Theological Implications of the Resurrection #1

Introduction: The Historical Foundation of Christian Faith

0:04 Now let us turn together, in the word of God, to the 16th chapter of Mark, Mark chapter 16.

0:18 And I shall read in your hearing this morning, as I did last Lord's Day, the first eight verses. The only verses that I am confident are part of Mark's gospel, but more of that in the subsequent message, Mark 16, 1 through 8. And when the Sabbath was passed, Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of James and Salome, bought spices that they might come and anoint him. And very early on the first day of the week, they come to the tomb when the sun was risen.

0:58 And they were saying among themselves, Who shall roll away the stone from the door of the tomb? And looking up, they see that the stone...

1:08 The stone is rolled back, for it was exceeding great. And entering into the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, arrayed in a white robe, and they were dumbfounded. And he said unto them, Do not be dumbfounded. Ye seek Jesus the Nazarene, who hath been crucified.

1:33 He is risen. He is not here. Behold the...

1:38 The place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter, he goeth before you into Galilee. There shall ye see him, as he said unto you. And they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had come upon them.

1:59 And they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid. And now over to 1 Corinthians 15. As I read just several verses from this great chapter on the doctrine of the resurrection. 1 Corinthians chapter 15 and verse 13.

2:29 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, neither hath Christ been raised. And if Christ hath not been raised, then is our preaching vain. Your faith also is vain. Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we witnessed of God that he raised up Christ, whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead are not raised.

3:01 For if the dead are not raised, neither hath Christ been raised. And if Christ hath not been raised, your faith is vain. Ye are yet in your sins. Now let us again ask the help of God the Holy Spirit upon the ministry of the word of God.

3:30 Our Father, we are made conscious again and again that we do not hold in our own hands the key to unlock the truth of your word. We thank you that the author himself holds the key to unlock the truth of your word. He holds the key and is the key. And we pray that you would send the Holy Spirit, the same Spirit who guided Mark to pen these words, who guided the great Apostle to pen the words we have read.

4:03 Oh, may that Spirit be present to take away the veil from our minds, the scales from our eyes. And with the psalmist we cry open, undressed, our eyes, that we may behold wondrous things out of your law. Give us a sight of what the resurrection means to our Lord Jesus and cause our hearts to be ravished with his glory. We ask in his name.

4:36 Amen.

4:42 Now last Lord's Day, I sought to open up the basic contents of Mark 16, verses 1 through 8. And I had occasion in that exposition to say that the Christian faith rests upon the stuff of real historic facts. The Bible makes it abundantly clear that the salvation of hell-deserving sinners is a salvation procured by historical events in the life history of the world. These events in his life history were planned and purposed by God from eternity. Many of them were prophesied by the Spirit hundreds of years before they came to pass in time. And those very events planned in eternity, many of them prophesied in time, are the very events brought to pass under an imminent, overruling, sovereign providence.

6:03 And those events had a divinely designated significance and those very events have a divinely interpreted meaning. And put that all together and that's what Christianity is. The stuff of which the Christians, the Christian faith is composed is the stuff of the real historical facts pertaining to Jesus of Nazareth. In a marvelous sermon based upon the text Remember Jesus Christ Risen from the Dead, B.B. Warfield, that great defender of the Christian faith of a previous generation wrote, Christianity is a historical religion. And a Christianity wholly unrelated to historical occurrences is no Christianity at all. Religion, yes, man may have religion without historical facts to build upon. For man is a religious being and can no more escape from religion than he can escape from any other of his persistent instincts.

7:20 He may, by the grace of God, know something of God and of the existence of the soul, of responsibility and immortality, but do not even the heathen know the same? What have we more than they? We may still call by the name of Christianity the tattered rags of natural religion which may be left us when we cast away the historical facts which constitute Christianity, but the age-long, preparations for the coming of the kingdom the incarnation of the son of god his atoning death on the cross his rising again on the third day his ascension up into heaven the descent of the spirit on the pentecostal birthday of the church but if we do if we strip these things away what we have left he says is a mere symbol of religion but we do not have biblical christianity christianity stands or falls with the historical facts which we do not say merely accompanied its

8:39 advent into the world but have given its specific form as a religion these historical historical facts constitute its substance and to be indifferent to them is to be indifferent to the very substance of christianity you see dear people regardless of what this feelings oriented age may say or desire god will never change his mind the only religion by which hell deserving sinners are rescued from the judgment of the sinful and the sinful and the sinful and the sinful and the sinful and the sinful and the sinful and the sinful and the sinful and the sinful and the sinful and the Bible Just penalty of their sins is a religion made of the stuff of historical facts, and in particular, the facts pertaining to the life history of Jesus of Nazareth. Now central among these historical events in the life history of Jesus are his death and his resurrection. And it is for this reason that so much of the gospel records is taken up with the details surrounding his death and his resurrection. Last Lord's Day, we studied together Mark's account of the empty tomb.

