Turn with me this morning to Matthew chapter 28, Matthew's account of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. We read together the first 15 verses, the text for our consideration, verses 2 through 4. 2, 3, and 4 is the text reading together the first 15 verses. Hear now the Word of God. Beginning at verse 1 of Matthew 28. After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. 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. His appearance was like lightning and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men. The angel said to the women, Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here. He has risen just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples, He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him. Now I have told you. So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them. Greetings, he said. They came to him, clasped his feet, and worshipped him. Then Jesus said to them, Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee. There they will see me. While the women were on their way, some of the guards went into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened. When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money, telling them, you are to say his disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep. If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble. So the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day. The text again, verses 2 through 4. 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. His appearance was like lightning and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men. Beloved congregation of the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ, what a day that first resurrection morning would be. It's very possible that Mary Magdalene and the other Mary and the other women we read about in the other Gospels as well as the disciples, it's very possible they woke up that morning still hoping, beyond hope, that somehow, maybe somehow, the events of the past couple of days were still just a bad dream. Maybe they were just a nightmare. and beloved as we in our day as we replay that day every lord's day but especially each year as we celebrate the risen savior in some way we we can't help but but to want to go back to that very morning and we want to tell them just wait just wait because this day is going to be a day that transforms your lives. You see, God had prepared a most wonderful message to be spoken to them. Yet, even before a single word would be spoken, He had set the stage. Everything was in place so that with their eyes, they could see a visible message. Even before the angel would say, He is not here. He is risen just as He said. upon arriving at the tomb, the women would see resurrection evidence. Resurrection evidence. And we know that the earthquake and the angel and the stone and the guards were all a part of that resurrection evidence. All of those things were evidence that pointed to the resurrection of Jesus Christ, but those things were also evidence of something else. They were evidence of what had been accomplished. They were resurrection evidence of satisfaction accepted, of death overcome, and of victory unstoppable. First of all, they were resurrection evidence of satisfaction accepted. What a glorious message. And that message, beloved, was announced by an earthquake. The Bible says there was a violent earthquake. That's all we're told about it. We don't know how widespread it was. We don't know who reported it, who talked about it. But there was a violent earthquake. And we're also told the occasion for that earthquake. For an angel of the Lord came down from heaven. The reason for the earthquake was the descent of God's special messenger. As that angel came down, there was a violent earthquake. And what was the purpose for the earthquake? Well, of course, we know that throughout redemptive history, earthquakes occurred often. You can find them in many, many places where it says that the earth trembled. In connection with the presence of the Lord. In connection with His mighty redemptive acts. In connection with a manifestation of His anger. His judgment poured out on the enemies of His people and on occasion even upon His people. Exodus 19, verse 18 talks about the fact that when the Lord descended down on Mount Sinai to meet Moses, the whole mountain trembled violently. And we find something similar in Revelation 11, verse 19, it says, Then God's temple in heaven was opened, and within His temple was seen the ark of His covenant, and there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and a great hailstorm. And again, as I mentioned a moment ago, even many instances of God's judgment upon His people, or upon the enemies of His people. Earthquakes in Scripture point to divine power as if to say, listen! And listen well, for the Lord is speaking. And we know that on the cross, God's voice was silent during those three hours of deep darkness. As Pastor Donovan reminded us on Friday evening, those are three hours of history that we really don't know anything about. So dark the eye could not see. And in a sense, so silent The silence was deafening, as we were reminded. Yet we know that during those three hours of deep darkness, the Lord Jesus Christ suffered the wrath of God against sin, paying our debt, working to make satisfaction, to satisfy an offended God, working to save us. But it was silent, quiet. But when He gave up His Spirit, what does the Bible say? The earth shuck and the rocks split. The Lord was speaking as it were through an earthquake and through that earthquake announced that