God's Easter Surprise

And if you would open up your Bibles to Matthew 28, 1 through 10, it's in your pew Bible, it's on page 992.

And what we're going to find out is that this passage is full of surprises.

Speaking of surprises.

Life is full of surprises.

Some unpleasant, some pleasant.

Pink slips.

Divorce papers.

Blue and red flashing lights in your rearview mirror.

Hypothetically speaking.

Cancer diagnosis.

Betrayal.

And then of course, stepping barefoot on a Lego in the dead of night.

Unpleasant surprises.

Do I have an amen on that last one?

You know it.

Then there are the pleasant surprises.

The unexpected bonus from work.

Then there's this out of the blue encouraging phone call from a friend who had no idea what you're going through, but the timing was impeccable.

That's a pleasant surprise.

You bring your car into the mechanic.

It's making a weird noise.

He says to you, it's just five bucks.

That's a pleasant surprise.

Miracle.

It's a pleasant surprise.

Miracle.

Miracle is right.

Parents of teenagers.

Your teenager cleans up after themselves without being asked.

It's a pleasant surprise.

Teens, I got you.

When your parent gives you $20 just because.

Pleasant surprise.

Life's full of surprises of all kinds.

But how would you classify Jesus Christ?

Would you classify him as an unpleasant surprise or a pleasant surprise?

Maybe if you're like, well, I gave him a shot.

And he didn't do what I wanted him to do.

And so you might not classify him as an unpleasant surprise.

It might just be disappointment.

Maybe in your mind, Jesus represents some kind of oppressive structure.

It's not a pleasant surprise.

Maybe you're not disappointed with Jesus.

You're just undecided.

You don't quite know what to think about him yet.

You're curious.

But to say that you're surprised either way, you're not there yet.

So whether you're disappointed with Jesus or undecided about Jesus,

I am really glad that you're here this morning.

Because what we're about to see in this historical account of the resurrection of Jesus

is a surprise for you.

And you're going to need to make a decision of what we see in the pages of this book

is true or false.

There's some in the room, many in the room, who have been pleasantly surprised by Jesus.

More like shocked that God would become a man,

pay the sin debt we owed with his own death,

and then be raised from the dead as Lord of all.

And we get to live for him now.

That's shockingly good news for us.

And so when we hear he is risen and we say he is risen indeed,

we say it from our toes because we believe it to be true.

It informs our entire life.

You've been rescued.

And now you live for him.

And it has been a surprisingly good thing.

In fact, you'd say Jesus is God's most pleasant surprise.

With all these said, let's look at now Matthew 28, 1-10.

I'll read it.

And after I read it, I'm going to walk us through it.

And then I'm going to kind of bring it to a point and say,

hey, what is this claiming and what does that mean for us?

Hear God's word.

Chapter 28, 1-10.

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.

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.

His appearance was like lightning and his clothing white as snow.

And for fear of him, the guards trembled and became like dead men.

But the angel said to the women, do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified.

He is not here, for he has risen.

As he said, come, see the place where he lay.

Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead.

And behold, he's going before you to Galilee.

There you will see him.

See, I have told you.

So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy and ran to tell his disciples.

And behold, Jesus met them and said, greetings.

And they came up and took hold of him, his feet, and worshipped him.

Then Jesus said to them, do not be afraid.

Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee.

And there they will see me.

May God bless the reading of his word.

So let's walk through this historic account.

If you're not familiar with the Bible, we're looking at a gospel.

And what a gospel is, it's basically a New Testament biography of Jesus.

It's historical.

It's accurate.

It's reliable.

And it's written by an eyewitness.

Matthew, who wrote this, would witness the resurrected Jesus himself.

And so let's start in this account in the setting of the scene in verse 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.

Matthew, who wrote this, is being very clear.

He's adamant that he wants you and me to know as readers what day of the week this is.

And the reason why is because of something Jesus said.

Now, if you're not familiar with the kind of Jewish tradition and understanding of a week, the Sabbath was their Saturday.

