Seismic Grace

The resurrection of Jesus doesn’t arrive quietly — it shakes the world. In this message from Matthew 28, we’re invited not just to believe in the resurrection, but to experience its power breaking into our lives.

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Gospel According to Matthew, chapter 28. The gospel according to Matthew, chapter 28. And when you found Matthew 28, go ahead and stand with me for the reading of our Gospel text this morning.

Now, as you know, in year A, which is what we're in, Matthew is our primary gospel. Remember, you're A, B, C, Matthew, Mark, Luke. Okay? And so I want today for you. I know that.

I hope that this week you've maybe read over the Gospel accounts of the resurrection. And if you've ever done that before, you know there's like, all this different stuff that's in each one. Right. And it's sometimes hard to even reconcile that. Well, what I want us to do today is hear Matthew's particular account.

We sometimes need to let it stand alone and actually hear what this Gospel writer has to say to us about this monumental event, not only in history, but in our own lives. Notice these words as found in Matthew, chapter 28. We'll start here right at verse one.

After the Sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. And suddenly there was a great earthquake. For an angel of the Lord descending from heaven came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning and his clothing white as snow. For fear of him, the guards shook and became like dead men.

But the angel said to the women, do not be afraid. I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here, for he has been raised. And he said as he said, come see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples he has been raised from the dead.

And indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee. There you will see him. This is my message for you. So they left the tomb quickly, with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly, Jesus met them and said, greetings or rejoice.

And they came to him, took hold of his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee. There they will see me. Jesus, thank you so much for this wonderful day.

This is ground zero for us Christians. Without the resurrection, there is no Christianity. And so today, we rejoice with Christians around the world and throughout time that you have defeated death by dying and that you have raised us up by raising up your son, Jesus Christ, from the dead. And so, Lord, we praise you today and now in this moment that we have, would you send your Holy Spirit to speak to our hearts so that we might not Only consider the resurrection, but encounter the resurrected one. We pray in your most holy name.

Amen. You could be seated.

Well, if you're familiar with the resurrection accounts in the Gospels, you know that Matthew has some unique things here that he delivers to us that are not found in any of the other ones. And I like to find those little things out. You know, I don't know if in your Bible study you like that same kind of thing, but it's like, oh, only John, for instance, mentions this, or only Matthew mentions this. And we saw some of that, didn't we, in our Holy Week services, right? I mean, we have no idea that there was even a foot washing.

If you read the Synoptic Gospels, right? Matthew, Mark, and Luke, no clue. But John adds his own in there, his own account of the events that took place that night, and we know there was a foot washing. One of the key things that Matthew focuses on and tells us that happened not only this morning on resurrection morning, but also at the crucifixion was that there was an earthquake. And I find that fascinating.

Matthew alone records this earthquake because the resurrection doesn't happen in. In silence. Instead, it breaks into our world and shakes everything up all the way to this very day. You see, this earthquake is groundbreaking, literally. And I find it fascinating, as I kind of looked at Matthew 27 and 28 the other night, that in 2751, it says that the earth shook at his crucifixion.

You remember this? He dies. He breathes his last, and the earth shook and the rocks split. And then you have the centurions, the guards. You remember this?

At they say, oh, my goodness, this surely was the son of God. So there's a shaking and then there's a shaking of the guards, right? They're shaking in their boots, literally, knees knocking. Okay. It reminds me of what happens in Daniel.

You remember when the hand writes on the wall and it says that he was shaking, his knees were knocking. It literally says that. And that's somebody that's pretty scared.

They're being shaken up. And then in 28, our text today, in verse 2, it says notice again, and suddenly there was a great earthquake. Now, the term used in 27 is actually where we get seismic from, you know, I guess how you measure earthquakes or whatnot. Right? Seismos is actually the Greek word here.

Okay, so there's some kind of etymology. I didn't look it up. But you can imagine seismic, right? This was a seismic event. 27.

Now, in 28, when the resurrection occurs, it says there's literally. Literally in the Greek. It's mega seismic seismos. Mega earthquake. Not just a regular earthquake.

