Biblical Significance of Christ's Bodily Resurrection

Introduction: The Resurrection's Foundational Importance

0:00 I'm confident that the vast majority of you sitting in this building this morning are aware of the fact that this particular Lord's Day is designated throughout the so-called Christian world or Christendom as Easter Sunday. It is a sad fact that in our increasingly pagan country, our beloved United States of America, there are many, were you to interview them on the street or in the public schools, who have little or no idea of the connection between this day in the so-called Christian calendar called Easter Sunday

0:50 and anything that is specifically religious or Christian. Once they've talked about bunnies and bonnets and blue-colored eggs, their knowledge of the significance of Easter Sunday is exhausted. it. However, I'm confident within this gathering this morning that most, if not every one of you, is aware that in some way or another, for some reason or another, Easter Sunday is supposed to have something to do with the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead. Now, these facts raise some very interesting and perplexing questions, questions

1:36 such as where and when did this practice begin of designating an unspecified Sunday, at least those of us who are not the initiate with regard to how they determine where Easter Sunday is marked, where and when did this practice begin? How and why is the date set each year? Should we who profess to regulate all of life and thought by the Bible even consider a special Lord's Day being designated as Easter Sunday, a day to give specific remembrance to the resurrection of our Lord Jesus. Well, those are interesting and at times vexing questions, and it's not my intention to answer any one of them,

2:24 much to the disappointment, I'm sure, of some of you having raised them. It's like making a man itch and then refusing to scratch it. but rather knowing that the teaching of the Bible is very clear that the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth from the dead is a foundational tenet of the Christian faith. I want to preach to you topically this morning on this subject, the biblical significance of the bodily resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.

2:58 or more simply stated, Christ is risen from the dead, so what? Now you can take the lengthier title or the more brief title. Christ is risen from the dead, so what? The biblical significance of the bodily resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.

3:24 And in taking up this subject, I want you to know by way of introduction, that I stand upon two central affirmations of the Christian faith. We live in a day when words that have had a specific biblical content for centuries have been bled of their biblical significance. And when I say we're going to speak on the theme, Christ is risen, so what? I am speaking in a sphere of reference that rests down upon these two foundational pillars which I now affirm in your hearing.

4:02 Affirmation 1 is an affirmation of the historical reality and factual accuracy of the biblical accounts of the bodily resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. All four Gospels end with independent accounts of the resurrection of Jesus. The fourth Gospel, the Gospel of John, has an appendix, John 21. But in Matthew 28, Mark 16, Luke 24, and in John chapter 20, God has given to us through these independent witnesses, independent accounts of the bodily resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth.

4:48 And while some details are included in one gospel record that are not included in the other, each one of them teaches with unmistakable historical reality and factual accuracy that the same body that was taken down from the cross and laid in a borrowed tomb is the body that joined to the spirit that was committed to the Father constituted the bodily resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the second affirmation that rest or upon which our entire study rests is this. I am affirming not only my belief in the historical reality and factual accuracy of the biblical accounts of the resurrection, but I am affirming my belief in the convincing testimony of the eyewitnesses who actually saw the resurrected Christ.

5:52 For example, in Acts chapter 1, verses 1 through 3, Luke writes as follows, The former treatise I made, O Theophilus, concerning all that Jesus, and he could mean only one Jesus. Remember, he's writing now toward the close or the three-quarter mark of the first century. Just a matter of several decades after the facts, and when he said Jesus, He didn't mean some mythological figure who was the construct of some wild-eyed theologians or overly enthusiastic religious followers. He was referring to Jesus of Nazareth.

6:32 And he says, this Jesus began both to do and to teach until the day which he was received up, after they had given commandment through the Holy Spirit unto the apostles whom he had chosen, to whom he also showed himself, presented himself alive after his passion by many proofs, appearing unto them by the space of forty days and speaking the things concerning the kingdom of God. Do you notice the crassly materialistic evidences set forth with respect to His resurrection?

7:18 He presented Himself alive. He didn't present a notion of His livingness in terms of His teaching and His spirit. He who had been slain was raised from the dead, and he presented himself in the integrity of bodily resurrection. He presented himself alive, and he did this by many proofs, appearing unto them by the space of forty days, and speaking.

7:48 He constructed vocables in His resurrected body that caused the larynx and the tongue and the lips to frame words which sent out vibrations that were picked up by ears and transmitted by the auditory nerve to the brain. And they said, we heard the resurrected Jesus speak. At one point when they were frightened and wondered, is it really the resurrected Lord? He says, look, touch me, feel me.

