Sermon

by the Rev. Donald Campbell, M.A., Edinburgh.
“He is not here: for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.” Matthew 28: 6.

Recently we were endeavouring to draw your attention to some matters concerning the burial of our Lord; that is the burial of His Body. In doing so we endeavoured to emphasise the importance of this part of Messiah’s history. It was absolutely necessary that He should die. It was as necessary that the Church of God should have the most conclusive proof of that fact. The reason why such a proof was necessary, and continues to be necessary, was the endeavour, and the endeavours still being made by the enemy and by the enemies of Christianity, to prove that He was only in a trance or deep coma by reason of the excruciating pain which crucifixion could inflict upon those who were its victims. The burial of Christ was arranged by men who had authority — one in the Church: the other in the state — Joseph of Arimathaea who was a member of the Council and Pilate who was the Governor and Supreme Judge over Judaea. Both were satisfied that the Body was a dead body. Then Joseph proceeded to carry out the duty of burying that Holy Body.

Tonight we are confronted with His resurrection. It was necessary that He should die in order that He be the propitiation for the sins of the world. It is just as necessary that we should have the most conclusive proof of the Resurrection. The apostle, in his first Epistle to the Corinthians, in dealing with the resurrection of the dead, the resurrection of the bodies of the human race, writes that, if Christ be not risen, then our faith in him is vain. Those who died in Christ are lost. Now it is inconceivable that such a thing would happen. We ourselves have been privileged to know men and women who professed the Christian religion and whose godliness no one would doubt. We saw such and we would find it very difficult, impossible to accept from anyone, that now, their souls being in eternity, they are lost. God forbid. Nevertheless that would be the case if it could be proved that Jesus of Nazareth, that is His Body, never rose from the dead — that it remained in that sepulchre until it was reduced to dust. The enemies of the Cross, of course, have tried and continue to try to prove that the Body of our Lord never rose from the dead. It is, therefore, a very important duty and a very binding obligation on all Christians to acquaint themselves with this subject; to so arm themselves with the whole armour, which God has provided, in order that they be able to resist the enemy and discomfit him and refute all those alleged proofs and arguments which would suggest that the Christian religion is a fraud and imposition from which those who profess it, and submit to its rules, must be delivered. So, we have the testimony of all the gospel writers who wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and who themselves were eyewitnesses of much that happened although none of them saw, because no man or woman saw, the actual Resurrection of Christ. Nevertheless, they were left with proofs which were, and are, as conclusive as though some of them had seen it. So, all do testify to the fact of it. None of the gospel writers omitted to give us a very convincing account of this fact, that the Lord rose from the dead. This chapter is Matthew’s record of the event.

In considering Matthew’s record with reference to the text — “He is not here: for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.” — we would consider the three propositions contained in the text. The FIRST one is the announcement, “He is not here.” That to some at the time was a very perplexing announcement indeed, but, as one can see from the context, that concern and worry vanished away. We find them enjoying the blessings and joy of this great and most important event. SECONDLY, we have an explanation for His absence from the grave in these words, “For He is risen, as He said.” He is risen and risen just as He said Himself, first through His prophets and secondly by Himself. THIRDLY, we have the invitation, “Come, see the place where the Lord lay.” A wonderful invitation! The Word of God is full of, is replete with invitations. Many of those begin with this very word, inviting sinners to “Come”. Some invitations invite us to come and taste; others to come and hear; others to come and drink; others to come and eat. This one invited those gracious women to come and see and the invitation is to us tonight just as it was to them. To come, see the place where He was laid on that shelf in the grave. For this was a sepulchre — not an ordinary grave — but a sepulchre as was common in Israel itself and among other eastern nations. The kings, the princes of the nation and other wealthy people had sepulchres made for them. David’s sepulchre was, it is thought, about 30 feet long. Such were divided into apartments — niches cut out of the rock and in the side of the sepulchre. In these the body, some — as was true of the body of our Lord — anointed and wrapped in linen, was laid. There the Lord’s Body was placed in a particular space that was specially made for it. It was there — but not now.

