Rev. Ronald C. Purkey,
Pastor
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The following Bible study outline was
prepared by Rev. Ronald C. Purkey for
the Adult Bible Class at Paul’s Chapel where
Rev. Purkey is the teacher.
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BACKGROUND: The best news ever of something “found missing” was the body of Jesus.
The women went to the place of Jesus’ interment expecting to find a corpse.
Instead, they found an angel and an empty tomb. They found Jesus’ body missing!
Two wealthy
and influential followers took possession of Jesus’ body after His death
(Matthew 27:57–60;
However, the
Jewish religious leaders approached Pilate with a request. It was the Day of
Preparation -- the day before a special Sabbath, in this case, the Passover
Sabbath -- and the religious leaders did not want dead bodies left out during this
special time (John 19:31). Therefore, they asked Pilate ’s permission to have
all of the bodies removed from the crosses and disposed of. Joseph of Arimathea
and Nicodemus, members of the Jewish Sanhedrin (
The two men
anointed the body with a great quantity of spices (John
INTRODUCTION: All of us need to be
encouraged from time to time. I read of a newspaper man who, for his own
amusement, wrote a note to twenty of his friends with just one word.
“Congratulations”. None of them had done anything in particular that he thought
deserved a congratulatory comment, he just wanted to see their reaction. All
twenty returned a thank you note without questioning why the message had been
sent. We all need encouragement.
The
disciples certainly needed some encouragement after the events of
That same encouragement can be ours this morning as
we consider what the resurrection of Christ means to us today.
I. THE WOMEN’S
1. Approach of the Two Marys to the Tomb. (28:1-7)
A.
It was Early in the Morning. (28:1)
The other gospel records tell us that they were
bringing sweet spices to anoint the body of Jesus. It is difficult to identify
the “other Mary.” Tradition states that she was the mother of James and Joses.
B.
There was a Great Earthquake. (28:2)
Why was it necessary to roll back the stone? To let
Jesus out? No, He was gone when the stone was rolled back. The tomb was not
opened to let Him out but to let them in.
C.
An Angel was There. (28:3)
It
is interesting to note the description of the angel because this is very
unusual in Scripture (see Dan. 10:6; Rev. 10:1 for other descriptions).
D.
The Guards were Shaken. (28:4)
I
can imagine that the guards were very happy to leave after this episode! They
were helpless in the presence of the angel.
E.
Words of Comfort were Spoken. (28:5)
“Fear not” -- when the supernatural touches the
natural, it is always with a word to allay fear.
F.
Jesus Christ was Risen. (28:6)
This
is the divine announcement of the Resurrection. Jesus had left the tomb before
the stone had been rolled away. Later He would enter a room with a locked door.
The glorified body of Jesus was radically different from the body with which He
was born.
G.
The Gospel Message was Given. (28:7)
The angelic announcement ceased at this point. From
here on the message would be told by human lips -- “Come, see…. go quickly,
and tell.” But before any individual attempts to witness, he must first
have an unshakable conviction of the truth of the Resurrection. He must have it
settled in his own mind that Christ died for his sins and was buried -- “Come,
see the place where the Lord lay” -- and that Christ rose again -- “He is not
here: for he is risen.” Then with these convictions, he can “go quickly, and
tell.” You and I are to go, and we are to tell.
What
a Mixture of Emotions!
For
seventy-seven hours in July, 2002, fear held the town of Quecreek,
Pennsylvania, in its grasp: nine coal miners were trapped two hundred forty
feet below ground in a flooded mine shaft. They managed to find an air pocket,
but then had to wait and wonder in cold, wet, depressing darkness.
Workers
above drilled an air shaft, and the miners’ hopes rose. Hope was strengthened
again as they heard the rescue shaft being bored toward them. But then despair
came as the noise stopped for eighteen hours -- the drill bit had broken,
halting the rescue effort. The men vowed to live or die together and wrote out
their wills, putting them into a lunch box.
But
drilling resumed, and when the new drill broke through, despair turned to hope.
Then, as the miners were brought to the surface one by one, hope turned to joy
for the miners, their families, their rescuers, and literally an entire nation
that had been watching on TV.
On the morning Jesus arose from where He had been
entombed, there was a similar mixture of fear, despair, and joy. The guards
were “frightened to death” -- as the saying goes -- by the sight of the angel.
The women’s own fear was mixed with despair that someone had stolen His body.
But that despair would soon give way to joy when they heard that Jesus was
alive. How blessed we are: because of their testimony we have no cause for fear
or despair, only unmitigated joy! – Author Unknown
2. Appearance of Jesus to the Two Marys. (28:8-10)
A.
