(Note: We had difficulties with streaming this past week, so I do not have video of the sermon. If and when that changes, I will post the video. Until then, I will post a manuscript of the sermon. But a manuscript is not a transcript, so the text below will not include everything that was said in the sermon.)
It is difficult to move on after each sermon in this Wide-Angle series, because there is so much more I could have said. But it is especially difficult to move on after a single, completely inadequate sermon on the death of Christ. Saying that we have seen the cross because we listened to a sermon is like saying that we have seen the Rockies because we flew from Chicago to L.A. The cross of Christ is a mountain of revelation, and we have hardly traced its outline, much less mined its depths. But if we’re going to see the outworking of what happened at Calvary, we need to move on.
But we must take the cross with us. We saw last week that the cross was like a sword plunged into the earth, but now we find that it is also like a key carried in the pocket. It unlocks the rest of revelation. It opens the door for us to understand the fall, the Law, the covenants, and the kingdom. In fact, we can’t even understand ourselves apart from the cross.
But we cannot understand the cross apart from the empty tomb. Take away the resurrection, which is something that Christ’s adversaries have tried to do since the very beginning, and the cross becomes a tragic finale.
And that is exactly what Jesus’s disciples thought on the day it happened. The cross was an unmitigated disaster that dashed their hopes and shattered their confidence. And now they faced the very real possibility that the powers that executed Jesus would come after them. Don’t forget that when the Jewish authorities interrogated and tortured Jesus, they were questioning him about his disciples (John 18:19).
After the execution, the disciples went into hiding for “fear of the Jews,” which is how John put it (John 20:19). The threat of persecution drove them into the shadows. But that same threat brought another of Jesus’s disciples out of the shadows and into the light.
His name was Joseph, and he was from the town of Arimathea. The previous chapter (27:57) informs us that he was rich. I think it is safe to assume that he was also influential. For one thing, he was a member of the Sanhedrin, the national ruling body of Israel. For another, he was able to walk into the Roman prefect’s office, be granted a meeting on the spot, and have his request fulfilled within minutes. Joseph was an important man.
John’s gospel tells us that Joseph had kept his faith in Jesus hidden because he was afraid of what his colleagues would say. How interesting that the very circumstances that sent Jesus’ known disciples into hiding brought a hidden disciple out into the public eye.
Joseph was a member of the judicial council that condemned Jesus to death. If I read the evidence correctly, certain members of the council never received word that an emergency nighttime session had been called. That is understandable. It was Passover: the population of the city had swelled to ten times its usual size. There was no email or text messages. But I don’t think it was a coincidence that members who would have opposed a death sentence did not receive a summons.
Joseph was one of those members. He had been a secret disciple, but now he was taking a stand for Jesus that would bring him into conflict with the High Priest and his associates. This was political suicide.
He, along with another prominent leader and secret disciple, Nicodemus, gave Jesus a proper burial in Joseph’s own tomb. Verses 59 says, “Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock.”
Without realizing it, Joseph had become emmeshed in something much bigger and much older than himself. Centuries before his birth, the prophet Isaiah had written, “He was assigned a grave with … the rich in his death…” (Isiah 53:9). Dozens of ancient prophecies were fulfilled on this one day. Men and angels were playing roles in a drama that had been scripted long before.
Joseph and Nicodemus buried Jesus, rolled the great stone into place at the tomb’s entrance and went home. The women who had followed them to the tomb also went home, forced to end their vigil by the approach of the Sabbath.
But notice verse 62: “The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate. ‘Sir,’ they said, ‘we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’ So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first.’”
Now understand that the day after Preparation Day was the Sabbath. The women, as we just saw, went home and rested in obedience to the law (Luke 23:56). The women kept the Sabbath, while the priests and Pharisees conducted business at the governor’s office in violation of Sabbath law. What makes this more ironic is that Sabbath-breaking was one of the chief accusations they leveled against Jesus (John 9:16).
