Just as He Said

 

Resurrection Sunday

April 17, 2022

“Just as He Said”

 

My text for this afternoon comes from the last chapter of Matthew’s gospel. By this point, Jesus had been crucified and then stabbed through His heart just to make sure He was dead. Joseph and some other disciples took His corpse down from the cross and laid it in a tomb cut out from a hillside. And, because it was the Sabbath, they all left the gravesite to observe the commandment of God through Moses. We now pick up the story in verse one of chapter 28:

 

“Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the grave. And behold, a severe earthquake had occurred, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it. And his appearance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. The guards shook for fear of him and became like dead men. The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid; for I know that you are looking for Jesus who has been crucified. He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said.” (Matthew 28:1-6a)

 

In retrospect, it might seem a little surprising that NO ONE expected this. NONE of His disciples expected the resurrection of their Lord – even though Jesus had told them that He would die and then return to life. For example, here is Matthew 16:21 – “From that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day.”

 

And also, in John 10:17-18 “For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again. No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father.”

 

In fact, Jesus’ promise of His resurrection was so widely known at the time that after the crucifixion, the Jewish clergy gathered together to Pilate and said, 'Sir, we remember, while he was still alive, how that deceiver said, "After three days I will rise." Therefore, command that the tomb be made secure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night and steal Him away, and say to the people, "He has risen from the dead." So the last deception will be worse than the first' (Matthew 27:62-64).

 

So, in retrospect, from our place here in the 21^st century, having read the last pages of each of the gospels, we can understand and sympathize with the disciples who were in despair and abject fear for their own lives after Jesus’ arrest, murder, and burial. We know what happened on Good Friday. But we also know now what they didn’t know at the time – that Sunday morning was coming.

 

I love the message spoken by the angel at the tomb. “He is not here. He is risen, just as He said.” Luke records the angel’s words this way: “Why do you seek the living One among the dead? He is not here, but He has risen. Remember how He spoke to you while He was still in Galilee.” (Luke 24:5-6)

 

God's angels never wonder, or doubt, or question any of their Lord’s commandments or promises or anything else that comes out of God's mouth. They simply accept it as true because God said it. And for them, that settles it.

 

And so, they were – and I am speculating here since the Biblical record says nothing of their tone of voice – I think the angels were incredulous at the surprise of the women and the apostles when on that first day of the week, they were frightened and confused that couldn’t find the body of Jesus.

 

To paraphrase their remark: “Hey! What’s your question? Jesus is not here. He’s risen, just as He said He would rise from the dead. How is it that you didn’t believe Him?”

 

Christian! We need to get that. The angel told them, “He is risen – just as He said.”

 

I love that message because if Jesus did what He said He was going to do – rise from death – then that in and of itself alone should encourage all of us who believe the story of the resurrection. Jesus’ resurrection that should encourage us to have absolute conviction that EVERYTHING ELSE Jesus said is also true. I mean, think this through logically: If He overcame the impossible – who ever heard of anyone physically rising from the dead after three days in the grave? So, if He overcame the impossible, and therefore the impossible is true, then how shall we doubt anything else He said?

But the of course begs the question – what ELSE did Jesus say? What else did the King of glory say that we must, must, must hide in our hearts – because He said it and therefore it is true?

 

Well, we do not have more than a few minutes on this Resurrection Sunday to look in depth at them all, but let’s highlight only a few

Number one. Jesus said to the penitent thief on the cross next to Him, “This day you will be with me in paradise.” (Luke 23:43) After the criminal acknowledged to Jesus his own sin, the Savior promised him that before the sunset on that Friday, he would join Jesus in paradise.

Why is it important to know what Jesus said to the thief? I can think quickly of at least two reasons. First, since Jesus forgave the thief of his sins, then there is no reason for you or me to think Jesus will not forgive OUR sins when we bring them to Christ in repentance.

 

Furthermore, in the Lord’s response to the penitent thief, He did not even hint at what some call ‘soul sleep.’ That erroneous theory posits that when the body dies, the soul remains with the corpse until the general resurrection. But that is NOT what Jesus said to the thief. He told the thief “THIS DAY, you will be with me in Paradise.”

 

Christian, hear it again what Jesus said: When any Christian closes his or her eyes in death, they immediately open their eyes in the presence of the Lord Jesus their Savior. That is why Saint Paul could tell the Christians at Philippi: “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. But if I am to live on in the flesh, this will mean fruitful labor for me; and I do not know which to choose. But I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better; yet to remain on in the flesh is more necessary for your sake.” (Philippians 1:21-24)

 

It’s also why St. Paul wrote to the Christians at Corinth: “We are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.” (2 Corinthians 5:6–8)

So, Christian – and my remarks here are directed ONLY at the true Christian, don’t be surprised when you die that you immediately open your eyes to see the risen Savior. You will be with him in paradise. Jesus said it

 

