Luke 26:6-8
Easter
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Introduction - One message
I. My text is short this morning but I will gave you a lot of Bible
verses so you might want to take out a pen and paper to write
down the references.
Luke 24:6 He is not here, but is risen: remember
how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee,
7 Saying, The Son of man must be delivered into
the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and
the third day rise again.
8 And they remembered his words,
II. My mind has been on the events of the resurrection for the
last few weeks. Personally, I do not believe that Jesus died on
Friday. I believe that He died on the Passover which was Thursday
that year—and that is the way I am going to describe the
crucifixion today.
III. Let’s go back to that Thursday. The religious had not wanted
to arrest and crucify Jesus on that day…
Mt 26:5 But they said, Not on the feast day,
lest there be an uproar among the people.
But Judas was found out and revealed at the early Passover meal
that Jesus had for His disciples. They knew where Jesus was so
they moved quickly, arresting and trying him during the night. On
Thursday morning, as the dawn broke, \\#Matt 27:1\\ they brought
Jesus to Pilate, wanting to get Him on the cross before the people
found out; but Pilate slowed them down. He seemed to want Jesus’
release. The religious leaders spend the morning getting the
people they wanted into Pilate’s courtyard. Finally, with their
pressure, Jesus was crucified.
IV. Mark tells us:
Mark 15:25 And it was the third hour, and they
crucified him.
A. That was about the third hour. The third hour Roman time
would be 9 AM.
B. Things went as the religious leaders wanted for awhile but
then something strange happened.
Luke 23:44 And it was about the sixth hour,
and there was a darkness over all the earth
until the ninth hour. (From noon to 3 PM).
V. Thought - What kind of darkness was that?
A. The Bible does not say that the sky grew cloudy, that the
moon eclipsed the sun, or even that the sun stopped
shinning.
B. It just says there was darkness.
C. For all we know the sun was still shinning in all of its
brightness with an uninterrupted view of the cross.
Maybe the people could look up and see the sun. Maybe
they could make out its image.
D. The Bible never says that the people could not see. In
fact, the narration goes on as if the people could see.
E. It was just dark.
F. How can that be? I believe if it is just as possible to have
glory without light then it is possible to have light without
light.
G. In Genesis 1, the Bible describes creation.
1. The Bible says that God created light on day one.
Gen 1:3 And God said, Let there be light: and
there was light.
2. He did not create the sun, moon, and stars until day
Gen 1:14 And God said, Let there be lights in
the firmament of the heaven to divide the day
from the night; and let them be for signs, and
for seasons, and for days, and years:
H. Where did the light come from? I believe it was the
light of God’s glory and that God but lent a small
portion of His glory to the sun, moon, and the stars.
I. On the crucifixion day, I think God turned off His glory
for three hours.
1. The sun and the starts still shone. They shone with
all of their might.
2. It just didn’t amount to much as the glory of God
dimmed, refusing to glorify what was taking place
on that cruel cross.
J. My thought is that this should have been a warning to all
present that day. Some thing was just not right. Somehow
nature—if not God Himself—was out of sorts.
VI. Jesus made seven statements on the cross that day.
A. I will only mention the last.
Luke 23:46 And when Jesus had cried with a loud
voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend
my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the
ghost.
B. I mention that statement because after saying it, Jesus died.
1. There it was.
a. The event that Isaiah wrote about in such great
detail in Isaiah 52-53.
b. The event that the disciples had been afraid of,
the event that Mary had feared since Jesus’ birth,
the event that Pilate of all people had resisted,
the event that the Jewish people had desired,
the event that Jesus had spoken of on many
occasions…
that event had occurred.
c. Now what?
2. I think many things began to happen.
a. I think some things were logical.
(1) Some wept. I think there was weeping by Mary,
by the disciples, by the people that Jesus had
helped, by the people that had believed—if but
for a moment.
(2) Some rejoiced. The evil-filled religious
leaders rejoiced. The calloused Roman guards.
Maybe some of the common folk who had never
believed but figured Jesus was some type of a
conman.
b. I think some things were invisible to the human eye.
