MATTHEW 28 The resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ is the key to Christianity. Our faith is in a living Savior. Those who read through the Gospel of Matthew when it was first written, would have been full of joy at reading the words, “He is not here; He had risen, just as He said. Come see the place where the Lord lay. And go quickly, and tell His disciple that He has risen from the dead: and behold, He goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see Him: lo, I have told you.” We are moved with joy, gratitude, and worship to praise Him on this day as we realize our faith is in a living Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus finished the work He had been given to do on the sixth day, when He said, “It is finished!” On the seventh day, He rested, just as He had done when He created the world. On the first day of the week, a whole new world system and view opened up for those who believe in Him, know Him, love Him, and live to please Him.
The Empty Tomb, v.1-8 The ceremonial sabbath had passed as well as the last day of the week when the whole world dawned to a new day in the history of mankind. Death had been defeated by the One who had power over it. “In Him was life; and the life was the light of men.” This first day, in the New
Testament scriptures, is the day of the week in which Christians gather in assemblies to give honor to the Lord Jesus Christ [Jn.20:19,26; Acts 20:7; 1Co.16:2].
A new understanding of the authority and acceptance of the testimony of women began that first day of the week. A number of women came to the tomb, besides the two who are mentioned in this account by Matthew. The old day of subservience to male domination, in which Jews did not consider women competent to testify in court or bear credible witness to events, was now past. Divine authority was given to those women to first tell the news of Christ’s resurrection. The church’s estimation of women as witnesses to the Person and work of Christ has been established. Even though the public roles of men and women differ in the church and church gatherings, there is no difference in the responsibility of every believer to use God-given gifts in a scriptural way.
A violent earthquake took place before they arrived at the tomb, which would likely have awakened everyone in the city. When God moves to awaken people to life-changing events, He uses whatever means He thinks is best. It may be an “earthquake” in life, or it may be a “still small voice.” When the angel rolled the stone away from the sepulcher in which the body of Jesus had been laid, it was not to let Jesus out but to let others go in and see for themselves that the tomb was empty. The Lord Jesus could have rolled the stone away Himself, but by having the angel do it, there is a testimony to the fact that divine justice was satisfied, divine authority was exercised, and “God raised Him from the dead.”
The four messages to the women were important to them and to us. “Do not be afraid,” because the message of His resurrection brings joy to all who believe in Him. Our faith is not in vain. We do not have to fear the future. Because He lives, we shall live also. The empty tomb reminds us of the confidence we have of looking ahead and seeing Jesus. “He is not here,” was the second message. People have made statues of Jesus that stand in graveyards and in front of “church buildings,” but we know from the message of the angel that our Lord Jesus Christ is not the God of the dead but of the living. Our Lord never lost anything of Himself when His body was in the grave. There is a fullness in Him that was not diminished in any way when He was found in fashion as a man. He had added to His experience, all of the attributes of manhood, including death and resurrection. In all of His experience in veiled glory while He was on earth, He never experienced sin as a man, and never will.
“Come and see the place…” gives every believer the evidence by faith, to know the tomb is empty and it remains empty. As far as where the actual tomb is, may not be clear; but the shining angel, the prostrate grave-guards, the earthquake; those things make it plain that something powerful happened by the authority and power of God. The empty tomb, “the place where He lay,” assures us of the reality of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. “Go quickly and tell,” was a precise message directed to the women to tell to specific people. They began to testify as to what they knew under God’s authority. The disciples needed to know, so they would be comforted and then motivated to go further and obey His word. In the same way they had been with Him before His death; He wanted them to be with Him after His resurrection. That is where we find ourselves today, With Him, following Him, serving Him, obeying Him and loving Him. Even now we experience reverential fear and awe and joy at the same time when we think of our risen Lord.
The Risen Lord, v.9-10 Reverence is a necessity when we are on holy ground. At the sight of the Savior: honor, reverence, humility and worship were all in order by those women then, and it is the same for us today. We don’t have to be afraid of seeing Jesus, but our attitude and actions testify as to what we see in Him. To be in the presence of the Lord Jesus by sight or by faith, should bring the same response in us to Jesus. “Jesus; Thou joy of loving hearts, Thou fount of life, Thou light of men.”
