Luke 24:1-12 - The Resurrection

Well this morning we continue on who our journey through the Gospel of Luke looking this morning at the resurrection. I'm wondering how many of you out. There are old enough to remember the mystery of Al Capone's vaults. Is Geraldo Rivera then if you remember that the mystery of Al Capone's vault was a two-hour live American television special that was broadcast in April of 1986, and it was hosted by for all the Rivera. It's centered on the live opening of a secret vault in the Lexington hotel in Chicago that was owned by noted criminal Al Capone. This was done live on television 30 million people watched that program for 2 hours 30 million people including myself watch this program waiting for the end of the show when Al Capone's vault would be opened. And we would see dead bodies. Millions of dollars cast of bootleg alcohol who knows what we would see when they opened Al Capone's vault if you were like me and you watched for 2 hours and waited till the end you'll know that the show ended up being a complete flop because the vaults were completely empty. Nothing in them a little bit of debris and empty gin bottle that was it and it meant to show was a flop 30 million people head Watch 2 hours of live television to see a vault that was empty and they were disappointed clearly. Well what we consider this morning. The resurrection of Jesus is the exact opposite of that the fact that the tomb is empty means that this death on a cross and this whole Jesus being the Messiah was not a flop. In fact if they had have found anything in the Tomb it would have been a disaster and we wouldn't be celebrating it today. Let's look at the account that Luke gives us and Chapter 4 verses 1 through 12. of the empty tomb of Jesus Christ Luke 24 verses 1 through 12 But on the first day of the week at early Dawn they went to the tomb taking the spices they had prepared and they found the stone rolled away from the tomb. But when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus while they were perplexed about this behold two men stood by them and dazzling apparel and as they were frightened and bow their faces to the ground the men said to them. Why do you seek the living among the dead he is not here but has risen remember how he told you while he was still in Galilee that the son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise. And they remembered his words and returning from the tune. They told all these things to be 11 and to all the rest now. It was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other women with them who told these things to be Apostles, but these words seem to them and idle tale and they did not believe them but Peter Rose and ran to the tomb stooping and looking in he saw the linen Claus by themselves and he went home marveling at what had happened. This is God's word. Let's pray father God. We thank you for your word. We thank you for this inspired account from Luke about the empty tomb of Jesus. I pray by your spirit you would help us this morning. to understand or to really understand the significance And The Wonder of this event. We need your help in this we ask for in Christ name. Amen. Let's start this morning with the reality versus one through three Luke record the Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and at least two other unnamed women go to the troom early on Sunday with the spices that they had prepared. Now imagine this it's it's early morning almost certainly. It's still dark out. Is coming but it's still dark dark enough to make it difficult to clearly make things out of these women are demonstrating as we talked about last week their steadfast faithfulness to Jesus time has elapsed since the original plan of preparing his body. They've had to wait through the Sabbath and they wait till it comes to an end, but that doesn't dissuade them and neither does the dark heading into a burial ground. with no protection from Men perhaps thinking there might be Roman guards still there. They went to the tomb.

The first indication that Luke gives that something is up is the fact that the stone has been rolled away from the tomb they found the stone rolled away from the tomb loop size. This is what it was like when they arrived This Is How They found things and of course since they were going to prepare the body. I'm Jesus with their spices with their appointments and the stone was rolled away. It was an invitation for them to enter into prepare Jesus's corpse. For burial until they went in. And Luke States so matter-of-factly when they went and they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. No lot of the story of Jesus is contested and arguments about what happened and how they happen. But when it comes to the Resurrection, the fact of the empty tomb is the least argued point. There are many theories on how the tomb became empty people will argue about what actually happened there, but it is generally accepted that there was not a body in the two. Because if there was a body we we wouldn't be standing here talking about it. If Jesus's body was found in the Tomb the story would be over. And in fact, it would be as much of a flop of a story. As the one involving Al Capone's vault, but there wasn't a body there. That's the reality of the situation the tomb was empty. And what's left for the women and the disciples and those people in Jerusalem. And in fact, what's left for the whole world to decide is how did the tune come to be empty? Well, the Angels had an idea of how the tomb came to be empty. We see Verses 4 through 7 the report of the Angels. The lack of a body in the Tomb is perplexing the women it wasn't apparent to them what has happened what had happened despite. Jesus is thorough and constant teaching on his resurrection. The gospel accounts make it clear that Jesus coming back from the dead was not anticipated not by the women not by the disciples.

