The Tomb Could Not Hold Him

Matthew 27:62-28:20

He is risen!  He is risen indeed!  We could greet one another with that phrase every day, couldn’t we?  Every day is Resurrection Day.  Jesus is alive forevermore.  He testified about Himself in Revelation 1:18, “I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever!”  Woohoo!!

It is also a treat to worship Him by singing special songs at Easter and rejoicing with special focus on the Resurrection.

Earlier in the week, I was thinking about the phrase, “He is risen; He is risen indeed.”  It brought to mind another responsive verse which comes from Scripture.  What do you say if I say, “This is the day that the Lord has made?”  You would reply, “Let us rejoice and be glad in it.”  (Psalm 118:24).

I don’t know about you, but when I hear that verse, usually it makes me think about Creation.  God made this day.  He made the sun and the beauty of the earth.  He made time and gave us life this day.  We rejoice in this day (any day) as the day God has made.

But, what if we take the context to be this day, the Resurrection Sunday?  We’ve been studying Matthew’s account of the days leading up to Jesus’ rising.  Think of all the things that went before Jesus coming to the cross.

Three weeks ago, we talked about how “Gethsemane Could Not Overwhelm Him” and Matthew 26:26-46.  Jesus endured that suffering in anxiety knowing what was to come and overcame the temptation to abandon the Father’s plan for Jesus to die on the cross and save us from our sins.

Two weeks ago, we talked about how “The Courts Could Not Judge Him” and Matthew 26:47-75, 27:11-26.  There was much confusion and contradiction in the account with which the Jewish leaders tried to bring as evidence for the death penalty against Jesus.  Pilate was amazed that Jesus did not try to escape or argue against his accusers, but instead Jesus was silent as a sheep before its shearers.

Last week, we talked about how “Golgotha Could Not Defeat Him” and Matthew 27:27-61.  Jesus endured the agony of physical torture and mocking.  He went through the act of crucifixion and did not accept anything that would minimize His suffering.  He endured through it all until the work of sacrifice was completed, and He Himself said, “It is finished.”

Today, we will talk about how “The Tomb Could Not Hold Him” through the end of the book of Matthew. (Matthew 27:62-28:20) There was silence on that Sabbath day as Jesus’ body lay in the tomb.  Jesus’ disciples were filled with grief and mourning.  He had really died.  But … joy would come that next morning.  Jesus came back to life.  He arose from the dead.  Hallelujah!

This day, this Resurrection Sunday, is the day that the Lord has made.  He has been planning it from the very beginning, since the disobedience of Adam and Eve in the garden.  God would make this day and work all these things out perfectly so that we would no longer be separated from Him.  Jesus is the author and perfecter, the source and completer, the founder and finisher, of our faith.  (Hebrews 12:2)

This is the day!  Let us rejoice and be glad in it!

There are other reminders that parallel this thought.  II Corinthians 6:2 says this, “Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.”  Hebrews 3:15 says, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.”  This day, beginning with that very first Easter and going on every day after, has become the day of salvation.  If you hear this good news of Jesus, do not harden your hearts, but rather believe!

I said before that I usually think of the physical creation in combination with Psalm 118:24, but as I went to the passage itself, I was surprised to find what precedes it.  Psalm 118:22-23 say this, “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; the LORD has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes.”

Jesus references these exact verses as recorded in Matthew 21:42 and Mark 12:11.  He is referring to Himself as the Stone which was rejected.  And, the builders who rejected Him were the Jewish religious leaders of the time who opposed Jesus and ultimately had Jesus crucified.

Read together then, Psalm 118:22-24 says, “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; the LORD has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes.  This is the day that the Lord has made.  Let us rejoice and be glad in it.”

He is risen! … He is risen indeed!

Let’s pray.

Lord Jesus, we are so very excited to consider that You have risen from the dead.  You are the first of many who will come again to eternal life.  Each heart here who believes in You that person will have eternity together with You and all other believers.  Amazing!  Thank You for what You have done for us.  May we share Your great love, we pray in Your Name Jesus.  Amen.

We will pick up our passage in Matthew 27:62.  As we have read the last three weeks, there has been a whirlwind of major events.   We started this series at the last supper which was on Thursday evening, and ended last week’s message at the end of the day on Friday, not yet 24 hours.