So if you remember Genesis chapter 1, God created all things in six days and on the seventh he rested.

Genesis 1 · chapter mention

And so from there, the Jewish people would observe that seventh day as the last day of the week in which they would rest from their labor.

But why is Matthew telling us this?

Why does he want us to know that it's now the first day of the week?

It's Sunday, not Saturday.

Well, it's something that Jesus had said repeatedly.

In fact, he predicted something.

More like prophesied something.

So in Matthew 16, 17 and 20, Jesus tells his disciples, he says to them,

when we get to Jerusalem, I'm going to be handed over to the elders and chief priests of the Jews.

And they will kill me.

And then on the third day, I'll be raised.

Repeatedly.

And so what Matthew is doing here is he's saying, it's that day.

It's the third day.

It's the day that he was talking about.

Now, the chief priests and the elders who were enemies of Jesus, they knew of these prophecies as well.

That's why in Matthew 27, 62 through 66, they deploy a unit of soldiers to the grave to seal the stone on the tomb and say,

off limits to everybody.

They're trying to keep people out of the tomb from the disciples from stealing the body.

So they knew about these prophecies.

If you're not familiar with this account, three days earlier, Jesus Christ was crucified on a Roman cross.

He was dead and his corpse was laid in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea.

And if you're familiar with the story, you know that all of his male disciples, they either betrayed him, denied him, or deserted him.

But there was a handful of female followers of Jesus that were at the crucifixion that they saw where his body was laid.

And two of them, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, are spoken of in verse 1.

They are on their way to the tomb.

We know from other gospel accounts that they're on their way to the tomb in order to finish anointing Jesus' body for burial.

So let me ask you this.

If you were in the minds of these two Marys, what were you expecting to find when you reached the tomb?

You would be expecting to find the corpse of Jesus Christ.

Do you know why?

Because we all know that dead people who've been dead for days stay dead.

They're expecting to find the corpse of Jesus.

But what they were expecting, what actually happened, was a surprise.

It's something else actually happened.

And we start picking it up in verses 2 through 7.

There's this surprise.

Mary, Mary, we're not expecting this.

An angelic surprise.

And there's a number of things I want you to see that make this so surprising.

The first is the entrance.

It is a seismic entrance by this angel.

And behold, there was a great earthquake.

An earthquake precedes the arrival of this angel.

That's a big deal.

I didn't walk into this building and there was an earthquake this morning.

But let's not miss why this angel is here.

He's there to make the most surprising announcement in the history of the world.

You know, any kind of human event with seismic activity around it is going to be extraordinary and memorable.

Wouldn't you agree?

Three days earlier, remember Jesus is hanging on the cross.

He says, Eloi, Eloi, Lameis Epictone.

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

He gives up his spirit.

The temple, the curtain is torn in two from top to bottom.

And then there's an earthquake.

He breathes his last.

And there's an earthquake.

Could it be that here in Matthew chapter 28 verse 2,

Matthew 28:2

that that earthquake is at the breathing of his first?

And with that comes the attending of an angel to announce that he,

well, something surprising has happened.

This angel arrives with seismic fanfare.

And he rolls away the stone, just blows through the seal.

He doesn't care who seals on this.

And then he sits on the top of the stone, which was massive.

No man or men in this room could have moved it on their own.

It's kind of...

Sitting on the stone?

Does anybody else experience kind of like,

boy, that seems kind of playful.

That's kind of lighthearted.

He knows something.

He knows something.

In verse 3, we see his shocking appearance.

His appearance like lightning.

His clothing was like white like snow.

He's obviously not from around those parts.

He is adorned in even emitting a heavenly brilliance.

This is a visitor from heaven.

I'm guessing Mary and Mary, when they were looking at him,

seated on that rock, they were kind of squinting.

It's that kind of brilliance.

Notice the stunning effect in verse 4.

Remember, the guards who were there.

Remember, it was the elders and the chief priests who sent those guards there to protect the tomb from being entered.