satisfaction was complete. It was finished. The payment was made. Nothing more was required. And then on this resurrection day, the voice of the Lord once again as it were through the earthquake announces something else about that satisfaction which had been completed, that it was accepted. It was sufficient. God is satisfied. That message was announced by the earthquake. It was also delivered by the angel. In the history of Revelation, boys and girls, we know that angels are messengers of God. And in that history of Revelation, we know that angels came only with the Word of God. They came to say only what God sent them to say. At His birth, the angels announced the coming of the Savior. And here the angel, that angel that reflected the glory and the purity of God, and there were more than one, as the other Gospel writers say, that they reflected the glory and the purity and the majesty of God. The appearance of this angel, the very appearance, meant that God had something to say. The very presence of this angel announced the completion, the acceptance of the Savior's work, which was proven by the resurrection. The earthquake and the angel, even before a single word was spoken, these things were proof that God was no longer silent, but that God was well-pleased and well-satisfied with the work of His only begotten Son. And the message, that message of satisfaction accepted was sealed by the stone. That stone. It was a heavy stone. If you know anything about the tombs in those days, this one we know was carved out of a rock and the opening wasn't very high, three and a half to four feet maybe. And there was a groove that the stone was in to roll in front of that tomb. And John makes it clear that the angel didn't just simply roll it back to where the men could roll it in front again, but he completely took it out of the groove, put it aside. And the stone was possibly one to two tons. Huge. That stone which the angel rolled away, moved away, that once sealed Christ's tomb was now completely removed from the mouth of the tomb. And that very same stone, as it were, sealed something else. It sealed the truth of God's satisfaction. That stone rolled away from death's prison house was a demonstration that divine justice had been satisfied. You see, our Lord Jesus Christ did not break out of death's prison like an escaped convict who had not yet satisfied fulfilled his sentence. The angel of the Lord was sent by God to roll that stone completely away and then show that God was completely satisfied, that the debt was completely paid, that He accepted the payment of His Son and that the curse of death was removed. From you and me. That was a confirmation that Jesus Christ earned for us. The forgiveness of all of our sins and the gift of His righteousness. And our comfort, beloved, is that those very things, the forgiveness, complete forgiveness, and perfect righteousness, our comfort is that those very things are real and true because of the resurrection evidence in the second place of death overcome. You see, not only was the stone completely removed and rolled away, not only was the angel sitting on it, but the tomb was empty. It was empty. There was no body in it. And there is a lesson of the empty tomb for you and me as Peter makes clear in Acts 2, verse 24, but God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on Him. Impossible, we know, because the power of death had been broken. Because the wages of sin had been paid in full. And the power of life was demonstrated as this One who was dead was made alive. He was glorified. Now think about something for a moment. We don't know exactly when Jesus came out of the tomb. I hadn't thought about that before, have you? We don't know exactly when Jesus came out of the tomb. The only eyewitnesses to His actual rising again is heaven, is God. The first witness to mankind is the empty tomb. We don't know if He walked through the doorway, that short doorway, you know, leaned down as John had to do when he looked in. We don't know if He exchanged pleasantries with the angel. We don't know. We do know. He didn't need the angel to move the stone in order to get out. How do we know that, boys and girls? Because he had a glorified body. And as we learn a little bit later on in Scripture, he was able to appear suddenly through locked doors as if they weren't even there. Some believe that he was already out of the tomb by the time the earthquake happened and the angel came and he rolled the stone away. Not that He broke out of that prison again like an escaped convict, not at all, but the angel rolling, coming and moving that stone was a demonstration that Jesus Christ rose again with the permission and the approval of God. And we do know that the angel moved that stone for the benefit of the women and the disciples in order that they might enter to prove to them that it was really empty. And we do know that to leave that stone in place after Christ reoccupied a glorified body would be to imply something that was no longer true. It would imply that He was still there. That He was still dead. But He was no longer dead. He was alive. Very simply, the message of the empty tomb is that Jesus Christ fully paid the debt. He is victorious because if He was not, if He had not fully paid that debt, He would have stayed in the grave. it wouldn't have been accepted by God. His bones would still be there today. But there's a reason we can't find them. They're not there. And there is comfort for you and me, for the believer that we find with regard to the empty tomb as well. As Paul says in Romans 4, verse 25, He was delivered over to death