Alive!

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What we have gathered to celebrate today makes the Christian faith utterly unique. Confucius lies buried in a tomb. The body of Buddha is still entombed as well. Mohammed can be found buried in a grave in Medina where thousands of Muslims visit each year. Their tombs are all occupied. None of them claim the resurrection for their founders. Christianity alone claims an empty tomb for its founder. Jesus' tomb is empty. He is alive! Either that is history's greatest and central event, or Jesus Christ is the biggest fraud to ever come upon the face of the planet. You see nothing is more important to the Christian faith than the truthfulness of the event that we celebrate today. Even Jesus' own apostles admitted this. You remember Paul writing to the Corinthians said, "If Christ has not been raised your faith is worthless and you are still in your sins."

He goes on to say in that same chapter that if in this life only we have hope in Christ; if this is all there is, and Christ was not raised from the dead, then he says we are of all men most to be pitied. If Jesus' body still lies in some grave in the Middle East, then we should close our Bibles, leave this place and never return. If Jesus Christ is dead, then He was nothing but a fraud, and Christianity is nothing but a joke. Absolutely everything we believe hinges on the historical reality of the resurrection. That's why all four gospel writers record the historical event itself.

This morning I want us to examine together Matthew's account, the one I read for you just a few minutes ago. So, turn with me to Matthew 28. The point of Matthew's narrative is that the resurrection was a historical event that actually occurred in space and time. Jesus was a real man living in a real place surrounded by real people. You can visit that place today. He actually died on Friday if as it is as we believe was in the year 30 then it was on April 7th, 30 AD that He died.

He was alive again according to all of the gospel records on Sunday, April 9th, 30 AD. And today He is as alive as you are. Not only does He continue to live as the eternal Son of God but that Sunday morning His full humanity was restored in glorified form as well. He is today fully a

living human being body and soul. He is every bit as alive this morning as you are as you sit in that pew.

The resurrection of Jesus Christ is not fiction it's not fantasy, it's not myth or legend. It happened in human history in an actual place and at an actual time. Now, for us to have confidence that the resurrection is, in fact, an event of history God provided witnesses to the resurrection. For reasons known only to God there were no human witnesses of the resurrection event itself. That is, no one witnessed at that moment when human life returned to the dead body of Jesus Christ, and He was raised to new glorified form. But there are many witnesses of the reality that that in fact occurred. That is the point of all four gospel records of the resurrection. And here in Matthew 28 Matthew provides us with a series of witnesses that the same Jesus Who died on Friday came back to life on Sunday. Let's look at these witnesses together.

The first witnesses to the reality of the resurrection were the women. Notice verse 1. "Now after the Sabbath as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the grave." Now, Matthew only mentions two women. Who were these women? Mary Magdalene. Elsewhere it's explained that she was the woman out of whom Jesus had cast seven demons. She was a woman who was controlled by the power of darkness, and Christ set her free. And she became forever His devoted follower and disciple. She loved our Lord and remained faithful to Him.

And He mentions in verse 1 the other Mary. To learn who that is go back with me to the previous chapter, Matthew 27:55. Here we're at the end of the crucifixion ordeal, and in verse 55 we learn that many women were there looking on from a distance who had followed Jesus from Galilee while ministering to Him. Among them was Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of James and Joseph. This Mary, who's the mother of James and Joses, as it occurs in other gospels, is probably the "other" Mary of verse 1 of chapter 28. Notice here in verse 56 that Matthew adds a third woman who was there at the cross. The mother of the sons of Zebedee. That is the mother of James and John the apostles. Mark tells us that she, too, was there on Sunday morning joining the other women on the way to the grave, and Mark gives us her name which was Salome. Luke adds there was a fourth woman named Joanna. And then Luke says also the other women.

So, you put all of the accounts together and there were at least five women who were present at Jesus' grave that morning: five women. You know it's ironic that the first witnesses to the resurrection in that culture were women. It's ironic because of the low view of women that was accepted at the time. Their testimony was not even allowed in court. And yet God chooses them to be the first witnesses to the resurrection. We can't be sure why God chose these women to be the first witnesses. But perhaps it was because of their faithfulness and loyalty to Christ even when the rest of His disciples had fled. You remember in the garden on Thursday night or very early Friday morning when Jesus was arrested, all of the disciples except two fled. Only Peter and John followed. Peter was identified at one of the Jewish trials in the courtyard, and he denied our Lord, and he left Him. Only John of the 11 remaining disciples was there throughout the crucifixion. But this faithful group of women was there.