The Women had Mixed Feelings. (28:8)
Notice the mingled feelings of the women -- fear
and great joy.
B.
The Women Met the Lord. (28:9)
This
seems to contradict the encounter of Mary Magdalene with her resurrected Lord.
In
The
explanation is that between these two encounters Jesus had ascended to His
Father and had presented His precious blood in heaven’s Holy of Holies.
C.
The Women Given a Ministry. (28:10)
Jesus
Christ gave the women a message for the disciples. And He made an appointment
to see them in
Accepting
a New Role
“Rosie
the Riveter” was a determined-looking woman who wore a work shirt rolled up
above her elbows and a kerchief tied about her head. She was flexing her biceps
and saying, “We can do it!” Of course, Rosie was a fictional character who
appeared on posters across
Rosie
symbolized a role that women of that time were unaccustomed to playing: factory
workers. They were asked to do everything men had previously done in the
manufacturing processes. Without the women “manning” the factories, the men in
the armed forces would not have had the materiel necessary to win the war. When
the war was over, many of the women enjoyed the irony of being asked to tell
the returning soldiers how to do the jobs they were coming back to!
It is highly unlikely that the women who came to
the tomb on the morning of Jesus’ resurrection were expecting the unaccustomed
role that would soon be thrust upon them. Nevertheless, when the angel charged
them with the task of announcing the resurrection to the rest of Jesus’
disciples, they rose to the occasion and became the first heralds of the
greatest news ever told! Are you prepared to accept whatever role God calls you
to fill? – Author Unknown
II. THE SOLDIERS’ FALSE
REPORT. (Matthew 28:11-15)
1. The Soldiers’ Eyewitness Account. (28:11)
These soldiers who were on guard duty went into the
city and reported to the chief priests. They did not know when Jesus left the
tomb. All they knew was that after the stone was rolled away, they took a look
inside the tomb, and the body was not there! The entire episode had nearly
frightened them to death. They could have been executed for allowing the body
of Jesus to disappear under their very eyes.
2. The Solders’ Phony Alibi. (28:12-13)
This
is not a very believable explanation! Imagine a soldier, especially a Roman
soldier, assigned guard duty in a certain place and given strict orders to
stand guard over a certain thing and to prohibit all trespassing. Suppose
someone did come and take away the thing he was assigned to guard. And suppose
that his explanation to his commanding officer was, “I went to sleep.” What do
you think would happen to him?
3. The Solders’ Conspiring Cronies. (28:14)
In
others words, “Do not worry if this reaches the ears of the governor. We will
not let him put you before a firing squad.”
4. The Solders’ Took the Money and Ran. (28:15)
A
bribe aided in persuading them to offer this feeble excuse. This was the first
century alibi to explain away the resurrection of Christ. Unbelief has now had
twenty centuries to think it over, and there are other alibis. However, none
yet have been offered that can explain away the documentary evidence. Jesus
Christ truly has risen from the dead!
The Importance of the
Resurrection of Jesus Christ
“If
anything proves the kingship of Jesus Christ, it is His resurrection from the
dead. The final chapter in Matthew’s Gospel is a record of victory. It is a
thrilling fact that believers today share in that victory.
We
must admire these women in
The empty grave clothes
lying in the tomb were in the shape of the body of the Lord, like an empty
cocoon. This proves His body was not stolen, but that Jesus Christ arose
through the grave clothes and left them behind as testimonies of a miracle. If
His body were stolen, it was stolen by either friends or enemies. If by
enemies, they would have produced it and silenced the disciples. If by friends,
they would not have willingly given their lives for a lie, and Jesus’ friends
did not even believe that He would rise from the dead!
– Warren Wiersbe, New Testament Outlines
CONCLUSION:
Around the
time of Easter every year, various magazines and talk shows focus on the person
of Jesus. On one radio program in March 2002, three scholars (two of whom
claimed to be Christian) agreed that it did not really matter if Jesus rose
from the dead. To them if the “spirit” of Christ (meaning His character and His
attributes) lives in our hearts, a physical resurrection is unnecessary.
Yet
Jesus invited the disciples to touch and confirm the reality of His living,
physical, resurrected body (Luke 24:37–39;
Regardless of what false teachers today might say,
it matters greatly whether Christ rose from the dead. If He is still in the
grave, then we are still in our sins. Paul associates the resurrection with our
justification (Romans
THOUGHT TO REMEMBER: “Christ’s resurrection
guarantees ours!”
PASTOR RONALD PURKEY’S OFFICE
E-Mail: Pastor Ronald Purkey
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