The following sermon was preached at Redemption Baptist Church on Sunday, 5 February 2017. We encourage you to look up the Scriptures that are referenced. May the Lord speak to your heart as you study His Word. Jesus, Our Passover and Firstfruits John 19:38 20:10 Last week we read about the greatest event in the history of the world. I refer, of course, to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Though multitudes of unbelieving men look upon the cross of Jesus as grotesque, and unworthy of our attention, the cross, nonetheless, continues to captivate the hearts of men. The empty cross continues to draw men to the Man named Jesus of Nazareth. Why? Because it was no ordinary man who hung on that cross. Jesus is the God-Man; and as He hung on that old rugged cross, He was paying for the sins of mankind. The cross was Jesus hour of glory. As Jesus once told a man named Nicodemus, And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life (John 3:14-15). For the greater part of 24 hours, Jesus Christ suffered at the hands of wicked men. They slapped Him, punched Him in the face, spat on Him, stripped Him, ripped His flesh apart with a cat-o-nine tails, and rammed a crown of thorns on His head. They drove long nails, like railroad spikes, into His wrists and feet, and hung Him up on a tree. They mocked and laughed at Him for hours, and forced a nasty concoction of wine and myrrh up to His mouth. Lastly, they pierced His side with a spear. But then, the indignity stopped. After Jesus side was pierced, not one wicked hand touched Him. God s Son had suffered tremendous injury from the hands of wicked men in order to pay for our sins; but ne ver again! After the price of our sins was paid for in full, it was as though the Father said, Enough! From that point onward, only Jesus disciples touched Him. Loving hands took His body down from the cross, and hastily wrapped it in linen cloths, and placed it in a tomb fit for a King. But thank God, He didn t stay there. Three days later, Jesus arose from the grave! This event was just as powerful and as necessary as was His death for our sins. If Jesus had died for our sins, yet had not rise n from the dead, we still would have no hope of salvation. Christ s resurrection from the dead is the guarantee that God s people will also be bodily resurrected one day, in perfect, sinless bodies, which will be fit to dwell in heaven with God! The title of today s message is Jesus, Our Passover and Firstfruits. Read John 19:38 20:10 I. Jesus, our Passover (19:38-42) After Jesus death, several believers participated in taking Jesus body down from the cross, and preparing it for burial. Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joses, and Mary the mother of James and John, are specifically mentioned as having a part; and it seems that other women were involved, as well. However, the two believers who played the most important role in burying Jesus body were Joseph of Arimathaea and Nicodemus.
Now, these two men were not true believers in Jesus during Jesus ministry. In fact, these men were both recent converts to Jesus Christ! How do I know? Because of what John says in verse 38. John says that Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews. Is there such a thing as a secret disciple? No, there is not. In John 12:42, we are told that many of the priests believed on Jesus; yet, because they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God, they did not confess Him. They were not true disciples, because Jesus plainly said that those who will not confess His name will be denied by His Father. Read Matthew 10:32-33 It is important to understand that the word disciple, in the Gospels, does not always describe a true believer in Jesus. Many people were called disciples ; yet, when Jesus doctrine became offensive to them, they left Him, and walked no more with Him (John 6:66). Judas Iscariot was also called a disciple ; but he wasn t a real disciple. You see, the word disciple simply means learner. Did the disciples who left Jesus, and walked with Him no more, learn things from Jesus? Yes. Did Judas Iscariot learn things from Jesus? Yes. But were they saved? No. They believed on an intellectual level; but they did not truly repent. So it was with Joseph of Arimathaea and Nicodemus that is, until the time of Jesus crucifixion. Up to this point, they had believed in their heads; but they hadn t truly believed with their hearts. If they had believed with their hearts, they would have turned to Jesus in repentance which would have involved being willing to be identified with Him. Being identified with Jesus was something they were not willing to do. Consider Nicodemus s story. Read John 3:1-16 / 7:47-53 At some point during Jesus ministry, Nicodemus went from being a secret follower of Jesus to being a true follower. In John 3, Nicodemus was so afraid of being seen with Jesus, that he went to Jesus at night time to ask about eternal life. (The