Eight Days that Changed the World – Easter
Would you turn, please, to Matthew chapter 28, Matthew chapter 28, and we’ll read at, verse 1. In the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulcher. And behold, there was a great earthquake, for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone from the door and sat upon it. His countenance was like lightning and his raiment white as snow, And for fear of him, the keepers did shake and became as dead men. And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye, for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here, for he is risen as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay, and go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead, and behold, he goeth before you into Galilee. There shall ye see him, lo, I have told you. And they departed quickly from the sepulcher with fear and great joy, and did run, to bring his disciples’ word. And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail, or rejoice. And they came and held him by the feet and worshiped him. Then said Jesus unto them, Be not afraid. Go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see me. Now, one more reading, please, in 1 Corinthians 15.
1 Corinthians 15.
And verse 1, 1 Corinthians 15 and verse 1. Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand, by which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. That is, unless you believe something that was not true. For I delivered unto you, first of all, that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried, that is the proof that he died, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures, and that he was seen, that is the proof that he rose. He was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve, after that he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. After that he was seen of James, than of all the apostles. And last of all, he was seen of me also as of one born out of due time. For I am the least of the apostles that am not meet to be called an apostle because I persecuted the church of God.
Some years ago, a very good friend of mine, Bill Brescia, was taking home from the meeting two gentlemen from Nepali. They were attending the meetings in Newington, and on the way, they were amicably discussing Christianity and Buddhism, and just in a friendly way, talking about the differences. And at some point, Bill reminded them of the distinctive truth of Christianity, that Christ rose from the dead. He was talking to the man in the front the man in the back of course was listening, and when they got to the house and Bill stopped the car the man in the back leaned forward and he touched his friend on the shoulder and he said to him, daju that is in nepali that would be friend or brother daju.
This changes everything this resurrection this changes everything we need to think about this. Yes, it does change everything. He rose from the dead. He is alive. And one of the distinctive facts of Christianity is that the Lord Jesus, the man who died at Calvary, is alive. Now, I’ve looked forward to preaching this message all week, and I’m so thankful that the Lord is allowing me to be able to speak to you about the greatest of all days in the history of the world. There was never…
Never a day like this. From Eden’s garden onward, death had reigned as king, ruling cruelly over the human race, defeating all of our meager defenses, conquering every mortal man and woman, the wisest, the greatest, the strongest, nothing mattered. No one escaped its clutches. Death reigned as king until this glorious Sunday morning, when the Lord Jesus, the Prince of life, rose from the dead, never to die again. This is why Charles Wesley asked in the hymn that you just sang, Where, O Death, Is Now Thy Sting? It’s very interesting that he never put the hallelujahs at the end of the verse, but it was a printer who was going to print the hymn and just felt that needed something to go with the tune that he knew, and so he added those words, and And that distinctive mark is what has made that hymn so popular, the repetition of that wonderful word, alleluia, or praise to God. Because Christ lives, because Christ is alive, the death of death itself is assured. It’s going to die one day.
As John Donne said, death be not proud, and talked about death dying. All of that is because the Lord Jesus rose from the dead. He has brought life and incorruptibility to light through the gospel. Now, on April the 9th, 1944, during World War II, Allied troops in Italy were in a stalemate with the Germans during what was called the Battle of Anzio. That would stretch for 136 days, I believe.
But there was one day, just one day, where a temporary, short-lived peace was over the whole battlefield. Very similar to the famous World War I Christmas truce, that on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, the troops wouldn’t fight each other. But this was April. This was not Christmas. This was Easter. Loudspeakers were put up, and there were messages and hymns all down the line, for a fair distance with no fighting, all because it was Easter Sunday. I think it makes us ask once again, what is it about this man?
