THEY SAW AND BELIEVED
I am thankful this morning that it is Easter. This is the day in which we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord. Everyone is dressed for the occasion and look great, but there is One in Whom is adorned more so than anyone else. His name is Jesus Christ – the Risen King!
Text: John 20:6 – 8
Prayer:
He was crucified on Friday, but gloriously transformed early on Sunday morning. On Friday (while on the cross) Jesus had been beaten beyond recognition…you would not have known that He was the Son of God, the Second Person in the Trinity. You would have only seen and witnessed the gruesome death of what would appear as a common criminal on Golgotha’s Hill.
The Prophet Isaiah said that –
He has no form or comeliness; And when we see Him, There is no beauty that we should desire Him.
He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted.
But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.
Many movies have been filmed with the attempt of depicting His death, but I would say to you that even Hollywood (with all of it’s special effects) could not have imagined how gruesome His death must have been on that Friday. The essence of His holiness and purity was viciously attacked and “smitten of God”.
All of this was necessary if we were to be cleansed and forgiven of our sins…Jesus would have to die a painful death as the Sacrificial Lamb of God.
After His execution, His lifeless corpse that hung on the cross was bloodied and bruised making it difficult for anyone to brave the nauseating task of removing his remains. As terrible as it truly was, Jesus knew His suffering and death would be worth the price He would willingly pay.
In His final moments he cried out,
“My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?”
In spite of His pain and suffering,
Jesus knew that:
• Sin would be conquered
• Death would be defeated
• Satan would be silenced
• Mankind would be forgiven and redeemed by His shed blood.
Afterwards, when His death was complete, someone would have to prepare His broken body for the grave, and this became the duty of two men: Joseph of Arimathea, and Nicodemus. Together, they went to Pontius Pilate and begged for the body of our Lord.
Transition:
As history would record it, they first had to rig a ladder, and climb up the side of the cross, and then they had to pull His hands off over the nails. There was no way they could get those spikes out of the wood. Once the hands were loosed, they lowered the body of Jesus into a sheet, and would then remove His feet from the nail the same way they did His hands.
With His body fluids drained completely, I doubt there was much left of His broken body left on the cross.
As Jewish custom would have it, they then took the body of Jesus to a new tomb (a tomb never used before that Joseph had prepared for himself).
They washed His body, and made an attempt to preserve the Body of Christ with an expensive mixture of “myrrh and aloe.”
After this, they wrapped Jesus’ body in white linen, folding His arms over His chest. They closed His eyes, kissed His cheek, and placed a napkin over His face.
Nothing of the Jewish customs was forgotten to be done. There was a great deal of respect shown.
The time and money expended (by those few who made it their responsibility to care for the body of Christ) was insignificant by comparison with what Christ had done for them.
Oddly enough - There is no mention of the disciples (who were closest to Him) helping out with this effort.
Those who were given the awesome responsibility of taking the Gospel of Christ into all of the world were nowhere to be found at the end of the day.
You see the disciples were not ready to deal with what needed to be done. They were scared, bewildered, confused, panicked, and distraught. Whatever they thought their reasons were, there was no excuse.
This often happens with some of the servants of Christ who will set everything else aside in order to care for the Body of Christ. That is – Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus had purposed themselves to make the extra effort to care for the Body of Christ. There would be no promise of anything in return for all that they did.
Man made a feeble attempt to preserve the remains of the Savior for burial, but none of their efforts would play a part in what would soon take place. Man’s best efforts for preserving this brutalized figure of a man with expensive ointments would pale in comparison with what the Glory of the Lord would accomplish.
The crucified Body of Christ would be glorified and divinely preserved for all of eternity.
The Redemption of Man was accomplished by the heavenly transformation of the Messiah.
The Body that was humiliated was now exalted!
On that first Easter Morning, the followers of Christ would see and witness this celestial and glorified body of our Lord, and they would want to go and tell the whole world. They had to first see, and then they would believe.
It was Mary who would be the first to come to the empty tomb. As she approaches the tomb, she sees the stone rolled away and it frightens her. And so - she runs to get Peter and John, and they run together to the tomb as fast as they could. John outran Peter, and when he got there, he looked inside, and saw those grave clothes lying there in disarray.
And then Peter arrived. And just as we’d expect of him, he went right on in. Peter also saw the linen clothes lying there, but there was something unusual in that opened tomb. Something (in particular) caught his eye that was very unusual.
Question: Did you know that Christ will do whatever it takes to get your attention?
The Gospel of John records for us in verse 7 what amazed he and Peter. There had been a napkin (handkerchief) that had been placed over the face of Jesus. That handkerchief was not just thrown aside like the grave clothes.
The Bible takes an entire verse to tell us that the napkin was neatly folded, and was placed at the head of that stony coffin.
• Why is this folded napkin/handkerchief so important?
• Is there something in particular that Jesus wanted His disciples to know?
Yes…indeed…there is something Jesus wants all of us to know. There is message to all humanity and the few gathered here today.
A message of hope that had been left (by Jesus) in a cold dark tomb that we must never forget.
Give me a moment of your time to explain:
Picture (if you will) a Master who is being served by His servant a meal on His table. You see the plates, the eating utensils, the cup to drink from, and a napkin.
Hebrew tradition of that day was very orderly. The folded napkin specifically had to do with the Master and how he would communicate with His Servants.
As was Jewish customs - When the servants would set the dinner table for the Master, they always made sure that it was exactly the way the master wanted it.
Everything was on the table just as it was to be. Everything in it’s place and perfectly arranged. In the meantime, the servant would wait, just out of sight, until the master had finished eating, and the servant would not dare touch that table, until the master was finished.
Now if the master was finished eating, he would rise from the table, take that folded napkin and wipe his fingers, his mouth, and clean his beard. He then would wad up that napkin and toss it onto the table.
The servant would then know that His master was finished and would begin to clear the table.
In those days, the wadded napkin meant, “I’m done”. But if the master got up from the table, and folded his napkin, and laid it aside his plate, the servant would not dare touch the table, because the servant knew that the folded napkin meant, “I’m not finished yet.” That is, “I’m coming back!”
My friend, Jesus is coming back. Yes it is true that He accomplished everything He needed to do on the Cross of Calvary, and there can be no denying that! He did say with His final breath, “It is finished!”
But we must also understand that Jesus is not through with what He has yet to accomplish with you and I.
That part is not finished.
Jesus had folded the napkin for anyone and everyone who would come to the tomb and want to find Him.
The one person He knew who would want to see the empty tomb for himself would be Simon Peter. That is right, the man who had publicly denied Christ three times.
As well - this morning you must go to the tomb and see what Christ has left for you.
As far as the Resurrected and Risen King is concerned, His handkerchief is still folded. Jesus is not finished with you yet. He will be back to finish what He has started.
Yes the tomb is empty but Jesus is not finished saving souls and convincing others that He is alive!
Acts 4:12
Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is no other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.
Close:
This morning many are mistaken. They think that just because they are a good person, they are saved.
To those I would say that the handkerchief is still folded, and Christ is not finished with you yet.
Illustration:
Years ago, the great evangelist Billy Sunday was preparing to go into a certain city to do a major crusade. He wrote ahead of time to the mayor of the city, and said,
“Would you please send me the names of the people in your area who need serious spiritual help?”
To Billy Sunday’s surprise, the mayor sent him…the telephone book! That mayor knew something.
He understood that everyone in his town needed spiritual help. No one was exempt.
The napkin is still folded!
Not only is Jesus still saving souls, but He’s not finished saving those who have fallen away!
II Peter 3:9
The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.
