the message this morning I've titled roll away the stone based on the memory verse we just heard from mark chapter 16 years ago among my stepfather's I had a stepfather who worked for IBM a good man and he was working on a book now he was not a believer no one in our family was back then but I thought that the topic of his book was intriguing he was always very interested in history and in this fictitious book that he had written there was a rock that had been discovered in America that somehow was a special mineral and you know how Thomas Edison discovered that you can record magnetically on tape and then reproduced that sound by playing it over one of these electronic heads this rock somehow managed to record everything that happened around it and you could do something to this rock and extract the history from it and the rock told the history of how really it was the Scandinavians that first discovered America and I wasn't that interested in that part of the story but to me the idea of having a rock that records history was very interesting and I always thought about that and sorry he never published the book and I toyed with the idea of thinking about maybe I could write a story about a rock that records you know there's some scripture for that I know you might think it's a stretch but the Bible talks about rocks that hear and see and speak and I put this picture up there and as it just me or do you see a face in that wrong it's kind of creepy I think that's a natural natural face but I used to see that when I lived up in the hills I see these rocks and it almost looked like they had a face to them now I'm not trying to encourage idolatry today but there's some interesting verses in the Bible Joshua 24 verse 27 when the people renewed their covenant to the Lord they set up a stone and Josh was said unto all the people behold this stone shall be a witness for us for it has heard all the words that the Lord spoke which he spake to us yet therefore shall be a witness unto you lest you deny your God as though your gonna go to this big rock and the rock is gonna say now I heard what you said had the rock recorded something and then there's another one in Zechariah chapter 3 verse 9 for behold the stone that I had laid before Joshua and this is Joshua the high priest not Joshua the general for behold the stone that I have laid before Joshua upon one stone will be seven eyes that sounds a little bit like a lamb with seven eyes that you find in Revelation and then one more and these are the words of Jesus and Luke 19 verse 40 when the crowd was hailing and praising him and the religious leader said tell them to be quiet they're calling you the Messiah and jesus answered and said I tell you that should these hold their peace the stones would immediately cry out he ever heard stones speak stones see stones that hear well I began to think if there was a rock you could pick in the Bible that would tell its story what rock would you pick if there was a rock well I thought about the 10 commandments I mean Ten Commandments were written they saw an awful lot and you may have your favorite what about the cornerstone of the temple if it had years had probably heard an awful lot but today you may have gathered because of this time of year I'm picking a different stone that recorded some amazing events and that would be the stone that covered the mouth of the tomb where Jesus was buried you know as someone emailed me an interesting bit of history perhaps you've heard of the the Stone of Scone and have you ever heard about Nandi it's a there's actually a place you can go look in scone Scotland and see this very famous stone and the legend of behind is stone that is in Scotland all of the modern monarchs of Britain they are supposed to be coronated with this stone at their feet and it was belong to Scotland it was captured by Edward the first and brought to England and they kept it there for years and finally I think in the 1990s they agreed to bring it back to Scotland on the condition that when they coronated a monarch they would bring it down for the coronation and then they'd send it back up again but the legend behind the stone is this ostensibly is the stone when Jacob had the vision of a ladder reaching to heaven and he set up a stone and he said he anointed it with oil and said this is the house of God then later when he came into the promised land the children of Israel when they went into Egypt they said we've got to take Jacob our father's stone with us they brought it into Egypt and they kept it during their time of enslavement in Egypt and when they came out of Egypt not only did they carry the sick office piece with the bones of Joseph during that 40 years they carried Jacobs stone that he had set up and it was brought back into Israel and then after the temple the Ark was captured by Nebuchadnezzar when they rebuilt the temple they still had this stone and they put it in the Holy of Holies in place of the Ark of the Covenant and when it was conquered by the Romans it was then brought to Rome and then on all the battles between the Romans and the barbarians somehow it made its way at the Scotland and that's supposed to be the history behind that stone now I think it's pretty dubious makes for a good story and probably a tourist attraction but I thought now that stone if it could talk would have some stories to tell would you like to have been there for all those events but to top them all is this other stone that we read about that was rolled away when Jesus rose you know before I dive into a few more verses there is something interesting about this of year I think that seventh-day Adventist Christians sometimes feel a little bit schizophrenic about Easter it's different from Christmas in that it's not really a date it's a time of year that does actually correspond with the Passover and of course the Western date for Easter is a week different from the Eastern Orthodox churches date for Easter because how they calculate the Passover but it still might be said while there are some pagan trappings connected with this holiday that have nothing to do with the resurrection they come from the time of spring and the new life and the easter bunnies and the eggs really were not there at