very fact that this deeply religious man wasn t sure of where he stood with God shows that he wasn t truly saved!) Later, in John 7, we see him going so far as to defend Jesus, from a legal standpoint, before the other members of the Sanhedrin; but we still don t see any evidence that he had truly cast his lot with Jesus. However, somewhere around the time of Jesus death, Nicodemus (and Joseph of Arimathaea, as well), both went from being secret disciples of Jesus to being true disciples of Jesus. How do we know? Because they were now openly confessing Jesus name. In Mark 15:43, we are told that Joseph went boldly to Pilate to ask to have Jesus body, so that he could bury it. He now truly believed on Jesus for the first time in his life; and he no longer feared! You see, it was not Joseph s and Nicodemus s act of burying Jesus that saved them. Their act of burying Jesus was simply an outward fruit, or result, of the true faith that they now had in their hearts. My friend, have you truly believed? Do you know in your heart that Jesus is the Son of God who died for your sins, yet you are afraid to turn your heart over to Jesus Christ in true faith and repentance, for fear of what your friends would say or do? If so, I urge you to stop being a secret disciple. A secret disciple is not a true disciple at all! At this point, another important prophecy of Jesus was being fulfilled. For one thing, Nicodemus wrapped Jesus body with 100 pounds of myrrh (a sweet-smelling embalming resin, which preserved the body longer). This myrrh was an expensive commodity. It was the
gift of a rich man. Joseph, who was also a rich man, buried Jesus in his own tomb. This is important, because it was prophesied that Jesus would be buried with the rich in his death. Read Isaiah 53:9 Now, let s go back to verse 41-42. (Read verses 41-42 again.) Why was it so important that Jesus body be taken down from the cross before the end of the preparation day? For what were they preparing? The Sabbath. However, this Sabbath was not the weekly Sabbath (what we call Saturday ). What I m saying is that Jesus did not die on Good Friday. Jesus died on a Wednesday. How do I know? Because Jesus had said repeatedly that His body would be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth (Matthew 12:40). That means three actual 24-hour periods. Just do the math. If Jesus arose from the grave on the first day of the week (6 p.m. Saturday to 6 p.m. Sunday), that means that he died a little more than 72 hours earlier. In other words...he died on Wednesday afternoon. Most people see the word Sabbath, and assume that Jesus died just before the weekly Sabbath (Friday evening / Saturday). However, the weekly Sabbath day was not the only kind of Sabbath. Most of the feast days were regarded as Sabbaths, as well. The word Sabbath means rest ; and five of the seven feast days were called days of rest. The first day of the feast of Unleavened Bread was a Sabbath; and the eighth day after it completion was a Sabbath. The same thing was true of the Feast of Tabernacles: the first day was a Sabbath, and the eighth day after its completion was a Sabbath. Likewise, the Feast of Pentecost, the Feast of Trumpets, and the Day of Atonement were all Sabbaths. But, there were two feasts that were not Sabbaths the Feast of Passover and the Feast of Firstfruits. Read Leviticus 23:4-7 (The Passover was not a rest day, but the 1 st day of Unleavened Bread was.) It was not wrong for Jesus disciples to take His body down from the cross on the Passover, because the Passover was not an actual Sabbath day of rest. But it was wrong for them to do manual labour on the first day of the Unleavened Bread, because that was a Sabbath. Well, guess what? The first day of Unleavened Bread began at 6 p.m.! They had to get Jesus body down before the day of Unleavened Bread began, or else they would have been violating a Sabbath. Jesus disciples prepared His body for burial, and buried it, sometime between about 3:30 and 6 p.m., just before the end of the Passover day, and beginning of Unleavened Bread. Why is all this so important? Because Jesus died as our Passover Lamb on the actual day of Passover! In fact, Jesus died at exactly 3 p.m. (the ninth hour); and this was the precise time when the very first Passover Lamb was being slaughtered in the Temple! It was also the official beginning of evening time; and at this very hour, the Jewish people began to slaughter the lambs in their own homes, so that they could eat the Passover meal. (It was commanded in the Old Testament that they slay the lamb and roast it in their homes in the evening. ) Jesus Himself ate the Passover meal with His disciples on the night before His crucifixion (which was actually the very beginning of Passover Day); but He did not eat it on in the actual evening of Passover, because He had a very important job to do on the evening of Passover: namely, He would become the true Passover Lamb! (Quote 1 Corinthians 5:7.) Thank God, Jesus became the Lamb of God, so that He could take away our sins! (See John 1:29.) II. Jesus, Our Firstfruits (20:1-10)
