Matt 27:57–28:15 — The Risen Lord

The passage today is the climax of the story. It is the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. We begin, of course, with the burial of Jesus in verses 57 to 61.

A man who was wealthy named Joseph, who was from Arimathea, who also had become a disciple of Jesus. That is interesting, is not it, to note that we are used to thinking of the 12 disciples, but there were others as well outside of the 12 who were followers of the Lord, who had become disciples of Christ. And so this man, Joseph, he had a new tomb cut into the rock nearby and he went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus and he took it and he laid it in the tomb. The key point though is that the women, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, were there.

They were there when they saw the body of Jesus laid in the tomb. Then we are told in verse 62 that the next day, so this is the day after Good Friday, this would be Saturday, the next day, that is the day after the day of preparation, the day of preparation is the day of preparation for the Sabbath, that is the Jewish term for Friday. So the day after the day of preparation, the day after Friday is the Sabbath, so the next day, That is, the day after the day of preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gather before Pilate, and they asked for soldiers to be posted to guard the tomb. in order to prevent what they feared.

They feared that Jesus would rise from the dead, as he had said. And they were concerned that the second fraud would be worse than the first. It was bad enough that he was gathering all the people toward him, and many of the people, especially those from Galilee, believed in his message. and were hailing him as the son of David, as the Messiah, this would be far worse if he indeed was raised from the dead. It is so ironic that in the midst of their expressing their fears to Pilate, they quote Jesus.

And they actually speak the truth unwittingly. They say, after three days I will rise, in verse 63. And then again, in verse 64, the disciples will say, he has risen from the dead. And so they are proclaiming the gospel, so to speak, unwittingly and contrary to their own intent. And of course we know that that is what will happen, that Jesus will indeed be raised.

Notice these chronological indicators here. Verse 62 is the day after the day of preparation. And then chapter 28, verse one, is another chronological indicator. Now after the Sabbath, that was the day we had just seen where the Jews went to Pilate to ask for a guard to seal the tomb. Now we read in chapter 28 verse one, now after the Sabbath, after that day, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. There is the women again, they were there at the burial of Jesus, they saw which tomb it was, and now they come back to the tomb on Sunday morning, the first day of the week. And of course, they are amazed at this wonderful sight. Behold, there was a great earthquake. For an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. And his appearance was like lightning and his clothing white as snow. And the guards were so afraid that they became like dead men.

And the angel said to the women, do not be afraid. And the angel announces the truth of the resurrection of Christ. and also tells them to go and tell the disciples to meet him in Galilee. Soon after that, as the women are going off to tell the disciples, Jesus himself appears. The angel was amazing enough, this supernatural being full of power and and might, and then Jesus himself comes, an even greater figure of even greater might and power. And Jesus appears to them himself and says, greetings. And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him. And Jesus said, do not be afraid and go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee for there they will see me.

Then we return back to the story of the Jews in verses 11 through 15, how they had to deal with this problem now that they had created their own difficulty by asking to be able to seal the tomb and asking for soldiers to guard the tomb. And yet, in spite of that attempt to prevent what they were afraid of, it happened anyway, and now the soldiers are coming back and telling the chief priests what had happened.

And the chief priests have a cover up on their hands. They have to figure out what to do to tamp down this problem. And so they give the soldiers some money and they tell them, here is what you should say. Here is the lie that you should communicate to the people.

The disciples came by night and stole the body while we were asleep. And if Pilate finds out about this, we will take care of him as well. We will give him some money as well to keep this, to tamp this down. And yet, in reality, we know that all of their efforts are in vain, and that the resurrection of Christ is real. and that he will commission the apostles in the Great Commission in the last paragraph of Matthew 28, which we will look at next week, and he will send them out to proclaim his resurrection, glory, and power to all the nations.

Four Witnesses to the Resurrection

The Risen Lord

There are four key figures or people in the passage that we need to look at. Four key figures. The women, the angel, the Jews, and the risen Lord himself. The women, the angel, the Jews, and the risen Lord himself. Now with the women, we could also include Joseph of Arimathea along with the women, but we are focusing on the women, the angels, the angel, the Jews, and the risen Lord.

