Preacher Ko Lingkang

The Truth That Could Not Be Hid

Introduction
Every Easter, Christians around the world celebrate the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, who rose again on the third day after His death on the cross. The fact of the resurrection of Christ is a basic tenet of our Christian faith. As Paul explained clearly in 1 Corinthians 15:3-4, the gospel which was preached unto them was 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". That is the gospel that every Christian must believe in, in order to be saved.

Further on in 1 Corinthians 15, Paul further elaborated on the great importance of the doctrine of Christ’s resurrection, which led him to declare in 1 Corinthians 15:14, 17 "And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain… And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins." Indeed, if our hope is only in a Christ who died but did not rise again, then "we are of all men most miserable".

Sadly, many so-called Christians deny this crucial foundational truth. Despite the clear testimony of Scripture, they choose instead to subscribe to the lies of the liberals and modernists who denounce the resurrection as a myth that was made up by the disciples after Jesus death in an attempt to deify Him. Thus whilst many today do not deny the historical person and death of Jesus, they refuse to acknowledge a miraculous resurrection, but have come up with many different theories to explain away what happened on the cross and in the tomb. Yet we should not be too surprised about it, for the attack on the resurrection was something that began immediately after Jesus’ death and resurrection. This is described for us in Matthew 27 and 28.

A Truth some Tried to Prevent (Matt 27:62-66)

In numerous occasions throughout His public ministry, Jesus predicted not just his death at the hand of the Jews, but also the fact that He will certainly rise again on the third day (Matt 16:21, 17:23, 20:19 etc.). It is interesting to note that those who took him the most seriously were actually the Priests and the Pharisees. Although they did not actually believe that Jesus would literally rise again from the dead (they called him a deceiver), yet they were aware of what an impact it would have on His followers if they thought that it really happened. They assumed it would have to be a plot by Jesus’ disciples, who may come by night and steal His body away and then declare to the people that Jesus had risen from the dead. To them, they believed such an event would be worse than any of His miracles or teaching during his public ministry, for it would show that He is undeniably divine. Therefore they did all that was in their power to prevent this resurrection from ever happening, and brought their concern to Pilate.

Pilate then dispatched a troop of Roman soldiers and tasked them to make the sepulchre as secure as they could. Knowing how high the stakes were, it was certain that they would spare no effort to do all they could to ensure that no one would have any unauthorised access to the tomb. They therefore took meticulous care to seal the tomb with a large heavy stone (Mark 16:4 describes it as ‘very great’), and set a sentry over it to ensure that there were guards keeping watch at all times.

Yet in taking all these additional precautionary measures, they not only could not prevent the resurrection from happening, instead they proved that it was indeed miraculous, and not a deception engineered by the disciples!

A Truth that Certainly Happened (Matt 28:1-10)

It would have been Friday evening when the body of Jesus was entombed, and Saturday evening after the Sabbath when the watch was set over the tomb by Pilate. They kept watch through the night, and the events of Matthew 28 would happen early Sunday morning.

Suddenly, a great earthquake shook the area, which certainly would have roused any of the soldiers who may have been sleeping. They would have witnessed as the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and rolled away the stone from the entrance of the tomb. These elite soldiers were petrified, gripped with fear, and were too shocked to do anything but tremble in their boots. Their terror was so overwhelming that they ‘became as dead men’, probably fainting where they were, or just cowering on the floor. By the time the women came to see the sepulchre, they had fled in fear, and were nowhere to be seen.

The clear testimony of the angel of the Lord to the women was that "he is not here: for he is risen", referring to the Lord Jesus Christ. There is certainly no denying that Jesus did indeed rise from the dead. Everything surrounding this event was miraculous, from the great earthquake that shook the earth, to the angel who descended from heaven to roll away the stone, and of course the empty tomb that proves the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ himself.

As Paul would later recount, Jesus was then "seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep." (1 Cor 15:5-6). There were numerous eyewitnesses that corroborated their account, attesting to the truth that Jesus had indeed risen from the grave that first Easter morning.

A Truth they tried to Cover Up (Matt 28:11-15)

The soldiers who were there would certainly have known that it was a supernatural thing that they had witnessed, and not the disciples who had come by night to steal the body of Christ away. That would have been honest in their report to the chief priests, for to say otherwise would be admitting that they had failed in their duty to guard the tomb, and that would certainly result in their punishment. In fact, when a similar thing happened in Acts 12 where Peter was freed from prison by the angel of the Lord, the guards that were supposed to be responsible for him were put to death by Herod (Acts 12:19).

However this time, instead of punishing the soldiers, the priests and elders were forced to concede that what had happened was indeed something beyond their comprehension. Yet their concern was not for the truth. All they wanted was to hide and cover up the fact that Jesus’ body had been supernaturally whisked away from under their noses. Their solution therefore was to pay off the soldiers, and have them give a false report that the disciples were the ones who stole the body. They even went so far as to assure these soldiers that they would not be punished, but that they would defend them before the governor. And so the soldiers did so, and no matter how unlikely their story was, they reported as instructed to the Jews, and they all chose to believe the lie that was fabricated by the priests. How sad it is to know these religious leaders had now become the deceivers who tried to cover up the truth of the resurrection of Christ, and chose to deny the truth which was clearly reported to them.

As a result, the Jews bought the lie that was told, and up till the time of the writing of the Gospel of Matthew, the common belief was that the resurrection was no more than a myth that was made up by the disciples. They continued to reject Jesus, and heavily persecuted the Christians for believing in the resurrection. How sad it is, that they would turn away from their Messiah, the Saviour who sacrificed His life for their salvation, all because they believed a lie, and bought into the conspiracy that tried to hide the truth from them.

Conclusion

We thank God that for us, the issue of the resurrection is not something that we doubt or dispute over, but rather is something that we can celebrate this Easter morning. Indeed as the Apostle Peter exults in 1 Peter 1:3-5, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time."

May we always remember the wonderful event of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a great truth that could not be hid, and we must not hide as well. We must be proud and unashamed to boldly declare to all that we have a living Saviour who is coming soon. Daily, we ought to look forward to the glorious day when we too will be resurrected, and granted the same glorified body that the Lord Jesus Christ received – immortal, incorruptible, and undefiled!