REFORMED CHURCH, BELLVILLE: SUNDAY 26 MAY 2002: MORNING SERVICE
Our help is in the Name of the Lord,
Who made heaven and earth.
Beloved, grace and peace be to you from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ, through the mighty working of God the Holy Spirit.
AMEN.
Psalm of praise: 43:3,4.
Apostles' Creed
1. I believe in God the Father, Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth.
2. And in Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son, our Lord;
3. Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary;
4. Suffered under Pontius Pilate; was crucified, dead, and buried; He descended into hell;
5. The third day He rose again from the dead;
6. He ascended into heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
7. From thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead.
8. I believe in the Holy Spirit.
9. I believe a holy catholic Church, the communion of saints;
10. The forgiveness of sins;
11. The resurrection of the body;
12. And the life everlasting. AMEN
The Law : Ex. 20:1-17
Psalm 32:1.
Prayer
Hymn 10:1,2.
Scripture reading: Matthew 27:57-28:15
Text: Matthew 28:2-15
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 white as snow.
The guards shook for fear of him and became like dead men.
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.
"Go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead; and behold, He is going ahead of you into Galilee, there you will see Him; behold, I have told you."
And they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy and ran to report it to His disciples.
And behold, Jesus met them and greeted them. And they came up and took hold of His feet and worshipped Him.
Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid; go and take word to My brethren to leave for Galilee, and there they will see Me."
Now while they were on their way, some of the guard came into the city and reported to the chief priests all that had happened.
And when they had assembled with the elders and consulted together, they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers,
and said, "You are to say, 'His disciples came by night and stole Him away while we were asleep.'
And if this should come to the governor's ears, we will win him over and keep you out of trouble."
And they took the money and did as they had been instructed; and this story was widely spread among the Jews, and is to this day.
Brothers and sisters, we confessed this morning, as we do every Sunday, "We believe in Jesus Christ...our Lord...who on the third day rose again from the dead".
But nowadays His resurrection is increasingly called into question. Did He really rise from the dead?
Certain persons, Christians, highly learned theologians, proclaim that according to our knowledge at the present day it is scientifically impossible to rise from the dead with your body. If you are physically dead, you are dead.
According to them, Jesus did not really rise from the grave alive. The disciples merely spread the story about the resurrection to keep Jesus alive in this way. However, if this were true, it would mean that there would also be no resurrection from the dead for us.
And now the question we need to answer is this: Why can we still firmly believe and confess that Jesus did truly rise from the dead?
Our answer to this urgent question we find clearly and irrefutably stated in the Word of the Lord, especially in Matthew 28:2-15.
Here, at Jesus grave, from His funeral to His resurrection, we meet three groups of people. These three groups represent all levels of mankind. To all three groups Jesus was "dead", and there could be no question of His ever again being restored to life.
Firstly, there were the representatives of the true believers, namely Nicodemus, Joseph of Arimathea and then the women, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary.
That Friday afternoon they had laid the body of Jesus in Joseph's new grave. This new grave had been excavated from the rock, with a burial chamber inside and an opening to the outside. As was the custom in those days, they had wrapped Jesus' body in a linen winding-sheet. So these four people had paid their last respects to their deceased Lord.
As far as they were concerned, and also the disciples who had avoided the funeral in fear of the Jews, everything was now over and done with. Jesus' death had brought an end to all their expectations. For them nothing remained but just the dead body of their Lord. Only an "in memoriam".
To confirm how shockingly final everything was, Joseph then rolled a large round stone before the grave entrance to seal the grave.
The second group which also had an interest in Jesus' funeral, were, it is true, not involved in the funeral. They, however, met somewhere in their council chambers to discuss matters relating to the grave, because, you see, they were frightened, very frightened indeed. True, Jesus was dead and buried. They knew that, but now they could find no rest for their souls. The Deceiver, as they called Him, had, after all, announced all over that He would rise from the dead on the third day. But this now made them uneasy.
They were assured that He was dead. There was no possibility of anyone rising from the dead. But supposing His disciples were to steal His body in the night, and then go about proclaiming that He had risen from the dead? They had to prevent this at all costs.
And then their scrupulously strict Jewish Council transgressed all their laws for the Sabbath. Very early that Sabbath morning (Saturday) Pilate received an urgent visit from the high priests and Pharisees:
"We want the grave to be made secure and guarded."
There was to be no possibility whatever of His body being removed from the grave.
Pilate granted permission for this to be done.
Accompanied by the Roman guard they walked to the grave. In the presence of the guard they sealed the stone before the entrance of the cave. They thus made doubly sure that there could be no question of His rising from the dead.
Then there was a third group involved in Jesus' funeral. They were Pilate, a heathen, and his heathen soldiers.
They had no particular interest in the funeral. And yet the Lord ordained that they should also become involved as heathen.
Of course, they did not believe in any resurrection from the dead. To them this was the greatest nonsense anyone could proclaim. Pilate was by this time probably so sick and tired of the Jews that he sent the soldiers along to guard the grave. After all, it would be only be until the third day.
And so, brothers and sisters, everything humanly possible was done to keep the body of Jesus in the grave. Humanly speaking, there could be no question of any resurrection from the dead.
You know, it is remarkable how it was ordained by the Lord that groups from all levels of mankind were involved in securing the grave of His Son.