At least not after they had seen him crucified a few days earlier. No, imagine with me if you will later on this afternoon. You are walking around in your neighborhood. And you turn a corner and you come upon a crime scene. Police car Sirens police officers in a crowd starting to form and as you get closer because we all want to see what's going on an officer moves up to you. And the rest of the crowd that is closing in and says Move Along folks nothing to see here. We know that the opposite is true. He's telling us to move along because there is something to see and they don't want us to see it. This is what the Angels tell the women they basically tell the women Move Along folks. There's nothing to see here. But they in fact mean it literally the tomb is empty. Jesus is not here. You will not see him here. So move along get on

The Angels give the explanation of the empty tomb he is not here, but he has risen in fact using a verb tense which we talked about before which he is raised by God.

Now we understand why these women would initially be terrified of the Angels. This is a normal reaction regards to humans MTG Angels, but with their admonition remember how he told you while he was still in Galilee that the son of man must be delivered in the hands of simple man to be crucified. And on the third day rise, we see how they then we'll respond. In fact the first response that we see to the resurrection of Jesus verse 8 the response of the women the women were spawned by remembering what Jesus had taught them.

I want had Jesus taught them again. Luke 9:22 the son of man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and on the third day be raised then again, Luke 18:31 233 C. We are going to Jerusalem and everything that is written about the son of man by the prophets will be accomplished for you will be delivered over to the Gentiles and we marked and shamefully treated and spit upon and after fogging him they will kill him and on the third day. He will rise Jesus had taught them in the angel of Monica's the women. What did Jesus teach you? And it says they remember.

Do most of the commentators that I read on this think that the women believe it's not clear. It's not stated explicitly. But as we see the response. I think they did. As they were told by the angels to remember as they remembered what Jesus has taught at they as they realize there's nobody in this tomb. They believe I also think that because they went to tell the disciples.

Now it's the women who are giving a report and verse 9 and 10 the report of the women again, Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and at least two other women Court to the disciples the fact that they had been visited by angels and the tomb was empty. And if you read all slots four gospels together the timeline here becomes a little bit hard to follow but not so difficult that it can't be accounted for Andreas kostenberger and his excellent book that I've already recommended you call the final days of Jesus lays out the sequence of of what happens looking at all four gospels. In fact, it seems the very first report to the disciples on Sunday morning comes from Mary Magdalene at least initially assumes that the body has been moved. We read about that in John Mark record the initial response of the women to the angels announcements with more details. He says they went out and flight from the tomb trembling and it's daanish.

Not saying anything initially to anyone because they were afraid and yet their silence doesn't last long because Luke tells us that they go to the disciples and Report with the angel had said and what they had seen and it's their report. Would you listen to the second response to the resurrection of Jesus the response of the disciples and Brews 11 and 12 and initially that responds to get snow acceptance. They consider the talk of women to be like to talk of someone who is deliriously sick. That's what the word idle talk means. But first to have a glimmer of belief is Peter perhaps Peter had to learn what we know he had to learn the hard way that when Jesus said something was going to happen. It happened Jesus told Peter that he would deny him three times.

And even though Peter deny that would happen his denials in fact happened. Until he runs to the tomb. Goes into the tube. I found out that what the women had said was true. The tomb was empty. Any leaves the tomb amazed? This is the story of the Resurrection The Story of the empty tomb. Let's take our few more minutes here to reflect first of all of the responses that we saw and secondly on the repercussions of the Resurrection.

The women there first response I think was believed they believed what the Angels had said to them. We need to understand that believe in the resurrection is imperative for salvation. Paul says in Romans 10 verse 9 and 10 if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead you will be saved. Until this morning, if you're not a Believer here on Easter morning understand that some salvation comes as we confess that Jesus is Lord and has saved his people through his work on the cross and as we believe that God raised him from the dead. and in his resurrection that is imperative for salvation the women believe the disciples would eventually believe and from that time every Christian has believe that Jesus Christ rose from the dead. Get a response from the women was the reporting of good news the women heard the report from the angels and saw with their eyes that Jesus had been resurrected and they in turn shared it with other people. Brothers and sisters nothing Bears repeating more than the story. We celebrate today. The Jesus Christ died for the sins of his people and then he rose from the dead Have you shared that story with someone?

