Easter is the center point of the Christian faith. Without Easter, Christianity would be just like every other religion in the world. We are the only belief on the face of the earth that has a founder who is alive, and we are the only religion in history that meets our enemies with our prayers instead of the sword.
Buddhism was founded by Buddha, but Buddha died. Judaism was founded by Abraham, but Abraham died. Islam was founded by Muhammad, but he is dead, too. There has never been any witness to any of them being seen or talked to after they were buried. There is only one person in all the religions that came back victorious over death and rising to meet the God of the universe in Heaven. That person’s name is Jesus, and He is our Savior.
And not only did He arise from the grave, there were more than 500 eyewitness accounts of people who saw Him and talked to Him after He arose. If only one or two people had claimed to see Jesus after He was buried, then you could argue the point that they might be making it up, but when you have over 500 credible witnesses, you have to believe the facts, and the facts show that He did arise.
But that has been constantly disputed every since He walked out of the tomb. As Christians, it is necessary that we not only understand the truth, but that we have some kind of understanding on the lies that surround that truth. This morning, let’s take a look at the facts and the fiction.
To begin with, let’s talk about how …
1. JESUS DIED UPON THE CROSS
They had already paraded the bloody and beaten Jesus, to Skull Mountain just outside the city wall where He was put on a wooden cross with huge metal spikes being driven through His wrists and feet to keep him in place when the cross was up righted. Now, one detail that is never talked about is how the cross was up righted and what that did to the person who was hanging on the cross.
There was a hole dug in the dirt about 18 inches square and about 3 feet deep. After Jesus was nailed to the beams of the cross, they hoisted it up right and let it drop into that hole. When that heavy cross hit the bottom of the hole, it created a severe jolt to the person on the cross.
That sudden jar caused most of the bones in the body to snap out of joint and the tendons and ligaments to completely tear apart. This would keep that person from using his arms and legs to support his weight, so he would suffocate that much sooner. It was a most horrific and painful way to inflect death on a person.
MARK 15:25 says they hung Him on the cross at 3:00 am. He hung there, in the painful and dying position until 6:00 am. In verse 33 it tells us that at 6:00 am, darkness came over the whole land until 9:00 am. And precisely at 9:00 am, Jesus cried out, “My God! My God! Why have You forsaken Me?”
Why would Jesus say His Father had forsaken Him? The reason is simple. God is a pure and holy God. He is so pure and righteous that He cannot even look upon sin. As Jesus hung there dying, He took the whole world’s sin upon Himself. And as He had put Himself under that sin, His holy and righteous Father had to look away. That is when Jesus cried out in anguish.
See, Jesus was not only suffering the physical pain, but He was also suffering the torment and anguish of bearing all of our sins, too. I think the pain of the spiritual burden He was under far exceeded any physical pain. What made that situation unbearable is that for the first time in all eternity, Jesus was out of fellowship with His Father.
Jesus cried out once more. He said, “It is finished,” and with that, He gave up His life. At that very instant, you and I became free of our sins, and through His shed blood have become the seed of Abraham. At that very instant, we became free of the bondage of death. That is how much God loves you and that is how much God loves me.
If you told people that mud was made from water and dirt, there would always be somebody who would try to prove you wrong. There are many people today who say the holocaust was nothing but a story made up by America and its allies. As far as that goes, there is a movie out now, being narrated by actor Charlie Sheen, that says the 9/11 tragedy was created by our own government. And of course, there are many who say the landings on the moon were actually made in a back lot at Disney Pictures in California.
And, there have always been some who have tried to say that Jesus didn’t really die on the cross. They have developed something called the “swoon theory” to prove their case. They say Jesus was so weak from loss of blood and from the shock of being beaten and hung, that He fainted. They say the guards only thought He was dead and they let Him be taken down from the cross alive without knowing it.
They continue to prove their point by saying that Jesus was unconscious for three days in the tomb, but then woke up! He then rolled the stone away and walked out. Let me put that theory to rest completely.
If Jesus had been buried alive, think of His condition. He had suffered the loss of His bodily fluids, His blood, and all of His joints had been dislodged and all of His tendons and ligaments, along with His muscles would have been absolutely useless. He would not have even been able to walk. And then He had no food or water for three days. So, even if what they say is true, He would not have been in any shape to move a several thousand pound rock, would He?
The Roman guards were very well trained to do what they did. They knew when a person was truly dead. And to make sure that Jesus was dead, one guard took his spear and shoved it through Jesus, entering His body in the lower right side, and continuing up across the chest to include His lungs and His heart, spilling the water and the blood from the body of Jesus. Even if Jesus were not dead at that point, He would have died instantly from that spear.
So, as far as the “swoon theory,” that theory just died its own death!
