The sermon 'Jesus Arises' by Peter Allison, explores the narrative of Jesus' resurrection as described in Luke 23 and 24, emphasizing its significance as the pinnacle of Christ's incarnation. It delves into the biblical timeline of events leading to the resurrection, arguing for a Thursday crucifixion based on scriptural and historical analysis. The sermon highlights the role of the women who first witnessed the empty tomb and the resurrected Christ, despite initial disbelief from the apostles. It discusses the resurrection's theological importance, confirming Jesus' authority as the Messiah and transforming the Sabbath to the first day of the week. The resurrection is portrayed as the heart of the Gospel, ensuring believers' own resurrection and offering profound implications for overcoming sin, guilt, and life's struggles. It encourages believers to live in the power of the resurrection, warning against unbelief and affirming the truth of the Gospel.

Luke chapter 24. Sorry, we will start in chapter 23 though, verse 54. Chapter, Luke 23, beginning reading at verse 54. Reading at verse 54. That was the preparation and the Sabbath.

That day was the preparation and the Sabbath drew near. And the women who had come with him from Galilee followed after and they observed the tomb and how his body was laid. Then they returned and prepared spices and fragrant oils, and rested on the Sabbath according to the commandment. Now on the first day of the week, very early in the morning, They and certain other women with them came to the tomb, bringing the spices which they had prepared. But they found the stone rolled away from the tomb.

Then they went in and did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. And it happened as they were greatly perplexed about this, that behold two men stood by them in shining garments. Then as they were afraid and bowed their faces to the earth, they said to them, Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen. Remember how he spoke to you when he was still in Galilee, saying, The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified, and the third day rise again.

And they remembered his words. Then they returned from the tomb and told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles. And their words seemed to them like idle tales, and they did not believe them. But Peter arose and ran to the tomb, and stooping down, he saw the linen cloths lying by themselves, and he departed, marveling to himself at what had happened.

May his commandments ever be with us to make us wiser than our enemies. Heavenly Father, please Open to us your word. Send your light and your truth and let them lead us. Grant to us understanding of these things that are spiritually discerned. And sanctify my sinful lips to proclaim the gospel of the grace of God.

In Jesus' name, Amen. Christ's incarnation is coming in the flesh to earth is the most important event in all of earth's history. It inaugurated Christ's messianic reign over all of the kingdoms of the earth. And it is the event by which we still keep time. Time is always kept in the year of the reigning king.

And our day today is no exception and always has been for the last 2, 000 years, the reign of Christ by which we mark our time. But of that incarnation, which was an event extended over several years, Christ coming in the flesh, Jesus' resurrection is the most important event. It is the pinnacle of His incarnation. It occurred in the year 30 A.D. We know that because Scripture tells us that Christ was born before Herod the Great died.

So most scholars today, most commentators accept 38 D as the date for Christ's crucifixion and resurrection. And if you remember we've been Going through these past several weeks the and months I think now these events of That week this crucifixion week it began Several chapters earlier in Luke on the tenth day of the month That was when the Passover lamb was selected and that tenth day of the month was Jesus triumphal entry into Jerusalem. The day that we today often call Palm Sunday. That happened on the 10th day of the month when the Passover lamb was selected. The Passover happened on the 14th day of the month.

At evening, the Passover lamb was sacrificed. And so if we look at the Gospels, they account for these days. On Sunday, which would be Nisan 10, Jesus went to Jerusalem. He looked around and Mark tells us that he then went back to Bethany because it was late. And then on Monday, the next day, which would be Nisan 11, Jesus came back and that's when he was hungry.

He went to that fig tree, didn't have any figs, he cursed it, he came into the temple and he cleansed it. And then on Tuesday, And then he went back to Bethany because he went back to all of that each night. And on Tuesday then, which would be Nisan 12, the Jews questioned Jesus' authority. By what authority are you doing these things? They tried to trap him on taxes, the Sadducees tried to trap him on the resurrection.

That was all on the same day. Then that evening as they were going out, the disciples noted the temple and they asked him about it and we have that all of that discourse. That would be Tuesday evening, Nisan 12, that's when Judas went to the Pharisees and arranged to betray Jesus. Then on, and then on Wednesday, And then on Wednesday, well actually on that day there are two places in the gospel that tell us, you know, that after two days is the Passover, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified. After two days from Tuesday, that would be Thursday.