8:18 A spirit hath not flesh and bones as you see me have. Touch me, feel me, see that indeed it is I. So when I attempt to speak to you this morning on the theme Christ is risen from the dead, so what? On the biblical significance of the bodily resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, all that I say rests down upon those two affirmations of faith.

8:46 The one, the historical accuracy and factual historical reality and the accuracy of the biblical accounts. And then secondly, the convincing testimony of the eyewitnesses. Read 1 Corinthians 15, 5 to 8 and four times this phrase is used. He was seen. He was seen. He was seen. He was seen.

The Resurrection's Significance for Christ Himself: Validation of Claims

9:15 Now with that as foundation and introduction, Jesus Christ is risen from the dead. So what? Well in broad strokes this morning I want to set before you the significance of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus. First of all with reference to himself, secondly with reference to his people, and thirdly with reference to the world at large.

9:43 Christ is risen, so what? So what with reference to Christ Himself? What does the resurrection mean to Him? So what with reference to us who are His people?

9:56 What does the resurrection mean to us? And so what with reference to you who are not His people? Who claim no adherence to Christ in faith, in love, and in obedience? The resurrection speaks sobering, eloquent, and hopeful and wonderful things to you as well.

10:17 First of all then, what does it say to Christ Himself? What did the resurrection mean to our Lord Jesus? And here again, I'm just dealing in broad strokes. I'm touching the mountain peaks of biblical revelation.

10:34 in the whole range of the Bible's teaching on the significance of the resurrection. There are the matterhorns and the mount hoods. There are the lesser mountains of revealed truth. There are the foothills.

10:47 There are broad valleys and plains. We're just focusing on a few of the highest mountain peaks. And with reference to the resurrection as it impinges upon our Lord Himself, I want you to note with me these three things. Number one, first and foremost, the resurrection was and is the climactic validation of his personal claims.

11:12 When we stand by Joseph's empty tomb, we must understand that supremely of all other things that God is saying in the resurrection of his son, That open, empty tomb is the validation, the climactic validation of all of our Lord's personal claims. Now think back through the Gospels. In those brief years of his public ministry, Jesus of Nazareth made some staggering and amazing claims about himself. For example, he claimed to be God's unique son.

11:54 And he claimed that in such a way that his contemporaries understood him to mean that he actually shared in the divine essence. That he himself was God the Son. And there are several explicit instances of this. I refer you to the familiar one in John's Gospel chapter 10.

12:16 In John's Gospel chapter 10 we read in verse 30 the words of Jesus, I and the Father are one. I and the Father are one. Verse 31, the Jews took up stones again to stone him.

12:35 They took up stones to kill him. Well, why are you going to kill a man who says I and the Father are one? The text tells us. Jesus answered them many good works have I showed you from the Father for which of those works do you stone me?

12:51 the Jews answered him for a good work we stone you not but for blasphemy and because you being a man make yourself God now did they mean to accuse him that he had by his own will somehow taken what was mere manhood and exalted it into God. And no, when they said you make yourself God, they mean you make by your claim to be one with the Father. He made this claim in such a way and in such a setting that the Jews said, stone him for blasphemy. He is claiming to be equal with God.

13:37 And the Lord did not say, oh, I'm sorry, I overstated the case. you misunderstood me. No, he goes on to demonstrate from the scriptures that his claim was justified. Furthermore, he not only claimed to be God's unique son, God the son, but he claimed to be the appointed judge of the world. Think of it. A humble son of a carpenter's shop coming out of a town with a checkered reputation. Can any good thing come out of Nazareth? Can any good thing come out of the sixth ward? Any good thing come out of, and you think of the section in some of our teeming cities that are known for crime and drug dealing. Can any good thing come out of Nazareth? And this one who

14:25 comes out of Nazareth, who has no halo around his head, who has calluses like any other man plying his trade in the carpenter's shop, he claims to be the judge of the world. He says in passages such as John chapter 5 and verse 22, these astounding words, John 5 and verse 22, for neither does the Father judge any man, but he's given all judgment unto the Son. All judgment of men has been given to the Son. Verse 26, as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son to have life in Himself.

15:07 And He gave Him authority to execute judgment because He is a Son of Man. And then in verses 28 and 29, He says, An hour is coming in which all the tombs will give up their dead, and they will do it in response to the voice of Jesus of Nazareth All that are in the tomb shall hear His voice and shall come forth According to Matthew chapter 25 and verse 31 and following, Then shall the King come in His glory and all the nations shall be gathered together before Him. He shall separate the nations as the sheep are separated from the goats. He will judge them and He will consign them to everlasting bliss or everlasting torment.