There are many facets to the biblical account of what happened on the morning of Jesus resurrection. Each of the four Gospels gives us a different angle to the story. By the way, if Jesus resurrection were all made up, as the scoffers claim, you would think that the inventors of the story would have made up a tale about someone s actually seeing Jesus come out of the tomb! Yet, this is not the case. No one actually saw Jesus come out of the tomb; but many people did see Him shortly thereafter. What s more, the people who saw Jesus fearlessly testified of His resurrection to their dying day, in the face of severe persecution! You know, the very fact that it takes diligent research of all four Gospels in order to harmonise the events of resurrection morning goes to show that these events were not made up! Variations in perspective, from many different witnesses, is exactly what you would expect in a real, historical account. In a real history, you would expect people to include details that they personally saw, or that they felt were important, while leaving out details that other witnesses thought were very important. If all the accounts had been told in exactly the same way, we would have reason to suspect that it was made up by a band of conspirators, who made sure that their stories matched up. But such is not the case! The resurrection of Jesus is told from the perspectives of at least 18 witnesses, and was compiled and written down by four different authors, over a period of about 30 years. On the surface, some of the facts seem to contradict; but when they are examined carefully, they all fit together, like puzzle piec es! Now, before we examine John 20, I would like to give the whole picture of what happened up to this point, from the perspective of all four Gospels. First of all, in Matthew 27:62-66, we are told that after Jesus was buried, the Jewish Sanhedrin went to Pilate and demanded that he set soldiers on guard to watch the body of Jesus, because they remembered that Jesus had said, After three days I will rise again. That made them nervous! They told Pilate that they wanted to make sure that His disciples wouldn t steal His body, and thus claim that He had risen. (In reality, they were probably afraid that He really would rise again; and they wanted to be ready to kill Him if He did!) At any rate, Pilate sealed the stone with a Roman seal, and set guards around it. For three days, the soldiers watched the tomb of Jesus. But then, very early on Sunday morning, a little more than three days after Jesus burial, an angel came down from heaven, rolled back the stone that sealed the entrance to Jesus tomb, and sat on it. (At the same time, there was a supernatural earthquake.) The soldiers all passed out from sheer terror, and fell to the ground; and Jesus came alive out of the tomb. When the soldiers awoke, the angel was not to be seen; and the soldiers ran back into the city. Fearful that they would be executed for dereliction of duty, they didn t tell their superiors; instead, they told the Jewish religious rulers. The rulers bribed the soldiers to say that the disciples had stolen Jesus body by night; and they assured them that they would protect them from their Roman superiors. (By the way, that lie doesn t hold water, does it? How could the disciples have stolen the body without the notice of trained soldiers? It was their job to stay awake!) Now, while the soldiers were running back to the city, five women were on their way toward the tomb to anoint Jesus body with spices. They were Mary Magdalene; Mary (Jesus aunt, and the mother of James and Joses); Salome (another of Jesus aunts, and the mother of the disciples James and John); Joanna; and at least one other lady, whom the Bible doesn t name. When these women arrived at the tomb, they found the stone rolled away from the door, but saw no one there (at first). Now, at this point, Mary Magdalene didn t stick around. As soon as she saw that the stone was rolled away, she assumed the worst: that someone had stolen
Jesus body. She turned on her heels and ran straight back to Jerusalem to tell Peter and John, who were both at John s house. Now, Mary, Salome, Joanna, and the other lady kept their heads a little better. Though they were afraid and bewildered, they decided to go into the tomb to investigate. But while they were in the tomb, they were suddenly met by two angels. They appeared to be men; but it soon became obvious that they were not men. In fact, one of them was the same angel who had rolled back the stone a short while earlier. He spoke to the ladies and said, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead (Matthew 28:1-7). After being given this command, the women ran back to John s house to tell everyone the news that Jesus was risen! However, when they