The crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ offer hope for eternal life for all who believe. As we consider the events just before and after Jesus was raised from the dead, we'll be challenged to make a decision—will you allow Jesus to change your life?
Good morning. Good morning. How fun is this?
Well, there are a lot of you here. In fact, this has got to be about 20,000 people, probably our biggest crowd ever. And God has sure been favorable in giving us excellent weather. In a little bit, this is going to be seen in Santa Fe, at our satellite metro -- Santa Fe, would you just give a 20,000 people welcome to those who are going to be with us from Santa Fe?
Did you bring a bible today? Good thinking. Turn in your bibles this morning to the Gospel of Matthew Chapter 27. As you do, let me remind you what's coming up later on in the week overseas in London, there is going to be a royal wedding. Have you heard about that?
It's the wedding between Prince William and Kate Middleton. Some 30 years after his parents, Prince Charles and Lady Diana were married. And according to one article that I found in Time magazine, the reporter said that people are less pumped up about the wedding, this wedding, but they are more optimistic about the marriage. They're less pumped up about the wedding but they're more optimistic about the marriage. In other words, the day the event the wedding is going to be spectacular but the days after the wedding are the most important days.
I love Easter. I love it because -- well, there are a lot of reasons. I love it because the grass turns green around this time of the year. The days get longer. They get a little bit warmer. You can barbecue in the backyard. But I love Easter most of all because Easter is the anniversary of hope. If there's one thing the world needs more than anything else especially right now, they need hope.
I want you to listen to one young lady as she wrote into an atheist website these words recently. She writes, "I'm confused. I always believe that science would be the cure-all for my problems. But I don't know if I can keep living without eternal life. I guess I'll just have to find a way myself to make it through this meaningless existence. I wish I knew of someone who could show me the path to eternal life. If science can't provide answers, then who or what can? Doesn't it seem like there's a higher power that gives our life purpose? Well, science says there isn't, so there isn't."
It's a very interesting blog that she writes. She admits that one thing would give her hope and that would be eternal life, if she could only have eternal life. I want to talk about that hope this morning because the first glimmer this world ever saw that there could be eternal life was the day that Jesus Christ rose from the dead. It's when he conquered death and that's why we're here today. But I also want to talk to you about the day after the resurrection. That's what this whole theme is about, the day after.
We want to look at Easter and ask the question, "So what?" If all this is true that we believe, if Jesus indeed did get up from the dead then what difference is it going to make in our lives? What difference is it going to make in our city, in our state, in our world? How will our lives be different?
Today, we gather in mass. What a large group and people all over the world gather for the largest celebration in the entire church history year. But again, will our city, will our nation, will our state be different the day after Easter?
I read an article recently in the New York Times about September 12th, 2001, not September 11th. September 11th, everybody knows about that. But I read an article about the day after September 11th, September 12th.
The article begun by saying the streets are quiet, the sidewalks are empty, the stock exchange is closed, the airport has shut down and New Yorkers are asking questions today. Will New York ever be the same? Will the fire department in New York ever be able to recuperate after 343 firefighters lost their lives? Will tourists ever come back to the city? Will people ever again work in those skyscrapers? Those were questions they asked the day after.
So we want to consider this morning some of the days before and some of the days after the resurrection in Jerusalem. Keep something in mind. When Jesus Christ was in Jerusalem at that last Passover before he was killed and before he rose from the dead, everybody was already talking about him. He was the buzz in town. If you went to the Jerusalem Mall or the Starbucks in Jerusalem, everybody was talking about Jesus. He's come to town, what's he going to do? But the days following the resurrection were pandemonium in Jerusalem. There were certain events that shook that city literally and they would never be the same afterwards. In fact, if the disciples had Facebook or Twitter, their servers would have crashed on the days after the resurrection.
Here is the bottom line. No one in that town could avoid making a decision about Christ on those days after. No one who had heard the news could avoid making some kind of a choice decision where they would stand for or against this Jesus of Nazareth.
And I want to talk to you this morning about two basic things: disturbances and responses. There were some pre-resurrection disturbances that happened in Jerusalem and there were some post-resurrection responses. So I take you to Matthew Chapter 27. Let's look at three verses together. Verse 51, we begin reading. "Then behold -- this is when Jesus died on the cross. "Then behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. And the earth quaked and the rocks were split and the graves were opened and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised. And coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many."