for our sins and He was raised to life for our justification. He was raised. Jesus Christ was raised so that that which He earned for us, that complete forgiveness and that perfect righteousness, that that might be actually applied to us apart from a risen Savior. We don't have those benefits. The comfort of the empty tomb can be summed up in one word, beloved, and that word is life. He was raised to life for our life. Because He lives, we too shall live. And our confidence is as Paul's was in 1 Corinthians 15, verses 17 and following, And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile, you are still in your sins, then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men. But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. Boys and girls, you know what firstfruits are. When it's almost time for the harvest, the firstfruits are the first of the ripe crop. And that firstfruits points to quite a harvest to follow. Jesus Christ is the firstfruits of the resurrection. And His resurrection points to quite a harvest to follow, which includes the resurrection unto new life. New life in the Spirit. Those who have been given new life in the Spirit are those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ by grace through faith who look to Him alone. Even in the midst of the world's taunts and ridicule, look to Him alone for salvation and hope. They are those whose lives have been transformed. They no longer desire to live after the sinful ways of the old life. They desire to live in all obedience to Him and to do what is pleasing to Him. His resurrection means our reconciliation with God. And that reconciliation, beloved, means more than God just says, okay, okay, your sins are erased, I'll give you another chance. That reconciliation means God has taken us to be His children. It means we are adopted. Adopted in Christ Jesus. He calls us sons and daughters. He's given to us all the rights and the privileges and the advantages of the family of God. And Christ's resurrection also means that we have no fear in death. Nor do we fear for the life to come. Because the evidence of Christ's resurrection also included evidence in the last place of victory unstoppable. We see that in the guards. Verse 4, the guards we see were overcome. The guards were so afraid of him, the angel, that they shook and became like dead men. Now that word for shook there is the same root word that is used for earthquake. These guards quaked. They more than just shook in their boots. Just as the earthquake violently shook the ground, terror violently shook these guards more than you or I have ever experienced. The idea is that they became in shock. They became helpless. They became totally incapacitated. They became unconscious for a time. And when they did come to, they all scattered. Only a few of them went to the chief priest to report what had happened. But the result of that terrible of it is that they were not able to prevent this redemptive act. Think about it. All they had to do was to keep a dead man in a grave. How difficult is that? That's all they had to do. But they couldn't do it. The result is they were kept as well from treating the report of the resurrection with careless mockery. We're not told of any coarse jesting, no joking about it as the insults that were hurled at Christ on the cross. We're told that they did report it. They had to have a consistory meeting to decide how to handle it. And they chose to lie about it. But they were kept from treating it with careless mockery. It's ironic, I believe, that that man, the Jews here, with the help of the Romans, took precautions to seal the tomb, to guard that tomb. And the seal was such that it was against the law to break that seal. They took such precautions to seal, to guard that tomb with a number of strong and brave soldiers and even to spare the soldiers lives after what had happened. They should have been put to death. Such precautions, but the divine hand easily swept these man-made efforts aside as if they were nothing, because they were nothing. The divine hand terrified the guards by heaven's appearance and demonstration of power through the angel. And now, beloved, there's a new guard at the tomb. There's a new guard at the tomb, the angel sitting on the stone, not to keep the dead in. But the angel came to completely remove that stone he sat on it as a demonstration of triumph triumph over any challenges to christ's resurrection it is unstoppable it was unstoppable death and satan could not keep the prey that satan thought was his and jesus christ not only laid down his life freely of his own accord but he had the power and he demonstrated the power to take it up again this new guard at the tomb was a challenge to the powers of hell go ahead try go ahead try to put Christ back in go ahead try to roll the stone back but you can't it's unstoppable this new guard at the tomb beloved was a demonstration of the believers unstoppable victory in Christ Jesus for those who are in Christ Jesus death is transformed. Oh, unless Jesus Christ returns first, our bodies will taste the grave, but our souls will feast on the presence of the living Lord Jesus Christ and only His presence. Just as Paul said, for to me to live is Christ and to die is gain. And he made it clear that to leave this body in death was to be at home with the Lord for the believer. But not only is death transformed for the child of God, the grave is transformed. Boys and girls, most often, children, even adults, don't like cemeteries. They're freaky. They're filled with dead bodies that are buried under the ground and all those markers