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Matthew 28
 
! Introduction
            When we woke up and looked out of the window we could see the glacier in the distance and the mountains rising majestically on both sides of beautiful Lake Louise.
We were staying at Chateau Lake Louise for a Billy Graham School of Evangelism and were fortunate enough to have a room on the lake side.
We were there for the better part of a week and never tired of the beautiful view.
How long would it take before that beauty would begin to be taken for granted?
Our children have lived in Banff for two summers and now since September.
They still tell us what a pleasure it is to walk out of their apartment and look up at Mt. Norquay, Rundle Mountain and all the beauty that surrounds them.
Do people who live there all their life get used to the beauty they see?
Today we are celebrating one of the most amazing events in all of human history.
Never before and never since has someone risen from the dead in conquest over sin and death.
It speaks profoundly to all of life.
We have known and celebrated this truth all our life.
Do we get used to it?
Do we take it for granted?
My prayer this Easter season has been that the wonder and power of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ will be real to us, that we will not only know the truth of it, but also that it will create in us a sense of wonder and a renewal of our love for God who has done these things.
I pray, as we look at the story from Matthew 28:1-15 once again, that we will appreciate in a new way the power and the wonder of the fact that Jesus is alive.
!
I.
He Has Risen
            Look at this wonderful event!
It is early morning of the third day since Jesus died.
Can you imagine the feelings of the disciples and the others who had experienced power and hope of Jesus present with them?
Read p. 140 of “The Singer.”
This is the state in which the third morning after his death found them.
As the women approached the tomb of Jesus in the dim light of dawn in order to look at it, suddenly there was a bright light, which blinded them.
At the same time, the earth shook violently with an earthquake.
They were frightened but as their eyes adjusted to the brightness, they saw an angel sitting on the stone which had been in front of the tomb of Jesus.
His appearance was like lightening and his clothing was as white as snow and he said to them, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified.
He is not here; he has risen, just as he said.
Come and see the place where he lay.”
This was the first indication of the resurrection of Jesus.
The angel had come to roll the stone away - not to release Jesus, but to reveal the empty tomb.
He showed them that Jesus was not there so that they would understand that he was alive.
Then as they went away from the tomb, Jesus himself appeared to them to let them see with their own eyes that this was really so.
To the women, the message was clearly declared, but Matthew indicates that there were others who came to know.
The women were told to go and tell the disciples so that they would also know.
The guards were the first to know, but they were so stunned that they could not immediately comprehend what is going on.
When the guards came to again, they went and reported these things to the chief priests.
So in the account we are confronted with the facts: the tomb is empty and God has sent his angel to announce, “He is not here; he has risen, just as he said.”
This announcement was in fulfillment of Jesus’ own words.
He had announced that he would die and then rise again in Matthew 16:21, "From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must ...be killed and on the third day be raised to life."
Now it had happened.
!! A. Questioning The Facts
Such a truth is most amazing.
If it is true, it has powerful implications for life.
If we have grown accustomed to this story and it has not impacted our life, perhaps that is because we have not really accepted that it is true.
Even at that time, not everyone accepted the reality of the resurrection.
The story tells us that when the guards went to the Jewish leaders to tell them what happened they bribed them so that they would report that the disciples had come and stolen the body of Jesus away.
The explanation that the disciples stole the body continued to circulate and is still believed by some today.
Obviously the facts were not powerful enough for everyone to believe them.
To many believing that the disciples stole the body was more acceptable than believing that someone could rise from the dead.
In vs. 17 it says that some doubted.
The people involved here are the disciples who had been with Jesus and who were with him when he gave them the great commission and ascended into heaven.
Even among those who saw Jesus alive there were some who doubted.
There continue to be theories of the empty tomb and the angels announcements which explain away the literal bodily resurrection of Jesus.
Many people continue to deny the resurrection.
a.
Some have suggested that the message of the resurrection and the appearances of Jesus were visions which resulted from intense emotional ecstasy.
b.
Recently one scholar suggested that God communicated a vision to the disciples from heaven to assure them that Jesus was alive and well.
This amounts to a denial of the resurrection.
c.
Many in the past 100-150 years have taught that Jesus' life has meaning without the need for an actual resurrection.
(see Karen Toole-Mitchell)
d.
Over the years, some have believed that Jesus did not die, but fled to some remote region.
e.
Others admit that Jesus died, but that the resurrection is a grand hoax.
!! B. Reasons to Believe
            If we are to be impacted by the truth of the resurrection, we need to be convinced that it really happened.
I believe in the resurrection because this is in character for God.
If God is the sovereign Lord of the universe and if he is the one who has created it, then resurrection really poses no problem at all.
God could easily do this.
When we understand the plan of God to redeem his people, then the resurrection is not only believable, but necessary.
I believe in the resurrection because it is the only reasonable explanation for the empty tomb.
How else can we explain the story of the guards themselves.
They were told to say that the disciples stole the body while they were sleeping.
Well, how did they know that the disciples stole the body if they were asleep?
I know that when I am asleep, I usually don't know what is going on.
Such a story is also quite unbelievable since sleeping on the job for a Roman soldier was inviting the death sentence.
Besides this what we know about the disciples was that they were so filled with fear and confusion that such an action on their part would be completely unbelievable.
I believe in the resurrection because Jesus showed himself to many people.
Acts 1:3 says that, "... he showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive."
I Corinthians 15 indicates that he appeared to many people, including at least 500 people at one time.
The eyewitness accounts of the risen Christ convince me of its reality.
I am also convinced because the spread of the church to all parts of the world could not have happened apart from the resurrection.
The apostle Paul would certainly never have become a Christian and gone to the whole known world to proclaim Jesus if he had not been convinced of the resurrection.
And he would not have accepted the resurrection unless he was absolutely certain that it happened.
Resurrection "so convinced the early Christians that they carried the message of it to the very heart of the Roman Empire."
We rejoice today that “The crucified Lord is risen and back in business.”
The resurrection is not a story about something that happened a long time ago.
The resurrection is a truth today.
Jesus is alive now.
!
II.
Resurrection Living
            If we are convinced of the truth that Jesus is alive now, is that truth alive in our lives today or have we become used to it?
If the truth of the resurrection is alive in us now then there are four reactions to this news in the text which are worthy of our consideration.
!! A. Do Not Be Afraid.
When the angel came down and rolled away the stone the text says that the “guards were so afraid that they shook and became like dead men.”
We can understand such fear, but what was it they feared?
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