The Purpose, the Proof and the Power of the Resurrection Matthew 27:50-28:15

[Dr Howard Barnes]

After six hours on the cross Jesus cried aloud, “It is finished!” And then He died. Is this the end of He Who was in the beginning? Will Christianity die out in a short lived puff of smoke? Will man continue down the sin paved highway to hell now that He’s gone? 

I’m happy to remind you today that although almost everyone thought it was all over, including His disciples, Jesus shouted triumphantly, “Over my dead body!” as He conquered death, hell, and the grave, and rose again just as He promised! And just like the end of the world is only the beginning, this was just the beginning for Jesus and all who would follow Him and be saved! He was about to make all things new.

I believe it is very interesting that after Jesus cried “It is finished!”... and died, from that point forward no hostile hands were allowed to touch Him. It’s as if God the Father said, “OK, enough, hands off”. The soldiers who usually would have broken His legs so He could no longer rise to breathe for some reason didn’t, and the scripture was fulfilled that no bones of His would be broken. Instead, they stick a spear into His chest cavity and out flowed blood and water. The blood is symbolic to us of the continual fountain which still flows today to wash away our sin. The water suggests congestive heart failure. You could say that Jesus died of a broken heart as He hung there taking our sins, thinking of us!

Not only did the soldiers never touch Him again, they didn’t even take Him down as they usually would have, that job was granted to one of His followers, Joseph of Arimathea, after begging for it. He was a secret disciple, rich, and not wholehearted, but still a follower. With him was a guy named Nicodemus who, similarly, first came to Jesus under cover of darkness.

Jesus had suffered all kinds of physical abuse and indignities for at least eighteen hours, but then suddenly, hands off! And these two men took the body down, wrapped it for burial, and laid it in the private garden tomb. 

Pilate commanded that a seal be placed over the stone, and guards posted lest His body be stolen away by His disciples. But we know it was the furthest thing from their minds. They are elsewhere, hiding in a bunker somewhere, hoping not to be tracked down and killed themselves.

It’s amazing to me what the religious leaders said in v. 63...

”Sir”, they said,”we remember that while He was alive that deceiver said. 'After three days I will rise again'. So give orders for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, His disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that He has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first.”
Five times Jesus specifically told the disciples that He would rise again [See Mt. 16:21, 17:9, 22-23, 20:18-19, 26:32]

He even told the disciples where to meet Him after His resurrection. But they have forgotten, and are living like they have no hope, and meanwhile the unbelievers remember Jesus’ words!

What a picture it must’ve been—the Rock of Ages sealed behind an aged rock. The Light of the world is now shut up in darkness. The One Who came to give life is now dead........ but not for long! I don’t care for the crucifix because my Jesus is no longer on that cross...I serve a living Saviour! “Gospel” means “good news”...and it wouldn’t be good news if He had only died for us, and not risen again.

A. Let us consider four reasons or purposes for the resurrection. [why He had to literally rise from the dead]

1. His resurrection was the single sign of His deity.
He claimed to be God, but this was the day He proved it. Many have made the claim, but never have any of them beaten death! Doing miracles wasn’t enough...others in the Bible worked miracles, which was a sign that they were of God, but only the resurrection could prove that He was God! Even the antichrist will be able to work miracles, but once he is sent to hell it is never to rise again, but not Jesus—because you can’t keep the God man down!
Many wanted a sign from Jesus that He was God. He said the only sign you’ll get is Jonah’s sign, 3 days and nights in the belly of the earth, and then out I’ll come!
Romans 1:4 
“And He was declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, because of the resurrection from the dead” 

However Jesus knew that not everyone would believe...."If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead." (Luke 16:31)

2. His resurrection verifies the truth of Scripture.

The Bible falls apart if He remained dead. But since He rose, we have proof that the Bible is true. The OT made numerous predictions about the Messiah someday coming and conquering death. The odds were against that, it was next to impossible that the Jews would kill their own Messiah, and no one had beaten death before...until now!

3. His resurrection secures our future resurrection.

John 14:19 
“Yet a little while, and the world will see me no more; but you will see me: because I live, you shall live also.” 
1 Corinthians 15:20 
“But now is Christ risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of them that have died (sleep)” . 
We have hope in death. Because Jesus conquered death for us we also can cheat death!

The resurrection completes the gospel!

4. His resurrection starts His ministry of High Priest and gives us access.

He’s our Mediator, our Intercessor. We can now go to the Father without the help of a human priest, like in OT times. 

v. 51 The temple curtain, four inches thick and fourteen feet high, was split from top to bottom.