Jesus Christ, that causes people to think killing is wrong. Humans are worth something. They’re not just items to be eliminated. Because whether it was his birth, that truce at Christmastime, or his resurrection after dying at Easter, peace reigned even temporarily. He is the Prince of Peace, and he’s got to bring peace to this entire world. Just remember, he was a carpenter from Nazareth, and without question, he is the most significant person who ever walked this planet. Now, the word unique can’t have modifiers or qualifiers. Something can’t be very unique or greatly unique. It’s either unique or it isn’t. However, considering tonight’s topic, if there are punctilious linguists here tonight who are going to grab me at the back and say, you should never have said that, I’m going to apologize ahead of time. I want to just tell you that this is gloriously unique. Never before in the history of the race, never had anything like this taken place. I don’t know if you noticed the precision with what Brother Zudema prayed when he spoke about the Lord Jesus rising from the dead in a way that no one else will. Millions of people are going to rise from the dead. Millions of people are going to rise from the dead to meet Christ and be with him. Millions of people will rise from the dead to stand in the judgment, just one man.
Raised himself from the dead by his own power. And that is the person we’re looking at tonight, the Lord Jesus. On that Sunday morning, an angel came down from heaven, rolled away the massive stone that was sealing the sepulcher.
Did you notice what Matthew said? Did you notice that the angel sat on the stone? Sat on the stone. Now, God has given us abilities that are from God. Human beings are the only ones who cry out of emotion. Others can cry. Animals can cry. They can shed tears. But human beings are the only ones who have the ability to cry when their emotions are touched. Where’d that come from? From God.
We have a sense of humor, at least some of us do. Where’d that come from? From God. So I have no doubt in my mind that angels have been given things by God. And I wonder if one of them is a sense of humor. Because here’s Rome sealing the tomb, setting the guards, boasting about its military might and power. And an angel comes down and it’s almost as if he flicks the stone aside. And then he sits on it, mocking all of the supposed authority and power of Rome. He sits on the stone. He does roll the stone away, not to let the Lord Jesus out. He had already come through the stone walls. He rolled the stone away to let the disciples in to see that the Lord Jesus was alive from the dead. Now, there are a number of times where we read in the Bible of things that the Lord Jesus had to do.
And the word that is used is must. For instance, John 3 says the Son of Man must be lifted up, must go to the cross, must be lifted up. 1 Corinthians 15 says he must reign. He must reign. Nothing is going to change that. That’s God’s purpose, that Christ must reign. But chronologically, in the middle of those two is the verse that tells us that he must rise. He could not be held by death. He could not be forced to stay in that tomb. And so I want you to think, please, about this wonderful fact, this resurrection, and the great meaning that it has to you and to me today. Let’s consider, first of all, the power, the might and power of his resurrection.
There are Bible passages that tell us he was raised by God. In fact, one verse says he was raised by the glory of the Father, raised from the dead by the glory of the Father. There are other verses that tell us he was raised by the Holy Spirit. And we read about his being raised by the Spirit of holiness. And then there are Bible passages that tell us that the Lord Jesus raised himself from the dead. He had power to take his life back. Now, you will understand that the only way that the Lord Jesus could ever raise himself from the dead is if he was still alive after he died. In other words, a corpse can’t do anything. But there is life after death. And when the Lord Jesus died.
His spirit went to be with his father in heaven. The ascension has to do with his bodily returning to heaven. But he was in paradise and he welcomed that malefactor the moment that he died. He welcomed him to paradise. But the Lord Jesus is the one who raised himself from the dead. Remember Moses and Elijah appeared on the Mount of Transfiguration? Where did they come from? They’d both died centuries before. Where did Moses and Elijah come from? They’d come from paradise. Do you remember in the Old Testament when Samuel comes up and appears to Saul and tell Saul that he’s going to die the next day. Where had Samuel come from? He had come from paradise.
Because when a person dies, that’s not the end. Remember in chapter 16 of Luke, the Lord Jesus tells us about a man named Lazarus who died. And he tells us about Lazarus on the other side, in eternity, in paradise, being comforted.
