Iron Sharpens Iron #15: Easter 2026 The Tomb and the Resurrection

Transcript

Welcome And A Holy Week Detour

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to Bereen's Corner, the podcast where we go through books of the Bible chapter by chapter and verse by verse. Wherever you are in the world, thank you for joining. Grab a glass of water, a cup of coffee, a tea, and let's get into today's lesson. All right, thank you all for joining me once again here on Bereen's Corner. Now, today we are stepping, we're taking a little side step from our Through the Bible series, and we are going to jump into the iron sharpens. Iron, for those of you who don't know, that's my little uh side podcast, side shows I like to do that is outside of Through the Bible. And this week we are, or I should say today, we are talking about Easter. Uh, some of you call it Holy Week, some of you call it the Passover, you call it the Resurrection, whatever you may call it. That is what we we are discussing today. Now, I am going to cover the last two days. I got uh busier than I was expecting this week, so I really wanted to cover the last few days. I want this, I wanted to start with the Passover and the Last Supper. Uh, I wanted to roll that into the trial, the crucifixion, the death, and the burial, as long with Good Friday, but I was not able to do that. So we are gonna pick it up with the Saturday in the tomb, and then we are gonna close it out with the resurrection. Now, hopefully, this will uh hit you all by Sunday morning just in time for Easter. But if for some reason it doesn't, uh whenever you get a chance, you know, check it out and I hope that you enjoy it. So we're gonna read uh a bit of scripture, and we are going to start with the Saturday in the tomb, which would be day seven of uh resurrection week, if you will. So where we're gonna start with is we're going to start at in the book of Matthew, and we're going to actually do the account from every single gospel. From so from all four, excuse me. So from all four gospels, we are going to uh take an account of each of these events. We're gonna do it for the Saturday and the tomb as well as resurrection Sunday. So uh first we are going to turn to Matthew 27. Matthew 27, and we are going to read starting at verse 62. 62 to the end. I'm trying to give you a minute to get there. All right. Matthew 27, verse 62. Now, on the next day, that is the day which is after the preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered together with Pilate, and they said, Sir, we remember that when that deceiver was still alive, he said, After three days I am rising. Therefore, give orders for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal him and say to the people, He has risen from the dead, and the last deception will be worse than the first. Pilate said to them, You have a guard, go, make it as secure as you know how. And they went and made the tomb secure, with the guard sealing the stone. Now, Matthew is giving the events of the Sarity in the tomb from his perspective. Now, what I would like us to pay attention to is what Pilate told the uh you know, told these people. He said, You know, you have a guard, go and make it as secure as you know. So Matthew is covering it from the point that Jesus is in the tomb, and that these guards went and made the tomb secure. So they rolled a big rock in front of it, and they had guards standing nearby. I believe that this was recorded to remind us that it's not like the tomb was just wide open, is that there were guards there because these people really wanted to make sure that Jesus, that his disciples did not steal his body and then keep quote unquote the lie going that this guy was the Messiah. Now we will get Mark's account and turn to Mark 16. So we can get Mark's account on the on his uh person. And and remember, Mark is coming from uh what is believed to be Peter's account. So we are looking at Mark 16, and we are going to read verse 1. When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary, the mother of James, and Salome brought spices so that they might come and anoint him. Now notice this said when the Sabbath was over. So you got to remember in this time, and on for the way that the Jews at this time looked at time was from sunset to sunset. So for argument's sake, let's just say 6 p.m. Because all of us are on different time zones. Even here in the United States, where I'm from and around the world, we're all on different time zones. So for argument's sake, I just want you to imagine 6 p.m. your time, the new day begins for them. Well, where I live, midnight starts the new day. So it's midnight to basically 11:59 p.m. But over there during this time it was 6 p.m. Let's just say that's sunset. So when the sun sets at 6 p.m., that actually is the new day. So when it says when the Sabbath was over, this would have been sunset the next day. Mary, Magdalene, Mary the Mother, James, and Salome. They took and brought spices because they wanted to anoint Christ's body. Now let's get Luke's perspective of what's going on. So turn to Luke 23. Go right in your Bible to Luke 23, and we are going to look at verse 56. Now, this is Luke, the physician's account. And then they returned and prepared spices and perfumes. And on the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment. Now the women went and they prepared spices and perfumes, but they rested on the Sabbath. Remember, these are the Jews. This is why they rested on the Sabbath. Then we are going to get another apostle's view on it in John. So turn to John chapter 19. John 19, and let's look at verse 40. So they took the body of Jesus and bound it then in linen wrappings with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews. So now John is giving us what they did with the body, which brings me to something that has been talked about for the last two days. It is April the 4th that I am recording this message, and since April the 2nd, there has been a lot of talk about this shroud of Turing that has come up again. Now we heard about this a few years ago, but they