We're told about three disturbances that happened when Jesus died on the cross. Number one, there was a ceremonial disturbance. The veil of the temple where the worshippers gathered was ripped in two from top to bottom.
Let me tell you about the veil. The veil on the ancient temple was 60 feet long, 30 feet tall and took 300 men to lift into place. It was absolutely enormous. It was ornamental, it was beautiful and it was an attention grabber as you'd walk into the temple.
Once a year, the high priest of Judaism would go from one side of the veil to the other side of the veil, from the holy place to the holy of holies. He would bring blood and he sprinkles it upon the Arc of the Covenant. But as long as that veil was there, it was like a huge sign to worshippers. Although it didn't read it, it could have said, "Warning! Keep Out. No one allowed beyond this point. Only the high priest could come once a year." But when Jesus died, the veil was ripped. In effect, God was saying, "Come in." It was God kicking the door down if you will, letting people come in. He was saying, "The way is now open. There's access to my presence. The sin barrier has been removed. You are all welcome to my presence."
So, the worship service was disrupted by God himself when that veil was torn. But you know what? It's a sad thing. I read a story that after the veil was ripped, that the priest in Jerusalem repaired it, sewed it back up and continued business as usual until the temple was destroyed in 70 AD. Isn't that typical?
God tears the veil down, men sews it back up. God makes things simple, men comes along and complicates it with religion. God wants a relationship with people, people want to settle for rules and ceremonies and rituals. I have a question for you. Are you this morning relying on a ceremony for your standing before God? Are you saying, "Well, I've been baptized. Therefore, I'm going to make it to Heaven." Or "I've been confirmed in a church. Therefore, I'm going to Heaven." Or "I go to church. Therefore, I am going to Heaven." I hope you're not relying on that ceremony.
Now I hear that a lot of people come to church only on Easter. Can you imagine that? It's the only time they come. They come on Easter. Now, you might be one of those, probably not, but you might be. If you are, we welcome you but I feel like I should at least say to you, "Merry Christmas" since I won't see you for another year.
So there was a ceremonial disturbance. There was a second kind of disturbance that happened that day when Jesus died. It was seismic disturbance. The bible says here, "The earth quaked and the rocks split." I've discovered that earthquakes have a way of getting people's attention.
I just got back from Japan a couple of weeks ago and I went to the affected areas by the earthquake and that tsunami. I've never seen destruction like that in my life. It's unimaginable. To be there and see it and talk to people and smell those smells, what an earthquake can do in destroying parts of our planet. And then I have a brother who lives up in the San Francisco area when the quake went off a few years ago and his house was torn in two. It has a way of getting people's attention. I know it got his attention.
Now according to other historical sources, we're told that some catastrophic event happened in the temple 40 years before it was destroyed. In other words, at the very time of Jesus' crucifixion and the Jews saw this as a warning sign of the coming destruction of the temple that happened in 70 AD. Most scholars believed they're referring to the earthquake and the veil that was torn. God was getting their attention. There was a woman who was walking through the rubble of her home after that great San Francisco earthquake. And as she walked through what used to be her home, she said, "Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord", and somebody saw her and said, "How can you praise the Lord at a time liker this? She says, "I praise the Lord that I know the God who can shake this world."
Has your world been shaken recently? Maybe you have experienced an economic earthquake. You never plan for this recession as they call it. And you're in an economic freefall right now. Maybe you're experiencing a relational earthquake. Your relationships aren't what you thought they would be or maybe a medical earthquake. Something is happening to you physically. Here's my question. Will that disturbance move you closer to the Lord or further away from the Lord? If life is being disturbed, will you move closer or will you move further to Him?
There was a third kind of a disturbance that happened that day on Jesus' crucifixion. I'll call it a cemetery disturbance. It says in verse 52, "The graves were opened and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep or died were raised. And coming out of the grave after his resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many."
Now, this is just getting more bizarre with every verse. This is now like Night of the Living Dead in Jerusalem. God is selectively raising from the dead, believers from the old testament who are showing up in town, they've been buried around the area. Now, they're showing up raised in their glorified bodies and people saw them. Can you imagine going to Starbucks and seeing Elijah the Prophet? I don't know who showed up, maybe Moses dead or perhaps King David. That would get people's attention. What if John the Baptist showed up like carrying his head? That'd be bizarre.
