The Garden in the New Creation (Matt. 27:57-28:15) (4/5/26)

Christ the Lord is risen. He is risen indeed.

The title of our sermon today is The Garden in

the New Creation, subtitled Jesus Keeps His Word.

Let us pray. Glory be to you, O God, the Father

who did raise your Son Jesus Christ from the

dead and made us partakers of his victory over

sin and death. Glory be to you, O Jesus Christ,

who for our sakes became flesh, has overcome

death, and has opened up the gates of eternal

life for us. O glory be to you, O Holy Spirit,

who has made us your people, your temple, and

who day by day does lead us in all truth in Jesus

Christ. We entreat you to make the words of my

mouth and the meditations of all our hearts acceptable

in your sight, O Lord, our nearest kinsman, Redeemer.

Jesus Christ amen I'm expanding the gospel reading

by a few verses our sermon text 27 beginning

in verse 57 Now when evening had come there came

a rich man from Arimathea named Joseph who himself

had also become a disciple of Jesus This man

went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.

Then Pilate commanded the body to be given to

him. And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped

it in a clean linen cloth and laid it in his

new tomb, which he had hewn out of rock. And

he rolled a large stone against the door of the

tomb and departed. And Mary Magdalene was there

and the other Mary sitting opposite of the tomb.

On the next day, which followed the day of preparation,

the chief priests and Pharisees gathered together

to Pilate, saying, sir, we remember while he

was still alive how the deceiver said, after

three days, I will rise. Therefore, command that

the tomb may be made secure until the third day,

lest his disciples come by night and steal him

away. And say to the people, he is risen from

the dead. The last deception will be worse than

the first. Pilate said to them, you have a guard.

Go your way. Make it as secure as you know how.

So they went and made the tomb secure, sealing

the stone and setting the guard. Now, after the

Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to

dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came

to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great

earthquake. for an angel of the Lord descended

from heaven and came and rolled back the stone

from the door and sat on it. His countenance

was like lightning, his clothing white as snow.

Fear him and became like dead men. But the angel

answered and said to the women, Do not be afraid,

for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified.

He is not here, for he is risen, as he said.

Come see the place where the Lord lay go quickly

and tell his disciples that he is risen from

the dead and Going before you into Galilee where

you will see him Behold I have told you so they

went out quickly from the tomb with fear and

great joy and Ran to bring his disciples word

and as they went to tell his disciples behold

Jesus met them saying rejoice So they came and

held him by the feet and worshiped him and then

Jesus said to them Do not be afraid go and tell

brethren go to Galilee and there they will see

me Now while they were going behold some of the

guard came into the city and reported to the

chief priests all the things that had happened

and when they assembled with the elders and consulted

together They gave them a large sum of money

the soldiers saying tell them his disciples came

by night and stole him away while while we slept

Comes to the governor's ear will appease him

and make you secure So they took the money and

did as they were instructed and this saying is

commonly reported among the Jews until this day

These are the words of Almighty God receive them

in your heart Now as we look through this passage

I want us to see three things. Three things.

One, the great reset of creation. The great reset

of creation. Two, there are always two competing

messages. Every day in your life, there are always

two competing messages. And finally, the good

news. Rejoice! Christ Jesus is resurrected. Rejoice!

Christ Jesus is resurrected. One of the reasons

that the religion of evolution is so dangerous

is that it attempts to change the narrative concerning

creation. And in doing so, it pushes people to

a place where they do not understand what is

truly happening. Not only through the scriptures

as a whole, but particularly through the death

burial and resurrection of Jesus. At the first

creation, Adam finds himself in a garden with

a tree and a woman. Adam does not guard the woman

from the serpent. And in his obedience, Adam

brings death from a tree and so both Adam and

Eve, that woman, and all men since are separated

from God. That is, enmity with God. Now for those

of you kids look up this way you probably don't

use the word enmity all the time in your vocabulary

But when I hear the word enmity we need to understand

that that is war So that is to say that those

that are separated from God are at a rebellious

war with God and so see death as Hebrews 9 27

tells us it is appointed for men to die once

but after this the judgment and so all men see

death. Death from the garden seems so hopelessly

permanent and for those outside Christ Jesus

it is permanent in that they will be in eternal

hostility and suffer judgment and not just in

this life. Revelation 21 8 tells us but the cowardly

the unbelieving, the abominable, murderers, sexually

immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars

shall have their part in the lake which burns

with fire and brimstone, which is the second

death. When we were left together on Friday evening,

we memorialized Jesus' arrest, his innocent sufferings,

and his death. At his death, Jesus cried out,

it is finished signifying that the debt for the

sins of his people were paid in full at that

very moment. Just like during the first creation

where God rested, Jesus completed his work and

then he rested on the seventh day. Only he rested.