On Friday, Melissa and I and our younger boys went up to Caesar’s Head State Park.  We went out to the overlook, we hiked the short distance to where you can see the rocky outcropping known as Caesar’s Head, we went down to the gift shop, we had a nice picnic lunch.  We had thought about going to a separate hike to Ravens Cliff Falls, but Elijah, our 4 year old, just didn’t seem up to that kind of activity, and I wasn’t feeling up to carrying a 4 year old for two miles or more on that longer hiking trail. 

Instead, we decided to hike a shorter 1 mile hike that had a smaller waterfall.  As we were finishing our picnic, we could hear some rumbles of thunder.  The sky was darker in the direction we would be going, but we didn’t think there would be any trouble.  Those clouds were to our north and east.  That’s the prevailing direction of weather in our area, right?  They’d just keep on going.  Even if they did pass overhead, we’d be unlikely to get much rain, right?  We walked to about the farthest extent of the trail when the rain started.  It wasn’t a terribly difficult trail, but we had walked mostly downhill to that point.  So, contrast a downhill walk in the sun to an uphill walk in the rain.  Time passes differently depending on what is happening.

One more point before we get into our passage.  There are two things about counting time in Hebrew that I want to make sure everyone is clear about:

1.  In Hebrew, the day starts at sunset, not dawn or midnight.  A day goes from sunset to sunset.  This goes all the way back to the Creation account in Genesis 1.  If you recall, each day of the account is described, “And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.” or second and so on.

2. The Jews used inclusive counting.  This simply means that any partial unit of time whether day or year is counted as one.  This can be seen in the differences of counting the years of the kings in the Old Testament.  Some have pointed these differences out as a contradiction that there is error in the chronology between the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah.  However, if you understand that the southern kingdom of Judah counted partial year as 1, and that the northern kingdom of Israel counted the first full year as 1, then the years between the accounts agree.  If you want a quicker example to evaluate, read Acts 10:1-30.  There is a time span of 72 hours (3 days), and yet Cornelius refers to this time period as four days because the starting point for counting is before sunset on the first day.

Jesus died at three o’clock in the afternoon on Friday, about four hours before sundown.  He was wrapped in burial clothes and buried by Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus in a nearby tomb before sunset on Friday.  Therefore, by Hebrew inclusive time reckoning, Friday counts as the first day.  Now, let’s begin with our passage:

The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate. “Sir,” they said, “we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’ 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.” –Matthew 27:62-64

There is a lot of irony in the attitude of the Jewish leaders and people.  After Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead (more than a week before Passover) Caiaphas had spoken prophecy in John 11:49-52, “‘it is better for you that one man should die for the people.’  … Being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.”

Then, there is the saying which the leaders incited the people to say regarding the crucifixion of Jesus.  As Pilate tried to let Jesus go free, the people said, “His blood be on us and on our children!” (Matthew 27:25) The people were saying let the guilt be on them if Jesus were innocent and yet put to death.  And yet, His death and the blood he shed does cover those who believe in Him.

Mark 15:42 explains that the Preparation Day “is the day before the Sabbath”.  So, the day after the preparation day is the Sabbath.  The chief priests and Pharisees come to Pilate again, and this time on the Sabbath.

We see how carefully the Pharisees had been listening to what Jesus had been preaching.  It is the Pharisees who expect something to come of Jesus’ words rather than the disciples themselves.  The Pharisees are not thinking that Jesus would actually rise from the dead, but they are afraid of a conspiracy where the body could be stolen.  They regarded Jesus’ first deception was His claim to be Messiah and the Son of God.  This second deception that they fear would be a claim that He rose from the dead.

Again, their fear is misplaced.  They don’t need to fear a conspiracy.  However, their understanding of the situation is correct.  If Jesus should rise from the dead, that would change everything.  And, it has.  We wouldn’t be here in this place talking about these things if Jesus hadn’t risen from the dead.

“Take a guard,” Pilate answered. “Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how.” So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard. –Matthew 27:65-66

Since it was the Sabbath, at a minimum, it would have been regarded as unclean for the Temple Guard to do the work of securing the tomb.  Likely, these observant religious leaders wanted to maintain appearances and avoid this “unclean work,” so getting the Gentile Romans to seal and guard the tomb was a shrewd solution in their minds.

Did you ever notice that there is no detailed account for what happened on the Sabbath, the Saturday which Jesus’ body spent in the tomb.  As the Sabbath, it was a day of rest.  There is no indication that any of Jesus’ disciples figured out what was going to happen even though Jesus had told them Himself. 

