INTRODUCTION:
1. AN INTERESTING ARTICLE CAME ACROSS MY DESK IN
WHICH A REPORTED
CONVERSATION BETWEEN A BELIEVER IN THE MOSLEM RELIGION
AND A MEMBER OF
THE LORD’S CHURCH.
2. THE MOSLEM AFFIRMED THAT HIS ESPOUSED RELIGION
CONTAIN QUITE AN
ADVANTAGE OVER THAT OF HIS CHRISTIAN FRIEND.
3. HE DECLARED THAT MOSLEMS CAN GO AND POINT TO
THE VERY PLACE WHERE
THEIR GREAT FOUNDER AND PROPHET LIES BURIED.
4. THIS THE ISLAMIC WORSHIPPER QUICKLY POINTED
OUT THAT THE CHRISTIAN
CANNOT DO, IN REGARDS TO THE FOUNDER OF THEIR ESPOUSED
RELIGION.
5. THE CHRISTIAN READILY AGREED THAT MEMBERS OF
HIS RELIGION CANNOT GO
TO ANY TOMB ON EARTH AND SAY, “HEREIN LIES OUR GREAT
FOUNDER PROPHET.”
6. THEN IN GLORIOUS CONTRAST, HE SUGGESTED ONE
OF THE PRINCIPLE
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN CHRISTIANITY AND MOHAMMEDANISM, BETWEEN
CHRIST AND
MOHAMMED.
7. IN ESSENCE HE DECLARED WITH TRIUMPH IN
HIS VOICE, “WE HAVE NO TOMB
BECAUSE WE HAVE NO CORPSE!”
8. THERE IS AS MUCH DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE
ISLAMIC RELIGION AND THE
CHRISTIAN RELIGION AS THERE IS BETWEEN THE DEAD MOHAMMED
AND THE
RESURRECTED REDEEMER, BETWEEN A TOMB THAT IS STILL OCCUPIED
AND ONE THAT
HAS BEEN EMPTY FOR MORE THAN NINETEEN CENTURIES.
9. CHRISTIANITY IS THE RELIGION OF THE EMPTY TOMB,
THE RISEN REDEEMER,
THE ASCENDED MASTER AND THE GLORIFIED KING WHO CURRENTLY
REIGNS IN REGAL
SPLENDOR AT THE RIGHT HAND OF HEAVEN’S MAJESTIC GOD.
10. IT IS IN ONLY CHRISTIANITY THAT WE DISCOVER
A FIRM FOUNDATION FOR
PLACING TRUST IN THE RESURRECTION.
11. AN UNWAVERING AND INFLEXIBLE FAITH IN THE HISTORICAL
REALITY OF
CHRIST’S RESURRECTION ALLOWS US THE EXCEEDINGLY PRECIOUS
HOPE THAT ONE
DAY WE ALSO WILL COME FORTH OUT OF THE TOMB.
12. THEN AT THE BEAUTIFUL BIDDING OF OUR ALL-POWERFUL
SAVIOR, WE SHALL
ENTER INTO THE ETERNAL CITY OF GOD.
13. THIS WILL BE THE FINAL JOURNEY FOR THE REDEEMED
SAINTS, THE FAITHFUL
FOLLOWERS OF THE MOST HIGH GOD.
I. LET’S TAKE A CLOSER LOOK AT THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS
CHRIST.
A. THE CLIMAX OF ALL BIBLICAL RESURRECTIONS WAS
PROPERLY RESERVED FOR
HIM WHO WILL ONE DAY RAISE ALL THE DEAD.
1. JESUS CHRIST WILLINGLY BASED ALL HIS MAJESTIC
CLAIMS OF DEITY UPON
THE SURETY WITH WHICH HE WOULD RISE AGAIN.
2. IN THE BEGINNING STAGES OF HIS JUDEAN MINISTRY
HE CLEANSED THE
TEMPLE OF ALL ITS UNHOLY ACTIVITIES, ACCUMULATED IMPURITIES
AND IMPROPER
PROCEEDINGS.