The Empty Tomb's Significance to Jesus: Ultimate Validation of Official Identity

10:02 The account in which we saw in verse 1 the introduction to his account of the empty tomb. Then in verses 2-4, the approach of the three women to the empty tomb. Verses 5-7, what they experienced at the empty tomb. What they saw, and what they heard, and then their departure from the empty tomb.

10:29 And then having opened up the passage, I drew out three lines of pastoral and practical application from this account with the promise that we would return this morning, and take up the theological implications of the empty tomb. The message of the young man who is identified in Matthew as an angel. He is risen. He is not here.

11:00 Behold the place where they laid him. Those realities have tremendous theological implications. Now don't be afraid. You won't be afraid of the word clean logical.

11:14 In this context, I am simply using it as a good and convenient word. To describe those things which the resurrection and the empty tomb tell us about God, about Christ, about salvation, and about our relationship to those realities. That's theology. And if you're afraid of theology, then you're afraid of the issues most vital to your own soul salvation so as we take up the theological implications of the empty tomb god willing this morning we'll only take up one strand of it and then god willing next week the second and possibly the third or the third may have to await a third message we want to consider the theological significance of the empty tomb to jesus himself when the angel declared to these frightened women do not be dumbfounded you seek jesus the nazarene who has been crucified he is risen he is not here behold the place where they laid him what significance did those words

12:30 have to jesus himself well we're going to turn to a number of passages in the word of god which tell us explicitly the implications of that empty tomb with reference to jesus himself and we will trace out three lines of thought from the word of god this morning the empty tomb speaks volumes concerning jesus himself but we shall consider just three things that it declares about him number one it is the ultimate validation of his official identity the empty tomb is the ultimate validation of his official identity now as we heard two weeks ago when arif khan preached to us jesus on one occasion asked his disciples who do men say that i am the answer came back in various ways and then he said but who do you say that i am and when peter speaking for the disciples said you are the christ the son of the

13:51 living god in those first words you are the christ he was speaking of christ official identity that is his identity as to his office you are the messiah you are the anointed one you are god's great and final law promised law or law anticipated prophet priest and king and jesus did not correct peter and say well i appreciate that marvelous expression of your devotion and your estimation of me but really peter in all honesty you chocked too high no he said flesh and blood has not revealed this unto you but my father who was my father and now i'm handing this over to you can you say more and more fåchtencendlich an fuerte schisslannon verschiedene kochen der Ost am味-verhät everytime phot ребestra 마지막 1800 dar um es paws Pro cøn disciplinär von dernez-pröster drin ¾好的 gaaretza mich al kros studies. 좋아하는 seu um welche einen ge 멤�onische Case? über al individuelle kan County Representative Wmäßuchi Bisetzgerecht. is in heaven you have rightly identified me as to my office as messiah in my official identity i am the messiah now in order to be the messiah promised in holy scripture jesus had to have many credentials he had to have many validations of that official identity and you remember on

15:17 one occasion when john the baptist was in prison and he began to have questions as to whether or not jesus were really the christ you remember what jesus said to john's disciples go back and tell him what you see in here go back and tell him the deaf are receiving their hearing the blind are receiving their hearing and the blind are receiving their hearing and the blind are receiving their sight, the poor have the gospel preached unto him. Why did he tell him to go back with that information? Well, those were some of the credentials of Messiah. Leaning upon such passages as Isaiah 61 and other portions of the word of God, it was said that when Messiah comes, he would open the eyes of the blind. He would unstop the ears of the deaf. He would preach the gospel to the poor. So our Lord throughout the entirety of his life had manifold and amazing credentials as Messiah. But I'm asserting this morning that the empty tomb,

16:22 according to Jesus himself, is the ultimate validation of his official identity. And I want you to look at it and say, well, what is the ultimate validation of his official identity? And I want you to look at it and say, well, what is the ultimate validation of his official identity? And I want you to look with me at two passages which clearly affirm this. Matthew chapter 12. Matthew chapter 12. In verse 22, we read the account of how one possessed with a demon that caused a man to be blind and speechless had the demon cast out by the mere word of Christ. Well, this caused amazement among the multitudes and it raised messianic hopes because here was a messianic credential. He was conquering the very powers of darkness. So they said in verse 23, can this be the son of David?

