“And the angel answered and said unto the woman, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here, He is risen as He said, Come, see the place where the Lord lay.”―Matt. 28:5, 65And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. 6He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. (Matthew 28:5‑6).
THE resurrection of the Lord Jesus is the great testimony of Scripture to the perfection of His work. To proclaim the glad tidings of a then Saviour, is to preach the gospel. The facts of the gospel are very simple and few. They are: first, “That Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures;” second, that Christ “was buried;” and third, that Christ “rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.” These facts are declared by the angel to the women who came to seek Christ in the sepulcher.
1. That Jesus died. “Which was crucified.” There must be no mistake about the death of Jesus. He really died, and died for the sins of His people. He took upon himself flesh and blood, and lived on this earth, that He might die, the just for the unjust. The death of Jesus was, in the strictest sense of that word, vicarious. Jesus did not die as a martyr; He died as a malefactor. He who was sinless, became sin for us. He who was most blessed, became most cursed for us. His nature was absolutely without spot or blemish, and His life was one of continued obedience; but His death was the death deserved by the sinner. He died as the substitute of lost, ruined, guilty, rebel sinners. We deserved death, therefore, Jesus died.
Jesus “died for our sins,” is the uniform teaching of the Word of God. With reverence we can say, taking all Scripture as our evidence, that “without shedding of blood” God could not give “remission” of sins. God bound himself as the moral governor of the world, to forgive sinners only on the ground of the atonement effected by His Son. God promises salvation to none, he bestows salvation on none, save on the ground of the sufferings and death of Jesus. There can be no pardon for any sinner without a full and complete atonement for the sinner’s sin. Jesus has satisfied all the claims of justice; He has endured all the penalties of a broken law, and, all the sins of believers were punished in His person. There is but one mediator between God and sinners, even the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all who believe on His name. The Saviour Jesus Christ gave himself for sinners, that He might redeem them from all iniquity. Every believer can say, “Jesus loved me, and gave himself for me.” He loved His Church, and gave himself to be her substitute. He hath once suffered for sins, the innocent Lamb of God in the place of guilty rebels, to bring them back unto God. Christ, who knew no sin, and who never could know sin, became sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. He was made sin, by the imputation of sin to Him. We had wronged God; but our wrong doing was put to the account of Jesus. The sum of all the sins relatively and personally chargeable on the persons for whom Jesus became the sin-bearing substitute, was imputed to, Him. This is clearly taught in those passages of Scripture which assert, “The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” “He bare the sins of many.” “He shall bear their iniquities.” “So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many.” “His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree.” “Who was delivered for our offenses.” The sufferings and death of Jesus were judicial inflictions. “He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace” ―that is, the punishment necessary to be borne in order to make atonement for sinners― “was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed.” The punishment of our sin was exacted from Him, and He was made answerable for our sing. He hath redeemed believers from the curse of the law because He was made a curse for them. He was ever the unspotted Lamb of God, full of blessing and of grace; but He voluntarily placed himself in our room, and thus became as though He were the sinner, and was made subject to the curse. “The wages of sin is death;” Jesus died; and now “the gift of God is eternal life,” through Him. Thus the salvation of all believers in Jesus is placed on the firmest basis. Sinners are freely pardoned because Jesus has been punished in their stead. Jesus “was crucified,” is the key-note of the gospel.
2. That Jesus was buried. “Come, see the place where the Lord lay.” As Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the fish, so the Son of man was three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. (Matthew 12:4040For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. (Matthew 12:40).) “And He made His grave with the wicked, and with the rich in His death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in His mouth.” (Isaiah 53:99And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. (Isaiah 53:9).) The grave of Jetties was appointed with the wicked, with the malefactors who were crucified with Him; but He was with a rich man in His death; for Joseph of Arimathea, who was a rich man, took the body of Jesus, and wound it in a clean linen cloth, and laid it in his own new tomb, wherein never man before had laid. Wonderful condescension! The Lord, the Creator of heaven and earth, dies between two thieves, and is buried in a borrowed grave! He was buried; but He saw no corruption.