The work was done. Jesus worked for our redemption

and reconciliation was complete. Now our passage

today bridges the gap between where we left off

on Good Friday. Remember now it said now when

the evening had come there was a rich man from

Arimathea named Joseph who himself had become

a disciple of Jesus. This man also went to Pilate

to ask for the body of Jesus and then Pilate

commanded that the body be given to him. So let's

talk about Pilate. You have Pilate, the governor,

who not only gave permission for the death of

Jesus after questioning him at length and was

fearful of Jesus when he realized that he is

the Son of God. But of course, remember what

did he say when Jesus says that here is he is

the truth. What is truth? And he goes about,

to preserve himself. And Pilate, the governor

there, he's the one that has the power. Jesus

is dead. Joseph, we know from reading through

across all the gospels, Joseph of Arimathea was

a believer. He believed in Christ. As a matter

of fact, he sat on the Sanhedrin, the grand council,

and the scriptures tell us in Luke that he actually

voted against He didn't agree with all of the

conspiring against Jesus to put him to death.

And like most of us, he had some fear. But it

tells us he had courage because he took that

courage and he went and he talked to the governor,

the one who put Jesus to death. And he asked

for his body. And when Joseph had taken the body,

he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth and laid

it in his new tomb, which he had hewn out of

the rock. And he rolled a large stone against

the door of the tomb and departed. And Mary Magdalene

were there and the other Mary sitting opposite

of the tomb. So there was Japhav, Arimathea,

these ladies were there. They did what they could.

They wrapped him in linen clothing and they put

him in there. But they had to stop. because the

Sabbath was beginning. The day of preparation

was almost over and at dusk they had to stop

work so they had to cease. Now there's some interesting

things in this passage. Why did Joseph of Arimathea

put him in a linen cloth? Why does God give us

this detail? Well if you look at Leviticus chapter

Leviticus 16:4

16 verse 4 we see that on the day of atonement

that the high priest had special linen garments

that he put in to go into the Holy of Holies

and make an atonement for the sins of the nation

of Israel. So here we see Joseph putting him

in high priestly linen garment and putting him

in the tomb seeing the Holy of Holies here. We

also see that we are given the detail that he's

put into a new tomb among the rich Which means

only one person per tomb only the rich could

do that This is a this is a fulfillment of the

prophecy in Isaiah 53 verse 9 and This we need

Isaiah 53:9

to see and understand is important because Jesus

fulfilled everything that the scripture said

about him. And finally, we see that he rolls

a rock in. Now, to give you context, typically

a normal stone for a tomb like this would take

about six men to roll across. But when they use

the emphasis of a large stone, that's more like

20 men. I'm assuming that Joseph of Arimathea

Rich man being the leader of Israel. He had some

helpers with him and They pushed that large stone

into place And he says they rolled the rock in

place And this is a different word rolled that

is used on the day of resurrection This is just

kind of they kind of rolled it over Just softly

and it's interesting this I'm gonna come back

to this later But there's a difference between

all the resurrection rolled away and this one.

This is just normal men rolling it away. And

all this happened on Friday before sunset as

the Sabbath was about to begin, the seventh day,

the day of rest. Passage continues saying on

the next day, which followed the day of preparation.

So that's the Sabbath day. The chief priests

and the Pharisees gathered together with Pilate

saying, sir, we remember while he was still alive

how the deceiver said, after three days, I will

rise. Therefore, the tomb be made secure until

the third day, lest his disciples come by night

and steal him away and say to the people he has

risen from the dead so that the last decision

will be worse than the first. And of course,

what does Pilate say? You have a guard. Go on,

get as secure as you know how. So they went and

made the tomb secure, sealing the stone and setting

a guard. It's interesting. Here we have the day

of rest. And the Pharisees and the chief priests

in particular, they've been very careful all

through. They have all these extra rules for

the Sabbath day. They think all through the ministry

of Christ, they are railing against Jesus doing

miracles, restoring people, healing people, bringing

people back to life, doing all these wonderful,

good, kind, and restorative things for people

on the Sabbath, and they hated it. But they didn't

want anybody to know what it was they were doing.