17:25 Can this indeed be the Messiah who is to be of David's progeny? But now the hardened Pharisees and their scribes, verse 24 and following, could not deny that. That a demon had been cast out and cast out miraculously. But rather than see this as a credential of his official identity, they said, oh no, this shows he's in league with the devil himself, with the prince of the devils, with Beelzebub. And then we have that whole discourse on blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. Now then, pick up the reading with that as the setting in verse 38. Then certain of the scribes and Pharisees answered him. You see, right after this whole setting of the casting out of the demon, the multitudes thinking in terms of messianic office and identity, scribes and Pharisees saying, no, he's in league with the devil.

18:30 Jesus warning about blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. Certain of the scribes and Pharisees answered him saying, teacher. We would see a sign from you. You see, if only you will do something that will persuade us that you are what you claim to be and what the multitudes are now beginning to suspect you may be, we'll join the ranks. Up until now, your credentials have been inadequate.

19:01 Well, that wasn't true. Many had found them fully adequate. It was their own hardness of heart. But they said, We would see a sign from you. And what they were asking for was not a sign that was prophesied in the Old Testament concerning Messiah, but we have a hint of the kind of thing they were asking for when we read in chapter 16 and verse 1, the Pharisees and Sadducees came tempting him, asking him to show them a sign from heaven. What they were asking for is this. If you are really what you claim to be, make the sun and the moon play leapfrog. Make the constellation Orion draw his soul through the constellation called the great bear. Or

19:57 let Orion, the great warrior, make the constellations all into motion. Show us a sign out of the heaven. Greater credential. And we will believe. And notice our Lord's answer. But he answered and said unto them an evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign. That is, they seek for a sign never promised, never prophesied, but is the requirement growing out of their own wicked hearts that will not face their credentials that are already biblical and sufficient. And they excuse their unbelief. By saying we need more. It is an evil and an adulterous generation that seeks after a sign

20:52 and there shall no sign. No sign of that kind, you see. It's not an absolute statement. He was giving signs continually. All the signs prophesied of Messiah, he was performing them. John speaks of them. To convince us of his identity. But he said, there shall no sign, that is, no such sign as you you seek after be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet for as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish or sea monster the word does not mean the genus quail as we now know it it was a specially prepared fish for a specially prepared mission and as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster of the great fish

21:49 so shall the son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth what is Jesus saying Jesus is saying to his most bitter enemies that the ultimate validation of his official identity would be that he would enter into the heart to the earth for a period of time and using this expression it does not mean he must be there for three whole days and three whole nights i can't go into the technicalities but any part of any three days with the terminology three days and nights would be proper to use in that linguistic setting of that time and as jonah went down into the belly of that great fish from fence to emerge as it were out of the very grave that watery grave to be a preacher to the ninevites so shall the son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth and the significant thing is jesus said this will

23:04 be the ultimate sign the ultimate validation will be my own urgence from the bowels of the earth in glorious resurrection now we see the same thing in john chapter 2 at the mouth of two or three witnesses let every word be established in john chapter 2 and verse 13 the record of the lord's first cleansing of the temple the passover of the jews was at hand in jesus went up to jerusalem and without consulting any of the authorities the chief priests the sanhedrin he found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves and the changers of money sitting clogging up the court of the gentiles the place that was to be the constant monumental witness that though israeli was god's chosen people he was not they were not his pets he chose them to be his light to the gentiles and in the very place of his special presence he ordered that they make a court of the gentiles where those who would attach themselves to the god of israel could come and worship them

24:30 in that very place there was nothing but commercialism selling oxen and sheep and doves and so our lord made a scourge of cords and look at the vigorous verbs and cast all out of the temple both the sheep and the oxen poured the changers money over through their tables can you envision it he must have looked like a madman his scourge of cords whipping left and right and animals skipping and jumping and hopping and jumping and jumping and jumping and jumping and jumping and jumping and finding these heavy tables and turning them over and money clanking and clunking its way on the stone floor that's the picture and then he began to speak and to them that sold the doves he said take these things hence make not my father's house a house of merchandise his disciples remembered that it was written zeal for thy house shall eat me up but now the jews have to do something with this and notice what they do the jews therefore answer and said unto him what sign show as down on to us seeing you do

25:53 these things but they're talking about all this is what they're talking about they knew that the cleansing the temple was one of the activities of the side now look i think we want him to have prophesied with the lord and you see seek after the messenger has gone before him, shall suddenly come to his temple. And he will come in a mission of purifying. And they knew that passage and they said, What sign can you show us that you have the messianic right to do what only Messiah will do? It's a question of his official identity.