The Pharisees especially had been outraged at Jesus for violating the Sabbath. And here they were, one day after his death, violating the Sabbath. They had called Jesus a deceiver (John 7:12), yet in the next chapter, we find these men working on an elaborate plot to deceive the people. And, remarkably, they saw nothing hypocritical about their actions. One of sin’s most troubling features is that it blinds its host to its presence. Ironically, the more control sin exercises over a person, the less aware of sin that person is.
Verse 66: “So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard.” We owe these men a debt of gratitude. By sealing the tomb and posting a guard they gave the lie to their own story. They made ridiculous the idea that the disciples could have stolen Jesus’s body. People who make plans against God find their own schemes turned against them. I am reminded of the words of the Psalmist: “They spread a net for my feet … They dug a pit in my path – but they have fallen into it themselves” (Psalm 64:8).
Pilate placed the guard at their disposal, and they made the tomb as secure as they knew how. But a hundred tons of steel-reinforced concrete was not going to make that tomb secure. Nothing is secure that is kept from God, including the dreams we cherish, the children we love, and the sins we hide. And nothing is insecure that is placed in his hands. And that is where Jesus was. Remember his final words, as recorded in Luke: “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit” (Luke 23:46).
So the “guard” (koustodia in Greek), was posted at the tomb. If Matthew means us to understand a koustodia proper, he wants us to think of a Roman special forces unit comprised of sixteen men. These were some of the toughest people in the empire. They had no doubt about their ability to fulfill their duty. They certainly had no fear of a few Galilean fishermen.
And yet, put yourself in their place. Earlier that day, uncanny things had happened. There had been an eclipse of the sun. At the moment Jesus died, an earthquake convulsed Jerusalem and did damage to the temple. Everyone was talking about it. And the centurion who was on duty at the crucifixion was telling people that the man in this grave was the Son of God (Mark 15:39). And now, for some mysterious reason, the governor had assigned them – a koustodia – the duty of guarding a grave. It was enough to make even battle-hardened soldiers a little jittery.
Early on Sunday morning, for the second time in three days, an earthquake shook the ground under the soldiers’ feet. But that was nothing. With the earthquake came the sudden appearance of an angel. Verse 2: “There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it.” The word the NIV translates as “going to”11 is frequently used in Greek of one combatant approaching another to do battle. This angel came at the soldiers.
In our day, and for centuries now, angels are pictured as effeminate, wispy-haired creatures that look as though they couldn’t hurt a fly. But verse three says that “his appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow.” Have you ever looked at lightning up close—say, within 50 yards? I did once, and I would prefer not to do it again. The effect is unnerving. So it was with these guards. They “shook (verse 4) and became like dead men.”
That shaking, I think, was not just fear. It was more like a seizure. God, the scripture says, “makes his angels winds, his servants flames of fire” (Hebrews 1:7). When this being that looked like lightning and burned like fire came toward them, the guards short-circuited. His presence caused their nervous systems to overload, the way a nearby lightning strike causes an electrical surge that overloads computers and TVs. I doubt they even knew what happened to them. These soldiers, who would choose death before dishonor, simply came undone.
(And think about it: If it is so terrifying to stand before an angel, one of God’s servants, what will it be like to stand in the presence of God himself? Before him, Isaiah was undone, mighty seraphim cover their faces, and heaven and earth flee away.13 When you stand before him, you had better have an advocate—the Advocate—or you will not stand at all.)
By the time the women arrived, the koustodia were gone, and the tremendous stone that sealed the tomb had been tossed away as if it were a small stone. Understandably, the first thing the angel said to the women was, “Do not be afraid.”
“Do not be afraid,” he says (verse 5), “for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified.” The Greek here is interesting. “…for I know that Jesus, the one having been crucified, you seek.” Jesus is forever the crucified one. Whether we seek him as healer, teacher, example, or Friend of sinners, we will find him to be Jesus the Crucified. If we will not know him in that way, we will not know him at all.
