Central Christian Church - Lampasas

Judas betrayed Jesus, the Pharisees and their allies demanded his death, a Roman governor washed his hands of the matter and released a murdered. The Roman soldiers nailed Jesus to a cross, placed a crown of thorns on his head, pierced him with a spear, and then sealed his dead body in a tomb under a guard of Roman soldiers. Peter denied his Lord three times, the disciples hid in fear, and Jews leaders thought they had silenced Jesus once and for all.

But then Christ arose.

He is risen!!!!

The resurrection of Jesus Christ is of central importance to the New Testament. It affirms the divinity of Jesus Christ, marks the words and deeds of his ministry with God’s seal of approval and opens the way to the future resurrection of believers.

The bodily resurrection of Christ is the crowning proof that Jesus was who he claimed to be, God manifested in human flesh. Indeed, the resurrection of Christ in flesh is of such importance to the Christian faith that the New Testament insists that no one can be saved without it (Rom. 10:9; 1 Cor. 15:1-7).

We have already discussed how God showed his approval during Jesus' birth, baptism, and Transfiguration. Now we come to the single greatest example of why I believe that Jesus is the Son of God. In his death, we see that Jesus is fully man; he died on a cross reserved for the worst of Roman criminals. Then, Jesus rose triumphantly fulfilling his promises that He would rise again. Not only did he arise, but over 500 witnesses saw the resurrected Christ.

It is an unmistakable sign of the authenticity of the record that, in a male dominated culture, Jesus first appeared to a woman. In the first-century Jewish culture, a writer inventing a resurrection account would never have taken this approach. A woman’s testimony was not even accepted in court. Anyone faking the record would have Jesus appear first to one or more of his twelve disciples, probably a prominent one such as Peter. Instead, Jesus’ first post-resurrection appearance was to Mary Magdalene. During this appearance, there were unmistakable proofs of the visibility, materiality, and identity of the resurrection body.

She saw Christ with her natural eyes. The text says, “she turned around and saw Jesus standing there” (John 20:14). The word “saw” (theoreo) is a normal word for seeing with the naked eye. It is used elsewhere in the New Testament for seeing human beings in their physical bodies (Mark 3:11; 5:15; Acts 3:16) and even for seeing Jesus in his pre-resurrection body (Matt. 27:55; John 6:19).

Mary heard Jesus. “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?” (John 20:15). Then again, she heard Jesus say “Mary” and she recognized his voice.

Mary touched Christ’s resurrection body. Jesus replied, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father” (John 20:17). The word “hold” (aptomai) is a normal word for physical touching of a material body.
What if we had each person that witnessed the resurrected Lord come up here this morning and talk for 15 minutes giving a testimony to what they saw?

If we listened to the testimony of all the people that Jesus appeared to, we would be here all day, and all night, and Monday and Monday night and Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday and sometime early Friday morning they would just be wrapping up the testimony. It would take over 128 straight hours just to hear, for 15 minutes each, the testimony of those that saw the Lord after he rose.

No physical or spiritual power could defeat Jesus. God's plans could not be stopped or even delayed. Chance does not govern this world. Christ established his kingdom. He defeated the enemy.

Notice that humans had nothing to do with this victory. The disciples, the Jews, the Greeks, the Romans, the zealots, the Pharisees, the Sadducees had nothing to do with Christ’s victory.

We who trust in Christ do not gain the victory by our efforts, our insights, our intelligence, our charisma, or anything else of human origin. The battle belongs to the Lord. If we trust in ourselves, we will stumble and lose our way.

When we are discouraged, it is hard for us to notice the power of Christ's resurrection in our lives. In the midst, of stress, limitations, frustrations, sin, physical problems, addictions, and broken relationships; we might miss that God is at work. One push up a day won’t get us in shape. Garfield says he does two pushups a day. One push up to get up in the morning, and one push up to go back down in the evening.

Planting, growing, and harvesting crops take time. The training for Olympic athletes lasts for years. A concert pianist will practice far more than he or she will ever perform. It took time for the Grand Canyon to be carved and for a professional golfer to win a major tournament.

The Ascension fundamentally changed the relationships between God, humanity, and the created order. James Kirk was the captain of the Starship Enterprise in Star Trek. He comes and goes in fifty minutes. The planet he saves may be altered by his presence, but the Captain is always the same. In many police television shows, the officers solve a murder in 60 minutes, 100 percent of the time. The officers in the show don’t change, and they repeat their heroic deeds episode after episode.

Not so with Christ. The great Church Father St. John Chrysostom pointed out that the same Father who once said to flesh and blood “you are dust, and to dust you shall return” now looks at the flesh and blood of his Son and says, “sit at my right hand.” Jesus’ story is the opening and closing chapter of the tale of us all. We were dust, now we’re flesh. We will fall to dust but be raised to a greater flesh than we can now imagine.

Chrysostom goes on to say that “we who were unworthy of earthly dominion have been raised to the Kingdom on high, have ascended higher than heaven, have come to occupy the King’s throne, and the same nature from which the angels guarded Paradise, stopped not until it ascended to the throne of the Lord.” God has become Man so that humanity can now be welcomed into the divine life. Creation is already redeemed and awaits its coming restoration.

Isn’t that what Jesus did? He entered the river of death & came out on the other side so that we might no longer fear death, but find eternal life in Him. J. Gresham Machen writes, “The great weapon with which the disciples of Jesus set out to conquer the world was not a mere comprehension of eternal principles; it was an historical message, an account of something that had recently happened, it was the message, ‘He is risen’”

Jesus calls us to join Him in a great adventure in this life and the eternal life to come.

The women left the tomb quickly in both fear and joy. What a interesting combination of emotions. They had been given the news, but they had not yet seen the Lord. Then they met Him face-to-face. What did He say to them? The ESV renders it as “Greetings!” The Greek word here is ‘χαιρετε’ or ‘chairo.’ It is simply a greeting that is meant to encourage. It was as if Jesus met them and said, “Rejoice!” What was their next response? They fell at His feet, grabbed Him, and worshiped Him. May we worship Christ in all of lives. May he be glorified in our lives.