Matthew 28:1
Outline:
I. \\#Matt 1:1-3:17\\ The Presentation of the King
II. \\#4:1-7:29\\ The Person of the King
III. \\#8:1-11:1\\ The Power of the King
IV. \\#Matthew 11:2-14:13\\ Decisions Concerning the King
V. \\#Matt 14:13-16:12\\ Training the Disciples
VI. \\#Matt 16:13-20\\ Decision by the Disciples
VII. \\#Matthew 16:21-20:34\\ Final Instructions of the King
VIII. \\#Matt 21:1-28:15\\ The Holy Week
IX. \\#Matt 28:16-20\\ The Last Command
VIII. \\#Matt 21:1-28:15\\ The Holy Week
A. \\#Matt 21:1-11\\ Sunday, Nisan 10-One week before
the resurrection
B. \\#Matt 21:12-17\\ Monday, Nisan 11
C. \\#Matt 21:18-26:16\\ Tuesday, Nisan 12
D. \\#Matt 26:17-75\\Wednesday, Nisan 13
E. \\#Matt 27:1-61\\ Thursday, Nisan 14 (Passover killed)
F. \\#Matt 27:62-66\\ Friday, Nisan 15 (Passover eaten and
the first day of Unleavened Bread)
G. \\#Matt 28:1-15\\ Sunday, Nisan 17 (Resurrection and
Feast of First Fruits)
1. The events of Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection
all occur on holy days of the Jewish calendar. It is
thought by many that these holy days were, and are,
pictures of the Lord’s atonement.
a. Jesus died on the day the Passover lamb was slain,
Nisan 14. (Nisan is the first month of the
Jewish religious calendar.) The Passover lamb
was slain and its blood applied so that those
who believed might be spared from the death
angel.
b Jesus was buried on the first day of Unleavened
Bread, Nisan 15. This is the day that the leaven,
which was a picture of sin, had to be removed
from the homes of all Jews. Jesus, became sin for
us. His burial pictures the removal of sin from
our lives.
c. Jesus arose on the Feast of First Fruits, Nisan
17. This holy day occurred "on the morrow after
the sabbath" \\#Lev 23:9-11\\ and was done to
honor the Lord with the first harvest of the year.
Paul called Jesus the Firstfruits from the dead
\\#1Cor 15:20\\.
d. Fifty days later, Jesus ascended to heaven, His
home, on Pentecost which is also called the Feast
of Weeks because it is exactly seven weeks and
one day after the Feast of First Fruits. This
celebration corresponds with the bringing in the
main harvest or "bringing the harvest home."
e. With Jesus fulfilling many significant acts of His
ministry on these four holy days, is it any
wonder that some of us believe all of the Old
Testament holy days are types of Jesus’ ministry?
Col 2:16 Let no man therefore judge you in
meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday,
or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days:
17 Which are a shadow of things to come; but
the body is of Christ.
f. There are three major Jewish holidays left. All of
them occur at about the same time of the year,
that is in the seventh month of the Jewish year.
Together, they were called "The High Holy Days"
and close the Jewish religious year.
http://www.biblicalperspectives.com/books/festivals_2/2.html
(1) \\#Lev 23:24-25\\ On the first day of the
seventh month was the Feast of Trumpets,
today called ROSH HASHANA. While it is
the end of the Jewish religious calendar,
it is also the beginning of the Jewish
civic calendar.
a. The Jews refer to it as "the day of
sounding the shofar or trumpet.
b. The sounding of the trumpet was God’s
way of gathering His people. As
Christians, we would associate this day
with the rapture. However, this is a
Jewish holiday and may also represent
the day when God regathers the Jews to
Himself, perhaps typifying the return
of Jesus to establish His kingdom.
c. This is the only Jewish holiday that no
one knew exactly what day it would be on
for the holy day (and the first day of
the month) began when there was a new
moon.
d. As this was a holy day, the new moon had
to be witnessed by two witnesses.
e. The faint crescent moon of the new moon
was very difficult to see because it had
to be seen on the horizon as the sun was
setting. Once the sun set, the next day
had begun. If both witnesses did not
attest to seeing the new moon as the sun
set, the new moon was automatically
celebrated on the next day.
f. Once both witnesses saw the moon, the
religious leaders were notified and the
shofar was sounded.
http://watch.pair.com/rosh-hashana.html
(2) \\#Lev 23:27-32\\ On the tenth day of the
seventh month was the Day of Atonement or
Yom Kippur. This was the day when the High
Priest entered the Holy of Holies to make
the annual sacrifice. This celebration
may speak of the Jews coming to accept Jesus
Christ as their Messiah.
