The Dramatic Easter Event of Opening the Grave of Jesus

THE DRAMATIC EASTER EVENT OF OPENING THE GRAVE

OF JESUS.

Matthew 28: 2 – 6

An Easter sermon by:

Rev. H.A. Bergsma

PUBLISHED BY THE

PUBLICATIONS COMMITTEE

OF THE

FREE REFORMED CHURCHES OF NORTH AMERICA.

(March 2007)

LITURGY:

Votum

Psalter 407

Law of God

Psalter 66

Scripture Reading: Matthew 28: 1 – 15

Text: Matthew 28: 2 – 6

Congregational Prayer

Offerings

Psalter 170

Sermon

Psalter 317

Thanksgiving Prayer

Psalter 232

Doxology: Psalter 413

Congregation of the Lord,

What actually happened at the gravesite of Jesus that first Easter morning?

Is there a way find out?

We know that there were no human reporters there to give us a step-by-step account of the things that occurred.

There were no “embedded” reporters there.

Nevertheless, we know we have a true account of what did happen, because the Holy Spirit has made it known to Matthew the Evangelist, and we may know it through our text-words.

May your attention be directed therefore to our text words, which you can find in Matthew 28:2-6, and which could be summarized under the following theme and heads …

THE DRAMATIC EASTER EVENT OF OPENING THE GRAVE OF JESUS

1. Signaled By An Earthquake

2. Performed By An Angel

3. Shocked Some Guards

4. Resulted In Good News For Believers

Congregation,

We must concentrate on a dramatic event, because our text begins with, “And, behold”, which means that something great has happened, which requires our attention.

The place is at the grave of Jesus.

After all, there is where Jesus was buried.

As you know, after Jesus died, Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, two converted Jewish leaders, in respect for Jesus, performed a hastily arranged burial.

They had requested the body from Pilate, and had received it for the purpose of burying it, and Joseph had put his own grave at the disposal of Jesus’ burial.

They had taken the body of Jesus to this grave, and upon closer examination, we may understand that this was a tomb that was recently hewn out from a large rock.

The two men had hastily embalmed the body, and laid it to rest, most likely on one of the shelves in the tomb, and then closed off the whole grave by rolling a large stone in front of the opening.

The next day, some other Jewish leaders, who were of a different mindset than Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, had gone up to Pilate to demand that this same grave be sealed and that some guards be stationed in front of it.

The reason for it was because, so they said … they were afraid that the disciples would actually steal the body and then broadcast it around that He had risen from the dead.

And so it happened that the body of Jesus was buried in a new grave; a large stone firmly closed off its opening; sealed even, and with two guards in front of it.

This takes us to our text and to that first Easter morning.

Something very dramatic happened at the gravesite, which we should not miss out on …. “And, behold, there was a great earthquake.”

Apparently, this was not just a light tremor or a bit of a vibration, but a great earthquake.

If any of you have ever been in an earthquake of any sizable magnitude, you will know what an upsetting thing this can be.

Obviously, the ground shook and the earth heaved and rocks broke apart, and that of course, because deep inside the earth, you could say, the inward parts of the earth were moved.

This was more than just a natural phenomenon, because apparently, precisely at the gravesite this earthquake had some powerful effects.

It appears that God was at work in a dramatic way, and that, by means of an earthquake.

You know, there is something symbolic about this earthquake.

Isn’t it somewhat symbolic of what must happen in a sinner’s life?

The Bible says that some people are still like graves or like sepulchers.

In fact, Jesus once called some scribes and Pharisees “Whited sepulchers” (Matthew 23:27) “full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness.”

This was another way of saying that they were spiritually dead.

And, if a person is still spiritually dead, and much like a grave, full of deadness and uncleanness inside, it may very well require a spiritual earthquake to bring about a change in his life.

Spiritual deadness will require divine intervention.

God’s powerful hand will have to be involved, and it may have to do some earth-shaking things in such a person’s life.

Have you ever thought about this?

Perhaps you have lived carelessly so far, not at all bothered what the Word of God has been saying to you.

What will it take to get you to open up and repent and confess your sin and turn to Christ?

A spiritual earthquake perhaps?

Well then, an earthquake signaled the opening of the grave.

But now, secondly, the opening of Jesus’ grave was Performed Through An Angel.

We are not left in the dark on Easter morning as to why there was this earthquake.

“For” so says our text, “The angel of the Lord descended from heaven.”

Now, this angel was a servant and a representative of God.

In other words, God sent this angel forth to do some work on His behalf.

Dear people! God works through His servants to perform His will and His good pleasure.

And this was also the case in raising Jesus from the grave.

It was God’s will and good pleasure.

The angel’s purpose for coming down was to do something which human beings could not do.

And what were those things that human beings could not do?

Well, we are told in the first verse of our text chapter that some women were on their way to the gravesite.

Those women had been discussing the problem of who would roll away the heavy stone from the opening of the grave-tomb.

They realized that removing that stone would be humanly impossible for them.

It was not in their strength to do so.

God knew this, and He therefore sent an angel down to earth to do this work.

The angel removed the stone from the grave’s opening.

In other words, it was God’s work that did it.

Now, again, let me spiritualize for a moment.

Perhaps some here are still stuck with a large stone of unbelief in front of your heart.

And no human strength of yours can roll that stone of unbelief away.

Most people in that state do not think much of that.

But if you do, you will soon realize that you have a problem.