26:38 What sign are you doing, seeing you're doing things

26:47 And notice Jesus' answer. Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, this sanctuary, and in three days I will raise it up. The Jews therefore said, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and will you raise it up in three days? But he spake of the temple of his body.

27:12 When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered, that he spake this, and they believed the scripture and the word which Jesus has said. When they asked for a sign that validates his messianic right to cleanse the temple, Jesus bypasses every other sign from the opening of the eyes of the blind to the casting out of demons to the raising of the dead. And he says, This is the ultimate sign. Destroy this temple, this body, this sanctuary, and in three days I will raise it up.

27:52 My resurrection will be the ultimate validation of my official identity as God's Messiah. In summary, while Jesus perfectly fulfilled all the messianic prophecies related to the first advent, while he did all Messiah would do in raising the dead, etc., had, had he been killed and left in the tomb, all of those other signs would have been invalidated.

28:27 For prophets have raised the dead, Elijah and Elisha. Prophets and apostles had raised the dead. When the Lord sent out the seventy and the twelve, he gave them power to cleanse the lepers, to raise the dead. All of these, had been done by me.

28:52 But it is unique, to God's Messiah, that having all of those credentials, he should have as the capstone over all of them, that he would actually go into the jaws of a real death, and break the power of death itself, and in three days be raised from the dead, fulfilling the type of Jonah's experience in the whale, and fulfilling his, his own words here in John chapter two. For God had said of Messiah, not only would he open the eyes of the blind and raise the dead, but he had said he would not suffer his Holy One to see corruption, Psalm 1610. And therefore, if he is to have this ultimate validation upon his official identity, he must not remain in the tomb. And therefore, the theological significance of the empty tomb, as it relates to Jesus himself is this. It is the ultimate validation of his official identity as God's Messiah.

30:11 Therefore, we do not look for a Messiah to come. The one and only, Joseph's empty, is the ultimate validation, of his official identity. When there are doubts in our hearts, among those of us who trust in him, and the enemy comes, and in our low points, as with John the Baptist, we would say inwardly, if not outwardly, is this truly the Messiah, or do we look for another? We do not, as John did, for remember Christ did not yet die and been raised from the dead. We do not look to the other credentials and validations. We go with those three women, and we would then look up, and we see the stone roll back that we might look in. We see the angels sitting on that stone, and we hear him saying, he is risen.

The Empty Tomb's Significance to Jesus: Crowning Revelation of Personal Identity

31:24 He is not here. See the place, where they lay. And as we, in faith, place our feet in their footsteps, place our ears where we hear what they heard, hearing it not by the direct voice of an angel, but by the very voice of God's scripture, we need not doubt that our Savior is all he claimed to be as God's Messiah, because the empty tomb is to Jesus Christ, himself, the ultimate validation of his official identity. So, let me finish with reference to the theological implications of his� empty tomb. It is, not only to, our Lord, the ultimate validation of his official identity, but it is the crowning revelation of his personal identity. It is the crowning revelation, and I am making love to you, crowning revelation of his personal identity now as i wrestled with trying to give a popular illustration of how to separate official identity from personal identity this is the best i could

32:45 come up with you meet a man in uniform the uniform is a teal blue the man has four stars he has a set of wings on that uniform and when you look at him and you're introduced to general so-and-so of the united states air force you have a very clear idea of his official identity in his office and function he is a four-star general in the united states air force he functions within that office official capacity in relationship to the air force however should you meet that same man in his backyard with some putter pants on and dirt up to his elbows kneeling in his garden what you're meeting there is not general john jones of the united states air force but you're meeting john jones the guy who like any ordinary guy that likes to putter in the garden is in his putter pants and dirt up to his elbows and then you get to know something about his person and you get chatting and you find out that he's 49 years old and been married to one wife unusual for career military

34:12 people but he's hung in there he's got four grown kids hopes to retire in such and such a place now what if what's happening you're getting to know him as to his personal identity his uniform is off his official identity is for a while suspended you're focusing upon his personal identity now that's the distinction i making and i'm asserting that he mt tomb is not only the ultimate validation of the official identity of jesus he is jobs m'idอน for aнос for what does the open to us a about tears divorce from his office as msire What does it say about his person? Well, I answer, the empty tomb is the crowning revelation of his personal identity. What is that identity? Well, we go back to Peter's great confession.

35:19 Thou art the Christ, that's official identity, the Son, personal identity. The two are joined in Peter's confession. Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God, official and personal identity. And it was the Spirit of God who revealed both to Peter.