The Women

First, the women. The women seem to play a key role in this passage.

They were looking on at the crucifixion. I did not read it, but it mentions that in verse 55, right before the text we read. It says that there were also many women there looking on from a distance as Jesus was hanging on the cross. And these women were those who had followed Jesus all the way from Galilee. and had been ministering to him and taking care of his physical needs. Among them were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee. These women are important. The text highlights the presence of the women looking on at the crucifixion and then also taking care of the body of Jesus afterward.

They were looking on when Joseph got permission from Pilate to take the body and to properly bury the body in his own tomb. And they were looking on, verse 61, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there. They saw the tomb. They saw the stone rolled over in front of the tomb. They knew which tomb it was.

The other Gospels, like Luke and so on, mention as well that they were not only there looking at the moment of his burial, but they were taking care of the body of Jesus with spices and ointments. Why? Why are the women emphasized in our text? Well, the reason is that after the Garden of Gethsemane, when Jesus was crying out in the garden, Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me.

And Judas came with the armed guards from the priests, and Jesus was arrested. At that moment, all the disciples fled. And of course we know that Peter himself, he was one of the few that tried to hang on for a little bit, but even he ended up abandoning Christ. He followed the process as Jesus was before the high priest being examined and on trial, but then he too denied the Lord and he left the scene. The disciples are not present. at the crucifixion.

And so there is a need for eyewitnesses. There is a need to make sure that there is continuity of the body of Jesus. The women saw his body. They saw his body nailed to the cross. They saw him hanging upon the cross. They saw his body taken down from the cross and put into a tomb, and they knew which tomb it was. They saw where he was laid, as it says in Mark 14. They saw where he was laid and they also saw him. They saw that the tomb was empty. There was no mistake. They saw him die. They saw him buried. And on Sunday morning, they did not go to the wrong tomb, but they saw that the tomb was empty and that Christ had been raised.

And also, as the first ones to learn of the resurrection of Jesus, they were the ones commissioned to tell the disciples about the truth of the resurrection. And so the importance of the women then, and it is not just that they are women, it is the importance of these eyewitnesses who are present there, including Joseph. And possibly we could also add in there as well that man from Cyrene named Simon who carried the cross of Jesus. He was there at least for some part of all of this. But these eyewitnesses like Simon of Cyrene, Joseph of Arimathea, and the women who are actually named in the text Joseph, the one from Arimathea, Simon, the one from Cyrene, Mary, the one from Magdalene, from Magdala, Mary, the mother of James and Joseph.

These named eyewitnesses were present in order to verify the truth of the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. And so this is very important because it refutes the claim, the false narrative that the Jews are going to try to create, that the disciples stole the body. The disciples did not steal the body. Jesus was indeed crucified, buried, and raised.

And so the women are a key feature of this story in order to verify the truth, the actual historical reality of these events. These are physical events happening in space and time. If you were there with the women, you would have seen it yourself with your very own eyes. And so the truth of the Gospel, the historical reality of the Gospel, the factuality of the Gospel is at stake. And that is why God gave these women this wonderful, important role that is even embedded in the very text of Scripture itself. in order to verify the truth of these events.

These really happened. These events really happened in space and in time, even though they are hard to believe. These events are incredible. These are miracles. These are supernatural things that no one could, in their own imagination, think up. These are amazing, incredible things. And yet we have these eyewitnesses to verify the truth of what has happened.

The Angel

There is another figure in our text, though, who is not a human person, and that is the angel. The women are a key character in the story, but there is also this angel called the angel of the Lord. Verse two, behold, there was a great earthquake for an angel or the angel, I think is better. The angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it.

Again, you know, we are thinking about these as historical events. If you were there sitting beside the tomb, you would have seen Christ’s body placed in the tomb. If you were there with the women, you would have seen these realities. But yet, in the midst of this historical factual space and time record of what actually happened, there is this intrusion of supernatural reality.