And so on Wednesday, Nissan 13, the Gospels tell us that preparations were made for the celebrating of the Passover. And then at evening, well then on Thursday, which would be Nisan 14, at evening, they had the last supper. And that was the night that Jesus was betrayed. And that would be the beginning of the fourteenth day because remember the Jews reckoned time starting in the evening and then the morning. And so a And so in that way the Gospels account for all the days between the selection of the Passover Lamb on Sunday and Christ's crucifixion on Thursday.

If there's a crucifixion on Friday, there's a day missing that the gospels don't account for. But there's other indications as well that this was a, that the crucifixion would have been on Thursday. Luke tells us that Jesus was, Christ was crucified on the day of preparation. That's Luke verse 54 there, Luke 23, 54. Mark and Matthew also tell us it was a day of preparation, but they don't tell us what Sabbath it was a preparation for, whether it was a weekly Sabbath or a high Sabbath.

But John tells us that it was a high Sabbath in John 19. Christ was crucified, he said, on the day of preparation for the Passover, and it was a high Sabbath, or a great Sabbath. And so, This high Sabbath would have been the Passover day, which was the day of the first day of the feast of unleavened bread. In the Old Testament, in the vidicus, God said, on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread to the Lord seven days you must eat unleavened bread and on the first day that's on the 15th day of the month so the 15th of Nisan the day after Passover on the first day you shall have a holy convocation, you shall do no customary work on it. That was a Sabbath.

Sabbath means rest. That was a rest day. It was a, and John calls it a high Sabbath, because it was an annual Sabbath. It only happened, that Sabbath only happened once a year, and it always happened on the 15th of the month, the day after the Passover. So if the Passover was on the 14th and that's when Jesus was crucified, then the 15th would have been a Sabbath, a high Sabbath.

It was not a regular Sabbath or a weekly Sabbath, but John specifically says it was a preparation day Jesus was crucified on the preparation day for the Passover and that The next day was a high Sabbath not the weekly Sabbath Sabbath, not the weekly Sabbath. So Jesus, the other reason for understanding this is because of all the places that speak of Jesus being in the grave, just as Jonah was in the belly of the well three days and three nights, Jesus was in the grave three days and three nights. And actually Thursday's the only day that can accommodate both the inclusive and the exclusive statements in scripture about on the third day or after three days. Wednesday and Friday can't account for those. But also Friday has a problem because there isn't three days and three nights no matter how you count it.

But if Christ is crucified on the 14th day of Nisan on Thursday, then all of these things work out perfectly. And so Christ arises then on the 17th day of Nisan, which would be the first day after the Sabbath. It also, Nisan 17, also happens to be the day that I believe Noah came off the ark out of the ark so but there's another There's another significance to the resurrection day that we'll look at in a minute. So Christ arose on the third day. That is very significant.

It confirmed his authority as the Messiah remember in John 2 in the beginning of his ministry Jesus cleansed the temple and He made the first time and he made this whip and drove out all the money changers and the and the juice of by what authority Can you do this and Jesus answer was? By what sign Can you have that can vindicate or validate your authority to do this and Jesus answer was? Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up. And the Jews said, what? We took us 46 years to build this building and you're going to destroy it and raise it up in three days?

You know, that didn't make any sense. But John says Jesus was speaking of the temple of his body. And therefore, when he had risen from the dead his disciples remembered that he had said this to them and they believed the scriptures and the word which Jesus said. This resurrection on the third day confirms Jesus as the Messiah, as the Son of God, as the authority, as the master of the temple. And so what happened on this morning then, this significant day, this epic day, the most important day in the history of the world and in the incarnation.

Well, all the gospels give us an account of what happened, but they're all a little different. And so if we put them all together, because remember they're all true, they're all giving us a testimony of what happened on resurrection morning. It would be something like this, and I won't go to all the scriptures where we pull this from, I'll just give you a simplified accounting of the resurrection morning. The women, starting in Luke 24, the women go to the tomb very early in the morning. This is the first opportunity they would have had to do that work, because Friday and Saturday were both Sabbaths.

Friday was the high Sabbath, the 15th day of the month, the first day of the feast of unleavened bread. It was a holy convocation. You were to do no work on it. It's a day of rest. Saturday would have been the weekly Sabbath.

They were to do no work on that day as well. So the next day, Sunday, is the first opportunity they would have had to come back to the tomb with the spices. On the way there, they worry about how they're gonna get the stone rolled away to be able to get at Jesus body in the tomb Which member Luke tells us they they? Observed the tomb and how his body was laid why because they were planning to come back as soon as they could To with their spices to complete the process of burial. But they rested on the Sabbath according to the commandment.