With Abraham, with the great men of the nation, a beggar now linked with honor, with the head of the nation. He was still living. This is why the two classes in Matthew chapter 25 are seen to go away, one into everlasting life and the other into everlasting punishment. You and I are on the way to eternity and death is not going to be the end. I sometimes read, I don’t know how it strikes you, but I sometimes read about people committing suicide. In fact, I don’t know if I mentioned this here, but I was in Canada having meetings and one of the Christians asked me if I would visit someone who was scheduled to die the next day. When people want to hide the real purpose of what they’re doing, they usually use cute names. And the cute name that Canada is using is MAID, just like somebody would come to your house and straighten things up and clean up and dust and MAID, MAID. But MAID stands for Medical Assistance in Dying. It’s how to put people to death who want to die. It’s coming into this country as well. But right now it is in Canada. Thousands of people have been just quietly put to death. And this man, Bruce, was going to die the next day. And we had just that one chance to visit with him. We couldn’t be heard to argue with him or to try to change his mind.
And I’ll tell you some other time about how the conversation went, but you know how horrible that is to be looking into the eyes of a person who was going to die and to know that that man is going to be in eternity forever?
You will be forever in either heaven or hell. And the resurrection of Christ proves to us that there is life beyond the grave. So please understand your eternal destiny is the most important issue in your life. It is the paramount. It is the number one thing you need to take care of. Don’t make a mistake about eternity.
If you have to make a mistake, make a mistake about the house you buy or the neighborhood you live in or the car you drive. Don’t make a mistake about eternity because that’s forever. Make sure that Christ is your savior and that you are going to be in heaven when life is done. And the only way to know that for sure is from the word of God. Do you notice who saw the Lord Jesus? After his resurrection, the Lord Jesus remained on earth for 40 more days. Now his spirit has come from paradise. His body united. Has come out of the tomb. He is alive, carrying in his body mortal wounds, not scars, mortal wounds, but alive with power in a glorified, deathless body. He appeared to individuals like Peter, his disciple. He appeared to pairs like the two on the road to Emmaus. He appeared to large groups like the 500 mentioned in 1 Corinthians 15.
He appeared to his unbelieving family member, his half-brother James. And after he appeared to James, James became a devoted follower of the risen Christ. He appeared to his arch enemy later on, Saul of Tarsus. And when Saul met the Lord Jesus alive from the dead, Saul turned on a dime. And suddenly the man who hated Christ, hated Christians, hated the gospel, becomes the foremost gospel preacher, not only of his day, but maybe of all time because he had seen the risen Christ. Now you have to answer this question.
Were all those hundreds of people in all these different places, all stricken with the same hallucination, all imagining somehow that they had seen somebody and it was all just a, just something of their imagination. As far as, as James may be concerned, and certainly Saul of Tarsus is concerned, the last thing they wanted to see or imagine would be a risen Christ. Saul wanted to cripple this Christian thing right in the grave so that it would, it would never go further, but they saw, they saw Christ alive for 40 days. He visited with them. I read about a situation that took place in Alabama in, 1963, a 14 year old African-American girl. Her name was Addie, Addie Mae Collins. She was one of four African-American girls who were murdered by white racists. Her family buried her in a cemetery in Birmingham, Alabama. That was 1963.
They visited frequently, for years. They’d bring flowers. They would pray. They wanted to honor Addie Mae cut down so short in life. 35 years later In 1998 They decided to disinter her remains And to give her, A better burial Better cemetery in which to be buried, And that’s when the shock took place When they dug up the grave There was no body Addie Mae was not there Now there were a lot of explanations As to just what might have happened.
The most thought that what happened was she was buried in some other spot in the cemetery and the gravestone was placed in the wrong spot. A grave with no body. Do you know what nobody ever suggested? Nobody ever suggested that Addie Mae Collins had risen from the dead. Because as somebody said, an empty grave does not a resurrection prove. Just because the grave was empty. Nobody was saying she must have risen from the dead. The disciples didn’t insist and preach and believe and die for an empty sepulcher. They didn’t believe the Lord Jesus was alive from the dead because the sepulcher was empty. They believed he was alive from the dead because they saw him. They ate with him. They talked with him. They heard him. They listened to his teaching again after he had died. And that’s the wonderful fact that they knew that he was alive. Do you ever stop and think why? Why is there no other first century Jew who has millions of people following him? Why, for instance, isn’t there a John the Baptist movement? He was a great man. He was martyred. He was killed by Herod. Why are there no John the Baptizers?