have some new technology that they have been running on this shroud, and there are those who believe that it could be showing the imprint of Jesus. Now, of course, we don't know, but there are those who point to the fact that you know if you looked at the the hands are crossed that you can that you can see the holes, and we know that that was the way that Jesus was crucified. So I don't know how true it is, but I just think it's very interesting that here we are almost 2,000 years later, and there is still more evidence coming out. And as I said, I don't know if this is true or not. I mean, if you look up the pictures for yourself, you can see the body. They can't they have uh, you know, the whole body, they have you know the hands crossed, and there are those who say uh someone uh I actually read uh quite a few articles on this, and someone quoted John Calvin saying that John Calvin said that he thought that it was a joke, and that was in the 1600s, that John Calvin thought that, you know, uh well, I should say the 16th century, that he thought that uh there was no way that it could be that that, you know, basically, you know what? Let me just pull it up real quick, instead of me paraphrasing. This is from John Calvin about the Shroud of Turin. John Calvin said, How is it possible that those sacred historians who carefully related all the miracles that took place at Christ's death should have omitted to mention one so remarkable as the likeness of the body of our Lord remaining on this wrapping sheet? This fact undoubtedly deserves to be recorded. So, what John Calvin was kind of saying was that if this was something that was um to be left as evidence, let's say for us, there's no way that the Romans would have allowed that. They crucified Christ, and he his thought is that there's no way they that they would have let the disciples come and grab such an important part of you know what would be history. But I do have some thoughts on that, and I I could have said that for the resurrection, which we'll get to in a moment, but my thoughts are you have to remember what happened. They said that there was an earthquake and that the stone was moved, and that there were angels at the head and the foot of Christ, and those men who were guarding the tomb ran away. So it could be very likely that this shroud could have been in there and that they ran away, so they would have had no chance to take it. Now, there are also others, archaeologists and historians who say that, well, you have to remember that this is not how the Jews wrap the body, like they would have wrapped it in two different types of linens. But you know, we we don't know. I just find it very interesting that the talk of this shroud, you know, has come up again. You know, there was a few years ago that they were talking about this, and it's kind of interesting that it now comes up again. Now we will move on to resurrection Sunday, which it will be in a couple of hours. I want you to go back to Matthew and we are going to look at chapter 28, and we're going to read verses 1 through 13. This is Resurrection Sunday, the Sunday uh events, and this is what Matthew records. Now, after the Sabbath, remember what I said, sunset to sunset, as it began to dawn towards the first day of the week. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the tomb. And behold, a severe earthquake, we just talked about this, had occurred, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it. And his appearance was like lightning, and his clothes as white as snow. The garb shook from fear of him and became like dead men. And the angel said to the women, Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus who has been crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, just as he said. Come, see the place where he was lying. And go quickly and tell the disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going ahead to you to Galilee. There you will see him. Behold, I have told you. And they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy and ran to report to his disciples. Behold, Jesus met them and said, Rejoice, and they came up and took hold of his feet and worshipped him. Then Jesus said to them, Do not be afraid, go, bring word to my brothers to leave for Galilee, and there they will see me. Now, while they were on their way, some of the men from the guard came into the city and reported to the chief priests all that had happened. And when they had assembled with the elders and consulted salted together, they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers and said, You are to say his disciples came at night and stole him while we were sleeping. So this is Matthew's point of view. Now you have to remember that's the beautiful thing about the gospel. All of this is from different points of view. So this is Matthew's point of view. So Matthew talks about the women going to the tomb. He talks about the earthquake, which we were talking about a little bit earlier. And he talks about the fact that Christ was no longer in the tomb. And as one of the angels said, it said, uh, come see the place where he was lying. What is was was was past tense. He is no longer there, he has risen. And it also talks about the fact that they bribe the soldiers to say, Hey, you know, don't we, you know, we believe you what you're saying, you you saw, or we believe that you saw something, but uh don't tell anyone this. Here's some some hush money. Go and uh tell you know everyone that his disciples came at night and they stole his body. Not that he, because we don't want people to think that this guy rose from the dead. Now we're going to move on to Mark's account. So go right in your Bible to Mark chapter 16. And we are going to look at verses 1 through 14, starting at verse 1. When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene married the mother of James and Salome brought spices so that they might come and anoint him. And very early on the first day of the week they came to the tomb when the sun had risen. They were saying to one another, Who will roll away the stone