“I know you are looking for him, but he is not here,” the angel says. “He has risen, just as he said.” One day we will discover that he has done everything “just as he said.” Not one word of his has ever fallen to the ground. He said, “I will be with you,” and he meant it: He has been with us every step of the way. He said, “Do not be afraid,” and we need never fear. He said, “I will give you rest,” and he has, and will, fulfill his promise. His word is as good as gold—or rather, is better “than much fine gold.” If he said, “I will come again and take you to be with me,” then we should get ready, for he is coming. It will be “just as he said.”
Now I want you to put on your wide-angle lenses for a few moments. Remember the big picture. Eve’s son would crush the serpent’s head.14 God himself would provide a lamb for sacrifice.15 The LORD would make his servant’s life a guilt offering.[1] Remember the law Moses gave, and the festivals he instituted that pointed to Christ, especially Passover and the Day of Atonement.
According to the Law of Moses, on the Day of Atonement (and only on the Day of Atonement), the High Priest would enter the Holy of Holies, the place of God’s presence, carrying the blood of a perfect sacrifice to make atonement for the people. Before doing that, he would make atonement for himself, for to go into the Holiest Place with one’s sins unforgiven was to invite death.
The people would gather outside the tabernacle or temple and wait for the High Priest to emerge. When he did, they would rejoice, for it meant that God had accepted the sacrifice and their sins had been forgiven. But if he did not come back from the Holy of Holies, then the offering had not been accepted, and their sins had not been forgiven.
We talk so lightly of accepting Jesus (as if we possess some kind of veto power over him. It is not so. If we reject him, we only manage to veto ourselves). But in the dim light of that early morning outside the rich man’s tomb the real question was not would people accept Jesus, but would God? As our High Priest, Jesus had entered the Holiest Place.17 Would his offering be accepted and our sins forgiven? Or would it be rejected, and our hopes lost? The resurrection was God’s proclamation that Christ’s offering had been accepted. The High Priest had returned from the Holy of Holies, and are sins have been forgiven. Now we know why Paul wrote, “If Christ has not been raised … you are still in your sins” (1 Corinthians 15:17).
Now look at the rest of the angel’s message (verse 7): “He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him. Now I have told you.” His message to them was, “He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you.” How comforting that would have been! But he would be going ahead of them from now on—and think of where they went: to prisons, to exile, to beatings, to trial. In each case, Jesus went ahead of them and met them there. They would go to Rome, and he would go ahead of them. They would stand before kings and emperors, and they would die ignominious deaths. He would go ahead of them and meet them there.
And still the message is, “He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you.” Wherever he leads you, he will go before you. If he leads you into marriage, he will go ahead of you and meet you there. If he leads you into a new city, he will go ahead of you and meet you there. If he leads you to a new job, to the mission field, to a ministry at church, he will go ahead of you and meet you there. You can count on it! And, if he calls you to follow him into death, know this: he has gone ahead of you, and he will meet you there. That is the confidence we have.
I read once about a British soldier who was mortally wounded. A corpsman, seeing that he was going to die, and wanting to call a chaplain, asked him, “What is your religion?” The man answered, “I belong to the church of Jesus Christ.” Well, that didn’t tell the corpsman anything. He wanted to know whether to call a Catholic or a Protestant chaplain, so he tried again. “I mean what is your persuasion?” To this the man whispered: “I am persuaded that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39).
He has gone ahead of us, into death and through the heavens (Hebrews 4:14), and he will meet us there!
Blessing/Sending (Romans 8:31-39)
Church, our reasonable response to Christ’s glorious victory over sin and death and hell is to be encouraged with the hope that is ours! Because He was victorious, we can be victorious. In fact, Jesus is at the right hand of God interceding for us right now. I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. This is good news to live by, and it’s the news we need to share with our aching world. By the grace of God, let us do both.
11. proserchomai
13. Revelation 20:11
14 Genesis 3:15
15 Genesis 22:7-8
17 Hebrews 9, especially verse 12.
The Way Home 
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