DUNCAN/He is risen

If you have your Bibles I’d invite you to turn with me to Matthew 28 verses 1 – 10. In this passage God explains to us the meaning of the resurrection. The resurrection is at the very center of Christian proclamation of the gospel. I would like to walk through the passage with you in three parts today. If you look at verses 1 – 4 you see God giving five signs. Then verses 5 – 7 you see the comforting words of the angel. And then finally verses 8 – 10, you see the gracious words of Jesus. 

I. God Gives Five Signs 

In verses 1 – 4, these two faithful female disciples witness five signs that God has done something extraordinary at the tomb. 

Firstly, there’s the earthquake. In the Old Testament earthquakes were connected with manifestations of the presence of God. At Sinai the earth trembled and shook. It was often a sign of the presence of God which would comfort believers, but it was also a sign in the Old Testament of God’s judgment against His enemies. And we see a little bit of both here at the tomb. God’s judgment against His enemies, and God’s comfort to His people.

Secondly, there is the appearance of this angel. This angel is God’s special messenger, and his presence was a visible symbol of Christ’s victory over death in the grave. As that angel sits on the stone, it’s a manifestation that God has conquered death.

Thirdly, the stone was completely removed from its groove, and it was laid over on its side. And the reason that the stone was removed was not to let Jesus out, but to let the disciples in. You see what God is doing here? He is laying the groundwork for a sure confidence in the resurrection of His Son. And His concern is not to let His Son free, who cannot be held by the power of the grave, but instead to allow disciples to look in and have their faith strengthened as they view the empty tomb.

Fourthly, there is the dazzling description of this angel. His appearance was like lightning and his clothing white as snow. It is reminiscent of Revelation 10:1 where John says, “I saw another strong angel coming down out of heaven clothed with a cloud, and the rainbow was upon his head and his face was like the sun and his feet like pillars of fire.” This angel is a visible picture of the glory and the holiness of God.

Finally, in verse 4 you see these stunned guards lying all over the place, immobilized, petrified, terrified, stunned. The seal, the stone and now the guards – all the devices that humans had aligned to secure the end of Jesus’ claims and the end of Jesus’ message are now left in a rubble. God at the tomb dashes the railings of the nations and fulfills the promise of Psalm 2. He who sits in the heavens laughs them to scorn at the tomb and in all these great events God is laying the groundwork to strengthen the faith of Jesus’ disciples.

II. The Comforting 

Then if you look at verses 5 – 7 the angel gives a word of comfort. Matthew has just told us that the guards were paralyzed with fear. And so the angel speaks deliberately to comfort the women and the first words out his mouth were, “Don’t be afraid.” And the reason they do not need to fear is because Jesus is resurrected. He goes on to say, “He is risen, just as He told you.” The angel takes us right back to the words of the Lord Jesus Christ and says, “Look, He told you so. He told you this would happen. This is not something that should surprise you. Certainly it didn’t surprise Him. This is exactly what He told you.”

What is God doing throughout the message of the angel? He is strengthening the faith of His people through His word. And I want you to notice something here. God just doesn’t do miraculous signs at the resurrection of Christ. He gives an explanation of what was happening and a word of revelation from the angel. And you’ll see this throughout Scripture.

Think of the Exodus. God pre-explains the Exodus to His people. Then He does the great act of the Exodus, and then He post-explains it to His people. And He does the same with the resurrection. Jesus pre-explains and predicts the resurrection. The event occurs with a great manifestation of God’s power. And then when it’s done God sends another revelatory word to explain what it means because He knows we’d make neither head nor tail of it if He didn’t explain it with His own word. God is not only confirming and vindicating His Son and the gospel through the events of the resurrection but through the words of the angel. He is strengthening the faith of His people in deed and in word.

We have to believe the same way. God expects us to trust Him in His providence and to believe in His word. And that is exactly what He is doing for His people right here. He is leaving them to trust in His providence and believe in His word.

III. The Gracious Words 

Finally, in verses 8 – 10, we are told that the women ran to tell the disciples this good news. And suddenly and unexpectedly, Jesus Himself comes to them. Matthew doesn’t say that the women ran into Jesus. It says Jesus met them. Jesus comes to these women and immediately they fall at His feet, and they worship Him.

They are charged with the privilege and the responsibility of carrying an important message to Jesus’ faltering and fearful disciples. And note how Jesus tells these women to address His disciples. The first words from Jesus to His disciples through the lips of the women are to be, “My brothers.”

Now I ask you, if you were the God of the universe, and you had been resurrected from the dead, and you had been abandoned by the disciples in the hour of your need, what would the first words have been that you spoke to them? I, the exalted God of heaven and earth, am raised again from the dead and where were you in the hour of my need? 

You see the tenderness of the Lord Jesus Christ in emphasizing to the women that the first words that His disciples must hear are these words: “My brothers.” He doesn’t even relate to them as the sovereign God. He relates to them as their elder brother. And so we see the love and the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ as He cultivates faith amongst these struggling disciples. What’s He doing? He’s building a foundation for faith. Because saving faith, the only faith that saves is based upon the word of God and the promises of God and is focused solely on the Lord Jesus Christ.