In the early hours of the crucifixion John tells us they were standing right next to the cross. You see Jesus would have been crucified on a cross that probably doesn't resemble the ones that we're familiar with that jut high into the sky. Most of the time crucifixion was carried out where the victim was elevated only about 18 inches off the ground so that people could come by and further heap abuse on Him. That's why the soldier put that sponge on a reed and just reached it up to the lips of Jesus. These women were there according to John. They were there at the foot of the cross. They remained there through the three hours of darkness until His death. But they moved to a distance according to verses 55 and 56of chapter 27. So here these women were there.

They also watched later that afternoon to see where and how Jesus' body was buried. Look at 27:61, "And Mary Magdalene was there and the other Mary sitting opposite the grave." They watched as Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea prepared the body of our Lord and put it in the tomb. That means that these women could provide testimony to the location of Jesus' grave. Now that's important because one of the skeptic's claims is that the real problem here with the resurrection was not that Jesus was raised but that they went to the wrong tomb. These women were sitting there watching the preparations. Watching Jesus put into the tomb, and this was not a grave that was easy to miss.

It was Joseph of Arimathea's tomb. He was a member of the Sanhedrin and one of the wealthiest men in Jerusalem. This tomb was very close to the site of the crucifixion. It was a new grave carved out of limestone rock. It was surrounded by a garden that was well cared for and tendered. It was marked by a distinctive stone that rolled in front to close it. It was an unusual grave of one of Jerusalem's wealthiest men. There was no mistaking where Jesus was buried. There was no chance of going to the wrong tomb. These women watched it all unfold.

Now, notice verse 1 again "Now after the Sabbath as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week Mary Magdalene and the other Mary [and of course along with the other women] came to look at the grave." Sabbath began at sundown on Friday night, and it continued through sunset Saturday. According to Luke after the Sabbath was over, on Saturday night, these women had prepared spices and perfumes in order to finish anointing the body of Jesus. You see the Jews didn't embalm a dead body. Instead, they would wrap it in strips of cloth, and in between the layers of cloth they would put spices and perfumes. They were an expression of their love to the one who had died as well as a practical way to keep down the stench of the decaying body. These women had watched Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea hurriedly prepare Jesus' body for burial on Friday afternoon. They had to hurry because the Sabbath began at sundown, and they needed to be finished.

But these women didn't know Nicodemus. They didn't know Joseph of Arimathea because both of these men lived in Jerusalem not Galilee where these women were from. Both of them were wealthy members of the ruling class. They were part of the blue bloods of Israel, the Aristocracy, and they were secret disciples of Jesus. And so, these women didn't know them. And they wanted to add their own expression of love and devotion to Christ to the preparation that had already been done. And so that's why they came early Sunday morning.

John tells us they left their homes while it was still dark. Mark says they arrived at the tomb just after sunrise. Matthew says they simply came to look at the grave, but Mark adds, in addition they brought spices that they might come and anoint Him. It was these faithful loyal women who would become the first human witnesses to the resurrection.

Not only does this passage and the rest of the New Testament elevate the place of women, but ironically, it's the very fact that the testimony to the resurrection came from women who were not generally accepted as credible witnesses in the first century that underscores the authenticity of the biblical record. In the first century if you had wanted people to accept a fictitional resurrection as true the last people in the world you would have had be the first witnesses would have been a group of women. And yet that's who God chose. But they were not the only witnesses of the resurrection that morning. In fact, before the women arrived that morning there had already been another witness. It was God Himself. Sometime before the women arrived God had already provided testimony to the resurrection in two ways.

First of all, through a severe earthquake. Notice verse 2, "And behold a severe earthquake had occurred." We're not familiar with that here in Texas, but the land of Israel was and is very familiar with earthquakes. Just a couple of days before on Friday afternoon at 3 o'clock at the moment of Jesus' death, God had sent a powerful earthquake that split rocks apart and changed the face of the city of Jerusalem. [Sound of thunder during sermon] And Matthew describes the quake early Sunday morning as a severe quake. Throughout human history God has frequently used earthquakes as a sign of His presence.

For example, one of the ways God showed His presence at Sinai was not only a storm covering the top of the mountain with lightening like you hear even now but also with an earthquake. Let's hope we don't experience that as well. Notice that this particular earthquake occurred before the women arrived. Notice verse 2 says, "A severe earthquake had occurred." Matthew even gives us the reason for this earthquake. He connects the quake to the second way that God Himself provided testimony to the resurrection; through an angel. Look at verse 2, "For an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it." The earthquake accompanied the arrival of a supernatural being sent from the presence of God Himself.