35:45 And our rest be both. A Messiah who is not God cannot do of man's redemption. May I say it reverently? God the Son who is not officially endowed with the responsibilities of prophet, priest, and king for the redemption of sinners.

36:08 God the Son. God the Son cannot accomplish our redemption without a proper office. But join the office to the person. There we have the only Savior of sinners.

36:23 And so in his personal identity, he is Son of God. That's how he was introduced to us in Mark 1.1, the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. And the only gospel that is good news indeed is a gospel in which there is set before us a person who is none other than God the Son.

36:53 Now there are many indications in scripture that this is his true identity. And it was for his own claims of this identity that he was threatened with stoning on at least two, two occasions by the Jews. They said, we're going to stone him. He's guilty of blasphemy because being but a man, in their estimation, he makes himself equal to God because he said, I am the Son of God.

37:26 And in John 19, we read that this was the real reason behind their desire to put him to death. Along with the spirit of envy, we read in John 19.7, the Jews answered him, that is, Pilate, we have a law, and by that law he ought to die because he made himself the Son of God. He made himself the Son of God.

37:57 He ought to die.

38:01 The Son of God in Jewish thinking did not so much refer as we think of Son in terms of offspring, but it meant identity of nature. And when he claimed to be God's unique Son, they understood his claim. He is claiming a share in it. That's blasphemy.

38:22 Stone him. Put him to death. And because you Romans have taken away the power of capital punishment from us, yet our law says he ought to die, we've got to contrive a reason to hand him over to you, Pilate, so you can do the dirty work. But we want you to know why.

38:39 He's a blasphemer. He claims to be equal to God. By taking to himself the title Son of God.

38:48 And what is the crowning revelation of that personal identity as Son of God? There were many things. Many things that pointed to that. You remember as we worked our way through the Gospel of Mark and he performed certain miracles, fear and dread and awe came over his disciples.

39:08 Who is this? That even the winds and the waves obey his voice. Who is this that takes five loaves and two fishes and with creative energy and power breaks and breaks and breaks until he has fed thousands and baskets full are left over? All of these things pointing to the fact that this is no mere man.

39:36 That this is indeed God incarnate. But the crowning revelation of that personal identity is found. In his resurrection. And I want you to turn to John chapter 20 for the scriptural basis of that assertion.

39:54 John chapter 20.

40:00 Notice John's concluding statement in verses 30 and 31. Many other signs therefore did Jesus in the presence of the disciples which are not written in this book. But John says the ones I've selected, I've selected for this purpose. These are written.

40:18 That you may believe that Jesus is the Christ. That's his official identity. The Messiah. The son of God identity.

40:29 And that believing both of these things you may have life in his name. If you're not straight on his official identity and his personal identity in a context of faith you cannot be saved. My friends, we're not talking about abstruse stuff for theologians. If you're not straight on his official identity you're not.

40:52 And you're so called to have this content that as to his official identity he is the Christ. And his open tomb is the crown validation. The ultimate validation of that identity. You must also believe he is the son of God.

41:14 God the son. God's own unique son sharing in the very essence of deity. Well, in what setting? Does the very word that I've read come to us?

41:29 Well, those of you familiar with the chapter will remember the Lord has made these post-resurrection appearances to the scared disciples coming in to their midst even when the doors were shut. Verse 19. And he accommodates himself to them to assure them that he is indeed the same. Jesus, excuse me, who was put to death upon the cross.

41:52 Verse 20. Showed them his hands, his side, and they were glad when they saw the Lord. And then he says, Peace be unto you. But one of the disciples was absent on that occasion.

42:05 Verse 24. But Thomas, one of the twelve called Didymus, that is twin, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said, We've seen the Lord. And this is where he gets his name, doubting Thomas.

42:20 But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nail, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe. Well, I won't go into whether or not that was a virtuous or a vicious statement. The fact that the Lord accommodated himself to it may indicate that Thomas is not so bad and so doubting as we think.

42:51 You men are ready to tell me that you've seen the Lord? Fine. If so, then if he appears, to me, I'll see and I'll be satisfied. If I see the print of the nails, put my finger into it, seeing, touching.

43:07 You see the senses? You're not dealing with ethereal notions, lofty, noble ideals of life and everlasting bliss not rooted in history. You said, I've got to see with my eyeballs where the spikes went in. And I want to touch and feel with the nerve endings of my own fingers the imprint.

43:27 And I'm going to see, see the place where the spear was thrust.

43:35 And after eight days again, his disciples were within and Thomas with them. Jesus comes, the door being shut, and stood in the midst and said, Peace be unto you. Then said he to Thomas, Oh, how I wish we could have been a fly on the wall to see it, to imagine what it was like. Then said he to Thomas, and I can't imagine the Lord holding his hands behind his back, when he said it.