Why of all those first century figures, including the Roman emperors, many of whom claim deity, said they were gods, they’re all gone. There’s nobody worshiping Julius Caesar. He never claimed he was a god. There’s nobody worshiping Augustus or Nero, Claudius.
Because they all died and they’re gone. But there was one man who died and raised himself from the dead by the power of God. And that is the man who challenges you tonight. What are you going to do with that Savior who died and rose again? Paul says he died for our sins according to the scriptures. So then think about the meaning and the purpose of that resurrection. This is the greatest miracle of all time, and it is the most significant moment in all of history. So you could well ask, what does a first century historical event have to do with you in the 21st century? Well, first of all, the resurrection of Christ was a response from God. Hebrews chapter 5 says that the Lord Jesus was heard.
He was heard when he was praying to be saved out of death. That reminds us he wasn’t praying to be saved from dying. He was leaving himself in the hand of God to allow God to raise him from the dead. And in that sense, it was the father who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead. And it was a response from God to the Lord Jesus and to what this world had done to him. It was a ratification, if you will. It was a refutation. It was a rebuke to a world that had denied Christ when God raised him from the dead. Romans chapter one says that he was marked out as the son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead. The word that’s used there is the word that we get our English word horizon from. God drew, if you will, the horizons and said, here, this is the one who is the son of God. And the proof of it is he is alive from the dead. he has shattered death and brought life to human beings. And it is the declaration of who he is. The world had turned against him. That’s symbolized by the fact that above his head on the cross, it was written in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. The disciples would pray that the entire society, Gentiles, Herod, Pilate, the Jewish people had all turned against him. They desired a murderer to be granted unto them, Barabbas. And they slew the prince of life.
But God raised him from the dead to show that he was God’s son. Now, I would like to ask you tonight, just on which side of this divide are you? Here’s the divide. He that believes on the son has everlasting life.
He that does not believe the son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. Which side are you on?
Just here now, tonight in this meeting. He that believes on the son has everlasting life. Do you have a moment in your life when you trusted Christ, when you believed on the Lord Jesus and you received eternal life? Or not having a moment like that. He that believeth not the son. God says you will never see heaven. You will never see life. And his wrath is on you. You need to switch sides. You need to be a person who comes to Christ and trusts him. The resurrection of Christ was also a receipt. It was God’s way, God’s way of showing that what Christ did on the cross was enough. When the Lord Jesus was about to dismiss his spirit and die, he announced those wonderful words, it is finished, paid in full. When God raised his son from the dead, God was saying amen to that wonderful truth, that Christ was raised from the dead to show that we have become justified. Let me quote you the words. He was delivered for our offenses, our sins, and he was raised again on account of our justification. To make that very simple, Christ died for our sins. That’s why he died. His resurrection has made it possible for guilty sinners.
To be declared right with God, cleared of every charge against them, which is the idea behind the word justification. Let me just make that simple by explaining to you what it means to me as a sinner who has trusted Christ. This means that the God against whom I have sinned.
Is satisfied with what Jesus did for me on the cross. God is not asking me to make further payment. He’s not asking me to add to what the Lord Jesus did as if I could somehow increase the value of what he accomplished. What this means to me is that the Savior who carried my sins on the cross is now in heaven where sin can’t enter. Then it means that he put my sins away. God put them on him on the cross, but now he rose from the dead and went back to heaven. Sin, as I said, can’t enter heaven. So where are my sins? He blotted them out, to use a good old Testament phrase. He blotted them out. He erased them. They’re gone all because he died for me. And because of this, and these, these are the truths which are at the heart and soul of the gospel. Because of this, salvation can be and is offered to everyone freely.
