Opening Prayer
Introduction
A. The Differing Accounts
Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Was Jesus crucified and buried here? Did Jesus really rise from the dead?
• Matthew 28; Mark 16; Luke 24 and John 20…Differences do not mean disagreement.
• Dennis Okholm: “differences actually attest to the veracity of the resurrection”
• Examine what all four gospels share in common…women were the first witnesses…but a woman’s word was considered unreliable…why gospel writers purposely include details detrimental to their cause? Its inclusion points to the reliability of the NT gospels.
B. The Resurrection is Essential
• 1 Corinthians 15:13-14
• Mark Roberts quote
C. Remembering the Centrality of the Cross
• Jesus died to restore creation…we participate in that new creation as we trust Christ
• Death: end of the old; Resurrection: beginning of the new.
• Era of Witness. The cross is the center of redemptive history
• Death and Resurrection: Kenneth Bailey, cross and resurrection essential
• Kenneth Bailey quote “It is not the Cross alone that saves, it is the Cross and the resurrection that matter…”
• On the cross Jesus purchased forgiveness of sins…in the resurrection he opens the door for us to enter.
I. Resurrection of Jesus
A. Resurrection in Jewish thought: Arrival of life of new creation
• Initially used metaphorically…intertestamental period used literally…the thought of a solitary individual being resurrected (such as Jesus) would have been foreign
B. Jesus: Dawning of new creation:
• This certainly wasn’t the end of the world as they expected...they would come to realize later
• John 11…Martha and Jesus…“I am the resurrection and the life”
• Tim Keller: “He lived the life we should have lived and died the death we should have died.”…the great exchange: His death brought us life. This truly the dawning of a new creation!
i. Firstborn from the dead (Rev.1:5): Opens the door
ii. Firstfruits (I Cor. 15:20): guarantees the harvest of fruit to follow
iii. Pioneer (Hebrews 2:10): He leads the way into new territory and marks the trail…We experience as a foretaste of the future reality…new heavens and new earth!
C. Resurrection in three stages:
i. Jesus (Mk. 16:1-8)
ii. Church: Resurrection life in foretaste (Romans 6:1-14).
iii. Church and creation (I Cor. 15:12-28; Rom.8:18-25)
Slide: From His Resurrection to His Return. The King renews all creation at the end!

II. The Mission of Jesus
• The King of Creation took the cross for His creation
• Luke 24:44 The OT Law, Prophets and Psalms all pointed to Jesus. Jesus is the main character
• Mark Roberts: “The grand story of God's redemption of humankind from the grip of sin ran from His call to Abraham and Sarah, through His rescue of the Israelites from Egypt, through establishing His covenant with them, and to His sending prophets to call for justice and to announce the promise of His kingdom. The entire Old Testament narrative pointed to the coming of an Anointed One who would redeem both Israel and ultimately the whole world. This Messiah would inaugurate the kingdom of God and fulfill the role of the Suffering Servant of God in Isaiah, the one who ‘was wounded for our transgressions’ and who gave ‘his life an offering for sin’ (Isaiah 53: 5, 10). So, as the risen Jesus used the Old Testament to illumine His mission, for the first time His disciples fully grasped who He was and what He had come to do. They were finally able to tell the world about Jesus.”
Conclusion
• NT Wright: “Did Jesus of Nazareth, they ask, really rise from the dead? Whether or not they realize it, they join a different throng on a different pilgrimage: the jostling, overheated crowd of historians investigating the strange reports of events at the tomb of Jesus on the third day following his execution . Here they are confronted with a similar set of problems. The story of Easter, like the church at its supposed location , has been demolished and reconstructed again and again over the years. The tantalizing narratives in the gospels are as puzzling to the reader as the building is to the visitor . How do they fit together, if at all? What precisely happened? Which school of thought today, if any, is telling the story truly? Many have despaired of discovering what, if anything, happened on the third day after Jesus' crucifixion . Yet, despite perplexity and skepticism, billions of Christians around the world regularly repeat the original confession of Easter faith: on the third day after his execution, Jesus rose again. (N. T. Wright. The Resurrection of the Son of God)
• Eastertide . . . the fifty day season that begins with Easter and ends at Pentecost Sunday.
• Lent is a season for fasting…Eastertide is a season for feasting !