44:03 Reach hither your finger and see my hands.

44:08 Reach hither your finger, see my hands. Reach hither your hand, put it into my side. Faithless but believing. Thomas answered and said unto him,

44:22 My Lord and my God. What did he do at the point of being convinced that the same Jesus who hung in death upon the cross, who had been placed, placed in Joseph's tomb, was now raised from the dead,

44:44 and he becomes the one who acts.

44:50 He now gives to this person supreme religious homage and worship. My Lord, in the presence of my hardship and honor,

45:16 I now beat all blessed, risen, resurrected Savior and Lord. Jesus said unto him, Because you have seen, seen me, you have believed. Believed what? That I am God the Son.

45:38 And as God the Son, Son of God, the rightful object of supreme religious attachment and devotion and worship and homage, because you've seen, you have believed, lest are they who have not seen. They've never been able to see the print in my hands. They've not been able to see my side, and yet have believed. Believed what?

46:07 Believed exactly what Thomas believed. Believed exactly what John goes on to say. Men must believe that they're to have life in his name. Namely, that Jesus is the Christ, his official identity.

46:21 He is Son of God, his personal identity. And believing that, and nothing less, is their life in his name. And so we see from this, a passage that the crowning revelation of his personal identity couched in the context of Thomas' doubts, which then becomes the framework for all subsequent saving faith according to verse 29.

46:51 Jesus said, because you've seen me, you've believed, lest are they that have not seen and have believed. The crowning revelation of his identity is, is being raised from the dead. It was this that caused Thomas to say, my Lord and my God. In summary then, with respect to Jesus himself, the empty tomb is nothing less than the crowning revelation of his personal identity.

The Empty Tomb's Significance to Jesus: Glorious Evacuation from Humiliation

47:26 This is why there are some ten post-resurrection appearances to various disciples. And then that amazing, amazing appearance referred to in 1 Corinthians 15 to 500 brethren at once. And so, child of God, when doubts assail your mind, as one who has not seen, who has not been invited personally to stretch hither your finger and to touch the place where his hands were pierced, what are we to do? We are to go into that room by faith and stand with Thomas and see our risen Lord stretching forth his hands to us and saying, be not faithless, but believing upon credible witnesses, one of them himself a skeptic, made of Thomas.

48:25 We know that he is none the less, or he is nothing other and nothing less than the son of the Lord. The living God. We are privileged then to go to that closed room, behold our Lord standing and say with Thomas, Lord Jesus raised from the dead, you are worthy of my trust, my highest devotion, my strictest obedience, because you are the son of the living God. But then thirdly and finally, this is what the empty tomb meant to Jesus, not only the ultimate validation of his official identity, the crowning revelation of his personal identity, and here I struggled for words, and this is the best I've come up with, it is the glorious evacuation from his state of humiliation. The empty tomb is the glorious evacuation from his state of humiliation. Now you know what an evacuation is, in the midst of war, in the midst of a tragedy where highly toxic material spills out of a train passing through a town and the whole town is evacuated. People are made to leave.

49:52 Well I say, the empty tomb is to Jesus the glorious evacuation from his state of humiliation. Among the many wonders connected with ourselves, salvation is the wonder stated succinctly in 2 Corinthians 8-9. You know the grace of our Lord Jesus that though he was rich, literally rich being, he became poor that ye through his poverty might become rich. There was a self-imposed state of humiliation while yet remaining rich.

50:37 In his inherent dignity as the eternal word, the eternal son of God, the object of the wonder and the worship of the host of heaven and of just men made perfect, he became poor. Came to the confines of a little virgin's womb in the mystery of the virgin conception in Mary's womb when the spirit of God overshadowed her and by a method not revealed to us, he partook of the substance of Mary while yet innociated with a damning sin and fallenness. But there he is, eternal God, an embryo in Mary's womb. And he passes through every stage of prenatal development and after three to four months Joseph begins to see a bump on Mary's tummy.

51:34 And then he sorts out the matter of how this all happened and the Lord reveals it to him by an angel. And then when the fullness of the time was come she brought forth her firstborn son. She brought him forth. The emphasis seems to be there was no one to attend her, no midwife.

51:53 She brought him forth and laid him in swaddling clothes and the first smells that reach his nostrils are the stench of the urine of animals and the dung of animals. And the first sounds to reach his ears are the grunts of the animals. And the snorts of animals. He became poor.

52:16 He became poor. Philippians 2 is the extended commentary on this. Being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God. Emptied himself taking subtraction by addition.

