The Sunday Surprise
Steve W. Reeves
stevesermons.blogspopt.com
INTRODUCTION:
\\\A.
Frank Morrison was a British scholar and writer around the turn of the 20th
century. He had a sharp intellect and inquisitive mind. He was a lawyer by profession and a
skeptic by philosophy having been influenced by the teachings of Sir Thomas Huxley,
a disciple of Darwinism along with other renowned British and German teachers.
Morrison did not believe the Bible or the Gospel of Christ. To disprove the
resurrection of Christ he set forth to write a book investigating the Biblical text,
historical evidence and archaeology. His findings led him to write a book far different
than what he had envisioned. To this day Morrison’s book, Who Moved The Stone,
is a leasing apologetic of the resurrection. In the preface Morrison stated, “This is the
inner story of a man who originally set out to write one type of book but found himself
compelled by the sheer weight of circumstances to write another.”
B. In the midst of a world-wide crisis where so many people have died and thousands
upon thousands have become ill, the subject of the resurrection takes on new
relevance for many people.
1. For Christians, however, the resurrection of Christ from the tomb is the bedrock
upon which our hope is secured. It is not merely the subject of an Easter sermon
but the central focus of life itself.
2. Writing to the Corinthians in the first century, Paul the apostle discussed the
ramifications of denying the resurrection. “For if the dead are not raised, not even
Christ has been raised; 17 and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless;
you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have
perished. 19 If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be
pitied” (1 Corinthians 6:16-19).
C. Upon what irrefutable evidence does our hope in the resurrection of Jesus rest? Why
was the resurrection a “Sunday Surprise?”
I. THE DETERMINATION OF HIS DEATH
A. In order to have a resurrection there must obviously be a death.
1. The death of Christ was foretold by Old Testament prophets.
a. In Exodus 12:21, Moses gave instructions of the leaders of Israel about the
Passover lamb. When the blood of that lamb was put upon the doorpost the
people in the house would be saved from the plague of death. In the New
Testament Jesus is referred to as our Passover lamb. “For indeed, Christ, our
Passover was sacrificed for us” (1 Corinthians 5:7) and a “lamb without spot
and blemish” (11 Peter 1:18-19).
b. Zachariah prophesied that the Messiah would come riding a donkey as the
people rejoiced and worshipped him (Zachariah 9:9). Luke records the
fulfillment of this prophecy in Luke 19:37-39 as Jesus rode into Jerusalem
while the people laid their garments on the ground and praised Him.
c. Isaiah prophesied of the suffering servant, the one who has born our sorrows
and by whose stripes we were healed. The one on whom the Lord has laid
the iniquities of us all (Isaiah 53). All of these prophecies have been realized
in Jesus Christ.
d. Peter Stoner in his book, Science Speaks, suggests the odds of any one man
fulfilling all of the prophecies of the Old Testament to be one in 100 quadrillion
(10 to the 17th power). To visualize this, he pictured covering the state of
Texas with silver dollars from east to west two feet high. One of these is
marked with an “x.” If they were jumbled up the chance of reaching down and
picking up that coin would be like these odds.
2. The death of Christ was foretold by Jesus Himself.
a. “From that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to
Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and
scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day” (Matthew 16:21).
b. In Luke 18:31 Jesus took the twelve aside and said, “Behold, we are going up
to Jerusalem, and all things which are written through the prophets about the
Son of Man will be accomplished.”
3. The death of Christ is essential to the Gospel.
B. Did Jesus really die? Some skeptics claim that He never died on the cross.
Instead, they insist that he slipped into a coma (known as the “Swoon” theory and
was revived in the coolness of the tomb. What does the evidence say?
1. The testimony of the Roman guard.
a. In John 19:32-37, John gave an eye witness account of what happened after
Jesus died. Soldiers were sent by Pilate to break the legs of the condemned
men to hasten their death. These soldiers were experts of execution. They
knew exactly what to do. They broke the legs of the thieves who hung on
either side of Jesus. When they came to Jesus they observed that He was
already dead. They were not guessing.
b. One of them thrust his spear into Jesus’ side. Blood and water (probably a
milky white substance) flowed from Jesus’ side indicating the death had
already occurred and physiological changes were already occurring in the
body.
c. Mark records in Mark 15:39 that when the Roman Centurion saw Jesus die
he proclaimed, “Surely this man was the Son of God.”
2. The testimony of Joseph and Nicodemus.
a. John went on to record how Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus removed
the body of Jesus from the cross. Nicodemus had brought 100 pounds of
myrrh and spices. They wrapped the body of Jesus in strips of linen cloth
cemented together by the mixture of spices. The body was swaddled or tightly
wrapped like a mummy. A square cloth was tied around the head and chin.
b. How could these men have prepared Jesus’ for burial if there had been the
slightest indication that he was alive?
