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Sunrise: A New Day Dawns

Easter

Apr 16, 2017


by: Jack Lash Series: Easter | Category: Resurrection of Jesus | Scripture: Luke 24:1–9

I. Luke 24:1–9 But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. 2 And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. 5 And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? 6 He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, 7 that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.” 8 And they remembered his words, 9 and returning from the tomb they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest.
A. Summary
1. The ladies went and found the tomb empty and the stone rolled away. They were bewildered.
2. Then two men in dazzling clothes stood by them and, frightened, they bowed their faces to the ground.
3. “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.”
4. And they remembered his words, and ran to tell these things to the others.
B. Let’s think about their emotional journey.
1. Coming to know Jesus
a. How attached they were to Him, how invested, how given over
2. Watching opposition build, overflowing into judicial confrontation
3. Grief over His death, and shattered hope
4. Bewilderment
5. Fear before the angel
6. Joyful shock
II. Explanation/application
A. God let them go through all this. Do you think God is out to project us from hurt feelings? if He is, He’s doing a pretty bad job of it.
B. He could have spared these dear ladies from all this agony. But it would have lessened the impact of the joyful shock.
C. There is a joyful shock awaiting those who look to Him in hope.
D. But there’s also a terrifying shock which awaits those who pretend to love Him and really don’t.
E. We are living in the now. But the Bible tells us about the then. And the then is very different than the now.
F. This is the moment which Christians recognize and think about, which isn’t even on the radar of most others.
G. God specializes in these moments.
H. The moment the angel called out to Abraham, “Don’t kill your son.”
I. The moment Jacob realized that his son Joseph was still alive
J. The moment the Red Sea opened
K. The moment Goliath crashed to the ground
L. The moment the people of Jerusalem woke up and realized that all the Assyrians were either dead or had fled.
M. We don’t necessarily know which change of fortune this is referring to, but Ps.126:1-3 speaks of a magnificent change of fortune for the people of Zion: “When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream. Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy; then they said among the nations, ‘The LORD has done great things for them.’ The LORD has done great things for us; we are glad.”
N. All of these have a lot in common: everything looked like defeat, like death, like hopelessness and disaster. And then suddenly, God broke through. Suddenly, God swept in and snatched victory out of the jaws of defeat.
O. And early on Easter morning, there was the greatest turning point of all. (That is, the greatest turning point so far. When Christ returns, I think it will be even more of a shock. The Bible paints a scene of God’s people surrounded by the nations, but just as it looks as if the saints are finished, Jesus returns in the twinkling of an eye – 1Cor.15:52– and rescues His people.)
P. God has allowed things to look bleak. God allows us to experience heartbreak. But He tells us in His word that there’s a new day dawning and the bleakness is passing away.
Q. This is His pattern. This is the pattern of our lives. A divine concoction of suffering and hope.
R. When we’re suffering, we don’t suffer without hope.
1. We know that “Weeping may last for the night, but joy comes in the morning!” (Ps.30)
2. And it also means that when we’re celebrating, we don’t celebrate without humility, and a knowledge that the blessing of a new spouse or a new baby or a new job or a new house, or whatever, means permanent happiness for us.
3. 2Corinthians 1:8–10 “We do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. 9 Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. 10 He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again.”
a. We see here that Paul has been through an extremely scary and painful situation. He even thought his lie was going to end. But the thing I’d like to point out to you is that Paul knows it’s going to happen again! God has delivered him, but he knows more troubles are going to come, and he will need more deliverances. He doesn’t put his hope in earthly expectations, but in God’s eternal promises.
b. This is the normal Christian life. It is the resurrection of Jesus — and the future resurrection of His people which it ensures — which is our source of permanent happiness.