To everyone except the Pharisees, nothing was going to happen next.  The agony of loss and not-knowing must have been overwhelming.   Luke 23:56 says after seeing where and how Joseph had placed Jesus’ body in the tomb, they went home to prepare spices and perfumes, but they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment.   Mark 16:10 says that after the resurrection when Mary went to tell the others who had been with him (meaning the disciples), they “were mourning and weeping.”  That Saturday must have been a long and painful day for Jesus’ followers in part because they had forgotten the words of Jesus:  “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.” (Luke 9:22) “I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.” (John 15:15) “Now Jesus was going up to Jerusalem. On the way, he took the Twelve aside and said to them, ‘We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day he will be raised to life!’ ” (Matthew 20:17-19)

Melissa and I went down to the Pastors and Wives Conference a couple of weeks ago.  As we were riding down the road, we saw a saying on a church sign.  It said, “Don’t question your beliefs, question your doubts.”  There’s a limit to how much you can fit on a sign, so I’m not overly concerned with the quote, but I do think a better telling would be this, “If you are going to question your beliefs, question your doubts just as rigorously.”

We may have doubts about different things from time to time, but I Peter 3:15 gives us good advice, “In your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.”  If we think on things which Jesus said, we will find great comfort even in great difficulty.

Now, for the good stuff!

After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. – Matthew 28:1

It is now the third day.  Part of Friday (3 pm till sunset) is one.  All day Saturday, 24 hours from sunset on Friday till sunset on Saturday, is two.  Then, part of Sunday (sunset Saturday till dawn on Sunday) is three.  Sunday is the first day of the week.  Saturday is the last day.

The other gospel accounts say that the women went not only for a look, but also to finish anointing Jesus’ body with oils and perfumes.  Mark 16:1 says that after the Sabbath they bought spices.  That would have been Saturday after sundown.  Then, they could have begun work at this time preparing to take care of Jesus’ body.  We do not know for sure their thoughts.  Perhaps they just wanted to add to the work that Joseph and Nicodemus had done.  Perhaps they wanted to make sure the job has been done correctly, kind of like checking after the guys when they load the dishwasher.

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. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.  –Matthew 28:2-4

Wow! 

Based on the parallel accounts, it seems that this angel’s appearing had happened prior to the women’s arrival.  Perhaps this detail about the angel comes from some of the guard themselves.

The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.” –Matthew 28:5-7

How do you know you’re talking to an angel?  When the very first thing they say is, “Fear not.”  J I love the testimony of the angel.  He says that Jesus is risen, but in humility, he also invites them to “Come and see.”  This is just too good.  In Luke’s account the angel says, “Remember how he told you …” that He would be crucified and on the third day raised.  (Luke 24:6-8) At this point, things finally begin to come back to their minds.  It is only “then they remembered His words.”

So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them. “Greetings,” he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.” –Matthew 28:8-10

Everyone who sees an angel is afraid.  So they are happy but also overwhelmed.  That would be a good title for a message, “Suddenly Jesus.”  I can imagine a few people who could give their testimony that title.  In Luke 24:9-11, after telling the Eleven, “they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense.  Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb.”

While the women were on their way, some of the guards went into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened. When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money, telling them, “You are to say, ‘His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” So the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day.  –Matthew 28:11-15

Since only some of the guard came back to the chief priests, I hold out hope that some of them believed.  We don’t have that assurance from Scripture, but it is not contradicted either.

The chief priests are up their tricks again.  This time, they engage in bribery.  Interestingly, the Old Testament does not speak out about offering bribes nearly as much as it does about accepting them.  I’d guess it was likely that they knew that and somehow justified themselves in their sin.  They were indeed like whitewashed tombs.  They failed to internalize Jesus’ warning that the one who causes someone else to sin is guilty of a greater sin. (Matthew 13:41)

This is a remarkable commitment from the chief priests to the soldiers.  The behavior of the soldiers is punishable by death in ancient Rome:  dereliction of duty, abandoning your post, even the lie that they were asleep is punishable by death.  I guess this demonstrates that fake news isn’t a recent development.

Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” –Matthew 28:16-20

Here Matthew flies us quickly to Jesus’ meeting with the disciples in Galilee.  If you want to see additional events immediately following the resurrection, please search them out and read through them in the other gospels.