Mega earthquake. Now, I don't know about you, but we don't really have earthquakes around here. You know, in Alabama maybe we do, but they're super minor, perhaps, right? Have you ever been in an earthquake? Because I have.

And I was actually in California a couple years back. I was in Long beach, and we were in a meeting. It was a ministry meeting. And, you know, all these guys sitting around, we're talking about ministry. It was getting good.

And I'm sitting there, and I start kind of. Kind of bouncing a little bit, like, as if somebody was shaking their leg on your row. You know what I'm talking about? If you ever sit near me, then you'll be doing this right here. Because I'm known for shaking my leg.

And I started kind of. And I look around, I'm like, is somebody shaking their leg? And then I started.

There's two kinds of earthquakes. I don't know if you know this or not, but one is like a shaking, right? And then the other is kind of a motion. It's like. So then we started doing this, and I'm, like, looking around at all the other guys, and the guy's just sitting there, still teaching, you know, he's like.

And I said, sorry, guys. I'm sorry. What is going on right now? Is this an earthquake? And they were like, actually, yes, it is.

And I'm like, should we, like, dive under the desk? I don't know. I mean, I thought I saw that somewhere in school. Right? You, like, get under a desk or something?

I don't know. I'm, like, freaking out. And they're just like, no, I think it'll be over here in a second. I'm like, okay, all right. Was this church built?

Well, you know, because I might want to get outside, you know, And I'm just still. You know, we're kind of. It was a weirdest feeling, like, because here's why it's so weird, is the ground shouldn't shake. Like, it's the most stable thing we've got, right? And yet when it starts shaking, you know, something is going on.

Well, that's the point with resurrection, isn't it? Something new is breaking in. This has never happened before. And the Earth itself doesn't know what to do but to shake. And it was a great earthquake.

Megaseismos, right? You learned a little Greek today, right? It actually is seismos mega. But nevertheless, it's a great Earthquake. And you know what?

Here's the message I felt like the Lord wanted me to say to all of us. If that earthquake hasn't happened in your life, you're missing out. You're like those dudes still sitting around. Like, I don't even. I don't know.

Is it an earthquake? Maybe? I don't know. No, no, no. Everything has changed because Jesus has defeated death and risen from the grave.

And guess what? It's not just something God did, but it's something that God did as joined to human nature. Remember, one person, two natures. He's both God. And we just said it in the creed.

Don't look at me like you don't know what I'm talking about here or that this is too deep for us. This is ground zero for our Christian faith. He takes on a human nature, fully human and still fully divine. One person, the one mediator between God on the one hand and man on the other. He joins them together, bringing heaven and earth together in his own body.

And when he from the dead to defeat death, then he does that for. For us, in fact, because he raised from the dead that day. Everyone now will rise again. You say, hang on now, Pastor. I thought that was only for those who were born again.

It's not what the scripture teaches. It was such a seismic cosmic event. It has now effected humanity in fundamental ways, essential ways. You sitting right there, me, will rise again. And here's what Revelation tells us, the book.

Some to eternal destruction and death. So you'll rise, in other words, be placed into a body to go off to eternal damnation. That's hard. The other, to eternal life and happiness.

The determining factor. Jesus. Do you know him? Do you love him? He gave you the life you're living right now, the breath in your lungs.

He is the Lord and giver of life. Paul says this way everything was created through him and by him and for him. Which means, if your life is not being lived for the Son of God, you're turning away from him into darkness, into death, into bondage.

You see, Matthew zeroes in because this is unique to his story about the earthquake. And don't you love. He says, well, the reason there was an earthquake was because there was an angel that descended, remember, and rolls back the stone as if it was nothing at all for him. And then he just sits down on. Don't you love that detail?

He just sits on it. Like, just, you know, sits down on it. This was something that the Romans would do often, was seal a tomb just like you'd seal, you know, with a signet ring. You'd seal it and then send it off so that, you know, no one had opened it, right? They sealed this tomb, but to no effect.

