Come And See His Empty Tomb

The agony is now over.

The price has been paid. Our conquering Christ rose in victory from death's futile grasp. And His glorious resurrection paves the way for all who believe in Him to one day live again as He did.

Stay with us. From Chicago, this is The Moody Church Hour, a weekly service of worship and teaching with Pastor Erwin Lutzer. On this Resurrection Sunday, we conclude our series on Come and See Jesus, pictures of the Savior that teach us about His mission on earth. We'll hear the wonderful music of the season with the Moody Choir and Orchestra, and later in our broadcast, Erwin Lutzer will speak on Come and See His Empty Tomb. The Moody Choir comes now to open our service of worship. For the victory is won, and the fall is scattered.

There's the prison shattered. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! And skies may it rise, Christ is now arisen. Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

Hallelujah! Today is the day, Christ is now arisen. Jesus said these remarkable words. He said, I am the resurrection and the life. He that believes in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.

And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. We honor him in his resurrection and ascension. Would you join me as we pray, and then we shall sing together. Father, thank you so much that Jesus is all that he claimed to be, and we pray that your blessed Holy Spirit would lead us now as we worship him and contemplate the marvelous power over death that he demonstrated. In Jesus' name, amen. Hallelujah! Christ the Lord is with you today. Hallelujah!

Sons of men and angels sing. Hallelujah! Christ the Lord is with you today. Hallelujah!

Son of men and angels sing. Hallelujah! Jesus the Lord is with you today. Hallelujah!

Christ the Lord is with you today. Hallelujah! Son of men and angels sing. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Son of men and angels sing. Hallelujah! Son of men and angels sing. Hallelujah! Son of men and angels sing. Hallelujah! Jesus the Lord is with you today. Hallelujah! Son of men and angels sing. Hallelujah!

Amen. In your bulletins from Isaiah chapter 40 verses 3 through 5, please join me on the bold print. A voice of one calling in the desert, prepare the way for the Lord. Make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God. Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low.

The rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain. And the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all mankind together will see it, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it. And the glory, the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and the glory shall be revealed.

And the glory, the glory of the Lord shall be revealed. And all flesh shall see it together, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it. And all flesh shall see it together, and all flesh shall see it together, and all flesh shall see it together. And the glory, the glory of the Lord, and all flesh shall see it together, and all flesh shall see it together, and all flesh shall see it together. And all flesh shall see it together, and all flesh shall see it together, and all flesh shall see it together. And the glory, the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, and all flesh shall see it together. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken it, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it.

And the glory, the glory of the Lord shall see it together, and all flesh shall see it together, and all flesh shall see it together. Behold, He has come, God's only Son. He is the One sent to save us. Behold, He has come, God's only Son. He is the One we adore. Behold, He has come, God's only Son. He is the One sent to save us. Behold, He has come, God's only Son. He is the One we adore. And we lay down our crowns before Him. And we lift up our vows to adore Him, God's only Son.

The long-awaited One. Behold, He has come, God's only Son. He is the One sent to save us. Behold, He has come, God's only Son. He is the One we adore. And we lay down our crowns before Him.

And we lift up our vows to adore Him, God's only Son. The long-awaited One. Behold, He has come, God's only Son.

The long-awaited One. Behold, He has come, God's only Son. Behold, He has come, God's only Son. And we lay down our crowns before Him, God's only Son.

And we lay down our crowns before Him, God's only Son. Who is this? Who is this? Who is this? Who is this? Who is this? Who is this?

Who is this? Who speaks such words? Can we make the suffering surrend? Can we make the promise strong?

Can we make the error taken? Jesus, Holy One. Jesus, Holy One. Jesus, Holy One.

Jesus, Holy One. Who is this? Who is this?

Who speaks such words? Who is this? Who is this?

Who is this? Jesus, Holy One. Jesus, Holy One. Blood and sorrow flow from the languid brow of Jesus dying. Tears from heaven's eyes are the anguished draws of a Father crying, Oh God. Jesus, Holy One. Jesus, what a sacrifice to reach us. It had to be a cross of love. And the people jeered at Him and loved His holy name.

For they knew not who He was or why it was He came. So then comes Mother Anne to see the mother's pain. But as she watched her wounded son, the comfort never paid. Oh God. This must be no cross alone. For God to bruise His holy Son. Jesus, what a sacrifice to reach us. It had to be a cross of love. This must be no cross alone.

For God to bruise His holy Son. Jesus, what a sacrifice to reach us. It had to be a cross of love.