(1) No doubt the demons and the devils rejoiced.
(a) They were the designers, instigators, the
culprits of this event. They were
definitely there rejoicing.
(b) In my mind, I see the devil. No doubt as
Jesus breathed his last breath, he rose up
to tower over Jesus. I can hear him say
with a glee in his eye, "I’ve got you now!"
(c) He did not know that the battle was not over
yet!
(2) And I think Jesus began to do some things that
we can not see.
(a) I believe Jesus immediately began to
gather up His own blood.
(b) He instantly went from the Sin-Sacrifice to
holy High Priest and the High Priest had
work to do.
(c) He likely gathered the blood and had it on
the heavenly alter before the crowd had
even broken up!
(3) But I will not focus on the things that can not
be seen. Instead, let us keep our focus on the
things that were seen and testified to by eye
witnesses.
VII. Let me very rapidly list some things that happened after Jesus
died.
A. \\#Matt 27:39\\ There was an earthquake. Matthew says the
earth shook with such force that the ground opened. God
actually used the earthquake like a laser to open many
graves. The graves were all petty much like Jesus’ grave,
cut out of stone and with a giant rock in front of them.
When Jesus rose from the dead, God allowed some of the
saints that had recently died to rise with Him and while
Jesus made only selective appearances, these raised saints
testified of Jesus’ identity for however long their
extended life lasted.
B. \\#Mark 15:38\\ says that the veil of the Jewish temple, the
veil between the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies which
kept people out of the presence of God and away from the
Mercy Seat, rent from top to bottom—as if God reached down
and tore it in two. And why would He do that? Because
with Jesus’ death, the way was now opened for all men from
all nations to come into the presence of God—not through a
earthly High Priest but through the blood of Jesus Christ.
C. These events(the death, the darkness, the earthquake, the
veil) caused some to immediately think that Jesus was
indeed who He had said He was.
1. At least one Roman guard:
Mark 15:39 And when the centurion, which stood
over against him, saw that he so cried out, and
gave up the ghost, he said, Truly this man was
the Son of God.
2. Some of the people who watched:
Luke 23:8 And all the people that came together
to that sight, beholding the things which were
done, smote their breasts, and returned.
D. But soon the sun shone again, the veil was repaired, and
people forgot the earthquake and went back to their regular
duties.
E. All except the closest of Jesus’ disciples that is.
F. For the disciples, some of the loneliest hours of their
existence had begun.
VIII. Things had to be done because the sunset was coming.
A. A new day began at sunset and that day was a holy day too.
B. The religious leaders wanted to at least pretend to keep it
holy.
1. \\#John 19:31\\ The religious leaders wanting to keep
the next day, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, holy,
wanted all three of the crucified victims to have their
legs broken so that they would die quicker, not being
able to push up and open their lungs for air to exit.
However, when they came to Jesus, He was dead already.
2. \\#John 19:34\\ To verify Jesus’ death, one of the
soldiers ran his spear from the side toward Jesus’
heart. Out of the wound, water and blood flowed. John
testified that he saw that done with his own eyes.
3. \\#Mark 15:42-45\\ says that when Joseph of Arimathaea
saw Jesus was dead, he went to Pilate to ask for the
body.
4. \\#John 19:39-40\\ tells us that the Nicodemus who came
to Jesus in John 3 meet with Joseph, bringing 100
pounds of ointment and aloes to anoint Jesus’ body.
5. I found it interesting that the Bible indicates these
two men alone washed and prepared Jesus’ body.
a. The woman were at the cross \\#Matt 27:55-56\\
\\#Mark 15:40-41, Luke 23:49\\ and they witnessed
the burial \\#Matt 27:6, Mark 15:47, Luke 23:55\\.
b. But they are not mentioned in regards to preparing
Jesus’ body.
c. In fact, Matthew, Mark, and Luke all portray that
Joseph did the preparation.
Matt 27:59 And when Joseph had taken the body,
He wrapped it in a clean linen cloth,
60 And laid it in his own new tomb, which
he had hewn out in the rock: and HE rolled
a great stone to the door of the sepulchre,
and departed.