The true believers, as well as the false believers and unbelievers, as it were collaborated in ensuring that the stone before the entrance of the grave remained closed. Only a divine miracle could nullify their thorough measures.
What was impossible for the persons concerned and what they tried to make impossible for others to achieve, was not impossible for the Lord.
And then, on the third day, that first day of the week, on the Sunday morning, God demonstrated His omnipotence over death.
An angel came and rolled away the stone!
The labours and attempts of those who tried so hard to secure Jesus' grave were, however, not without purpose. The Lord employed them to achieve a very special goal. That which they tried to accomplish, in fact, proved the contrary. Their attempts, of all parties concerned, testified to the fact that the Lord had truly risen from the dead. So the Lord saw to it that there need never be any doubt concerning Jesus' resurrection from the dead.
Those who, nevertheless, refuse to believe this, are in fact foolish, because they endorse a view contrary to their better judgement.
The stone which had been rolled away was the first decisive indication that the grave was empty. It was the Lord's proof to us that death had been overcome.
Naturally the angel did not roll away the stone so that Jesus could leave the grave alive, because when he rolled away the stone, the grave was already empty. Jesus had already risen (verse 6).
The angel before the empty grave told Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, who came to the grave that morning, what had happened. He showed them where Jesus had lain in the grave. The grave itself was empty; as he said to them: "He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said."
Just after this, Jesus Himself appeared suddenly before them. They saw Him, knelt before Him, took hold of His feet and worshipped Him.
So it happened that the women were the first witnesses to Jesus' resurrection. They then hurried on to inform the disciples.
After this Jesus also appeared to the disciples. Then only did they truly understand and believe what Jesus had told them before His crucifixion, namely that He would rise from His grave on the third day.
The large stone bearing the seal of the Jewish authorities and the Roman guards could not keep Him in the grave. His glorified body with which He had risen from the dead could no longer be confined within the limitations of burial sheets or of any other space.
The stone was rolled away for our sake, as people, so that all people of that time and of the present can see and realize that all human measures, a sealed stone, an armed guard and the scientific knowledge of the present day cannot keep Jesus in the grave. He rose from the dead.
Of course we still have to deal with people today, even certain Christians, who would like to refute the wonder of the resurrection from the dead on the grounds of so-called scientific knowledge. Just like the Jews of that time.
In desperation The Jewish authorities then bribed the guards to spread the lie that the disciples came to steal the Body of Jesus during the night.
One asks oneself: From where did the disciples suddenly summon up the courage to do this? They were so frightened that they locked themselves in a little room. They at first did not even believe that Jesus had risen from the dead.
Such stories are still spread today. Jesus (so they say) did not really rise from the dead. This was merely a lie spread by the disciples: so say these wise people, just like the Jewish Council.
The stone which had been rolled away from the grave entrance, however, today continues to testify against the stories which are still spread abroad, even via the media. But the day will come when that stone will testify against them, because then they, who have denied Jesus' resurrection from the dead, will be locked away in hell forever.
But, brothers and sisters, why is the resurrection of Jesus from the dead so unreal to some people that they try at all costs to deny it?
There is only one reason for this: satan himself is behind it.If he can succeed in convincing everybody that Jesus did not really rise from the dead, then Jesus' first coming, His suffering and death on the cross will be utterly devoid of meaning. Then our faith itself will be worthless.
The Lord tells us this in 1 Corinthians 15:17-19:
"...and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins.
Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.
If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied."
Now one wonders: Why do those who do not believe in Jesus' resurrection still call themselves Christians?
For us, as true believers, the stone that was rolled away from the grave holds another meaning: it proclaims that we should not stop at Jesus' crucifixion alone. After the cross and His death we must arrive at the resurrection.
You know, it is remarkable that the day on which Jesus rose from the dead, Sunday, is set aside as a worldwide festival for all believers, a day of resurrection. For Jesus did not rise from the dead just for His own sake. His resurrection establishes His victory over death also for our sakes.
He became the first to rise from the dead (1 Cor. 15:20). And that means that a great number of believers follow Him from the times of both the Old and the New Testament.
They who truly believe are God's children of the resurrection. We can now already live in the power of Christ's resurrection. In Christ we are already victorious, even over death.
But then our lives must testify, against those who are false believers and unbelievers, that we are in fact children of the resurrection. As such we will live in this world of confusion to serve in the love of Christ - to serve one another and God above all.
For that reason we shall not go to meet the future with hearts filled with fear and misgivings. The stone has been rolled away from the grave, and the open grave assures us that no dark future awaits us as children of the Lord. We now await a glorious future. The eternal morning of resurrection is coming. On that day we will, with bodies and souls reunited, be with the Lord on the new earth, for ever.
Brothers and sisters, we must always remain aware of this: the stone has been rolled away from the grave, notwithstanding the worldwide efforts of men to keep the stone firmly in place before Jesus' grave.
The Lord Himself rolled away the stone so that we may, through the eyes of believing women and disciples, see, and also hear: "The Lord has truly risen."
Jesus has overcome and destroyed death that we might live even after death. That is why Jesus tells us in John 11: "...he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die."
AMEN.
Closing prayer.
Closing Psalm: 16:4,5.
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all. AMEN.
Rev. H.P.Prinsloo
Reformed Church, Bellville.
26 May 2002
Scripture quoted from NASB.