Oh Jesus, what a sacrifice to reach us. It had to be a cross of love. A cross of love. It had to be. A cross of love.

It had to be. It had to be a cross of love. Come divine, all loves excelling. Joy of them to earth come down. Fix in us thy humble dwelling. All thy faithful mercies crown. Jesus, thou art on confession. You're a mountain of the Lord. Visit us with thy salvation.

Enter every trembling court. We will breathe an hour in spirit, each to every troubled rest. Let us all in thee merit. Let us find thy promised rest.

Take away the love of spirit, our Lord and our maker be. Let our faith, as it's beginning, set our hearts at liberty. Come almighty to deliver. Let us all thy life receive. Son, and we return and never, never, nor thy temples leave. Here we hold, beloved, blessing, certainly as thy cross above. Bravely and gracefully, how ceasing, glory in thy perfect one.

Finish with thy new creation. Lord and Son, let us be. Let us be thy salvation. Let them be strong in thee. Stakes of glory, leads to glory, still in heaven they take our place. Stay with us, our cross in glory, cross in honor, glory in peace. Till we pass our cross in glory, cross in honor, glory in peace. Amen.

Thank you. Till we cast our crowns before him, lost in wonder, love, and praise. I'm going to ask you a question, and I want a yes or no answer. Is he risen? Yes. I think you can do better than that. Is he risen? Yes.

All right, we shout it out all throughout the world. The 28th chapter of Matthew opens with the interesting story of women who go to the tomb intending to find the body of Jesus. Aren't you glad that they didn't find what they hoped to find? They found something much better, not the body of Jesus, but they discovered that Jesus was alive. And some of you maybe have come here today because you wanted an inspiring worship service, and we've certainly had that.

But I hope that you actually find something even better than that in these moments, and that is that you personally are confronted with the reality of the living Christ. It's an interesting story in Matthew 28, because in the preceding chapter, the priests and the Pharisees, they go to Pilate, and they say, Pilate, Jesus predicted that he would rise again to make sure that the disciples don't steal the body and pretend that he fulfilled his word. Make sure that the tomb is sealed. So Pilate says to them, this is chapter 27, verse 65, you have a guard, he says, go make it as secure as you can. So they went away and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone and setting a guard.

I'm amused by the phrase, make it as secure as you can. Try to keep God in the tomb. Like speaking to the sun and telling it, don't shine anymore.

Or speaking to the oceans and saying, no longer be wet. How are you going to keep God in the tomb? Well, the Bible says in chapter 28 that an angel, verse two, descended from heaven and came and rolled the stone away and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning and his clothing white as snow, and for fear of him, the guards trembled and became like dead men.

I would think so. But I want you to know that the angel didn't roll the stone away to let Jesus out. Jesus was already out. Because the molecular structure of his body was such that he was not limited by stones and by mortar. Jesus Christ had already arisen.

The stone was pulled aside so that the people could look in and see that the tomb was empty. That's why the angel did that. And the angel gives them two commands.

First of all, he says, don't be afraid. He says, I know that you are seeking Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen just as he said. And then the first command is this, come and see where the Lord lay.

Come and believe. The tomb is empty. Now, many people don't like the empty tomb. It started right here in the New Testament. If we took the time to read verse 11 of Matthew 28, we discover that some people, when they discover that Jesus was alive, the chief priests and the Pharisees are upset, and they pay money to the guards, and they pay this money, and they say, say that his disciples came and stole his body. That was the first lie that was told about the resurrection.

But how absurd, how would his disciples be able to overcome the guards, push the stone away, and steal his body and get away with it? Furthermore, they would not later on preach the resurrection and be willing to die for it, if in point of fact they knew that Jesus was still dead. So some unbelievers have said, well, the disciples wouldn't have stolen the body, but maybe his enemies stole it.

Well, what would they do with the body? And furthermore, when the disciples preached the resurrection, they would have produced the body, and they'd have said, you're liars, because here he is and he's dead. Others, using their fertile imaginations, have said, well, you know, what really happened is that Jesus didn't really die completely. He just swooned on the cross, and then after three days in the cool tomb, he finally arose.

I want to say here, get a life. First of all, are you telling me that the Romans would have put him in the tomb without him being dead? Number one, they made sure that he was dead. Number two, a man who was lacerated like Jesus was in the tomb three days, he pushes away the stone and the tomb is empty. He'd have to be in the hospital for six months just to recover to be able to walk, much less inspire disciples to go about and change the world. The apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15, he says that 500 people saw Jesus and many of them are still living. We're not talking about hallucinations. We're not talking about the spirit of Jesus somehow arising. We're talking about the physical body of Christ, whom later on in this passage, the people touched and they said they held his feet. We're talking about a literal physical bodily resurrection. Ellis Maydell wrote, no planet knows that this earth of ours bears as its chief treasure, one forsaken grave.

