Salome is. You'll recognize it. And then Joanna and others. So that says, others means at least two, right? So that means you have these four, Mary, Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, Salome and Joanna, that four, and then plus others means at least two, so there's six is a minimum. So there's actually, you know, at least six and quite likely more were present there.

So let's look who they are. The other Mary was the mother of James the less and Joseph, that is Joses, right? Salome was the wife of Zebedee and the mother of the disciples of James and John. She had been the one that had gone to Jesus and said, hey, can my son sit on either side of you in the kingdom? That's Salome.

Joanna was the wife of Husa, or if you say it as Courtney learned very well how to pronounce it, the wife of Husa. Stuart of Herod Antipas. And as Dr. Luke records, there were also other women among them, and to be plural has to be at least two, in addition to these. And I imagine because of the group of women that gathered, actually very likely much more than two.

Now, so they were telling these things to the disciples who would one day be apostles, and that's how they're referred to here. They had been apostles being sent out according to the gospel of the kingdom. This is recorded best in Matthew chapter 10. They would become apostles in the church in just the next month. Right now they don't understand and they don't believe and they don't believe or understand what the women were saying even. So they were beginning sort of to understand, the women were. They're expressing what they had just begun to understand. But the eleven disciples are not there yet.

I think one of the things for us to take note of is sometimes these people are portrayed as extremely gullible. You'll get people tell you all those stories about the miracles and all that stuff are just myth. It doesn't fly. These guys were not only not gullible, they were extremely skeptical. They didn't believe anything that the woman told them. As we'll find, two of them would go and check it out for themselves, but still not draw the conclusion that Jesus was resurrected. These guys were not gullible.

They were extremely skeptical, even to the point where Thomas would wait another week before he would believe. And that was only because Christ appeared to him directly. He would not believe the testimony of ten of the other disciples that he had spent three plus years with. Here's Luke 24 11, but these words appeared to them as nonsense and they would not believe them. Were they gullible? Not even close. Would they believe the women, even though there were a number of them and they had spent time with them? No, not a one.

The eleven disciples and the others with them had not made sense of what Jesus had told them about many times before. They themselves had seen Jesus arrested They themselves had seen Jesus go through the trials, at least some of the disciples were there for present, at least John and Peter, and to go through those trials, and they had seen Jesus crucified. They'd seen how Jesus was very, very dead. They'd seen where Jesus was buried.

He was very, very dead in their mindset. To have the tomb be opened, that was a large stone, and for the body to not be in the burial cloth or even present in the tomb made zero sense to them. None whatsoever. These women are crazy, jabbering away about something that just does not make sense. We know he's very dead. With a couple of exceptions, as we'll soon see, none of them would even remotely respond to what the women said. Man, crazy.

Here's Luke 24, 12. But Peter got up and ran to the tomb. Stooping and looking in, he saw the linen wrappings only, and boy, get this, he went away to his home marveling at what had happened. I'm going to go home and have some unleavened bread, right? Here's additional insights into what happened from John 20 verses 1 through 10. Now the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came early to the tomb while it was still dark and saw the stone already taken away from the tomb.

So she ran and came to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved and said to them, they have taken away the Lord out of the tomb and we do not know where they have laid him. So Peter and the other disciple went forth and they were going to the tomb. The two were running together, which by the way tells you they weren't wondering about where this is. They knew where it was. They were running together and the other disciple ran ahead faster than Peter and came to the tomb first. John refers to himself as the other disciple or the disciple whom Jesus loved.

He doesn't write his own name. And stooping and looking in, he saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. And so Simon Peter also came following him and entered the tomb, and he saw the linen wrappings lying there. And the face cloth which had been on his head, not lying with the linen wrappings, but rolled up in a place by itself. So the other disciple who had first come to the tomb then also entered. And he saw and believed, for as yet they did not understand the scripture that he must rise again from the dead. So the disciples, the two of them, went away again to their own homes."

Can you imagine that? Instead of going back to the others and saying, hey, the women are telling the truth, there's no body here, they go home. What an amazing response. Of course, they can't figure it out either. And maybe that's what they were thinking. I'm not sure what to tell these guys.

Yeah, the tomb's empty, but I can't make any sense of it. So you have Peter and John running to the tomb to see if what the woman had said was true. John arrived first, and so he pauses there at the entrance, and he looks at it. Yep, nobody there. I see the linen wrappings. That's it. No angels either by this point. Peter went immediately inside for a closer look. What those women said was right.

John believed the woman that the tomb was empty. I think that's something we looked at. It says that John believed. What did he believe? He didn't believe that Christ was resurrected at that point in time. He says, yep, the tomb is empty. I believe the women on that In part, that's it. They had not drawn the conclusion that Christ had been raised. Then they each went home to have some pizza. Right? Well, pizza with unleavened bread without the cheese. And certainly with no pork on any of the topping of the pizza. Okay. But they didn't run to tell the others.

You have on page five of your handout, here's a summary, one page summary of the appearances of the empty tomb and the testimony to that, and then the post-resurrection appearances all the way to the place where Jesus is ascended. And so we've looked at this morning these empty tomb examinations, discoveries, right?

And then the next step we'll be looking at is in Dr. Luke's account, where post-resurrection appearances. And in truth, you have to get all four Gospels to pull these all together. We'll just be going through the ones in the Gospel of Luke, but keep in mind that the total of the witnessing and the testimony had to do first with the empty tomb, which we looked at in Dr. Luke's account this morning. And then the post-resurrection appearances, we'll be sampling those next week. Now some other things to ponder here.

