Luke 24:1–11

Easter Sunday

¹On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb.

²They found the stone rolled away from the tomb,

³but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.

⁴While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them.

⁵In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, "Why do you look for the living among the dead?

⁶He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee:

⁷'The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.'"

⁸Then they remembered his words.

⁹When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others.

¹⁰It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles.

¹¹But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense.

Halleluiah! He is risen!

He is risen indeed, Halleluiah!

The story is told of how the people of England were anxiously awaiting the outcome of the battle of Waterloo. In this battle, the British army, under the command of the Duke of Wellington, was combating the French army, under the command of Napoleon. A series of stations, each one in sight of the next, had been set up to send visible coded messages from the battlefield in Belgium back to England. Finally the message arrived: “Wellington defeated…” But as this was being spelled out, a sudden blanket of fog obscured the signals. The people of England were heartbroken. Their commander and his army had apparently been defeated.

However, the reason for the sad news was that fog had interrupted the sending of the coded message. Actually, the complete message had not been received. The message was to say: Wellington defeated Napoleon at Waterloo.” Later, the fog cleared, and the full message was communicated. The outcome of the battle was the exact opposite of what the people had originally thought. Wellington and the British had, in fact, not lost the battle at all. They had won!

On Good Friday, the message from the cross appeared to say: “Jesus Christ defeated…” His lifeless body was laid in the tomb, and his followers returned to their residences filled with grief and hopelessness. It seemed that the archenemy, Satan, had won the most decisive victory in history.

But Easter Sunday brought the rest of the story. The full message, revealed on Easter Sunday, is “Jesus Christ defeated Satan at Calvary!” The resurrection of Christ shows who the true victor is. Furthermore, just as the whole British nation shared in Wellington’s victory over Napoleon, so also all Christians share in Jesus’ victory over the devil and death.

THE RESURRECTION SHOWS JESUS TO BE THE TRUE VICTOR OVER SIN AND DEATH, AND HIS VICTORY IS SHARED WITH ALL CHRISTIANS.

In spite of what Jesus had earlier prophesied about his resurrection, Christ’s victory came as a surprise, even to his closest followers. Nobody ever expected that Jesus would come out of that tomb alive. His companions thought that Friday afternoon was the last they would see of him. Their reactions of surprise to the message of Christ’s resurrection are recorded for us in our text.

The first people to be surprised were the women who arrived at the tomb early on Sunday morning: “The women took the spices that had prepared and went to the tomb.” The spices were for anointing Jesus’ dead body. They expected Jesus to be dead. They expected that if the guards were gracious enough to open the tomb for them, all they would find inside would be a corpse. Instead what they found at the gravesite was that the guards were gone, the stone was rolled away from the tomb’s entrance, and the body of Jesus was gone. What was their response to this discovery? “They were perplexed about this.” Perplexed, indeed! An empty tomb was not what they expected. This was a huge surprise!

Even more surprising, however, was what two messengers—we know that they were angels—told them. They said: “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen.” Talk about surprising news! He’s not dead? He has risen? He’s alive? This certainly was not what the women expected.

But it wasn’t only these women who were surprised on that Sunday morning. The apostles were surprised as well: our text says: “they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others”. What do you think? Did the eleven receive the report of Jesus’ resurrection with joy and exaltation? No, they received the women’s message with doubt and incredulity: the text says: “They did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense.”

The fact that Jesus rose from the dead took everyone by surprise. But the disciples shouldn’t have been surprised. Jesus had told them beforehand that this would happen. This is the point that the angles make when they address the astonished women: “He is not here; he has risen! [Don’t you] Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again’?” So in one sense, even the angels are surprised. They were surprised at the surprise of the women. They’re surprised that the women didn’t see Jesus’ resurrection coming. The angels ask, “Why do you seek the living among the dead?” In other words, they say, “Why are you expecting the One who is the source of life to be dead? Don’t you remember that Jesus said he would rise from the dead?” Jesus had predicted his death, and he had also predicted his resurrection. So there should be no surprise that he was alive.

But perhaps nowhere was the surprise of Christ’s victory over death greater than in the spiritual realm. It appeared as if Satan and his demonic hordes had won. In the battle of the ages, the fallen prince of darkness had done all he could to bring the Prince of Peace under his power. When Jesus succumbed to death, it appeared that he had been swallowed up into Satan’s dominion of death. He who had the power of death seemed to have wielded successfully that power against the Lord of life. C.F.W.Walther expresses Satan’s apparent victory in these words of hymn #138:

The foe was triumphant when on Calvary

The Lord of creation was nailed to the tree.

In Satan’s domain the hosts shouted and jeered;

For Jesus was slain whom the evil ones feared.

Yet in what appears to be a victory for the enemy, God brings about a surprise. While in the very grasp of death, God’s Messiah overcomes death. The victim became the victor! In the face of seeming defeat, God pulls off victory—indeed the victory of the ages! He who was dead now is alive again! Dr. Walther’s hymn continues with the rest of the story”

But short was the triumph, the Savior arose,

And death, hell and Satan he vanquished—his foes.

The conquering Lord lifts his banner on high,

He lives, yes; he lives and will nevermore die.

Weeks after Jesus’ resurrection, the apostle Peter declared to the very ones who had crucified Christ and had watched him die: “God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.” The apostle Paul says God “disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in [Christ].” From his struggle with Satan, Jesus emerged triumphant with dominion over death.

Perhaps the biggest surprise of all—and the most wonderful—is the fact that God’s surprise victory is our victory too through faith in Christ. Christ’s conquest over Satan brings victory to all of God’s people. Jesus himself promises this. “Because I live, you also will live,” and “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies.”

Christ’s death and resurrection are not only history, or “his story”, they are “our story” as well. This is because in the mind of God, every believer shares complete identity with Christ in his death and resurrection. Death no longer has ultimate power over us because we have been raised with Jesus through faith. We are no longer slaves to sin and Satan since the penalty for our sin—the penalty of eternal death—has been paid by Jesus.

Therefore, we, as members of Christ’s body, his church, are unified with Christ in his conquest over sin, Satan and death. When he conquered the forces of darkness and left them disarmed and paralyzed, we were participants in that victory. Because he has snatched the keys of death and hell from the devil and burst forth from the dark abyss, we now share in the triumph! This truth is expressed in another stanza from Dr. Walther’s hymn:

Oh, where is your sting, death? We fear you no more.

Christ rose, and now open is fair Eden’s door.

For all our transgressions his blood does atone,

Redeemed and forgiven, we now are his own.

On June 18, 1815, when the fog had dispersed, the people of England received the full message from the battlefield: “Wellington defeated Napoleon at Waterloo.” Wellington’s victory over Napoleon brought victory to all British citizens. So also when the fog of surprise and doubt had cleared on that first Easter Sunday, the message of the empty tomb was clear: “Jesus Christ has defeated Satan, sin, death and hell.” As a result, Christ’s conquest now brings victory to all of God’s people. He brings victory to you! That is the greatest surprise of all.

Halleluiah! He is risen!

He is risen indeed, Halleluiah!

Hymn #138