Easter Sunday: Matthew 28:1-10 | The King & His Coronation
For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,
(1 Corinthians 15:3–4 ESV)
(Leader): He is Risen!
(People): He is Risen Indeed!
(3x)
Most of you are here because you know today centers on the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Praise God that many in the Western world, including our neighbors, know what we Christians believe happened on that Easter morning 2000 years ago, whether or not they believe it. Despite Easter bunnies and baskets of candy, parts of the true account of Jesus’ resurrection remain well known. Jesus, the Son of God and our King, is risen from the dead!
Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing was as white as snow. And for fear of him, the guards trembled and became like dead men.
But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you.” So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples.
And behold, Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.”
(Matthew 28:1–10 ESV)
Resurrection
Resurrection. Jesus, though he died for our sins, could not be contained by death. In the first sermon after Easter, at Pentecost, Peter himself says:
God raised [Jesus] up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by [death].
(Acts 2:24 ESV)
And of himself, Jesus says:
For this reason, the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.
(John 10:17–18 ESV)
Jesus, the Son of God forever enshrined in flesh, our King, chose to lay down his life for his people and then chose to take up his life again. Death could not hold him. This is quite the unexpected King! This is quite the powerful King!
That has been our theme for this year’s Holy Week: Our King Jesus and all the ways in which we did not expect him to act as our King, and all the things that this King has done for us. All the ways his kingship is FOR us. Here, in this moment in between God’s creation in glory and his recreation in glory, Jesus has revealed himself as the true king who is serving his people. A very unexpected King in many ways.
On Palm Sunday, Jack pointed out the humility of our Savior who came as a humble king, on a donkey, destined for a cross. That was not the kingdom that people expected, but it was the kingdom Jesus brought. And Jack reminded us that the real question for all of us is which kingdom will we choose? Do we seek a king who has first come to fix everything around us, or do we love this Savior who came to save US? Who came that we might be brought back into relationship with HIM? That we might be changed?
Demer reminded us on Good Friday of the king who came not just for his own glory, but to put an end to a rebellion that started in the garden and continues today in each of us through our choices to sin. A king who came to us with a glorious invasion through humility and sacrifice. A king who brought about a crushing victory over Satan and sin through his own death on the cross.
As we come to Easter morning today, we still see our unexpected king. We started this morning with 1 Corinthians 15—known as the great resurrection passage. There, Paul tells us that he wants the Corinthians, he wants us, to know what he considers to be of most importance:
For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,
(1 Corinthians 15:3–4 ESV)
We need to know that Christ died for our sins, that he fulfilled prophecy in all that he did, that he truly died and was buried, and then he was raised again to life. Christians claim not only that Jesus was the Son of God, the second person of the Trinity, embodied in flesh, but also that he came to live the righteous life that you and I could never perfectly live and has given us his righteousness. We claim he died the death we deserved on the cross, and he took our punishment for sin upon himself. We claim he experienced sin and separation from the Father, AND we claim he rose again! The grave could not contain him!
And some of us come to Easter morning and are like, “Yep. That is what happened.” As though resurrection is old-hat, something we now just expect. And perhaps it is. When some of our best novels and movies, like The Lord of the Rings, The Matrix, Star Wars, Harry Potter, or the Marvel series, all pivot on the plotline of resurrection, it doesn’t seem quite so novel anymore. Resurrection is SO ingrained in our cultural stories that we have begun to see it as normal. We see it as expected. On the one hand, I’m very thankful for the perceived normalcy of resurrection. It is a testimony to the amazing work of our God that we humans can think of no better ending to a movie or a story than what our God has truly done for us in Jesus Christ.
But resurrection wasn’t expected! Nothing in the way the disciples acted suggests they expected the resurrection of Jesus. The women that morning did not go to the tomb expecting to find it empty! Instead, they expected to prepare a body that was hastily buried on the Friday before. Yes, perhaps Jesus was the Messiah, but it seemed that his plan was thwarted by the Roman authorities and the Jewish leaders. His friends were in mourning, not just for his death, but for the death of the vision of his Kingship as they understood it.
This morning, I pray we slow down and see that the resurrection is anything but expected or normal. Rather, Jesus’s
Resurrection is about victory over death and a sign of His Kingship in order that he might rule and reign today.
