As I believe most of you are aware, we lost our eldest grandson in an auto accident Friday night. It's certainly an honor and a privilege and a blessing to be able to bring the message this morning on the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And it's something that we hear often, something that perhaps some of us think we'll get around to thinking seriously about that. I hope we all this morning will certainly do that, especially the young people that are with us, remembering that we don't know what our appointed time is. And we need to heed He who said, I am the resurrection and the life. Our reading this morning will take us into the 24th chapter of Luke. and also a short portion from the Word of God found in 1 Corinthians chapter 15. Hear now the Word of the Lord. 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 And 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 before them in shining garments. And 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. He is risen. Remember how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee saying that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified. And the third day to rise again. And they remembered His words. And then they returned from the tomb and told these things to the eleven and to all the rest. And it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them, who told these things to the disciples." And reading the summary of the resurrection account from Paul's epistle to the Corinthians, we read these words in chapter 15. Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which you also received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you, first of all, that which I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures. and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He was seen by Cephas, and then by the twelve. And after that, He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. After that, He was seen by James, and then by all of the apostles. And then last of all, He was seen by me, as one born out of time. For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God, I am what I am. And His grace toward me was not in vain, but I labored more abundantly than them all. yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. Therefore, whether it was I or they, so we preach, and so you believed." This is the Word of the Lord. Let's pray. Our gracious Heavenly Father, we thank You for the gift of life. We thank You for the gift of Your Holy Spirit, our Comforter, who takes us through difficult times, who instructs us from your word and guides us in the lives that we should live. May he be with us this morning to help me to rightly divide your word of truth and give us ears to hear those things which you would teach us this day. And all of God's people said, you may be seated. Well, this morning we come to the final chapter of the Gospel of Luke and of the glory of the resurrection. You know, we've been together for almost a hundred messages as we've moved through Luke's orderly account for his friend Theophilus, and our plan is to continue on in the book of Acts, Lord willing. There will be several messages on the resurrection. So this morning, what I would like to do is to focus on an overview of the resurrection, of Easter day, as the Bible presents it for us. And also, consider a reconciliation of various accounts that are given of the events that took place that day. The reconciliation will be given in part as a response to the challenges that come from skeptics who refuse to believe the truth that God has given them. I think it's an important part of our being ready always to give an answer for the faith within. Now, you know, there's no better summary than what we read from the Apostle Paul this morning. Jesus crucified, buried, and resurrected. This is the Gospel. This is the good news. Paul clearly proclaiming the evidence that we have. Jesus crucified according to the Scriptures as the perfect sacrifice. for sin. Jesus raised on the third day according to the scriptures. And that's a theme that we're going to come back to over and over again as we consider the book of Acts, looking to the scriptures that speak of Christ. Paul reminds us that Jesus appeared to Peter, that He appeared to all of the disciples, and then to over 500 at one time, most likely in Galilee. In addition, we know from the Gospel accounts that we've been studying, that He appeared to the women, and that there were saints who had passed on, who were resurrected on that morning and went back to witness in the city of Jerusalem. God gave us many eyewitnesses to what we must believe to be saved. It is what we must accept in all of its simplicity as Paul preaches it. But also we recognize that it is something that we can steady and meditate upon until Christ returns and continue to grow in our understanding. And, you know, probably continue that even beyond the Second Coming. But I want us to really take note, especially in our age, that we have good and sufficient evidence, as Dr. Schaeffer would have said, good and sufficient evidence given to us to believe that Jesus was raised from the dead. The Christian faith is not a leap of faith as it is understood by the world today. It's not, as Dr. Schaefer would have said, a leap into the dark. Well, let's try this. And that's what we're accused of, ironically, by people who do that in their very lives. They laugh at us and then believe that, you know, our children evolved from innate matter. I mean, talk about a leap of faith. But you see, it's important that we understand this. And Dr. Schaeffer used to give a great example in his ministry that was easy for him because he lived in the Swiss Alps. I don't think we can relate to the Swiss Alps. but I thought we could redo it a little bit for maybe a ski patrol. You know, we can imagine being up in the mountains and we know what snow is like and we hear the tragic stories some years of people who get trapped in avalanches or getting caught out in the cold of the Sierra. It's very dangerous. So imagine that you were on a little cross-country skiing trip and suddenly there was an avalanche or a sudden blizzard or something that you managed to get yourself trapped on a ledge where you can't really see where