Now why? What is the purpose of this dead men walking in Jerusalem?
I'm going to call it a preview of coming attractions. Jesus rose from the dead first. They got up from the dead, started hanging out around town. It was a demonstration that not only can Jesus Christ conquer his own death but Jesus Christ can conquer every person's death who has ever been born for everyone who believes in him. And they were the first to experience it. Jesus said the hour is coming when all who are in the graves will hear his voice and will come forth.
Well this speaks to what that girl was writing about, doesn't it? When she wrote that atheistic blog site and she said, "I wish I knew someone who would show me the path to eternal life." Well sweetheart, you don't have to go very far and if you're listening this morning or if you're at some Easter service, I pray this will be the day that you discover the one who can give you eternal life. So these are pre-resurrection disturbances.
Now, I want to talk to you about post-resurrection responses. How did people respond to all these? Jesus died, the earth was shaken, the veil was torn and then Jesus rose from the dead. Dead people started walking around town. What happened? What was the response? Chapter 28:1: "Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week begun to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to the tomb. And, behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from Heaven, came and rolled back the stone from the door and sat on it."
I love that. What do you do if you're an angel dispatched from Heaven waiting for people to show up? You take a sit. His countenance was like lightning. His clothing as white as snow and the guards shook for fear of him and became like dead men. But the angel answered and said to the woman, "Do not be afraid for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here. He is risen" as he said. "Come, and see the place where the Lord lay. And go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead and indeed, He is going before you into Galilee and there you will see him. Behold, I have told you."
So, they went out quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy and they ran to bring the disciple's word. Down in verse 11 now, "While they were going, behold, some of the guard came to the city." That's the Roman guard. "And reported to the chief priest all the things that had happened. When they had assembled with the elders and consulted together, they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers saying, "Tell them, His disciples came at night and stole Him away while we slept. And if this comes to the governor's ears, we will appease him and make you secure." So, they took the money and did as they were instructed. And this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day."
There were three responses. Number one, some people try to stamp it out. They were in such denial that they decided, "Let's pay off. Let's bribe." Even the eyewitnesses who saw the event themselves, if we give them enough money, if we sweeten the pot, we can bribe them into not spreading the surround, so they paid off the guards. And they came up with the first wrong theory of what happened to Jesus' body in that tomb. It's been going on and been very popular ever since. That is that the disciples came in at night and stole the body. It's very popular but it's a ridiculous theory for a few reasons.
Number one, there was a Roman guard watching the tomb. That means there were between four and sixteen well-armed men watching a tomb that had a stone in front of it that weighed between one and a half and two tons and was sealed on the outside. Number two, the disciples were in no mood to leave where they were hiding and go grab a dead body. The bible tells us the truth. They were locked in an upper room and they were afraid.
It says they gathered for fear of the Jews. In the Garden of Gethsemane they run away. The disciples were sort of like that cowardly lion in the Wizard of Oz. Remember the Cowardly Lion, who stood up and he goes, "Put them up. Put them up." And then he ran away real quick. That's the disciples.
Number three, soldiers don't sleep while they're on guard. The penalty of sleeping is death. That's why the chief priest says, "We'll appease the governor if the word comes to him. We'll make sure you're okay" because they could be in trouble.
And number four, the most practical. Even if the disciples decided, "Let's get up. Let's steal that body. Let's move that stone. Let's confront those soldiers." I would think the noise itself would wake up the neighborhood. The noise of moving a two tons stone is not a small noise. That's going to wake up the soldiers right away. I know that my wife wakes up when I snore at night. I can imagine what the soldiers would do even if they were asleep.
Here's the truth, this chief priest wanted to stamp it out because they knew that once this news got out in Jerusalem, the day after, everything would be different. We got to put it into this. It didn't work. It didn't work within a few months. Within a few months after the resurrection, we figure about 20,000 people about the size of this crowd this morning, were new converts to Jesus Christ running around the streets of Jerusalem because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. They tried to stamp it out. It didn't work. That's not the last time people tried to stamp it out.