This is the time the Sadducee nightmare begins. We told you the Sadducees first of all had a really bad day on their preparation for Passover because right in the middle of their trying to get ready for Passover and they're having the Passover lamb slain, that's when the sky turns dark during the hours as they're supposed to be sacrificing the lambs. And right at the end of it they have this horrific earthquake And the temple veil, while everybody is there and all the priests are there, right behind where the priests are slaughtering the lambs, RIP! Big, loud noise.

I'm sure everybody's wondering, what is that? Priests go running in and they're in shock. How could this possibly, possibly have happened? What would cause this? I think when we go through the book of Acts, should the Lord allow that, we're going to find out there's a place where it says, and many of the priests, who by the way, most of them were Sadducees, many of the priests became saved.

And I think I know why. There is no explanation for why that temple should have gotten torn from top to bottom. And that's going to take a long time to sew back up. It gave him a lot of time to think. So here's Matthew 27, 52 and 53. This is the rest of the sad you see. Because remember, the sad you see are sad you see because they don't believe in the resurrection. And so here it is. The tombs were opened and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised. And coming out of the tombs after his resurrection, they entered the holy city and appeared to many.

Uncle Shlomo, what are you doing here? We buried you two weeks ago. Right? Grandma Elizabeth, we put you in the tomb a month ago. What are you doing up here? She says, I'm hungry. Right? You guys are still celebrating your Feast of Unleavened Bread. Give me some of that stuff. And they're in shock. They're in shock. many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep and appeared to many. If you don't believe in a resurrection, this is going to be a horrible, horrible time. This is going to be the worst feast of unleavened bread you have ever had in your life. Isn't it? Yes, very much. Starting Friday and on into the rest of the week. It's going to be a horrible, horrible time to be a Sadducee. Which makes them even more sad, you see. Right? Okay. There's also an element of fulfilled prophecy here. Christ's resurrection was predicted in Psalm 1610. This is written by David, King David, a thousand years earlier.

And it says, you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, that's the place of the dead, nor will you allow your Holy One to undergo decay. So this last half, nor will you allow your Holy One to undergo decay, is quoted by the apostles. and twice on the day of Pentecost. Peter quotes it out of Acts, in Acts chapter 2, 27 and 31. And Paul quotes it also on his first missionary journey, which he takes to Galatia, right? In Acts 13, 31.

So the day of Pentecost is, by then Peter's got what this is all about, right? And by the way, this is just, Jesus was crucified on April 3rd, 33 AD. April 5th, 33 AD, Christ is resurrected. May 14th, Christ is ascended. And May 28th, the day of Pentecost, Peter gets it. Peter gets it. He quotes there from the psalm twice, 1610. there on the day of Pentecost and it was among the things that stung people to the heart when 3,000 were saved. This guy who didn't believe and didn't understand on April 5th did believe and did understand, by the way he was still to learn more, and did understand by May 28th when he spoke on the day of Pentecost.

The other thing about this resurrection is absolutely essential to the gospel to be believed. It is central to it, absolutely essential to the gospel. You cannot drop it off and have an effective gospel. It is so essential, Paul says, if Christ is not raised, you're still dead in your trespasses and sins. Still in your sins, you're hopeless. It is absolutely essential to believe. It is absolutely essential to understand.

Here is what the Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15, 3 and 4, which I understand the elective downstairs had just covered, right? Today, right? For I delivered to you as of first importance, what does that tell you? Top priority, okay? Top priority, what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried and that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures. Do you believe that? Then you're saved. And you notice, raised on the third day is essential to the content of the gospel. Must be believed. Must be believed. But once believed, then you're saved.

The other truth, of course, that we understand, And Paul wrote of it first in the book of Galatians, A.D. 49, fall of A.D. 49, when he wrote that. Therefore we have been buried with him through baptism into death. This is Romans 6.4, by the way. Baptism into death so that Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father so we too might walk in newness of life. So was the resurrection just something you're supposed to believe and that's it? No, it is to have an impact upon our lives. It is the basis on which we have newness of life, starting with the death, but certainly resurrected. So that's Romans 6, 4. So you were raised with Him from that tomb near Jerusalem to walk in newness of life.

So as we've said, the cross, people looked up and all they saw, there's Jesus. There was one man on that cross, but spiritually speaking, that cross was crowded. The cross was crowded. It was crowded with you and with me. That tomb didn't have enough room for all the bodies, but spiritually speaking, we were there in that tomb with him. We got a king's burial too, spiritually speaking. And when Christ was resurrected, there was a mass exodus from that tomb. The women didn't see it, but you and I were coming out of there too. And we didn't need to have the stone rolled away to get out of there. That was so people could see that there's no body in there. But you and I were a part of that mass exodus.

But it's important for each one of us not only to understand the crowded cross, the crowded tomb, and the mass exodus, but to personalize it. This is why the Apostle Paul would say, I was crucified with Christ. Personalize it. Think, I, Ferdinand Peterman, put your name there, was crucified with Christ. I, your name, was buried with him. I, your name, was raised with Him. I was a part of that crowd that left that grave that day, April 5th, 33 AD, early in the morning.

So each one of us who believes in the gospel, because I was not identified with Christ by my own doing, But each one of us who believes in the gospel, God is the one, that's 1 Corinthians 1.30, who makes us in Christ and therefore places us in identification with His death, His burial, His resurrection, ascension, and seating.

So you can imagine for these women and the disciples, a completely baffling series of events. that you and I look at it, we say, oh, it was the very best Friday ever, followed by the best Saturday ever, but especially the very best Sunday morning that ever was. Let's pray. Thank you, Lord, for this wonderful, terrifying, marvelous day, this day when you were resurrected and we with you, And those truths continue to impact us to this very day, including the capacity that we might walk in newness of life. Thank you for that. We pray in Jesus name. Amen.