the resurrection but you know I know some of you believe in chocolate bunnies there is of course a lot of historic legitimate significance to the time of the Passover being the time of the resurrection that is accurate and I don't know I get miniature goose bumps when I think about if you go back from this weekend 2,000 years Jesus was about 16 years old he knew because it was revealed to him when he was 12 that he was going to die for the sins of the world and it was 2,000 years from the time that God told Abraham your descendants will introduce the Messiah to the world through your descendants the Messiah will come they had to wait 2,000 years but he came and then Jesus said I will come again we're living during that window when Christ lived 2,000 years ago that's kind of exciting when you think about it you know what I'm saying we're living after when he was born and before when he died 2,000 years and so this is an interesting window and I I think that it is appropriate for Christians to remember that time well there's no Bible command to remember this time I think that if you're going to keep a day regarded unto the Lord Paul said if you're going to regard it regard it unto the Lord that this is that time of year when Jesus died was buried and he rose again and the salvation of a planet and a people a whole race weighed in the balance on whether or not he would come back to life so that is significant now to tell the story about the stone we've got to back up a little bit if you have your Bibles you might join me but going to the Gospel of John chapter 19 John chapter 19 of course you'll find parts of this story in Matthew Mark Luke and John John 19 verse 38 of course Jesus suffered incredible agony his sufferings began Thursday night Jesus would be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights and that heart of the earth is not the tomb it's talking about in the hands of the world Christ said he said in Luke that he would be delivered into the hands of wicked men and he'd suffered that for the sins of the world and after three days he would rise three days after he had been delivered into the hands of wicked men of sinners Thursday night he began suffering for the sins of the world and he suffered in ways we can't comprehend he suffered more than a man could suffer there are people who are experts in torture I hear that it still being practiced in Syria as we sit here people are captured and they're tortured and the ancient experts of torture used to wonder how far could you take a man to experience pain before he lost consciousness because once he passes out you're not doing a good job as a torturer but Christ went way beyond that because his suffering was not just what a person physically could bear before they fainted of course he did faint under the weight of the cross at one point but his was also an agony of soul being separated from the father and his pure soul was feeling the defilement of all the grossest sin in the world concentrated in those six hours on the cross and we can't imagine that and that really deserves another week of messages but our our focus is going to be when he finally breathe his last they need to clear it on the cross it is finished now his pain the penalty for sin was done Friday and while I have the greatest respect for our friends that celebrate the first day of the week as the Sabbath I must tell them that there is no command for that and all the wonderful Easter sermons that are going to be preached this weekend and there'll be a lot of truth that will be shared when people start to say and this is why we keep Sunday they need to also be honest and say we have no scripture for it because there is no scripture there is scripture for when Jesus declared Friday afternoon it is finished he finished the work of pain for the sins of the world he went to sleep he kept the Sabbath even in his death and I also think that it's important for us to remember that the keeping of the Sabbath was so important to his disciples that even though they had not completed the work of anointing and embalming his body they stopped with an incompleted work because they said Jesus would not want us to violate his Sabbath and you know I find people make up a lot lamer excuses for Sabbath breaking today well you know the ox is in the ditch my windows dirty I better wash my window that's kind of like the Ox being in the ditch I mean you hear all kinds of things people make excuses for doing Sabbath work think about what the disciples I mean talk about a good excuse to keep working after sundown you wanted you think embalming the body of Jesus would be a good excuse they didn't think so well maybe they were legalists you could argue but whatever you say they didn't think so and it said they went home and they kept the Sabbath according to the commandment when Jesus rose Sunday it is a spectacular wonderful brilliant event to be celebrated but nowhere are we told it is a substitute for the Bible Sabbath in the commandments we just need to be honest about that and so I can say praise the Lord for the resurrection along with everybody else but let's not build a new doctrine where God hasn't put a doctrine and that's the thing that I have to take an issue and then if I'm wrong please produce the scripture I'm just looking for the scripture that says this is now the new Christian Sabbath the first day of the week it's not there it's not to detract from the importance of what happened with the resurrection amen I mean we can celebrate with everybody else that he rose not to rest he rose to continue his work as our high priest and so just wanted to make that clear after Jesus breathed his last and he died alive on the cross six hours resting one hour seven hours total on the cross you can add it up from the time he died there was about an hour from when Joseph along with Nicodemus went to Pilate got permission to get his body Pilate needed to confirm he was indeed dead that's when the spear pierced his side and out came the flow of blood and water some people say Jesus didn't really die on the cross he just took this concoction to pretend he was dead and he revived later when it wore off it was a drug-induced coma these are some of the crazy theories here well