15:56 What claims for Jesus of Nazareth? He claims to be God. He claims to be the judge of the world who will determine the internal destinies of men. He claimed to be the one true revealer of God.

16:14 Not one among many, but the one true revealer of God. did he not say in John 14, 6, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father except by me. That was his claim.

16:32 Again, in Matthew 11 and verse 25, he said, no man knows the Father save the Son. No man knows the Son save the Father, and he to whomsoever the Father wills to reveal. He's the only true revealer of God. What claims?

16:54 For someone who when you saw him there was nothing that struck you but that this is an ordinary first century Palestinian. He has no form nor comeliness. There is nothing in his whole demeanor and bearing that would make him stand out as a giant among pygmies. And yet his claims are, I am God's unique Son.

17:19 I am God the Son. I am the appointed judge of the world. I am the one exclusive revealer of God and the exclusive way to God. And people didn't forget his sayings.

17:33 They may have twisted them and put a false meaning on them, but they didn't forget them. We read in such passages as Matthew 26, verses 59 to 61, when Jesus is standing before his accusers notice how they remembered words spoken very very early in his ministry Matthew chapter 26 verses 59 to 61 now the chief priest and the whole council sought false witnesses against Jesus that they might put him to death and they found it not though many false witnesses came they couldn't get two and three to agree on their charges all kinds of trumped up charges but they couldn't agree. And what does the text say? It says, and they found it not

18:20 though many false witnesses came but afterward came two and said this man said and they quote his words I'm able to destroy the temple of God and to build it in three days.

18:35 Almost a verbatim quote, not quite. Jesus said destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up. They give a little bit of their own interpretation and say, What he said is this, I'm able to destroy the temple of God and build it in three days. But the point I'm making is, they remembered words that Jesus had spoken early in his Judean ministry, in his first cleansing of the temple.

19:01 They remembered his words. And we can find other instances of this as well. He trusted in God. He says that God is his Father.

19:09 Let God now vindicate him. what's that all have to do with the resurrection precisely this gather with me outside Jerusalem in a place of execution called Golgotha and there look at two common criminals put to death for their crimes they are undergoing a form of execution that was not given to any Roman citizen to slaves and to outcasts and in the midst there is a third one no indication that his cross was higher the artist notwithstanding no indication that the sun shined more brightly until the three hour there was just three criminals

19:55 hanging up willy nilly being executed cast off Roman fashion and you're one of these who heard these words you were there as one of the witnesses is saying, destroy the temple, I'll raise it up. Aha, I heard him. In those words recorded in John 5 saying, he is going to speak and the graves are going to vomit out their dead and they're going to stand in front of him and as the exalted king, he's going to separate them as sheep from goats. He's going to say, come you blessed, depart your cursed, look at him. Langued eyes, crown of thorns, helpless, impaled, mocked, jeered, spittle mingled with

20:44 blood. His face so contused from the blows, it is marred, Isaiah said, more than any man. Oh, did you have fuel for mockery now. Ha ha, judge of the world, look at him. He can And indeed there's this Pilate and Herod and a few trumped up charges of the religious leaders.

21:07 Charge of the world? Look at him! With what hands will he destroy and build the temple when those hands are stretched out and impaled on the cross? God the Son?

21:20 The God who controls the motions of the sun in the sky is showing how he looks upon this scene. for there was darkness over the whole land from the sixth hour to the ninth hour. All of the claims of Jesus of Nazareth seemed to be swallowed up in his gourd, in his blood, in his forsakenness. And they seemed to be forever taken with him into Joseph's buried tomb.

21:55 God in a tomb Judge of the world In a tomb The only revealer of God In a tomb Gather all the demons of hell Gather all the host of darkness Gather every enemy of God and of His truth And let's have a hallelujah meeting All his claims are bunk and junk and nothing.

22:28 It would seem rational if demons are rational.

22:34 But when they came early in the morning, on the first day of the week, drawn to that tomb by loving concern to give it a proper, give his body a proper embalming. it had only had a quick band-aid embalming now they come with pounds of wraps and spices and the tomb is empty as the old writer said not to let him out but to let the witnesses in to see and what is that resurrection to Jesus of Nazareth it is supremely the climactic validation of his personal claims I say climactic because Jesus was conscious that his works were a validation of his claims.

23:25 He says, if you don't believe me as to my words, believe me for the very what's sake? The works sake. The works testify that my Father has sent me. So it's not the initial, nor is it the only.