3. WHEN ASKED FOR HIS AUTHORITY FOR THIS COURAGEOUS
ACTION JESUS
DECLARED IN (JOHN 2:19) “DESTROY THIS TEMPLE, AND
IN THREE DAYS I WILL
RAISE IT UP.”
4. JOHN RECORDED THAT JESUS SPOKE OF THE TEMPLE
OF HIS OWN BODY AND BY
SUCH REFERRED TO HIS RISING AGAIN FROM THE DEAD (JOHN
2:21,22).
5. MATTHEW RELATES IN (MATT. 16:21) “FROM THAT
TIME FORTH BEGAN JESUS
TO SHOW UNTO HIS DISCIPLES, HOW THAT HE MUST GO UNTO
JERUSALEM, AND
SUFFER MANY THINGS OF THE ELDERS AND CHIEF PRIESTS AND
SCRIBES AND BE
KILLED, AND BE RAISED AGAIN THE THIRD DAY.”
6. EVERY OTHER PERSON RAISED FROM THE DEAD IN
THE BIBLE WAS RESURRECTED
THROUGH THE INSTRUMENTALITY OF ANOTHER PERSON.
7. NO PERSON WAS ABLE TO RAISE HIMSELF!
8. YET, JESUS CLAIMED THAT HE WAS GOING TO DO
JUST THAT IN (JOHN
10:17,18) “THEREFORE DOTH MY FATHER LOVE ME, BECAUSE
I LAY DOWN MY LIFE,
THAT I MIGHT TAKE IT AGAIN. NO MAN TAKETH IT FROM
ME, BUT I LAY IT DOWN
OF MYSELF. I HAVE POWER TO LAY IT DOWN, AND I HAVE
POWER TO TAKE IT
AGAIN. THIS COMMANDMENT HAVE I RECEIVED OF MY FATHER.”
9. JESUS STAKED HIS ALL UPON THE FACT THAT DEATH
WOULD NOT BE ABLE TO
HOLD HIM CAPTIVE ON A PERMANENT BASIS.
10. HE CLAIMED TRIUMPHANTLY THAT HE WOULD TAKE
UP HIS LIFE AGAIN, AND
EVEN CALLED THE DAY WHEN HE WOULD ACCOMPLISH SUCH.
11. IT WOULD BE THE THIRD DAY AFTER HIS DEATH.
12. TO MEET HEAVEN’S DEMANDS FOR REDEEMING SINFUL
HUMANITY HE WOULD
ALLOW UNMERCIFUL MEN TO NAIL HIM TO A ROMAN CROSS.
13. HOWEVER ALL THE CUNNING POWER OF DIABOLICAL
EARTHLY RULERS COMBINED
COULD NOT KEEP HIM LOCKED IN THE SOLEMN CHAMBERS OF HOPELESS
DEATH.
B. JESUS ALLOWED THE RULERS TO ARREST HIM ON THURSDAY
NIGHT.
1. THE OPENING VERSES OF JOHN 18, INFORM US THAT
JESUS VOLUNTARILY
SURRENDERED TO THEM.
2. THEY DID NOT OVERPOWER THE SON OF GOD.
3. IN THE VERY PROCESS OF THEIR ARRESTING JESUS
HE FULLY ASSURED PETER
THAT A SHOW OF EARTHLY FORCE WAS OUT OF THE ORDER.
4. IN FACT HE INFORMED PETER THAT AT A WORD FROM
HIM ANGELIC AID COULD
BE SUMMONED.
5. BUT NO WORD FROM FORTHCOMING FROM THE MASTER
OF MEN.
6. FOR WE READ IN MATT. 26:50-56).
7. JESUS THEREFORE MEEKLY SUBMITTED TO THE ARREST,
THE MOCKING TRIALS
THAT FOLLOWED AND THE CRUELTIES OF MANKIND VOID OF MERCY
HEAPED UPON THE
SON OF MAN, THE ANOINTED OF JEHOVAH GOD.