I don't know how he got through having this sight opened up and all his blood drained out like a kosher lamb I mean it was not a drug-induced coma he was dead and that's why it was a miracle he was so dead the disciples did not come to the tomb that morning to celebrate his resurrection they came to finish embalming a dead body so they thought he was dead and it took some convincing they didn't even believe the Angels at first that he was alive why cuz it was a miracle it was as hard for them to believe then as it is for skeptics to believe today because miracles are called miracles because they don't happen very often and yes it was a miracle difficult to believe but I believe it well Joseph went to the tomb I'm back to John 1938 I don't think he ever started reading after this joseph of arimathea being a disciple of jesus but secretly it's not a secret anymore is it someone said no such thing as a secret disciple either the secrecy will destroy the discipleship or the discipleship will destroy the secret but eventually it comes out for fear of the Jews he besought Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus and Pilate gave him leave he came therefore and he took the body of Jesus there came also in Nicodemus who at first had come to Jesus by night here's the two secret disciples finally coming out and he brought Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes you read about Song of Solomon where it talks about the Messiah his garments being scented with myrrh and aloes also in the psalms about a hundred pound weight well you know that's that's enough for a king they never used that much for a common person and then they took the body of Jesus and they wounded in linen cloth with spices as the manner of the Jews is to bury it was a an embalming method and they wound it up now the place in which he was crucified there was a garden and in the garden there was a new tomb where in no man had ever been laid you know Bible tells us in Isaiah he made his grave with the rich in his death Joseph was very rich as was Nicodemus and Joseph had prepared a tomb for himself you know it's always a good idea to make preparation for your death and if you didn't don't necessarily need to do it on your wedding day but you know if you're getting up there in years it's good to have a will and it's good to make plans and tell somebody in your family you do where you don't want to be cremated and if you're gonna be buried you don't want to wait for your family to make all those arrangements get yourself a plot build build your pyramid whatever you're gonna do and Joseph had done that now the Bible teaches that there should be respect for human remains you know I sometimes tease and I say I don't care you know ashes to ashes dust to dust has put me under a tree throw me out back I'm getting a new body but really that's not that's not right to say that because the bible does teach that there should be a reverence and a respect shown for the dead even a dead body why gonna get a new one it just turns back to dust because humans are made in the image of God and there is something sacred about even the form of a human made in the image of God and it also represents the memory of that person's life you can even read in the Bible where during the war they were burying a man and all of a sudden Momo by traders came into the country they didn't know where to put the body they didn't have time to finish digging the grave so they tossed him in the tomb where Elijah was buried and you remember what happened he came back to life by touching the bones of the Elijah so right there's a good argument for taking care of the remains you never know what might happen can you imagine how scared you'd be to wake up in someone else's grave happened at least once in the Bible well Joseph being a wealthy man he made a good grave and he wanted to make sure that that grave was not going to be desecrated later he had a tomb carved for himself in solid rock in a hillside now there's a location you can look at if you go to Israel it's called the garden tomb it's believed to be the most accurate of the different sites they claimed were or likely were the grave of Jesus this one fits all the Bible criteria it's by a garden there's a garden cistern it's in a hillside it has a groove where a stone was in the grew to roll and cover the mouth and when they unearthed it it was empty so how many of you have been to Israel and if you've been to the garden too I see some hands here a lot of people around the world go it's one of the sites it's very moving if it is not the exact site it's probably very much like that site and the stone may use to cover the mouth of the tomb was like a big wheel so if you could put that on a phonograph and make it play it would have a story to tell but it would be a pretty big record I don't know if anyone even owns records anymore maybe you still have a few I do I still got some records you know my mother was a songwriter she got all these old records so recently got a record player up in Koval oh I'm getting off my subject I wanting to tell you that they Joseph made a big stone that rolled into place and when it rolled it actually had a groove that had fit in it would rolled it would plop down into this spot that was narrowed out and it was locked in when you finally rolled it into place it's sort of locked into this groove it would be very hard to get out and it's trying to like roll an SUV out of a pit in the road where all four tires are stuck in the potholes it was locked in so you can understand the concern of the women when they came to the tomb and it tells us that they took the body of Jesus Luke 23 I'm jumping there verse 53 they took it down and we follow now from the cross to the tomb they handled the body of Jesus with great sorrow and with great respect and reverence and they laid it in a tomb that was hewn out of the rock where no one had ever lain before you might say that this was a virgin tomb it wasn't being recycled to hold the pure sinless body of Jesus and that day was the preparation day and the Sabbath Junior no question about what day Jesus died and the women who had come with him from Galilee followed after and they observed the tomb they were trying to help oversee