23:39 It is the climactic validation of all of his personal claims. And you have a beautiful example of that in Romans chapter 1 and verse 4, where the apostle says, with respect to the gospel that he preaches, a gospel that centers in the Lord Jesus. Romans chapter 1 Paul a servant of Jesus Christ called to be an apostle separated unto the gospel of God that he promised to for through his prophets in the holy scriptures concerning his son who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh now notice who was not constituted who was not made

24:25 but declared determined marked out and openly designated the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead. Even Jesus Christ our Lord. Central to the gospel of the grace of God is the proclamation of a Savior whose claims are validated by His bodily resurrection. The resurrection was the climactic validation That Jesus Christ is all that he said he was in his person So that we might be confident he can do all he says he will do in his work

25:16 For the foundation of his efficacy in his work Is what he is in his person Matthew 16 Peter confesses on behalf of the other disciples, you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. And our Lord, after saying no human instrumentality has revealed this Peter, he then says, you are Peter, and upon this rock, that is the rock of this identification of my person, I will build my church. The whole fabric of the Christian faith unravels if Christ is not who he claimed to be. But it remains in all of its integrity because of Joseph's empty tomb.

The Resurrection's Significance for Christ Himself: Termination of Humiliation

26:03 But I must hasten on, it was for our Lord not only the climactic validation of his personal claims, but secondly, it was the permanent termination, the radical and permanent termination of his state of humiliation. It was the radical and the permanent termination of his state of humiliation. Now what do we mean by those words? Simply this.

26:30 As the eternal word, the Son of God, the second person in the Godhead, there was never a time when our Lord was not. In the beginning was the word, John 1. And the word was with God and the word was God. The same was in the beginning with God.

26:52 Not the same became or began to be ever was. You cannot say God without saying the eternal word. God the Son. The Son of God.

27:04 Preincarnate, yes. But His beginnings were not in Bethlehem. His goings forth have been, the prophet says, from everlasting. Well what happens in the incarnation?

27:17 In the incarnation he lays aside the accoutrements, the paraphernalia of all that was his in the immediate presence of the father. And comes into a condition of humiliation. and from the moment of his conception until his session at the right hand of the Father he was in this period, in this state of humiliation. Philippians 2, 5 and following.

27:49 Let this mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus who being in the form of God thought not the being on an equality of God with God a thing to be retained selfishly grasped but emptied himself taking. This is subtraction by addition. He emptied, take it. He did not cease to be what he had always been.

28:12 But he began to be what he had never been. He takes to himself a true human soul and body. And from the conception in Mary's womb until his session at the right hand of the Father, he is in what we call his period of humiliation. Now he loses nothing of his essential deity.

28:32 and trying to illustrate that I thought in the early hours of this morning suppose we had in our possession or within sight the most beautiful well cut largest diamond in the world I don't know how many carats that would be something even larger than the hope diamond and it were contained in a beautiful clear plexiglass case set against dark velvet with professional gemologists training lights upon it to show the depth of its fire and the beauty and the purity of that gem. Think of that large diamond, sparkling. Every time you move an inch here, an inch there, you catch another facet of its glory and its beauty, its fire, its brilliance. Do you see

29:18 it? Don't expect it on your finger, girls. But do you see it? Now suppose we were permitted to take that diamond and bury it in a mud ball.

29:29 Remember back when you were a kid in the backyard, you played with mud balls? You take a mud ball and you push the diamond down in the center of the mud ball. Now my question is this. Has the diamond lost any of its inherent worth?

29:44 No. Has it lost any of its inherent beauty? No. But if it's buried in a mud ball, will people go by and say, Oh, look at that diamond.

29:57 No, its inherent beauty and glory is obscured because it's buried in the mud. But it's lost nothing of that beauty or its worth. That's Christ's period of humiliation. His essential deity is veiled and buried in a true humanity.

30:16 and in the period of his humiliation without denigrating human bodily existence at all don't go into asceticism with my illustration the resurrection was the beginning of the tearing away of the mud ball that he might go back into that place of unrestricted exaltation And the resurrection was that radical and permanent termination of the state of humiliation Philippians 2 shows that from the moment he takes the form of a servant it is down, down, down until he can go no further.

31:04 And it says, even the death of the cross. And then you have the transition. Wherefore God has highly exalted him And what was the first act in that exaltation? It was raising him from the dead And from that point all the steps were upward, upward, upward, upward And there's one great upward step that yet awaits When the heavens part And the voice of the archangel and the trump of God sounds And every eye shall see him.

31:45 Every knee shall bow. And every tongue confess. But you see the turning point was the resurrection. That was the radical and permanent termination of the state of his humiliation.

