Matthew 28:1-15

Title: Get the Truth of Jesus’ Resurrection.

Today, we find ourselves standing at the edge of history’s most explosive moment—literally and spiritually.

We’re talking about a Savior that couldn’t be buried.

And we’re sharing a story that also couldn’t be buried.

The Resurrection wasn’t poetic symbolism or an overenthusiastic hallucination—it was a true event, signed, sealed, and heaven-delivered.

Heaven didn’t whisper this truth—it sent shockwaves. Quite literally.

And yet, what do powerful people sometimes do when confronted with undeniable divine disruption?

Well... they form a committee and start spinning.

Enter: the conspiracy.

A tale so desperate, so illogical, it makes flat-earth theory sound rational.

And trying to silence the truth about a man who had just defeated death is like trying to plug Niagara Falls with a cork.

So today, as we dive into Matthew 28:1–15, we’re not just reading an old story.

We’re witnessing a cosmic collision between truth with heavenly endorsement and a conspiracy born out of fear and control.

And spoiler alert: truth wins.

So, let’s turn to Matthew 28:1-15 and read it together

1 Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. 2 And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. 4 And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men.

5 But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. 6 He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. 7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you.” 8 So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples.

9 And behold, Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.”

11 While they were going, behold, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests all that had taken place. 12 And when they had assembled with the elders and taken counsel, they gave a sufficient sum of money to the soldiers 13 and said, “Tell people, ‘His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ 14 And if this comes to the governor’s ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” 15 So they took the money and did as they were directed. And this story has been spread among the Jews to this day.

I don’t know about you, but these guys seem pretty cynical.

The greatest miracle ever has taken place.

And right from the start, those in power try to bury the story.

We’ll come back to look at this.

For now, let’s look at what Matthew tells us about the resurrection.

Verses 1-4 explain for us what were the true events of that first Easter morning.

GET THE TRUE EVENTS. (1-4)

1 Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb.

It’s Sunday morning, and these two ladies are on their way to the tomb where Jesus was laid.

Mark tells us that they went to improve on the embalming work that the men had done on Friday.

2 And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow.

The earthquake marks something that has happened of great significance.

The explanation of the earthquake is that one of God’s angels rolled back the stone over the tomb’s mouth

Angels aren’t the cherubs or precious moment looking creatures that people picture them as.

The appearance of angels is so dramatic that, at one point in history, they were believe to be made of fire.

We can understand this from the description were told - His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow

Quote Albert Mohler – “contrary to modern thought, the response of people in the Bible when seeing an angel wasn’t to say, ‘Oh, how cute.’ Instead, the response was for them to wet their pants.”

4 And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men.

The angel’s appearance explains why the guards tremble and faint out of fear.

This isn’t the appearance of a messenger that simply says he’s an angel.

He’s got the clear appearance.

He’s made the impressive impact.

We have a saying when something goes horribly wrong.

We might say, “Everything was fine, and then all hell broke loose.”

We’ll what we see in these events is that everything was not fine,

And all heaven broke loose.

Let me just say that the resurrection tells us that our lives can be in the absolute dumps.

And that can be exactly where God is going to do His thing for His glory and turn it all around.

Because the tomb was empty, there’s nothing that God can’t do if He desires to do it.

Where in my life do I need to have confidence that God can do whatever He desires?

Take Note of something.

At this point, the ladies and the guards have seen/experienced the same events.

Next, from v. 5-8 we can –

GET THE DIVINE EXPLANATION. (5-8)

5 But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. 6 He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay.

The angel recognizes the women’s fears.

But he doesn’t alleviate their fears of him.

He alleviates their fear about Jesus being dead.

He tells them to come and see that He is no longer in the tomb.

The empty tomb is evidence.

But what is the empty tomb evidence of?

Jesus rose from the dead.

Jesus did what He said He would do in several places that we’ve been seeing since Matthew 16.

We’re not celebrating something crazy amazing that happened TO someone.

We’re celebrating what someone DID.

And what He DID, in rising from the dead, defines the meaning and purpose of life.

It means that everything else that He claimed is true.

What He DID was in accordance with what He planned.