and make it easier for Nicodemus and Joseph and whatever apostles may have been there to take care of his remains and how his body was laid but they saw the Sun going down they knew they were running out of time they hastily embalmed his body to prevent decomposition and they said if at least if we anoint him with the aloe and myrrh we can come back with the other spices and finish after the Sabbath then they returned meaning they returned to their various homes and they prepared spices and fragrant oils before the Sun went down they said let's get everything ready that we can get ready so as soon as the Sabbath's over first thing Sunday before the Sun even comes up we can come back and finish they prepared spices and fragrant oils and they rested on the Sabbath according to doesn't say the Jewish law says the commandment that would be the commandment that Jesus not only wrote the commandment the Jesus kept so Bible is almost silent about what happened that Sabbath only one things recorded that happened that Sabbath some of the religious leaders that made such a stink about their legalism they instead of keeping the Sabbath began to wring their hands they saw the earthquake when Jesus died the dark sky the way he cried out and they began to worry maybe what if he was the son of God maybe he said he would rise a third day what's gonna happen if he rises we've got to keep that from happening so it says the day after the crucifixion the religious leaders went to Pilate they're not thinking about the Sabbath that day they're thinking about Jesus coming out of the grave probably the devil was worried too and he inspired them don't you think trying to keep it from happening and they go to Pilate and they say sir we remember that this deceiver said while he was alive after the third day he'd rise again so can you please assign some soldiers to guard the tomb they could have put temple guards there but they were afraid that they might be connected with it so they said maybe you could put Romans seal on the door government guard and so Pilate agrees we don't know exactly how many were there I mean not likely he sent a whole Centurion with a hundred soldiers when they guarded Peter they had four squads sixteen soldiers might have been four I mean how many do you need to guard a tomb so they had it'll probably at least four soldiers they're guarding the tomb at that time that's the only thing that happened Friday and then I don't think they rested very well that day they probably went to the synagogue and cried and who knows what the sermon was about but then they all gathered together that's Saturday night and they said first thing in the morning we're gonna bring our spices and we'll finish and bombing him and then while it's still dark because they couldn't sleep the women rose up and they started heading Willers still shadows from the moon and everything's obscure they're making the way down the road they had carried his body to the tomb and they were worried about a roadblock mark 16 says now when the sabbath was passed Mary Magdalene Mary the mother of James and Salome II brought spices that they might come and anoint him very early on the morning of the first day of the week they came to the tomb before the Sun had risen and they said who will roll away the stone for us now it's interesting it says they brought spices it also tells us in Matthew bringing sweet spices they knew that they had an obstacle in the way and they were wondering how are we going to get there how are we going to get that stone moved out of the way now some of you might be wondering who were the women because it seems to give a different account different women came from a couple of different locations they decided to rendezvous but at the tomb they all knew where it was and so when you read in the Bible and you put the four stories together there is Mary Magdalene appears in all the stories she was there Mary got there first then you've got Mary the mother of James and Joseph you've got Salome a the wife of Zebedee and mother of James and John James was a very common name in Bible times so this is the Salome a was the woman who came to Jesus and said can my son James and John sit on the right hand on the left hand and then it tells us that you also have read Luke 24:10 Joanna the wife of chuza Herod's steward so somebody in the household of Herod his steward the wife of Herod's steward became a believer she was at the tomb there was at least four women there may have been five it doesn't name them all because it goes on to say you read in Luke 24:10 it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other other being Joseph and other women who were with him which told these things unto the apostles Luke also says there were women women who followed him from Galilee that ministered unto him from their substance so some were between four and six women were converging on the scene to get together and to finish the job of anointing his body but as they're on their way all the women had coordinated to come they hadn't arranged for any men or any levers or leverage or weightlifters to help move this stone that may have weighed somewhere between three and eight tonnes and so the women are going as they go who will move the stone that for me this is one of the most important things about the message because of their love for Jesus they're going to Jesus they don't know how they're gonna get to them but they go anyway they're on their way to do what they think they need to do they don't know how they're gonna get it done they do everything they can do to make preparation and they start going that direction but there's a barrier but they go anyway how many miracles have you seen happen in the Bible when someone makes up their mind to do what God wants them to do they don't know how they're gonna get it done they're on their way to finish anointing his body but they say there is a mass of obstacle in the way have you ever run into a roadblock before there's a stone that separates us from loved ones that have died it's a death they had a stone that separated them from their God and you could call it sin you could call a death the penalty for sin is death but there was a barrier between them and Jesus and in spite