Preached in Markham Baptist Church, April 2, 2006

Wow!  Now this is spectacular.  The miracle of the darkness covering the earth is something and the tearing of the temple veil is wondrous – but this, rocks splitting and the tombs breaking open and the bodies of many holy people who had died are raised to life – this is spectacular.  It is so spectacular that it verges on being unbelievable.  I mean we have seen this kind of thing in the movies and we know we don’t believe what we see in the movies.  This reads like a Hollywood script!

But then we have to remember that this is not a Hollywood script, but it is the Word of God, it is the truth. 

And we also have to remember what Scripture says in I Corinthians 1:18 that the cross of Jesus Christ is the power of God.  We explain the cross sometimes superficially and simply as saying through faith in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross we are forgiven of our sins.  That is a glorious truth but we have discovered that there is so much more to the cross of Christ.  As we have thought about the cross and meditated on the text in Matthew we have discovered that not only has our sin been forgiven, but the wrath of God has been set aside, and the Old Testament sacrificial law has been satisfied, and access into the very presence of God is now available.  The cross is the power of God and there is much that is happening in the physical realm and in the spiritual realm as Christ dies on the cross.  The  history and the very foundations of the universe are being transformed by the cross of Christ.  It is the power of God at work. 

So rather than unbelief – because this miracle is so spectacular – I think it is more healthy to approach this miracle of the dead rising with a sense of awe at a great mystery and a sense that we are in the presence of God’s power.

Okay, you say.  But logically, let’s look at it logically.  This miracle is only mentioned in the book of Matthew.  And you would think that an event so spectacular would be mentioned in the other three gospels and in the writings of Paul. 

No.  Matthew is the only one who mentions the visit of the magi, but I don’t question that.  John is the only one who mentions Jesus’ conversation with the woman at the well of Samaria.  But I don’t question that.  It doesn’t follow that simply because Matthew is the only one who records the miracle means that it’s not true.

Okay, well maybe Matthew is speaking metaphorically?  No.  If Matthew was speaking metaphorically then why would he include as much detail as he does? I’ll admit it is sparse on detail - of when the dead raised and how after Jesus’ resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many people.  Why not just say that many people rose from the dead, why say that the raised dead appeared to many people.  They could refute him.  Matthew is speaking of facts that are retold to him by many people.  Besides that, if he wanted to speak metaphorically, why not use an easier metaphor, one that doesn’t leave so many questions.

And I admit that there are many questions and not much information surrounding this miracle.  Who where these holy people?  What kind of bodies did these holy people have?  How many people saw them?  How public were these appearances?  What happened to them after they appeared in the holy city? 

Also, the text suggests the tombs are opened at the time of the earthquake, at the time of Christ’s death. Verse 52, the earthquake occurs and “the tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life.”  But verse 53 suggests that it wasn’t until after Jesus’ resurrection that they went into the holy city and appeared to many people.  The question is what were these raised dead people doing for three days?

There is much we don’t know and you have heard me say many times that our faith is filled with mystery, and rightly so.  It is presumptuous of us to say that we know it all or can understand God and his workings fully.  We have to admit that God’s wisdom is far above our wisdom.

At the same time I have to tell you that this is not all that strange given the one we worship.  I think it follows the logical progression of all that we have discovered about the cross of Christ.  If death is the penalty for sin – and we know that it is, the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23).  And if sin’s penalty is paid for through faith in our substitute, Jesus Christ, then that means that death no longer has a hold on the people of God.

You see like all the miracles we have studied this miracle points beyond itself – from the spectacular and awesome – to truths that we are called to grasp with the eyes of faith.  There is something within us that says this is spectacular but also that says, of course, the tombs gave up their dead, what else could they do? 

I Corinthians 15:55 and on - “Where, O death is your victory? Where, O Death is your sting?  The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.”  Now we have seen in our studies that Christ answer the law in His perfect sacrifice - He has taken our sin upon Him on that cross.  We have seen all of that (law and sin) is answered fully in the cross of Christ so, “Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”  So of course the tombs gave up their dead, what else could they do? Death no longer has any power because sin has been dealt with through faith in the cross of Christ. 

You want proof that Christ hold the keys of death?  Matthew says, “here it is,” even then many holy people were raised to life.

So Paul will write to the Corinthians telling them about the resurrection of Jesus Christ and will say that Jesus Christ is the firstfruits (I Corinthians 15:20) of those who have died.  He’s using the gardening image - Jesus is the first fruit of the season of resurrection. Jesus Christ is the first to be raised, and now all sorts of fruit follow.  

I will be the first to tell you that I don’t understand this miracle, and much that is written about it is can only be speculation, but I do understand that this miracle points everyone of us to the great truth that Jesus Christ has authority over death.

