WEBVTT 1 00:00:01.600 --> 00:00:05.500 Grace mercy, and peace be yours from God our Father through our Lord 2 00:00:05.500 --> 00:00:06.700 and Savior Jesus Christ. 3 00:00:06.700 --> 00:00:07.900 Amen. 4 00:00:12.100 --> 00:00:13.200 You heard the reading. 5 00:00:14.500 --> 00:00:15.300 Let us pray. 6 00:00:18.300 --> 00:00:21.700 Lord may the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be 7 00:00:21.700 --> 00:00:22.700 acceptable in your sight. 8 00:00:22.700 --> 00:00:27.100 Oh Lord our rock and redeemer. Amen. 9 00:00:29.300 --> 00:00:34.900 There is unmistakable and irrefutable proof that there is sin and death 10 00:00:34.900 --> 00:00:36.000 all around us. 11 00:00:37.900 --> 00:00:43.300 In our own bodies, we reach maturity and swiftly body mind and health 12 00:00:43.300 --> 00:00:47.800 decay until heart and breathing stop 13 00:00:49.100 --> 00:00:54.200 and we go the way of our fathers before us. The dead are destined for the 14 00:00:54.200 --> 00:00:59.900 grave that is the evidence with which most are familiar. 15 00:01:02.900 --> 00:01:05.000 That is presupposed by the disciples. 16 00:01:06.400 --> 00:01:08.800 Optimism had given way to grief. 17 00:01:10.000 --> 00:01:13.600 They thought the cause had concluded the Messiah and the hope of New 18 00:01:13.600 --> 00:01:15.800 Kingdom had been dashed on the rocks. 19 00:01:15.800 --> 00:01:19.800 They saw him breathe his last. Boy 20 00:01:21.100 --> 00:01:22.400 it's finished for sure. 21 00:01:24.900 --> 00:01:28.400 His followers had seen his head bowed down in death. 22 00:01:29.800 --> 00:01:33.600 They had seen the water in the blood poured out from his side. 23 00:01:35.900 --> 00:01:41.700 Joseph carried that limp lifeless body to his newly carved out tomb. The 24 00:01:41.700 --> 00:01:47.000 women had gone home to prepare spices to apply toward a more 25 00:01:47.000 --> 00:01:49.800 permanent burial after the Sabbath. 26 00:01:51.600 --> 00:01:55.700 The unanimous opinion among friend and foe alike was that Jesus was 27 00:01:55.700 --> 00:01:56.800 over and done. 28 00:01:56.800 --> 00:02:02.100 The only task that needed to be accomplished was to provide means to 29 00:02:02.100 --> 00:02:06.400 prevent someone from pulling off some expected hoax. 30 00:02:07.900 --> 00:02:10.100 Seal the tomb set up the guard 31 00:02:12.800 --> 00:02:14.000 but Jesus is dead. 32 00:02:15.600 --> 00:02:20.100 And the general expectations throughout that Passover Sabbath and beyond 33 00:02:21.200 --> 00:02:22.800 is that he would stay dead. 34 00:02:25.600 --> 00:02:30.600 With the dawn of the first day of the week the women came to the grave 35 00:02:30.600 --> 00:02:33.800 bearing myrrh, aloes and nard. 36 00:02:34.800 --> 00:02:41.300 Now there were no guards and most importantly know Jesus to be found. 37 00:02:41.300 --> 00:02:46.200 Peter and John ran to the tomb having heard the women's report and 38 00:02:46.200 --> 00:02:48.600 there is no Jesus there. 39 00:02:50.200 --> 00:02:54.500 Mary sees a man and mistakes him for a gardener and does not recognize 40 00:02:54.500 --> 00:02:56.800 at first with whom she is speaking. 41 00:02:57.900 --> 00:03:00.700 And fit's the mindset of the moment. 42 00:03:01.700 --> 00:03:03.200 It couldn't be Jesus. 43 00:03:05.000 --> 00:03:08.300 That is until he reveals himself to her. 44 00:03:09.800 --> 00:03:14.400 And the two on the road to Emmaus are kept from recognizing him only 45 00:03:14.400 --> 00:03:15.800 in the breaking of the bread 46 00:03:15.800 --> 00:03:18.600 do they come to identify him. 47 00:03:19.900 --> 00:03:22.300 Contrary to their natural experience 48 00:03:22.300 --> 00:03:27.200 they are seeing the one who was dead now very much alive. 49 00:03:27.200 --> 00:03:33.000 And the joy for Joy, they barely believe it. Until his Ascension 50 00:03:33.000 --> 00:03:39.300 Jesus gives many proofs that he is most certainly not dead but alive 51 00:03:39.300 --> 00:03:41.500 bodily risen from the grave. 