So now they're on their way back. Sunday morning is still dark. They're worrying about how they're going to get the stone away. But before they arrive, an angel rolls the stone away and sits on it. And so they arrive then next and they see the stone rolled away but no angel was visible outside to them.

Mary Magdalene sees the stone rolled away and she immediately runs back, John says, to tell Peter and John. Now that's not in Luke, but it's in John. And so while Mary is away, the other women enter the tomb, and they see and hear the angels, and they're told that Jesus is arisen. And Why are you looking for him among the dead? He's living.

Go back and tell everybody that. So the women leave, they're amazed, and they don't tell anyone that they meet what they've seen or what they've been told. The guards leave, remember, and they go, they leave, and the angels also leave. So then Peter and John arrive back at the tomb. Mary Magdalene had come and gotten them.

Remember, she'd seen the stone rolled away and immediately went back to get them. So they now arrive, and this is when, you know, they're running and John outruns Peter, but he stops. Peter is slower, but he runs right in and he gets there as it's related in other Gospels. They arrive at the tomb they see the empty tomb and then they go back to their homes. Now Luke and there this is one example where Luke inserts comments out of their chronological order.

He does that in a number of places and we know that because chronological order might be given very clearly in another in other gospels and then in Luke we see the order it rearranged. And this is one example where in verse 12, it recounts this Peter going to the tomb. And I believe that this is another example, and I can give you other examples where this is done. But he inserts that fact out of its chronological order. And that's not a problem, I think he doesn't claim any chronological order like some of the other gospels do.

So this verse 12 is inserted here when Peter and John arrive at the tomb, and they see, and they go in, and they see the clothes there, and they're not, and they're just, Jesus has vanished out from them. The body hasn't been stolen because the, They would have had to tear those things away, but they're just there, and there's no body there. So Peter leaves pondering these things. So then Mary arrives back at the tomb. Remember these two apostles ran.

Mary probably didn't run. She arrives back at the tomb. Peter and John have already left. And she's upset she doesn't see anybody. And she doesn't see anybody either.

And so she turns to this person, the only person that she sees there and says, assuming him to be the gardener, and says, where have you laid this guy, Jesus? Where have you laid him? And then Jesus reveals himself to her. And so Mary Magdalene is the first person to witness the resurrected Christ. Mary Magdalene.

Then remember these other women had come in and seen the angels and they're on their way back. Well, then Jesus shows himself to the other women as they are on their way back to the disciples. And that's what's recorded here. In in Luke 24, verses eight to 10. Then they remembered his words.

And they returned to the tomb and they told all these things to the eleven and the rest The woman come back and tell the other disciples and then Mary Magdalene also comes back and she arrives and tells all that she has seen. So you have both of these, both groups come back and Luke puts them together. Mary Magdalene probably came back very quickly after the other woman. And so it would have been a single occurrence. Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women who told these things to the apostles.

And these things seem like idle tales to them. The apostles don't believe what the women are telling them. Remember, these are the women who have seen the resurrected Jesus. Jesus showed himself to the other women according to Matthew. So Mary Magdalene has seen Jesus.

These other women who went there have also seen Jesus. And the disciples hear this testimony and they think they're just telling them fables. It seems like idle tales and they did not Believe them. Christ's resurrection is very significant. It's very significant for us today, It ought to be.

Christ arose on the feast, the day of the feast of the first fruits. Speak to the children of Israel, God said to Moses, And say to them, When you come into the land which I give you and reap the harvest, Then you shall bring a sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest. And he shall wave the sheaf before the Lord to be accepted on your behalf On the day after the Sabbath. The priest shall wave it. So that would have been Sunday, the day after the Sabbath, that day that Jesus arose.

Nissan 17 is the day of the first fruits. Remember all these Old Testament feasts all are pointing to Christ and are fulfilled in Christ except the one which is yet to be fulfilled. And so Paul takes this up in 1 Corinthians 15 and he says, But now Christ is risen from the dead and have become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep for since by man Came death by man also came the resurrection of the dead for as an Adam all die even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But each one in his own order, Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ at his coming. Christ the firstfruits.

And there were other Old Testament saints that arose at Christ's resurrection. The gospel, the Acts tells us. Christ is the first fruits. His resurrection ensures and guarantees to us that we also will rise, those who are in Christ. Each one in his own order.

Christ, the firstfruits, afterwards those who are Christ at His coming. So first of all, the significance of Christ's resurrection as the first fruits is that we also will rise. You see, the resurrection is really the heart of the Gospel. It's vital to the Gospel. If Christ didn't rise, then our faith is in vain.