Firstly, the ANNOUNCEMENT, “He is not here.” As we mentioned, this was a perplexing announcement, for those to whom it was made had come to that place for a purpose, namely, to anoint the Body. Now the Body was not there. Mary Magdalene came to the conclusion that it was stolen. “They have taken away my Lord and I know not where they have laid Him.” Now, after they had looked for Him in vain they found themselves being ministered to by an angel so that the sepulchre has become a place in which we find a congregation and a preacher with a theme to preach on. That place in which the Body of the Lord was laid, a place which caused such sorrow to the women and to others also, has become the Church of God; it has indeed become a synagogue; it has become a tabernacle and, although the Body of the Lord is not there, nevertheless there is much left to give food for thought and meditation.

The first point we would notice in this connection is the preacher. The preacher was an angel. He is described here as having a face, a glorious face and wearing bright garments. His whole aspect was awe-inspiring. He was obviously one from another world. He was of course an angel. We are left in no doubt about that. If we believe the Scriptures at all, we believe that this particular preacher or announcer was an angel and that he was there for the purpose of giving comfort to these women who had come to the Sepulchre. The next point, with regard to the preacher or announcer is that he knew these women. He knew what was in their hearts. He knew their errand. He knew why they were there. “I know,” he said, “It is not necessary to tell me, I know that ye seek Jesus.” Notice how he describes Jesus. “Jesus of Nazareth which was crucified.” He refers the women to this Person’s low estate while yet alive in this world and when He died. He does not refer to Him as the Son of God, as the Prince of the Kings of the Earth, but he refers to Him as Jesus of Nazareth — the place where poverty prevailed; where there were so many indications of the fruit of sin as these adversely affected the children of men. This was also, and perhaps this is the significant part of it and the real reason why reference is made to this place, the scene of Christ’s Ministry. There He performed miracles; there He spent much of His time during His public Ministry among men; and there He declared the gospel and made Himself known in different ways. Also, the reference is to the Cross. The one was the place of poverty, the other the place of the curse where Jesus was made a curse for us and where He was crucified for our sins. They are then reminded both of His active and of His passive Ministry; of His life and of His death. Sin brought poverty, misery, hopelessness and the curse of God on man. The reference to the Cross was equivalent to a reference to the Victory which He had over death for it was in this way that he spoiled principalities and powers. It was in this way that He put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. This was to be and would be the theme of the preacher and preachers from henceforth — “Christ and Him crucified.”

The angel began his sermon, as it were, by preaching Christ in His humiliation. Now Christ was at the beginning of His exaltation, as the angel was about to tell them, when he said, “He is not here.” “He was here, this dead Body carried from the Cross on Calvary, laid in this grave, in this particular place, is no longer here.” This suggests to us something else. It is this — that the absence of the Lord can be, and has often been, a confirmation of the Truth of Truths, which cannot otherwise be proved, that He was indeed risen. The Church of God has often found itself in the situation that she has had to resort to the absence of the Lord in order that she might have proof of the truth, unchangeableness and veracity of His Word and Power. When she said, “The Lord hath forsaken me: the Lord hath forgotten me.” — she said that out of a sense of His absence. But the Lord said that He had not forgotten her; that He had not forsaken her. His absence, here as nowhere else, became necessary as a proof of His Resurrection. There is no greater proof. We could not find a greater proof than this, that He was not there, proof that He was indeed risen. “He is not here” the angel said. He was preaching His absence in regard to this place in which He was and in which it was necessary for Him to be, but, which if He were now found in would forever vitiate the Covenant and all that the Covenant represented. If the Lord had not risen, as He said Himself — if His Body were still found there the first day of the week, the second day of the week, and so on, where was the Covenant? Where were the words of the Lord Himself? What proof had the Church that He would ever rise if He were still lying there? So the angel directed their attention to this. He preached to them the absence of the Lord, taking this as the proof, the most conclusive proof, of His Resurrection.

