The “resurrection of the dead” is a very important topic. It is extremely important. It would not be possible to say too much concerning the importance of “the rising from the dead.” There are a couple of examples in the Bible where this topic comes up. For instance, when the Apostle Paul is giving his testimony, or actually defending himself before King Agrippa, at one point he speaks of Jesus rising from the dead. We read in Acts 26:23-24:
That Christ should suffer, and that he should be the first that should rise from the dead, and should show light unto the people, and to the Gentiles. And as he thus spake for himself, Festus said with a loud voice, Paul, thou art beside thyself; much learning doth make thee mad.
It is such an incredible idea for someone to say this as fact, for someone to claim that there was a person who was dead who rose from the dead, literally, in truth, absolutely. Festus had never heard this kind of a thing. He was shocked. He said, “Much learning doth make thee mad,” because the Apostle Paul was a man who was well-educated. It surprised Festus all the more that an educated person would make this kind of a claim.
We also find in the book of Acts that when the Apostle Paul was in Athens in Greece that the Athenians were a people much like us today, much like the people of America. The people of our country, but actually all across the world, love to hear “some new thing.” We always want some new story to be told. This is why television is so popular and fiction books are so popular. In the libraries or on the internet, it is always something new. Man is always trying to come up with a new idea, a new tale, a new story to captivate the audience.
A couple thousand years ago, the Athenians were exactly like this. The nature of man has not changed. Our methods of doing it have changed. They did not have the electronic medium, so they would just stand around in the center of town on Mars’ hill, as we read in Acts 17:21:
(For all the Athenians and strangers which were there spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell, or to hear some new thing.)
“Tickle my ears.” “Tell me something new.” “If it is old, I am not interested in it.” Of course, when we are dealing with the Gospel—that old, old story—when we talk about the Bible, we are not going to hear too many new things. We are going to hear a very familiar account, a very factual account but still very familiar things that have been stated and restated.
As John did earlier today, he gave the Gospel this morning on the Easter account. I am going to come up and do the same thing. Where is the excitement? Where is the “new thing”?
Well, you see, believers do discover new things in the Word of God, new truths, but we also love when things are brought to remembrance, when we do go over things that are true and faithful, things that are sound and things that are spoken of in God’s Word. But the people of the world are bored rather quickly with old tales.
The Athenians were the same way, so we read in Acts 17:22-23:
Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars’ hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious. For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you.
Paul goes on to relate the Gospel, and then we read in Acts 17:32:
And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked: and others said, We will hear thee again of this matter.
So we can see again the mocking of “the resurrection of the dead.” It is a mockery. It is something that man does not take seriously. He does not really consider this possibility, because all around him people are dying and he has never seen anyone come back from the dead.
Yet this is what the Gospel centers on. This is a key ingredient of the whole Gospel. Yes, Christ took upon Him the sins of His people. Yes, He went to the Cross and He was crucified for those sins. But just as important, He rose again. He rose from the dead.
I am going to read a passage in 1 Corinthians 15, because in this passage the resurrection is really shown to be absolutely important to the Gospel message and to each one of us. We read in 1 Corinthians 15:12-14:
Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: and if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain.
Right now, I should walk out the door and John should have never said anything earlier. We should not pass out tracts, and we should not even bother to witness to our neighbors. Everything is vanity; everything is vain “if Christ be not risen.”
If He did not actually, truly, honestly, rise from the dead, then the preaching of the Gospel is worthless; it is vain—just like everything else in the world. Remember, God moved Solomon in Ecclesiastes to sum up all the other things in the world. Outside of the Gospel, “all is vanity and vexation of spirit.” So would this Gospel be; it would have no power to save.
Let us continue in 1 Corinthians 15:14-17:
And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: and if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.
It just gets worse and worse, does it not? We are in our sins. We are under the wrath of God, and we will go to Hell.
Then we read in 1 Corinthians 15:18-19:
Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.
This is the summation of being a Christian, if Christ be not risen. If there is no reality, if there is no power behind what we read in the Bible, if these things are like so many things in the world, so many religions, so many professing Christian gospels that are out there, if the true Gospel of the Bible is like all of that, then it is worthless. It is absolutely worthless, and there will be no profit, no benefit, no salvation possible—and we would be most miserable of all men, because we are even depriving ourselves of the things of this world.
Even though those who do not have the Gospel have a vain life and existence, at least they do have the pleasure of sin. Whereas the Christian, supposing that Christ be not risen, he thinks that he is living a God-pleasing life and doing things God’s way in keeping God’s commandments. But if Christ be not risen from the dead, then he is most miserable of all men. Yet we know that the truth is that Jesus did rise.