It Bears repeating again and again and again. The women understood that they believed and then they reported what they had seen. Only the apostles responded the same way. What was the apostles response? It was unbelief. their initial response they didn't believe Bishop J. C. Ryle is good on this as he is. Most Sundays he writes we see lastly how slow of believe the first disciples were on the subject of Christ Resurrection. We read that when the women returned from the Sepulchre and told the things they had heard from the angels to the 11 Apostles their words seem to them idle tales and they believe them not in spite of the plaintiffs Declarations from their masters on lips that he would rise again on the third day in spite of the distinct testimony or five or six credible witnesses that the gray was empty and of the Angels had told him he was risen in spite of the Manifest impossibility of accounting for the empty tomb on any other stuff position than that of up miraculous Resurrection in spite of all this these 11 faithless ones would not believe. Perhaps we Marvel at their unbelief. No donut seems at First Sight most senseless. Most unreasonable most provoking most unaccountable. But shall we not do well to look at ourselves? Do we not see around us in the Christian church has a mass of unbelief far more unreasonable and farm or blameworthy than that of the Apostles. Do we not see after 18 centuries of additional proves that Christ has risen from the dead a general lack of faith, which is truly deplorable. Do we not see myriads of professing Christians who seem not to believe that Jesus died and rose again and is coming to judge the world brothers and sisters. God forbid. We are slow to believe in the resurrection. God forbid that having believe we fall away from that belief.

At least the disciples responded by investigating what they had heard when the facts have been laid out to them, even though they were not convinced. They at least had enough doubts about their own position to go and investigate the matter. Let me speak to you whether you're a Believer and unbeliever. If you don't believe the resurrection investigated. There are wonderful resources out there in regards to prove that Jesus rose from the dead and I encourage you to look into them. We are about out of time this morning. I want to talk about to repercussions in regards to the resurrection. Repercussion sound like negative things but they're positive. First of all, the resurrection brothers and sisters gives us hope in hard times the resurrection offers as hold that makes the pain and sorrow of her * diminish.

I know there are a lot of you going through difficult times. I know there are a lot of you facing just disastrous relationships facing trials in your health facing economic problems facing mental health issues. In fact, our whole society is going to somewhat of a difficult time 2nd Corinthians 4 13 through 18 since since we have the same Spirit of Faith according to what has been written. I believe I spoke we also believe and so we also speak knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presents for it is all for your sake. So the grace extends more and more people that may increase Thanksgiving to the glory of God. So we do not lose heart door outer self is wasting away. Our inner self is being renewed day by day, but this light and momentary Affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of Glory beyond all comparison, and we look not to the things that are seen but the things that are unseen to the things that are seen or Transit but the things that are unseen are eternal Whatever it is, you're going through whatever problem you faced, whatever hardship you are struggling with. I want you to imagine putting that on a scale and watching the scale tip in the favor of that difficulty and it's scale will tip because it's real it's real suffering. It's real problems. It is real issues that we're dealing with but what Paul says here is we start to load up the other side of the scale with the glory of God in Christ Jesus for those who believe and we do that in our lifetime and then we do that for eternity eventually the weight on that side of the scale becomes so massive that those other things become light and momentary and so there's hope and hardships we also have As a repercussion of Christ resurrection of assurance of eternal life. One of my favorite writers as William Shakespeare and few writers have addressed the issue of death is truthfully and is terribly as Shakespeare did Shakespeare wrote about the fear of death and his play called measure for measure where he penned these words the weariest and most loathed worldly life that age ache penury and imprisonment and Leon nature is a paradise to what we fear of death. We fear death heading Richard II hero to the inevitable mess of death. He said woe destruction ruin and Decay the worst is death and death will have his day.

We can avoid it. We can't get away from it and we fear it. Furthermore most notably in my favorite play Macbeth. He recognizes that the fear of death and it's in inevitableness makes our life seem futile life's but a walking Shadow a poor player that struts and Frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more. It is a tale told by an idiot full of Sound and Fury signifying nothing. Shakespeare was right if death is inevitable and we all must face it.

It makes our lives ultimately futile and therefore we should fear death. but if Christ has been raised from the dead and we are in Christ, then we will not stay dead death is not Victorious 1st Corinthians, 15 20 through 22, but if in fact Christ has been raised from the dead the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep for his by a Man Came Death by a man. Come all has come also the resurrection of the Dead Verizon Adam all die. So also in Christ shall all be made alive. The resurrection for you this morning brothers and sisters gives you hope in the face of hardship, whether that's the general hardship of a pandemic that has changed the way we have lived or something much more specific and much more terrible that you are experiencing right now. The resurrection gives us hope as we FaceTime and as we Face the truly in inevitableness of death, it is appointed for all men to die and after that judgement as we face that we have assurance that we will not stay that but then we will live eternally why Because the tomb was empty and price indeed has risen, let's pray father God. We thank you for your word. We thank you for this inspired story from Luke about the resurrection of Jesus. I pray father God that you would buy your spirit. Remind us that in our present difficulties. We have hope because we will live eternally with you. In this life and in the Life Hereafter, all of those difficulties will become light and momentary as compared to the glories of eternal life with you. My Lord, I pray each one. You would give this morning I surance in regards to their facing that we will rise again because he rose from the dead. I pray this in his name. Amen.