32:05 And think what that must have meant for the Lord Jesus. he prayed in John 17 5 as we studied a few months ago he asked that he will be glorified with the glory that he had with the Father before the world began and when he was raised from the death he knew he had taken one giant step in the experience of the fulfillment of that desire of his heart It was only a matter of days now before he who had been raised from the dead by the glory of the Father would be taken back and seated at the Father's right hand. And here one can only use what I would call a wholesome exercise of sanctified imagination.

32:56 What must it have meant for those creatures described in the Bible as teraphim and seraphim that in a way we cannot fathom our nearest to the immediate presence of God in heaven? The host of angels that do His bidding, one of which came and strengthened Him in the wilderness temptation, another came and strengthened Him in the agony of Gethsemane. What must it have meant for Abraham who saw his day and rejoiced the glorified spirits in heaven when he went back into the presence of his father? And then he had no more.

33:33 The jaundiced eye of a people of whom it is said they lay in wait seeking to catch him in his words. No longer shooting out the lips saying, ha, you trust it in God, let him deliver you. He is welcomed back to the undiminished adoration and praise and worship. And who can measure if angels sing and if seraphs worship?

34:03 And we know they do. Cherubim, read Isaiah 6. What must it have been in heaven when the glorified Lord came back? And all those intelligent holy spirits received Him with joy and acclamation though the whole issue turned on Easter morning the resurrection was to our Lord Jesus not only the climactic validation of his personal claims it was also the radical and permanent termination of his state of humiliation not his humanity he's carried back with him The sympathy of human experience.

34:49 For we have not a high priest who cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. You see, he's left the humiliation attached to his humanity, but he hasn't left either his humanity or the reservoir of the human experience that he had while among us. He's carried both of those back to heaven. You want something to meditate upon today?

35:12 Just stretch your brain on that reality. God with the sympathy of a man who knew what it was to get splinters in his hands who knew what it was to scrape his elbow when as a little kid he fell in the parking lot who knew what it was to feel disappointment in human relations will you also go away?

35:39 who looks out over Jerusalem and wails the broken heart of disappointed longings for the well-being of others. He's carried all that back to him but without the slightest trace of humiliation.

The Resurrection's Significance for Christ Himself: Installation as Mediatorial King

35:57 You say, Pastor, that goes beyond me. It goes beyond me too, but doesn't go beyond my Bible. It doesn't go beyond my Bible. But then thirdly, it was to our Lord and I know I'm taking an inordinate amount of time fixing on him, but in this self-centered navel-gazing age, if we err, let's err in thinking what things mean to Jesus.

36:19 Instead of what do I get out of it? What did the resurrection mean to him? Well, it was in the third place. His formal installation as the mediatorial king.

36:33 The resurrection resulted in his formal installation as the mediatorial king. when I say his resurrection I'm talking here now of that complex of events of which it is the first installment resurrection his ascension and session at the right hand of the father and what do I mean his formal installation as mediatorial king well when he was conceived he was conceived a king the words in Luke's gospel are very very clear when the angel came to Mary she said you are going to have the angel said to her you're going to bear a king. Verse 32 of Luke 1, he shall be great, shall be called son of the most high. And the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David, and he shall reign

37:25 over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there shall be no end. He was a king conceived in Mary's womb. He was a king announced at his birth. You remember the Magi came. Where is He that is born King of the Jews.

37:42 Matthew chapter 2.

37:46 Then our Lord Jesus in His earthly ministry proclaimed Himself as David's son. Remember they said, He asked these detractors a question. Well, if Messiah is David's son, how come David calls Him Lord? The Lord said unto my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies the footstool of your feet.

38:08 Any notion that Jesus is sort of waiting in the wings till some future date before his king does not wash with the Bible. He was conceived a king. He was born a king. He labored and ministered as a king.

38:22 He even died as a king. They had the inscription over him, Jesus of Nazareth, king of the Jews. And he stretched out his kingly scepter and took one of those malefactors into heaven with him. A scepter of grace.

38:36 But we're talking about his formal installation as mediatorial king. And the Bible is clear that it occurred in conjunction with his resurrection. Turn to Acts chapter 2. This was the emphasis of Peter on his Pentecostal sermon.

38:51 And it comes through again and again in the preaching of the book of the Acts. Chapter 2 of Acts.

39:01 Speaking of David, verse 30. being therefore a prophet and knowing that God had sworn with an oath that of the fruit of his loins he would set one upon his throne, he foreseeing this spoke of the resurrection of Christ. David being a prophet and knowing God had sworn that of the fruit of his, that is David's loins, one would be set upon his throne. Foreseeing this, he spoke of what event?

39:27 The resurrection. The resurrection has something to do with Jesus of Nazareth, Christ being set upon his throne.