In the year 303, the Emperor Diocletian tried to end Christianity as he called it. He wanted to destroy Christianity and its sacred book. It didn't work. It leaked out and more and more and more and more and thousands and millions of people put their faith in Jesus Christ. Then there was the Bolshevik rebellion in the USSR in Russia. When Communism tried to stamp out Christianity and take the people's minds off of religion because Karl Marx had said religion is the opiate of the masses.
So, they would have huge rallies where communist leaders would speak to people and put down Christianity, put down faith in Christ and at a one rally, when a communist leader stood up and said, "Derogatory remarks against Christ and Christians." He gave a pastor in the crowd five minutes to respond. The pastor said, "I don't need five minutes. I just need five seconds." And he turned to the crowd and said, "Christ is risen." And they all shouted, "He is risen, indeed!" You can't stamp it out.
Some of you have been fighting Jesus Christ a long time in your life. I pray that today, that would change. That's the first response. Some tried to stamp it out.
Here's the second response. Some wanted to speak it out. There were some women who came to the tomb early and saw that the stone had been rolled away. They were wondering who did this. What happened? Did grave robbers come? Did Joseph of Arimathea moved the body to a new location? What's up with this? Who moved the body? So an angel showed up, gave her the rest of the information, said that Jesus is alive and wanted to turn the Easter Fascination into an Easter Proclamation. Don't stand here ladies and look at the tomb, go tell His disciples. And so we're told in verse 8, "So they went out quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy and ran to bring his disciple's word."
Let me tell you something, it's great to celebrate Easter. I love this day. I'd live for this day, but don't stay at the empty tomb. Enjoy it, ravel in it, celebrate in it but you have a message. It's great to celebrate Easter. We go away from the empty tomb and proclaim as they did and thousands of more can hear it.
So, what about you and what about our city and what about our state? Will you go and tell? That's what the angel said, "Go and tell" and they went out quickly and they told. Will you go and tell people what you've seen? Tell people that your life has been changed - if it has. Go tell them that you've tasted and you're satisfied and they can also be. Tell them that an empty tomb makes for a full life. You got to tell them that. I hope that in the days after this Easter, you'll want to speak it out, speak it out, speak it out more than ever before. So those are two responses. Some wanted to stamp it out, others wanted to speak it out.
Here's the third response. Some wanted to check it out. That was the disciples. In verse 16, it says, "The eleven disciples went away into Galilee to the mountains which Jesus had appointed for them and when they saw Him -- that is Jesus -- they worshipped Him." But some doubted. That would be Thomas among the some who doubted. But, the gospels tell us the rest of the story especially the Gospel of John and Luke.
Here's the timeline. When Jesus died on the cross and had risen from the dead, the disciples didn't know about it yet. They are locked away in an upper room. They're discouraged. They're confused and then this women show up and they say, "He is risen!" Do you think they were excited about it, when they first heard the news? Do you think Peter and James or Peter and John got up and all the other disciples got really excited? Well Luke tells us this, "Their words seem to them like idle tales and they did not believe them." They said, "Whatever."
Women, early in the morning can't see very well, whatever. But, two of them decided to check it out. The bible tells us that the name of one was Peter and the other name was John. And John tells us the story. They both ran together and the other disciple, that is John, outran Peter and came to the tomb first. I don't know why he felt he had to say that. We had a race and I won. And he saw the linen clothes lying there and it says he saw and he believed.
In other words, he looked inside the empty tomb. He examined the evidence -- the objective evidence that was there, saw the empty tomb and he believed. You know why he believed? Because he had seen Jesus die and he knew the brutality of Roman crucifixion. He knew that nobody survives Roman crucifixion. In fact, even in atheistic historian by the name of Gerd Lüdemann said, "Jesus' death by crucifixion is indisputable. He definitely died by crucifixion." And after he died, they saw him be wrapped up, some of them. And they wrapped him every single limb, arm, legs and then the entire body was wrapped up like an encasement, like a mummy and placed in the tomb. John walked in checking it out and he saw that encasement lying in its folds, the clothes lying there or literally undisturbed and lying in their folds.