Why? Because now we have access directly to the Father. We can enter His presence, into the ‘Holy of Holies’, that only the High Priest could enter once a year. Tradition states that two teams of horses could not have torn that curtain in the temple but it happened, because Jesus went before us to ever intercede and plead for us, always and continually reminding the Father of His sacrifice and so procuring our righteousness.

Hebrews 7:25

“Therefore He is able to save completely those who come to God through Him because He always lives to intercede for them”

Hebrews 4:14 
“Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession”. 

Hebrews 4:16 
“Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need”. 

B. Lets us now consider three proofs of the resurrection

You don’t have to put your brain on the shelf to believe in Jesus’ resurrection. Our faith is not blind faith. We’ve got good reasons to believe in it even though some would say it was a made up story to promote this new sect of Judaism that was in danger of dying out.

There are undeniable proofs that Jesus truly rose from the dead and that would hold up in any court of law. Let’s look at them........

1. The remarkable change in the life of the disciples.
One minute they are cowering behind closed doors. The next they are declaring His resurrection, walking in victory, and all of them were willing to lay down their lives for it! The History Channel did an expose of the disciples in which they asserted that they made the story up. But why lay down your life for a made up story. Every disciple died a martyr’s death apart from Judas and John. Why die for something that’s not true?

One day Peter is denying Him, saying, I don’t know the son of a.....(swear words no doubt!)...and a few days later He is proclaiming that Jesus truly is the Son of God! And he’s preaching to thousands who are getting saved. What happened to Peter? He saw the risen Saviour and was willing to be crucified upside down!

One moment Thomas is doubting Him and saying I won’t believe unless I see Him. The next minute he’s believing, and why? Because Jesus walked in and showed him the nail holes in His hands! And Thomas later died for Christ, run through by a lance. What happened to Thomas? He saw and handled the risen Jesus!

Luke was hanged from an olive tree in Greece, John was boiled in oil and exiled, James was beheaded, the other James was beaten to death with a club, Andrew was crucified and preached to his persecutors until he died, Jude was shot to death with arrows, Matthias was stoned and beheaded...and you want me believe it was all for a made up story?

2. The testimony of more than five hundred eyewitnesses.

1 Corinthians 15:6 
“After that, he was seen of above five hundred people at one time; of whom the greater part, remain alive to this present day”. 

If it was a mass hallucination it was well documented and just one or two witnesses can make or break a case during a trial.

And other extra-Biblical historical sources affirm this to be fact. Only this week there was a report of the discovery in Jerusalem of a series of tombs dating back to the 1^st Century. It was located below a modern condominium building in Jerusalem, and a team of archeologists have found ossuaries — bone boxes for the dead — bearing engravings that could be the earliest evidence of Christian iconography in Jerusalem.

The tomb has been dated to before A.D. 70, so if its engravings are indeed early Christian. They were most likely made by some of Jesus’ earliest followers, according to the excavators.

One of the limestone ossuaries bears an inscription in Greek that includes a reference to “Divine Jehovah raising someone up” - the earliest archeological evidence of “faith in Jesus’ resurrection from the dead.”

A second ossuary has an image that appears to be a large fish with a stick figure in its mouth. The excavators believe the image represents the story of Jonah, the biblical prophet who was swallowed by a fish or whale and then released.

3. The power of the Name of Jesus to transform lives.

For 2,000 years the name of Jesus has not just reformed alcoholics, but transformed them. Purified prostitutes, made liars tell the truth, turned haters into lovers, turned wife beaters into compassionate men, made untrustworthy, faithful, cleaned up cursing mouths and has saved souls from hell!
Every other religion on earth has this in common: their founder is today dead. But we can say.......

We serve a RISEN Saviour, He’s in the world today.

I know that He is living, whatever men may say.

I see His hand of mercy, I hear His voice of cheer.

And just the time I need Him, He’s always near.

He lives, He lives! Christ Jesus lives today.

He walks with me and talks with me along life’s narrow way.

He lives, He lives! Salvation to impart.

You ask me how I know He lives? He lives within my heart!

Finally

C. Let us consider the power of the resurrection

Philippians 3:10

“I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection......becoming like Him in His death and so somehow attain to the resurrection from the dead”

There are references here to two different meanings of the term ‘resurrection’ here.

1. The Resurrection Power that raised Jesus from the dead

2. The personal ‘resurrection from the dead’ when we rise again after our death, to live with Him eternally.

Paul, in these verses, share His desperate desire to know both. He encourages us too, to know this 'power of His resurrection' in both ways.