you're at. It's a white-out kind of condition and you know that if you stay there the exposure overnight is probably going to kill you. And what Dr. Schaefer would explain to the young kids that came to him was what the world would tell you is that well just take a leap. You know, perhaps you think, I can't survive on this ledge, so maybe I'll jump. And maybe there's something down below that would be better. And they think that's what we're telling people as Christians. You know, you can't figure out the answers to life, so just believe something. Nothing could be further from the truth. Because what the gospel is presenting would be a situation like that where you suddenly felt all alone and there was a bull horn that suddenly called out and said, it's the Squaw Valley Ski Patrol. We see exactly where you're at and it's a very dangerous spot. You can't stay there. But if you go to the right three steps and you jump, you will land on a ledge that has a cave and you can take shelter there overnight and we'll be able to come and get you in the morning. Now it's still, from your perspective, a leap in the dark. You can't see that ledge. You don't know that it's there. But you trust the One who has given you good and sufficient reason to make that jump. And that's what we have here with the Gospels. Now, the skeptics of our age and the skeptics down through the centuries object to the evidence that God has given. They can come up with a hundred reasons not to believe it. They do so in many different ways, and I hope this morning that considering a few of them will give us a good example of how we are to apply the wisdom that is given to us in Proverbs 26 in verses 4 and 5. Two verses that, when you just read them through, look like they're completely contradictory. Verse 4 says, Do not answer a fool according to his folly, lest you also be like him. This is wisdom for how we should respond to those who say that the evidence for the resurrection is not adequate, or not how they think it should have been presented. Not how they think God should have done things. And you know, it is so easy to present, quote-unquote, better alternatives. You know, what Jesus should have done was shown up on the mountain outside of Jerusalem, maybe with 10,000 of those angels that He's got at His beck and call, blowing trumpets and announcing to all of Jerusalem that He has been raised from the dead. Now, that would have been dynamic. Or others would say, well, if God is in control of all things, He could have had Jesus come in a much more modern time, where we could have had someone down there with a video recorder and a camera, and proven that Jesus was raised from the dead. And of course, my favorite is the one that we saw at the cross, and we continue to see today, is, well, why doesn't God show Himself to everyone? Why doesn't Jesus just show up to everyone that the Father has called into the kingdom and say, Hi, I'm Jesus, I'm resurrected, you need to believe. Well, God could have done any or all of those things. It's not a problem for God. But that is not how He chose to do things. And to enter into discussions with people about such speculations is to answer a fool according to his folly. And you will only end up, in the end, appearing as foolish as he is. And we should be aware of that. But you see, on the other hand, there are many who challenge the evidence that has been given directly by God. Here, I believe that we are to act based on verse 5 of Proverbs 26 which says, Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes. You see, if we fail to challenge a fool that attacks the very truth that God has given, then we allow them to appear wise. And we risk having them appear wise to our children and our grandchildren. When someone says the Bible is wrong, that is when we answer the fool, giving a reason for the faith within. Now, in your order of worship this morning, and you'll have to flip a page if you haven't already done so to see it, I've included the parallel accounts of the resurrection from all four of the Gospels. I've also included on the right hand side a summary of the events that I've put together to propose how all of the various details have been reconciled or can be reconciled. Now, some may ask why all the paper and why did I take such time to put this together? Well, there's two reasons. I hope and pray that it will help us again, as we've done in several of these accounts, to see the richness of what God has given us in the four gospel witnesses that we have. And it also answers one of the great challenges that has been leveled against the faith in recent years. That the various accounts, they claim, of the resurrection cannot be reconciled with each other. They are full of contradictions, they will tell us. For example, Dan Barker has issued what he calls the Easter Challenge. He says to Christians, quote, tell me exactly what happened on that day that their most important doctrine was born. Close quote. Now Mr. Barker interestingly says that we as Christians should be eager to take up the challenge because, quote, without the resurrection, there is no Christianity. And you see, that is exactly what Paul's point is in 1 Corinthians 15, where he continues on to say, if Christ is not risen, then your preaching is empty and your faith also is empty. For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen, and if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile. You are still in your sins. So, the Bible and the world agree on at least that one point. No resurrection, no salvation. This is why I believe that things like the Easter challenge are made. Because they know that they can undermine our faith and the faith of our children. And it's why it's so important to give an answer to these fools. The challenge from Mr. Barker was simple. He said, without omitting a single detail from the separate accounts, write a simple chronological narrative of the events. Now Mr. Barker and his skeptic friends claim that no one has met this challenge, despite the fact that there are several already posted on the internet. But I think it's good for us to look at it again. And I've offered a brief summary which I think meets his challenge, but we must remember that unbelief will still have a