A great delight to one’s soul when reading this passage, is the awareness of the fact that He wanted to be with His own people. He even called them His “brethren;” they are His family! This goes way beyond human family ties, to where one’s soul is knit to another in the bonds of holiness. In all the times we read of our Lord’s appearances during the forty days He was here after His resurrection; it was only to those who knew Him and believed in Him that he was seen.
That will happen to believers when He comes to the air and calls His own to be with Him at the first phase of His return. The unbelievers of the world last saw Jesus, as the King of the Jews, hanging on the cross. When they see Him again, He will be the Kings of kings in total and absolute authority over all the world.
The Cover-up, v.11-15 The news of Jesus’ resurrection didn’t take long to cause a big stir in Jerusalem. The confession of the guards as to “all the things that had happened,” would have strengthened the testimony of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. They were at the grave as eyewitnesses of what happened but never saw Him, and yet they were enemies. The sign of the prophet Jonah that had been told to the Jewish leaders; had happened just as Jesus said it would. The clear evidence was right there for them to see, hear and believe.
The details of the coverup by those hateful elders of the people are given in Matthew’s account which was written with a Jewish viewpoint. A large amount of money was given to the guards so they would openly lie. The members of the Sanhedrin promised to bribe Pilate if necessary, with money if for some reason he decided to take actions against the guards and investigate the matter. So, the guards were well paid and promised protection lest a penalty for dereliction of duty be laid against them.
Jesus’ resurrection still creates a stir among people. Those of us who believe it is a fact that Jesus who died for our sins on the cross, rose again from the dead and we are justified because of it, by His grace; know that He is Lord of all. Those who deny the resurrection, have closed their minds to the truth of the resurrection and may try to explain it away based on the fact that they haven’t seen Jesus. It will be a fearful day when they actually see Him but are yet in their sins.
The Commission, v.16-20 Other appearances of our Lord Jesus Christ to His disciples and those who believed on Him are written about in other accounts in the Gospels. Paul mentioned some of them in 1st Corinthians
15. We are not told of those who doubted except for Thomas. It may be an encouragement for some people, to know that some of those who were actually there and saw the Lord, briefly had doubts about Him before they committed themselves fully to the risen Savior.
The Lord Jesus Christ has universal dominion and authority as the Mediator whose power extends to every nation on earth. He always was God, and now as the God-Man, He has made reconciliation between us and the Holy God possible. When He told His disciples that fact, they would have understood the importance of the commission He gave them to do. As Sovereign over heaven and earth, He has the right to command us to do what He wants and expects us to act on what He says.
There are at least six compelling reasons to fulfill the commission and share our faith in Christ with those who are still dead in their sins. First, He commanded us to do this [Ac.1:8]. If we love the Lord Jesus, we will keep His commandment, and in this way, our love for Christ is demonstrated [Jn.14:15]. People who are without Christ, do not have God’s salvation and are lost [Ro.3:10,23]. God has chosen to use redeemed sinners to tell the lost to come to Christ and be saved [Ro.10:14-17; 1Ti.1:15]. God wants all people to be saved [Ac.4:12; 1Ti.2:4; 2Pe.3:9]. Our own faith grows when we conscientiously testify to our own faith in Christ and pass it on to others.
Believers are disciples in the sense that they follow Christ and learn from His word. Those who openly do what our Lord says, are “disciples indeed;” true disciples. They “go,” “make disciples,” “baptize,” and “teach.” They baptize those who publicly acknowledge they belong to Christ. Baptism testifies to other people that our allegiance and loyalty is to our Lord, and we intend to follow Him. Teaching obedience to the word of God and what it means, leads to practicing what we know to be right in spite of what other people might do.
“I am with you,” is very different from “I will be with you.” The presence of our Lord with us spiritually carries us through difficulties, pressures, and open opposition. His presence and authority give power to His servants to carry out the commission He gave. His perpetual presence with His people ensures that those who obey Him will be able to enjoy the privilege of representing Him all of our lives. He confirms His presence with us with His own, “Amen;” “It shall be so!”