Right? Here on this Sabbath day, it would seem

that they didn't consider conspiring work meetings

to be against the Sabbath rules. Right about

you, but if somebody wants to call a meeting

on the Lord's Day there better be a really good

reason for it Right somebody dies Somebody has

a flat tire. Well, okay together. We'll go out

there and change it right That's not what these

guys were doing they were conducting can spy

conspiring against God and the Lord Jesus and

they were having this meeting man. We got to

make sure In no way can there be any deception

here, which is interesting because what are they

full of? Lies and deception. It's interesting

also that God haters remember what God said.

They remember what Jesus said, and they're actually

afraid. We read that the disciples, what do you

see? After the resurrection, after Jesus shows

up, then they remember. After Jesus breathed

the Holy Spirit on them, they remember all the

things that God had said. All the things that

Jesus had said. James chapter 2 verse 19 tells

James 2:19

us this. He's actually speaking to Christians.

You believe that there is one God. You do well.

Even the demons believe. And they tremble. These

men did not tremble. except out of fear that

Jesus might come back to life and remove them.

We also see that they remembered the words. What

did they remember? Well, they remembered Matthew

12 where they asked for a son. Jesus says, for

as Jonah was three days and three nights of the

belly of the great fish, the son of man be three

days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

We also know that Jesus told, His disciples in

Matthew 16, and there's always other people around,

Matthew 16, Matthew 17, and in Matthew 20 about

his death, burial, and his resurrection. In chapter

20 we read, now Jesus going up to Jerusalem took

the twelve disciples aside on the road and said

to them, Behold we're going up to Jerusalem,

and the Son of Man will be betrayed by the chief

priests and the scribes, and they will condemn

him to death and deliver him to the Gentiles

and mock him. Scourge and crucify. And the third

day He will rise again. The disciples we know

had all fled. They'd all deserted Jesus. They're

hiding in locked rooms, waiting in fear and dread.

Why? Because they didn't remember the words of

Jesus. The Pharisees they did remember and fearing

any truth to Jesus's words They conspired with

Pilate to have a Roman guard seal up the tomb

and guard over it This would have been like today

us going to Fort Bragg getting Delta Force guys

and saying We need you to come over here and

guard this and you need to seal it most secure

thing in the world right here This Roman Legion

was no joke They were hardened battle men. They

understood the task at hand. They also understood

that if they fell asleep, if they didn't do their

duty, they'd be put to death. That's motivation.

So what did they do? They did everything they

could to seal up that tomb, put guard around

it. They were ready. This one's just a couple

guys. This was probably a group of about eight

to 16 men. They never went out in twos. It was

too dangerous. The worst thing for these self

-preserving, at all costs, chief priests and

Pharisees would be for Jesus to rise again. They

feared that Jesus would take away their power,

their influence, their glory, and their money.

So having done everything they could to prevent

Jesus from rising, they went home. For all men.

The greatest day in history is about to come

to pass in this text. And we need to remember

that no efforts by men or anything in creation

could thwart the plans of Almighty God. It says

this, now after the Sabbath that the first day

of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and

the other Mary came to see the tomb. And behold,

children, behold, there was a great earthquake.

And the angel of the Lord descended from heaven

and came and rolled back the stone from the door

and sat on it. You know, sitting down, that's

an important visual thing, right? If you have

an honored person, nobody else sits down until

the honored person sits down. The powerful kings

would walk and then go and sit down. And then

the other people could sit down. That's authority.

He's sitting on that stone. He authoritatively

moved it. He was visible. He was there. His countenance

was like lightning. That is, his face and everything

was so glorious. His clothing was white as snow.

And these battle -hardened Roman soldiers, they

shook for fear of him and became like dead men.

There's a few interesting things here. One, there's

the first day of creation. This is the eighth

day, the first day in the new creation. We're

going to see this eighth day theme coming through

the rest of Easter season. You'll find the eighth

day returning again and again, which is why we

worship on Sunday, the eighth day, and celebrate

the new creation. We see that this also happens.