If you didn’t bring your wallet or your purse or your pocketbook to the meeting tonight, we would never know the difference. There’s not gonna be any collections. We have received the gospel freely and we wanna give it to you freely. And if I could just give you one verse from the Bible, it would help you see what I’m trying to say. In the book of Revelation, the invitation is given. Whoever will, whoever wants it, let him take the water of life freely. So it’s global. Whoever will, anybody. So anybody in the meeting tonight can have salvation. Whoever will. And anybody in the meeting can have salvation free of charge. Whoever will, let him take the fountain, take the water of life freely. It is a gift on God’s part that will cost you nothing because it cost Christ everything. It’s being offered to everyone, so it is being offered to you. Do you have a moment when you have taken that gift? And if not, please tell me, why would you not take it tonight?
If God is offering you salvation tonight, free of charge, if God is offering you eternal life now as a gift, please tell me, why would you not take it? Why would you go home without him? Why would you go home still running the risk of losing your soul and dying and perishing forever? Because this salvation is being offered to whosoever will. Somebody has said, the people who go to heaven are the whosoever wills and the people who go to hell are the whosoever won’ts. They will not come to Christ. They will not take the water of life freely. The famous missionary, James Hudson Taylor, when he would tell his testimony, he would freely admit this, that as a teenager, if he was given a gospel tract, he remembered that very often they started with a story and then you got halfway into the tract and all of a sudden they began to preach. They began to apply the story. So he said, I’ll read the story and when I get to the middle, I’ll just stop. But as he read the tract, just one phrase caught his attention. Before he knew it, he was reading the whole tract. The phrase that caught his attention was, the finished work of Christ. The finished work of Christ. And he thought to himself, why does the author say that? Not the cross, not the death of Christ. The finished work of Christ. What does that mean?
And pretty soon he was delving into the scriptures to try to understand what that meant. And as a young teenager, I think he was just about 16 years of age, he realized that the finished work of Christ meant Christ did everything that was needed for James to be saved. Christ did everything that was needed for you to be saved. Why will you, why will you go home without salvation when God is offering that to you? tonight. One more thing before I close. The resurrection was a reminder, a reminder. In other words, God took one moment in the history of this world and said, here, look at what I’m doing and let this remind you of something. Because when the apostle wrote to Christians and said that Christ was raised again for our justification. He was saying, in effect, the resurrection of Christ means you will never come into judgment because he was raised for your justification. You will never come into judgment. Now that same man was preaching one day in the city of Athens, in the country of Greece, and this is what he said. God commands.
All men everywhere to repent because he has appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness.
Whereof he has given assurance to everybody in that he raised Christ from the dead. Now that’s a lengthy quotation. Let me just try to break it down very simply. Paul is saying to them, God is commanding that you repent because there’s a day of judgment coming. And the proof that there’s a day of judgment coming is that God raised the judge from the dead, his son. So do you see that the same event in history, this wonderful, this historical event, the resurrection of Christ, says to people who believe in him, you will never come into judgment. And the same event says to people who reject Christ, you will be brought into judgment at the great white throne. That’s why you don’t want to go another day without trusting this savior who died and rose again. And wonderfully, the resurrection of the Lord Jesus is going to have a glorious impact on this entire world. Because he rose from the dead, he’s coming back. He’s going to be the one who will reign over this planet. He’s going to get rid of injustice. He’s going to get rid of poverty. He’s going to get rid of crime. He’s going to get rid of sickness. He is going to bring this poor, tear-filled, sin-soaked world into a golden age in which he will reign as the King of kings and the Lord of lords, and all his people will be with him.
And if you never trust him, you’re going to miss all of that, and you’ll miss heaven forever, because he that does not believe on the Son shall not see life.
I couldn’t tell you any greater news. I could not tell you any more significant news than that Christ is alive, that he rose from the dead, that he can be your savior tonight if you will trust him. And I’m gonna close with the Bible’s simple statement about how you can be saved. There was a man who asked two preachers the same question and the two preachers, answered in unison because there could be no other answer given. When the man said, what must I do to be saved? They said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. That’s what they told the jailer. That’s what God is telling you tonight. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, this risen Christ who has defeated death. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.
Filed under: Gospel Series, higgins-eugene