got to the house, Peter and John weren t there. Other believers were there, but not Peter and John. Why? Because while these four women had been lingering at the tomb, Mary Magdalene had run back to Jerusalem, and had told Peter, John, and the others at the house, They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid him. When Peter and John heard this, they ran to the tomb to check it out. (They didn t realise, as they were running through dark the streets, that Mary, Mary, Joanna, and the other lady, were running back to John s house at that very moment!) When Peter and John arrived at the tomb, they found the stone rolled back, just as Mary had said! With that, we come to our Scripture in John 20. Let s read it again. (Read John 20:1-10 again.) You ll notice that John doesn t tell us about the other four ladies who went to the tomb. Why? For one thing, the accounts of the other four ladies were already written down in the other three Gospels, and were well known by Christians everywhere. (John was the last one to write his Gospel.) But that isn t the only reason. The main reason why John focused on Mary Magdalene s part of the story is that Mary Magdalene was the one who had personally told him that Jesus body wasn t in the tomb! John went to check out the tomb because of Mary Magdalene s report. John is telling the story from the standpoint of what he saw and heard. Now, the Bible doesn t tell us John s name. Once again, John anonymously referred to himself as the other disciple, whom Jesus loved. (Read verse 2 again.) That is an interesting way for John to describe himself, isn t it? John never referred to himself as the disciple who loved Jesus, but rather as the disciple whom Jesus loved. John knew that his love for Jesus was, even at its very best, not worthy to be compared with Jesus perfect, incredible love for him. Years later, John wrote, Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins (1 John 4:10). Needless to say, Peter and John were probably running to the tomb as fast as their legs could carry them; but Peter, being older, couldn t keep up with John. By the way, it wasn t a very far jog to the tomb. To this day, the hill that most Bible-believing Christians believe to be Golgotha still looks strikingly like a skull. It is just outside the old Damascus gate of Jerusalem. And right at the base of the hill, literally meters below where the cross would have stood, is a tomb from the first century, which is cut right into the hill. (It was discovered in 1867.) This is exactly the way the Bible describes it. Back in chapter 19, John said that In the place where he was crucified there was a garden; and in the garden a new sepulchre. The tomb was almost immediately next to the place where Jesus died on the cross.
Now, how did John respond when he got to the tomb? Like Mary, he made rational assumptions that weren t based on faith. Let s read verses 4 and 5 again. (Read verses 4 and 5.) John came right up to the threshold of the tomb, but didn t go in. Why? Because he saw the linen clothes lying there, and assumed that Jesus was still in the clothes. In the darkness, he didn t notice that the clothes were empty. Peter, on the other hand, actually went in and investigated. When he got there, he saw that Jesus body was not there! By the way, did you notice that the head turban (the napkin ) was separate from the clothes that covered the rest of the body? This shows that the Shroud of Turin is just another fake Catholic relic! How do I know? Because the Shroud of Turin covers the whole body, including the head! Man-made tradition says that the Shroud of Turin is the shroud in which Jesus whole body was buried; but the Bible says that the covering for Jesus head was separate from the rest of the linen clothes. What s more, the image of the body on the shroud of Turin is of a man who had long hair; and the Bible says, in 1 Corinthians 11:14, that if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him. Jesus would not have disobeyed His own Word by having long hair! I choose to believe the Bible, not tradition! Now, can you imagine what must have been going through Peter s and John s heads at this point? They had not yet heard the women s report from the angel that Jesus was risen; but they surely must have remembered all the times when Jesus had told them that He would be crucified, and rise from the grave in three days! Can you imagine how ashamed they must have felt that they had been so slow to believe Him? As Peter looked at those linen clothes, he realised that no power on earth could have removed the body from those clothes, and have left them there in the untouched condition that they were in! Jesus body had been packed in a sort of cocoon of linen cloth and 100 pounds of myrrh; and by this time, it would have been hardened, like cement. There was only one explanation: Jesus had supernaturally risen from the dead, and risen right out of His grave clothes! John