DID JESUS WALK OUT THE TOMB?

While Jesus was alive he spoke of His death and resurrection. In Mark 9:31,32, we read, “for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him. And when he is killed, after three days he will rise.” But they did not understand the saying, and were afraid to ask him.” The disciples of Christ did not fully comprehend the death of their Savior and His resurrection. However, many would witness the death of Jesus on the cross and they would depart in deep sorrow for their Savior had died. First, I want us to look at Matthew’s account of the resurrection of Jesus found in chapter 28:1-6: “Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay.” Now, you need to read about the women coming to the tomb where the body of Jesus had been laid by Joseph of Arimathea recorded in Mark 16:1-6; Luke 24:1-8; John 21:1. The women arose early with spices to further the preparation of the body of Jesus for His burial. In Matthew’s record, there was the appearance of the angel who had rolled away the stone to the entrance of the tomb where the body of Jesus had been placed. Mark shows the tomb already opened after the women are concerned about how they will open it. A young man sitting in the tomb tells them Jesus has risen. In Luke, the women arrive, go inside, but do not find the body. Suddenly two men appear in it asking the women, “Why do you look for the living among the dead?” Mary finds the tomb empty, according to John. When you read these separate accounts there is no mention of Jesus walking out of the tomb! No doubt we all have seen pictures of Jesus walking out of the tomb with a great light shining all around him. Even in the movie The Passion of the Christ, you can see Jim Caviezel, who portrayed Jesus, waiting for the stone to be removed so he can walk out the tomb. But this is misleading. The angel did not remove the stone for Jesus to walk out of the tomb; the angel removed the stone so the witnesses could look inside and see that the tomb was empty! In Matthew’s account, you will observe that when the angel removed the stone, the angel spoke to Mary Magdalene and the other Mary saying, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified, “He is not here: for He is risen.” From this we can understand that at the time when the angel removed the stone, Jesus had already risen from the dead. When Peter and John ran to the tomb, they found the linen cloths and the napkin where Jesus had been lying in the tomb. Jesus had passed through them when He arose from the dead (20:2-10). And we must understand that the stone and the tomb were no problems for the Lord because we read in In John 20:19;26 that Jesus on two different occasions, “when the doors were shut”, suddenly appeared to His disciples where they had gathered in a room for fear of the Jews. So, neither the tomb nor the ‘exceeding great stone’ prevented Jesus from rising from the dead in His resurrected body. The exact time when Jesus arose early on “the first day of the week” is not recorded. What we are to believe is “He is not here; for He is risen”!! The resurrection of Jesus Christ is one of the cardinal doctrines found in the New Testament. The empty tomb cannot be denied. It stands as evidence that our Lord arose from the dead on the “first day of the week”. The apostle Paul declared in 1 Corinthians 15:1-3,”Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,...” My friends, let us thank God that His Son arose from the dead because we worship and serve a risen Savior!!

"WHEN YOU COME TOGETHER IN ONE PLACE"

“When you come together in one place”, it is imperative “ all things be done decently and in order” (1 Corinthians 11:18;14:40). It is the opportunity when we come together to worship God and the Lamb “in spirit and truth” (John 4:23,24; Revelation 4 & 5). It is wonderful that brothers and sisters in Christ enjoy the company of one another; but, when the set time has come, our hearts should be centered on worshiping God. This is a deliberate action on our part. Worship begins with the first song. God is spirit and our spirits should be attuned with God’s spirit (John 4:24) The ‘acts of worship’ can sound too legalistic and formal for some; but if we use the term ‘avenues’, it can be understood that singing, praying, teaching, the Lord’s Supper and giving are avenues through which we express our our love, praise and homage to our God. The order in our assemblies when we are worshiping together can be and oft is a tradition. This can contribute to our worship being done “decently and in order”. However, when the same ‘order of things’ is done for decades it can easily become law and that is when tradition becomes wrong. Several years ago an elder told me that when he went off to a Christian College located in a different state, he knew that the church where he began worshiping was unscriptural. The reason being, the church was having the Lord’s Supper before preaching and not afterwards! If a change should be made in the order of worship it would be best for it to be announced before it was time to begin. ‘The Order of Worship’ could be printed and would be available to those in attendance. By doing this, there would be less confusion for everyone. Several years ago while working with a congregation in a small town, I mentioned to the song leader that I would like to make a change in the order of our worship. He was to lead the first song and then I would read from the Bible and make some remarks and we would do this more than once. My failure was that I did not inform the congregation of the changes that I had made! And this is the way things went in our worship that Sunday morning; the song leader led the first song and then I got up and read from the Scriptures and made some remarks that were appropriate and I sat down.. The song leader announced the number of the song that we were to sing and when he began singing, the congregation stood, thinking that this was the ‘invitation song’! Lesson learned! It would be good for a congregation to make changes occasionally so that the younger generations could know that a set ‘order’ was not a pattern as found in the New Testament. It is good that the song leader prepares his selections for the worship. Since we are to praise God, songs of praise would be excellent to lead to begin our worship. It is always appropriate for the congregation to stand when singing such songs. It would be good for the men who have been asked to lead prayers in the assembly to think beforehand what would be said in the prayer. Remember also it is to be a public prayer, that is, the prayer leader should lift his voice so all could hear. When there is a microphone, the prayer leader should speak directly into it. Remarks made when we are observing the Lord’s Supper should be brief and a source of encouragement for all to meditate on the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ; and the love of God and His son manifested at Calvary. Remember also that prayers are offered up to God the Father (Matthew 6:9). It was the body of Jesus that hung on the cross and it was His blood that “was shed for the remission of sins” (Matthew 26:28). God is spirit and “a spirit does not have flesh and bones…” (John 24:39). Preaching/teaching the word of God is a fearful responsibility (James 3:1)! Timothy received a charge from the apostle Paul to “Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching” (2 Timothy 4:2-4). “The word” would consist of “All Scripture” because they were “given by inspiration of God” (2 Timothy 3:16). It is the duty of the preacher to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ for “it is the power of God to Salvation”! (Romans 1:16;Matthew 28:19,20;Mark 16:15,16; 1 Corinthians 15:1-4)! We have the example of the early church giving “On the first day of the week” (16:1,2). This contribution was for the “saints” in Judea who were in need of financial help. This is an example as to when we can give our monetary gifts to the Lord when we assemble on the first day of the week to worship God. Every Christian should read 2 Corinthians chapters eight and nine to learn more about the giving made by the churches in Macedonia. First of all, the Christians “gave of themselves to the Lord” (chapter 8:5). Paul also wrote that their giving was a matter of “grace” (chapter 8:7). My brothers and sisters, When we come together in one place, let us “worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.” “Come, let us bow down in worship, Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker; for He is our God and we are the people of His pasture, the flock under His care.” “Great is the Lord! He is most worthy of praise! No one can measure his greatness” (Psalm 100:1,2; 95:6,7;145:3).