from the entrance of the tomb for us? And looking up, they noticed that the stone had been rolled away, for it was extremely large. And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting at the right, wearing a white robe, and they were amazed. But he said to them, Do not be amazed. You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who has been crucified. He has risen, he is not here. See, here is the place where they had laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter, he is going ahead of you to Galilee. There you will see him just as he told you. And they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had gripped them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid. Now, after he had risen early on the first day of the week, he first appeared to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons. He went and reported to those who had been with him, excuse me, she went and reported to those who had been with him while they were mourning and weeping. And when they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, they refused to believe it. Now after that he appeared in a different form to two of them while they were walking along on their way to the country. And they went away and reported it to the rest, but they did not believe them either. Later he appeared to the eleven disciples themselves as they were reclining at the table, and he reprimanded them for their unbelief and hard-heartedness, because they had not believed those who had seen him after he had risen from the dead. Now that is Mark's account, and you know it's reported that Mark's account is actually Peter's account, that Mark was we know that Mark wasn't an apostle, but Mark was a scribe, and he is taking down Peter's account. Now, if you notice, Matthew and Mark have two different accounts of the things that went down, which tells you that this was not a uh uh collaborated story, that you know they didn't get together and you know say, hey, you know, um, you know, let's come up with this story of uh, you know, of these things happening. Okay. Now we're gonna have a lengthy amount of reading, and you know what? I always uh tell you all in in my intro, get you a glass of water or or tea or coffee, something to drink. Let me pause for one moment. Sorry about that. I need to get a drink of water because in Luke, turn if I didn't already say it, turn to Luke 24, and we are going to read verses 1 through 49. So we got quite a bit of reading here. All right, Luke 24, we are looking at verses 1 through 49, the resurrection. But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and they found a stone rolled away from the tomb. But when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men suddenly stood near them in gleaming clothing. And as the women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, Why are you seeking the living one among the dead? He is not here, but he has risen. Remember how he spoke to you while he was still in Galilee, saying that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinful men and be crucified, and on the third day rise from the dead. And they remembered his words, and returned from the tomb and reported all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. Now these women were Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Mary the mother of James. Also the other women with them were telling these things to the apostles. But these words appeared to them as nonsense, and they would not believe the women. Nevertheless, Peter got up and ran to the tomb, and when he stooped and looked in, he saw the linen rappings only, and he went away to his home, marveling at what had happened. So, you know, Peter went away shaking his head, like, you know, what's going on? And behold, on that very day, two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, which was sixty stadia from Jerusalem, and they were talking with each other about all these things which had taken place. While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself approached and began traveling with them, but their eyes were kept from recognizing him. And he said to them, What are these words that you are exchanging with one another as you are walking? And they came to a stop looking sad. One of them, named Cleophys, answered and said to him, Are you possibly the only one living near Jerusalem who does not know about the things that happened here in these days? In other words, he's saying, Like, this was a big deal. Are you the only person in this whole area who doesn't know? And he said to them, What sort of things? And they said to him, Those about Jesus the Nazarene, who proved to be a prophet, mighty indeed and in word, uh in the sight of God and all the people, and how the chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death and crucified him. But we were hoping that it was he who was going to redeem Israel, indeed. Besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened. But also some women among us left us bewildered when they were at the tomb earlier in the morning and did not find his body. They came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive. And some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just exactly as the women women also had said, but him they did not see. And then he said to them, You foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken. Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to come into his glory? That was a question. Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, he explained to them the things written about himself in all the scriptures. What do I have always said, people? The whole Bible is about Jesus. And what does Jesus do right here? He explained to them the things written about himself in all the scriptures. Verse 28. And they approached the village where they were going, and he gave the impression that he was going further. So they strongly urged him, saying, Stay with us, for it is getting towards evening, and the day is now nearly over. So he went in to stay with them. And it came about when he had reclined at the table with them, he took the bread and blessed it, and he broke it and began giving it to them. And then their eyes were open, and they recognized him, and he vanished from their sight. I want to pause there real quick. And then their eyes were open. So what's going on here is that the Lord did not want them to recognize him. This is this is the Lord. This is not this is not a trick, uh, this is not a uh a deception. This is the Lord Himself, but he didn't want them to recognize him until he broke the bread with them. The same with Mary Magdalene. If you remember, Mary Magdalene didn't recognize the Lord, and I believe that he didn't want her to know it was him until she showed her love to him. Remember, she thought he was the gardener, and she started, you know, telling him, Please show me where he is, I'll go get him myself. She began to pour out her love to him. And when she did that, excuse me, then Jesus said, Mary. And then she recognized his voice, and then he showed himself. Uh, then he showed himself. So this is Christ. This is not a doppelganger, this is Christ himself, but their eyes were closed, and he did not want them to see him just yet. Pick it back up at verse 32. They said to one another, Were our hearts not burning within us when he was speaking to us on the road while he was explaining the scriptures to us. What are they saying? They were like, dude, like we were alive, right? I mean, we haven't died, and you know, we're on the other side. I mean, our house, our hearts were still pumping inside of us. And they got up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem and found the eleven gathered together and those who were with them, saying, The Lord has really risen and has appeared to Simon. They began to relate their experience on the road and how he was recognized by them at the breaking of the bread. Now, while they were telling these things, Jesus himself suddenly stood in their midst and said to them, Peace be to you. He showed up, listen, people, right as they were telling these things, but they were startled and frightened and thought that they were looking at a spirit. And he said to them, Why are you frightened and why are doubts arising in your hearts? That this is God in the flesh. He he knows what they're thinking. That's why he's asking them, Hey, why are you doubting? Why are you afraid? And why are doubts arising? Verse 39 See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me and see, because a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you plainly see that I have. Did you hear that? A spirit does not have flesh and bones. This is Jesus telling them that He is back, He is the same man that they saw a couple days ago, you know, beaten and scourged and put on the cross and died on the cross. And the same one that they carried and buried. I'm the same man. This is not a spirit. This is me. He said, Why? Because a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you plainly see that I have. And when he has said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. While they still could not believe it, because their joy and astonishment, he said to them, Have you anything here to eat? Did you catch that? Do you have anything here to eat? A spirit doesn't need to eat anything. A spirit does doesn't need to eat. Let me tell you something about the Lord. And that, you know, about Yahweh. The Lord, God is a spirit. Spirits don't eat. Spirits don't need to eat, but this is the God man. This is the Son of Man here in the flesh, the same Jesus they walked with for three and a half years. Have you anything here to eat? This is another way of the Lord showing them it's me. It's me in a real human body. The body that was broken is now standing before you. This is not a spirit. Verse 42. They served him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and he ate it in front of them. What did he do? He ate it in front of them. A spirit has no reason to eat. A spirit can't eat. Now he said to them, These are my words, which I spoke to you while I was still with you. That all the things that are written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled. I'm on spause again. The whole Bible from Genesis 1 to Revelation 22 is all about Jesus. The whole Bible is about Jesus. Verse 45. Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures. How did they understand the scriptures? Christ opened their minds. This is how we understand the scriptures. You have to have the Lord and a lot of uh cases through the Holy Spirit open your mind to understand the scriptures. And he said to them, So it is written that the Christ would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in his name to all the nations beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you, but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high. And we know uh when that Holy Spirit is gonna come. So, you know, Luke, the physician, had a, you know, very, you know, lengthy but very detailed explanation of Jesus' resurrection. Now we will move on to the last gospel and the last account, which is John. So go right in your Bible to John chapter 20. John chapter 20. And we are in the wrong spot. Sorry about that. Let me get there myself. Where is that? Sorry about that. I uh I lost my spot. Let me pick it up. John, some of you have probably already already beat me there, and that's okay. John chapter 20, there we go. And we are gonna look at verses 1 through 23. John chapter 20. This is also about the empty tomb. Starting at verse 1. Now, on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene came early to the tomb while it was still dark and saw the stone already removed from the tomb. So she ran and came to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved. This is John talking about himself, and said to them, They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we do not know where they have taken him. So Peter and the other disciple left, and they were going to the tomb. The two were running together, and the other disciple ran ahead faster than Peter and came to the tomb