We read in 1 Corinthians 15:20-22:
But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
The Bible is clear; the Bible testifies; the witnesses are recorded in the Bible. They saw Jesus rise from the dead and, of course, we believe God. We believe that this happened. We believe that this is absolute truth. We believe that Jesus has risen from the dead, and this empowers the whole Gospel of the Bible where there is salvation possible. There is then the rising of the children of God, because Christ is the first to rise from the dead.
From this passage alone, we can see how important it is that there be a resurrection. It is critical. It is critical that there be a resurrection, and so it is no wonder why Jesus was placed in the tomb after he had given up His Spirit on the Cross.
Joseph of Arimathaea went to Pilate and begged His body, and it happened that he had a sepulcher nearby. So we read about Joseph and Nicodemus and probably others also who went to the tomb. They had to roll away a great stone from the sepulcher to place Jesus’ body in the sepulcher and then roll the stone back to cover the opening, and the Bible tells us that it was a great stone. Joseph of Arimathaea was a rich man, so he could have hired help; he could have had some servants who would have helped in the movement of this stone.
Jesus had been taken and wrapped in burial clothing. There were spices and so forth that were wrapped in the cloth. He was prepared for burying and put in the tomb. Then we read in Matthew 27:62 these words:
Now the next day, that followed the day of the preparation…
It is interesting that it is laid out like this because the day of preparation was the day of the preparation of the Sabbath, which would have been Friday. The next day that followed the day of the preparation would have been Saturday the Sabbath.
Matthew 27:62 continues:
…the chief priests and Pharisees came together unto Pilate,
We can see what they were concerned about on the Sabbath day. They were the ones who had been accusing Christ of desecrating the Sabbath. They are going to Pilate in order that a watch be set and the sepulcher guarded. Why would they want to do that? In Matthew 27:63, the chief priests and Pharisees are saying:
Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again.
“That deceiver said”—this is another one of the names of Christ that these chief priests and Pharisees are accusing Christ of. They are accusing Christ of being a deceiver. They are calling Him “that deceiver.” “That deceiver said.”
Is that not horrible? Is that not absolutely horrible that Jesus who is The Truth is being called “that deceiver”? Christ is The Truth. He never told a lie. He never spoke a falsehood in His life, yet these men call Him a deceiver.
We read in 2 John 1:7, where we find the same word:
For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.
By the definition of 2 John, who is the deceiver? The ones who did not recognize that Jesus was the Messiah who had come in the flesh were the chief priests and the Pharisees and all the Jews who failed to honor Christ as Immanuel, those who failed to honor Him as God who had entered into the human race. They are the enemies of God. They are the ones who are the deceivers and working under the power of the great deceiver, Satan himself.
This just goes to show how Satan likes to turn things around. They called Jesus “Beelzebub.” They said, “He hath a devil.” They said that He was the deceiver. All kinds of evil things were spoken about the Lord.
This really helps us because if they would call the Lord a deceiver, then we should not be surprised if we are called a “heretic” or if we are called a “cult.” We should not be shocked by this, nor should we be ashamed of this. If Christ Himself was called far worse, then who are we to be ashamed because someone calls us a “heretic?” The Apostle Paul said at one point, “After the way which they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers.” So we can glorify God if we can partake in the least bit of the suffering for the sake of the Cross, for Christ’s sake, if any would think that we are being as a deceiver.
Again, we read in Matthew 27:63:
Saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again.
This is an amazing statement. This is an amazing statement because when they went to get Christ when He was in the garden and they arrested Him and the Jews had their trial before the high priest and they brought false witnesses together, what were they witnessing to? They were witnessing to the fact that He said that He would destroy the temple in three days. This is what they were trying to prove. They were trying to prove that Jesus said that He would destroy the temple, but their witness did not agree together.
Yet here are the chief priests and the Pharisees who now seem to have rightly heard Him. He said, “After three days I will rise again.” Now they are understanding what Christ had said. He said that He would rise from the dead and that it had nothing to do with the temple, so it really shows that they were trying everything that they could, every deceptive thing that they could think of to have Christ put to death, even though they recognized that He was not talking about the destruction of the temple.
In Matthew 27:64-66, this continues:
Command therefore that the sepulchre be made sure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night, and steal him away, and say unto the people, He is risen from the dead: so the last error shall be worse than the first. Pilate said unto them, Ye have a watch: go your way, make it as sure as ye can. So they went, and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, and setting a watch.
Here we find that these enemies of God are doing everything that they can to make sure that the body of Jesus stays in the tomb, that it stays in the sepulcher. They go to Pilate; they want Pilate to set a watch. Pilate agrees and says, “Ye have a watch…make it as sure as you can.” They go to the stone and seal it all away around the entrance of the sepulcher.