The women thought that they would find Him there. They heard often from His lips that He would rise on the third day, nevertheless, when the third day came, they came to the Sepulchre not to meet with the absence of the Lord, but with His presence in the Body. But now they must be corrected. They must be delivered from this delusion. They are deceived and being deceived by themselves when they behave in this way. It has been the privilege and the duty of the angel to enlighten them by assuring them that the Lord was not there. We referred already to the thought that someone had stolen the Body. That was of course possible although improbable having regard to the precautions taken to protect the Body while it was in the Sepulchre. Nevertheless, we could not be absolutely certain that such a thing might not have happened. But now, the angel, having assured them of His absence, knowing their hearts, knowing the purpose of their visit there and knowing their history also is about to give them the explanation. But perhaps first it would be only right and proper that we should make a reference to the history of those gracious women who were the congregation of the angel. These were among those who were saved from their sins by this same One, by the Lord Jesus Christ. Mary Magdalene was one and the other women also. They had tasted that the Lord was gracious and discovered in their own souls the power of that grace. They ministered unto Him. Some of them anointed His Body; others washed His feet with their tears; others ministered to Him of their substance. They were all the time engaged in serving Him. Now they find themselves deprived of all this and left without even a body. There is nothing at all — empty hands, an empty grave, an empty life, but, although this was true of them, they found themselves in the right place. Though they had arrived and having arrived found themselves filled with apprehension and consternation — confounded, confused and not knowing what to say or do — the angel knows them and that because he was sent as a ministering angel to tell the women of the Resurrection. He had an authority which even the apostles did not possess at the time, for they were not there to see the Lord rising from the dead, but the angel was. He knew what had happened and he was there to tell the women. So, the women, having found themselves in this situation, had first to listen to the subject of the Lord’s absence. They are now being led by him to hear the explanation.

Secondly then, the EXPLANATION, “He is risen as he said”. He is not stolen but He is risen — a reference to the Resurrection. And He is risen, not out of a sleep or out of a coma or out of a trance, but He is risen in terms of the Resurrection and what a resurrection means. That is, the coming back of the soul into the body. From the Cross there were two ways. We were singing in the 16th Psalm about the Way of Life which God would show and did show His Son. Of the two ways from the Cross on Calvary, one was the way to Paradise and the other was the way to the Sepulchre. The Soul took the way to Paradise. We do not know whether that Soul was accompanied or was carried by the angels to Paradise as the soul of Lazarus was. Such could have been the case and we say this because the other way required the ministry and service of men. Joseph of Arimathaea, Nicodemus, neither any of the saints in Heaven could bring the Soul of the Redeemer from Calvary. It was committed to the Hands of the Father. Whether the Father used the ministry of angels or not we do not know. But we know that the Soul made its way from the Body crucified on Calvary to Paradise, as He said to the thief, “Today thou shalt be with Me in Paradise.” We also know that the Body was carried to the Sepulchre. The separation had taken place. It was dead. Now the Way of Life was shown. The Lord, in the spirit of prophecy, said, “Therefore My Flesh rests in hope.” In hope of what? In hope of the Resurrection. Thou wilt not leave My Soul in hell. What hell? The hell of His sufferings. Thou wilt not suffer Thine Holy One to see corruption. What Holy One? What corruption? His Body in the grave. Then the Way of Life is first shown to the Soul from the Cross. The Soul is in Paradise. The Way of Life is not closed yet. The work is not finished. Christ’s work is but the Father’s is not. He has, and we say this with all reverence, His commitments still and He must consider them. The Soul of the Redeemer of men; the Soul that was poured out unto death; the Soul that became the redemption price of His people is in Good Hands, in the care and keeping of the Father. But the Body is in the grave. Is the Way of Life from Paradise to the grave closed? No. The Way of Life from the Paradise to the grave is wide open. Because that was so and is so the Soul of the Redeemer came back from Paradise to that Sepulchre. No stone, no obstacle could prevent It from entering into that Tabernacle; entering into that Temple which men had destroyed but which now is built again. The Soul was back in that place where the faculties of the adorable Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, were wont to dwell. It was a glorious occasion which men and women were not permitted to see. It was something which was fit for angels to behold and even they would have found it awesome and overcoming. He is risen. The great event has taken place, the reunion has taken place. The Way of Life is opened. He shews Him the Way of Life. If the Soul is wanting to Heaven, let It go to Heaven. If the Soul is wanting back to that Body, let It go back to that Body. That is what happened. He is risen and risen as He said. Exactly just as He said Himself, first by prophesy, to His servants the prophets who prophesied of this. Job prophesied of it. Abraham knew it, in a very special way, that day when he offered up his son Isaac. Daniel saw it in his day. It was part of the oracles of God. It was a very special and important part of those oracles that the Messiah, when He would come, would not only die for the sins of His people, but that He would also rise again, having obtained eternal redemption for them. It was not to be a case of His Body being carried unknown to men into Heaven but rather that it should happen in this way. He is risen. Risen as He said. That being so, is it not the duty of the Church of God to hold fast this doctrine? It is not a doctrine which the Church can afford to lose. It is a doctrine which forms the very basis of her hope and destiny. If this doctrine be conceded then the hope of man is lost. But it will not be lost. The fact that the enemies of the Cross would persuade us that there is no proof of this Resurrection, is no proof in itself that it did not happen. If we approach and examine this subject with unprejudiced minds then we are bound to accept that this record is not a fraudulent one but rather the truth. There is nothing in the record to raise suspicions that anyone is trying to impose upon us when we are asked to believe that Jesus is risen. He is risen. He is not here. He is absent from this place because He is risen. The rising means and meant His Resurrection, and His Resurrection meant and means that His Soul came back from Paradise to enter into His Body, there to remain for ever and ever. “He liveth after the power of an endless life.” There is no change now. This will never change and even the fact that he ascended to the Right hand of God the Father, where He is now, has not altered the fact that His Soul is in His Body. The Body went to Heaven the place where the Soul had been when the Body was in the grave. He said it. They had His own words, His own warrant for expecting it, but alas, they were just not expecting it at the time.