8. HE ALLOWED JEWISH FANATICISM AND ROMAN SPINELESSNESS
TO NAIL HIM TO
THE “OLD RUGGED CROSS.”
9. SIX HOURS LATER, HE BREATHED HIS FINAL BREATH.
10. THE MIGHTY MESSIAH WAS DEAD, SO WAS HIS ENTIRE
MOVEMENT AMONG MEN,
FRIENDS AND FOES ALIKE MUST HAVE THOUGHT LATE THAT FRIDAY
AFTERNOON.
11. LOVING HANDS OF TWO DEVOTED DISCIPLES PROVIDED
A SPEEDY BUT DECENT
BURIAL FOR THE CRUCIFIED LORD OF LORDS AND KING OF KINGS.
12. JUST THINK, HOW LONG MUST HAVE BEEN THAT FRIDAY
NIGHT TO THE
STUNNED APOSTLES AND THE DISAPPOINTED DISCIPLES.
13. HOW BLEAK INDEED MUST HAVE BEEN THAT LONG
SABBATH IN WHICH THE
CRUCIFIED CHRIST SLEPT THE SLEEP OF DEATH IN THE SEALED
SEPULCHER, THAT
GUARDED GRAVE.
14. HOW LONG THAT SABBATH NIGHT, THE SECOND NIGHT
IN WHICH THE MURDERED
MESSIAH REMAINED FIRMLY WITHIN THE GREEDY GRASP OF DEATH,
THAT UNIVERSAL
MONSTER.
15. WAS THERE EVER A WEEKEND SO LONG AS DARK AND
GLOOMY FOR THOSE
DEDICATED DISCIPLES AS THE ONE IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE
CRUCIFIXION OF
CHRIST?
C. BUT GLORY AND GLADNESS WERE WAITING TO BE REVEALED
VERY SOON.
1. EARLY THAT FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK, THE SON OF
RIGHTEOUSNESS AROSE
WITH HEALING IN HIS OUT SPREAD ARMS.
2. HE MADE MANY APPEARANCES THAT VERY FIRST DAY
OF HIS TRIUMPHANT
RESURRECTION.
3. FIRST, TO MARY MAGDALENE AS RECORDED BY MARK
16:9.
4. “NOW WHEN JESUS WAS RISEN EARLY THE FIRST DAY
OF THE WEEK, HE
APPEARED FIRST TO MARY MAGDALENE, OUT OF WHOM HE HAD
CAST SEVEN DEVILS.”
5. FAITHFUL WOMEN WERE THE NEXT TO BEHOLD THE
RISEN IMMANUEL (MATT.
28:9,10).
6. “AND AS THEY WENT TO TELL HIS DISCIPLES, BEHOLD,
JESUS MET THEM,
SAYING, ALL HAIL. AND THEY CAME AND HELD HIM BY
THE FEET, AND WORSHIPPED
HIM. THEN SAID JESUS UNTO THEM, BE NOT AFRAID:
GO TELL MY BRETHREN THAT
THEY GO INTO GALILEE, AND THERE SHALL THEY SEE ME.”
7. SOMETIME DURING THIS DAY HE APPEARED TO TWO
OF THE DISCIPLES
ACCORDING TO MARK 16:12,13 “AFTER THAT HE APPEARED IN
ANOTHER FORM UNTO
TWO OF THEM, AS THEY WALKED, AND WENT INTO THE COUNTRY.
AND THEY WENT
AND TOLD IT UNTO THE RESIDUE: NEITHER BELIEVED THEY THEM.”
8. JESUS ALSO APPEARED TO PETER ON THIS DAY OF
DAYS (1 COR. 15:5).
9. IT IS TO BE RECALLED THAT THE ANGEL AT THE
EMPTY TOMB HAD TOLD THE
WOMEN IN (MARK 16:7) “BUT GO YOUR WAY, TELL HIS DISCIPLES
AND PETER THAT
HE GOETH BEFORE YOU INTO GALILEE: THERE SHALL YE SEE
HIM, AS HE SAID UNTO
YOU.”