We see the challenge that some faced at first (usually these doubts are attributed to Thomas).  And yet, these doubts must have been worked out by the Holy Spirit.  In subsequent years, each of the Eleven would face persecution and even torture.  All but John were martyred.  People willing to continue testifying and even be killed for their faith are not doubters.

Jesus testifies that all authority has been given to Him.  I continue to realize more and more as time goes on that the world does not have answers to its own problems.  The world can’t fix itself.  Likewise, individuals do not have answers to the problems in their own lives.  We can’t fix ourselves.  We can satiate or inebriate ourselves, but we can’t mediate our real problem.

This week, I read a great and simple explanation of the uniqueness of Jesus as our Savior.

Imagine you have a terrible medical condition that needs a cure. You decide to check out two doctors to find the best one to treat your condition. The first one says, “I have your condition as well—but I don't know how to cure it. Also, I make no claims that I can cure your condition.” The second one says, “I had your condition at one time—but I am cured from it. And I know how to cure your condition as well." Which doctor would you try out? You would think, "Why waste my time on a doctor who admits he does not know how to address my condition he himself has? It would be much better to try out the one who at least claims to know how to cure me.”

Humankind has a condition: We are all going to die. Death is certain to all humans because of our sin. Many religions and philosophies promise us a way to live a better life now or later. But the leaders of these religions and philosophies do not claim that they died and rose from the dead. Nor do most claim that their religion will result in their followers rising from the dead. If they cannot cure death, why waste our time with these religions or philosophies?

But Jesus Christ is unique. He died—and then came back to life. He rose from the dead as the first of many who will also rise from the dead. He promised this in John 11:25-26: “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, shall live even if he dies. And everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die.” Not only did He claim to overcome death—He actually did so in reality. His deeds matched His words. If God raised Him from the dead, certainly He will raise us from the dead as well.

Wow!  Now that’s Good News!

I think many recognize these last words from Jesus as The Great Commission:  “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit; teaching them to observe all I’ve commanded you; and lo, I am with you always even to the end of the age.”

In preparing the message, I was suddenly curious about a question I’ve not asked in more than twenty five years as a believer.  When did the Great Commission get the name the Great Commission?  My study Bible that I used preparing this message has the copyright 1985.  I think my Bible which I had in high school must have a similar copyright.  So, for as long as I’ve been reading the Bible, I’ve seen the subject heading “The Great Commission” for this last portion of Matthew 28.  In my mind, that’s just what it has always been.

So, what I found was a bit surprising.  “It is unknown who coined the term Great Commission. It was likely first used as a summary for the passage by Dutch missionary Justinian von Welz (1621-1688) [in the late 1600s]. However, it was popularized by Hudson Taylor (1832-1905) [in the latter half of the 1800s].”  That analysis comes from a 2007 article by Robbie Castleman in a peer-reviewed journal of theology.  (Themelios v.32 no. 3, published by The Gospel Coalition).

In this article, he goes on to write:

“The triune God [Father, Son, and Holy Spirit] is eternally a commissional God.  The mission of the Father was the sending of the Son.  The mission of the Son in the incarnation was to reveal the life of the Father.  The Spirit’s mission is to bear witness to the Son through the Church.  Contrary to the opening mantra of Star Trek, there are no ‘strange new worlds where no one has gone before’.  God has been there.  God has been at work from before the beginning.  God goes before us into our future and into the tomorrows of the world.  These eleven disciples and all who have believe their witness (John 17:20), the Church, the Body of Christ, are commissioned to indwell, declare, and demonstrate God’s love for the world.”

We are to “do” who we “are”.  That means loving others by taking up Christ’s mission.

Romans 6:4 says it this way, “We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.”

Psalm 24:7-10 has these familiar words:

Lift up your heads, you gates; be lifted up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is this King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, you gates; lift them up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is he, this King of glory? The LORD Almighty-- he is the King of glory.

What is the battle that has been won?  It is the battle over sin and death.

"Death has been swallowed up in victory." "Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?" The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.  –I Corinthians 15:54-58

Let’s pray.

Lord God, I pray that we would continue to walk in newness of life day by day following the mission you have set out for all who follow you.  May we be disciple-makers who make disciple-makers.  We recognize that this task is in no way possible apart from You.  Thank You that You have won the victory.  Thank You that You are with us always.  You go before us and come behind us.  There is nowhere we can go from Your presence. (Psalm 139) We rejoice in You, our Risen Savior.  Amen!