Both Luke and John tell us there were two angels who came. Matthew and Mark only mention the one who served as the spokesmen for the two of them. Notice what these angels looked like in verse 3, the one at least who was the spokesman is described "And His appearance was like lightening and his clothing as white as snow." Each of these angels in appearance were like blazing light. Like the lightening that lights up the night in the middle of a thunderstorm here in Texas. And their garments, which Mark describes as "white robes", were blazing white as white as snow.

But notice what these angels did. It says they rolled away the stone; a stone that probably weighed several hundred pounds, but that in and of itself was not a great feat. A group of men could have done that. But the implication of the wording here in Matthew and in John's gospel as well is that these two angels didn't simply roll this stone in its track away from the opening, but rather they removed it from its track, moved it away from the entrance to the grave and left it lying on its side. And at least one of the angels sat on it.

Now, why did they do this? It's so important to understand why the angels removed the stone and opened up the tomb. Understand this: they did not do it to let Jesus out. In His glorified body John tells us He could pass to and from rooms without the doors being opened and even while they're locked. In fact, after the angels opened the grave there was no sign of Jesus. He was already gone. He had left the tomb while the stone was still in place. The angels didn't open up the tomb to let Jesus out. They opened up the tomb to let witnesses in so that we could see that Jesus was no longer there. The fact that the events of that morning took place accompanied by an earthquake and by angels from heaven proved that God was involved in the events of that morning.

There was a third group of witnesses that morning, and frankly, they wished they had not been there. And that is the 12 Roman soldiers. The day before, on Saturday, the Jewish leaders had become concerned about Jesus' claim that He would rise from the dead. It's ironic isn't it that His enemies remembered He had prophesied He would be raised from the dead while His disciples forgot it? But they approached Pilate with a solution. Look at the end of 27:62.

Now on the next day, the day after the preparation, [the day after Friday so this

is Saturday] the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered together with Pilate,

and said,

"Sir, we remember that when He was still alive that deceiver said, 'After three

days I am to rise again.' Therefore, give orders for the grave to be made secure

until the third day, otherwise His disciples may come and steal Him away and

say to the people 'He has risen from the dead.' and the last deception will be worse

than the first." Pilate said to them, "You have a guard; [Now that's an unfortunate translation. In the Greek text it's very clear. Pilate said I'm giving you a guard,

take a guard. This guard was to be not the temple guard but Roman soldiers.] go,

[and] make it as secure as you know how." And they went and made the grave

secure, and along with the guard they set a seal on the stone.

They took a cord and attached with wax and the insignia of the governor on the stone itself, strung the cord across to the side of the hill, again put the wax with the insignia of the governor so that they would know if the seal had been broken. They first, of course, inspected the tomb to make sure Jesus was still there, the body was still there, and then they sealed it.

It's ironic that these soldiers were there for the resurrection. With such a high-profile corpse to guard it's likely, and this was the typical pattern in the Roman army, that this detail would have consisted of 12 soldiers. That meant three soldiers would always be on duty during each of the four watches of the night while the other nine slept. Undoubtedly, early in the morning on Sunday morning they were all awake because of the earthquake. Now notice what happened to these Roman guards when the angels appeared. Verse 4, "The guards shook for fear of Him and became like dead men." Now it's important to note that several or perhaps all 12 of these guards saw at least one of the angels. So, they knew something supernatural was happening.

There's also a little bit of humor in this verse because the Greek noun for earthquake back in verse 2 is a word you'll recognize in English. It's the word "seismos". Matthew uses the verb form of that same word to describe what happened to the soldiers in verse 4. So, in verse 2 the ground quakes. In verse 4 the soldiers quake with fear. These hardened, veteran Roman soldiers were so terrified by the appearance of this angel that they had their own personal earthquake. An earthquake caused by terror as they shook. The whole episode so terrorized these men that they went into a state of shock. Notice how Matthew describes it, "They became as dead men." Either they were alert and could see what was going on but were physically paralyzed because of their fear, or perhaps after they witnessed these things, they literally went unconscious from the shock of what had transpired.

Later, they reported all that they had seen to the leaders of the nation of Israel with

the believability of first-hand witnesses. Look down in verse 11. "Once the women

left and were on their way some of the guard came into the city and reported to the

chief priests all that had happened." They became a testimony to the resurrection.