Now, let’s talk about how …
2. JESUS WAS BURIED
After Jesus had died, a man received permission to take His body. This is what the Scripture tells us.
JOHN 19:38-41
‘Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now, Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly, because he feared the Jews.
With Pilate’s permission, he came and took the body away. He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes – about 75 pounds.
Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs. At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden was a new tomb in which no one had ever been laid.”
I have tried to imagine what it would be like to be the one who wrapped the body of my Savior for burial. What I see is two men, hearts ripped apart with grief, barely able to see what they were doing for the tears in their eyes, yet being faithful and showing all the love in their souls to prepare Jesus’ body in accordance with the burial customs of their day. Two men; two men who loved the same Lord that I love. That is what I see.
Jesus was placed in the tomb and the rock was rolled in front of the tomb so that it would be sealed shut. Let me quickly explain how these rocks were made to fit. The big boulder was chiseled into a wheel-shaped object. The tomb was carved out of the soft rock, leaving a small doorway. In front of this doorway was a rut that was dug into the ground. It was nearly a foot deep, and ran from one side of the entrance to the other side.
Several men rolled the wheel shaped rock to a place where it was leaning against the outside of the tomb, just to the side of the door. Upon a burial, these men would push the rock and it would roll down into that rut, effectively closing the tomb. They would often seal the rock to the tomb with a tar-like substance. This would serve two purposes: First, it would show whether anybody had tried to get inside the tomb to rob the grave, and secondly, it would keep the odors of the dead body from coming out.
That is how Jesus was buried. To move that door would take several strong men, pushing with all their might to roll that rock back up that little incline and out of the way of the door to the tomb.
Now, up to this point, we find nothing extraordinary about the death of Jesus. He was punished like a common criminal, hung on a cross in a most vicious manner, and died because of the wounds He had suffered. His dead body was taken down from the cross and buried in a tomb, with the rock pushed in front of the tomb’s entrance. Everything I just mentioned could have been said to describe the punishment and execution of any criminal of that day.
But what makes Christianity special is what happened next. When they got there …
3. THE TOMB WAS EMPTY
Luke tells us that as Joseph and Nicodemus took Jesus’ body to the tomb, the women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed and saw them put Him in the tomb. Then they went home to prepare the spices and perfumes to anoint Jesus’ body. This was on Friday. But the next day, on the Jewish Sabbath, which is on Saturday, they rested, as was the law. Let’s pick it up from there and read about two of these women.
LUKE 24: 1-4
’On the first day of the week (that would be the day after the Sabbath, or on Sunday), very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them.’
’As these women left their house early that morning, carrying the spices and perfumes, their demeanor was anything but cheerful. They had just seen their Lord, their Master, slain before their very eyes. I would imagine that, as they walked along the pathway to the tomb, there was little, if any, conversation. They, too, walked with tears of love flooding their eyes.’
’As they rounded that last bend in the path, as the shrub disappeared into the opening, what they saw sent shockwaves through them. The rock had been moved aside and the tomb was standing wide open. When they looked in, the tomb was empty.’
In MATTHEW 28:4, it says that as the angel talked to the women, the Roman guards were so afraid of him that they “shook and became like dead men.” In other words, they were so afraid they fainted on the spot. These were not ordinary men, either. Roman guards were the U.S. Marines of their day. They were tough men who were trained to be fearless fighters. And these men fainted because of fear.
Continuing, in LUKE 24:5-8, we are told;
‘In their fright, the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here – He has risen! Remember how He told you, while He was still with you in Galilee, ‘the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified, and on the third day be raised again.’ Then they remembered His words.’
The Scripture goes on to tell us that the angels told the women to go back and tell the others what had happened. Can you imagine what was gong through their minds as they raced back to convey their message? In MARK, it says they raced away in fear and trembling. Their Master is alive again!
At first, nobody believed them, but then, good old faithful Peter ran to the tomb to see. When he went in the tomb, he saw the empty burial garments. Scripture says that as he left, he wondered to himself what had happened. I think Peter was absolutely flabbergasted and stunned. Peter had come face-to-face with the awesome power of the Almighty God. Jesus had risen, and Peter was too shocked to even take it all in.
It is a sad fact that ever since the angels rolled the stone away, man has been trying his best to roll it back like nothing ever happened.
Here is what we have so far: Jesus was beaten and whipped. He was hung upon the cross where He gave up His earthly life so that we would have the opportunity to be forgiven. After He died, He was taken down and put in a borrowed tomb, and the big rock was placed to seal the grave. And then He arose. But they had to hide the truth.
While the women were on their way back to tell the rest of the followers what had happened, we are told what the Roman guards did.
MATTHEW 28:11-15 shows how a lie started.