first. And he stooped to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there. However, he did not go in. So Simon Peter also came following him, and he entered the tomb, and he looked at the linen rappings lying there. Now John got there and looked in, he didn't walk in. Peter went all the way in. And the facecloth which had been on his head, not lying with the linen wrappings, but folded up in a place by itself. So the other disciple who had first come to the tomb also entered then and saw and believed. So he entered after Peter, for they did not yet understand the scripture that he must rise from the dead. So the disciples went away again to their own homes. But Mary was standing outside the tomb weeping. So as she wept, she stooped to look into the tomb. And she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and one at the foot, where the body of Jesus had been lying. And they said to her, Woman, why are you weeping? She said to them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have put him. When she said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, and yet she did not know it was Jesus. Remember, we just talked about this. Jesus said to her, Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking? Thinking that he was the gardener. She said to him, Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you put him, and I will take him away. Jesus said to her, Mary, she turned and said to him, In Hebrew, Rabbini, which means a teacher. Jesus said to her, Stop clinging to me, for I have not yet ascended to my father, but go to my brothers and say to them, I am ascending to my father and your father and my God and your God and your God. Mary Magdalene came and announced to the disciples, I have seen the Lord, and that he had said these things to her. Now, when it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were shut with this uh while the disciples were together due to the fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst and said to them, Peace be to you. Remember the two guys who walked on the road, and Jesus walked with them, and then they ran and found the disciples and told them, This is that same event. And when he said these, said this, he showed them both his hands and his side, the disciples then rejoiced when they saw the Lord. So Jesus said to them again, Peace be to you, just as the Father has sent me, I also send you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them. If you retain the sins of any, they have been retained. Now, this was the Lord giving his disciples power. Now, that is what happened almost 2,000 years ago on the Saturday before, or the day before, if you will, the resurrection, and what happened on the day of the resurrection. Now, if it's to be believed, what archaeologists uh have kind of come up with, remember, none of us know when Jesus was born. We only have speculations. And the speculation is that he was born somewhere between 4 BC and 3 A.D. So we are knocking on 2,000 years when this event happened. If he was born in 4 BC, then it would be 2029 that these events happened. And if he was born in uh 3 A.D., it would be 2036 when these when these things happen. But the the point that I'm sorry, I said 36, 2033 when these things would have happened. But we believe, but it is it is believed, I should say, that he was born somewhere around there, and these events happened three 33 and a half years after he was born. So that will put us somewhere in that time frame between uh 2029 and 2033. All right. Thank you for joining me. I wanted to share this Easter message with you. Uh I try to do this every year to uh give us something to look at when it comes to Easter. As you know, back in our through the Bible series, uh, you know, we are in Deuteronomy right now. Well, that's the book that we're in as I'm recording this message. And uh sometimes it is good to get something else good going on and talking about something good. And hey, what's better to talk about than the greatest thing our Lord did did for us? He came into this world, he blessed us with his death on the cross. Uh, it was something that he did for us from the foundations of the world, so you and I can be forgiven of our sins and spend eternity with him. And this is what actually reconciled us back to God. He Christ being the last sacrifice is what actually ripped the veil, and now we no longer have to go to uh uh a priest to uh do this to have the scapegoat once a year for for or for our forgiveness and to reconcile us to the Lord. Christ Jesus Himself has recognized uh has reconciled us to God. All right, I appreciate you for listening. I hope that you that you all have had a great week. As always, say a prayer for me. Pray that I stay steadfast in these scriptures, uh, pray that uh we hold up until the Lord tears, because who knows the Lord can come at at any time, and this could all be over with. But until then, I plan on standing strong and staying hard in these scriptures, and I need you to pray for me. And I am praying for each and every one of you as well. I appreciate you a great deal. I appreciate the time that you take out of your morning, afternoon, or evening to listen to one of your brothers in Christ and go through the scriptures. That is all for now. God bless. Thank you for listening to Berean's Corner. We appreciate you joining us as we dive into God's word and seek biblical truth together. If this episode encouraged or challenged you, be sure to subscribe, share, and leave a review on your favorite podcast platform. You can find Bereen's Corner on Buzz Sprout, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart, Amazon Music, and more. Let's stay connected. If you have questions, comments, or prayer requests, reach out to us at Bereans Corner.buzzsprout.com where you can follow along with show transcripts and leave a message in the fan mail slot. Also follow us on YouTube at Berean's Corner and don't forget to subscribe. We'd love to hear from you. Until next time, keep searching the scriptures like a Berean. Stay discerning, stay faithful, and God bless you.