3. That Jesus rose again. “He is not here, He is risen, as He said.” He could not be holden by death; but on the appointed morning, having finished the work which He had undertaken at His Father’s bidding, He rose and left the dead, no more to die. He rose as death’s conqueror, as the grave’s destroyer, as His people’s Redeemer. Justice being satisfied, the Surety was released. He rose as the first-fruits of them that slept. He rose in the power of an endless life, and ascended to the right hand of God, where He ever lives to make intercession for all sinners who come unto God by Him. The resurrection of Christ is one of the great foundations of faith. It was real. He was seen alive. after He had risen by, and conversed in the body with, many creditable witnesses. He went into the prison house of death for His people, and came forth triumphantly after having atoned for their sins. The atonement He made was thus accepted by the Father on our behalf. The work of satisfaction which He undertook, He perfectly accomplished, and to that work the Father bore witness when He raised Him from the dead. Therefore Peter, in jubilant strains, exclaims, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy hath begotten us again to a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for us, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time.” He “rose again for our justification.” The living One evermore lives.
The risen Saviour is the accepted Saviour. His death was perfectly sufficient for our salvation Jesus has done all that was necessary to be accomplished to take away our sins, and to prepare us to see God. God raised Jesus from the dead that this might be proved to the whole world, God is well pleased with the work of Jesus finished for us; we may trust in Jesus, and out heaven is secure. The risen Saviour is the living Saviour. We must not seek the living One among the dead. He lives for us, and with us, if we believe in Him. Because He died, we are forgiven; because He lives, we are saved. He who has risen will come again, — no more the “Man of sorrows,” but the Lord of glory.
4.They who seek Jesus have no need to fear. “Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus which was crucified.” None who seek for Jesus shall ever seek in vain. If Jesus is found of them that sought Him not, much more shall He be found of them that seek Him. If with love and longing ye are seeking the crucified One, ye shall find Him as the living One; ―living to save your souls. Seekers sometimes make mistakes, as these women did. They sought the living among the dead. We repeat this mistake when we seek Christ in our feelings, works, and duties. Jesus is not to be found there. He lives at the right hand of God, and it is there we must seek Him, if we would find Him.
The seeking soul need not fear hell, death, or sin, since Jesus rose. He need fear not; for hell is vanquished, sin is destroyed, and death’s sting is extracted. The Father, looking down on the believing sinner, smiles upon him for Christ’s sake. He, having accepted Jesus for the sinner, will accept the sinner in Jesus. Jesus is at the Father’s right hand as the pledge of the Father’s good-will. Jesus is pre-eminently the Beloved of the Father; and He has made all believers accepted in the person of His Son. He who is raised up at the right hand of God is Jesus the Saviour. He was so named by the angel of the Lord before His birth, and for this reason, that He might save believing sinners from their sins; and there is none other name under heaven, given among men, whereby we must be saved. He came into this world, died on the accursed tree at Calvary, and rose to the throne of God, that He might save believers from the guilt of their sins; that they might have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace. He came to save believers from the power of sin, that it might not have dominion over them. He is exalted to save from ignorance, from hardness of heart, from impenitency, from unbelief, from pride, from carnal security, from the tyranny of Satan, whose slaves they were, from those raging lusts which strive for the mastery and which war against the spirit, from the love of this present evil world, from the deceitfulness of self, and from the fear of death.
5. In conclusion, Jesus will come again. The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven, with the angels of His might, in flames of fire, taking vengeance on those who know not God, and will not hearken to the glad tidings of His gospel. And from the presence of the Lord, and from the brightness of His glorious majesty they shall receive their righteous doom, even an everlasting destruction, in that day when He shall come to be glorified in His saints, and to be admired in all believers. The very same Jesus, who was seen by the disciples, to ascend up into heaven, shall so come again in like manner as they saw Him go. He will come again and receive us unto Himself. This is the constant hope of the true Church of God, and the solid comfort of all who look forward to its accomplishment. He is coming quickly. His coming in glory will be, to the world at large, an unexpected moment. Careless sinners will be taken unawares; but they who believe God’s promise, and watch for Christ’s appearing, will hail Him with delight. Those who know not God shall be destroyed with vengeance, when He comes in flaming fire; and those who have not obeyed the gospel shall be consumed with utter destruction. They shall die “the second death,” which is not annihilation, not ceasing to be, but an eternal loss of all happiness, a total banishment from His blissful presence, and from all the glorious effects of His saving power, which will then be manifested in His saints; they shall be driven away in His fury, and banished to suffer the greatest miseries, both in body and soul, forever and ever.
Dear reader, are you prepared to meet Christ at His coming? The second coming of Jesus will be dreadful or delightful, according to our real, our present state before God. If, now, we have fled to Jesus; if we have believed God’s testimony concerning the death, the burial, and the resurrection of Christ, we may now lift up our heads with joy. We close with the closing words of the Scripture of truth, “He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.
Amen. T. W. M.