Worship Service Programs

Theme:

"Kingdom Power"

by

Lt. Colonel William MacLean

Easter Sunrise Service -

Sermon Outline

A MOST REMARKABLE DAY!

Matthew 28:1-10

It was a most remarkable day! The day that the Son of God came back from the dead is reported in the 28th chapter of Matthew's Gospel. He describes the early-morning visit of the two Mary's to the tomb where an angel of the Lord eased their apprehension and sent them to share the good news with the disciples. They "hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them" (Matthew 28:8, 9).

In the history of the world, had there ever been a guard posted at a tomb to prevent the dead within from rising? Or was it because they thought His followers would take the body so they could then claim He had risen?

The sentinels stood guard, lest the stilled heart pulse again with life, lest the silent speak and the dead walk. Had they been questioned, they doubtless would have replied that the occupant of the tomb was dead and would not live again.

Yet still they watched.

Just the day before, the chief priests and Pharisees had petitioned the governor. "Sir, that liar once said, 'After three days I will come back to life again'" (Matthew 27:63, LB). Pilate ordered the tomb sealed and the guard posted.

There is a note of sadness and unbelief in John's account of the resurrection. Mary Magdalene visited the grave early in the morning, not to greet the risen Savior but to anoint a dead body. What is more tragic still, she was weeping. When she reached the tomb and found it empty, did it occur to her that He had risen from the dead as He promised? No, for she sobbed in despair, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don't know where they have put him!" (John 20:2).

That afternoon, two of His friends dragged their feet along the dusty road to Emmaus. So crushed in spirit were they, so frustrated, that the Risen Lord, who walked with them, but did not yet reveal Himself, asked, "What are you discussing?" (Luke 24:17). They told of the women who had found the tomb empty and of the angels who had announced the resurrection, but in their unbelief they complained, "We had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel " (v. 21).

More remarkable still, when the disciples had learned from the women that the tomb was empty and that the angels had announced the resurrection, they dismissed the report as sheer imagination. We might expect that His followers, those who had heard from His own lips that He could break the seal of death, might be astonished - but not skeptical!

We can understand why men like Peter might dismiss the news of the resurrection as the idle tales of women. But what of Mary Magdalene, she who herself had risen from a tomb sealed by seven devils? Finding the tomb empty, she had burst into tears.

With her eyes cast down as the brightness of the early sun dispelled the dark shadows, she heard a voice, "Why are you crying?" (John 20:15). She mistook the voice as that of the gardener of Joseph of Arimathea, the landowner's handyman! "Sir, if you have carried Him away, tell me where you have put Him, and I will get him."

Jesus called her by name. She once had heard Jesus say He called His sheep by name. And now to the One who individualizes all the sin, sorrow and tears in the world and marks each soul with a personal and particular love, she turned and spoke but one word: "Master!"

Jesus said, "Mary," and all of heaven was in it. It was only one word she spoke, and all of humanity was in it.

After the mental midnight , this radiance; after dark hours of despair, this hope; after the loss, this find. She was prepared only to shed tears over a grave; what she was not prepared for was to see Jesus walking on the hills of the world.

Yet such is the truth of Easter Day: the resurrection of the dead; the triumph of the defeated; the finding of the lost; the springtime of the earth; the trumpet of resurrection signaling new life to the living.

Later that evening, as His followers recounted the events of this most remarkable day, silently, suddenly, casting no shadow, unbarring no doors, His footfall making no sound, Jesus appeared to them saying, "Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have" (Luke 24:38,39).

Of those to whom He appeared on that first Easter Day, all had this in common: they had acknowledged Christ as Master, yet, when He appeared in fulfillment of His promise, they had failed to recognize Him.

There was Mary Magdalene, her vision blurred by grief; and the disciples on the road to Emmaus, their faith washed out by disappointment. Even His closest companions were blinded by doubt.

But let it be said to their credit that, upon further proof, they believed. When Jesus revealed Himself in fellowship, they recognized Him as their Savior and the Lord of their lives.

The day in which we live is a most remarkable day. We who are His present-day disciples live in the light of the full gospel. We know that Jesus came back from the dead. We know that He is our Risen Lord!

We know that He lives in our lives and that He works and speaks and loves through us in fulfilling His plan of salvation for all mankind.

Jesus has risen!

He is alive!

Hallelujah!