Very Early in the Morning [John 20]

Very Early in the Morning (John 20)

If I understand the Apostle Paul correctly, belief in the resurrection of Jesus is foundational to being saved. Saved from what? The judgment of God – the payment – for sin against God.

Rom 10:5-13 Moses describes in this way the righteousness that is by the law: "The man who does these things will live by them." 6 But the righteousness that is by faith says: "Do not say in your heart, 'Who will ascend into heaven?'" (that is, to bring Christ down) 7 "or 'Who will descend into the deep?'" (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). 8 But what does it say? "The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart," that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: 9 That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. 11 As the Scripture says, "Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame." 12 For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile-the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, 13 for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."

How did Moses say what Paul was quoting?

Deut 30:11-16 Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. 12 It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, "Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?" 13 Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, "Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?" 14 No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it.

15 See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. 16 For I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.

And the conclusion is not just New Testament Paul speaking. The prophet Joel stated the same.

Joel 2:32 And everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved; for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance, as the LORD has said, among the survivors whom the LORD calls.

This concept is what separates Christianity from all other religions. However, even within Christianity that shuns works of any kind, the capability to even call on the name of the Lord is determined by God. But there is another part of Christianity that seems to be challenged today: that obedience thing. Moses said it as:

– love the Lord your God

– walk in his ways

– keep his commands, decrees, and laws

The word "Lord" is used in English to represent the name of God because there is not an equivalent word-concept in English. And the unmentionable 4-letter acronym does not translate. The English publishing trick to give us a hint is full cap letters: LORD. That representation means in English: God who is the "I AM" and created all things including the things typically worshiped by man such as the sun or moon. But "Lord" also implies one whose commands are followed.

Psalms 69:6

May those who hope in you not be disgraced because of me, O Lord, the LORD Almighty;

may those who seek you not be put to shame because of me, O God of Israel.

BELIEVE IN YOU HEART THAT GOD RAISED JESUS FROM THE DEAD.

This is a requirement stated by Paul. It is not optional. It is not in the category of "it doesn’t matter." If you do not believe that Jesus is alive right now in a physical body, by Pauline definition, you are not Christian. Your religion is something other than Christianity. And there is no guarantee in that religion of your salvation from your offenses against God.

What does it mean "raised from the dead"? Jesus showed what it means just a few weeks before when he raised Lazarus from the dead. Was Lazarus dead? Yes. How do we know he was dead? Witnesses at the time declared he was dead. His sisters declared him dead. The Jews were joining in the mourning process. He was wrapped up in grave clothes and put in a tomb. His sister Martha declared that he would already be smelling from decay. He had been dead for four days. The "wake" period was over. He was dead. And the Jews afterwards wanted to kill him because of his existence.

Jesus commanded him to come out of the tomb and he did – the dead man walked out. This was not a spiritual resurrection. Lazarus had a physical body and there was a feast in honor of this just the week before Jesus was killed.

This was not a future hope in the resurrection. Martha already went through that theory with Jesus. It is easy to make promises about the distant future. Who can prove you wrong? But Jesus did not do that. The example he did was right now: Lazarus came out of the tomb walking and breathing like any other human being.

Paul declared that we must believe in our heart that God raised Jesus from the dead. If that happened, he must be alive today. Do we believe that? Or do we just believe that he is around us in spirit – whatever that means? A physical Jesus? With bones and flesh? A resurrected Jesus who eats like we do? Who is not like a ghost?

JESUS SAID HE WOULD RISE FROM THE DEAD IN THREE DAYS

No one believed him even though Lazarus was alive after being dead for four days. At least none of his disciples believed. Possibly Caiaphas believed because that High Priest requested guards. But of course that was supposedly to prevent the disciples from stealing the body – the Jewish story that persists today.

All of the disciples did not believe what Jesus said about resurrection. They were hiding.

John 20:1-11 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. 2 So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don't know where they have put him!"

3 So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. 4 Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived and went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, 7 as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus' head. The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen. 8 Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. 9(They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.)

10 Then the disciples went back to their homes,

How many times had they heard Jesus say, "on the third day raised to life"?

Matt 16:21 From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.