39:36 He was not left unto Hades, neither did his flesh be corruption. This Jesus did God raise up, whereof we are all witnesses, being therefore by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured forth this which you see and hear. For David ascended not into heaven, but he says himself, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit at my right hand till I make your enemies the footstool of your feet. Let all the house of Israel therefore know assuredly that God has made Him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.

40:15 Does that mean Jesus was not Lord or Messiah until He was, quote, made this in the resurrection, in the ascension, and in the session? No. It means that He was formally, officially installed as mediatorial king in redemptive history. He was conceived a king. He lived a king. He died as a king. He rose as a king. But in his resurrection, as it were, God began the official ceremonies of this installation as mediatorial king. And therefore, in Acts 5, 30 and 31, we have The language of God has constituted him a prince and a savior.

41:01 Verse 29. We must obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom you slew hanging on a tree. Him did God exalt with his right hand a prince and a savior.

41:15 To give repentance to Israel and remission of sins. A parallel passage Ephesians 1.19-21. and we could take time to look into Acts 13, 32 and 33.

41:29 Let's do it so that you see it with your own eyes. Here quoting the second Psalm.

41:38 Acts chapter 13, verse 30. But God raised him from the dead and he was seen for many days of them that came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem who are now his witnesses to the people. and we bring good tidings of the promise made unto the fathers that God has fulfilled the same unto our children in that he raised up Jesus. Now notice, as it is written in the second psalm, you are my son, this day have I begotten you.

42:12 The Jehovah's Witness likes to take this text and say Jesus was not eternally the Son of God. There was a point in which he was begotten. Well, that violates some of the principles you're going to have articulated in the adult class. You don't read in your 20th century western terminology into biblical terminology.

42:31 In the eastern context, the day of a king's coronation, he was said to be begotten into his position as king. And that's precisely what the Spirit of God is telling us here. When in the second psalm we read, I will tell of the decree, the Lord said unto my Lord, I have begotten thee, That phrase, according to the Holy Spirit, refers to the resurrection of Christ. When He is raised from the dead, officially installed as the mediatorial King, He is begotten openly, officially into His place as Messianic King and Priest upon His throne, fulfilling the Old Testament prophecy.

43:18 Think what this meant to our Lord Jesus. to have known that he was a king, that the Father had appointed to him a mediatorial reign in which all principalities and powers are put under his feet. Ephesians 1, 19-21. Mediatorial reign in which he will be able to say all authority in heaven and in earth has been delivered over unto me and to exercise that reign over all things with a view to the calling out and the preservation and ultimate glorification of His church, what it must have meant when all of the mockery and all of the unbelief

44:04 and all of the misunderstanding that attended the King in the days of His humiliation were over. And He is officially installed at the Father's right hand. And the scripture says he must reign until he has put every enemy under his feet. And the last enemy to be destroyed is death.

44:30 And he will reign as mediatorial king until your rotting flesh and mine is resplendent with the glory of resurrection life and power. what must it have meant to our Lord to know that I am now seated the days of suffering the days of rejection the day of pain the day of opposition is all behind me well in brief strokes that's what the resurrection meant to our Lord validation of his claims termination of his humiliation installation as mediatorial king You've got some grounds to worship Him today? Do you have some biblical stuff for worship?

The Resurrection's Significance for God's People: Pardon and Righteousness

45:19 This idea that we don't want theology, we just want a field book. Well, when the feelings go, what do you have left underneath you? If you've got an open tomb, and in your mind's eye, you can stand by that tomb and say to that tomb, What is your message to me? And here, thundering out of that tomb, I am, first of all, the validation of all of the claims of your unseen but trusted Savior.

45:46 I am not only the validation of His flames, I am the termination of all of His humiliation. Can't you rejoice that your Lord will never again have a mouthful of spittle laid upon His beard?

46:00 The hand of His creature doubled up to smack Him in His face. And that's what the Gospel record says. It may say they buffeted Him. You don't talk about buffeting.

46:10 You say you beat up on someone. And that what they did And they did it with reeds as well as with their fist And when they scourged him they laid his back open to the bone with those horrible leather thongs in which they were tied pieces of glass and metal No one will ever lay that upon his back again. And the resurrection was his initial and radical escape in the will of God from all of the humiliation. And then it was the first step to his being officially installed as the messianic king.

46:50 Well, let me just give you the heads to meditate on. What does it mean to the true people of God? What's it mean to the true people of God? Those who've seen their sin, for whom Christ crucified, buried, and risen, is not just abstract religious notions, but this is the stuff of which the soul's deepest needs finds its answer.

