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Main Idea
All things are possible in the Christian life because Jesus lives.
HE HAS RISEN!
Today, we celebrate Jesus’ victory over the grave. We do not worship a dead savior whose body you can go visit. Today, 2,000 years ago, Jesus rose from the grave in power and authority, and we know that all things are possible because Jesus lives, amen!
Today, we will celebrate this victory with all of our might, and as we do, I want us to worship our living King knowing precisely what it accomplished… at least the four that we will discuss today. Instead of being in just one passage of scripture, we will be all over the Bible, so I hope you have your page-flipping hand ready.
So, now, we will ask ourselves an important question. On Friday, we asked why Good Friday is good news. Today, we will ask: Why is the Resurrection good news? What difference did it make for you and me?
Passage
Matthew 28:1–9 ESV
1 Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. 2 And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. 4 And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men. 5 But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. 6 He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. 7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you.” 8 So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. 9 And behold, Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him.
Outline
I – It completed the sacrificial offering
II – It claimed victory over sin and death
III – It reconciled and sanctified His people
IV – It established Jesus’ Kingly Rule
I – It completed the sacrificial offering
On Good Friday, we visited a handful of Old Testament prophecies as we walked through Passion Week and the crucifixion, seeing how perfectly Jesus fulfilled each one.
That was the fulfillment of his death and sacrifice, but that isn’t the end of it all.
The High Priestly offering
When Jesus cried out, “It is finished,” he completed the mission of the sacrificial offering. Still, if you know the Levitical system, you will know that once the High Priest made the sacrifice, it also had to be offered to God and accepted by Him.
The deed was done, but the offering was not. Jesus is working in two different capacities: the sacrifice and the High Priest.
We see this in the gospel narrative. When Mary Magdalene was in the garden where Jesus’ tomb was located, she spoke with Him, thinking He was the gardener. She was looking for her Lord’s corpse, not realizing she was talking to the living, resurrected version of her Lord. And when He called her name, she became aware and wanted to hug him (wouldn’t you?), but he told her, “Not yet.”
John 20:17 ESV
17 Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”
and the writer of Hebrews gives us a glimpse of what this interaction looked like when he said:
Hebrews 10:11–12 ESV
11 And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12 But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God,
…sitting, signifying that the job is now complete. There is no further work of redemption needed from Christ. Moving forward, the Holy Spirit would apply the work of atonement to the repentant sinner. Isn’t that amazing! Someone better say amen to that!
So, the resurrection fully completes the prophecies of the work of the Messiah, at least in terms of his redemptive work. But that isn’t the end of the prophetic utterances.
Jesus’ own prophecy fulfilled
If you remember from the gospel accounts, Jesus predicted not only his death but also his resurrection. If he didn’t rise from the dead, he would have been a false prophet, making him a liar. If he is a liar, he isn’t perfect and couldn’t be the spotless sacrifice. Do you see why this matters?
Mark 9:31 ESV
31 for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him. And when he is killed, after three days he will rise.”
This is just one of many references to his death and resurrection by his own mouth. So, to maintain his integrity and sinlessness, Jesus had to rise from the dead.
The glory of this first point is the confidence it gives us as His followers. Dozens of prophecies, stretching back hundreds… even thousands of years before Jesus’ death, were fulfilled perfectly on time and exactly as planned. This should give us confidence that the God who made all of this come to pass is the same loving God who holds you and I in His hands, and absolutely nothing can pull you out of it. The resurrection proves that you are eternally secure because the offering for your sin has been offered by your faithful High Priest and accepted by the Father. There is no greater assurance than that.
And that is only the first accomplishment of the resurrection. We still have three more to go!
II – It claimed victory over sin and death
The second accomplishment of the resurrection… the reason it matters to you… is because it FINALIZED Jesus’ victory over sin and even death itself.
Isaiah 53:10–12 ESV
10 Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him;
he has put him to grief;
when his soul makes an offering for guilt,
he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;
the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
11 Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied;
by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,
make many to be accounted righteous,
and he shall bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many,
and he shall divide the spoil with the strong,
because he poured out his soul to death
and was numbered with the transgressors;
yet he bore the sin of many,
and makes intercession for the transgressors.
We have been over this before but need to see it again in this context. The suffering servant in Isaiah 53 was killed as a sacrifice for the transgressions of his people and then lived again! That is massively significant. Let’s zoom in on two victories that produce.
Victory over sin
If Jesus bore the penalty for sin, specifically the sins of all who call on his name in faith and repentance for salvation throughout all time, then the debt is paid. The transaction is complete, and your sin debt can never again be incurred to your account.
Romans 8:1 ESV
1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Satan can no longer accuse you, and God will no longer hold your sin against you. He accepted the blood of Christ as payment, so you are completely free!
Victory over death
But that’s not all. Not only is your sin forever dealt with, but because Jesus lives after being put to death, he has destroyed the power of death:
Hebrews 2:14–15 ESV
14 Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.
Slavery to sin and the wages of sin being death; Jesus defeated both. Through the resurrection, Jesus has even put death itself under his authority. We no longer have to fear what happens to our mortal bodies. If we die, we will live again, just as Jesus lives.
When sin and death have been defeated by the God who redeemed us, there is no part of the Christian life that cannot be lived in complete victory! That is the power of the resurrection!
That is the broad overview, but the resurrection also accomplished a great deal for how we live our lives daily.