What could they testify of? Well, they could testify that on Saturday Jesus' body

was dead and buried in the grave because they validated that, they certified that

before they sealed it. On Sunday morning they witnessed the supernatural beings

who had shown up at the grave and rolled away the stone. It's likely that they heard

the interchange between the angels and the women that we're going to study in just a moment in verse[s] 5 and following. They had undoubtedly seen the empty tomb

after the women had left.

Although these soldiers did not actually see the risen Christ, they were witnesses of an empty tomb and of a miraculous supernatural unexplainable event. In God's providence these hardened seasoned Roman soldiers were unlikely witnesses and unwilling witnesses, I might add, of the resurrection. In fact, if you read in verse 11 and following, they actually became a part of the lie that ironically ends up proving the resurrection.

So, at least five devoted women were witnesses to the resurrection. God Himself gave witness through an earthquake as well as through sending two angels. And then there were the 12 Roman soldiers who were the unwilling witnesses. Now there's the witness of the two angels.

As the women were making their way to the grave that morning Mark tells us that they were worrying. They were very concerned, and this was the issue: Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb? We are told it was a large, heavy stone. But when they arrived at the grave, they discovered that that large stone had already been rolled away. And immediately, Luke tells us, they entered into the grave, and they didn't see Jesus' body. Luke adds that after that they're standing there perplexed about what's happened, and the two angels suddenly appeared. Understandably, Luke adds that these women were terrified, bowed their faces to the ground perhaps to shield their eyes from the blazing brilliance of these two supernatural beings.

But then one of the angels speaks. And Matthew records what he said. Look at verse 5, "The angel said to the women 'Do not be afraid; for I know that you are looking for Jesus Who has been crucified.'" The guards, they were right to be afraid, but you as followers of Jesus Christ you don't need to be. The angel, notice how he describes Jesus, it's clear we're talking about the right person and the right place because you came looking for Jesus the One who has been crucified. They were at the right tomb alright, and Jesus had really died.

Luke adds that this point in the conversation, the angel said this, "Why do you seek the living One among the dead?" Verse 6, "He is not here for He has risen just as He said." He is not here. You have come to find a dead body and to anoint it with spices, but you're not going to find His dead body here. Why? "For He has risen." Literally the text says He has been raised. It's a divine passive. God the Father used His power to raise Jesus from the dead. Ultimately, of course, Scripture makes it clear that all three members of the Trinity were involved in the resurrection.

Now just to make sure that there's no confusion about what really happened notice what the angels says down in verse 7. "… He has risen ..." and then he adds this "... from the dead." Literally the Greek text says this, He has been raised out from among the dead ones. And the angel adds, "just as He said" back in verse 6. The disciples (as the choir reminded us this morning) were completely surprised by the resurrection, but they shouldn't have been. Because from the very beginning of His ministry Jesus said this would happen. You remember when He cleansed the temple the first time in John 2, the leaders of the nation came up to Jesus and said "Who gave you this authority? By what authority do You do this?" You remember His response. Jesus said, destroy this temple, and what? In three days I will raise it up. And John says He spoke not of the actual temple but the temple of His body. From the very beginning Jesus said you want to know my authority? Here it is. When I am raised from the dead, you will know that I am everything I claim. Look back in Matthew 16 right after Peter's confession of Christ and just before the transfiguration. We learn this, Matthew 16:21. Go back to verse 20.

… He warned the disciples that [at that point] they should tell no one that He was

the Christ[os], [the Messiah]. 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. Peter [of course

takes Him aside and] [says,] "God forbid it, Lord! This … [should] never happen to You."

And our Lord rebukes Peter in response. So, our Lord said it would happen just like this. Just as He said. So, you have these two supernatural beings whom God sent to the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea that morning, and they add their testimony to the testimony of the others. And their testimony makes two very important points: That Jesus' body was no longer in the grave because He was alive.

The angel then invites the women to consider a fifth witness to the resurrection. It's the witness of the empty tomb. Look at the second half of verse 6. "Come, see the place where He was lying." Come in and look at the tomb. Let me show you around. John 20 explains what they saw. It's what Peter and John would see shortly after them. Listen to John 20:6.

… Simon Peter also came, following … [John] and entered the tomb; and he

saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the face-cloth which had been on His

head, not lying with the linen wrappings, but rolled up in a place by itself.