“Who shall roll away that stone of unbelief?

It is humanly impossible

No amount of human strength can do it.

Perhaps you have discovered this already in your own life

You do want to be a Christian, but there is that stone of unbelief; and you can’t seem to roll it away.

Well, some Divine power is needed for this; God and His Holy Spirit will have to become involved in this.

And you need to make this a matter of prayer!

Who shall roll away the stone?

God can, my friend! God can.

God did this also on that first Easter morning.

This is why the angel of the Lord was sent forth, and rolled back the stone from the opening of the grave.

Well now, this angel made quite a scene that Easter morning.

Not only with the earthquake, but also by his very own appearance.

We are told that his facial features flashed like lightning, and that the clothing he wore sparkled like snow.

In other words, this angel came on the scene as one bright and blinding being.

Now obviously, this had a purpose. How so?

This is explained in our text.

There were some guards posted at the gravesite.

These guards needed to be gotten rid of.

And the very sight of the angel did it, because, upon seeing the angel we read in verse 4 that “For fear of him, the keepers did shake, and became as dead men.”

In other words, the sight of the angel did them in.

I announced as my third point that it shocked some guards … but that is actually putting it rather mildly.

It did more then just shock them … it put them out of commission!

Upon seeing this blindingly bright being, those guards or keepers at the gravesite shook for fear and stiffened with fright.

From all accounts they fled to the city as soon as their legs could move, and were no longer to be seen at the gravesite.

Congregation, the ungodly can sometimes act so intimidating.

They seem to be so bold and self-confident in the things they do.

They plan and they scheme and they order and they command, and they seem to have the whole world with them.

They seem to prosper in everything they do.

They set themselves up against the Christian religion, and they take measures to restrict the progress of Christianity, and where they can, they silence the voice of the Gospel.

They stand guard to make sure that the Church of Jesus Christ does not do anything they don’t want.

We know this don’t we?

The world is against the spread of the Gospel.

It is against evangelism.

It is against Christian witnessing and Christian discipling.

That’s the position of a world which has done away with God.

But we know too, that when God wants to, He has ways to deal with worldly resistance and opposition.

Gospel preaching, when accompanied by the Holy Spirit, goes out conquering and to conquer.

Gospel preaching has been known to overcome great odds of resistance and opposition.

But sometimes God deals directly with worldly opposition and simply puts the ungodly out of commission.

There are cases in history of ungodly men and women, as strong opposers of the Christian religion and of the advance of the Gospel, who were suddenly and mysteriously silenced by the power of God, and became as dead men, and put out of commission and out of the way.

Our God will take care of His own cause, and Easter is no doubt one of the great indications of God taking care of His own cause.

Well, the power of God took care of the guards at the gravesite.

They were put out of commission and in great haste and consternation left the scene.

This paved the way for the great Easter event itself, namely the rising of Jesus Christ from the dead, and His coming out of the grave, which, in turn, resulted in good news for believers.

Congregation, follow the sequence of events.

There has been that earthquake.

The angel of the Lord has rolled away the stone from the opening of the grave.

His bright and blinding appearance has frightened off the guards.

And somewhere around that time something secret, something mysterious happened, something no human eye was given to observe, and no human ear was given to hear, namely … Jesus, was called to life!

His soul re-entered into His resting body, and Jesus rose from the dead and stepped out of the grave.

This secret and mysterious event was too wonderful for human eyes to see or for human ears to hear.

This event of Jesus rising and coming out of the grave was too holy, too wonderful for any human reporters to be present.

All we know about it is by the blessed results that followed.

Now, let me make an important application.

We may sing with joy … “Christ the Lord is risen today; Hallelujah!”

But how do we know this?

Has anyone seen or heard it happening?

No, but the proof of it is in the result; the risen Lord was seen!

But you know, there is another secret and mysterious event, which is also too wonderful for the human eye to see or for the human ear to hear.

It is the secret and mysterious event of a person being called out of his death of sin, or as it is known as getting born again.

You cannot see this happening with your eye; you cannot hear this happening with your ear.

Also this event is secret and mysterious.

But the results will prove that it happened.

The results will show that it was true.

Like Jesus rising from the grave, getting born again is also a secret and a mysterious event.

When this call of God comes to you my friend, - this call to life from the death of sin, - it comes to you within the dark and quiet enclosure of your heart, but powerful enough to raise you from your spiritual death and will have you stepping out of your grave of sin.

Our Canons of Dort tell us what it means to get born again, when it says that it is “clearly a supernatural, most powerful, and at the same time, most delightful, marvelous, mysterious, and inexpressible work. According to Scripture, inspired by the Author of this work, (this work) is not inferior in power to creation or the resurrection of the dead.”

You can read all of this in our Canons of Dort, Book 3 and 4, article 12, as you can find it in the back of our Psalter book.

Getting born again, - rising from the death of sin, - it is a secret and mysterious work of the Holy Spirit.

This is why the preaching of the Gospel is so necessary, because through Gospel preaching the Holy Spirit takes pleasure to do this secret and mysterious work in you and quietly speaks the word of life to you.

This is why God wants the preaching of the Gospel to continue even in this day and age.

Now, allow some questions to be put to you.

Are the results of getting born again found with you?

No one has seen you rise from your death of sin.

No one has seen you get born again.

And that is quite all right, and quite Biblical, because this event is too holy, and too wonderful.

But can the results of your new birth be seen on you?