Oh that the Church today might experience both. Oh that we might function in the POWER of the Spirit, in the POWER of the resurrection. The Father wants us to operate in the the same POWER that raised Jesus from the dead. It is true that the same POWER dwells in you NOW because Jesus has given you the self same Spirit. It was the Holy Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead and that same Spirit lives in you.

So we can say that NOW He.......

• lives to save us

• lives to change us

• lives to empower us

• lives to give us a hope

His resurrected life save us

Our sin had separated us from God but Jesus paid the price for our sin on the cross and took our judgement and punishment upon Himself. BUT His resurrection meant that He is now alive to continue to save us. He lives in us and promises to keep us and “present us faultless” to the Father. This is the power effect of the resurrection!

His resurrected life changes us

The ‘mystery’ of the gospel as explained in Col 1:26 and 27 which was “hidden for generation and now has been revealed to you” is Christ in you, the hope of Glory!”

His presence in us is the guarantee that we will be “changed from one degree of Glory to another”. He is committed to change us to be like Him and His resurrection power and presence is in us to do just this. His ‘resurrection power’ transforms us, sanctifies us, and conforms us to His image.

His resurrected life empowers us

Now He is raised, He sits on the right hand of the Father and has all authority and power. He was raised to send His Holy Spirit to be here to empower us. He said in John 16:7 “Unless I go to the Father (Resurrected and raised back to heaven) the Counsellor will not come to you, but if I go, I will send Him to you” and in Acts 1:8 “And you will receive power after the Holy Spirit comes on you”

We call this receiving the Holy Spirit but this comes in two ways. 1) at re-birth when we are born again and become a child of God and 2) when we are filled with the Holy Spirit or Baptised in the Holy Spirit. The first experience is to do with salvation and sanctification and the second to do with empowering and it is this aspect that we are so deficient in. We need more power!

Jesus preached with power, taught with wisdom and authority. He healed the sick, raised the dead, cleansed the lepers and delivered the people from the demons that manipulated and terrorised them.

And.....He gives us power, the same power that raised Jesus from the dead. We too can do these things....”and greater when the Holy Spirit comes upon you” Act 14: 12 There is a call to the Body of Christ today to demonstrate the power of the Almighty. How else will the world know the truth. Miracles are signs to the unbeliever. Paul said that when I came to you I came “not in word only but in demonstration and power”. Wake up Church and demonstrate the “signs of the Kingdom”.

His resurrected life give us a hope

If Christ was not resurrected then we are of all people to be most pitied because we have NO FUTURE HOPE. There is no life after death and no heaven. Scripture puts it this way in 1 Cor 15: 17 and 18

“And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile, you are still in your sins (not forgiven and condemned). Then those also who have died in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men”. His own resurrection guarantees our resurrection and gives us eternal hope.

Application

What a privilege we have. What an inheritance! What a challenge here! What power is available for us, for our transformation and the worlds. But first it must start in the Church. He longs to empower us for His service in His Church and in this world.

HOWEVER.......we must never forget that this provision for us , cost Him everything. The way to the resurrection and the release to us of its power, was through the cross and the pain of the cross. In order to gain all this for us He gave up everything. Let us thank Him continually. Let us live to honour Him and show our gratitude to Him by obeying Him.....”He who did not consider equality with God something to be grasped at......became man.....and became obedient even to death.... on the cross......Therefore God has raised Him up and given Him a name that is above all names, above all principalities and powers, so that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow....and acknowledge Him to be Lord.....” Phil 2:6-11

Prayer

Dear Jesus,

We of all people are so blessed.

We thank you this Easter Sunday. Hallelujah!

Not only do you save us from the just punishment for our wrong doings but you come to live again in us to transform us into your likeness. Only Your likeness pleases the Father and satisfies His heart.....but You do that, in us and through us and for us.

What humility! What grace, that You should give up all the Glory of heaven to come here to this earth and become man.

What love, that You should suffer so much in our place, innocent though You where.

What obedience to the Father that You should submit entirely to His love and wisdom.

What trust You showed in Him that in Your total dependency, powerlessness and weakness, You believed Him to raise You again on the third day.

How pure and righteous You are, that the Father should vindicate You and raise you again proving your identity, divinity and Sonship.

What joy that You should send the Holy Spirit to empower us and Your Holy Presence to live in us.

We who are your modern day disciples need your Holy Spirit once again to fill us afresh with purity, love and power. We confess our weakness, our apathy, our luke-warmness, our impotency. We repent of our unbelief and fear of man.

We need Your power. Power to live and power to serve, to effectively witness or preach for You. To heal the sick and to raise the dead.

Come again Lord Jesus at this Easter time. We need You. We are desperate for You!

In Your Precious Name, the name of Jesus, we ask......Amen