47:12 What is the resurrection to them? Well, according to Scripture, it is the receipt of a full pardon and the pledge of a perfect righteousness. Romans 4.25 He was delivered up for our offenses, raised on account of our justification.

47:29 I like to think of Joseph's empty tomb as God's echo chamber through which he says his irreversible amen. to the cry of Golgotha. You say, what in the world are you talking about, Pastor? The cry of Golgotha, God's echo chain, just this.

47:50 You remember, before our Lord committed His Spirit to the Father, what was His final cry of redemptive triumph? It was tetelestai. In the Greek, a perfect tense. It has been accomplished And it yet stands and ever shall abide accomplished It is finished But you would have thought he was saying I'm finished Because it says he bowed his head and yielded up his spirit Is it really finished?

48:24 Is all that the Father demands In the face of burning justice and on remitting equity in the light of God's holy law is every demand against the sinner fully satisfied. How can I know? He said it is finished, but he himself was finished.

48:47 He's taken and put in the tomb.

48:50 Romans 4.25 says, It's delivered up for our offenses, but raised on account of our justification. You see Joseph's empty tomb is God's echo chamber in which he says a delayed amen. It is finished.

49:05 If it were not I would not raise my son from the dead. Never more to die. The wages of sin is death. He has paid the debt.

49:15 He dies no more. In that he died unto sin Paul says once for all. He will never, never die again. And why? Because all that our sins demanded, He discharged.

The Resurrection's Significance for God's People: Indefectible Salvation

49:28 And so the empty tomb is our receipt of a full pardon and of a perfect righteousness. Secondly, it is the assurance of an indefectible salvation.

49:41 A salvation once imparted and applied that can never be lost, taken away. Hebrews 7.25 Wherefore he is able to save to the uttermost. Not from the uttermost.

49:56 That is true. But it's to the uttermost. Those that come unto God by him. Why?

50:03 Seeing he ever lives. He ever lives. He ever lives. To make intercession for them.

50:11 Dear people our salvation is never mechanical at any point. It is the personal engagement of the triune God. With the person of the sinner. And when God comes forth in omnipotent grace to lay hold of that sinner, God commits his whole being to a salvation once imparted and applied that can never be lost.

50:36 And it's secured not by empty words, but by the activity of a living Savior. He ever lives to make intercession. Wherefore, he is able to save to the uttermost. Go to Joseph's empty tomb.

50:52 When you're struggling with your indwelling sin, with perplexities, with disappointments, with griefs that you feel are going to crush you, and you say, oh God, if these things in life so unstring me and unhinge me, what will it be when I come to that cold, dark, inescapable river of death? Do you bring near your death day? death is a frightening thing to me I've never had the experience I don't like going to the dentist but not too scared because I've been there a lot of times I know what to expect you've never died the thought of my spirit being wrenched from my body when all I've known

51:38 is a body spirit existence from the dawning of consciousness I'm not afraid of the consequences of death but I fear the act of dying you tell me you got a nice big steak waiting for me home today and a nice big baked Idaho potato and some nice veggies and I say man I can't wait you ask me you knew you were going to die in a week would you look forward to it? I say no I sure look forward to what lies the millisecond after my spirit departs to see him face to face what do you do? When you face troubles, perplexities, disappointments, and they're about to crush you, and you say, I've yet to face the greatest trial. Go to Joseph's empty tomb.

52:26 And there, in looking in and hearing that voice of the shining ones, he is not here, he has risen from the dead. God is saying, the salvation I've given is indefectible. Every part of it that my son purchased. And every part that I purpose to give, I shall give.

The Resurrection's Significance for God's People: Pledge of Our Resurrection

52:47 And Joseph's empty tomb is my pledge. And the third thing it says to us as people is, and I've already anticipated this, it is, it is, the infallible pledge of our resurrection. For 1 Corinthians 15, 20 says, Christ is risen. Now is Christ risen.

53:07 first fruits of them that slept. In other words, when Jesus went into Joseph's tomb, he didn't go as a private person. He went individually, he went personally, but he went representatively. As he died in our place and took us with him to the cross, he took us with him to the tomb.

53:29 And bless God, he took us with him out of the tomb. He was first fruits of all who sleep. and I shall never forget standing by the gravesite of my dear father and as they were about to lower him into that hole in the earth a baptism of such joy came over my spirit as I thought of the words the dead in Christ shall rise first and why is there a shall rise? because there's an empty tomb somewhere in Jerusalem.

54:09 And he didn't come out as a private person. He was first fruits. You and I are part of the harvest. And as surely as the tomb could not keep him, it can't keep me.