of that they went towards Christ and as they went God worked a miracle you know you can think of several stories in the Bible where there were stones that needed to rolled away or moved you may not have thought of this one you go to Jacobs story in Genesis 29 verse 2 Jacob had crossed you know Jacob sets up a stone you got a couple of them in the story he sets up that stone when he has a vision when he first leaves home in Bethel then he crosses the wilderness and he goes to Haran and he's exhausted he's been traveling by himself he has no money nothing but a stick in his hand according to his own words and he meets these other shepherds he's trying to find out where his cousin and his family is and they said oh these are the sheep of Laban right here and there's a well and he wondered why they weren't watering the sheep and they said well I've got to move this stone there's a massive stone picture probably doesn't convey it very well massive stone was blocking the well they used to want to make sure that several Shepherds had to work together to move a stone because they didn't want other Shepherds stealing their water you remember the arguing about Wells had happened with Isaac and the Philistines you remember the arguing about wells that happened in the time of Abraham and so they used to guard their water even a lot and Abraham they said look we got too many sheep there's a dispute what did Moses do when he found his wife there was a fight over the water between some shepherds and the girls and Moses helped them water their sheep well they had this big stone that blocked it it was there well when Jacob realized that was his beautiful cousin coming with a sheep he did something almost superhuman he can read about here verse Genesis 29 verse 2 and 3 and he looked and he saw well in the field and behold there were three flocks of sheep lying by it for out of that well they watered the flocks a large stone was on the wells mouth noticed that now all the flocks would be gathered there and they'd roll aside notice that they would roll the stone aside he took the Shepherd's to do it from the wells mouth and water the sheep and put the stone back in the place in its mouth and it stayed there and it came to pass on now in verse 10 when Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of Laban his mother's brother and the sheep of Laban his mother's brother that Jacob went near and rolled the stone from the wells mouth now you got to recognize this is almost a Herculean feat I don't think it's an accident also he later wrestles with an angel Jacob was pretty tough yes his brother was a hunter but Jacob was not a wimp either and he rolls aside this done all these other Shepherds are looking on and you know Rachel was so beautiful what a guys do when they want to impress a girl they start lifting weights right and he rolled the stone from the wells mouth and he watered the flock of Laban his brother and then he kissed Jacob kiss Rachel he lifted up his voice and he wept and someone has used this as a proof text before that Rachel was the best kisser in the whole Bible because he kissed her and he cried so here you've got a story a stone was an obstacle God gave Jacob the strength to move the stone then you've got in the New Testament Lazarus John 11 friend of Jesus and Martha and Mary are crying over their brother John 11 38 and Jesus again groaning in himself he came to the tomb it was a cave something like the one that he would be in soon and the stone lay against it and Jesus said take away the stone and Martha the sister of him who was dead said Lord by this time there's a stench for he's been dead for days and Jesus said did I not say to you that if you would believe you'd see the glory of God then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying and then you go to verse 43 when he said these things he cried with a loud voice Lazarus come forth and then they saw a stirring inside after that stone was moved away and life again I would like to have seen a video of that somebody must have gasped in the crowd when they actually saw a form the first glint or visit just something moving that had been dead in there if it wasn't broad daylight that probably would have went running especially when he came out looking like tink King Tut he's all wrapped up in strips of cloth and Jesus had to say loose him all staring at him and he's trying to stumble around he's going unwrap him let him breathe a stone was in the way and then you can read in Daniel 6 another obstacle daniel 6 verse 16 you know this story so the king gave the command and they brought daniel and they cast him into the den of lions but the king spoke and said to Daniel your God who you serve continually he will deliver you then a stone was brought and laid on the mouth of the den and the king sealed it with his own signet ring and with a signet of his lords that the purpose concerning Daniel might not be changed it's not uncommon for graves to be sealed even when they found the tomb of King Tut one thing that got them so excited before they opened the tomb was every other grave of an Egyptian king they had found had already been ransacked by thieves and robbers and all those seals had been broken but when Howard Carter found the tomb of King Tut the seal with the rope was still there believe it or not after 3,000 years the seal still had petrified wax on it and it was unbroken so they were very excited because graves were often seal the king sealed the tomb the lion's den as far as Daniel was concerned was a tomb because most people went in and they died and they never came back out the tomb of Lazarus these things were sealed but the stones were moved you know the story of Daniel Hill I don't need to read it for you the king came back early in the morning just like when Jesus rose early in the morning and had the stone moved out Jesus was innocent he came out alive Daniel was innocent he came out alive there's a parallel story there now go with me to the resurrection scene and let's find out what we can learn if I was at stone what would I see Matthew 28 verse 1 the resurrection Matthew 28 verse 1 now after the Sabbath as the first day of the week began to dawn that means the part of the week that begins after