He Is Risen, and Our Lives Are Forever Changed!

Matthew 27:62–28:20

As we consider the first Easter, let’s focus on not only the resurrection of our Lord, but also on the profound effect that it had on the disciples. We will use the following simple outline:

- - Before
  - After

BEFORE THE RESURRECTION

1A. What was the attitude of the enemies of Christ before the resurrection? Examine closely Matthew 27:62-66. In his book The Christ of the Empty Tomb, Dr. James Boice observes that it is interesting that, though the enemies of Christianity do not believe it to be true, they often will take its claims more seriously than do those who are believers. Dr. Boice uses these very verses in Matthew to illustrate his point. What do you think he means by this, and do you see parallels of this in today’s world?

1B. What was the attitude and/or condition of the disciples before the resurrection? Examine Matthew 26:55-56 and Matthew 26:69-74 for insights.

For further insight into what the disciples must have been thinking before the resurrection, it is helpful to examine their responses when they heard Jesus had been raised. Were the disciples quick or slow to believe Jesus had come back to life? Examine the following passages and discuss.

AFTER THE RESURRECTION

2A. After the resurrection, what were the responses of Christ’s enemies? Matthew 28:11-15 reports one response. In light of what you have just learned about the disciples’ perspectives and attitudes before the resurrection, do you think it likely that anyone who knew the disciples at all would believe such a story? Consider, too, the following observations by Dr. Boice in The Christ of the Empty Tomb (Moody Press, 1985):

The explanation was foolish, of course. Even the soldiers, who no doubt were not terribly well-educated men, would have known it was ludicrous. For one thing, they were to say the disciples had stolen the body of Jesus while they were sleeping. But if they were sleeping, how would they have known it was the disciples who had stolen the body? Perhaps one soldier at least had been awake and had seen the disciples. But then, why had he not immediately awakened the others and driven the disciples off? The idea of a ragtag band of Galilean peasants, as most of the disciples were, being able to outwit or overpower a band of armed soldiers was ridiculous. Perhaps the soldiers only suspected the disciples. In that case, why did they not get onto their tracks at once? It should not have been too hard to track the disciples down, expose the theft, and recover the body.

John Calvin wrote, “It was a childish excuse that would not have gotten them off for nothing if they had been dealing with an upright judicious governor.” But that is just the point. Neither the governor, the priests, nor the scribes were upright. The sign of the prophet Jonah had just been brought to them in the clearest of all possible ways and from a most unimpeachable source; the soldiers had everything to lose and nothing to gain by their story. Yet these enemies of the Lord were committed in advance to unbelief. They did not disbelieve because of a lack of evidence. They disbelieved and therefore suppressed the evidence.

2B. What were the disciples like after the resurrection of Jesus? We have examined that the disciples of Christ believed in the resurrection only reluctantly at first, for they were not expecting it to occur, in spite of what Jesus had told them. After coming to grips with reality and accepting the resurrection to be true, what were the disciples like. Examine and discuss the following passages.

In instances where the same people are mentioned here who can be described before the resurrection as being afraid, shy, scared, timid, and so forth, what now would explain the difference in them? In instances where people are mentioned here who aren’t previously mentioned (before the resurrection), could these people not have determined for themselves whether or not the resurrection actually took place if they had any doubt? After all, we are talking about a passage of time of just a few months or years at the most. In addition to the Holy Spirit’s having come and empowered the disciples of Christ, as Jesus promised in Acts 1:8, it is clear that the disciples had seen the resurrected Christ, and many became followers of His because they heard the testimonies of eyewitnesses — testimonies that could not be denied.

When one considers in particular what the followers of Christ faced because of their refusal to shut up concerning the news of Jesus’ resurrection, is it not the height of foolishness to think that they had stolen the body and endured all this hardship for what they knew was a lie? Dr. Boice observes in his book:

Why should anybody endure such punishments? Why should Paul have kept preaching when all it brought him was suffering? Was Stephen’s martyrdom worth it? What was the point of Peter and John’s flogging at the hands of the Sanhedrin? Would it not have been better for each of them if they had simply gone with the tide and done what the Jewish leaders wanted? Would it not have been wiser to do as the soldiers, who took the money and kept silent?

Silent about Jesus? About the resurrection? Each of those early Christians would tell us that they could never have kept silent, because the message they proclaimed was no mere earthly message that could be believed or not, depending upon whether it proved beneficial or instead required sacrifice. The resurrection is not philosophy. It is a fact of history. Therefore, as Peter and John replied to the Sanhedrin, they could not “help speaking about what [they had] seen and heard” (Acts 4:20).

APPLICATION

What were some of the things that the resurrection of Jesus Christ did for the disciples? What are some of the things that Jesus’ resurrection does for us? Consider John 11:25; John 14:19; 1 Corinthians 15:20-23; Ephesians 1:18-20; and 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18. Can we not have the same kind of boldness that the disciples had to declare the truth of God in a world where it is not popular? Popular or not, it is the only message that offers any real hope for our fallen world. Let us, like the early followers of Jesus, turn the world upside down — because the resurrection has changed our lives, as it did the lives of Jesus’ disciples, and we can never again be the same!

B. Nathaniel Sullivan
Easter, April 11, 1993