Promises Made-Promises Kept-He Is Risen

After Jesus was placed in the tomb by Joseph and Nicodemus it was sealed and guarded by Roman soldiers.

Matthew 27:62-66 The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate. ⁶³ “Sir,” they said, “we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’ ⁶⁴ So give the order 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.” ⁶⁵ “Take a guard,” Pilate answered. “Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how.” ⁶⁶ So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard.

Matthew 28:1-6 After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. ² There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. ³ His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. ⁴ The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men. ⁵ The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. ⁶ He is not here; HE HAS RISEN, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay.                    How important is the statement HE IS RISEN (nothing He did or said matters)

Romans 10:9 If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

 John 20:1-2 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. ² So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”

When Mary sees the empty tomb, her first reaction was to think the body of Jesus was taken/stolen. She wasn’t expecting nor anticipating the resurrection of Jesus.

 John 20:3-10 So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. ⁴ Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. ⁵ He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. ⁶ Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, ⁷ as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen. ⁸ Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. ***⁹ (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) ¹⁰ Then the disciples went back to where they were staying.

What kept John from going into the tomb? Possibly seeing the grave clothes, he thought the body was still there, respect for the dead, Unclean?  Whatever kept John from going in didn’t stop Peter. When he arrived, he went straight into the tomb. This action-oriented impulsiveness was part of Peter’s character.

Now, the Greek construction (words) indicates that the linen strips that were wrapped around Jesus were still lying in the form of a body, but empty. PIC Cloth                              (They went back)

John 20:11-12 Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb ¹² and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.   ***PIC

Exodus 25:17-19 “Make an atonement cover/mercy seat of pure gold—two and a half cubits long and a cubit and a half wide. ¹⁸ And make two cherubim out of hammered gold at the ends of the cover. ¹⁹ Make one cherub on one end and the second cherub on the other; make the cherubim of one piece with the cover, at the two ends. 

John 20:13-15 They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?” “They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” ¹⁴ At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus. ¹⁵ He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?” Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”

Mary was emotionally distressed and had tears in her eyes. And we have already established she wasn’t expecting Jesus to be alive.

There is something different about the risen Jesus so that He was not always immediately/easily recognized.

Road to Emmaus Luke 24:15-16 As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; ¹⁶ but they were kept from recognizing him. (went and ate bread)

Luke 24:31 Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight.

John 20:16-18 Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”). ¹⁷ Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” ¹⁸ Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.

Mary had been possessed by 7 demons (Mark 16 & Luke 8) Jesus cast them out. Her troubled past didn’t disqualify her from being the first witness to see the resurrected Jesus and also His first commissioned messenger of His resurrection.

Jesus made a woman the first witness of His resurrection. The law/courts of that day would not recognize the testimony of a woman, but Jesus did.

If someone fabricated this story, they would not make the first witnesses to the resurrection women, who were commonly regarded as 2^nd rate citizens.

John 20:19-20 On the evening of that first day of the week (same day), when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” ²⁰ After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord. This miraculous appearance of Jesus demonstrates that resurrection bodies are not subject to the same limitations as our physical bodies. This gives us some insight into the nature of our future body in the resurrection.

1 Corinthians 15:42-44 So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; ⁴³ it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; ⁴⁴ it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.

 John 20:21-22 Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” ²² And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.

Jesus breathed on them. Just as God breathed into that shell that He had formed out of the dust of the earth and man became a living spirit. But that spirit died when man sinned, and man lost fellowship with God.

So, what was lost by Adam is now restored by Jesus. The life of God within man, and so what God had breathed into man in the beginning was now restored.

John 20:23 If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”

Does this mean that Jesus gave His disciples the power to forgive sins? Absolutely not. Sin is against God, and God is the only one who can forgive sins. (Nathan)

This lays down the duty of the church to proclaim the gospel of forgiveness not only to the church, but for the church to warn the unbeliever that they are in danger of forfeiting the mercy of God. We don’t create the forgiveness; we announce it according to God’s word and the wisdom of the Spirit.