Paul said, and we are still in our sins. But if there is no resurrection of the dead, Christ is not risen, and if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty. It's meaningless. It is foolishness. We're just wasting our time here.

And your faith is empty. It's meaningless. Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ. But if He didn't raise Him up, if the dead don't rise, then God didn't raise Christ. For if the dead don't rise, then Christ isn't risen.

And if Christ isn't risen, your faith is futile. You are still in your sins, Paul said. We have no sacrifice. Then those who have fallen asleep in Christ, they've perished with Christ. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.

If Christ isn't risen, then we have no hope of rising ourselves. Christ's resurrection means that God the Father has accepted the sacrifice of Christ on our behalf. It means that Christ has conquered death. He's taken the sting away. He's conquered sin.

The sting of death is sin. And Christ's resurrection is taken away. He's conquered death and taken its sting away. And for all those who are united to Christ. You see, this resurrection has incredibly profound and far-reaching implications.

You see, Christ's resurrection, first of all, on the feast of the first fruit changed the Sabbath. It changed the Sabbath from the seventh day to the first day. We now have a first day Sabbath and not a seventh day Sabbath. And that is seen in all the accounts of the resurrection. And even in Corinthians, Paul talks about taking up a collection on the first day.

He says do it on the first day Sabbath. See Luke 24 verse 1 it says on the first day of the week, probably in most translations, but if you have a good kind of translation, a good publisher, they will put the word day in italics because it's not actually, that word is not actually in the Greek. Sometimes italicized words are very necessary for the translation, but in this case, The word is not there. What it says is, it says of the weak. That word for weak that they're translating is the word Sabbath.

This word for Sabbath, the same word that's used when it talks about they rested on the Sabbath. It says, what this literally says is, on the first of the Sabbaths, it's plural, on the first of the Sabbaths very early in the morning. Or You could say, on the first day, Sabbath. But first of the Sabbaths would be the literal translation. Now, dictionaries will tell you, Greek lexicons will tell you that the word Sabbath can mean week.

But if you look at all the places it's used in the Bible, it only means week because this resurrection is celebrated on a weekly basis. But in every case where it's speaking of the resurrection, it is on the first of the Sabbath. This day today is the Sabbath. Remember the Sabbath day, this is the Sabbath day, not Saturday. Christ's resurrection changed the Sabbath.

This was the day that if we hadn't fallen would have been the rest day. Christ's resurrection changed the Sabbath to the first day of the week. Christ's resurrection means that he's not just an incredibly important historical figure who lived a long time ago that we remember and celebrate every Sunday, whose death we celebrate each week in the Lord's Supper. If that's all we do, we're like these believing women who are looking for Jesus among the dead. The Bible tells us that we are so united to Christ that when we died, He died.

When He rose, we rose. When He ascended, we ascended. And when He was seated at the right hand of the Father in heaven, that we are seated with Him in the heavenlies. And so because we are in Christ, His resurrection has significance to how we live moment by moment of every day. Maybe there are some that struggle with the faith.

Is the gospel really true? Is the faith really true? There are people that have doubts. Even John the Baptist had doubts at one point. And he sent messengers to Jesus to ask.

Well, if you're looking for Christ among the dead, then Christ is merely a historical figure of great importance who spoke great truths and lived a sinless life and died a martyr's death. But if Christ rose when He did, the resurrection, in His resurrection, God the Father declared with power that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And our faith is true. Jesus' resurrection is God's declaration that our debt is paid. Maybe you struggle with the guilt of sin.

We all sin. Sometimes we sin greatly. And Sometimes we struggle with the guilt of that sin. But see, if we're seeking Christ among the living and not among the dead, then we're able to identify with Christ because we're in Christ. And he tells us that there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ and who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

The resurrection means that our guilt is paid. There is no condemnation to those who are in Christ. And because of His resurrection, we can live without guilt, without condemnation. Maybe we struggle with the power of sin in our life, besetting sins, and Maybe we wonder if we'll ever be able to overcome those besetting sins. But because of the resurrection and being in Christ, if the Spirit of Him who raised Christ from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead dwells in you.

He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. So if we are believing in the resurrection and remembering it daily, moment by moment, then we will be confident of the power of the Holy Spirit in us to overcome the sin that dwells in us. If the Spirit of Him who raised Christ from the dead dwells in you. That's the significance of the resurrection for us who are in Christ. The power of the Holy Spirit, the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead, is dwelling in us and will enable us to overcome the sin that dwells in us.

Likewise, you also reckon yourself to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Because Christ has risen from the dead and we are in Him, then we are dead to sin. And we are to count ourselves. That's what reckon means. Count yourself.