54:23 And as that joy flooded my own soul and I was able to express something that I've told, and I've never said this publicly, there were some of my loved ones that said, In essence, not these exact words. Al, we almost wanted to jump in there with Dad. So filled were we with the joy of anticipating resurrection morning. Child of God.

54:52 The wrinkles. As I passed my 64th birthday and tried to reckon with the realities, I said, ah, skin that was once taught is getting wrinkles. veins that once were buried in flesh now stand up like the veins of an old man and I said Lord the process is going to go on until if Jesus comes I'm going to be rotting in a grave but I won't rot forever as sure as that tomb is open I must I must come forth or God will have to stuff his son back in that tomb and he's not going to do it to me and He's not going to leave you there.

The Resurrection's Significance for the Unconverted: Judgment and Invitation

55:35 Now what are bunnies and bonnets and blue eggs compared to this stuff, folks? If there's any significance to Easter, resurrection, Lord's Day, it is that we have the receipt of a full pardon, the assurance of an indefectible salvation, and the pledge of a glorious resurrection. And my last word is to those of you, you're not in Christ. You may have sat here this morning and said, well, you know, that old man seems to believe what he said.

56:06 I don't think he's just playing games. I don't think this is all, you know, stage and histrionic. I think maybe he means what he says. He believes it.

56:14 I don't know if I can. You've been thinking something like that? Maybe you've even thought this and said, when he speaks of Jesus and being in Jesus, he talks of things that seem to be real to him. They are real, my friend.

56:31 but there are realities that are real to you as well. For the scripture tells us that Joseph's empty tomb, if you're not his, speaks a word to you, one of frightening overtones and one of glorious inviting overtones. The word of frightening overtones is this. Joseph's empty tomb is the validation that the same Jesus who went into that tomb and came out You're going to meet Him in judgment.

57:01 Acts 17, 30 and 31. God commands all men everywhere to repent. Why? Because He's appointed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom He hath ordained.

57:13 And He's given assurance unto all men in that He raised Him from the dead. I know it's not popular to preach judgment, but I want you to listen to a text in Acts 10, verses 39 to 42, where Peter preaching says, we are witnesses of all the things that Jesus did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem whom they slew hanging him on a tree him God raised up the third day and gave him to be made manifest not to all the people but unto witnesses that were chosen before of God even to us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead you see this corporeal emphasis this empirical data ate and drank with him now notice

57:58 And he charged us to preach unto the people and to testify that this is he who is lovey, lovey, lovey, cuddly, cuddly, cuddly. No, no. Charged us to preach to the people and to testify that this is he who is ordained of God to be the judge of the living and of the dead. Peter says we're charged to preach that the empty tomb is validation.

58:25 You're going to meet him as judge. if you met him today my friend where would you stand for his withering eye what would you say to plead clemency for your sins for your pride for your lust for your rebellion against mom and dad your stubbornness your angry words your covetous desires your refusal to worship God and love him with all your heart, mind, soul and strength your defiance of his right to one day in seven marked out especially for him what would you say to your judge? Will the judge plead your case? Not if you are not united to Christ by faith

59:12 Joseph's empty tomb is the certain pledge of your future judgment that's the frightening message that comes from the tomb but bless God there's an encouraging wonderful word that comes from that tomb look at verse 43 in that passage to him bear all the prophets witness that through his name the very one who is appointed judge everyone that believes on him shall receive remission of sins you see when you come to God seeking mercy through the Lord Jesus you don't need to wonder well if some way or in some other fashion God will be favorably disposed for what reason I don't know to forgive me and no no Almighty God can be just and the justifier of those that believe

59:58 in Jesus he doesn't need to wink at his justice or righteousness when he opens his eye to show mercy both eyes are toward you in mercy because it's mercy seen through righteousness fully satisfied in the death of his son and Joseph's empty tomb has a message for you my unconverted friend and that message is If you will confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God hath raised him from the dead, you shall be saved. For with the heart man believes unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Well, those are the broad strokes of just some of the mountain peaks of what the Bible says.

60:48 God says to us, from Joseph's open, empty, forever vacated tomb. What it says about our Lord, it was vindication of his person. It was the laying aside of his humiliation. It was the first step in his installation as messianic king.

61:09 What it says to us, there is the pledge that sin is dealt with. There is the pledge that all of the salvation purpose will be ours. There is the assurance of our own resurrection. My unconverted friend, the open tomb says to you, the risen Christ will be your judge.

61:31 But the risen Christ today stands with outstretched hands in the gospel in all the glory and dignity of his exaltedness. He says to you, my sinner friend, come to me and I will give you rest. Let us pray.