52:32 Empty taking the form of a servant and being found in fashion as a man he humbled himself becoming obedient unto death. Even the death of the cross. Think of all that we've studied in chapter 15. The death of the cross.

52:51 What went into it? The lies. The lies. The spittle.

52:58 The mockery. The blows with the fist. The scourge. The crown of thorns.

53:05 The humiliating trip to Golgotha. Stripped naked. Impaled upon the cross. Hung up between earth and heaven.

53:15 More jeering. More mockery. More derision. The darkened heavens.

53:21 The pillows of divine wrath. My friends take all that we've studied in chapter 15. That's his humiliation reaching the apex of its if I may mix words to get across the sense of biblical truth. But then the apostle says there's a turning point.

53:46 He became obedient unto death. Even the death of the cross. Wherefore God hath highly exalted him. Now my question is this.

53:56 What was the turning point from the state of humiliation to exaltation? The answer is the vacated tomb. The vacated tomb was Jesus' evacuation from the state of humiliation into the state of exaltation. While he lay dead on a slab of stone in Joseph's tomb, his humiliation reached its deepest depths.

54:29 The king of terrors, thieves and mocks, pray hold you beneath my fist. His humiliation reached its depths. But when sometime early on that first day of the week, he left the tomb before the sun, he left the tomb before the sun, the stone was rolled away and was raised to newness of life. It was indeed his glorious evacuation from a state of humiliation to which he never returned and never shall return.

The Resurrection as Declaration of Son of God with Power

55:13 Hallelujah. And there's one text that I want to bring before you to clinch this biblical truth. And it's found in Romans chapter one. Romans chapter one.

55:29 The last text that we will look at in any depth. But it's so significant and clearly establishes that the empty tomb was indeed our Lord's glorious evacuation from the state of humiliation. Paul says in writing to the Romans, he is a servant of Jesus Christ called an apostle separated unto the gospel of God. And then he begins to say certain things about that gospel.

55:58 It's a gospel promised through his prophets in the scriptures. It centers in his son who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh. Now verse four. And was declared, marginal reading in the 1901, determined, the Greek verb horizo is never translated declared anywhere else in the New Testament.

56:25 It is always translated ordained, determined, marked out. Luke 22, 22, Acts 10, 42, Acts 17, 26. So it should be rendered who was marked out, who was ordained according to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead. He was determined, ordained, son of the resurrection from the dead.

57:04 Now you see, Paul is not saying he was made son of God by the resurrection. But what he's saying is he was ordained and determined son of God by the resurrection. He was the eternal son. From all eternity, God the son existed in the mystery of triune existence with father and with spirit.

57:34 As son he was sent into the world. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, it was his son of God that he lived, suffered, and died. He that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, John 8, 32. But it was not till his resurrection that he was ordained, determined, marked out, son of, with power.

58:07 For up until then in his earthly existence, he was son of God. In weakness, he was crucified. Through weakness, we are told, he was in the condition of humiliation and dependantness. Dependent on an umbilical cord in his mother's womb.

58:30 Dependent on a maiden's breast when he came out of the womb. Dependent on a mom and a daddy to feed him in clothing till he became old enough to care for himself. Dependent upon food to sustain his strength. He was the man of sorrows, acquainted with grief.

58:50 Son of God, oh son of God! In weakness, but when he was raised from the dead, he became son of God with power. Son of God, while it was the same body that went into the tomb that was raised, it was not raised to the same form and substance and properties it had before the crucifixion. This was not a resurrection after the ordination.

59:21 The order of Lazarus, who had the same bodily functions and capacities, know this is a body that can appear in a room. The doors being shut can exit a tomb with the stones still sealed. For as we said last week, the stone was rolled away, not to let him out, but to let us in to see. You see, it is a body in the language of first Corinthians 15.

59:48 Sown a natural body, raised the spiritual body, and we don't have time to go into what those things are. You see, it is a body in the language of first Corinthians 15. Sown a natural body, raised the spiritual body, and we don't have time to go into what those things are. those factors are, but this much is clear. While it had the same identity and there was continuity, look and see. Behold, it is me. Look at my hands. Look at my side. This is not a phantom. This is the same Jesus. Yet he appeared, the doors being shut. It's a body that could eat. He prepared a fish breakfast and probably partook with them. In fact, it says he did partake with them, but apparently a body not dependent upon food. Why? He is now son of God with power. What power? Power of an endless life. Power of priesthood life.

60:39 Where we are, the writer to Hebrews tells us he's been made a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. That is priest in the power of an endless life. And I don't understand all that it means, but one thing is clear. When he exited that place, he was a priest.