52 00:03:43.700 --> 00:03:48.600 Appearing to the apostles behind locked doors who are still fearing 53 00:03:48.600 --> 00:03:51.500 for their lives, Jesus shows himself. 54 00:03:53.100 --> 00:03:54.600 The first thought is not 55 00:03:55.800 --> 00:03:57.700 oh, Jesus is come back to them. 56 00:03:59.500 --> 00:04:01.400 But rather that they were hallucinating. 57 00:04:02.800 --> 00:04:04.500 This had to be a ghost. 58 00:04:05.700 --> 00:04:09.100 But hallucinations do not produce old witnesses. 59 00:04:10.800 --> 00:04:18.600 So Jesus presents clear and indisputable evidence here touch me and 60 00:04:18.600 --> 00:04:20.700 see I have flesh and bone. 61 00:04:22.200 --> 00:04:27.400 To Thomas Jesus had given his crucifixion wounds as physical evidence 62 00:04:27.400 --> 00:04:29.000 that it was really him. 63 00:04:30.000 --> 00:04:35.900 The Jesus who had been crucified now stood before him as Lord and God. 64 00:04:37.300 --> 00:04:41.300 There were over 500 eyewitnesses of the risen Jesus scattered 65 00:04:41.300 --> 00:04:42.300 throughout the holy city. 66 00:04:44.800 --> 00:04:49.900 The disciples continue to hear him preach for the next 40 days. His 67 00:04:49.900 --> 00:04:55.700 word now guaranteed by his return from the grave everything that Jesus 68 00:04:55.700 --> 00:05:02.000 had ever said was guaranteed by an empty tomb. And during his remaining 69 00:05:02.000 --> 00:05:03.600 days prior to his Ascension 70 00:05:03.600 --> 00:05:09.100 he was not shy in providing many proofs that he was alive. 71 00:05:11.500 --> 00:05:16.000 Several several times all though he would never die again and 72 00:05:16.000 --> 00:05:20.400 physical food was not necessary to sustain a resurrected body. 73 00:05:20.400 --> 00:05:26.200 He ate what the disciples ate not so much as food, but as further 74 00:05:26.200 --> 00:05:30.700 proof that their eyes and minds were not deceiving them. 75 00:05:30.700 --> 00:05:35.400 He was living breathing flesh and bone and not some disembodied 76 00:05:35.400 --> 00:05:40.300 spirit raised in a dream in beleaguered minds searching for the best 77 00:05:40.300 --> 00:05:41.200 possible 78 00:05:41.200 --> 00:05:42.900 hope in a hopeless world. 79 00:05:42.900 --> 00:05:45.900 He was the resurrection and the life. 80 00:05:45.900 --> 00:05:49.300 He was the way the truth and the light. 81 00:05:51.600 --> 00:05:55.800 The forensic physical evidence was not the only apologetic instrument 82 00:05:55.800 --> 00:05:58.500 in Jesus resurrection toolbox. 83 00:05:58.500 --> 00:06:04.500 Although it was powerful for the message of the Gospel both pre 84 00:06:04.500 --> 00:06:07.400 crucifixion and post resurrection. 85 00:06:07.400 --> 00:06:12.700 Jesus necessarily made it clear that he was the object of Old 86 00:06:12.700 --> 00:06:13.400 Testament Revelation. 87 00:06:13.400 --> 00:06:19.400 And the whole of God's word would find its fulfillment in him. New 88 00:06:19.400 --> 00:06:23.400 Testament Revelation could not be centered in the anyone else other 89 00:06:23.400 --> 00:06:25.100 than Jesus. 90 00:06:26.800 --> 00:06:32.700 Nor could have one find any greater meaning to this story than to 91 00:06:32.700 --> 00:06:38.700 point out his Redemptive Mission God so loved the world that he gave 92 00:06:38.700 --> 00:06:39.400 his son. 93 00:06:41.400 --> 00:06:46.200 Three times Jesus spoken to his disciples of his impending betrayal his 94 00:06:46.200 --> 00:06:51.600 condemnation before state and church and his noted manner of death, but 95 00:06:51.600 --> 00:06:53.200 they seem to barely hear it. 96 00:06:55.000 --> 00:06:58.700 And some vehemently opposed the whole idea. 97 00:07:00.400 --> 00:07:04.500 The resurrection also played an intimate part in these prophecies. 98 00:07:04.500 --> 00:07:05.600 He not only 99 00:07:07.000 --> 00:07:07.700 would die 100 00:07:09.600 --> 00:07:12.500 but he would rise again. 