Mark 15:46 And HE bought fine linen, and took
him down, and wrapped him in the linen, and
laid him in a sepulchre which was hewn out of
a rock, and rolled a stone unto the door of
the sepulchre.
Luke 23:53 And HE took it down, and wrapped it
in linen, and laid it in a sepulchre that was
hewn in stone, wherein never man before was laid.
d. John is the gospel that tells us that Nicodemus was
there too.
IX. The Long Three Days:
A. I believe that Jesus died just before sunset on Thursday.
1. Crucified on Thursday - Passover
2. Buried on Friday - Unleavened Bread
3. Saturday was the Sabbath
4. Rose on Sunday, the Firstfruits0
B. Remembering that the Jewish day starts at sunset, that would
have Jesus being in the tomb three full nights and 2 1/2
days. Count with me. Nights first on one hand, then days
on the others.
Thursday night Fri DAY
Friday night Satur DAY
Saturday night He arose at the beginning of the
third day.
C. This is exactly what Jesus said He would do.
Mt 16:21 From that time forth began Jesus to
shew unto his disciples, how that he must go
unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the
elders and chief priests and scribes, and be
killed, and be raised again the third day.
Mt 17:23 And they shall kill him, and the
third day he shall be raised again. And they
were exceeding sorry.
Mt 20:19 And shall deliver him to the Gentiles
to mock, and to scourge, and to crucify him: and
the third day he shall rise again.
D. So Jesus was buried just before sunset on Thursday.
E. On Friday, two events happened:
1. The religious Jews asked Pilate for a guard.
Matt 27:62 Now the next day, that followed the
day of the preparation, the chief priests and
Pharisees came together unto Pilate,
63 Saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver
said, while he was yet alive, After three days
I will rise again.
a. I find that strange for two reasons:
(1) This was the Feast of Unleavened Bread, a holy
day, and I doubt these Jews were supposed to
be taking care of business.
(2) These men indicate that they had more faith in
Jesus rising from the dead than Jesus’ own
disciples.
b. Yet, they asked and received their guard.
2. The woman made spices to anoint Jesus’ body for after
the holy days had passed.
Luke 23:56 And they returned, and prepared spices
and ointments; and rested the sabbath day
according to the commandment.
F. Friday night, Saturday, and most of Saturday night, not much
happened.
X. But \\#John 20:1\\ says that "while it was yet dark," Mary
Magdalene and some other ladies made their way to the tomb.
\\#Mark 16:1\\.
A. \\#Matt 28:2\ Before they got there, there was another
earthquake, and while the earth quaked, one angel—perhaps
two—descended from heaven and rolled the stone away from
the tomb. Once the tomb has settled in its new location,
the angel sat on it.
B. \\#Matt 28:3-4\\ His countenance was so glorious that the
guards fainted as dead men. How long they were out, no one
knows.
C. \\#Mark 16:5\\ says that the women find the angel INSIDE
the tomb when they arrive so I suspect that once the angel
was out of sight, the guards awoke and fled into the city.
D. \\#Luke 24:2\\ indicates that when the ladies arrived, the
entrance was open and no one was there, so they went
inside.
E. #Luke 24:3 When they entered, Jesus wasn’t there!
Luke 24:3 And they entered in, and found not the
body of the Lord Jesus.
1. The tombs I saw while in Israel were not every big and
were mostly rectangular.
2. Your eyes instinctively go the area prepared for the
body because they cut the shelf for the body on the
back wall.
3. However, that makes you oblivious to the corner on the
wall behind you.
4. Once inside, they turned and saw not one but now two
men, angels, standing there.
a. They probably reappeared AFTER the women entered!
b. The angels only confirmed the oblivious.
Luke 24:6 He is not here, but is risen: remember
how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee,
7 Saying, The Son of man must be delivered into
the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and
the third day rise again.
8 And they remembered his words,
Today, that is why we are here, to celebrate the empty tomb. This
is not the end of the story, it is just the beginning. In fact,
this is just the introduction to the message that I will bring
tonight.
Click here for the remainder of the message.
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