The language John uses implies that it may very well have been that those cloths had been wrapped around the body of Jesus interspersed with 70 pounds of myrrh and other spices on Friday was still lying there as if it encased Jesus' body. But it was collapsed under its own weight, and His body was gone, and the part that was on His head was lying there by itself. Regardless, what is very clear is that whatever happened inside Jesus' grave, it was not the work of Jesus' disciples.

If Jesus' disciples had come to steal His body, they wouldn't have waited to unravel all of the way He had been wrapped and prepared for burial. It was not the work of grave robbers, and yet the body was gone. The tomb was empty! It's interesting the combination of the empty tomb and the orderly arrangement of the grave clothes, that's all it took to convince the apostle John of the reality of the resurrection according to John 20.

Don't underestimate the importance of the empty tomb. Thirty-six hours before two members of Israel's Sanhedrin had quickly prepared the body of Jesus and placed it in this grave that belonged to one of them. The women had set and watched them prepare Jesus' body, had watched them place it in the tomb, had watched them roll the stone in front of the door. Less than 24 hours before this, 12 Roman soldiers had come from Pilate, had validated that the body of Jesus was in fact inside that tomb, They had sealed it, rolled the stone, put a wax seal stamped with the Roman governor's insignia and had established a 24-hour guard in front of it. And now the grave was empty.

You understand that for 400 years after Jesus Christ no one, not even His enemies, ever said that the tomb was not empty? None of them denied that the tomb was empty. It was in fact empty; the body was gone. And even Jesus' enemies didn't bring that up as a possible explanation. So, what are the options? Where was Jesus' body? There are only three options.

Option number 1 is that His enemies stole the body. That make absolutely no sense because they're the ones who posted the guard and the moment the disciples began to claim there had been a resurrection, they would have furnished the body.

The second option is that Jesus' disciples took the body. But that's the very reason that His enemies posted a guard and validated the body's presence. Jesus' disciples were too frightened to do so. They were hiding in a locked room when Jesus found them. And oh, by the way, ten of the remaining 11 disciples ended up dying as martyrs with the claims of a resurrected Christ on their lips. Folks, that is not how frauds face the threat of death.

The only other option is that Jesus was really raised from the dead; raised by the power of God alive! In Revelation 1:18, 60 years after His resurrection, Jesus appeared to the apostle John on the isle of Patmos, and this is what He said, "I am the Living One; and I was dead and behold, I am alive … [forever], and I have the keys of death and the grave." In other words, I have the authority over death and the grave. I beat it! I'm the Victor.

So, in light of the reality of Jesus' resurrection, notice what the angel tells the women to do in verse 7. "Go quickly and tell His disciples that He's risen from the dead. And behold He's going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see Him. Behold I have told you." There in Galilee Jesus would appear to the 11 apostles and to a crowd of 500 people at one time according to the apostle Paul. And so, the women do what the angel tells them. They left and they went to find the apostles. Look at verse 8. "And they left the tomb quickly with fear because of all they had experiences and yet with great joy and they ran to report it to His disciples." So how did the apostles and the rest of Jesus' disciples respond to this wonderful news? Look at Luke 24. We're told exactly how they responded. Luke 24:9.

[The women] … returned from the tomb and reported all these things to the

eleven and to all the rest. [of Jesus' disciples who were gathered there.] Now

they were Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James; also

the other women with them were telling these things to the apostles. But these

words appeared to them as [what?] nonsense, and they would not believe them.

That was the response. After that a number of events occur quickly. We know from John's gospel that a few minutes later Jesus appeared for the first time after His resurrection. He appeared in the same garden where the tomb was to Mary Magdalene who had made her way back at this point to the tomb. After He appeared to Mary Jesus then appeared to these very women who reported, who saw what happened and reported it to the disciples. And Matthew records what happened in verse 9. "And behold, Jesus met them and greeted them." [I love the way it actually reads in the Greek text. A normal greeting is used. It's like Jesus saw these women, and He came up to them and He said "Hi". A shocker.] "And they came up and [they] took hold of His feet and worshiped Him. [and] … Jesus said to them, 'Do not be afraid; go and take word to My brethren ..." I love that; My brethren. These were the ones who had fled, who forsook Him, who had denied Him. He says go tell my brethren, my brothers, to leave for Galilee and there they will see Me.