101 00:07:15.100 --> 00:07:18.800 For a while, they didn't seem to be the truth by which the disciples 102 00:07:18.800 --> 00:07:22.500 would operate on that particular Sabbath. 103 00:07:25.700 --> 00:07:26.500 The Torah 104 00:07:27.900 --> 00:07:28.700 the Nevi'im 105 00:07:29.900 --> 00:07:35.700 and the Ketuvim all testify of Christ in word and context. The 106 00:07:35.700 --> 00:07:40.000 woman seed would crush the Serpent's head and all the nations of the 107 00:07:40.000 --> 00:07:41.400 world would be blessed. 108 00:07:41.400 --> 00:07:46.000 God himself would write a raise up a prophet from among Moses brother 109 00:07:46.000 --> 00:07:49.200 speaking everything that the father gave him to speak. 110 00:07:50.500 --> 00:07:55.700 The stump of Jesse when shoot forth a branch from which a forever 111 00:07:55.700 --> 00:08:00.400 Kingdom would rise. A virgin would conceive and bear a son called God 112 00:08:00.400 --> 00:08:04.600 With us and the government will be on your shoulder and his kingdom 113 00:08:04.600 --> 00:08:10.400 will stand forever and forever more. Israel's King will come riding on 114 00:08:10.400 --> 00:08:14.000 a donkey the Messiah is betrayed for 30 pieces of silver. 115 00:08:14.000 --> 00:08:16.800 They pierced his hands and feet. 116 00:08:16.800 --> 00:08:20.900 They mock him they divide and cast lots for his garments. 117 00:08:20.900 --> 00:08:25.900 He was despised and rejected by men specifically he came to his own 118 00:08:25.900 --> 00:08:28.100 and his own did not receive him. 119 00:08:29.300 --> 00:08:33.100 He was stricken smitten of God and afflicted wounded for our 120 00:08:33.100 --> 00:08:37.799 transgressions crushed for our iniquities and we are healed by his 121 00:08:37.799 --> 00:08:37.900 stripes. 122 00:08:37.900 --> 00:08:44.400 He is led to the slaughter like a silent sheep is led to its shears. 123 00:08:45.500 --> 00:08:47.700 Not one of his bones is broken. 124 00:08:47.700 --> 00:08:51.000 He is not abandoned to Shoel. 125 00:08:52.200 --> 00:08:54.100 He shall put it into death forever. 126 00:08:54.100 --> 00:08:57.100 His days will be prolonged. 127 00:08:57.100 --> 00:09:02.200 I know that my redeemer lives and that the last few will stand on the 128 00:09:02.200 --> 00:09:04.500 earth and I will behold Him. 129 00:09:07.300 --> 00:09:11.300 The probability of just one person fulfilling eight such prophecies 130 00:09:11.300 --> 00:09:19.800 according to Peter Stoner is 1to 1 X 10 to the 17th power. One followed 131 00:09:19.800 --> 00:09:21.200 by 17 zeros. 132 00:09:22.700 --> 00:09:23.700 He describes it as. 133 00:09:24.800 --> 00:09:30.800 As if you would mark a silver dollar with an X and mixing it up in two 134 00:09:30.800 --> 00:09:36.800 feet of silver dollars covering the entire state of Texas and you send 135 00:09:36.800 --> 00:09:38.200 in a blind man 136 00:09:39.600 --> 00:09:42.200 to wander as far as he wants 137 00:09:43.100 --> 00:09:43.900 and then 138 00:09:45.800 --> 00:09:46.800 in one try 139 00:09:48.200 --> 00:09:50.200 he would pick that marked coin. 140 00:09:53.100 --> 00:09:57.600 Some have surmised there are over 300 Messianic prophecies in the Bible for which 141 00:09:57.600 --> 00:10:02.500 the mathematical odds would even more astounding for just one person 142 00:10:02.500 --> 00:10:06.000 to fulfill and Jesus did it. 143 00:10:06.000 --> 00:10:07.800 Yes with God 144 00:10:07.800 --> 00:10:08.900 nothing will be impossible. 145 00:10:10.800 --> 00:10:13.600 Our text at various other places 146 00:10:13.600 --> 00:10:17.300 we're told that the risen Jesus open the scriptures to his disciples 147 00:10:17.300 --> 00:10:20.600 and showed how he was to die and rise again. 148 00:10:20.600 --> 00:10:25.100 They then came to know that Jesus was really risen and this is 149 00:10:25.100 --> 00:10:29.900 observed in their changed character after that first Easter Sunday. 