If you could have been in the tomb that Easter morning when Jesus got up, what would you have seen? Would you have seen a man struggling to unwrap the bandages, moving around struggling and finally being able to get one end of it and loosen himself? No. He would have simply passed through, seem to have disappeared through the cloth that was lying there and passed through the folds and out of the tomb and then you would have seen those clothing remnants just collapse like a flat tire. That's why it's ridiculous again to say that somebody, even the disciple, stole the body. If you're going to walk in and steal the body, you're going to take the whole thing, the whole package, the encasement, the wrappings, everything. You're not going to unwrap it there and then wrap it back up so it looks really good and leave. You're going to take it.
It was this kind of investigation that moved a skeptic and an atheist to believe in Christ.
He's name was Lee Strobel. Many of you have heard him before. We've had him before at church. Lee Strobel was an atheist. He was an investigative legal reporter for the Chicago Tribune and he writes, "I had seen plenty of dead bodies as a reporter for the Chicago Tribune, but I've never seen anyone come back to life. That's why I was a skeptic about Easter, until my agnostic wife's conversion to Christianity prompted me to spend two years investigating the historical evidence for the resurrection. What I encountered turned me from atheism to faith and what I've learned since then has only cemented that decision."
Three responses that day: some wanted to stamp it out, some wanted to speak it out, some wanted to check it out. I wonder which you are this morning. I probably would say the majority of people here are followers of Christ. You love him. You serve him and you want to speak it out. I encourage you to do that. In fact, don't be ashamed to do it.
I have a question for you. What if you got an invitation to the royal wedding on Friday? Only about 1900 to 2000 people are invited, family members, parliament members, and selected people around the world. If you got an invitation, would you be embarrassed about it? Would you be offended if you were invited to a wedding? "I can't believe that somebody would actually ask me that question, if I want to come to a wedding."
You wouldn't be offended by it nor would you be offended to invite someone to a wedding. It's a celebration. Then don't be embarrassed about the Gospel. Don't be embarrassed to say, "Jesus is alive. You can believe in him. You can come to him." Speak it out. Let the day after Easter be as significant in this city as the day of Easter itself. And then finally, some of you need to check it out to examine the evidence. You have all the evidence that you need. You have historical documentation, eyewitness account, the prophecies of the Old Testament written well in advanced.
You have the evidence from the earliest followers of Christ who were willing to die for what they believed. That's a question you can ask yourself. How do you explain a group of cowards turning into bold witnesses and willing, all of them, to die for their belief in the resurrection of the one they follow? If they stole the body, if even one or two of them knew that this was a sham of fake, when it came to their martyrdom, at least one or two or three or all of them would have caved in. How do they face a cruel death if they had stolen the body and knew this was a fake? And you have the evidence of 20,000 people with changed lives all around you right now. You have all that it takes to believe, will you check it out? That's the invitation I'm going to give you in just a moment.
I'm going to give you the opportunity right here this morning on this beautiful day that God has given us to do something about it, to check it out, to come to Christ. Some of you have never given your lives to Christ. You've heard about it, you listen politely, you've been invited and you've come but you've never surrendered your life to Christ. Others of you have gone to church and you're relying on your baptism or your church membership or some ceremony or some good feeling, but you've never turned from your sin and committed your life to Christ. There's no better place than right here, right now.
As the band plays, I'm going to ask you to get up out of your seat. I'm going to ask you to find the nearest aisle and I'm going to ask you to stand right out here on the field where I'm going to lead you in a prayer to receive Christ.
In fact, let's all stand to make moving around a little bit easier. I know some people are way, way up in the high bleachers or way, way over to my right on that side of the stadium. It doesn't matter. Right now, you have an appointment with the living God and God wants you to keep it as we sing this song. You get up out of your seats and you come and stand here and let me lead you in a prayer to make Jesus your risen Lord. Let him change your life. You come as we sing.
Now, for the best part, the best part is you are about to give your life to Christ.
The transaction, we're about to see that happen right now and God is going to give you his life in return. Here's how it's going to work. I'm going to pray and I'm going to ask you to pray out loud after me from your hearts to the Lord. This is you giving your life to Christ. You ready?
Let's all pray. "Lord, I give you my life. I know that I'm a sinner. Please, forgive me. I believe that Jesus died, that he shed his blood for me, that he rose from the dead for me. I turn from my sin. I leave my past behind. I turn to you as my Savior, to follow you as my Master. Fill me with your Holy Spirit and give me your power to live for you, in Jesus' name, Amen.