(3) \\#Lev 27:34-44\\ Beginning of the fifteenth
day of the seventh month was the Feast of
Tabernacles. The Jews finished their
harvest and celebrated by living in booths
for seven days. Some believe this is a
picture of the millennial reign.
2. \\#1\\ "In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn
toward the first day of the week"
a. It is interesting that Matthew ceases to use
Jewish time here and makes a Roman time
reference. We remember that the day begins at
dusk for the Jews.
b. \\#Mark 16:1\\ says that the "other Mary" was Mary
the mother of James. So this would not be Mary
the mother of Jesus.
c. Mark also notes that Salome was with them.
d. \\#Luke 24:10\\ lists several other woman by name
and then refers to others so that it is possible
that a large group of woman had agreed to meet at
the tomb and arrived in stages.
3. \\#Matt 28:2-10\\ Matthew again gives the summary of
what happened at the tomb. We need to attempt to
correlate the other gospel accounts.
a. \\#2\\ An earthquake occurred.
b. An angel descended and rolled the stone away.
c. \\#2-4\\ The angel sat upon the stone at first.
His appearance was glorious and frightened the
Roman guards.
d. All of that happened before the women arrived for
all the women saw was the stone rolled from the
door of the tomb \\#Mark 16:1-4\\.
e. \\#Mark 16:5-6\\ The angel had moved to the inside
of the tomb. \\#Luke 24:4\\ tells us that there
were actually two angels. Once the ladies were
inside the tomb, they were told that Jesus is
no longer among the dead, but He had risen.
\\#Matt 28:6\\.
f. \\#7\\ The angel told the women to go tell the
disciples of the resurrection and reminded them
of Jesus’ command that they were to meet Him in
Galilee.
g. \\#8\\ While the women left the sepulchre
"quickly," apparently they did not all leave the
garden area quickly.
(1) \\#Mark 16:9\\ tells us that Jesus first
appeared to Mary Magdalene, alone at the
tomb after she had found and brought Peter
and John back with her.
(a) Hence, it is possible that Mary left the
garden alone. John actually relates
the entire resurrection story as if
Mary was alone \\#John 20:1-2\\.
(b) However, it is also possible that some
or all of the women went with her to
find the disciples which is how Luke
relates the resurrection story
\\#Luke 24:1-12\\. If so, the other
women did not follow the disciples back
to the empty tomb.
(c) However, there is yet another
possibility.
(2) Perhaps the other ladies, doubting if what
they had heard was true (Mary Magdalene did
not yet believe \\#John 20:11-18\\ and
and wanting to wait for the rest of their
group to gather but being too afraid to wait
at the tomb \\#Mark 16:8\\, stopped at some
other place in or near the garden while Mary
left to find the disciples.
(3) After Mary found Peter and John, they inspect
the tomb, Jesus appeared to Mary
\\#John 19:1-18\\, then Jesus appeared to
the other ladies \\#Matt 28:9-10\\, who had
gone to find the Eleven \\#Mark 16:9\\ (not
just Peter and John but all the apostles)
and others.
h. It is interesting that the risen Lord appears to
have made it a point to appear to all of the
ladies who bothered to come to the tomb on that
resurrection morning. It is also interesting
that He chose not to appear to a single man that
morning! Perhaps Jesus honored those who
purposed to come on the third day, regardless of
why they came.
4. \\#Matt 28:11-15\\ The guards are paid to lie.
a. Matthew, having recorded the Jews plan to seal and
guard the tomb, now gives an account as to what
was done to neutralize their eye witness account.
b. \\#11\\ Because the "watch" was given to the
chief priests and Pharisees \\#Matt 27:62. 65\\,
the guards report back to them the news of what
had happened.
c. \\#12-15\\ The religious leaders paid the guards
to lie and promised to save their lives for
sleeping on duty.
(1) One must ask the question, "Why would the
Roman soldiers lie?"