C. Without the death of Christ we would be lost.
1. God’s plan for our redemption could not have been fulfilled.
2. There would have been no atonement for our sins.
II. THE TESTIMONY OF THE TOMB
A. Near the place where Jesus was crucified there was a new tomb. It was like a man
made cave hewn out of the limestone of a hill. Inside was a ledge of rock on which
the body would be placed. After the body had been laid to rest a large stone,
probably set in a track would be rolled in front of the opening. Such a stone would
have been far too difficult for a single man or even a small group of men to move
by themselves.
B. The tomb of Jesus had an extra layer of security provided by the Roman
government.
1. The Jews, fearing that the disciples would come and steal Jesus’ body to
substantiate their claim of resurrection, asked Pilate to place a guard at the
tomb. Nothing can so incite the passion of a movement as having the body of its
leader on display. For decades the body of Lenin has been on display in
Moscow’s Red Square. When Osama Bin Laden was killed by U.S. Special
Forces in 2011 his body was buried at sea so his followers would not claim it
and build a shrine.
2. As a further measure of security a cord was placed across the stone, sealed at
both ends with wax which was then imprinted with the signet of Rome. Anyone
breaking the seal would be subject to punishment by Roman authorities.
C. It is almost impossible for us to comprehend what the silence of the tomb signified
after the stone had been sealed. With the thud of the stone the hopes of the
disciples of Jesus were crushed. The despair in their hearts was real. What would
they do? Where would they go? They had put their lives in His hands.
D. What did the tomb mean to God? How must it have felt for Him to know that His
own creation had turned against Him and rejected His only begotten Son? Why did
He not, in His wrath, avenge His Son’s death by annihilating the earth? The reason
is obvious. God knew that this story was not over.
III. THE SUNDAY SURPRISE
A. Speaking from experience as one who has conducted hundreds of funerals
including several of my family members, leaving the grave to return home without a
loved one is one of the most disconcerting moments of life. We can only imagine
the feelings of despair and hopelessness felt by the followers of Jesus throughout
the day on Saturday. During that day the lifeless body of Jesus lay silently in the
darkness of the tomb. Everything seemed so fixed and final that it was easy for
despair to destroy the hope of even the staunchest believer.
1. Then in the early morning hours of Sunday the light of hope pierced the
darkness.
2. Jesus was raised from the dead. Think of these worlds. Contemplate them.
Savor them. Rejoice in them.
B. The evidence for the resurrection of Jesus comes from several sources.
1. All four gospels consistently report that it was a group of women who came to
the tomb at dawn on the first day of the week. This is unique in and of itself
given the attitudes towards women that were prevalent in the first century. When
the women arrived at the tomb to anoint the body of Jesus with spices they
found the stone rolled away and were told by angels, “Why do you seek the
living among the dead?” Can you imagine going to a cemetery to visit the grave
of a loved one and finding the vault uncovered, the casket open and the body
missing with only the burial clothes remaining? This was a shocking experience. . 2. Upon hearing the report from the women, John outran Peter and came to the
tombwhere, according to John 20:5, he “saw
the linen wrappings lying there.”
The word saw (denoted by an asterisk
in the NASB) means, “glanced at.” John did not go inside the tomb but, according to verse 6, Peter did. Peter also “saw”
the empty tomb and the linen lying there. The word for “saw” in this case
means, “to examine closely.” Peter saw that the linen that had wrapped the body
of Jesus lay in the exact form in which it had been wrapped around him. It was
not lying in a disheveled pile nearby. The cloth that had covered Jesus’ head
was folded neatly and laid nearby.
3. The British educator, Thomas Arnold, wrote three great volumes on the history
of Rome. “I know of no one fact in the history of mankind that is proved by
better and fuller evidence of every sort to the understanding of a fair inquirer
than the understanding of the great sign that God has given us that Christ died
and rose from the dead.”
C. There are only three options regarding the empty tomb.
1. Someone stole the body – getting beyond the guards, breaking the Roman seal,
Rolling away the stone and somehow making it appear that the linen was
undisturbed. Who would have done such a thing? The disciples were as
surprised as anyone (Thomas doubted). The enemies of Christ (Jews and
Romans) never produced a body when reports of the resurrection began to
surface. That would have been all it would take to stop the story in its tracks.
D. There is only one answer for the empty tomb. “Up from the grave He arose, with a
mighty triumph o’re his foes. He arose a victor from the dark domain, and He lives
forever with His saints to reign. He arose! He arose! Hallelujah, Christ arose”
(Robert S. Lowery 1826 - 1899).
CONCLUSION:
A. We are living in a time of life and death. There are thousands today mourning the
loss of loved ones without any hope. You do not have to live or die in that way. What
you must do, however, is decide where your hope will be placed.
B. Dr. Robert Ingersoll was a famous skeptic who lectured extensively about his
agnostic beliefs. He would stand on a stage and challenge God to strike him dead.
On his deathbed his last words were written down by his secretary. He lamented,
“Life is now a narrow vale between two cold and barren peaks of two eternities. I
strive in vain to look beyond the heights and cry aloud but the only answer is the echo
of my wailing cry.”
C. May I invite you to come to Christ today in faith and obedience to His word?