Well, they see the angel.

They tremble in fear and they fall down as though dead.

Stunned.

Has anybody seen the videos of the goats?

Some kind of goat gets kind of all excited or afraid.

It kind of freezes up and falls over, stunned as though dead.

These guards had been in the presence of a brilliant angel and they are stunned and fall over dead.

These guards will later in verses 11 through 15 go to the elders and chief priests

and they will bear eyewitness to what they have seen

and the chief priest will pay them off and then they'll give them another story to spread.

It's a seismic entrance.

It's striking appearance, stunning effect, but this is all serving a spectacular announcement.

This angel speaks and he just ignores the guards and speaks to the women.

And the first thing that he says, he speaks calm to them because surely they were terrified too.

He says, do not be afraid.

He knows why they're there.

He knows that they have come to see the crucified corpse of Jesus.

He tells them, I know why you're here.

You're here to see Jesus, him who was crucified.

All heaven knows he was crucified.

But in verse 6, he moves from calming them to this spectacular claim.

He's not here.

For he has risen.

What you need to understand is that this angel is God's explanation for the empty tomb.

This angel is a messenger from God to make this announcement.

That's why at the end of verse 7 you see him say, see, I've told you.

He's delivered the mail.

But the reason for the empty tomb, according to this angel from God, is that Jesus has been risen.

Just as he said.

And that just as he said is to stir our thoughts and memories to those prophecies that Jesus had spoken of.

Of him being handed over, killed, and on the third day raised from the dead.

You see, what's going on here, according to this angel, is that Jesus has died.

And that he's been raised in fulfillment of his own prophetic claims.

It demonstrates that Jesus is quite unique, to say the least.

And so what's going on here is this surprise.

Go and see him for yourself.

It's an empty grave.

It's an empty tomb.

There's one scholar that, I'm going to paraphrase him.

He says, the angel didn't roll away the stone to let Jesus out.

The angel rolled away the stone to let the eyewitnesses in.

And he gives them the explanation.

This is unbelievable.

It's a surprise.

Dead people who've been dead for days are supposed to stay dead.

And so here we have this claim, which is at the very center of Christianity.

That Jesus, who was crucified, was raised supernaturally, miraculously, bodily from the dead.

It is the core center of the Christian faith.

Which means this.

If you do not believe that, you're not a follower of Jesus.

It's central.

You take that out of the Christian faith and you no longer have a Christian faith.

It's critical.

Now, for those of you who are disappointed with Jesus,

if Jesus is alive,

it means he's bigger than your disappointments.

That's what that means.

And if you're undecided about Jesus,

you're going to need to decide whether or not this angelic explanation of the empty tomb is actually true or not.

Of whether Jesus has been raised from the dead.

But if you are like, you hear this and you're like, yes and amen, he has risen.

This for us who are followers of Jesus,

it like satisfying confirms, like it's all true.

This isn't made up.

He is who he claimed to be.

In verse 7, this angel then tells Mary and Mary to go and tell.

Go.

Tell.

Go tell the disciples.

He has risen from the dead.

And go tell them to go to Galilee where they shall see him.

Where you shall see him.

One of the things that we're kind of leaving this scene realizing is,

at this point,

what do you think Mary and Mary were expecting?

What do you think,

having encountered this angel who says Jesus has been raised from the dead,

now go,

tell his disciples he's been risen from the dead,

and you all will see him in Galilee.

What do you think they're thinking at this point?

They're thinking,

no way is he raised from the dead.

We're going to see him in Galilee?

We've got to go tell the disciples.

And so right at this point,

they're expecting something.

But here comes another surprise.

The Jesus surprise.

In verses 8 through 10,

these women actually encounter the risen Jesus.

So they departed quickly from the tomb in verse 8.

With fear and great joy and ran to tell his disciples.

They are not expecting what is about to happen.

They hightail it out of the tomb.

And Matthew tells us it's with fear and great joy.

What's the fear all about?

The fear is having been in the presence

in a spectacular angel

making this declaration

that Jesus has risen from the dead.