tells us that Peter saw, and believed. The Bible says that Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Peter saw the empty linen with his eyes; but the evidence that he saw with his eyes was not nearly as important as the evidence of God s Word. Peter had heard Jesus say that He would rise again; and every word that Jesus speaks is God s Word! If what Peter was seeing with his eyes had not been founded upon faith in the Word of God, he would never have believed. All the physical evidence in the world will not convince a heart that will not believe God s Word! Peter finally believed, because he finally received the Word that Jesus had spoken. But Peter s faith in God s Word was soon to be strengthened even more. Not only had Jesus foretold that He would rise from the dead, but the Old Testament Scriptures had foretold it, as well. (Read verse 9 again.) What is the Scripture that said that Jesus would rise again? There are many; but let s look at a couple of them. Read Isaiah 53:8-10 Read Psalm 16:9-11 Isaiah prophesied that the Messiah, after being cut off out of the land of the living, would prolong his days. In other words, He would bring Himself back to life again! David prophesied that the LORD would not leave the Messiah s soul in sheol (the place of the dead), and that He would not suffer His Holy One to see corruption (decay). Apparently, Peter and
John did not know these Scriptures before Jesus died on the cross; of, if they had heard them, it never occurred to them that these were prophecies of Jesus death and resurrection. But after Christ s resurrection, Christ taught them these Scriptures; and they took them to heart. For the rest of their lives, the Apostles went everywhere, quoting these Scriptures to everyone they met! Thousands of people believed on Jesus because of the power of these Scriptures; and their lives were never the same again! You know, the resurrection of Jesus Christ is not just a doctrine. It is a life-changing reality to everyone who will believe on Jesus name. For one thing, the same power that raised Jesus from the dead is effective to transform our lives, and to make us new creations! Paul said, That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death. But that s not all. Christ s resurrection is also the guarantee of the completion of the believer s salvation. It is the guarantee of the fact that one day, we, too, will be resurrected in bodies that are without sin, and immortal. Read 1 Corinthians 15:20-23 What did Paul mean when he said that Jesus is the firstfruits of them that slept? In order to get the full impact of that statement, let s examine the Feast of Firstfruits. Read Leviticus 23:9-14 The Feast of Firstfruits took place within the week of Unleavened Bread (only days after the Passover); and it always fell on the morrow after the Sabbath. In other words, it always fell on Sunday the first day of the week! On this day, the people of Israel would cut the very first sheaf of grain from their barley harvest, and would wave it before the Lord, in order to show their gratitude for the harvest. It was their way of saying, We offer this first sheaf of grain to you, Lord, to thank you for the rest of the harvest that you are about to give us. Are you seeing a picture emerging, here? Jesus arose on the Feast of Firstfruits because He is the Firstfruits of the resurrection! He is the first Man who arose to sinless immortality; and because His sinless resurrection was offered up to God the Father, all who believe on Him have the sure promise that they, too, will partake of the glorious resurrection harvest to come! Please don t misunderstand: This doesn t mean that no one arose from the dead before Jesus did. There were a few people in the Old Testament who were raised back to life through the prophets Elijah and Elisha; and there was a handful of people whom Jesus raised from the dead during His ministry. However, all of them rose back to life with bodies that still had the sin nature; and they all died again! They experienced only temporary resurrections, back into their mortal, sinful bodies. Jesus was the first one to arise in a sinless, immortal body; and we who have believed on Him will all follow Him in resurrection! This is our ultimate hope! Conclusion: My friend, have you believed on the Passover Lamb? Have you believed on the Firstfruits of the Resurrection? Have you believed on the Lord Jesus Christ? Perhaps you, like Joseph of Arimathaea and Nicodemus, believe in Jesus intellectually, but have never repented and turned to Christ, and identified with Him. If so, that is not enough! Going right up to the threshold is not the same as going through the Door. You must enter into eternal life through Jesus Christ! Won t you truly believe on Jesus Christ? And, Christian, I would ask you: how strong is your faith in God s Word? Are you, like the disciples, doubting something that God has spoken? If so, doubt no longer! Only trust Him!