And that means that he is trustworthy to be able to carry out the rest of what He’s planned.

For instance, the women are fully convincible that Jesus is going to do the next thing that He said He would.

7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you.”

why talk about where Jesus is going next? – It’s the next thing He said He would do.

* Matthew 26:31–32 31 Then Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away because of me this night. For it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’ 32 But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee.”

8 So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples.

Quote – BKC – “They were filled with joy over the fact of the Resurrection, but they were fearful for they could not possibly comprehend the full implications of this momentous event.”

We’re all familiar with mixed emotions.

We’re familiar with having assurance of something even though we don’t know how the next step will happen.

We’re familiar with being in love to where we don’t care where we are and what we’re doing as long as we’re with our person.

These women set out convinced that Jesus was alive.

So, they were content to do the next thing they were told to do.x

When detectives are trying to piece together a crime scene, eyewitness testimony is huge.

It’s a bummer if they take someone down to the station and learn the person didn’t really see anything.

It’s also a bummer if they realize that the person did see something but they were stone-cold drunk.

Or if the person is known to try to get attention by telling lies.

The detectives after really consider the source

Angelic being who descended from heaven and rolled back a ginormous stone – pretty compelling.

You might be thinking, “I need an angel to appear and tell me that Jesus rose from the grave.”

Folks, we’ve got an historical account here in our hands that tells us what and how it happened.

It really just boils down to whether we’re willing to believe it.

Is the historical record of the Bible enough for you to believe that Jesus died and rose again?

If it’s not, what more would it take for you to trust that Jesus is the risen Savior of the world?

GET THE ULTIMATE CONFIRMATION. (9-10)

9 And behold, Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him.

It’s not just that the tomb is empty.

The resurrected Jesus is up and at ’em.

And He’s ready to pick up where He left off.

Jesus Himself shows up and reinforces what the women messengers are to do.

It’s pretty amazing that he doesn’t start out with something a little more profound than “greetings.”

This is kind of like our, “Hey there.”

Now, let’s just pause and appreciate the irony of that. The most earth-shaking, death-defeating, history-rewriting event has just taken place… and Jesus strolls out of the tomb and greets the women like He just bumped into them at the grocery store. "Hello!" No trumpet fanfare. No “Ta-da!” Not even a, “Bet you didn’t see this coming.” Just… "Greetings."

And I have to say, that feels like the most gloriously understated moment in the entire Bible.

I mean, if it were me, I would’ve at least had a fog machine and some dramatic background music.

You only rise from the dead once—might as well make an entrance!

The women’s response is one of worship.

They fall before Him and grab a hold of Him.

But they’re honoring Him by clinging to what’s closest to the ground.

I think Matthew includes this to point out that Jesus was walking around in a resurrected body that could be taken hold of.

The message is clear – the Son of God has a resurrected body.

Quote – BEC – “We must never underestimate the importance of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The world believes that Jesus died, but the world does not believe that He rose from the dead.”

10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.”

Matthew’s pretty adamant about a few things.

Of all the things he could communicate from the resurrection morning, He sticks to three.

There’s no reason to fear.

Jesus is doing what He said He would do

* Matthew 26:31–32 31 Then Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away because of me this night. For it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’ 32 But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee.”

This would be the expected next step for His disciples to do after Passover – to return home.

Jesus is just getting started, and He’s telling His followers it’s time for the next step.

But He will appear to more than just the 11

He actually makes several appearances as we’re told in -

1 Corinthians 15:6 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep.

When someone wanted to buy a horse, the best way to judge the animal’s age and overall health was to look at it’s teeth.

They wanted to get their information “from the horse’s mouth.”

This morphed into a saying about the reliability of information.

If an idea came directly from a primary source, it could be described as “straight from the horse’s mouth.”

We can trust that those at the tomb that morning heard it “straight from the horse’s mouth.”

They received the ultimate confirmation that Jesus is alive – from the Jesus they knew.

Anyone who knows Christ as their Savior… knows the RISEN Christ as their Savior.

If you desire to know the RISEN Christ as Your Savior, you can!

It’s as simple as A,B,C

You must …

Admit to God that you’re a sinner in need of His grace.