If that was us,

it would have been a seismic rattling of our worlds.

It would have been overwhelming

processing all that.

Well, this is new.

What does this mean?

But greater than their fear is their joy.

Could it be that Jesus is actually alive?

Could it be that all these things that he said

are actually true?

That it's all coming together?

This great joy in anticipating,

seeing Jesus is the stuff of hope.

Real hope.

Real hope.

He did say that.

And then it happens.

Verse 9.

They're running to tell the disciples

and Jesus meets them on the way.

The very first eyewitnesses,

human eyewitnesses to the resurrection

of Jesus Christ in the Gospel of Matthew

are these two women.

Now look at their response in verse 9.

Seeing the risen Jesus,

they came up and took hold of his feet

and worshipped him.

They draw near

and they must have fallen down

because they are seizing his feet

and they're not imagined feet.

They're not hallucinated feet.

They're not visions of feet.

They grabbed onto the real bodily resurrected feet

of the risen Jesus

and the reason why they are at his feet

is to worship him.

God in the flesh,

risen from the dead.

His resurrection

means that he's greater than death.

He's bigger than death.

His resurrection

means the death of death.

It's what we were singing about

moments ago.

His resurrection demonstrates

he is the demolition man of death.

Blows up death.

In Revelation chapter 1,

Revelation 1 · chapter mention

there's this portrayal

of the risen, reigning, and radiant Jesus.

And he's got a key chain.

And on that key chain

are the keys

to death and Hades.

He has authority over death.

It doesn't have authority over him,

which means he has authority

over our deaths.

Now you can't help but notice

that Mary and Mary

respond quite differently

to the risen Jesus

than to that brilliant angel.

They didn't fall down

and worship the angel.

They did fall down

and worship the risen Christ.

It's very instructive for us.

What is the most appropriate response

to encountering

the risen Christ?

It's to fall down

and worship him.

In verse 10,

Jesus speaks

and these four words,

just like the angel

who speaks a word of calm,

Jesus speaks a word of calm,

do not be afraid.

These four words

coming from

the mouth of the resurrected

Jesus Christ

are probably the four greatest words

any sinner could ever hear.

Don't be afraid.

Do not be afraid.

He's speaking these words

to Mary and Mary.

Why shouldn't they be afraid?

afraid.

Because

He's not a threat.

This Jesus,

risen Jesus standing before them

had died the death

they had deserved

for their sin guilt

before God.

They don't need to be afraid.

They don't need to fear Him.

They don't need to fear

their Savior

in His resurrected glory.

He gave His life for theirs.

Do you remember

that book by C.S. Lewis,

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe?

After Aslan, the lion,

who is a Christ type.

After He's raised from the dead

and that great stone table

is put asunder.

Do you remember

who He appears to?

Two female witnesses,

Susan and Lucy.

And do you remember

what He does?

In His resurrected glory?

He gently invites them near.

This risen Jesus,

speaking,

do not be afraid,

to these two female disciples,

this is the same Jesus

who in Matthew 11 says,

come to me,

all you who are weary

and heavy laden,

who are burdened with sin.

Come to me,

all you who are weary

and heavy laden,

and I will give you rest.

Rest for your soul.

And then He gives a reason.

For I am gentle

and lowly of heart.

This Jesus who is speaking gently,

do not be afraid,

is this gentle and lowly Savior

now risen from the dead.

And that claim,

that invitation stands.

Come to me,

all who are weary

and heavy laden,

and I will give you rest.

I will give you peace.

Peace.

There's this speaking of calm,

but He also made a claim.

It's maybe not the claim

that the angel made.

Did you notice,

I skipped over it,

verse 9.

And behold,

Jesus met them and said,

greetings.

It's a surprising greeting

because it's basically like this.

It's like seeing a friend

you've seen two days ago

and you're like,

hey, good to see you.

Hey, good to see you again.

It's almost shockingly

kind of like underwhelming.