The angel of the Lord, you do not see angels every day? Angels are something powerful, something supernatural, something glorious, something almost God-like. The angel of the Lord is mentioned earlier in the Gospel of Matthew, and that is back in Matthew chapter one and two, the birth narrative of Christ. The same language is used, and it can be translated either an angel of the Lord, or it can be translated the angel of the Lord. And as I mentioned, I think that is probably the correct translation because of the importance that is placed upon this title. the angel of the Lord that was present at the birth narrative of Christ, signaling that something important, something earth-shattering is happening, something of historic significance is happening.

God is becoming man. God is entering into history, taking upon himself a true human nature. The eternal Son of God was born of the Virgin Mary. in order to be the Messiah and the Son of God in the flesh, the incarnate Son. And so this same angel shows up again at the very end of the Gospel of Matthew to put a capstone upon it and to say, here is the triumphant conclusion. Something significant is happening.

But we cannot help but notice that the angel of the Lord is not only mentioned in the Gospel of Matthew at the beginning and at the end, it is also mentioned throughout the Old Testament. This angel is the angel that appeared to Moses in the burning bush. This angel is the angel that appeared to Joshua as they are about to enter into the land. The angel of the Lord is the commander of the army of the Lord’s power and glory as he is leading God’s people into the land. Interestingly, the angel of the Lord in the Old Testament often appears with a drawn sword in his hand.

It mentions that in Joshua 5, verses 13 to 15. It is also referred to in the story of Balaam, when he is going about his, he is being hired by King Balak to curse God’s people. And there is an angel of the Lord with a drawn sword who tries to stop him. And then he realizes what is going on and he changes his plans from cursing God’s people to blessing them.

The angel of the Lord often is pictured with a sword in his hand because the angel of the Lord is the commander of the army of the Lord. The angel of the Lord is like a soldier. It is not surprising then that the angel of the Lord shows up right here and confronts these other soldiers of a different order, human soldiers who are not angelic beings. They are just ordinary Roman soldiers. And notice how the angel of the Lord, the commander of the army of the Lord with his drawn sword, who is the soldier of God, leading God’s people into that holy war and leading them into the inheritance, that angel. totally confronts these Roman soldiers, the soldier of a higher order confronting the soldiers of the lower order, and they become so afraid, they tremble, and they become like dead men in the presence of this awesome, godlike, supernatural being that they have never seen before. They are overcome with fear.

The angel is not Christ himself, but does not the angel somewhat remind you of Christ in some way? Symbolizes Christ, points to Christ? And I think that is the case. I think that in the Old Testament, the angel of the Lord is a pre-incarnate manifestation of Christ, the Son of God. And preparing then for the conclusion of the whole story of the Bible. This angel then signifies Christ himself. Now it is not Christ. Christ is going to show up a few verses later when Jesus shows himself to the women.

But notice that what Jesus says is very similar to what the angel said. The angel said, verse five, do not be afraid. And the angel also said, go to Galilee, or tell my disciples to go to Galilee and to meet him there. Jesus says the same thing in verse 10. Jesus said to them, do not be afraid, just like the angel said in verse five. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, just like the angel said in verse seven.

This angel is like Christ and gives us a picture of who Christ is and prepares the way for Christ. Notice as well that the words of the angel to the women confirm that Jesus has been raised. That is the main point of the appearance of the angel, is to say, do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. And notice that language there, it says, he has risen as he said, as he said.

This is a common thing that we see throughout scripture of the pattern of word, deed, and word. When God is going to do something great, when God is going to accomplish something in history, like bringing God’s people up out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, when God is going to act in history, His mighty deeds of salvation, it is always preceded by word and then followed up by word. That is, it is preceded by words of divine revelation to prepare us for this great deed, and then after it happens, further words to confirm it and to help us understand it and to realize the truth of what has happened in these mighty deeds. Word plus deed plus word. And we see that right here in our text. Jesus first prepared the disciples for his death and resurrection with his word. His passion predictions in Matthew 16, 21, and 17, 23, and 20, 19.

He said that the Son of Man is going to be betrayed. He is going to be handed over to the Gentiles. He is going to be mocked and crucified. But he also added in all three cases, and on the third day, he will be raised. And on the third day, he will be raised. And even the Jews themselves had gotten wind of this because they themselves said in verse 63, sir, we remember how the imposter said while he was still alive after three days, I will rise.

