THE REFORMED WITNESS HOUR"Not Here, But Risen!"Rev. Carl Haak(e-mail: Rev. Carl Haak) April 16, 2006; No. 3302 |
Dear radio friends,
Our Lord Jesus
Christ is risen from the grave. As intentionally, personally, and lovingly as
that message was left for the women who came early in the morning of His
resurrection to the tomb, so also is that message brought to you and to me
today. It is brought intentionally. The Lord, by His providence, brings now to
your ear this message: Jesus Christ is risen. It is brought
personally, with you as a child of God in mind:
God knowing you and all the details of your life. He comes to you personally and He says: Jesus Christ is risen
today. And it is brought lovingly. Flowing from the eternal heart of God comes
the message to every child of God, intentionally, personally, and
lovingly: The Lord Jesus Christ is risen from the dead.
He proclaims His Word today, the Word of victory, the Word of joy, the
Word of life: I am risen!
Do you know what
that means for you? This is victory,
perfect victory for the church. This is
life out of death. This is pardon of
sin. This is newness of life, a life
that cannot perish or ever die. This is
the promise of the resurrection of the body.
This is perfect and complete glory.
Are you anxious
today over the impossibilities of tomorrow?
Do you look down the dark road and ask the questions: “How can I do that? Why?
Who will help me?” Stop and
listen, child of God. Jesus Christ is risen! He is Lord and
victor. He is Savior. He is risen. Your Savior lives.
Are you hiding
today because of your sin? You dare not
look up? You believe that your sins are
too many and too great? You have denied
Him, or shown that you have been ashamed of Him? Hear the gospel. He is risen from the
dead. In Him is full pardon. Not only full pardon, but
grace, grace to bring you to repentance, grace to turn from your sin,
grace to blot out your sin and to bring you to a new and holy way.
Are you depressed
today? Do you feel all alone? Do you believe that no one could possibly
understand what you are experiencing? Do
you think that no one cares for you? Are
you tempted? Are you hounded by
sins? Are you ready to despair, to give
up? Do you believe that death would be
better than your life? Listen, child of
God! Jesus Christ says, “I am risen. And because I
live, ye shall live also.” The empty
tomb of Jesus Christ means that the way to the heavenly Father is forever open to us. And in the words of
Romans 8,
we
are now more than conquerors through Him who hath loved us.
There were two
indisputable facts known by the women who came early on that resurrection
morning to the tomb of Jesus. Those two
indisputable facts were these: In the
first place, that He, their Lord Jesus Christ, had died and was buried. They had seen Him on Friday evening on the
cross. And they had further observed
Joseph of Arimathaea and Nicodemus take down His dead
body from the cross and prepare Him for burial and lay Him in a sepulcher. Joseph of Arimathaea,
that courageous disciple of Jesus Christ, we read, had craved the body of Jesus
and with the aid of Nicodemus had wrapped Him in linen and laid Him in a
sepulcher where never a man had before been laid. And the women, we are told, had beheld all of
this and seen how He had been prepared for burial and had seen where He had
been buried. They knew that Jesus on
Friday was a corpse and that He had been placed on a cold slab in Joseph’s
tomb.
But they also knew
this indisputable fact. He was not there
on Sunday morning. The tomb was
vacant. And the angels proclaimed to
them the message that Jesus Christ was risen, that He
was not there, for He was risen from the dead.
They knew indisputably that He had been dead. And they knew that He was now risen.
And we know those
two facts indisputably as well. From the
pages of the Holy Scriptures we know He died upon the cross in our place under
the burden of the wrath of God against our sins. And we know that He arose again the third
day, according to the Scriptures. And
because He is risen, God declares to us that His work
is perfect, that His work is successful, that His work is victorious, that we
now are redeemed through our precious living Savior.
Jesus’ tomb was
empty on resurrection morning. Therein
is all our salvation.
Mark 16
tells us
that at least three women arose early, while it was yet dark, on the first day
of the week, on a Sunday morning, and made their way in the pre-dawn hours to
the sepulcher of Joseph of Arimathaea. They left in order that they could time their
arrival at the tomb just at the first light.
Mark 16
tells us that it was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of
James, and Salome, who very early in the morning came to the sepulcher at the
rising of the sun. All of these women
were from
Mary Magdalene was the one out of whom, we read in
Luke 8,
the Lord had
cast seven demons. Also, there were Mary the mother of James, and Salome, who was the
mother of John and James, the wife of Zebedee. They were, as I said, a part of a group of
women who followed our Lord throughout His ministry in
They loved
Him. They were bound to Him in cords of
love and faith from God the Father. Now
it may be, and indeed, it is true, that these women were mistaken in their
sorrow. They had spent a sad, horrible
weekend believing that their beloved Lord and Savior was
forever taken from them in death. Yes,
it was indeed true that, in many ways their faith was weak and not filled with
the knowledge that it should have had.
