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The Empty Tomb!

April 12, 2009

Lesson: Luke 24:1-12

Key Verse: Luke 24:5

Introduction

Johann Sebastian Bach was called “A Christian who lived with the Bible.” This should be the testimony of every Christian who has been raised from death unto life by the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Bach looked for the grace of God in his work. In the glorious hope of the resurrection Bach looked to see his Savior face to face: “Before Thy throne, my God, I stand; Myself, my all, are in Thy hand; Turn to me Thy approving face, Nor from me now withhold Thy grace. Grant that my end may worthy be, And that I wake Thy face to see, Thyself for evermore to know! Amen, Amen, God grant it so!”

The Bible is no ordinary book, it is the Word of God written, alive and able to transform lives: “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (Heb. 4:12). The Bible speaks of the Son who was sent by the Father that those who believe should have life, eternally and abundantly. Jesus spoke of himself, saying, “I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world” (John 6:51). Christ affirms “that he alone is sufficient to give life. For he claims for himself the designation of bread, in order to tear from our hearts all fallacious hopes of living. Having formerly called himself the bread of life, he now calls himself the living bread, but in the same sense, namely, life-giving bread. –Which have come down from heaven. … when he offered himself as a sacrifice to his Father; for then he delivered himself up to death for the life of men, and now he invites us to enjoy the fruit of his death. For it would be of no avail to us that that sacrifice was once offered, if we did not now feast on that sacred banquet” (John Calvin). We can feast on fruits of his death on the cross, whereby he paid the price for our transgressions, for he conquered death for us in his glorious resurrection.

The First Day –Luke 24:1-5

Joseph of Arimathaea, a good and just man, took the body of Jesus, “wrapped it in linen, and laid in a sepulchre that was hewn in stone, wherein never man before was laid” (Luke 23:53). The sabbath drew near, and the women who followed Joseph to the tomb went home to prepare the spices and ointment, resting on the sabbath day.

Early in the morning of the first day of the week the women came to tomb, “bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them.” The women included Mary Magdalene and Joanna, and Mary the mother of James. They came to the tomb and found the stone “rolled away from the sepulchre.” Entering the tomb they found “not the body of the Lord Jesus.”

It is not that they found the tomb empty, but that they found not the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. According the word of our Lord Jesus the hour had come “that the Son of man should be glorified. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit” (John 12:23-24). Christ Jesus was raised from the dead, bodily, that we might know our own bodily resurrection from the dead.

Matthew records that there was a great earthquake which accompanied the coming of an angel from heaven, who “rolled back the stone from the door and sat upon it” (Matt. 28:2). Simon Peter and John were summoned to the empty tomb. There was much confusion among those who came to the tomb on that first day of the week. As they asked questions one to another “two men stood by them in shining garments.” They then bowed their heads in fear. The angels said to them,” Why seek ye the living among the dead?”

To seek Jesus among the dead today is to subject oneself to the false saviors of the world, becoming slaves to death rather than to the Christ who gives life: “Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage” (Heb. 2:14-15).

Discussion: What is important about finding the tomb empty?

The Empty Tomb –Luke 24:6-12

The angels spoke to those at the tomb, saying, “He is not here, but is risen: remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee, Saying, The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.” The promise of the resurrection would not be a reality without the crucifixion of our Lord: “Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isa. 53:4-6). The glory of the grace and mercy of God the Father is manifested toward us in the Son; for the Father had laid upon the Son our iniquities, and has wounded him who bore those stripes on our behalf: “Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed” (1 Peter 2:24).

Both the death and the resurrection of Christ Jesus bore the fruit of God’s salvation for us. “For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living” (Rom. 14:8-9). We also have the promise of a new and wonderful imperishable body, incorruptible, and eternal: “For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens” (2 Cor. 5:1).

Discussion: Are we able to understand the resurrection without understanding the cross?

The Risen People –1 Corinthians 15:50-58

Paul, in his letter to the saints at Corinth, writes those who will inherit the kingdom of heaven, saying that “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.” Those who hold to fleshly desires that will fade away, holds to the self-centered wickedness of this world. A transformation must take place.

Therefore, in that day “we shall be changed. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.” At the Lord’s second coming, when he himself “shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God” (1 Thess. 4:16), all of his saints must be changed, the corruptible putting on incorruption, the mortal changed to immortality. We must be so clothed to enter into that glorious heavenly kingdom where there is no corruption.

Then we will truly know that which is written, that which we now accept by faith that “death is swallowed up in victory.” The voice of our heart will be, “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Our song is one of redemptive victory. In the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior, the death of both the soul and body has been subdued and conquered. That which would have swallowed us, is itself swallowed by the work of our Redeemer.

Therefore, if we have such a promise, that we rest firmly in God’s salvation, then “be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.” Three things should be manifested in our life in Christ: A firm stand in our faith in Christ, in his death and resurrection, whereby we know his forgiveness and victory; An unmovable hope in the promises of God which conquer the trials of this life; A faithful and obedient spirit in service for our King, a work which shows the love of Christ for us, and our love for him.

Discussion: What does it mean to have victory because of the resurrection of Christ?

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