150 00:10:29.900 --> 00:10:33.700 They all started that day cowering in a locked room. 151 00:10:33.700 --> 00:10:37.400 They couldn't believe their ears when the reports started coming their 152 00:10:37.400 --> 00:10:38.900 way that Jesus was no 153 00:10:39.600 --> 00:10:44.400 longer in Joseph's tomb and then their eyes could barely counter 154 00:10:45.700 --> 00:10:46.900 their doubts and fears. 155 00:10:49.200 --> 00:10:53.200 What these same disciples within several weeks are even willing to be 156 00:10:53.200 --> 00:10:57.100 arrested and beaten for the risen Jesus. And for the right and 157 00:10:57.100 --> 00:11:01.200 privilege to speak of him and the resurrection before audiences far 158 00:11:01.200 --> 00:11:06.000 and near. The frightened disciples who once ran off to hide fearful 159 00:11:06.000 --> 00:11:10.800 that they would encounter the same fate as the Christ now indeed did 160 00:11:10.800 --> 00:11:12.600 prefer martyrdom 161 00:11:13.700 --> 00:11:16.200 then to forsake and deny, the risen Lord Jesus. 162 00:11:16.200 --> 00:11:21.500 They were eager to heed the Lord's command to stick around in Jerusalem for the gift 163 00:11:21.500 --> 00:11:25.700 of the spirit to come upon them because the risen Jesus having 164 00:11:25.700 --> 00:11:29.700 established the treasures of forgiveness and eternal life would. 165 00:11:31.800 --> 00:11:37.100 Would he ever promised something that he wouldn't bring about wouldn't 166 00:11:37.100 --> 00:11:41.300 give among those perfect gifts that come from above? 167 00:11:42.500 --> 00:11:46.900 Why shouldn't the disciples be eager to wait for that gift? 168 00:11:47.700 --> 00:11:51.700 The many proofs Jesus offered were given to underscore who Jesus said 169 00:11:51.700 --> 00:11:54.300 he was and that he is 170 00:11:55.900 --> 00:12:02.600 who he was and presently is. The scriptures revealed that what Jesus 171 00:12:02.600 --> 00:12:03.800 was sent to do 172 00:12:03.800 --> 00:12:09.200 he accomplished to perfection. The resurrection historically confirmed 173 00:12:09.200 --> 00:12:14.000 the real and physical rising in the son of man the Son of God Jesus of 174 00:12:14.000 --> 00:12:14.600 Nazareth. 175 00:12:14.600 --> 00:12:19.000 So that what Jesus promised would be the results of his life suffering 176 00:12:19.000 --> 00:12:23.600 death and resurrection and they would be when we sinners could count 177 00:12:23.600 --> 00:12:27.700 on as our very own as we are brought to faith in him. 178 00:12:27.700 --> 00:12:32.700 Our minds would be entombed in its post fallen pessimism, fear and 179 00:12:32.700 --> 00:12:32.900 unbelief. 180 00:12:32.900 --> 00:12:37.600 If not for the risen Jesus, we would be lost and set for Eternal 181 00:12:37.600 --> 00:12:38.000 death 182 00:12:38.000 --> 00:12:41.000 if Jesus had not come and did what he did. 183 00:12:41.000 --> 00:12:46.800 We would think of death as the end followed by hell or nothing if 184 00:12:46.800 --> 00:12:50.800 Jesus hadn't conquered the final enemy and beat death in the devil on 185 00:12:50.800 --> 00:12:51.300 our behalf. 186 00:12:51.300 --> 00:12:55.600 We would be forever caught in a trap of temptation and 187 00:12:55.800 --> 00:13:00.300 sin if Jesus hadn't raised in us the hope that comes from his 188 00:13:00.300 --> 00:13:06.300 resurrection Victory and now because he lives we too shall live. 189 00:13:08.000 --> 00:13:09.700 He has completed our joy. 190 00:13:09.700 --> 00:13:14.500 He has brought about true-life to reverse our deserved death. 191 00:13:15.400 --> 00:13:21.400 He has raised our spirits even as he will raise us from the dead. And 192 00:13:21.400 --> 00:13:27.400 our Heavenly Bliss will never end. As we eagerly and joyfully 193 00:13:27.400 --> 00:13:32.000 energetically and perpetually proclaim 194 00:13:33.300 --> 00:13:34.500 Christ is risen. 195 00:13:39.800 --> 00:13:40.500 He is risen indeed. Alleluia! 196 00:13:44.100 --> 00:13:47.600 All understanding keep your hearts and your minds through Christ Jesus 197 00:13:47.600 --> 00:13:49.600 our lord. Amen.