the Sun Goes Down while it is still early in the morning what we would commonly call late Saturday night early Sunday morning Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to the tomb now they're on their way keep in mind you've got two or three groups of women that are going to rendezvous in the garden they'll go through the gate they'll go to the tomb and they'll finish anointing his body just before Mary gets there and their their hearts are broken you know it is the only thing darker than the night was what's going on in their hearts I mean they're why are they going to the tomb to anoint his dead body they don't have any hope at all they're just you know they're brokenhearted they're sobbing the crying Mary been crying so much that even when Jesus appeared she didn't recognize him her eyes were probably swollen and there's a great earthquake in the distance I think while it's still dark the heavens part the angel of the Lord comes down and there is another staircase of glory like the one that Jacob saw that angel that took the place of Lucifer whether it's Gabriel or another there's typically two covering cherubs by the throne of let's assume it's Gabriel he comes down the heavens are parted by the light and he really shakes up the guards now there were more guards at the tomb than just the Roman guards I don't know how many of them there were four but they weren't the only ones guarding the tomb who else do you think was guarding that tomb the devil and his angels if anybody had a vested interest in keeping Jesus in the grave this was Satan's best shot at being God if he could keep Jesus dead and in the grave Satan and all of his minions were surrounding that place but the Bible tells us that his angels that excel in strength are stronger good is always stronger than evil and when the angel of the Lord came down this angel even exceeded Lucifer in power now they were all forced to fall back you remember when Jesus said I am he the crowd came to arrest him and they fell backwards because of the glory that went through him when the angel of the Lord came right from the presence of God the Father down to this place all those wicked angels had to part the way for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and he rolled back the stone from the door he hurled it back like it was nothing you know powerful angels are and he sat on it why did he sit on it was he tired it's like you know after you carry something in you just sit down you say oh man I just I got a rest change it tire by the side of road you sit down on the flat and just rest yourself you know I think it's almost like saying you roll the stone out of the way and you sit on it it's like saying you're you ever seen a little cat catches a mouse it pounces hasn't even eaten the mouse yet but it just kind of sits on it looks around says this is mine you're not taking it away I like a lion with its prey that angel sits on it and he kind of dares Satan and all his angels you're not putting it back it's like the permanency of it this stone is not going anywhere and so he's guarding the stone there was a great earthquake he's sat upon it his countenance was like lightning and his clothing as white as snow and of course from this spectacle the guards that were guard guarding the tomb they are overwhelmed with fear the Bible says in the guards shook for fear of him and became like dead men they were just probably minding their own business you know a Roman soldiers got to stay awake when he's on guard but I think if ever they had an excuse to go to sleep these soldiers guarding a tomb probably thought look God won't say anything if you don't say anything I let's get some rest I mean I mean who's gonna come this look at the stone is covering nobody's gonna get this body out of here and if they do we'll wake up when they try to move the stone I mean if you your soldier would you feel like you had to stay awake and on your guard at a job like that they probably we're dozing a little bit early in the morning hardest time to stay awake I was a security guard it's really hard about 4:00 in the morning to stay awake and matter-of-fact if you won't tell anybody I took one of those Westcott clock alarms with me to work I have to punch a clock every hour around this construction site and they knew if I was there but I'd looked to my right and I'd look to my left and I was just guarding concrete and two-by-fours I put down my clock and I'd set it for about half an hour and I'd take I'd oh wow I was on duty now you're gonna get me fired but so they were probably resting and all of a sudden there was this lightning and what else does it say there was an earthquake was there an earthquake when Jesus died when he said it is finished there was an earthquake when he rises Sunday morning there's another earthquake the first earthquake opens graves following the second earthquake some of the saints that slept around Jerusalem come out of their graves and before they ascend to heaven with Jesus there's these brief appearances it doesn't happen very long because it's only mentioned by Matthew but who is in that resurrection I could only speculate might have been Isaiah who was killed by King Manasseh buried near Jerusalem it could have been Jeremiah the Prophet some of the patriarchs and prophets wasn't King David because Peter says in Acts chapter 2 David's still dead buried but a handful of the prophets and the Saints that had looked forward to the Messiah's coming that died in faith I think will be surprised who Jesus chose the resurrect John the Baptist could have been one of them we don't know doesn't even say he was buried around Jerusalem though but some of those who graves had been open during that first earthquake when Jesus said it is finished now came out of their graves and they appeared and you know what I would have done I would have if I was the Lord I would have sent like Isaiah and Jeremiah to visit K IFAs the high priest now when Lazarus was resurrected what kind of body did Lazarus have standard factory issue like you and I get he just had a mortal body that dies but those who were resurrected with Jesus following the second earthquake what kind of bodies did they have they've got their glorified bodies and it