To have authority over something means that you have rule over it.  So Jesus will appear to the John in the book of Revelation and say, “I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever!  And I hold the keys of death.”  To hold the keys to a building or a piece of property means that you are in control.  I have a key to my house - it means that it is my domain… I happen to share it with Janet and three other people – but you get the point! None of you have keys to my house because you don’t own it.  And I don’t have keys to your house because I don’t own it.  It’s not my domain.  The keys of death are now in Christ’s hands.  He has authority over death.   

And that’s a great comfort isn’t it to those of us who now are called children of God?  I have used this illustration before but when my father owned properties and when he owned Weall and Cullen I could go into that garden centre and employees would immediately recognize me and they would come and as me if they could help and I could say, “I’d like that birch tree put in my trailer,” and they would see to it.  All because I was intimately related to the one who was in the position of authority. 

Now I go over there and there are new owners and they look at me, as if to say, “Who are you?” 

I mentioned last week that through faith in Christ’s sacrifice we are children of God, we are brought into his family but more we are co-heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17).  We are intimately related to the one who has authority over death.  That’s a great comfort.  He lives, so will I. 

Our biggest problem with death is that we fear it.  We fear it because it is not natural.  God did not create us to die but to live.  Our spirit cries out against it. Death is part of the curse of sin, and so it brings fear and anxiety.  But when we bring Christ into the equation, the sting of death is removed because Christ has taken away our sins.  As Paul said, the sting of death is sin.  Remove sin and death loses its power to harm us. 

Jesus gave a promise to a woman who mourned death of her brother he said to her. (Martha in John 11:23-26) “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me shall live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die.”

That’s a great comfort.  But there’s more that this miracle points us to.  The text says that many holy people were raised from the dead.

And I believe that this miracle points us to the full hope that is ours in the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Sometimes we lament about this world and some of you say, I don’t know what this world is coming to.  We see the murder, and the gangs, and the gun violence, and the corruption among leaders and the wars among nations and the hatred among races and we think what is this world coming to.  And we get depressed and we worry.        

But really, why should we expect anything else from the world? From the time of Adam’s sin this world has been sin ravaged, it is torn apart by sin – it is loved by God – but I can tell you that we can never put this world fully right, but God can and he will.  He will.  This world is going to be renewed. 

God once made this world perfect, it was a paradise.  And into this paradise the placed humanity and humanity was perfect.  And God is not going to rest - He is not going to stop acting in this world until all that has been – is restored. 

So, the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ does not just mean that we will survive death, as great as that is.  It doesn’t just mean that we will go on living when we die.  The hope of the Christian is much more.  And it is essentially this: we have a hope in the resurrection of the body. 

If you have placed your faith in Jesus Christ, when you die you will go straight to heaven.  The essential you, your Spirit, will go to heaven right away.  We read in the gospel of Luke that when one of the thieves who was being crucified with Jesus placed his faith in Jesus and said, “Remember me when you come into your kingdom.”  Jesus said to him, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.” (Luke 23:43). “Today,” He said - not tomorrow, or after awhile, but today.  When a believer dies he or she is immediately in the presence of our precious Lord. 

But your body, this tent that you wear, will be buried.  It will be as if you are asleep, your body will be resting – but the conscious part of you will be with Christ.   So Paul writes of death in 2 Corinthians 5:8 and speaks of being “away from the body but at home with the Lord.”

So your body will be asleep.  But there will be a time when Christ comes again, it will be announced by a trumpet and all the dead bodies of believers will be resurrected.  This is what we read in the text of 1 Corinthians 15:52 – “The trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable and we will be changed.”  

If you are a Christian you will be there with Jesus Christ when He comes again.  We will be there, not as vague spirits floating in a nameless sea of existence.  No, but in this body as glorified, delivered from all the remnants of sin and shame, weakness and infirmity.  No more tears, no more physical hindrances.  You will be identified as yourself.  You will be in a glorified body. 

So we read in Philippians 3:20-21 – “Our citizenship is in heaven and we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.”

This miracle of the raised saints, not only comforts us in the face of death, but calls us to look forward to the day when Christ will come again.  There will be a trumpet blast, and the tombs of God’s people will open.   This old world will be made new, we will be made new – all of creation, it will be free from all corruption, free from the defilement of sin, it will be free from all death, it will never fade away.

The devil will not be able to destroy it with temptation.  Nothing evil or sinful will be able to smudge it with grime or greed or pride or tears or death.  It will go on and on in everlasting glory.  That is our hope.  That is our inheritance. 

So if you look at the evil in this world don’t let it depress you. By all means cry over it and seek to bring the light of Christ to it, but don’t let it depress you, we can expect from it nothing better. 

Whatever is going against you, whatever may be happening in your body, we should expect it because of sin.  But … but – even though you may die, you will rise again.  You shall see Him face to face, You shall see Him as He is, and you shall be like Him, like Him in a body that is glorified, with every power renewed.  And you shall be living in realm that is incorruptible, undefiled, a  realm that can never fade away.

This is the victory that is ours through faith in the cross of Christ, this is our hope and this is the power of God. 

Copyright MBC and Tom Cullen - April 2006

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