‘While the women were on their way, some of the guards went into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened. When the chief priest had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money, telling them, “You are to say, ‘His disciples came during the night and stole Him away while we were asleep.’
If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble. So the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day.’
The solders were told to tell a lie to cover-up the truth. And they were paid well to do it. For those of you who have not been in the military, let me give you a couple of facts that prove this story false.
First of all, the soldiers were to say that this all happened while they were asleep. I don’t care what military you are in, or when you are in it, if you are a guard posted at a position that you are to guard – YOU DO NOT SLEEP! You can be executed for sleeping on watch.
Secondly, use common sense. If they were sleeping, how do they know who it was that stole the body? These two facts completely and effectively disprove this lie. But because people don’t want to believe in a truth they cannot understand, they choose to make up lies and believe in them instead.
Now, here is the simple truth. An angel rolled the rock away and Jesus walked out of that tomb, as alive as you and I are today. You say you have trouble believing that because you do not understand it. Let me say this very clearly.
YOU ARE NOT CALLED TO UNDERSTAND! YOU ARE CALLED TO BELIEVE!
We don’t feel comfortable believing anything we cannot fully understand, so what do we do? We make up with every imaginable story to take the place of that simple, yet unexplainable, truth.
During the Plagues of the middle ages, tens of thousands of people were dying and the doctors had no idea what was causing it. So they did like any good human would do; they tried to create stories that they could understand it.
They got together and figured out that it was the dirty air that was making everyone sick and die. So, they would take the sick out to a rose garden and make them walk around the rose bushes, inhaling the aroma, thinking it would cure them. Others decided that the best way to handle the plague was to simply ignore it. If you didn’t acknowledge it, it would just go away.
We don’t understand the ways of God so we do the same thing they did with the plague; we make up rituals that make us think we understand. We pray certain prayers in unison, or we sing certain kinds of songs, or we go to church and go through all the motions; and think we are being really good Christians.
But just as those early doctors had the wrong idea about the plague, we often have the wrong idea about what it means to be a true Christian. Being a true Christian has nothing to do with singing certain songs or saying pre-written prayers. Being a true Christian involves only one thing – believing in Jesus Christ as the Son of God and having faith that He is your Savior.
There are some who do not understand the miracle of Jesus, so they simply ignore Him. They think that if they deny Him, He doesn’t exist and therefore, they don’t have to think about it. But thousands who thought they could ignore the plague and get away with it thought wrong. They died from it. And those today that think they can ignore Jesus and be safe think wrong, too. Only the spiritual death they suffer will be much worse than the physical death they suffer first.
Did you know that all of us are going to live for eternity? And just like a Y in the road, you have two directions you may choose to travel. One direction will lead you to an eternity at the Table of Grace with Jesus Christ, and the other direction will lead you to burn in hell for eternity. So, where you end up is entirely up to you.
It makes no difference what you think, as the truth is still the truth. There is a story where Abraham Lincoln was talking to a man about truth. He asked the man how many legs a cow has. The man said a cow had four legs.
Lincoln then said that if they called the cow’s tail a leg, how many legs would the cow have. The man said that if you called the tail a leg, the cow would have five legs. President Lincoln told the man that it didn’t matter what we call something, the truth is still the truth – the cow only has four legs.
My friends, it doesn’t matter what you might believe – the truth is still the truth. You will either go to hell or you will go to heaven. To get to heaven, you are commanded to humble your heart and turn it over to Jesus. That is the truth.
And it doesn’t matter whether you choose to deny Jesus, or whether you just want to ignore Him and hope He goes away, you will go to hell. That is another truth. My question to you is this: Which have you held onto during your life – the truth or the lie? Which one are you holding onto this morning?
When we receive Jesus as our Lord, our Shepherd, our Master, we gain the freedom of spending eternity in Heaven. But many don’t know what Heaven will be like.
REVELATION 21:23-27 gives us some glimpses as to what Heaven will be like.
’The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. The nations will walk by its light and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it.’
’On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.’
Will ‘the Joyful Noise’ Praise Team please come forward at this time to sing during our invitation to receive Jesus?
My job is to present you with the truth of Jesus Christ. I try to do that to the best of my ability. Your job is to honestly listen to the truth and then make a conscious decision as to what you are going to do with that truth. And by ignoring it for another day, or another week, you have made a decision, but that decision is not one that is in your favor. It doesn’t matter how long you may deny Him, the truth is a denial is still a denial.
In REVELATION 22:12, Jesus says He is coming soon. If He were to come today, would you be ready, or would you plead with Him to give you one more day to get ready?
We are going to give an invitation for you to fully submit your heart to the Lord. You may have done this before and then found that you have walked away from Him and need to recommit yourself to Him this morning. Or, you may have never made the decision to do so. I am going to ask you to come forward as we sing.
INVITATION