would have been fun to think of them seeing some of the members of the Sanhedrin and then floating up to heaven in their sight all these reports are now coming to K IFAs and the high priest of the apparitions that are being seen talk about some who was having a restless weekend pilot tells him look you guys you asked for a guard to guard this tomb my wife said she had a dream about this man so all they're getting all these reports and there's an earthquake and all this supernatural phenomenon I believe that those who condemned Jesus never slept a peaceful night again following the cross Pilate either can you imagine when the word finally reached Pilate from the guard we were sent to guard the tomb oh yeah the Jewish leaders paid them to tell a different story but eventually he heard about it he heard at least the rumor I don't think he ever slept again you can try and wash the blood from your hands but he knew he had been responsible for convicting an innocent man that was the son of God a great earthquake for the angel of the Lord had descended and for fear of him the guards shook and became like dead men but when they looked up the Bible says they saw the stone was rolled away so now the women get there Mary comes first the stone is rolled away Mary first goes in the tomb she looks in she doesn't see anything first time she says the body is gone what will we do and she may have left Joanna or or one of the other Mary's there she goes into the city to tell Peter and John you remember this Peter and John now hear this they're in the upper room they said we need to check this out you're seeing things because Mary you know she had a reputation she they thought law you know he's just seen things she's so she's so distraught from what's happened this weekend she's hallucinating so John and Peter hoping against hope that it was true they go to the tomb they look inside they see the folded clothes they don't see an angel yet they leave well while Mary's gone to get Peter and John the other women come in they're looking around they're wondering what's happened first one of them sees an angel there by the door others see two angels inside you're wondering why are there slightly different accounts in the Gospels between how many angels they saw that's because these angels are appearing two different women at different times they're coming in and they're gone now that's like I said five or six of them yeah so yeah some of them said they saw one another said they saw two it's because they're appearing but the consistent message of the Angels is why are you looking for the living among the dead he is not here but he's arisen as he told you he would be then they remembered you know many times Jesus told them I'm going to Jerusalem I'll be betrayed into the hands of sinful men I'll be put to death I'll rise the third day Mary heard that I think that's one reason that Mary went and spent so much money on a gift to anoint him before his death she heard it could be part of the reason Jesus first appears to Mary so Jesus has not yet ascended to heaven he's there somewhere he's come out of the grave we don't doesn't say that the soldier saw him it says the soldier saw the angel and Jerry Jesus may be off just waiting in the hedges and just watching to see how they're all gonna act and the angels keep appearing and saying he's not here but go tell the apostles he's alive so the women come in and they leave Peter and John come in and they leave they see the fold and napkin you know when the angel of the Lord first comes in Christ is wrapped in an outer grave cloth I think that the angel unwound the cloth the angel did not say rise son of God as though the angel had a command what power brought Jesus back from the grave well this is a difficult study but stay with me first of all how do you rise yourself from the dead that's hard for us to comprehend unless you're God the Bible says he was risen by the father and Christ also said I lay my life down and I take it up again you know how I think he took it up Christ's word has inherent creative power and the very fact that Jesus spoke that he would rise the third day that word was somehow hibernating out there and the Word of God never falls to the ground heaven and earth will pass away but his word will not pass away God had spoke it it's gonna happen Christ's word brought him back and don't try to figure it out I can't figure it out how you could be dead and unconscious and raise yourself unless it's your own word that you spoke before you died that has inherent creative power that brings you back and that's the only way I can deal with it so I'm not claiming to have all the answers he was also raised the Bible also says by the father and so Christ comes back to life everybody comes and goes one reason that John believe Peter looks in he gets excited and he's on his way out you know what make convinced John that Jesus was raised John saw the napkin that was folded that had been around his head it was folded it's like you know your kids get done with a shower and everything is on the floor and the towels on the floor but the fact if you're gonna steal a body do you take time to fold the grave clothes or if you're going to evict the body because maybe you know the Romans said no he can't be buried here he's got to go somewhere else no Roman soldier is gonna fold the grave clothes but John knew Jesus and he knew his attention to detail he was a little obsessive-compulsive like me dear and when he saw the grave clothes folded it says then John believed he said only Jesus would give that attention to detail and then he went out so now the women have come the majority of them they've left to tell the Apostles Mary was the first to tell James and John they leave the guards are gone the other women are gone Peter and John are gone Mary's there and she'll Engels now lingers you need to go to the Gospel of John chapter 20 and this is the last first we're gonna be looking at on the first day of the week verse one came married to the tomb early while it was still dark and she saw the stone had been taken away from the tomb then she ran and she came to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved she said they've taken away the Lord out of the tomb and