The sepulcher was a cave where they basically hewed a hole out of a rock to have a place where they could put the body. They put the body in and then they put the great stone up against the entrance. Then they sealed it as much as they could so that there would not be so much as a crack that was open where someone could get a grip and start to move the stone.
We can just see the desperation of the enemies of God who were trying everything that they could, humanly speaking, to make sure that Jesus stayed dead. They wanted to make sure that there was no one who could claim that He rose from the dead. They wanted to make sure that His body was not removed somehow.
Deep-down though, deep-down, they are really afraid that He is going to rise from the dead, that He is going to do a miraculous thing—just as He did in His life. This is a Man who did raise the dead during His lifetime. He is a Man who did give sight to the blind and hearing to the deaf. He is a Man who did many mighty miracles. So if He made a statement, “After three days I will rise again,” then deep-down, I am sure, that these Pharisees were on edge and nervous and disturbed.
So they had their Roman sentries, whom they posted at the grave site, seal the stone and watch. They watched. No one was going to come and get by those sentries.
You know, it is almost a laughable attempt by man. Of course, Satan was working behind the scenes because it is his spirit that works in unsaved man. He is the one who was desperately trying to make sure that Jesus did not rise from the dead and that He did not come forth out of His tomb, but it is laughable. It is only a few sentries who are sealing the stone.
They could have brought the whole Roman army! They could have brought the greatest army on earth and positioned it round about the sepulcher. They could have watched without falling asleep. They could have had all the power of their army with their chariots and their horses, and it would not have made any difference at all. It would not have made the slightest difference, because the penalty had been paid and death could no longer hold the Lord Jesus Christ. He would rise from the dead.
So they “made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, and setting a watch,” and this is the prelude to Matthew 28. This sets the situation of that day. Then we read in Matthew 28:1:
In the end of the sabbaths, as it began to dawn toward the first of the sabbaths…
In reading this, basically, I am translating the word “Sabbath” and “week” here as “Sabbaths” because it is the same Greek word that should be translated as “Sabbaths.” It says that it is “the end of the Sabbaths,” because it is referring to the Old Testament Law that God established where the seventh-day would be the Sabbath.
It was a “Sabbath of rest.” There was to be no work done on that day, and it had continued on for over 11,000 years where the seventh-day was the Sabbath day. Now it was the end. There would never again be the seventh-day Sabbath. Never again would the people of God worship on Saturday. It was completed. It was finished.
It was fulfilled in the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus, because He fulfilled the spiritual meaning that it had always looked to where He would do the work in the matter of saving His people. His people would find rest in His atoning work. They would find the spiritual rest of the people of God.
So it was “the end of the Sabbaths, as it began to dawn toward the first (or one) of the Sabbaths,” the first Sabbath of the New Testament period. It would be Sunday morning and it would begin a new stage in God’s plan. He would begin to evangelize the world using churches and congregations. This Sunday morning was to be the first New Testament Sabbath Day and every since, Sunday is the Sabbath Day.
This is why we are studying the Bible today. This is why we are thinking about spiritual things and involved in spiritual activities, because this Sunday is this New Testament Sabbath.
Matthew 28:1-2 continues:
…came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre. And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it.
What the Bible tells us is that Jesus fulfilled and completed the payment for His people while He was on the Cross. We read this in the Gospel of John when Jesus said, “It is finished.” At that point in time, the penalty for sins was paid.
Jesus had taken upon Him the sins of His people. He had died for those sins, the equivalent of an eternity in Hell, and it was finished on the Cross. Then His body was placed in the grave Friday evening. It lay in the grave all day Saturday and all Saturday night, until Sunday morning.
Earlier Jesus had said, “For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” So the period of “three days and three nights” would not be finished until He rose from the dead early Sunday morning, even though He was not doing any work to pay for the sins of His people.
When Jesus’ body was in the tomb on Saturday, it is significant that this Saturday pointed to rest and Jesus did no work. He was not working at that point, because His work had been completed on the Cross.
Still, there had to be evidence; there had to be a proof that Jesus had paid the penalty in full, that the Law was satisfied. The evidence would be the rising from the dead; it would be the resurrection. This would be the proof to the world that Christ had indeed taken the sins of His people and died for those sins in a satisfactory way for the Law of God to no longer have any claim upon those elect people whom Jesus came to die for.
This is why when Christ was on the Cross and said, “It is finished,” He did not just get down right from the Cross. He could have done this and He could have just walked away, but you can imagine how people would then mock the idea of Jesus dying and paying the penalty for sin if He just walked away from the Cross. This is why it was necessary for Christ to enter into the grave and that He be buried, in a sense, in the tomb, in the sepulcher, in order to satisfy the world as an evidence and a proof that He indeed did pay the penalty, because He would then rise from the dead.