Matt 17:22-23 When they came together in Galilee, he said to them, "The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men. 23 They will kill him, and on the third day he will be raised to life." And the disciples were filled with grief.

Matt 20:17-19 Now as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside and said to them, 18 "We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death 19 and will turn him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day he will be raised to life!"

Luke 9:22 And he said, "The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life."

Luke 18:31-33 Jesus took the Twelve aside and told them, "We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled. 32 He will be handed over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, insult him, spit on him, flog him and kill him. 33 On the third day he will rise again."

In order to rise from the dead, he had to be dead – really dead. And a resurrection is not a spirit floating around. But that also means that our resurrection is not some spiritual thing either. We are not going to get some wings and a harp and sit around on a cloud forever.

IT IS A PHYSICAL RESURRECTION, NOT A SPIRIT RESURRECTION

The physical humanity that Jesus showed after the resurrection is what we should expect at our resurrection.

Luke 24:37-40 They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. 38 He said to them, "Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? 39 Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have."

40 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet.

The physical appearance of Jesus was important for belief.

John 20:24-27 Now Thomas (called Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord!"

But he said to them, "Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it."

26 A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!" 27 Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe."

Jesus still had the wounds from crucifixion. When Mary first saw Jesus, he was not in a wheelchair or on crutches and now several days later, Thomas saw and touched his wounds. This is an interesting understanding of healing. The wounds and damage to the physical body of Jesus were still there in some way, but it did not matter. (Do we have wrong expectations for healing sometimes?)

Good news, there is going to be food. Jesus ate after his resurrection.

Luke 24:41-43 And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, "Do you have anything here to eat?" 42 They gave him a piece of broiled fish, 43 and he took it and ate it in their presence.

John 21:9, 13 When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread. ... Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish.

And apparently there is going to be fishing – good fishing.

JESUS HAS TOLD US REPEATEDLY THAT WE WILL COME BACK FOR US

John 14:1-4 "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. 2 In my Father's house are many rooms ; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4 You know the way to the place where I am going."

He is coming for us to take us to be with him.

This is great hope for today. What other religion gives us that kind of a promise? That is the hope we have within us. Is Mohamed going to return? Is FDR or JFK going to return? Is Martin Luther going to return? Is even Mary the mother of Jesus going to return? No. It is Jesus who has promised to come and get us.

Titus 2:11-14 For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. 12 It teaches us to say "No" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, 13 while we wait for the blessed hope-the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, 14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.

Jesus said He is coming again.

Paul said that when we die, we are with Jesus.

2 Cor 5:6-10 Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. 7 We live by faith, not by sight. 8 We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. 9 So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.

Our body is here – being buried or burned or lost – but we are with Jesus.

And Jesus said He is coming again. Paul explains something.

1 Cor 15:50-57 I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed- 52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. 54 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory."

55 "Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?"

56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

This is the resurrection that we are looking forward to. In a flash, at the last trumpet, the dead will be raised imperishable. What happens in that flash? Our spirit that has been with Jesus is reunited with a physical, imperishable body. Just like Jesus, we will be alive – humanly alive.

THERE IS A DOWN SIDE TO THIS

John reveals in Revelation that there is a negative resurrection also.

Rev 20:4-6 I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony for Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or his image and had not received his mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. 5(The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection. 6 Blessed and holy are those who have part in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years.

Rev 20:11-15 Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. Earth and sky fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. 12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. 13 The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done. 14 Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. 15 If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

Some believe that they just die and cease to exist. If so, what they do or don’t do does not matter. But that is not what scripture says. Everyone will be held responsible for what they have done. Everyone whose name is NOT written in the Book of Life will be "thrown into the lake of fire." And this is after they have been resurrected. How do we get listed in that book?

Rev 21:27 Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life .

Rev 13:8 All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast-all whose names have not been written in the book of life belonging to the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world.

Rev 3:5 He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out his name from the book of life , but will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels.

Phil 4:3 Yes, and I ask you, loyal yokefellow, help these women who have contended at my side in the cause of the gospel, along with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life .

Ps 69:28 May they be blotted out of the book of life and not be listed with the righteous.

I am back to Paul, Joel, and even Moses again. Our name is not blotted out because, "everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved;"

And that name is Jesus.