If you look through the other passages, you understand

that this isn't just a stone tomb, but it's a

stone tomb in a garden. And we see women in the

garden reminding us, giving us that imagery of

the first garden with a woman in it and a man

and what he's going to do to deliver or not deliver

this woman. Now back to that stone size a big

giant stone Probably took 20 men to roll it back

Now this is interesting this word rolled back

now You got to think about this if the writer

by the influence of the holy writing and they

use rolled back the stone use one wording And

just a few lines later use an entirely different

word that is important And of course, you might

not see that in your English text, but if you

look at the Greek, you see this. And there's

one other place, other than all of the places

in the gospels where the stone is rolled back,

where we see that word being used. If you go

to the Septuagint, the Greek version of the Old

Testament, that rolling back of the stone. is

the same word used in Genesis chapter 29, three

Genesis 29 · chapter mention

times, where Jacob goes and he rolls the stone

off the well to water the sheep. So that he can

get the bride. The stone is rolled off, that

the waters, the living waters of life are proceeding

to feed the sheep, to water the sheep. And Jacob

gets The woman We back to our text we see But

the angel answered and said to the women do not

be afraid For I know that you seek Jesus who

was crucified You know he's bringing terror like

dead men to the enemies of God and he speaks

with kindness He knows I know why you're here

You don't have to be afraid of me You're here

to see Jesus And He says, He is not here, for

He is risen. Come, see the place where the Lord

lay, and go quickly and tell His disciples He

is risen from the dead. Every time that you have

this moment, the Word of God says, here, see

the proof? Now go and rejoice and tell others.

And indeed, And so they do look. And he says,

gonna go before you into Galilee, and there you

will see him. Behold, I have told you. So they

went out quickly from the tomb with fear, a little

bit of okay, it's not what we were expecting,

not what we thought was gonna happen, kind of

perplexed, but they're obedient even in fear.

And. In that obedience and fear, they have great

joy. Can it be so? And they ran to bring his

disciples word. Now, of course, this is actually

where the story of Matthew becomes so dramatic.

We thought it was dramatic already, big earthquake,

stone being tossed, big stone being tossed away.

We see all that, right? A glorious angel present.

No, this is what the real joy is the real dramatic

moment and As they went to tell his disciples,

so as they're going they turn leaving the they're

going out. They're gonna run Jesus met them saying

rejoice So they came and held him by the feet

and worshiped him Then Jesus said to them do

not be afraid go and tell my brethren to go to

Galilee and there they will see me. Jesus meets

the women in the garden and declares, rejoice.

The women held his feet and worshiped him. This

word held means to take possession of. They actually

touched and held on to the resurrected physical

body of Jesus. Jesus is alive in a real and tangible

way. Jesus sends the women to tell his brethren

the good news, not only of the resurrection,

but also that they would see and embrace Jesus

as well. So the women went right away rejoicing

in Jesus. Jesus kept his word. But as Matthew

points out, the women are not the only ones on

their way to tell of the resurrection. Remember

in verse 11, now, while they, that's the women,

were going, behold, some of the guard came into

the city to report to the chief priests all the

things that had happened. When they had assembled

with the elders and consulted together, they

gave them a large sum of money to the soldiers

saying, tell them his disciples came at night

and stole him away while he slept. And if this

comes to the governor's ears, we'll appease him

and make you secure. Because remember, if they

fail in their duty, they're to be put to death.