Because you're thinking Jesus

at this point would be like,

surprise!

Or boo!

And He's like,

good to see you again.

These two women were not expecting

to see Jesus again,

but Jesus was fully expectant

to see these two women again,

and that's why there's

the leisurely greetings.

Good to see you.

greetings.

And with that greetings

is a claim.

I'm alive.

I'm here.

I'm present.

I'm not dead.

I've won.

Greetings.

It's the claim that

that He's alive.

And then He too

gives a charge.

In verse 10,

He says,

go and tell my brothers

to go to Galilee

and they will see me there.

Go and tell my brothers.

Hmm, interesting.

I'm not sure

if I would at this point

want to call

the men

that had denied me

and deserted me,

I'm not sure

if I'd want to call them brothers.

But Jesus does.

Do you know why?

Because He too

had died

for their desertion

and their denials.

And He's gentle

and lowly.

And He's telling Mary,

Mary,

go tell my brothers,

these men I love,

these men I've

I've paid for their sins.

Tell them

they don't need to fear.

Tell my brothers,

the family of faith

that I have purchased

with my blood,

go tell them

to go to Galilee.

What's up with Galilee?

Galilee was where

it all started

three years earlier.

Galilee is where

Jesus had called

these disciples

to Himself.

And now,

it's a restart.

Jesus is going to

meet them in Galilee

and He is

in His risen glory

going to

recommission them

as His witnesses

to go make disciples.

And the witnesses

are witnesses

of His resurrection.

because in verses

17,

16 and 17

of chapter 28,

the 11

see the

resurrected Jesus

too

and worship Him.

Some took a little

longer than others.

But they now

witness

the resurrection

of Jesus Christ

crucified,

buried,

raised,

and now they're

going to go

and tell,

make disciples

of the nations.

His calm,

claim,

charge,

Jesus

standing

in their midst.

This is the

Jesus surprise.

How about that

for an encounter

on the way?

This passage

is full of surprises.

There's an angelic

surprise,

there's a surprise

announcement,

and then there's

the surprise

of Jesus Himself.

The claim

is very simple.

The claim

of this passage

it's making

is Jesus

is alive.

And for us

today,

this is what

it means.

Jesus is still

alive,

and that needs

to change

our lives.

Jesus went

into the tomb

dead and came

out of the tomb

alive as God's

most pleasant

surprise to all

of humankind

weighed down

and burdened

by sin.

surprise.

Jesus is alive,

and He is

your only

salvation.

Now, you may

be asking,

wait, Jesus

is alive?

Where is He now?

Well, according

to the Bible,

He's at the

right hand

of God

enthroned

on high

in heaven.

That's where He

is.

Well, okay.

You might ask,

well, what is He

doing?

Well, the risen

Christ, seated

at the right

hand of God

enthroned,

He's building

His church.

Right now,

all around

the globe,

the risen

Christ is

saving sinners

from every

tribe, tongue,

and nation.

Based upon

His death

and resurrection,

He's calling

them to Himself,

and He is

gathering

together

a new

holy people

called the

church.

And He's

interceding

for us.

He's

strengthening

us.

He's opening

doors for us

to witness.

That's what

He's doing

right now.

Oh, by the

way, He's

also being

worshipped by

myriads of

angels in

His glory.

And He's

waiting.

Waiting for

what?

He's waiting

for the

next thing.

What's the

next thing?

The next

thing is His

return.

The next

thing is

when He

comes back,

it's His

final surprise.

He talked

about it as

a day has

been set by

the Father

in which He

will return

like a thief

in the night.

Nobody knows.

He's going

to come back

and when He

comes back,

He's going

to make all

wrongs right.

He's going

to judge

all and He's

going to

recreate the

heavens and

the earth

as far

as the

curse is

found.

He's alive

today and

He's our

only salvation.

In this

invitation stands,

come to

me.

All you

who are

weary and

heavy laden

with sin,

I'll give

you rest.

The real

question is

what's the

next thing

for you?