This leads us to the third part of the subject — The INVITATION, “Come, see the place where the Lord lay.” That is the Sepulchre. The angel’s message to them was one of gladness. It was one which not only allayed and dispelled their fears but also filled them with hope being assured that in His absence from the grave they had the proof of His being somewhere alive and alive for evermore. That was calculated to so occupy their minds that they could not give thought or consideration to anything else — to any other subject. It is only natural when we have something very pleasant to think of that we should forget sorrows and sadness. That is what will happen in Heaven — “Sorrow and sighing shall flee away” and, in a sense, the Sepulchre on the First Day of the week was, to those women, like Heaven itself for they had the resurrection of The Resurrection Himself. Death had been swallowed up in victory. The grave was, until that day, the victor over the Body, but now even that has been conquered — “O grave, where is thy victory?” The women were celebrating the victory over the grave. They found themselves in that physical situation in which they could rejoice in the fact that the grave had no power over the One who promised to resurrect their bodies and conform it unto His Glorious Body. He said to them that if he would die He would go to prepare a place for them and would come back to receive them unto Himself that where He is they would be also. Now here He was back from the dead. The proofs were there for, although they could not see or feel His Body, they had sufficient evidence that he was alive in His absence from the grave and the testimony of the angel — a testimony based upon the testimony of the Lord Himself as this testimony was stated through the prophets and by Himself. Notwithstanding this they could not forget the past and this, we think, was what was implied in the invitation, “See the place where the Lord lay.” Remember that the angel was speaking to people who saw the Lord’s Body laid there. He was not addressing people who had no knowledge of this, who never saw this grave before, but to people who were at that grave if not in it. People could walk about those graves or sepulchres. This the women did as did the disciples afterwards. They saw the place where He was laid and this would surely remind them of the state of their own minds at that time. When His Body was laid there they were sad. They had then the evidence, the proof of His death. Now they have the proof of His Resurrection. Are they going to forget all about the proof of His death in the glow of the knowledge of having proof of His Resurrection? There was the danger, there still is the danger, that this may happen. One could be in danger of forgetting about the sufferings of our Lord in the light of the glory of His Resurrection and triumph over death, sin, the grave and the powers of darkness. This must not be. Therefore the angel said to the women, “See where He was laid.” Call to remembrance the days that are past. Call to remembrance His love when He poured out His Soul unto death; when He was numbered with the transgressors; when He did bear the sins of many and when He made intercession for transgressors. All this must be remembered and considered in the context of the evidence and proof of His Resurrection. This, we think, was further confirmed by the Lord Himself when He appeared to John on the Isle of Patmos and the Lord, appearing in His glory, said to John, “I am He that was dead.” Notwithstanding the glory that I have now, notwithstanding the fact that I am now exalted and have a name which is above every name, nevertheless, I begin by introducing Myself to My servant John on this occasion by reminding him of My death. So the women also were reminded of His death. They were to keep this in remembrance and to seek grace to keep, to retain, to cherish and to make the best use of the experience of seeing His Body laid in the grave even at the time of great and no ordinary joy.