10. NO DOUBT PETER WAS SINGLED OUT DUE TO THE
FACT OF HIS DENIAL OF OUR
LORD THREE TIMES, YET WE SEE THE DEEP CONCERN AND UNDYING
LOVE OF CHRIST
FOR PETER.
11. WE READ OF THIS APPEARANCE IN (LUKE 24:34)
THE TWO DISCIPLES
RETURNING FROM EMMAUS, “SAYING, THE LORD IS RISEN INDEED,
AND HATH
APPEARED TO SIMON.”
12. THE FIFTH AND FINAL RECORDED APPEARANCE THAT
SUNDAY WAS MADE TO THE
TEN APOSTLES, JUDAS HAVING ALREADY COMMITTED SUICIDE
(MATT. 27:3-10) AND
THOMAS FOR SOME UNKNOWN REASON WAS ABSENT (JOHN 20:24).
D. FOR FORTY DAYS THE RESURRECTED REDEEMER APPEARED
AT VARIOUS TIMES AND
SHOWED “HIMSELF ALIVE AFTER HIS PASSION BY MANY INFALLIBLE
PROOFS...”(ACTS 1:3).
1. ACCORDING TO THE APOSTLE PAUL, HE WAS SEEN
AT ONE TIME BY MORE THAN
500 DISCIPLES (1 COR. 15:6).
2. MANY OF THESE WERE STILL ALIVE WHEN PAUL, A
QUARTER OF A CENTURY
LATER RECORDED THIS WORDS.
3. DEDICATED DISCIPLES WHO WITNESSED THE RESURRECTED
REDEEMER WITH
THEIR OWN EYES BRAVED DANGERS, FACED PERSECUTIONS, ENDURED
MOCKERIES,
GAVE UP WORLDLY POSSESSIONS THROUGH THE CRUEL CONFISCATION
OF PROPERTY
AND INTIMATELY SEALED THEIR UNIFORM TESTIMONY OF JESUS
CHRIST CERTAIN
RESURRECTION WITH THEIR OWN LIVES.
4. THIS IS CERTAINLY NOT THE USUAL MANNER IN WHICH
HUMANITY ACTS IF
THEY ARE BUT PROPAGATING A KNOWN FALSEHOOD.
5. HOW EASY IT WOULD HAVE BEEN FOR THE JEWISH
RULERS TO HAVE STOPPED
THE SPREAD OF CHRISTIANITY IF THEY HAD COULD ONLY BEEN
ABLE TO PRODUCE
THE CORPSE OF JESUS!
6. BUT THEY KNEW HE WAS RISEN BY THE TESTIMONY
OF THE ROMAN GUARD THAT
THEY PLACE AT THE SEALED TOMB OF JESUS (MATT. 28:11-15).
7. HOW HARD THOSE HARDEN HEARTS MUST HAVE BEEN
TO REJECT THE TESTIMONY
OF THOSE ROMAN SOLDIERS!
CONCLUSION:
1. JESUS CHRIST DIED ON THE CROSS FOR THE REMISSION
OF THE SINS OF ALL
MANKIND.
2. THAT INCLUDES MINE AND YOURS.
3. BUT TO ACCEPT THIS REMISSION REQUIRES A PERSON
UPON HEARING GOD’S
WORD TO BELIEVE IT, REPENT OF ONE’S SINS, CONFESS JESUS
AS YOUR RISEN
LORD AND SAVIOR AND BE BURIED WITH HIM IN THE WATERY
GRAVE OF BAPTISM,
THAT LIKE AS JESUS CHRIST YOU TOO CAN BE RAISED FROM
THE DEAD TO WALK IN
NEWNESS OF LIFE.
4. THIS IS THE POWER OF THE GOSPEL OF THE EMPTY
TOMB!
5. WILL YOU ACCEPT IT THIS MORNING AND RESPOND
TO THE LORD’S INVITATION
AS WE STAND AND SING?
© Copyright 2000. Paul Fisher. All rights reserved.