Our children are to be reckoned among believers. It doesn't mean we assume they're believers, but the Bible tells us that's how we're to count them. Count them among the believers. And we are to count ourselves to be dead to sin. Maybe we struggle with sin in others and wonder, will they ever overcome it?

We can have that same confidence that if they are in Christ, they will be victorious. Maybe we struggle with the sins that we committed before coming to Christ, and they bother us because they were great. But if we're in Christ, If Christ is risen from the dead, then every time those thoughts come to us, we can remember His resurrection and its significance for us, that if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away. That old life of sin is passed away.

And those who are in Christ because He's raised are new. Behold, all things have become new. We can struggle with death. There is a battle. It is the last battle as we lay down our body of sin.

But because Christ arose, we know that we also will rise. And Paul, as an apostle, by the will of God, according to the promise of life, which is in Christ Jesus, we can know that we live even though this body will die. Yet in our flesh these eyes will see our Lord. For as in Adam all die even so in Christ shall all be made alive in Christ. Because Christ rose, we know that in Christ we will be made alive.

And that these eyes, these eyes and not another, will look upon Him. Maybe we struggle with God's providence in our life at this particular time, and what He's brought to pass in our life, the things that have happened to us. Well, Maybe we struggle with pain. Well, the resurrection shows us what God can do out of the greatest defeat. He can bring the greatest victory.

God is the God of great reversals. When Christ died on the cross, all of Christ's disciples were cast in a pall. We'll see that in the next section in Luke. The disciples were cast down. And Jesus came to them and said, why are you cast down?

And they said, well, their hope had died on the cross. An unjust death. An unjust trial. Betrayed by one of His own. And yet out of that, God brought salvation to all His people.

He brought life. God brought the very best gift out of the very worst of circumstances. And Paul can say that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed to us. Jesus' resurrection is that first installment of the future glory that is to be revealed to us, that all of the sufferings of this present time, all of the losses, all of the pains, are not worthy to be compared with that glory. And if we are living as those who seek Christ among the living, as those who are appropriating the benefits of the resurrection, then this resurrection truth will comfort us in these times.

For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ. Because of the resurrection. They do. Maybe you struggle with loneliness. You're alone.

You live alone. Maybe you don't have any family left. Or maybe you don't have any family nearby. But because of the resurrection, we are all living in a risen Christ, and we are all members of one body in Christ. And because we are members of one body in Christ, we are members one of another.

That comforts us in our loneliness. We are, because Christ arose, we are members of one body in Christ. And therefore, if We are members of one body in Christ. And therefore if we are members of one body in Christ, we are members one of another. And we have a fellowship, one with another.

Or maybe we're overwhelmed with work. And how can we do all the things that we have to do? Because of the resurrection. If we remember the resurrection and what it means to us, then we can say I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. That's the significance of the resurrection.

Or maybe we have needs, and we don't know how they're going to be met. Great needs. Because of the resurrection, we can say, and my God shall supply all of your need according to His riches and glory by Christ Jesus. You see, and we could just go on and on and on with all of the ways in which the resurrection impacts us and the resurrection is significant to us. And what it ought to mean to us is we live day by day, that we are in Christ.

We've been buried with Him, we've been raised with Him, We've ascended with Him and we are seated in the heavenlies with Him. And so As we close, my last comment is, beware of unbelief. When the women came and told all of these things to the apostles that they had seen the risen Jesus, they had seen the empty tomb, they saw the stone rolled away, their words seemed like idle tales and they did not believe them. Beware of unbelief. Do all these things, these benefits of the resurrection, do all these things that the Scriptures say about our benefits in Christ, do they seem too hard to believe?

Do we doubt? Sometimes we do. Beware of unbelief. Brothers and sisters, the word of God is true. It is true.

It endures forever. Not one jot or one tittle will ever pass away of everything that is said, of every promise in the Scriptures, or yea and amen in Jesus Christ. The gospel is true because Christ rose from the dead. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the incredible blessing that you have given to us in Christ in raising Him from the dead and in seating Him at your right hand and in giving to Him all the nations of the world as His inheritance that He might reign as King of kings and Lord of lords that there might be no enemy that stands before your church.

Well Lord, we ask that you would help our unbelief. That is, you have promised that all of your enemies will be defeated and the very last enemy is death and that you will reign until you have put all your enemies under your feet. Lord, grant us faith to believe in these great and precious promises and to live our life in that knowledge, in that hope, in the certainty of both your resurrection from the dead and of ours to come. We ask this all in Jesus' name, Amen.