That is the chief treasure on planet earth, one forsaken grave. So the angel said, come see the empty tomb. And then the angel said in verse seven, then go quickly. First of all, come and see and then go and tell his disciples that he has arisen. Tell his disciples that death is defeated. Tell his disciples that the sting has been taken out just like a bee that can only sting you once. And after it has stung you, it has no longer a stinger.

It can only threaten in the very same way the sting of death has been taken out. And later on, we discover in the New Testament that because he lives, we shall live also and we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is. You want to know what kind of a resurrection body you're going to have? I want you to know that I've already preached once this morning at a sunrise service in a church here in the city. And in the message, I pointed out a friend of mine and I asked everybody to look at him.

And because it was a small church, you could see him. I said, just look at the body he brought with him today. That's the body that's going to be changed. It's the body that's going to be like Jesus. The Bible says it is sown in corruption and we're all in the process of corrupting. But it is raised in corruption. It is sown in weakness. You go to a funeral and that body is not only weak, it's dead. It's sown in weakness, but it is raised in strength. It is sown a natural body.

It's raised a spiritual body. But there will be continuity and similarity because we will know one another in heaven. You and I will be remade, but the continuity will enable us to know each other. Remember, you are the same person after you die as you were before with some substantial changes, but you are the same person. And so what the angel said is, go tell his disciples.

It's not the end. Jesus has arisen. And then I love these words of the angel in verse seven. He says he has arisen from the dead and behold, he is going before you into Galilee. Someone has said that Jesus is the go ahead God.

He goes before us and he does that all the time. There's no place where God ever asks us to go, but that he has already been there. Someday we're all going to go to our tomb. But when we think of that tomb, we need not fear it because someone else has already been in the tomb and the one in whom we believe has triumphed over the tomb and because of that, we participate in his triumph. In the Old Testament days, you remember when God led Israel through the desert. The scripture says that there was a pillar of fire by night and a cloud by day. God says there's nowhere that you are going, but that I haven't gone before you. There is no dark room that God is asking you to go into, but that it is a room into which he himself has gone.

Your fears of tomorrow, your anxiety for the future. God has been there and God is there. Jesus is our forerunner.

In fact, it says in the book of Hebrews that he rose from the dead and then he ascended on high and he went into the presence of God, into the very holy of holies, there awaiting us. And the imagery of a forerunner is this, that when a vessel was coming into a harbor in ancient times, the forerunner would hop off the ship, swim to shore with a rope that was on the ship, he would tie that rope onto a very strong rock, a big rock, and then by means of a winch, that vessel was brought into shore. And in the very same way, the winds may try to blow us off course. Your vessel and mine, the sails might be tattered.

It may well be that the boards begin to creak and the weakness begins to set in. And all of our diseases and our handicaps eventually get the better of us and even if that doesn't happen, we shall die. But every single day, Jesus brings us one notch closer to the shore. He brings us where he is already in heaven and he says, I've crossed that river.

I've gone behind that curtain and here I am, inviting you and leading you to be with me. He is the go ahead God. In fact, it's the whole matter of death that separated the early church from the pagans. You know that when plagues came to the early church and all throughout the land and thousands of people died and there were cartloads of bodies that were pulled off, a man by the name of Cyprian, a leader in the church, in effect said, these plagues are good. I read one historian who said that Christianity would never have expanded as it did were it not for those plagues.

Why? It gave the Christians an opportunity to prove that they die differently than the pagans. And Cyprian even said that we should not mourn for our brethren. He said our brethren should not be mourned. Now, I don't totally agree with that because Jesus even wept at the tomb of Lazarus.

But I want you to know the point that he's making. He says, let's not weep for our brethren since they are not lost but sent before. Departing, they lead the way, travelers to another country. Let not the pagans see us mourn because we know that they exist on the other side and we shall be with them. That's why the pagans said of the Christians, they carry their dead as if in triumph.

They know that it is not the end because they believed in a savior who has proven that he has power over death. We sometimes sing because he lives. I can face tomorrow because he lives.

All fear is gone for I know who holds tomorrow and life is worth a living just because he lives. Pilate said to the guards, make the tomb as secure as you can. You know, there may be somebody here today who wants to make that tomb secure. Maybe there's someone here who'd prefer a dead Christ to a living Christ because if he is dead, you don't have to deal with him. You can ignore him and try to live without him.