And interestingly, the stone is rolled away, but he's already gone. He's already risen from the dead. And in fact, we have in other Gospel accounts that you remember, Joseph of Arimathea is the one who wraps him in this tunic and puts him in the tomb. And it was his tomb. And now we're told that those garments that were there are folded up.

This was no grab and steal job because they're folded up.

You see, this earthquake that happened represented a. Another world, another world that was breaking in so much that now even angels are let loose where humans can see. They're always present, in fact, all around us. And let's be real, both good and bad angels. Everybody with me, fallen angels, demons and angels that are literally.

The term angel means messenger of God, which is why at the end here, the angel sums up, says, well, this is my message to you. Because that's what angels do. They're messengers of God. And fallen angels are messengers of the enemy, messengers of confusion, messengers of doubt.

And the enemy wants nothing more than to kill, steal and destroy your life, your marriage, your family, your friends, your livelihood, your health, every bit of it. But thanks be to God, there's another power that is at work in your life. Whether you realize it or not, whether you believe it or not, his grace is active. You don't have to ask permission. The fact that you're here, the fact that you're living, the fact that you have breath in your lungs, that's his grace.

And we ought to be thankful. That's why the scripture says, give thanks. Now, this shaking thing, right? You always want to do this just because it's fun, right? You start thinking like, well, where else do earthquakes show up?

And I'm not going to mention everyone, so just calm down. Okay, but just a few here real quick. You remember Sinai, right? The whole mountain was shaking. Why?

Because God had descended onto the mountain. For what purpose? To give them the law. You remember this? He gives them the law, God's instructions.

And it's fascinating then to connect the two, because what's happening here, what's happening here is the one who came to fulfill the law in fulfilling it in his resurrection. Now there's another earthquake because God is shaking things up once again. And you remember the same mountain, Mount Horeb. Elijah goes there, and what happens? An earthquake.

You remember this Also, the psalms talk about in various theophanies, how God will shake the heavens and shake the earth. Almost like one of those guys. I don't know if you ever been to one of those things before where you're, like, searching for gold, you know, and you, like, pick it up and it's got this tray and you have to shake it because, you know, you want all the debris to fall out, and then all of a sudden the goods are left, right? That's the point of the shaking, is shaking to shake what is temporal so that the eternal can be revealed. Which is why our Colossians reading says, set your mind on things that are eternal, not on things that are temporary.

And, you know, I feel like sometimes our praying is a lot like our conversating with people sometimes. Like, if you don't know what to say, you just say, yeah, I mean, that weather's pretty good, right? You know, I mean, it's just always the weather. It's interesting how it's always the weather. Probably because it's the one thing that's, like, in our face, you know, all around us kind of thing.

So I get it. But, like, if you have. If all your friends, all you ever do is just talk about the weather, you don't really have any friends. News flash, like, you got to get deeper than the weather. Same thing with the Lord.

Dear brothers and sisters, we can't just talk about temporal things. Lord, help me get a better job. Help me get more money. Help me with this. All kinds of temporal.

No, no, no. Lord, transform my nature, my character. Deliver me from this sin, like this one I've been addicted to for years. Guess what? He can do it.

You think that part of you died and you can never love again, you could never forgive again. But. But that's a lie. That's a lie because when the earth shakes, it signals to us like a seismic reader. I don't know how it works, but, you know, you can just imagine, like, right, it's going off the chain on resurrection morning, signaling to us that there's new life where there was death, that there's light where there was darkness, there's victory where there seemed to be defeat.

The worst day ever becomes the best day ever. It gives way. And, brothers and sisters, that can happen in your life, but only if Jesus shakes up your life with resurrection life. In other words, his life in you. There's no way his life can enter you without a megaseismos.

And anything. A haggai right, two, six. Yet once more, I will shake the Heavens and the earth. You know, this is a prophecy that then the Hebrew writer picks up on. Yes, in Hebrews 12.

And he ends up quoting, at that time, his voice shook the earth. But now he has promised yet once more, I will shake not only the earth, but also the heavens. This is sort of an apocalyptic shaking. In other words, it's the final shaking. Like, you've got earthquakes, rumblings throughout the Bible.