They had not listened to Him. He
had told them that He would rise again from the dead the third day and would
meet them in
But for all of
that, these women, by the grace of God, loved Jesus. Do you love Him? They loved Him with the love of courage. They stood and were identified as the lovers
of Jesus before the cross, in the midst of a crowd that was heaping contempt
and scorn upon Jesus. Do you love Jesus
with courage before those who would scorn and hate Him? They loved Him with the love of longing. They desired to be with Him. They wanted to cling to Him. They loved Him. They loved Him passionately and dearly. I think now of
Proverbs 8:17,
where we hear
Christ saying this: “I love them that
love me; and those that seek me early shall find me.”
That certainly
indicates that, when the Bible uses the women disciples of the Lord as the
examples of devoted love for Jesus, any idea that the Bible degrades women is
simple slander. No, the Bible says that
there is a grace, grace given uniquely sometimes, to women of single-minded
devotion to Jesus, of the tenderest expressions of
love. To these women Jesus Christ was
everything.
They have come now
to the tomb early on Sunday morning believing that they must complete the
embalming of their beloved Lord. They
have brought with them sweet spices, in order that they might come and anoint
Him, spices that were aromatic and various other oils and creams (that were
very expensive). For
they had witnessed that Joseph of Arimathaea and
Nicodemus had worked in haste to bury the Lord before the beginning of the
Jewish Sabbath. And they did not
believe that enough care had been given to the burial of the Lord. So they have come early in the morning. They have wasted no time. They believe that they must come immediately
in this last act of love and devotion to their crucified Savior.
Mark tells us that
when they came they saw amazing things. The verbs in that passage of
Mark 16
are put in a tense calling us to
picture it in our minds as taking place before our very eyes. We are to picture the women, in our mind, in
our imagination, arising early, sadly, courageously, walking through the
deserted streets of
A problem is in
their minds as they make their way to the tomb, a problem that they are talking
over as they journey. They said among
themselves, “Who shall roll away the stone from the door of the
sepulcher?” That conversation went on
among them. There had been a large
stone. Joseph of Arimathaea
and Nicodemus had placed it before the sepulcher. That stone was of immense weight. It was a great slab.
More, unknown to
the women, the Jews had asked Pilate on the Sabbath to seal the tomb and to set
a watch before the tomb. So, not only was
there a great stone, but that stone had been mortared in its place. How in the world could it be removed?
It was very clear
that they had no doubt that Jesus was dead.
As I said, they believed that His corpse would be found within that
sepulcher, in the linen, and laid in that tomb.
And they are bound now in love to their Lord, affection is burning in
their hearts. Great unbearable grief is
in their hearts. They have come to do
love’s last act upon the body of their Lord.
But they come and
they witness amazing things. Once again, as we read the narrative in
Mark 16,
everything is impinging on the sense of
sight and hearing. The experience is
given in terms of what they saw and what they heard. The Scriptures are telling us that in the
resurrection of Jesus Christ we are not dealing with myth. We are not dealing with story. We are not dealing with the attempt of the
disciples to memorialize Him. No. We are told everything in terms of what they
saw and heard.
What did they
see? Two things.
Mark 16:4:
“And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away: for it was very great.” They looked up. They had been engrossed in their
problems. They had been talking about
“how are we going to move that stone.”
When they came near, they lifted up their eyes and they saw that the
problem they had been discussing was irrelevant. The stone was rolled away. We could read, literally, that it had been
hurled back, had been pushed back some distance with evidence of great
force. Not simply budged open a little crack so one could squeeze through, but blown open.
Matthew 28
tells us that God had sent an
angel to roll the stone away, to break the seal of mortar and caulking. And the keepers, that is, the guards that
Pilate had set before the sepulcher, did quake and they ran. They hightailed it
back to
And you must know
that this stone has been rolled away not for Jesus’ sake. It did not need to be rolled away for Jesus
to exit the tomb. No, Jesus arose
through the grave. He destroyed the
grave. It has no power over Him. But the stone has been rolled away for the
disciples, for the women, for us. Not to
let Jesus out, but to show that He was not there.
The second thing
that they saw was an angel in the tomb itself.
Verse 5 reads, “And entering into the sepulcher, they saw a young man
sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white garment; and they were
affrighted.” They saw a young man. When angels are described in human terms they
are often described in terms of a young man.
It was an angel of God, clothed in a long white garment with great
glorious brilliance. Some of the glory
of God was shining in that tomb.
As they have
approached this tomb with their ointments and spices for the dead, now they see
the tomb opened. Inside sits an angel of
God. And they are frightened. They are amazed. They are awestruck. They are dumbfounded. Terror and wonder, curiosity and fear, are
mixed together in their souls. This is
what they have seen.
