“The Tomb is Empty” Easter 2018

11 Apr “The Tomb is Empty” Easter 2018

4/1/18  Luke 24:1-12   “The Tomb is Empty”

I have always thought that this is the most exciting Sunday we have.  It’s Easter.  Hopefully you will be able to get out and celebrate this joyous day.  This is the day that Jesus rose from the dead.  People, He conquered death so that you and I can also conquer death.  It really can’t get much more exciting than this.  Every year when I was still preaching at our churches when it came to Easter Sunday, we would sing “Up from the Grave He Arose.”  It starts out real slow and easy.  I would do this song right at the beginning of the service.  We would stand and greet each other and then I would have everyone sit down.  At first everyone wondered what I was doing.  This was a standing song.  Then we would start this slow and easy song.  “Low in the grave He lay, Jesus, my Savior, Waiting the coming day, Jesus, my Lord!”  When the chorus came and I would have everyone stand up or jump up as we sang “Up from the grave He arose.  With a mighty triumph o’er 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!”  That set the pace for the whole service.  People were happy and excited.  Now it’s pretty hard to do that over the internet but maybe you can imagine it in your mind or maybe you can go on YouTube and find and play this wonderful Easter hymn.  Hopefully some of the excitement will come into your life even over the internet.  Anyway, now that we are started, let’s see if we can see why this is such a monumental event.  It’s the only event like this that has ever occurred in the history of the world and it is lifesaving if we grab onto it.

I’ll begin with a story about little Philip who was born with Down’s syndrome and attended a third-grade Sunday school class with several eight-year-old boys and girls. The children didn’t readily accept Philip with his differences, according to the article I read. But because of a creative teacher, they began to care about Philip and accept him as part of the group, though still not fully.
The Sunday after Easter the teacher brought L’eggs pantyhose containers, you remember the kind that the packages look like large eggs. Everyone received one and the children were told to go outside on that lovely spring day, find some symbol for new life, and put it in the egg-like container. Back in the classroom, they would share their new-life symbols, opening the containers one by one in surprise fashion. After running about the church property in wild confusion as only young children can do, the students returned to the classroom and placed the eggs on the table.
Surrounded by the children, the teacher began to open them one by one. After each one, whether a flower, butterfly, or leaf, the class would ‘ooh or ahh.’ Then one was opened, revealing nothing inside. The children exclaimed, “That’s stupid. That’s not fair. Somebody didn’t do their assignment.”
Philip spoke up, “That’s mine.”
“Philip, you don’t ever do things right!” a student retorted. “There’s nothing there!”
“I did so do it,” Philip insisted. “I did do it. It’s empty. The tomb was empty!”  Silence followed. From then on Philip became a full member of the class. It’s so sad that he died not long afterward from an infection most normal children would have shrugged off. At the funeral this class of eight-year-olds marched up to the altar with their Sunday school teacher, not with flowers, but with empty pantyhose eggs that they set on the altar.  People, sometimes it takes the little children to show us adults the way.  And by the way, I’m sure that young Philip is with Jesus as we speak.

Now hopefully you will be able to hear or sing some Easter songs this year that are done much better than what I just did.  There are some powerful words in many of these songs.  These are words to live by.  So often we sing these songs and don’t stop to consider the words.  Of course these words, these lyrics follow the Scripture and the story.  The women went to the tomb on that Easter morning so many centuries ago.  They had been with Jesus and they had heard what He had told them.  But they did not believe.  We know that they did not yet believe because they went to the tomb with spices to finish the work on the body of Jesus.  If in fact they were true believers, they would have known that He had indeed risen and was no longer there.

I have talked about this many times.  We are so like these women who were going to attend the body.  We read the Bible and then we go about our business.  There are even some of you who will know the Bible and memorize it, but you still don’t apply it to your life after you finish worship.  And if you think that I am talking about you, then you are probably right.  But don’t think that I am any better than anyone else.  I have the same struggles.

But look what happened next.  These women saw the rock had been rolled away from the tomb.  And when they entered, the body of Jesus was gone.  This had to be kind of scary for them.  I know that I would have been thoroughly frightened.  I would have been scared to death.  But that wasn’t all.  Suddenly, two men appeared beside them in clothes that gleamed like lightning.  This would be brighter than bright as it was like lightning.  It is like having a huge arc welder suddenly working continuously beside you.  Here they are already scared, and then they were practically blinded by this light.

Of course they bow down.  I think that we would too.  This had to be a terrifying experience.  Then these two men speak in gentle language like that of Jesus.  As a matter of fact, they quote the Lord.  It was then that the women remembered that Jesus had said that this would happen.  And it did happen.  You can always count on Jesus.  When He says something will happen, then it will happen.

Do you remember last week when I listed 38 miracles that Jesus performed?  I thought that it would be a good way to see just what Jesus did in His short lifetime.  It was a good reminder that Jesus is exactly who He says He is and there were many, many more that I didn’t mention.  But He was not done yet.  The greatest was yet to come.  I just love it when He isn’t done yet.

On Good Friday we see that Jesus died on the cross.  I firmly believe that God was working miracles through Jesus all that day as He should have been dead long before He ever got to the cross.  But He lived on and kept thinking of others even as He was dying.  I think of the two men that hung with Him.  He tells the one that his faith has saved Him.  Jesus never quits.  And then He dies but He isn’t done.