Okay. That's not me trying to dance, by the way. If you're on video, you've got these ruminations, echoes of something going on. But in the end, there'll be a final shaking to divide the godly from the ungodly. And it'll be final.

It'll be final.

So the resurrection does not enter our world quietly, but rather with an earthquake, with an angel, of all things. So we've got a donkey that led us into Palm Sunday, and now an angel. And what's between the animal and angelic humans? We share both mind with the angels and body with the animals. Which is why Psalm 8 says we're kind of hanging between heaven and earth as this interesting, unique creature.

We're not just animal, and we're also not angel. You know, I mean, I say Blakely's an angel, but you understand it's metaphorical, right?

The second thing that we should notice here is this fear. And do not fear, right? Like, there's a lot of that going on. You know, there's fear in the guards in 27. They were scared when that earthquake hit.

They see Jesus take his last breath. They're fear. And that actually leads to repentance. These guards, they're fearful because of the shaking and the sight of the angel. And they appear as dead men.

These are living people appearing as dead. They're petrified, right? So while the living are as dead men, the dead man has risen. You see how that works? There's a contrast here.

It's actually a pretty awesome one that I think we're supposed to see. And then there's another kind of fear. There's kind of like degrees of fear here. Fear that leads to repentance, fear that petrifies you. And then the fear the women had.

Notice this? The fear they had. It says, with fear and great joy. Now those fear. Great joy.

I've been trying to figure out, like, a good illustration. This is all I've got. Okay? I was on a roller coaster. It was actually the largest roller coaster, I think, in America.

I think at the time, that was a wooden roller coaster. I forget where it was called. The beast. Maybe it was in Ohio. I'm not sure.

Anyway, I get on this roller coaster. You know, roller coasters are a thing that combine, I think, any roller coaster people out there. Fear and joy. You're, like, kind of happy and excited, but also, like, you know, you're terrified a little bit, right? And like, this one, it went into this tunnel.

I was doing fine, like, on the drop that, you know, it's like, okay, yeah, I got you. But when I went in this tunnel, all of a sudden it started. And it started jerking me around, like. And it was. I felt like something was wrong.

You know what I mean? And so I was having fun until I wasn't, you know, and then I'm like, just kind of, like, nervous. Like, okay, we're about to jump off this track, and we're going to burst out this wooden thing. That'll be the last thing I remember, you know, kind of thing. And that didn't happen, obviously, because I'm here.

But I think in that moment, I was, like, pretty joyful about. Because, you know, you get that rush. But then super fearful. Maybe. Maybe that was something.

Who knows what it was like. Here's the bigger point. This sort of fear and joy at the same time caused them not to be petrified and inactive, but rather quickly run and do what the angel had told them to do to spread the message of the resurrection that day. You see, that kind of fear, then joy got them moving, you see, Maybe it was kind of same kind of fear that gets me moving. Like, you know, when we were on vacation in Arkansas one time, Blakely had this episode, and she passed out and was just like.

Her eyes were glazed over and fixed, and I thought she was dead. And Jessica handed her to me and, like, do something, you know? And, like. And I could have just. I don't know what to do.

But instead, I looked at this woman across the counter who worked at the gas station. Said, call 911, she said. And I said, call 911. Because, you know, I mean, she sees Blakely, too. The second lady.

Call 911. Third guy, call 911. He's. Yes, sir. That's the kind of fear.

There's two kinds of fear, you see. One fear is fear of God in the sense of. I don't know if I would do anything. Like, the guy who was given the one talent, he. And he just buried it.

I don't know. I'm scared of God. So, I mean, I don't want to make him mad or something. No, no. The Whole point is to invest your life, to give it away as much as possible.

Christianity is not a reduction of life. It's an amplification of life abundantly. It's not a deadening of the senses or of pleasure or of desire. It's a coming alive. It's a human fully awake.

The enemy has lied to us to try to get us into a fear that's like, oh, I don't want to do anything to mess up God. You're never going to mess up God. You're never going to offend God. It's impossible.