Resurrection: Victory over Death
For most of us, the main thing we have been taught about Jesus’s resurrection is that it is the sign of his victory over death. That is certainly true and worth celebrating! As Jesus said to Martha after Lazarus died:
“I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
(John 11:25–27 ESV)
And as Jesus promised the Jewish leaders:
Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”
(John 2:19 ESV)
Jesus knew that he would not be conquered by death. Jesus’s resurrection is indeed our sign that Jesus has power over death. If Jesus had stayed in the grave, he would have been an impotent king, one who said he came to die for his people and had power over death but could not be trusted. Jesus’s resurrection is crucial to our knowing that he is our king and that he is king even over death. And we know this is true because of eyewitnesses. If Jesus had not been witnessed to be resurrected by hundreds of people, we would all be following a lie.
This is part of Paul’s proof to the Corinthians and to us. As Paul continues on in 1 Corinthians 15, right after the first section we already read this morning, and says:
For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.
(1 Corinthians 15:5–8 ESV)
Friends, there are aspects of our understanding of Scripture and of what Jesus has done for us that are debatable. But the resurrection is not one of them. Our entire faith hinges on this point. That is why eyewitnesses matter. That is why the truth of the resurrection matters. That is why God’s word matters. Again, as Paul continues to say:
Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain, and your faith is in vain.
(1 Corinthians 15:12–14 ESV)
Jesus, our God and King, came into Jerusalem that Palm Sunday with accolades and shouts of “Hosanna!” yet knowing the cost of kingship and willingly came to die a sinner’s death on the cross on Good Friday. He took a crown of thorns upon his bloodied head. He wore a purple robe meant to mock him. And he was presented in front of his people, not in pomp and circumstance, not with honor and regalia, but naked upon a cross. But then, on Easter morning—resurrection! The entire story turned upside down again!
Yes, Jesus’s resurrection is about victory over death!
Resurrection is about victory over death and a sign of His Kingship in order that he might rule and reign today.
As Paul continues to say in 1 Corinthians:
But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.
(1 Corinthians 15:20–23 ESV)
Jesus was the first fruits of resurrection, the first to be resurrected in this way—a permanent, forever resurrection. Yes, Lazarus was raised from the dead. Yes, Peter raises Tabitha. Yet each of these is temporary. Jesus is the first to be raised from the dead to a new and permanent life. A true first fruit of what all of us hope for and look forward to one day.
That is a real hope! This is a hope I think many of us truly love and appreciate and are trusting in Jesus for, especially as we age and grow closer to death or even come near to death through the death of loved ones. We will truly live again! This has always been the hope of God’s people in Jesus. As Job said:
And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God,
(Job 19:26 ESV)
Or as Peter says:
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
(1 Peter 1:3–5 ESV)
But his resurrection is about even more than just his unexpected victory over death.
Resurrection: Sign of His Kingship
As we look at the Easter story, we are meant to see our king. And where Jack has shown us
The King and his Unexpected Kingdom
on Palm Sunday, and Demer has shown us
The King and his Unexpected Conquest
On Good Friday, today, on Easter Sunday, in the resurrection of Jesus, we see:
The King and his Unexpected Coronation
This is the moment where Jesus, our king, is enthroned in power! He came and did everything the Father gave him to do (John 13:3). He saved his people from sin and death, and he rose again to show that he truly had the power over death. But in that moment, he was also coronated as the true king who had done everything he set out to do in his life here on this Earth. This is a main point of the resurrection. We don’t just stop at resurrection being about victory over death, rather:
Resurrection is about victory over death and a sign of His Kingship in order that he might rule and reign today.
Peter, in his Pentecost sermon, proclaims that Jesus was raised from the dead and exalted by God to his right hand in Acts 2:22–36. Similarly, Paul preaches to the Jewish people and connects Jesus’s resurrection with his kingship. Paul says this quite clearly in his introduction to his letter to the Romans:
Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord.
(Romans 1:1–4 ESV)
Jesus, declared to be the Son of God in power —THE king—by his resurrection from the dead. We are told in 2 Corinthians 13:4 that Jesus reigned in weakness through the cross, but now he reigns in power through his resurrection. Psalm 8:5 tells us that Jesus is now crowned with glory and honor through his resurrection, having accomplished what God gave him to do.