Make it as secure as you can. Philosophically, David Hume came up with an argument to try to disprove miracles and he thought that if his argument held water, that Jesus would have to stay in the tomb while his argument did not hold water. Then I think, for example, of people like Darwin who thought that he would have scientific evidence that we could do away with Christ and the miracles of the Bible and that we did not need Jesus and we could keep him in the tomb. Freud took the stone of psychology and rolled it in front of the tomb and said that we can explain human behavior apart from God and apart from Christ.

Voltaire took the stone of culture. He thought that man had progressed educationally in such a way that you no longer needed a Christ to intervene to save you. But those men have been of no greater success than those guards who rolled that stone in front of the tomb and who set that watch because you can't keep God in a tomb. And there may be some of you here today who keep Jesus in the tomb and by that I mean at a distance for other reasons.

You may never have worried yourself about him or thought much about him, maybe because of anger in your heart. You've been hurt by God, you believe that God has not come through for you and you've been hurt by some of God's children and so in your heart today you are resistant to the possibility of meeting the risen Christ and you just prefer that he be in the tomb. Some of you because of pride, you think that you can stand before God on your own and you don't need Jesus because you're so healthy and you're so well and you think that even when death comes somehow you will manage. Like a man on a plane to whom I spoke who said when I stand before God I'm going to stand on the basis of my own record.

Wow. Be blown away in a moment in the presence of a holy God on the basis of your own record. Another man told me I'm going to do okay on my own.

No, you're not going to do okay on your own. And then maybe even religion keeps Jesus in the tomb. This past flu season was pretty bad actually and I eventually did get a flu shot. You know what getting inoculated means is that they give you a little bit of it to keep you from the real thing. That's the idea. There are some people who have enough religion to keep them from the real thing. They say to themselves I've heard it all. I've understood it all. I've gone through all the rituals.

I know the story they say. And yet because of that they are kept from confronting the risen Christ and coming to know him personally. And I'm saying today roll that stone of religion away and get to Jesus. Would you do that? And then maybe for others there is the stone of indifference.

Just putting it off I don't need him. Someday maybe. No, this is the appointed hour. Now I want to tell you that when Jesus died on the cross his death was a sacrifice for sinners. And he died so that you and I might not have to die an eternal death. And the Bible makes it very clear that only those who believe in him, only those who embrace him, as many as received him to those he gives the power to become the sons of God even to those who believe in his name. Only those participate in his resurrection.

The Bible says that there's a resurrection to life and there's a resurrection to eternal death. And the dividing line is what you personally do with Jesus. And right now in the balcony there are some of you who are listening who've never responded to Jesus personally. Take all the stones away and say today I receive him as my savior.

And those on the lower floor and those who may be listening by radio or the internet. This is your moment to reach out and to say Jesus be mine. I receive you. In a few moments we're going to be singing a song which if you were to sing in sincerity would be the expression of your heart.

You'd be embracing Christ as your savior. Take all the stones away. Why? Because he lives. Because he lives that's why. Kingdoms come and kingdoms go but Christ lives. Centuries come and centuries go and Christ lives. Skeptics live and skeptics die but Christ lives.

Stars shine and then the stars cease their shining. But Christ lives. Lifted up was he to die.

It is finished was his cry. Now in heaven exalted high. Hallelujah. What a savior. In the sorrows of the day. For the Son of God who gave.

To his savings to be paid. Hallelujah. What a savior. In the sorrows of the day.

It is finished was his cry. Now in heaven exalted high. Hallelujah. What a savior. May he come some glorious day.

Always let some come to pay. Some greatest day. Hallelujah. What a savior. On today's Resurrection Sunday Moody Church hour. Pastor Lutzer brought a message on come and see his empty tomb. The last of eight pictures of the life of Christ in a series entitled come and see Jesus. We hope this series and today's service have been an encouragement to you. Our eight part series on come and see Jesus can be yours on CD for a gift of any amount to The Moody Church hour.

Our thank you to you will be a set of eight messages you can hear and then pass on to others. Just call us at 1-800-215-5001. Let us know you'd like to support Moody Churches ministry. Call 1-800-215-5001 or you can write to us at Moody Church media. 1635 North LaSalle Boulevard Chicago Illinois 60614 mention the series come and see Jesus when you write or call online. Go to moody offer dot com. That's moody offer dot com. Join us next time for another Moody Church hour with Pastor Erwin Lutzer and the congregation of historic Moody Church in Chicago. This broadcast is a ministry of The Moody Church.