He Is Risen

As the sun when it is gone down to us begins a new day in another part of the world, so Christ, having finished His course and work in this world, rises again, and that in order to the acting another glorious part of His work in the world above. In His death He was upon the matter totally eclipsed; but in His resurrection, He begins to recover His light and glory again. God never intended that the darling of His soul should be lost in an obscure sepulchre. An angel descends from heaven to roll away the stone, and, with it, the reproach of His death, and to be the heavenly herald to proclaim His resurrection to the two Marys, whose love to Christ had at this time drawn them to visit the sepulchre where they lately left Him.

At this time (the Lord being newly risen) the keepers were trembling, and become as dead men. So great was the terrible majesty and awful solemnity attending Christ’s resurrection, but to encourage these good souls, the angel prevents them with these good tidings, “He is not here: for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay” (Matthew 28:6). It was as if he had said, “Be not troubled though you have not the end you came for, one sight of your dear, though dead Jesus; yet you have not lost your labor, for to your eternal comfort, I tell you, He is risen, as He said. And to put it out of doubt, come hither and satisfy yourselves. See the place where the Lord lay.”

In these words we have both a declaration and confirmation of the resurrection of Christ from the dead.

First, a declaration of it by the angels, both negatively and affirmatively. Negatively, He is not here. Here indeed you laid Him, here you left Him, and here you thought to find Him as you left Him; but you are happily mistaken, He is not here. However, this giving them no satisfaction, so He might continue dead still, though removed to another place, as indeed they suspected He was (John 20:3), therefore His resurrection is declared positively and affirmatively, He is risen. The word imports the active power or self-quickening principle by which Christ raised Himself from the state of the dead, which Luke takes notice of also (Acts 1:3), where he says, “He shewed (or presented) Himself alive after His passion.” It was the divine nature, or Godhead of Christ, which revived and raised the manhood.

Secondly, here is also a plain confirmation of Christ’s resurrection, and that, first, from Christ’s own prediction. “He is risen, as He said.” He foretold that which I declare to be now fulfilled. Let it not therefore seem incredible to you. Secondly, by their own sight. “Come, see the place where the Lord lay.” The grave hath ' it its guest; it is now empty; death hath lost its prey. It received, but could not retain Him. “Come, see the place where the Lord lay.” Thus the resurrection of Christ is declared and confirmed.

That our Lord Jesus Christ, though laid, was not lost in the grave, but the third day revived and rose again, is a truth confirmed to us by many infallible proofs, as Luke witnesses (Acts 1:3). We have testimonies of it, both from heaven and earth, and both infallible. From heaven we have the testimony of angels, and to the testimony of an angel all credit is due, for angels are holy creatures and cannot deceive us. The angel tells the two Marys in the text, “He is risen.” We have testimonies of it from men, holy men, who were eyewitnesses of this truth, to whom He showed Himself alive by the space of forty days after His resurrection by no less than nine solemn apparitions to them. Sometimes five hundred brethren saw Him at once (1 Corinthians 15:6). These were holy persons, who durst not deceive, and who confirmed their testimony with their blood. So that no point of religion is of more confessed truth and infallible certainty than this before us.

“Come, see the place where the Lord lay.”

And blessed be God it is so. For if it were not, then were the “gospel in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:14), seeing it hangs the whole weight of our faith, hope, and salvation upon Christ as risen from the dead. If this were not so, then would the holy and divinely inspired apostles be found false-witnesses (1 Corinthians 15:15). For they all with one mouth constantly, and to the death, affirmed it. If Christ be not risen, “then are believers yet in their sins” (1 Corinthians 15:17). For our justification is truly ascribed to the resurrection of Christ (Romans 4:25). While Christ was dying, and continued in the state of the dead, the price of our redemption was all that while in paying; the payment was completed when He revived and rose again. Therefore for Christ to have continued always in the state of the dead, had been never to have completely satisfied; hence the whole force and weight of our justification depends upon His resurrection. Nay, had not Christ risen, “the dead had perished” (1 Corinthians 15:18), even the dead who died in the faith of Christ, and of whose salvation there now remains no ground to doubt.

Moreover, had He not revived and risen from the dead, how could all the types that prefigured it have been satisfied? Surely they must have stood as insignificant things in the Scriptures; and so must all the predictions of His resurrection, by which it was so plainly foretold. (See Matthew 12:40, Luke 24:46, Psalm 16:10, and 1 Corinthians 15:4).

To conclude, had He not risen from the dead, how could He have been installed in that glory whereof He is now possessed in heaven, and which was promised Him before the world was upon the account of His death and sufferings? “For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that He might be Lord both of the dead and living” (Romans 14:9). And that, in this state of dominion and glorious advancement, He might powerfully apply the virtues and benefits of His blood to us, which else had been as a precious cordial spilt upon the ground.

So then there remains no doubt at all of the certainty of Christ’s resurrection; it was so, and upon all accounts it must needs be so, for you see how great a weight the Scriptures hang upon this nail. And blessed be God, it is a nail fastened in a sure place.

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