Resurrection is much more than just victory over death—it is also about Jesus’s kingship, shown and put on display for everyone to see!
Resurrection: Reign and Rule
But we don’t even stop there! To expand our view of Jesus from simply triumphing over sin and death at the cross and now, through his resurrection, being shown as the true king would be a great expansion of our image of Jesus. To see him as the same God-King enthroned in glory and power who created all that we know, the same God-King who walked with Adam and Eve in glory in the Garden, and to see him as the same God-King who promised he himself would defeat the serpent by crushing his head even though he would be bruised would be grand expansion of our love of God—to know him truly as the unexpected king who did all things for us is a grand part of who he is and how we are to know and worship him. But the image doesn’t stop there! Jesus’s:
Resurrection is about victory over death and a sign of His Kingship in order that he might rule and reign today.
I think we often stop and marvel at the resurrection as a sign of Jesus’s victory over death. And for most of us, that becomes a past fact and a future reality only. Something we know he did and something we will only experience one day in the future, when Jesus comes back and ushers us all into the New Heavens and the New Earth. And, if we think about it, we also become aware of what we have just been talking about—that his resurrection is also about his kingship. But again, we think about that as a past fact or only a future reality. Something Jesus did and was, but now he has gone, and we will only see the beauty of his kingship when he comes the second time, riding on his horse (not a donkey this time), as the conqueror, coming to ensure his reign over all things.
In this way, resurrection is only something we think of as a past or future matter for all of us. It isn’t our present reality. Yes, Jesus’s resurrection is a sign of his victory. Yes, Jesus was resurrected immediately. But you and I have to wait until the future when we, too, will experience resurrection. It doesn’t seem to really matter to us today. Yes, Jesus is king, but we won’t really see that until the day he returns. We won’t know him this way until we see him coming back to establish his kingdom in power.
And that is where we are wrong. The resurrection of Jesus isn’t only about a past or a future moment. His victory over death and his coronation as the king of all creation through the cross and his resurrection are only the beginning. The resurrection of Jesus matters today more than we might ever imagine. Jesus’s:
Resurrection is about victory over death and a sign of His Kingship in order that he might rule and reign today.
We may not think we have left Jesus as dead when we are celebrating Easter, but we may do that functionally if we think this way about the work of his resurrection. If his resurrection is only a past fact and a future hope for us, he might as well have remained dead for us right now. But his resurrection is about more than just victory over death, and it is more than just him receiving a sign of his kingship. Jesus’s resurrection is about his life now and his rule and reign at the right hand of the Father. His resurrection is about all that he is doing today for us as our good and gracious King. He is not only coronated in his resurrection, but he truly takes his place on his throne that we may now see him reigning and ruling on our behalf—how amazing is that! JC Ryle says it well:
“Let us beware of regarding the Lord Jesus Christ, only as one that is dead. Here, I believe, many greatly err. They think much of His atoning death, and it is right that they should do so. But we ought not to stop short there. We ought to remember that He not only died and went to the grave—but that He rose again, AND [my emphasis] ascended up on high, leading captivity captive. We ought to remember that He is now sitting on the right hand of God, to do a work as real, as true, as important to our souls, as the work which He did when He shed His blood. Christ lives, and is not dead. He lives as truly as any one of ourselves. Christ sees us, hears us, knows us, and is acting as a Priest in heaven on behalf of His believing people. The thought of His life ought to have as great and important a place in our souls—as the thought of His death upon the cross.”
JC Ryle
Jesus’s entrance into Jerusalem was done as a humble servant who came to seek and save his people first. Jesus’s death on the cross was about taking our sins and providing us with a way back into a relationship with God. Jesus’s resurrection is about his victory over death, a sign of his kingship, but ALSO his reigning and ruling TODAY so that you and I might walk in his very power even today! That is amazing! We deserved none of what Jesus did for us, and yet EVEN his resurrection to life was meant to be FOR us in his reigning and ruling even TODAY at the right hand of the Father!
This is exactly where Paul has been taking the Corinthians and us in 1 Corinthians 15:
Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.
