Day 14 of 14 — He Is Risen

Yesterday was silent. The body of Jesus was put in a borrowed tomb, sealed with a stone, and guarded by soldiers at the request of the men who killed Him. Saturday offered them nothing but the consequences of a Friday they couldn’t undo and a future they could no longer imagine.

And then Sunday came.

“Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the grave. And behold, a severe earthquake had occurred, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it. And his appearance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. The guards shook for fear of him and became like dead men.” (Matthew 28:1-4)

The women came expecting a corpse. They brought spices for a body that had been dead since Friday afternoon. Everything about that morning was shaped by the assumption that death had won, and the only thing left was to tend to the remains. They came to conduct one last act of devotion because, in their understanding, the story was over.

But when they arrived at the tomb, the found soldiers were on the ground, paralyzed. The stone that was supposed to seal the grave had been moved, and an angel was sitting on it. The Roman authorities made the grave as secure as they knew how, and it held for exactly as long as God allowed it.

“The angel said to the women, ‘Do not be afraid; for I know that you are looking for Jesus who has been crucified. He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said. Come, see the place where He was lying.’” (Matthew 28:5-6)

He is not here. He has risen, just as He said.

That last part is easy to read past. Just as He said. Jesus told them this was coming. In Matthew 16:21, He told the disciples plainly that He would be killed and raised on the third day. In Matthew 20:18-19, He said it again with even more detail.. He would be handed over, condemned, mocked, scourged, crucified, and raised on the third day. He said all of this clearly more than once. And when it happened exactly as He said it would, they were somehow shocked. The men who killed Jesus secured the tomb because they remembered His prediction, but His own followers forgot it. The angel’s words carry a rebuke underneath the announcement. He has risen, just as He said. This shouldn’t have surprised you. He told you.

Every promise God made across the entire arc of Scripture materializes right here, on this morning, at this tomb. The seed of the woman promised in Genesis 3 has crushed the serpent’s head. The death that followed the fall, the curse that spread through every generation from Adam forward, has been broken by a man who walked into it voluntarily and came out the other side alive. The substitute God provided on Moriah, the ram that died so Isaac could live, was always pointing to a substitute whose death would be followed by something the ram could never picture.. resurrection. The Passover lamb whose blood saved Israel from judgment in Egypt has now been slain and raised, and the salvation His blood purchased is permanent.

Isaiah said the servant would be crushed, and He was. David wrote the cry of abandonment in Psalm 22, and Jesus spoke those words from the cross on Friday. But Psalm 22 doesn’t end there. It ends in worship..

“All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations will worship before You.” (Psalm 22:27)

The psalm that gave us the voice of the suffering servant also gave us the end result of His suffering, and that is the nations on their knees.

And every doubter who demanded a sign from Jesus was told there would be only one, and this morning was that sign.

The angel told the women to go and tell the disciples, and as they ran from the tomb, Jesus met them on the road.

“And they came up and took hold of His feet and worshiped Him. Then Jesus said to them, ‘Do not be afraid; go and take word to My brothers to leave for Galilee, and there they will see Me.’” (Matthew 28:9-10)

They took hold of His feet, because there was a physical body. The resurrection wasn’t a metaphor, the women touched Him and He spoke to them.

And then pay attention to how He described the disciples. He called them “My brothers.” These men who ran when He was arrested. Peter denied Him and rest scattered and hid. They abandoned Him, and His first description of them after defeating - “My brothers.” The risen Christ’s first act toward the disciples wasn’t judgment for their failure, but rather restoration of the relationship.

Calvin wrote that “our salvation may be divided between the death and resurrection of Christ.. by the former, sin was abolished; by the latter, righteousness was restored and life raised up.”

The cross without the resurrection is a tragedy that ends in a sealed tomb. The resurrection without the cross is a miracle with no meaning. Together, though, they’re the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.

For fourteen days, we’ve walked a road that Scripture built. It started with a promise in the garden and moved to a substitute on a mountain and the blood of lambs on doorposts and the voices of prophets who told what was coming centuries before. The One who set His face toward Jerusalem arrived at the cross, and the cross did exactly what it was designed to do. The sin of God’s people was paid for. The wrath of God was satisfied. The veil was torn open from heaven to earth. And on the third day, the tomb was empty.

He is risen.