Now, in considering this “place” questions arise. The place was the Sepulchre. Originally it was a cave which was prepared as a sepulchre. Skilful hands worked in it to make of the cave a sepulchre and it became the sepulchre of a rich man. So that Sepulchre, apart from the fact that the Saviour was in it, was in itself a subject which commanded attention and stimulated interest. It reflected the skills of those who had transformed this cave into a wonderful sepulchre which was considered suitable for the bodies of a rich man and his family. You might ask what is the connection? Is there any connection at all? Is there here not something for us to consider? May this not remind us of the change — the skill reflected — in the transformation that takes place in the experience, in the state, in the nature of those who become the sepulchre or the tabernacle of Christ? “Know ye not that ye are the temple of the Spirit?” Is it not true that man, before Christ is brought into his life; before Christ is resurrected within him as the hope of eternal life, is like a cave? A darksome cave, a place not fit for habitation. Is it not true that when a soul is changed by the renewing of the Holy Ghost that there is a change comparable to what we have represented here?

The Sepulchre was a place fit for Christ. But it was intended for someone else. Never was man laid here before. The first body laid here was the Lord’s Body. It was prepared by Joseph of Arimathaea for himself and for his family according to the practice common at the time — a wealthy man preparing a place of burial for himself and for his posterity. The place was empty. This fact would suggest to us that hitherto there had been no bereavement in that family but now the Great Bereavement had overtaken the world. The Church of God was bereaved. The necessary bereavement had become part of her history. The Elder Brother had died. The Elder Brother’s Body was laid in this Sepulchre, so that the Church might mourn, but not mourn as those who had no hope. Instead of weeping and mourning for always the weeping and mourning was to be for a night — “at morn doth joy arise.” The morning of the First Day of the week — the third day — came when the Elder Brother arose and with Him, in a sense, His people rose too. The evidence of His rising is the best proof they can entertain that they themselves, their bodies, will rise.

“He is not here. He is risen as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.” In considering this you will have a subject to occupy your attention, to expand your vision and which will extend your dimension and which is intended to convey to partakers the love and grace of God our Saviour. It will fill the soul with joy in believing.

They came on the First Day of the week. This physical visit, as far as we can ascertain, was the last one — the first and the last one. It was not necessary for them to go there any more. He said to them that if they wanted to meet Him they could go into Galilee. There they would see Him but not in the cave. Mary Magdalene, it is true, saw Him but it was after the angel had departed. She saw Him in the garden, not in the grave, and she knew Him there but continued fellowship was not permitted. She was commanded not to touch Him but to go and tell His disciples that He was going before them into Galilee. There they would see Him. But although the physical visit to the Sepulchre was made only once by these women, the First Day of the week is to be observed. We are to pay our regular visits to the grave. That ought to be our practice as Christians. We should come to this grave the First Day of the week, in this sense and in this form, that we observe it according to the commendment; that we keep the First Day of the week Holy unto the Lord according to the Fourth Commandment. If we were to do that we might indeed discover something of what those women discovered to their joy, comfort and confirmation in the faith which they had in the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

May He bless unto us this meditation on His Word.