For those

of you who

have never

responded to

the risen

Jesus,

maybe you've

been disappointed

with Him or

you're undecided

about Him.

What's next

for you is

if this is

true and

you're like,

yes,

that's the

best explanation.

It's true.

I believe.

Fall at

His feet

and worship

Him.

That's what's

next.

Romans 10,

9 says

this,

if we

confess with

our mouth

that Jesus

is Lord

and believe

in our hearts

that God

raised Him

from the

dead,

you will

be saved.

And so,

if Jesus

is alive,

call out

to Him.

Confess Him

as your

Lord.

Receive

the salvation

He alone

gives.

And just to

be clear,

when you

become a

Christian,

you sign

over the

deed of

your entire

life.

Gloriously,

wonderfully

signing over

the deed

of your life.

So,

if He's

alive,

call upon

Him and be

saved.

and then

join us,

this ragtag

group of

people,

Christ the

King Church,

as we

together

follow Jesus.

Come follow

Him with

us.

For those

of you who

may have

initially

responded to

Jesus Christ,

but have

lost sight of

Him,

maybe you

have gotten

caught up

with the

temporary things

of this age,

distracted by

the timeless

treasure of

Christ from

Him.

Jesus went

into the

tomb dead

and came

out alive

to claim

all of

you for

Himself.

To give

all of

yourself to

Him in

response to

His glorious

sacrifice and

resurrection.

salvation.

So the

call on

you is

to turn

back to

Jesus

fully.

Join us

as we

follow Him.

You know

what your

next step

is?

Come back!

It's next

Sunday.

Gather with

us.

Journey with

us as we

seek to

follow Jesus

with all

that we

are.

Now for

those of

you in the

room,

which are

many,

when I say

He is risen,

you say,

He is risen

indeed,

and you're

like,

yes.

You're

trying to

treasure Jesus

with all you

got.

You're trying

to obey

Jesus and

all that He

commands.

You're seeking

to magnify

Him among

all people.

You're wanting

to belong to

Jesus with

all of His

blood-bought

beloved.

You're seeking

to love other

people.

You're trying

to be a

faithful follower

of Jesus.

well, I've

got a

couple

things to

say to

you in

light of

this surprise.

This

risen

Jesus

is worth

all of

who you

are.

He's worth

your

everything.

Don't give

up.

Give Him

everything.

everything.

He's

alive.

And His

resurrection

is a

declaration

that all

of your

sins have

been forgiven.

Live for

Him.

For those

of you who

are experiencing

some frustration

and trying to

help other

people live

for Jesus,

your labor

is not in

vain.

The risen

one is at

work in

your labor.

Don't give

up.

And then

there's this

one last

surprise.

Just as

the first

Easter was

a surprise

revelation

of the

risen Christ

that was

prophesied

of,

there's

another

revelation

salvation

of the

Lord Jesus

Christ.

That is

a surprise,

will be a

surprise

fulfillment,

and that is

His second

coming.

When He

comes back,

the Apostle

Paul talks

about it as

this.

We wait

for our

blessed hope,

the appearing

of our

great God

and Savior,

Jesus

Christ.

He's alive,

brothers and

sisters.

sinners.

And we

are one

day closer

to seeing

Him face

to face,

our risen

King.

Press on.

Don't give

up.

It's all

true.

Life is

full of

surprises.

Some

unpleasant,

some

pleasant.

The

resurrection

of Jesus

is God's

most pleasant

surprise of

all time.

He is

risen.

Let me

pray.

Risen

Jesus,

you are

risen and

reigning,

and you

are at work

all around

the world

gathering for

yourself,

the people

that you

have purchased

with your

blood.

We are so

grateful that

you have

come for

us.

It's our

joy to

follow you,

to know that

you are

alive,

to know that

you are at

work,

to know that

you see

us,

to know that

you're

interceding for

us,

strengthening

us,

giving us

hope.

You are

our hope.

There's no

one like

you,

and we

entrust

ourselves to

you.

In your name

we pray.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.