(1 Corinthians 15:24–26 ESV)
Jesus is not sitting on the sidelines today, just waiting for the future when you and I will see the resurrection in a very tangible way in our lives and in the lives of those we know who have loved Jesus as well. He is not simply going about his business, doing what he wants, and paying us no mind. He isn’t waiting to be king, just chomping at the bit for that future moment when something will finally happen. Jesus, TODAY, is reigning and working to put all enemies under his feet. Right, here, right now, Jesus reigns over “all the things in life that distress you, all the situations that confuse you, all the locations that leave you with more questions than answers, and all the relationships that cause you grief.”
The final moment of Jesus’s rule will be the final destruction of death. That truly is to come for all of us in the future. But that is the last act. Up until that point, Jesus is reigning and ruling FOR you and me today. Jesus is reigning and ruling that he might destroy EVERY enemy that we have—the last of which he will deal with is death. But today, he is working on our lives in every possible and conceivable way.
Until that final day comes, our royal king is working here, right now, coronated and reigning supreme, defeating all the enemies that seek to defeat you and me. He is fighting for us against the temptations to lust, to lie, and to hate. He is fighting for us against the brokenness of depression, illness, and sorrow. He is fighting for us in every spiritual struggle we will ever have. You are never alone today because of our resurrected king, who today is reigning and ruling on your behalf. “He is conquering foes you do not have the power to conquer. He is putting under his divine feet the things that seem to overpower you.”
Jesus’s resurrection and even his reign and rule are not only a past reality and future hope, but they are also your hope today, right here, right now. Yes, we serve a risen savior, but we must remember we also serve a reigning, ruling, and conquering King. A risen and ruling King, for you and me today. “In the reign of King Jesus, you not only have hope for all of eternity, but for everyday life [even] today.”
This reality changes everything for us as Christians! If we see the resurrection of Jesus on that Easter morning as the beginning and continuation of his reign for us, then we see in the resurrection our hope not just for the future but also for today. Jesus is not an absent or dead God; he is a living, reigning, and ruling king for us today. As Andrew Murray says:
“A dead Christ I must do everything for; a living Christ does everything for me.”
Andrew Murray
Conclusion
Friends, that is the God we see this Easter morning. This is the unexpected king we come to know through his life, death, and resurrection. Jesus, the Son of God, embodied in the flesh, was our unexpected humble king who lived the righteous life we could not live, died the death we deserved on the cross. He was the unexpected conquering king who defeated sin and rebellion at the cross. And he was our unexpected king who was coronated in his resurrection, who rose in power that he might continue to serve us and bring us safely to himself at the end of our life and surely at the end of all things as he ushers us into our own resurrection into the new heavens and the new earth. Jesus’s:
Resurrection is about victory over death and a sign of His Kingship in order that he might rule and reign today.
Don’t forget the totality of what Jesus’s resurrection is all about! Come this morning to our unexpected King, who not only was victorious over sin and death, but who was coronated that morning as he stepped out of the tomb. As he rose in his resurrected body, he demonstrated he was THE TRUE KING, our God, who came to save us. And he did all that in order to return to his throne and continue to rule and reign FOR US today! To fight every battle against every enemy for us, that we might be conquerors in him.
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?
As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
(Romans 8:31–39 ESV)
Main Street, friends, that is the hope we have today! Jesus is not only victorious over sin and death, and he is not only a sure future king, but he is our King TODAY, reigning and ruling on our behalf.
Resurrection is about victory over death and a sign of His Kingship in order that he might rule and reign today.
Come this morning to this resurrected and unexpected King!
Benediction
Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
(Hebrews 13:20–21 ESV)
“Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel, for which I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal. But the word of God is not bound! Therefore, I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.
The saying is trustworthy, for: If we have died with him, we will also live with him;
If we endure, we will also reign with him.”
(2 Timothy 2:8–12 ESV)
But I think that is part of our problem.
Resurrection: To Reign and Rule
When we think resurrection is only about the past and the future, we tend to put Jesus on the sidelines. As though those moments—a past resurrection from the dead to prove what he did and to triumph over death, and a second resurrection for all of us into his future glory where we get the same reward—are all that matter. If that is where we leave the beauty of the resurrection, we leave Jesus as powerless as if he were still dead. We don’t mean to do that, but if we haven’t thought about the depths of what happened in his resurrection, we miss the power of what Jesus is doing today!