Believe that Jesus died and rose again so that you can have a relationship with God through Him.

Commit to trust in Christ as your Savior and Lord.

Before we move forward to the conspiracy that the religious leaders concoct, let’s look back first.

Back on Friday, after Jesus is buried, the religious leaders meet with Pilate –

You’ll recall this from Matthew 27:62–66 that the Jewish and Roman leaders did all they could to keep Jesus’ disciples from coming and stealing Jesus’ body.

62 …the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate 63 and said, “Sir, we remember how that impostor said, while he was still alive, ‘After three days I will rise.’ 64 Therefore order the tomb to be made secure until the third day, lest his disciples go and steal him away and tell the people, ‘He has risen from the dead,’ and the last fraud will be worse than the first.” 65 Pilate said to them, “You have a guard of soldiers. Go, make it as secure as you can.” 66 So they went and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone and setting a guard.

So, in light of the changing strategies and outright refusal to admit the truth, I encourage you to –

GET USED TO THE CONSPIRACIES. (11-15)

11 While they were going, behold, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests all that had taken place.

What we see here are two sets of messengers.

One set is the women who are off to tell the disciples about the empty tomb and seeing Jesus.

The other set is made up of some of the guard who were at the tomb.

What do the guards tell the chief priests?

That the disciples overpowered them and took Jesus’ body? – No, that’s what they were there to prevent.

That they had fallen asleep and the disciples snuck in, moved huge stone and stole Jesus’ body without even waking them? – No, they had to be bribed in order to repeat that story.

They told the chief priests all that had taken place –

They told them about the earthquake and the stone rolling away and the angel and the tomb being empty.

Why do they go to the chief priests?

These Roman guards had been put under the religious leaders’ authority.

But they still were going to be held accountable for not doing their job.

So, they’re in a pickle.

12 And when they had assembled with the elders and taken counsel, they gave a sufficient sum of money to the soldiers

So, the chief priests have a problem.

What the guard tells them doesn’t fit with what they want.

They want Jesus dead and His message of His purchasing God’s grace to stay with Him.

The solution that they come up with after putting their heads together with the elders is to make an offer the guards cant’ refuse.

It has to be sufficient sum a of money

13 and said, “Tell people, ‘His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ 14 And if this comes to the governor’s ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.”

The reason why it needed to be a sufficient sum of money is because these guards could be in big trouble.

They could be in big trouble because falling asleep while on guard duty was a serious thing.

They could even be at risk of losing their lives for it.

There’s a chance that Pilate wouldn’t care.

But, in case he did, the religious leaders promise to satisfy him as well.

Pilate was known to appreciate bribes as well.

And so all it might take is a little more money to keep the story as they wanted it to be.

15 So they took the money and did as they were directed. And this story has been spread among the Jews to this day.

According to Matthew, this story was still dominant even at the time when he was writing his gospel.

Take note.

Jesus’ life, teachings, and miracles weren’t in question.

It wasn’t a question about Jesus promising that He would rise again after being dead 3 days.

Jesus’ dying on the cross wasn’t in question.

No one was debating whether the tomb was empty or not – it was!

All they could do now was to spread the story that the tomb isn’t empty because He rose from the dead.

I can remember a statement my kids would say if something just didn’t check out right.

They’d say, “That’s SUS.”

It’s short for “That’s suspicious.”

What they told people was the ludicrous story that a large number of guards all fell asleep.

They all fell into a deep, deep asleep at the same time.

And none of them woke up while someone pulled and pried and slowly rolled back a huge stone.

Don’t forget – they apparently fell asleep during an earthquake that EVERYONE felt.

And somehow they know it was Jesus’ disciples who took His body

They know this even though they say they were sleeping.

The fact is this – If Jesus didn’t rise from the dead, He was a liar.

And the guards cockamamie story is the only evidence that He didn’t.

But, sadly, as Mark Twain once said,

“A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.”

In this case, the truth had already walked out of the tomb and left the liars scrambling to catch up.

Jesus did rise from the dead.

And thus everything else that He claimed and did was validated by this fact.

C.S. Lewis once said,

“The Resurrection is the central theme in every Christian sermon. The Resurrection is the whole of Christianity.”

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