III – It reconciled and sanctified His people
Without the presentation of Jesus’ blood and the acceptance of His sacrifice by the Father, we would not be reconciled, which also means there is no hope for becoming holy or righteous (aka: sanctified).
That should matter to you because the command of the Father is to be holy as He is holy. Without Jesus, our lives cannot have meaning and ultimately satisfy the Lord or us. We must be reconciled in Christ to the Father to be sanctified. The first is the doorway to the second.
Reconciled
Read this passage from Colossians with me, and while you do, I want you to take notice of the sequence.
Colossians 1:18–22 ESV
18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. 19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.
21 And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, 22 he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him,
- We were evil and hostile to God
- Jesus shed his blood and died on the cross
- Jesus is our head
- Because He lives (the firstborn FROM the dead)…
- He is the means by which we are reconciled to God (along with everything else)
- This was done SO THAT we could be presented holy and blameless (the outcome of sanctification)
To put it more simply, Paul says this:
2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV
21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Sanctified
And now that your relationship with God has been restored, you can live a life that is holy and pleasing to Him. To see this more clearly, let’s revisit Hebrews 10 and expand it out a bit:
Hebrews 10:9–14 ESV
9 then he added, “Behold, I have come to do your will.” He does away with the first in order to establish the second. 10 And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. 11 And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12 But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, 13 waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. 14 For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.
Now that your sin and resulting guilt have been dealt with… because God has removed your heart of stone and replaced it with a heart of flesh, you can live like a son or daughter of the King, taking care to note the HAVE BEEN and BEING aspects of sanctification:
In one sense, you have been sanctified (perfect, passive participle verb), meaning being found in Christ, you have been set apart, adopted, and made new. That is a one-time act in the past that has been done TO you.
In another sense, you are being sanctified, meaning there is progressive growth toward complete sanctification (or holiness).
To put it more simply, Peter says this:
1 Peter 2:24 ESV
24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.
What does this mean? It means that your daily life is culminating into something. It means that your life now has value and meaning. You no longer have to be at odds with God, living in darkness and sinful deeds. Your relationship with God has been restored in Christ and through his blood, and you can live righteously with purpose. How? Because Jesus lives.
But the focus isn’t solely on us. There is still one more accomplishment to discuss, and the focus for this accomplishment is entirely on Jesus himself.
IV- It established Jesus’ Kingly Rule
Jesus is called the King of Kings, right? If that is true, then not only is He a King, but He is in rulership and authority over all other kings to be the King of Kings.
That means Jesus has a Kingdom and rules over it. All of us would agree that this is true in heaven. It’s okay with us for Jesus to rule and reign in the cloud kingdom, but what about here on earth? What about now instead of later on? What did Jesus say before His ascension? Did He not inform His disciples that ALL authority in heaven AND ON EARTH was His?
Dead Kings cannot rule
Can a dead King rule?
Of course not. Only a living and breathing King can rule, which is precisely what scripture tells us. As we did on Good Friday, I want to position New Testament and Old Testament scriptures side-by-side so we can see this for ourselves:
Philippians 2:6–11 ESV
6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Isaiah 9:6–7 ESV
6 For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 Of the increase of his government and of peace
there will be no end,
on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
to establish it and to uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
from this time forth and forevermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.
Daniel 7:13–14 ESV
13 “I saw in the night visions,
and behold, with the clouds of heaven
there came one like a son of man,
and he came to the Ancient of Days
and was presented before him.
14 And to him was given dominion
and glory and a kingdom,
that all peoples, nations, and languages
should serve him;
his dominion is an everlasting dominion,
which shall not pass away,
and his kingdom one
that shall not be destroyed.
So again, let me ask you. When did Jesus tell us He had all authority? That’s right… after the resurrection and before His ascension to the Father’s right hand.
Jesus rules the nations because He lives. All things in the Christian life are possible because He lives.
The NOW and the NOT YET
The reality of Jesus’ kingly rule can be confusing because it doesn’t seem true right now. That’s fair. With all the evil in the world, it makes sense to question if Jesus really has authority because if He did, then why is He letting all this happen?
Let me encourage you from a passage from Hebrews. We read from chapter two earlier about the power of death being destroyed. Remember?
Well, just a few verses earlier, the author confirms that:
Hebrews 2:7–8 ESV
7 You made him for a little while lower than the angels;
you have crowned him with glory and honor,
8 putting everything in subjection under his feet.”
Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him.
He is ruling and reigning now because everything has been put in subjection to him, so that is the NOW. The NOT YET means that Jesus’ rule is not yet fully realized because he is to sit at the Father’s right hand until his enemies are made his footstool. It is a process, you see. The Kingdom is like the growth of a mustard seed to a full-grown tree. But this doesn’t make Jesus any less of a sovereign King.
And if the sovereign King who wields all authority is for you, who on earth can be against you and prevail?
So, why is the resurrection good news?
Conclusion
Because Jesus rose from the grave, the work of atonement is finished, we have victory over sin and death, we have been reconciled to the Father and sanctified as His children, and we get to live in a Kingdom where our Redeemer reigns eternally. Hallelujah!
In our time together today, we have seen what the resurrection meant then for the first-century believers and what it means for us today.
Next week, we will see what it means for us in the future.
I’ll conclude with these words from Hebrews chapter 10:
Hebrews 10:19–23 ESV
19 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, 20 by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.