Here in Matthew 28:2, it says:
And, behold, there was a great earthquake…
It seems that at key points in God’s salvation plan there are earthquakes that take place. If we turn back to Matthew 27:50-53, we read:
Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, and came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.
So there is an earthquake. It is significant that following this, we read that graves are opening up and “many bodies of the saints which slept arose,” which is referring to those believers whom God saved throughout the previous days of the Old Testament—not all of them, but many of them. This was after Jesus rose from the dead, because He was the “firstfruits.” Then they also rose up in their bodies and entered into Heaven, as proof and evidence to all of the saints in Heaven that God’s salvation plan would be completed and that it would be finished.
When it says that they “went into the holy city,” this is what it is referring to. It is not talking about Jerusalem upon earth, because Jerusalem ceased to be the “holy city” when the “the veil of the temple was rent in twain.”
Here also in Matthew 28, the earthquake is related to rolling back the stone from the door of the sepulcher. Again, it is the same kind of idea, the same picture. Christ’s work on the Cross, His sacrifice for His people, is what opens up the tomb. It is what opens up the grave so that the people of God can enter into Heaven.
Also, here is another picture, another illustration, where the Angel of the Lord descending from Heaven is God Himself. It is the Lord Jesus Himself.
It goes on to say in the following verses, in Mathew 28:5-6:
And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.
It is interesting that this is Christ Himself who is making this statement. This is Christ Himself who is telling the believers, “Come, see the place where the Lord lay. He is risen.” God Himself is proclaiming this because when we read about the Angel of the Lord in the Bible, it is referring to the Lord God.
If we turn back to Exodus 3:2, this is just one verse among many that shows this, and it says:
And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush…
This is God. Continuing in this dialogue with Moses, we read in Exodus 3:14:
And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM…
This is the “Angel of the LORD” who is speaking out of the “flame of fire out of the midst of a bush.” Without any question, the Angel of the Lord, as He is shown in the Bible in several places, is God Himself, Jehovah. He is the Lord Jesus Christ.
Here in Matthew 28 when there is the earthquake, “the angel of the Lord descended from heaven.” God is actually, once again, giving another spiritual picture of the Gospel, because Christ was in Heaven and He descended and entered into the human race.
Continuing in Matthew 28:2:
…and came and rolled back the stone from the door…
In another one of the Gospel accounts, when the women came to the tomb, they were worried, “Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre…for it was very great?”
This was language indicating that men can not of their own strength and power roll back that stone. We can not open up the gates of Hell. We can not let ourselves go free. There must be another power. There must be the power of God to accomplish this, and the Angel of the Lord is the One who does it. He rolled back the stone from the door.
This is exactly what Christ did. He has set the captives free. He has opened up the gates of the prison, so those children of God whom Jesus came to save can go free.
Notice that it also says in Matthew 28:2:
…and sat upon it.
He “rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it.” This word “sat” has to do with “ruling” or “reigning.” When someone sits, like a king is seated upon his throne, he is ruling over his dominion.
Now, the Lord Jesus has conquered sin and death and so He is seated upon the stone. He has risen, and it is pointing to the fact that Hell could not hold Him. It could not keep Him. He was victorious over it, so He is ruling over even eternal death. He is ruling over the pit of Hell.
In Matthew 28:3, we read a description of the Angel of the Lord:
His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow:
This can only be describing God Himself, and if we turn to Revelation 1, we find a similar picture. We read in Revelation 1:14-18:
His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; and his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters. And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength. And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last: I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.
This is what is in view. When the Angel of the Lord descends and is seated upon the stone, He is the One who opens up the gate of Hell. The “gates of Hell shall not prevail” against Him. He has “the keys of Hell and of death.”
This is extremely important for us to know because as people who have entered into this life and into this world, we have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. We have become spiritually dead. Outwardly, we can not tell this or recognize this. Outwardly, people can even be attractive, but inwardly, Christ says that we are “full of dead men’s bones,” speaking of the Pharisees and Sadducees in Matthew 23.
So we have died spiritually. We are in a tomb, in a sense, even though we are free to walk around in this world. Yet Jesus is the One who has the “keys of Hell and of death.” He can set the prisoner free. He can set the captive free.
This is the illustration that we see in John 11 concerning Lazarus. We read in John 11:43-44:
And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.
Here Christ is demonstrating that He has the keys of death and Hell. So this Sunday, this day of resurrection is a day when we share the Gospel. We want to share what the Bible says in order that some, those whom God has planned to save, might be set free, that they might be loosed from the bondage of sin and death and that they might experience the new life, the resurrection life in the Lord Jesus Christ.