we don't know where they laid it notice she says we what does that tell you when she got to the tomb she was with some other women she goes by herself to tell Peter and John Peter therefore goes out and the other disciple and I just read you all this verse seven saw the grave cloth folded in a place by itself the other disciple came into the tomb then he saw and also believed they didn't know the scripture that he must rise again from the dead the disciples went away again to their own homes so they're all confused and they're listening to the report of the women and they don't know what's going on you've got to just understand there's great disbelief among the disciples even the two on the road to Emmaus refer to this they're going down to Emmaus and they tell Jesus yes some women among us astonished us when they said they saw a vision of angels that said he is risen and we don't know what to think so when you think the resurrection is hard to believe you're in good company the Apostles found it hard to believe - but they finally came to believe when they saw Jesus I love this so verse 11 but Mary stood outside the tomb weeping can you just picture that what a tender picture everyone has left but she won't leave she said this is the last place I saw him kind of like a chill I have lost in a crowd they wanted they say I'm going to stay where my parent left me last and she says last time I saw him he was here I don't know where else to go I'm gonna stay here maybe he'll find me she stood outside the tomb weeping and as she wept now why was she weeping did she think he was alive no still not yet as she wept she stooped down and she looked in the tomb it's like you never miss something and you lose it you keep looking back in the same place for it again hoping it'll reappear and she saw two angels now in white sitting she'd just been in there before one at the head of the other at the feet where the body of Jesus had lain and they said to her woman why are you weeping she said because they've taken away I love this mine Lord and I do not know where they've laid him you notice she says they've taken away his body she still was wondering did he walk out on his own now when she said that she turned around and saw Jesus standing there she didn't know it was Jesus she's confused her eyes are swollen she's crying and jesus said to her woman why are you weeping whom are you seeking what are some of the last words Jesus speaks before he dies I think this was something she paid attention to first words of Christ when he rises are right here before Jesus died he said woman behold your son remember that here he's his woman why are you weeping in those statements where Jesus said woman behold thy son is an appeal to the church to behold Christ if I am lifted up John the Baptist said behold the lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world if we look unto him we are saved there's an appeal behold my son this is the Messiah look to him all the ends of the earth and be saved last words of Christ before he dies of course he's saying it in reference to his mother and John caring but I think there's a symbolic meaning here then the first thing he says when he rises if a woman is a symbol for the church woman why are you weeping should Christians be sad what did Jesus say to the two on the road to Emmaus what manner of communications is a Luke 24 what manner of communications are these you have with one another as you walk into our sad he's basically chastising them for their sadness and now he says to Mary why are you weeping the gospel as what good news why is it good news because the stone has been rolled away Christ is alive that means he said if I'm with you wherever you go he's with us here today woman why are you weeping and she again still not getting it she's supposing him to be the gardener and that's not altogether wrong the Lord is the one who planted a garden eastward in Eden this world is his garden she said to him sir if you carried him away she still doesn't recognize Jesus if you carried him away please tell me where you have laid him and I will take him away you know it just makes you want to cry to think about the love and devotion of Mary she was just so devoted to Jesus she said I don't know how I'll take care of it Jesus I think was probably a hefty carpenter he was a strong man and here she's probably a slight woman she says I'll somehow carry his body away and you could picture you know Mary trying to carry Jesus body off somewhere to find another grave I will take him away and he said to her Mary she said rabbi she finally recognizes the voice in in shocked astonishment I'd like to have hurt her Yelp I'd like to hear a recording of that if that was that stone I'd play that back which his teacher Mary had heard that voice before hadn't she he had cast Seven Devils out of her at other times rabbi and she goes to grab him by the feet and says she's clinging to him and he says do not cling to me King James says do not touch me that's not the best translation says for I've not yet ascended to my father but go so the first words of Mary why are you weeping go the Lord tells a church go go and tell my brethren and say to them I am ascending to my father and to your father to my god and to your God he said you know I'm your brother we're going I'm going to my god and your God I'm going to intercede for you and then she came and told the disciples that she'd seen the Lord and that he had spoken these things to her you know they still struggle finally Jesus appeared to them in person but the good news is they went in devotion to the tomb and they said who will roll away the stone so what's the answer to that question who will roll away the stone God will have you sometimes wondered about obstacles in your path or do you fear the grave do you fear it for yourself do you fear it for those you love that have gone there and you wonder who's gonna roll away the stone you know if you don't believe that Jesus can roll away the stone then you don't believe in Jesus because that's why he's alive is God has a way of doing the miraculous and he gave new life to his son he even raised some of the saints to try to punctuate that he was alive and that he would give us that same hope