So we have Jesus giving the word ahead of time. I am going to be crucified, but I will rise again on the third day. Then we have the deed. Then we have the mighty acts of God in history. We have the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ himself. And then it is followed up by further words, looking back upon the words beforehand and saying, here it is, he has risen as he said. What that suggests to us is a couple of things. One is that Jesus went to this intense suffering of the cross, knowing full well that it was temporary and that it would be reversed in three days. Furthermore, Jesus is trying to tell the disciples that this is all God’s plan and purpose.

That the death of Christ, followed by his resurrection, means that his death was intentional. His death was purposeful. It was God’s plan that he be the lamb who is slain for the people. That he be the one that redeems his people from their sins. It was not an accident It was not just that Jesus got in trouble with the authorities and something tragic happened and there was this miscarriage of justice and he was accidentally betrayed and crucified. No, this was all purposeful. This was God’s plan and purpose to save his people through the blood of Christ.

Jesus himself spent his whole ministry casting out demons, healing the sick, teaching the people and preparing them for this reality that He is the Savior and that all of those miracles and all that healing and the forgiveness of sins that He bestowed upon those that were sinful, all of that was possible because He was going to go to the cross and suffer and give Himself as a ransom for many.

The response of the women to this angel, who is giving the word after the cross and the resurrection in order to point back to the word that was given before, the response of the women to this angel is very interesting. It says in verse 9, so they, or verse 8, so they departed quickly from the tomb. This is the women.

They departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy. With fear and great joy. That is an interesting combination? Fear and joy? That does not really make sense. To us, it seems somewhat paradoxical. How could it be fear and joy at the same time?

Well, I think that part of the answer here is that we need to realize that in the Bible, fear is often used in a positive sense, in the sense of reverence and worship, in the sense of realizing that you are in the presence of something holy, just like Moses at the burning bush?

He is realizing that this is God himself. And this is holy ground. And so there is a sense of fear, but it is mixed with joy. And the fear is not a fear of dread and anguish and guilt and shame. It is a fear of realizing that you are trembling in the very presence of a holy God because supernatural reality has broken in. Heaven has broken in to earth. And so there is fear mixed with joy.

Of course, the amazing thing is that Jesus when he meets them. He calms their fears again. He says, verse 9, His word there, greetings, is a word of a friendly approach. It is a word of, hello, my friends. It is a word of greetings and joy and acceptance. It is the somewhat thing you would say to your friend when you meet your friend.

He does not come to them in wrath or judgment. He comes to them with A welcoming greeting and it says that they then came to him and they took hold of his feet and they worshiped him. Whatever fear they may have had has now been melted into the joy of casting themselves at the feet of their Lord. So thankful that he has indeed been raised from the dead. And the amazing thing is that Jesus then says to them, do not be afraid, just like the angel had said, but go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee and there they will see me.

And the third figure that is in our text is this group that is the Jews or the Jewish leadership. That is an important part of our passage. We could just focus on Matthew 28, one through 11, or one through 10, about the angel and the resurrection, but both before and after, there is this whole story about this Jewish plot to cover up the resurrection. And it is a stunning part of the story. I think that the victory of Christ, the triumph of Christ is highlighted against the backdrop of this stunning failure of the Jewish plot to get rid of Jesus.

They had not only tried to plot to get rid of Jesus and to have him crucified, but then they also tried to cover up the resurrection. They requested Pilate to allow them to seal the tomb, probably with literal wax sealing the tomb, and then also posting a guard of soldiers to make sure that no one came and disturbed the body. Then when that did not work, they had to make up a story that the disciples stole the body, It is funny that they are worried about this idea of fraud. They say the last fraud will be worse than the first. But they are the ones who are committing fraud. They are the ones who are trying to create a false narrative and to spread it around and paying off the soldiers a sufficient sum of money to secure their participation in the fraud. Ironically, this is the thing that is so amazing about this, this whole story about trying to prevent this from getting out.