(a) By stating that they slept on duty, at
the least, they ruined their careers
and most probably guaranteed their
deaths by superiors. That being the
case, "Why lie?"
(b) The answer is, "Except for the few Jews
who believed in Jesus, who was going to
believe the truth?"
i. It probably seemed obvious to the
guards that their superiors would
not believe in the appearance of
angels and men rising from the
dead.
ii. Hence, they supposed that no matter
what they did, they were jeopardy.
iii. At least by agreeing that they had
fallen asleep, they had the
support of the chief rulers and
whatever money was offered. If
that wasn’t enough to save their
lives, at least their family
would receive the money.
(2) Not even for a moment does it appear the
religious rulers give any thought to
accepting what, by now, they would have to
know was the truth, i.e. that Jesus was
their Messiah!
(a) The guards testimony was clear—at the
least, supernatural powers were at
work.
(b) And the fact that the testimony came
from Roman guards, men who had nothing
to gain and everything to lose, should
have assured the religious leaders that
it was true.
(3) Instead, the leaders devote themselves, the
nation’s money, and whatever influence they
had with Rome to propagating a lie.
(4) While there were indications that the
religious leaders knew who Jesus was during
His ministry; by this time, there could be
no doubt. The religious leaders were
knowingly denying the Jews the Messiah!
IX. \\#Matt 28:16-20\\ The Last Command
A. Matthew, still giving a summary, skips several accounts
of Jesus’ appearances.
1. \\#Luke 24:13-35, Mark 16:12-13\\ Two on the road to
Emmaus.
2. \\#Luke 24:34, 1Cor 15.5\\ To Peter in Jerusalem.
3. \\#Mark 16:14, Luke 24:33-49, John 20:19-25\\ Jesus
meeting with all but Thomas on Sunday evening.
4. \\#John 20:26-31, 1Cor 15:5\\ Jesus appearing eight
days later to all of the disciples.
5. \\#John 21:1-14\\ Jesus appeared on the Sea of Galilee
to at least seven disciples. \\#John 21:14\\ This
was the third time that Jesus appeared to the
disciples.
6. \\#1Cor 15:6\\ At some point, Jesus was seen of 500
at once.
7. \\#1Cor 15:7\\ Of James-It is supposed that this
was either James the Less, the lesser know James of
the apostles, or James the physical brother of Jesus
\\#Matt 13:55\\.
8. \\#Luke 24:50-53, Acts 1:3-8\\ The ascension.
9. Last, Stephen \\#1Cor 7:55-56\\ and Paul
\\#1Cor 15:8-9\\ saw Jesus.
10. Jesus probably appeared many times to His disciples
during the 40 days between Jesus’ resurrection and
His ascension \\#Act 1:3\\.
B. Matthew does record at least one appearance of Jesus to
the disciples on one of the mountains around Galilee.
1. This would be at least the fourth appearance of Jesus
to His disciples and maybe much later than that.
2. Matthew records Jesus giving the Great Commission to
the disciples at that time. \\#Mark 16:14-20\\ Mark
seems to give a rendition of the same charge at
Jerusalem just before the ascension. It is likely
that Jesus gave this command to the disciples several
times after the resurrection.
C. These verses contain Jesus’ last and standing command to
the church.
1. \\#18\\ Jesus plainly tells the disciples that He is
the Holder of all the power of heaven and earth.
a. There are no more parables or cloaked expressions.
b. By making such a claim, the disciples hear what
they already know to be true. Jesus is God and
Master of all.
2. \\#19-20\\ Then Jesus gave the command.
a. Go-Go win the lost to Christ.
b. Baptize-Baptize those who are converted into the
name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.
(1) Jesus giving this command expresses the
nature of the Trinity, one God manifest in
three Persons.
(2) While the word, "Trinity," may not be used,
it is obvious that our Lord equated all
three Persons of the Godhead.
c. Teach-Then train those who believe to reproduce
and to follow the teachings of Jesus.
3. This command transcends time and location. It becomes
the command of all Christians in all locations
throughout all earthly time.
4. \\#20\\ Finally, Jesus closes with the promise of His
presence. Only the writings of Luke contain the
ascension of Jesus. The other gospel writers close
leaving Jesus on the earth, perhaps to reinforce the
thought that Jesus is always with us.
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