The question of the morning is how should we respond to the resurrection; to the reality that Jesus is alive? These faithful disciples of Jesus show us how. You and I must respond to the risen Lord as they did. If the resurrection is true, then you and I cannot continue to live as we did before. These women would never be the same. If what we're here to celebrate today actually happened, then you and I must respond to Jesus the way these women did that morning to the resurrected Christ.

First of all, if the resurrection is true, you must acknowledge Jesus' right to rule you. You must acknowledge Jesus' right to rule you. Notice verse 9 when they saw the resurrected Lord, when He greeted them. They came up and they took hold of His feet. They fell at His feet and grabbed His feet. By the way another testimony to the fact that this wasn't a group hallucination. He was a real person. They grabbed ahold of His feet.

They were recognizing Jesus as their Lord. It's the same as Thomas' response eight days later on that following Sunday when he finally saw the prints of the nails in his Lord's hands. What did he say? My Lord and my God! If the resurrection really happened, then you must acknowledge Jesus as your Master, your King. Jesus is not interested in your agreement that He is all He claimed to be. He is not impressed that you believe He died on a cross for sins and that He was raised again on the third day.

In fact, did you know that 75% of Americans who say that they are not born again believe in the resurrection? So did the soldiers who ended up accepting money to lie about it. So did the Sanhedrin who never believed in Jesus. So did according to James the demons.

Jesus is not satisfied with your setting aside time to attend church on Christmas and Easter. For that matter, He's not satisfied with your attending church every week. Jesus will not be satisfied as the risen Lord with anything less than your confession of Him as your Lord, your Master, your King. Anything less than that is not biblical Christianity. He wants to decide what you do every day. He wants to decide how you do your business. He wants to decide how you relate to your family, what you do with your time, what you allow for entertainment into your life, what you do total. He wants you to give up every single right you think you own to Him. That's what the Bible calls repentance and faith. And until you're willing to do that understand this: You may believe in the historical Jesus; you may believe in the historical facts about Him just as you believe about Abraham Lincoln or George Washington. But you are not a Christian any more than believing about George Washington makes you a Revolutionary War soldier. You're not.

There's a second way we must respond and that's by worshiping Jesus. Verse 9 says, "After they recognized Him as Lord falling at His feet, they worshiped Him." Jesus expects and deserves to be the object of our worship. You know we live in a culture when most people believe in God. If you talk to most people around you about God in those general terms, they're happy to talk about God. But Christianity is not the generic worship of God. It's the worship of the true God in and through His Son. Read the New Testament, and you'll discover that biblical Christianity in centered in loving, obeying and worshiping Jesus. If you find yourself talking a lot generically about God and very little about your Lord Jesus Christ, then it may very well be that you're not a Christian at all. A Christian is a worshiper of Jesus Christ.

There's one final way we must respond to the reality of the resurrection, and that is we must tell others. The angel had already commanded the women to spread the news of the resurrected Savior in verse 7. "… Go … tell His disciples that He has risen." In verse 10 Jesus tells them the same thing. "… go and take word to My brethren … they will see me." But it wasn't just the women who were to spread the word. When Jesus got to Galilee, and He spoke not merely to the women, not merely to the 11 apostles but to 500 of His disciples and ultimately to us as well, notice what He said to them. Look down in verse 18.

And Jesus came up and spoke to them saying, "All authority has been given to

Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples [for Me] of all the

nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; [And as you carry this out

know that] … I am with you always even to the end of the age."

Listen if you believe in the resurrection then you are morally obligated and obligated here by our Lord's command to tell others the good news. You and I are to join our testimony with that of the women, of God Himself, of the Roman soldiers and the angels and even the empty tomb and we are to be witnesses to the reality of a resurrected Lord and Savior. If you really believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, then you will acknowledge His right to rule you. You will, as a practice of life, worship Him, and you will open your mouth and tell others the good news. Anything less than that is not biblical Christianity.

Let's pray together.

Our Father, we thank You for this amazing, wonderful account of our Lord's resurrection. Father, I pray that You would help us to respond as those women did on that first Easter morning. Lord, not only help us see the historical reality of the resurrection but help us to respond rightly to it.

Father, I pray that You would protect us from being like the soldiers or like the Sanhedrin or like the demons themselves who give ascent to these truths but who never acknowledge Jesus' right to rule them, who never spend their lives worshiping Jesus,.and who never tell others of the glorious gospel that He came to make possible. Father, we pray that You would keep us from being deceived. May we be true followers, true disciples.

For it's in His wonderful name we pray. Amen.