| International Sunday School Lessons |
Lesson for March 24, 1940
The Sepulcher
Triumph Over Death
Matthew 27:57-28:6
GOLDEN TEXT: “But now is Christ risen from tire dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.”—I Corinthians 15:20
THE RESURRECTION of Jesus is fundamentally important to the divine plan of salvation. Generally speaking, however, an erroneous view of this great miracle is held, in that it is claimed that the Master Himself triumphed over death; that is, that He raised Himself from the dead. This is quite incorrect, for the Scriptures make it plain that God, by His own mighty power, reached down into the tomb and raised the beloved Redeemer from the state of death.—Eph. 1:17-23; Acts 2:24; I Pet. 1:21
There are many vitally important thoughts associated with the fact of Jesus’ resurrection. One of them is that God has power to raise the dead as thus was demonstrated. Jesus previously had awakened Lazarus and others from the sleep of death, but in each instance He called upon His Father for the strength to perform such miracles. After His resurrection Jesus declared, “All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth.” This means that now the resurrected Christ Himself has power to raise the dead.
The importance of this as a basis upon which Christian faith may rest is at once apparent when we realize that the fulfillment of most of the divine promises recorded in the Scriptures depends upon a resurrection from the dead. In our Golden Text Paul declares that Jesus, in His resurrection, became the “firstfruits” of them that slept. But if there had been no firstfruits, neither would there have been any afterfruits; in which case, the apostle asserts, our faith and our preaching would be vain, and we would be without hope.
Peter declares that we have been “begotten to a lively [or ‘living,’ Diaglott] hope,” or a hope, of life, “by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” (I Pet. 1:3) The Master Himself later asserted, “I am He that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.” (Rev. 1:18) Yes the hope of both the church and the world depends upon the fact that Jesus was raised from the dead.
When Paul spoke to the Athenians from Mars Hill he explained that God had given assurance to all men of a future day of equitable judgment in that He had raised Jesus from the dead. (Acts 17:31) When Peter preached through Christ the resurrection of the dead, he described the colossal miracle of the future as “times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began.”—Acts 3:19–4:2
Think, then, of how much depends upon the resurrection of the dead; of the abundant after-fruitage that never would have materialized had Jesus not been raised from the dead. Had Jesus remained in the tomb the hope of restitution for all mankind would have been blasted, and all of God’s prophets since the world began would have been false instead of holy prophets.
But there is still further significance in the resurrection of Jesus than the fact that it demonstrated divine power to raise the dead. In addition to this it proved that God was pleased with Jesus’ sacrifice. This thought is beautifully pointed out in the tabernacle types. When the High Priest was offering the day of atonement sacrifices, it was essential that he carry out the divine instructions to the very letter, else, when He entered into the most holy with the blood to sprinkle upon the mercy seat he would die while passing under the second veil.
In the book of Hebrews the apostle makes it clear that to pass this second veil in antitype signifies entering into heaven itself, into the actual presence of God. The priest’s passing under the veil, therefore, would beautifully picture the death of Jesus; and His rising on the other side, illustrates His resurrection. Now had the typical High Priest not been faithful in performing the service entrusted to him, he would net have risen within the veil. Just so, had Jesus been in any measure unfaithful, He would, likewise, have remained under the antitypical veil, that is, in death.
This too, in such an event, would signify that no acceptable sacrifice for sins had been offered, so that both the church and the world would still be without hope. Now, however, because Jesus was raised from the dead, we have the assurance that “He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.”—I John 2:1,2
When on the day of Pentecost Peter mentioned some of the glorious implications of the Master’s resurrection, he explained that having been raised from the dead, and having ascended to the Father, and being at the right hand of God, had shed forth the Holy Spirit upon the waiting disciples, and thus gave them, as the nucleus of the Gospel church, a blessed assurance of divine acceptance and blessing. When the church is completed, then Jesus will appear in the presence of God for the whole world, and the Spirit will be poured out upon all flesh; with the result that the knowledge of the glory of God will fill the earth as the waters cover the sea.
Furthermore, Jesus being raised from the dead, He is able to succor those who come unto Him, having been prepared by His suffering for this position as a merciful High Priest to the church. (Heb. 2:17,18) Later, during the Kingdom period, when the New Covenant is being made with Israel and through Israel with the world, the entire church will be associated with Jesus in the priestly work; they, like the Master, having been previously prepared by experience for that gigantic task of nursing the whole world of mankind hack to life.
So, while it is blessed to think of the personal experiences of the disciples and of the Marys in connection with their happy surprise when they learned that the Master had been raised from the dead, we should by no means lose sight of the deeper significance of that miracle of miracles, realizing that because He lives, we too shall live; and that, also, to all mankind there is to be given a full opportunity of life during the thousand years of earth’s coming glory.
QUESTIONS:
Did Jesus raise Himself from the dead?
What does the miracle of the resurrection mean to the church and to the World?
In what way did God give assurance unto all men through the resurrection from the dead?
Would Jesus have been raised from the dead had His earthly ministry not been acceptable to the Heavenly Father?