That's a fear that they have. A large sum of

money. We don't know how much it was. But you

think about it. If you're going to lie in public

and take the risk of being executed by the governor,

it had to be a pretty large sum of money. The

kind of money where you could say, I'm going

to casually report in. Then asked for my retirement

time to check out of this job and then go live

off all this money. I just got It said took the

money and did they were instructed and this saying

is commonly reported among the Jews today, so

they went and did it and Those that that don't

want to follow Christ did not want to hear the

gospel Wanted to stay at war with God For their

own selfish reasons They're the ones that commonly

say all the disciples just These guards who experienced

the earthquake Saw the angel and saw that great

stone tossed away. They were there with the women

They saw Jesus These guards came to Jerusalem

to report all that they had seen So here we see

two sets of messengers. One set full of joy with

good news. And one set full of fear and bad news

for all those conspiring against Christ. One

set of messengers bringing the joy of the words

of Jesus because his words are true. And the

other set of messengers bringing dread. knowing

that the words of Jesus are true. So what do

these chief priests and elders do? Do they repent

in the face of Jesus' words being validated,

proven? Do they admit their mistakes in the face

of absolute proof? No. They do as all idolaters

do. Turn back to their idols. They bribe the

guards. to promote lies. And they paid a very

large amount of money and probably had to pay

off Pilate. No matter the proof or sign or argument,

the chief priests, the scribes, and the Pharisees

desire only in preserving their own interests,

even at great cost of money and death. Especially

the last death Dearly beloved Jesus did rise

first Corinthians chapter 15 tells us that Jesus

1 Corinthians 15 · chapter mention

was not only seen by just a few but among his

appearances Beyond the Gospels that at one time

one of the times he appeared that more than 500

persons saw him and many of them were living

in the years to come Jesus is alive and even

though there are competing messages messengers

of joy and good news and messengers fear and

conspire eight Jesus words are true and So we

are called to be messengers of joy and good news

Jesus has come and destroyed death. He is the

firstborn in the new creation. He is the greater

Adam And he delivered his bride, the church,

from Satan. Jesus did crush Satan's head. We

have good news on this Easter Sunday morning.

No, we have great news. He is risen. Now, we're

right there at the end of the book. So you have

this big dramatic story of Christ's resurrection,

His proof, those that are conspiring against

Him. Just like there are those out there conspiring

against God and His church today, His bride.

I want you to hear the last three verses of this

chapter. And I want you to hear all the times

that the word all is used. So these are just

the next verses right here. Remember it said

go to Galilee and obviously this we know from

the Gospels. There's some other things that happen

in there We're going to cover that in the coming

weeks But I want you to hear this They go to

Galilee and Jesus came to saying all Authority

has been given to me where in heaven and on earth

Go therefore and make disciples of what all nations?

Baptizing them in the name of the Father and

the Son, Holy Spirit. Teaching them to what?

Observe all things that I have commanded you.

And lo, I am with you always, even to the end

of the age." And it closes, the book closes with

the word, amen. So all authority has been given

to him, prophesied from the very beginning of

history, human history, world history, creation

history. We see it right there in the garden.

It's promised that He'll destroy the serpent

and that we will be given life in the Son of

God. It's prophesied all through the Old Testament

that He will reign and that He will destroy death.

And so truly all authority has been given to

Him in heaven and on earth. And so because of

that great authority, we can be great heralds

of the good news that Christ is risen. And we

are told that it isn't just being the herald,

be the herald. But then baptize them. Make them

the people of God. Enter them into the covenant.

And then teach them all that I observe. Or excuse

me. Teach them to observe all things that I've

commanded. So here's the deal. This observing

all the things I've commanded. That's both speaking

and by our example. If we, in fact, take our

lives, that God has given us this new life and

the new creation in Christ Jesus, in the resurrection,

and we take all these given us, and we live in

obedience to Him, heralding the good news of

Christ's resurrection, and we demonstrate by

showing that we are different. We live differently.

We speak differently. And yes, We even rejoice

in the face of hardship and fears. This morning

you might be feeling a little bit like those

women, a little fearful. What about God? What

about what he can do? What about the work of

Jesus? Just obey and go and herald and speak

and follow him and declare him king. In our gospel

today we witnessed the great reset of creation.

Two competing messages on life and one to death

and the joy and peace found in Christ Jesus the

resurrected King So like our our psalm reading

this morning said we can say in confidence Psalm

Psalms 118:24

118 verse 24 This is the day that the Lord has

made and we will rejoice and be glad in it. He

is risen Let us pray heavenly father We thank

you that you did send your son to be a redeeming

sacrifice for us and his death on the cross.

We humbly ask that you would, by the power of

the Spirit, remember the words that we would

remember the words that Jesus told us that we

might be joyful, obedient, and loving messengers

of the Gospel. Good news of our resurrected Lord

Jesus Christ, who reigns with you in the Holy

Spirit, world without end. Amen. Let us continue

are worshiped by the giving of His tithes and

our offerings. Let us pray. Blessed are you,

O Lord God, for through your goodness we have

these gifts to share. Accept and use your tithes

and our offerings for your glory and for service

in your kingdom. Blessed be God forever and ever.

Amen.