to remind us of those dead bodies. But the grave has been transformed for the believer. Our graves, indeed, will be closed temporarily. We will pass through them, but we will not be shut in them forever because we have the guarantee to rise again. You see, Christ is also the firstfruits not only of resurrection to new life, but of the resurrection of the believer's body. And a glorious resurrection that will be. We are guaranteed to rise again with our bodies made like unto Christ's glorified body. And how can we be so sure of that? Because the door to Christ's grave has been completely unhinged. Never to be put back in place. And along with death and the grave being transformed, life is transformed. That new life that we spoke of a moment ago, that new life by the Holy Spirit in Jesus Christ is an enduring life. It's a protected life. Jesus said, no one, nothing, will be able to snatch us from Him. Satan is powerless against those in Christ Jesus because, as Paul says, there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. that condemnation which made us the property of Satan has been wiped out and replaced by justification which makes us the property only of the Lord Jesus Christ. Satan can accuse us all day long, beloved, but as Paul makes clear, it's a waste of his time, it's a waste of his breath because Christ Jesus who died more than that who was raised to life is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. He's working on your behalf, on my behalf, even at this very moment. And He will continue to until He comes again to bring us home. Because Jesus Christ lives again, the fruits of His victory have been given to you and me. Oh, indeed, we have to fight with sin, but Christ overcame it and removed its curse from us. We are tempted by Satan, but Christ defeated him in His power and Satan can never eternally harm us. Indeed, we may face physical death one day, but death is vanquished. The sting is gone. Death is no longer a prison house of eternal separation from God for the child of God, but it is the entrance into the eternal glory and rest of the Heavenly Father. When Jesus Christ rose again, Satan's worst fear came true. His head was completely crushed and he was made forever helpless against those whom Christ came to save. people of God, the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the foundation of the Christian religion. Apart from the resurrection, there is no Christian religion. Because without the resurrection, His work is meaningless. It's not been accepted by God. We have no hope. But with confidence, we say with the Apostle Paul, He is risen. Hallelujah. Christ's resurrection is the dividing line between believers and unbelievers. That resurrection seals the eternal doom for those who reject Him because Christ is victorious. And those who are in Him are victorious, but those who are not are not victorious. They are defeated by sin. And at His next appearing, those who have rejected Him will be terrified like the guards and they will cry out for the mountains and the hills to cover them from the majesty and the glorious, awful presence of the Lord. But for all who turn to Him in repentance and faith, that very same resurrection seals our salvation and eternal rest. And with joy, beloved, we live with our eyes looking to the heavens expecting His return. And then, as God has promised in Colossians 3 when Christ who is your life appears then you also will appear with Him in glory beloved resurrection evidence is still visible today by the work of the Holy Spirit that evidence is still visible today as the Holy Spirit gives new life and faith to God's elect as day by day He continues to gather in the number whom God has chosen from before the foundation of the world evidence of christ's resurrection is visible today as the holy spirit continues to build the church of jesus christ and as as she lives in the midst of this dark world as she is busy and active we today all of us gathered here at this moment and every lord's day as we come together to worship in faith we are evidence that jesus christ lives and reigns today and may it be true also that our daily lives be evidence of His glorious resurrection as our lives show that we belong body and soul in life and in death unto our faithful Savior Jesus Christ beloved what a day that was as the evidence of Christ's resurrection preached a most powerful sermon it preached of satisfaction accepted it preached of death overcome it preached of victory unstoppable and on that day the bad dream the nightmare of our sin and shame and our separation from God was turned into was transformed into the joyful glorious morning of never ending fellowship with God because love's redeeming work is done because Christ has fought the fight the battle is won because death in vain forbade Him rise and because Christ has opened paradise for you, for me, who believe. Alleluia. Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, what else can we say but Alleluia? What a Savior. Indeed, O Lord, we never tire of hearing of these redemptive events. These things that You put in place and these things that happened for us so long ago. We never tire of hearing of how our Savior died, that we might have life, and how He lived, how He lives today, that that life might be real for us. may we celebrate indeed every day of our lives the risen Savior even as we live for Him help us oh Lord to demonstrate day by day that we do belong body and soul in life and in death into our faithful Savior Jesus Christ Father we praise your most holy name hear us now for Jesus sake and in His name alone we pray Amen