60:55 When he entered that tomb, it was a radical evacuation with everything that pertained to the state of humiliation. He now enters a new and glorious condition. And from the moment of his resurrection, everything now is awkward until at this present moment he sits at the right hand of God the Father. All principalities and powers subject to him.

Pastoral Application: Comfort for Believers and Warning for Unbelievers

61:22 Every might and power. Every influence in heaven and earth under his glorious feet. That's what the open tomb meant for Jesus. And oh, how often in our selfishness we think, what do we get? I trust pausing to think this morning, what did he get? Has drawn out our hearts in admiration. He knew that that was to be the pattern. That's why he rebuked those disciples in Luke 24, 26. Ought not the Christ to have suffered?

61:55 And entered into his glory, suffering first, glory to follow. 1 Peter 1.11 uses the same language. May I say it reverently, we ought this morning to rejoice for our Savior. That the state of humiliation was left in Joseph's empty tomb. And dear saints, this is our comfort and our strength. Our Savior in whom we trust is the one who's going to save us from this day. He who says all authority has been given unto me in heaven and upon earth. Lo, I am with you always, each and every one of the days. I am with you. How? In all the sympathy and tenderness I revealed in the days of my humiliation. Yes, he's lost nothing of the reservoir of

62:47 sympathy and empathy and tenderness manifested in the days of his humiliation. But all of that is now joined to the power of his exaltation. Exaltation. And therefore, he's head over all things to the church, exercising that authority and power now to succor, to save, to keep, to protect, and to bring us all safely at last into his very presence. And you who are sinners, still loving your sins, as this truth is our comfort and strength. It ought to be your dread on the way. In the name of one hand and your hope on the other. If you reject this Savior, you're not dealing with the Savior prior to the empty tomb. That's why the scripture says, kiss the son lest he be angry and he perish

63:49 in the way. We do not invite you to the Savior still in the state of his humiliation. We invite you to the Savior in his state of exaltation, mighty to save, willing to save. But we invite you and append that invitation with the warning, love your sins, cling to your sins, go on and you will have reckoned not with a Savior in a state of humiliation. No, he forever left that state when he left Joseph's tomb. But you'll deal with the Savior in exaltation and power. And the scripture says, kiss the son lest he be angry and he perish in the way. That's why the scripture says, when the impenitents see him in that case, they run and they start begging rocks and hills to fall on them. They would not heed a begging and a pleading Savior. And the day comes when they

64:45 become beggars and pleaders to rocks and stones saying, fall on us and hide us from the face of him that sitteth upon the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. Oh, my unconverted friend, the empty tomb was Jesus' evacuation of the state of humiliation, never to enter it again. And one of his crowning acts of exaltation will be to send every unbelieving and penitent sinner into outer darkness forever to the shouts and to the joy of the righteous. And if you think that's excessive language, read Revelation 14 and 19.

65:36 Will you make angels shout in the righteous justice of God when you are sinking into hell, young man, young woman, older man or woman, boy or girl? Don't deal with this exalted Christ with indifference and with unbelief. Stack arms, leave your sins, your self-righteousness and your pride and run to him who is mighty to save, willing to save. And child of God, rest assured, that this one who evacuated Joseph's tomb and all the humiliation lives in power that you might live with him forever. What then does the empty tomb mean to Jesus himself? The ultimate validation of his official identity, the crowning revelation of his personal identity, the glorious evacuation from his state of humiliation. And child of God, rest assured, that this one who evacuated Joseph's blessed empty tomb, yea, blessed more the Savior who exited that tomb. Let us pray.

66:56 Our Father, how we thank you for the stuff of which our faith is comprised, a hewn out rocky sepulcher, a stone rolled back, an angel speaking, a risen Savior inviting the book to be opened to us. And now we look in the sight of the lower themingل and we recognize that this is the lower blood of God on earth. Because the precious and the and the touch of a doubting disciple oh God how thankful we are that we're not staking our eternal hopes upon wisps and shadows and phantoms of mere religious ideas but we thank you that we base them upon these glorious facts of your redemptive work in space and time in the person of your beloved son hallelujah what a savior blessed be your name oh God have mercy upon any who sit here today indifferent to your son and to his salvation strengthen the weak faith of all of your disciples and may we again and again make our way with those women to that garden sepulcher and there have faith strengthened and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and , and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and to face whatever we must face

68:22 knowing that he is not here he is risen come see the place where he lay we thank you oh we bless you may the grace of your spirit so rivet the truth to our hearts that we shall find its impact wrought out in our lives in the days to come hear us we plead through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.