No, when we see who he is, it's scary. Like Isaiah 6, you know, I'm undone. I'll never be like that. But it's not a reason to shrink back in fear. But to get going down the road, I mean, get on the journey with some people, grab a band of brothers, a band of sisters, and let's get on the road together.

That's what we're called to do. Not be petrified in fear, but rather quickly go and obey. Not a paralysis, but rather obedience and proclamation and mission.

So because he's been raised, we have some work to do.

Jesus did not simply rise again. And we look back on that thing, he is risen. That's why we say it that way. It's a theological point. It's not bad grammar.

It's a theological point. In fact, an Uber driver, we had an event here with aim, and this Uber driver was carrying one of my buddies here, and she read the sign out that says he is risen. She said, don't you hate it when they, like, get the grammar wrong? You know? And he was like, uh, you know, because anybody that knows, like, the deep theology of that statement, he is risen, rather than just he was risen, understands he is the Lord now that can be encountered in this room.

In other words, a personal encounter with the living God. Everybody else that has ever lived and written, Gautama, the Buddha, Mahavira, right? All these other religious leaders and founders of religions, Muhammad, etcetera, They're all dead. Like everybody else is. Not their own fault.

Everybody's going to go the way of man except Christ. And he rises again and is still living and active in your life. Not just in this room, not just out in space in your life. He is drawing you to himself. And we're the ones who disorder our life and, and get it wrong.

And over here, and we chase this and we, you know, I was talking to a friend of mine this past week, and this quote came up that often hits me again. Is the only thing worse than not getting what you want is getting what you want.

Anybody that lived long enough knows when you get that new car, when you get that new job, when you get that marriage, when you get that family, oh, this is it. This is it. Has anybody ever been satisfied by any paycheck they've ever gotten? Like, you're just done with life now. You think it would do that, right?

But billionaires would tell us, no, no, no, that obviously isn't it. They're working to build rockets and give all their money away. You're like, what's wrong with them? They understand that just simply having money that doesn't feel you, Having good relationship that doesn't feel you. Why?

Because we were created for him and nothing less than God will do. It's not that the other things are bad. Like I said, when you actually orient to him, all. All the other things come to life in the way that they should. We don't have to put that pressure on our spouse.

We don't have to put that pressure on our job. We don't have to put that pressure on ourself to try to make ourself happy. It's ridiculous. Good luck. Everybody in the world has tried to do it before us.

Let's wake up to the reality that unless Christ shakes our life and all of the bad fruit falls off so that he can prune us to bear good fruit, we'll never be happy, we'll never be blessed. So let's be like these women who, when they got a word, they obeyed. And guess what? As they obeyed, Jesus appeared. You remember in the text it says, greetings.

I don't think it was just like, greetings, hi. You know, hello. You know, something like that. It actually is this term rejoice, but it has kind of a. It's like two meanings.

It was the typical greeting in the Greek world, but it also has this deeper shalom, like peace to you. And so really, we could translate it. Rejoice. He's saying, rejoice this morning. Like Jesus has one word in our text today, and it's rejoice.

Is that your life?

Is it a life full of rejoicing? What do they do when they hear this word? They fall down and worship him, which is what we should do. Get low, not high and haughty, filled with pride, thinking, we don't need God, we don't need others. It's ridiculous.

No. That day the earth shook, the guards shook, and the women trembled and then obeyed and started spreading the word. The tomb was empty. And because the tomb was empty, everything had changed. The earthquake is a beautiful symbol of that kind of shaking and cosmic reality to our life.

Notice again what the Hebrew writer says. At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised. It's a promise yet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heavens. This phrase yet once more indicates the the removal of things that are shaken, temporal things in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. Don't you want to pursue those things in your life?

Let's stop fiddling around with things that pass away, that are not in our control anyway. And rather, let us, as Paul said, see, set our minds on things that are above. In other words, today I would say to you, come and see. Come and see.

No body here. He is risen and wants to live here.

May it be so. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.