Number two – What else has Jesus said? He said not all people are children of God. Although in a generic sense all are His creation – not all are His children who are MADE His sons and daughters only by their faith in Jesus as God incarnate, who died as a sacrifice for their sins. That’s why Jesus said to the Pharisees – men who thought they were children of God – Jesus said to them: “Unless you believe that I Am, you will die in your sins.” (John 8:24)

 

The Jewish teachers and theologians thought THEY were children of God. But Jesus told them they were wrong. “If God were your Father,” Jesus said, “you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and have come from God, for I have not even come on My own initiative, but He sent Me . . . ⁴⁴ You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies. . . . He who is of God hears the words of God; for this reason you do not hear them, because you are not of God.” (John 8:42-47)

 

In His parable of the Tares and Wheat as recorded Matthew 13:37-39, Jesus said: “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man, and the field is the world; and as for the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom; and the tares are the sons of the evil one; and the enemy who sowed them is the devil . . .”

 

False teachers and deceptive pastors tell their congregations that all men and women are children of God. But that is a lie. As the Scripture says: “He [Jesus] came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. John 1:11-13

 

Number three: What did Jesus say about the eternal destiny of all true children of God? Well, He gives us many details, such as streets of gold and gates of pearl. But descriptions of heaven defy description because we have never experienced anything like heaven, so we have no clear reference points. How can a person born blind understand the colors red or yellow or green or blue? How can a person born deaf ever know the auditory magnificence of a Mozart symphony or a Handle concerto? As the Scriptures tell us: “Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love Him.” (1 Corinthians 2:9)

 

So, I will not focus our attention on the physical description of heaven. Instead, I draw our attention to Revelation 21: “[A]nd He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.” (Revelation 21:4)

 

Christian, did you get that? No more pain, or loss, or separation, or tears, or sadness, or illness. Oh! I do not care a fig about streets of gold and gates of pearl if I can live forever and ever without any sorrow or loss or heartache.  And we can be absolutely certain that such things will never again darken our lives because – Jesus said so.

Number four: What did Jesus say hell is like? In point of fact, Jesus spoke more about hell than He did of heaven. An honest seeker of truth cannot read the gospels or the rest of the New Testament and come away without a healthy fear of that eternal destiny in which all who are NOT God's children will find themselves for ever and forever.

 

I could cite dozens of passages as illustrations, but let’s focus only on what Jesus said through the story of the Rich Man and Lazarus. You’ll find it in Luke 16. When both men died, Lazarus went to Father Abraham’s bosom, while the Rich Man went to hades, or hell. It was there, in utter and unending torment that he begged Abraham to send Lazarus to his brothers to warn them to change their lives, so they would not also end up in that terrible place. We pick up the story in verse 29: “But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ But [the Rich Man] said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent!’ But [Abraham] said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.’”

 

False teachers and lying pastors tell others a loving God will never send anyone to an eternal torment. But they are liars and children of the devil who teach such things. Jesus said hell is real. The Lake of Fire is real. And all who continued to reject God's offer of reconciliation with Himself, who lived a lifestyle of disobedience and faithlessness to Christ will, unquestionably, spend eternity in torment. No one in hell should be surprised that they are there – because it will be just as Jesus said.

 

Finally for today’s message, number five: What did Jesus say about His forgiveness of our sins? Plenty. And He said it so often as to make an unshakable point about His forgiveness.

 

Essentially, it is this: When we confess to Him our sins – no matter how egregious and horrible and awful and wicked those sins – when we honestly and humbly confess our sins to Him – He forgives all of our sins. Not a shadow of sin remains. He has cast even our worst sins as far from Him as east is from west.

 

Here are only a few of the assurances He said about forgiveness:

 

“And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you; for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins. Matthew 26:27

 

Luke records for us: and [Jesus] said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. Luke 24:46-47

 

Furthermore, the Lord, by His Holy Spirit through the apostle John promises us: “If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:8-9)

John continues in chapter two of his first epistle: “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and He Himself is the propitiation [atonement, the appeasing of God's wrath) for our sins . . . I am writing to you, little children, because your sins have been forgiven you for His name’s sake.” 1 John 2:1,2, 12

Why is it so hard for so many people to accept the truth of what Jesus said when He said, “Your sins are forgiven”? Is it because we cannot forgive ourselves that we think God cannot forgive us?

In those circumstances, when I am so very grieved about my own sins, I like to remind myself of what St Paul wrote to the Christians at Philippi: “But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:13-14)

The angel seemed to me to be incredulous that those at the empty tomb were shocked that Jesus was not there. “He is risen,” he told them. “Just as He said.”

 Are angels of God incredulous with us when we do not believe what Jesus said – about the identify of God's children, about heaven, about hell, about who we will see immediately upon our death, and about forgiveness of our sins?

Christian, seek the Holy Spirit’s anointing that we will always trust that Jesus will always do – just as He said.