This very act of sealing the tomb just adds to the evidence that Jesus was indeed raised from the dead.? Because the tomb was indeed sealed, both with the wax and with the soldiers posted by. The tomb was indeed sealed. And yet, when the angel rolled away the stone, the tomb was empty. Meaning that he had already been raised from the dead before the angel came. The very act of sealing the tomb just adds to the proof that Jesus was indeed miraculously raised from the dead. Satan’s attempts to destroy the king and his kingdom always backfire. The attempt to seal the tomb is a colossal failure.

Despite all the efforts of Jesus’ opponents, he rises in triumph, and the opponents of Christ are left with egg on their faces, utterly routed, utterly defeated. They had schemed and plotted so carefully with such precision, with such legal maneuvers to get rid of Jesus and to snuff out his kingdom movement, but all their schemes have unraveled and they are left disappointed and put to shame. One commentator put it this way, they held all the cards of earthly power, but despite all their efforts, they could not contain the Son of God. And then fourthly, the fourth figure in our text is, of course, the risen Lord himself. The risen Lord himself in glory and power. He is the vindicated king. Remember that the entire gospel story tells us about how contested his kingship is. His kingship was contested from the get-go, all the way back in Matthew 9, verse 3, when he healed the paralyzed man and he said, your sins are forgiven.

The Pharisees said, this man is blaspheming. And from that point on, the Pharisees and the Jewish leaders, they were out to get Jesus. Later, when he healed a man on the Sabbath, it says that the Pharisees went out and conspired against him, how to destroy him. And they are plotting and conspiring all throughout the gospel.

They even said that, yes, he seems to have some great power because he is able to cast out demons, but the only reason why he can do that is because he is doing that by Beelzebul, the Prince of Demons. His kingship, the fact that he is bringing in the kingdom of God. He says the kingdom is at hand. And he is saying that because he is the king. The king is present. And so if the king is present, the kingdom is present. He is saying he is the Messiah. He is the son of God. He is the bringer of the kingdom of God.

And all of his enemies contested that. They rejected that. His kingship was contested from the very beginning. But now, at the very end of the story, His kingship is vindicated. His claims are proven to be right. If he were a fraud, if he were an imposter, if he were a mere man claiming wildly to be the Messiah, to be the Son of God, how is it that he was raised from the dead? By raising him from the dead, God is vindicating him, vindicating his claims, vindicating his authority, saying, yes, indeed, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. This is the one who brings in the kingdom of God. kingdom that Jesus proclaimed and that he also brought in through his miracles and his teaching, the kingdom that Jesus was saying was at hand all throughout his earthly ministry prior to his death and resurrection.

Of course, he was saying it is at hand because it was not quite quite yet come? It is about to break in. But now that the kingdom that is at hand and the blessings of which are overflowing even ahead of time in those three years of his earthly ministry, the kingdom has now arrived because the king himself has been crowned with glory and honor. And it is arrived through the cross. It is arrived through his work of laying down his life for his people.

He endured the agony of being abandoned by his Heavenly Father. He endured that sense of the Father’s own displeasure and wrath, a wrath that he did not deserve because he was perfectly innocent and righteous, but he endured it because of our sins, because our sins were reckoned to his account. And so he was abandoned by the Father. He cried out, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? He poured out his soul unto death. And because he has done that, because he has given his life as a ransom for many, he has now been raised from the dead and vindicated. and installed at God’s right hand as the king of the kingdom of God.

And of course, we almost feel like we have to go on to that last paragraph? The Great Commission. We cannot stop right here with the story of the cover-up of the Jews. We have to move on to the last paragraph there. And we will get into that more next week, but you see right there, do not you?

That Jesus himself says in verse 19, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. He is stating right there that his kingly power has been granted to him because of his perfect obedience to the Father. And God has vindicated him, vindicated his kingship, vindicated his claims, and has installed him as the universal king. And now the gospel goes forth, is proclaimed in the church of Jesus Christ, is proclaimed by God’s people, and that gospel is the gospel that Christ is King, that He is the King of kings and Lord of lords. But He is a humble King, a King whose kingship was secured through the sufferings of the cross so that we might be forgiven in Him.

What a wonderful Savior we have.