Then we are told in
terms of what they heard. They heard a
message that not only registered on the eardrum but was caught by the mighty
grace of God and brought into the depths of their hearts. What did they hear? First of all, they heard a gracious
prohibition. “And he (that is, the
angel) saith unto them, Be
not affrighted.” Oh, how wonderful! What a glorious word of Scripture when God
comes to us and says, “Do not fear.” And
remember that whenever God says that to us (now He
says that to us based upon the resurrection of Christ), God is not saying to us
words of empty courage. But that
commandment, “Do not fear,” always rests upon the absolute victory that His
grace has brought to us. It was the word
that was brought to the shepherds at the birth of Jesus Christ when the angels
appeared to them. The angels said, “Fear
not.”
And that is the
Word of God brought to us today: “Fear
not!” Do not be afraid. You must not be afraid. Your Lord is risen.
Secondly, there was
a word of glorious explanation (v. 6): “Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was
crucified: he is risen;
he is not here.” This is why you must
not be afraid. He is risen. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, that despised One, the One whom you saw crucified, the One you were with
in
Then comes the word of comforting invitation. “Behold the place where they laid him.” You have seen Him carried into this
place. He is not there. The angel was drawing attention to the linen
grave clothes that had been wrapped around Jesus’ body (read the Gospel
According to John, chapter 20). We learn
that the grave clothes were undisturbed.
There was a great mystery there.
Very plainly, Jesus did not have to be released from death. He broke it down. He went through those grave clothes. He went through the grave. Death could not hold Him! He has obtained life eternal for all of His
people.
Then there is the
word of solemn commission (v. 7): “But
go your way, tell his disciples and Peter that he goeth
before you into
This is what they
saw. This is what they heard. And so do you today, through the more sure
word, a word more sure than if you had stood there and been with those
women. That is the power of the
Scriptures. The Scriptures are the Word
of God. They are the sure Word. And in those Scriptures God speaks! “My Son, Jesus Christ, who died upon the
cross in your place and was placed in the tomb, will not be found there on
resurrection Sunday. He is risen! For He lives. He has
accomplished eternal victory and salvation for you.”
We read that the
women “went out quickly, and fled from the sepulcher; for they trembled and
were amazed: neither said they anything
to any man; for they were afraid.” They
were still in a state of fear. And we read
later on that Jesus Christ meets them on the way as they run back to the
disciples. He is going to appear to them. Then they are going to fall down at His feet
and cling to Him.
They had heard and
seen the glorious gospel of the resurrection.
What does it say to you and to me today?
It says to us, first of all, that the blessings of life eternal are now
ours inseparably. The resurrection of
Jesus Christ is the proof that our sin is gone, for He is raised from the
dead. The resurrection of Jesus Christ
is the gift of life with Christ. He
said, “Because I live, ye shall live also.”
This living Lord Jesus Christ comes and implants His life within the
hearts of His people – in my heart and in your heart. He gives you, as a child of God, faith that
never dies. This resurrection of Jesus
Christ is the proof that our bodies also cannot be kept by the grave but they
too shall arise and be made like unto His glorious body. In one word:
The resurrection of Jesus Christ means victory, victory to His
cause. He lives. And we have the victory.
But the
resurrection of Jesus Christ is not only a word of greatest blessing, but it is
a word of direction and a word of admonition.
This word is a word against all indifference to Jesus Christ and to the
risen Lord. In the women who come to the
sepulcher, we see our calling to live the life of genuine love to the risen Lord
Jesus Christ. Yes, their faith needed
more knowledge, needed correction, needed to be governed by His Word. But they loved Him. How much more should we? They brought costly spices. They lost sleep. They ran the risk of ridicule. It did not matter. For their Lord Jesus, they believed, was in
Joseph’s tomb.
What lay at the
bottom of their devotion? A deep sense of thankfulness for deliverance from sin’s power. Do you know this devotion? Do you love your Savior? Does this devotion evidence itself in your
life?
So this word is an
admonition against all indifference to Jesus Christ and against all
hopelessness and despair and desperation.
We see the tender love and compassion of our risen Savior for His
backslidden disciples. He said to the women,
“Tell my disciples and Peter.” In the
gospel according to Matthew we read, “Tell my brethren. Tell those who forsook me that they are yet
my brethren. Tell them that I am their
faithful Savior, that I am risen. Tell
them that by grace, by grace alone, I have earned for them who are unworthy
eternal salvation.” Oh, the wonderful,
never-failing mercy of God! Against all
hopelessness, all despair, all desperation, child of God, Jesus Christ is risen! Our comfort is
this: Our crucified Savior is the risen
Lord of glory. We have hope. We have victory. We have peace. We have salvation. Hallelujah, what a Savior!
Let us pray.
Father, may this
glorious gospel live in our hearts now and ever. To Thee be the honor
and the praise through Jesus Christ.
Amen.
Last modified: 04-may-2006