There may be some people listening today that do not come to church very often or are unable to attend.  There may be many reasons for this or not.  But one of the reasons that people stay away is because they cannot believe in this miracle in particular and all of the miracles in general.  They have to have some sort of scientific explanation for everything.  This could not have happened according to our twisted logical minds.  They might be thinking that Jesus couldn’t have been raised from the dead, because He was not dead in the first place.  That’s baloney!  Or maybe they have some other notions that Satan has placed in their minds.  Please remember that Satan is alive and well.  He is the one that gets us off track.  Evil is real as can be seen in our school shootings and elsewhere.

Over the past few weeks we have been building on the miracles of Jesus.  We have been showing just how they are very true and actually happened as it was written.  And here is another one.  Jesus was dead.  He was dead and He then rose from the dead on Easter morning.  We know that He was indeed dead because of what the Roman soldiers did on Good Friday.  They pierced his side to make sure of his death.  They didn’t just poke Him.  They shoved the spear into Him.  If they weren’t sure, if they weren’t absolutely certain, then they would have broken both of his legs.  When they did this, death followed rapidly.  But they didn’t.  And they didn’t because they knew he was dead.  Remember, this is what those soldiers did for a living.  They killed people on the crosses.  They were professional killers.  And if they were ever wrong, the consequences were severe as they themselves would be put to death.  So we know that He was dead.

We also know for certain that He was miraculously missing from the tomb on Easter morning.  We know this because Pilate had placed a Roman guard at the tomb.  Also he had the tomb officially sealed as per request of the priest of the Temple.  There was no way that He could have gotten out of the tomb in any conventional sense of the word.  It was sealed and guarded.  If a guard failed in an assignment like this, he again could be facing the death penalty himself.  He definitely would not have let anything happen.  So my friends and neighbors, when you hear about how Jesus never actually died and he just walked away from the tomb in a normal sense, don’t believe it.  It’s just Satan putting ideas into your mind.  Satan will do anything to keep you from Jesus.  It happened just the way the Bible described it.  The Bible is totally infallible and correct.  If you are seeking the truth, then it is right here in the Bible!

Jesus took your sins on His back on that Friday and died with them.  He died so that you may live with Him in eternity.  Then the women who had come to the tomb remembered and believed.  We are the same way.  Often times we forget who we are in Christ.  We forget how really great we have it.  We forget that all of our sins have been washed away by the blood shed on the cross.  Often we need to get a little nudge to get us going again.  That is why we celebrate seasons like Christmas and Easter.  These are to be reminders of just how great our creator God really is.  He loves you so much that He sent his Son to die for you but the best part is that God raised Jesus up again and defeated death and Satan.  When you see the empty tomb this morning, you are to forget what has happened in your past.  Put it out of your mind.  Then push onward with Jesus Christ as your new commander to a wonderful life that can only come through Christ.  It’s ok to stop and marvel at what happened.  However, we have to move on in life just like the disciples did.  Jesus doesn’t want us mourning; He wants us working for His Kingdom.

The women told the Eleven what they had seen.  They, too, did not believe what had happened.  In this narrative, Peter gets up and runs to the tomb.  You almost get the feeling that Peter had not believed what had happened but that he wanted to believe.  He ran to Jesus.  He found the empty tomb and the clothes lying by themselves.  Can you imagine what was going through his mind?  His best friend and Lord were gone.  Did this mean that Jesus was no longer dead?  Had he been raised up like Lazarus?  Oh, Peter had to be ecstatic.  Luke ends the story here.  But like the song from David Phelps says, “It’s the end of the beginning.”  Check this song out on YouTube.  It’s David Phelps in “It’s the End of the Beginning.”

I always thoroughly enjoyed having youth groups at our churches as they would say the greatest things.  One time I asked the question, “What does Easter mean to you?”  There were some wonderful theological answers that only young teens could come up with along with some great answers pertaining to family gatherings.  They were right in saying that Jesus died for our sins.  They were right in all their answers.  He had a very tough week.  But they didn’t say the important answer.

And that answer sisters and brothers in Christ, is that the tomb is empty.  8 year old Philip was right.  Jesus is alive and well right now with Philip and many of your loved ones.  Satan could not defeat Him and death could not contain Him.  He is the Lord God of everyone whether you admit it or not.  He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords.  He will not be denied.  This is the day that we should all be running from the empty tomb and rejoicing.  This is a day for singing and celebration.  That is why I ask you to go to YouTube and check out some of these songs.  They are great and you know many more.

We have left our sins hanging on the cross.  We have left it all on the cross with Jesus.  This is not the time to look back on all of your sins and lowliness.  This is what Satan wants you to do.  The old John Bergh is gone.  He died with Jesus on the cross.  I have a new life in Christ.  If you have not done this yet, then confess your sins and ask Jesus to live in your heart.  Leave your sins at the cross and begin a new life in Jesus.  You will never, never, never regret that you did this.  Do like Peter did, run to Jesus.  You want to look ahead to the new life and not back at the old.  Jesus is there for each and every person listening today.  He is there to take your hand and help you walk through this life.  Praise the Lord.  Thank you Jesus for first loving us.  Let’s pray.