hardened heart. Remember, in these accounts that we're going to be considering over in Matthew's Gospel, we see that the soldiers who actually witnessed the resurrection did not bow in faith, but ran off and accepted bribes to tell lies. So I do not think that without the divine intervention of the Holy Spirit that Mr. Barker is going to maybe read my summary up on the internet and fall to his knees in repentance before the Lord of Lords. He will bow the knee one day. But, I hope that we As the brothers and sisters of Church of the King, we'll take some time to study this material. This is something that we should be very, very familiar with. I hope you take the orders of worship home today. Don't leave them laying around. These are things that we can study and come back to many, many times. Now, my summary is not the only way that all of the details can be accounted for. But I hope that you see it confirms that we do have a faithful account of the events of that day. And I think it helps us to have an overview of what happened on that day. It was an important day, but it was also a very hectic day. It gives an answer for our faith, and it should strengthen our faith. So let me walk you through the summary. which will be that right-hand column, as our means of seeing an overview of what happened on the day of the resurrection. The first thing that we see is that a group of women who followed Jesus begin their trip to the tomb in the dark and arrive there just after sunrise. And this is the first example of how easy it is to bring the details together without contradiction. But it is also where the skeptics see nothing but contradictions. They complain because the various lists of the women are not the same in the different gospel accounts. They complain because one talks about it being dark when they leave, and the others talk about it being after sunrise that they arrive. So, in a sense, when you read through what many of these skeptics say, what they're really demanding is that God should have given a summary rather than the various accounts that He did. And we need to be careful there because that could lead us back to that first kind of foolishness. But you see, the various texts, if we take a time to read them, Show us the richness of the accounts that God has chosen to give us. That God has chosen to have in the hands of His church for thousands of years. So as we continue on, we see in Matthew's account that the resurrection of Jesus brings another great earthquake. An earthquake when He dies, and an earthquake when He is raised again. An angel then rolls back the stone to reveal the empty tomb, and He sits upon that stone and absolutely terrifies these Roman soldiers. Now it will be Matthew that goes on to tell us what happens with those soldiers. After this has happened, the women arrive and they see that the stone has been rolled away. And I believe that it is at this point that Mary Magdalene runs to tell the disciples what has happened. That's not often how it is presented, but I think it's the best way to reconcile the accounts, because when she comes back to the disciples, she just tells them that the body has been stolen. The other women enter the tomb and they see two angels. The one who sat on the stone then speaks to the women. Now, it's possible that the angel may have said some of what he said while still outside. It's not clear in the accounts. And either way, we know that it was that angel that spoke to these women. But let me stress that there is no problem with the varying descriptions of the angels or with the number of the angels. You see, angels can be fearful, and usually are. Most times, the first thing they have to say is, fear not, because the person they've appeared in front of is scared to death. But they can also appear as men, like those who we entertain without knowing that they are angels. So what we are seeing in this account are variations in how these angels have appeared. It's also their favorite contradiction to say that one account says there were two and another account says there was one. But you see, if there were two angels or more, and only one of them spoke, it is not a contradiction for Mark to mention the angel who spoke. And again, maybe a practical example could work here. Let's say we've got four reporters who are out because a big tornado had just blown through a town. And they're there to get the story of what happened. They're looking for eyewitness accounts. And along comes a man named Tom who saw it all. And his uncle is with him. And he walks up to this group of reporters, and Tom begins to explain and give an account of what happened that day. When they write their stories, One of the reporters might say, Tom came and said. Another reporter might say, Tom and his uncle came and said. And still another reporter could say, two men came and said. All three of those would be truthful accounts of what happened. And yet, when the Holy Spirit has our Gospel writers do this on Easter morning, the skeptics, Cry. Contradiction. Contradiction. Now, I couldn't help myself. So just for fun, I did take up Mr. Barker's challenge about the details when it comes to what the angel said. And I put together what I believe is a faithful accounting of what might have happened in that tomb that actually takes each of the words that the four gospel accounts have. The angel could easily have said to the women, do not be alarmed. That's typical for angels to start with. For I know that you seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is risen. He is not here. See the place where they laid him, pointing to the empty slab. Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here. He is risen. as He said, come and see the place where He lay. And indeed, He is going before you into Galilee, and there you will see Him as He said to you, behold, I have told you." Now that's a plausible conversation that could have taken place in the tomb, and I think it takes care of every word that appears in every account. So if Mr. Barker reads it, maybe that will turn him around. At this point, the women do remember the words that Jesus had spoken. And they, based on the angel's testimony, run to tell the others. And they talked to no one along the way, and I suspect that they probably stopped several times along the way to try to take in everything that had happened. In the meantime, Mary Magdalene has returned to tell the disciples that the body is missing. And Peter and John run to the tomb. John and Peter arrive at the tomb after the other women have left. John comes to believe when he sees the graveclaws, and Peter goes away marveling at what he had seen, which we'll take some time to consider at length next week. Mary now returns to the tomb after the others have left. Mary enters and sees two angels who ask her why she is weeping. It is John who makes sure that we do not miss the fact that each angel sat one at one end and the other at the other end of the slab where the body of Christ, the perfect sacrifice for sin, had been laid, giving us a picture of the two cherubim who sat over the mercy seat in the Holy of Holies. guarding the image and the symbol of what Christ would do. You know, we've talked many times about how the Scriptures are like fine jewels that can be viewed from various angles. And this is so true. when we look at the accounts that are given to us of the resurrection. My lovely bride and I were up in Ashland this week and enjoyed many stores, and there was a beautiful jewelry store that just did an exquisite job of displaying some of their jewels. And I remember standing there one afternoon looking at a particularly big diamond, and it was just amazing to look from one angle and then another, and to see the glorious aspects of that one single jewel. And that's what we have here in these accounts. The reminder of the mercy seat in the Holy of Holies is followed in John's account by a garden scene. It's John that had told us that the tomb was in a garden. And now Mary thinks that Jesus is the gardener. And we have The Bride of Christ represented by Mary. His church meeting the Bride. A marriage in a garden. Something that we see in the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. From Adam and Eve, who were married in the Garden of Eden, to the city of Jerusalem coming down as the Bride of Christ. And the marriage supper of the Lamb that we see in the book of Revelation. And thus it is very fitting that Jesus makes His first appearance to Mary Magdalene in the beautiful garden scene where the air would have been filled with the fragrance of all of the spices. The spices that had been with Jesus in His grave clothes and the spices that the women had brought. So your homework this week, should you choose to accept the assignment, is to go back and read the Song of Solomon to see how this was foretold in that glorious love story. Mary now returns to tell the disciples the good news. And then we're told that Jesus makes His second appearance to the other women who are still on their way to see the disciples. Jesus confirms what they have heard from the angel. And the women continue on to tell the disciples the good news. And with the witnesses of the women and Mary Magdalene included, the disciples do not believe. Luke refers to Peter's trip to the tomb, and this could be a second trip to the tomb, but I think it's probably the same one. And we know that Jesus makes an appearance at some point during the day to Peter. And we're not given the details of that in terms of time or place or what was said. What we are told is that Jesus goes to meet two disciples on the road to Emmaus. That's a long account from the Gospel of Luke, which Lord willing, we'll consider in two weeks. Those disciples return to Jerusalem after they realize that Jesus has risen, and they come back to the room where they're gathered after the women have returned as well as Peter. The other disciples at this point are in turmoil, proclaiming what had happened, but not believing it. And again, the skeptics say, contradictions, contradictions, this can't all be true. And yet, what a real account of a real day. You know, we went through a day yesterday of grieving when you would have had these sort of events. How many times you hear, I can't believe it. It's not true. Did this happen? Did that happen? people being confused about what happened. That's typical during an emotional time. And here we have one of the most glorious events in the history of humankind, and I would argue that the various accounts showing both belief and unbelief present the more accurate picture of what happened that day and what was going through the minds of those disciples and even the women. So soon after this, Jesus makes an appearance. to those who are now gathered in Jerusalem. Mark and John and Luke give the details of what Jesus said during that appearance. And it's important to note that Jesus showed them the wounds that were upon His body, and that He ate in their presence, confirming to them and to us that it was a physical resurrection that had taken place. Now as I mentioned earlier, Matthew is the one who tells us what happened to the soldiers who were at the tomb during the resurrection of Jesus. And it gives us a clear contrast between belief and unbelief. The soldiers refused to acknowledge the very event that they witnessed. Just like the modern skeptics. who were paid to write books to destroy our faith. And this is contrasted with the faithful disciples, who though they had doubts clear up to the time that He met them in Galilee and gave the Great Commission, would in the end give their very lives defending the truth of the resurrection. John, in his gospel, after going on to give the account of Jesus' second visit with the disciples, because Thomas was not present that night, goes on to say this, and truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ. the Son of God, and that believing, you may have life in His name." Paul writing to the Corinthians confirmed what John said. We have life in His name if we hold true to what was preached. That Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures. That He was buried. And that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. As we said earlier, the world and Paul agree that the resurrection is key. Let us not be those who seek to tear down this truth, or even those who would be silent in the presence of such attacks. Let us be those who with Paul boldly proclaim the life-giving truth of the gospel. He is risen.