Sermons

Faith and the Resurrection (Easter)

Professor: Dr. R.J. Rushdoony

Subject: Sermons

Genre:

Lesson: 1

Track: 02

Dictation Name: RR186A2

Date:

Let us worship God.

The Lord is risen indeed! Hallelujah! I am He that liveth and was dead, saith the Lord, and behold I am alive evermore. Hallelujah! Let us pray.

All glory be to Thee, God the Father almighty, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost. We praise Thee that in this day, our savior, Jesus Christ, was risen from the dead, resurrected as the first fruits of them that sleep, and that in Him we are partakers of His victory over sin and death. We thank Thee that by the working of the Holy Spirit in us, we who are Thine are led into all truth as it is in the risen Christ. And so, we bless Thee and praise Thee, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, one God, for Thy great mercy, and so great salvation unto us. How great and marvelous Thou art, oh Lord, and we rejoice in Thee and in Thy ways. In Christ’s name, amen.

Our scripture is in Matthew 27:50-54. Matthew 27:50-54; our subject, “Faith and the Resurrection.” [Matthew 27:]

“50Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.

51 And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;

52 And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose,

53 And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.

54 Now when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, truly this was the Son of God.”

This is a startling text, and not much is said about it by some commentators, nor is it often preached about. It is too strange a narrative for some. It does, however, have an interesting confirmation, and W.F. Albright and C.S. Mann, both modernists, summarized the confirmation in these words. “Josephus has an account of an earthquake before the fall of Jerusalem, while a letter of Jerome recalls that the now-lost gospel according to the Hebrews, a non-canonical work, speaks of the cleavage in the masonry of the temple porch which might have left the most holy place open to view. The Talmud has an interesting story concerned with Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakai which reports that the doors of the temple opened of their own accord 40 years before the fall of Jerusalem, so portending the end of the temple.” So we have three confirmations of this earthquake, two from Jewish and one from a Christian source.

For a generation after the Crucifixion and Resurrection, there were no challenges to the historicity of the events surrounding the Crucifixion and the Resurrection. Only when all the eye witnesses were dead did skeptics dare to speak out. Prior to that, there were too many people who could say (remember there were 500 at one time who saw Him after the resurrection), too many who could say I saw Him in the flesh after His death.

We do not know how many non-canonical documents reporting on the events became lost. But certainly the events were startling. They begin first with the death of Christ on the cross. He as the second person of the Trinity, now in His Incarnation, experienced the death penalty for us all. As the Adam in His Incarnation of a new humanity, He assumed not only our humanity but also our death penalty. He experienced not only death, but an agonizing death as a criminal. Then, second, various supernatural occurrences marked His death. We will return to those shortly. Third, the centurion and those who were with him feared greatly. They saw a supernatural connection between Christ’s death and the violent reaction of the ground under their feet. Not only was there an earthquake, but rocks were rent asunder.

As R.C.H. Lenski pointed out, there were three supernatural signs and witnesses to the meaning of Christ’s death. We’ve already touched on them, but to go into them a little more fully.

First, the great temple curtain, veiling the Holy of Holies was rent in twain. The Holy of Holies was exposed and profaned. Lenski supposed that the earthquake snapped the great beam at the top and thereby ripped the veil in two as it fell. The destruction of the sanctity of the Holy of Holies at the time of the evening sacrifices meant the end of its holiness, the end of the ministrations of the Jewish High Priest and the end of Israel as God’s chosen people. Their sanctuary, their church, had been profaned by an act of God, in effect cast out.

The second sign was the great earthquake and the rending of the rocks. The coincidence of this event with Christ’s death is not accidental. The earth, created by God, reacted to the death of its creator, God the Son, by whom all things were made and without Him was not anything made that was made, with a great and gigantic shudder of revulsion. Man in Eden chose death, in choosing to be his own god and law-maker. And now the earthquake witnessed to the horror of man’s act, from Eden to Calvary. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men, John tells us. And when men chose sin and death, the world under their feet witnessed to their choice of destruction. God thereby declared that those who hate him choose death and destruction.

The third sign was the opening of the graves by the earthquake. Now the first stage of this is not unusual. At times, earthquakes have broken open graves. In this instance, however, many of the saints of old arose after the Resurrection to enter the Holy City and to appear unto many. Since the earthquake occurred too late in the day and the Sabbath began at sundown of the night before, no work could be done on the Sabbath to repair the damages to the graves. This had to remain until the first day of the week. On that day, however, these long-dead saints arose out of their graves to enter the city. Their bodies and souls were reunited. Christ’s resurrection, as the first-fruits of the victory over death, is thus openly seen as a victory of all over death. Jesus Christ had entered death to destroy death. These saints represented the Church of the Advent, appearing to witness to a death-bound world.

The Sanhedrin had placed a guard on the tomb, a Roman guard, a detail assigned supposedly to prevent any theft of Christ’s body, but actually to prevent the Resurrection. The Sanhedrin had more faith in Rome than in God. They believed that because Rome had executed Christ, they might be able to keep Him from rising. It is possible that many in Jerusalem, with the earthquake, and then the resurrection of dead men, believed it to be the end of the world. We are not told to whom they appeared, that it was unto many. They obviously did not appear to the disciples, who found the first reports of the risen Christ hard to believe. Those to whom they appeared did not apparently become believers, even though they had seen the dead saints risen and alive. Our Lord tells us in Luke 16:31, if they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead. This is a devastating verse, because our Lord, here equates failure to believe in Moses, that is in God’s Law, and if they refuse to believe in the prophets, who set forth the application of the Law, then men will not believe one who rises from the dead. Our Lord is obviously referring to Himself. He declares a disbelief in Moses and the Law and the prophets to be a disbelief in Him. The reference is not to an acceptance of certain facts, nor to a faith without works, but to a supernatural and a saving faith.

James tells us in James 2:19, thou believest that there is one God, thou doest well. The devils also believe and tremble. It would be difficult to stress more strongly a rejection of antinomianism. We are told on the Mount of Transfiguration, Moses and Elijah, the Law and the prophets, appeared to talk with our Lord. Very clearly, this same unity of the covenant is seen in the resurrection of the saints. The devils in hell and in the temple and in the church, know the reality of God’s work in Christ, and of the unity of the Law and the prophets with Christ, and yet they will not manifest the saving faith. The essence of their faith is my will be done, my word is my law and I want only an insurance policy from Christ, not a total Lord.

These dead saints, as we have seen, did not appear to the disciples but to others. They witnessed the enemies of Christ. We are told by St. Paul in Romans 1:18-20, “18For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness (or injustice) of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness (or injustice);19 Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse.” At times, God in supernatural ways, as in this instance, has witnessed mightily to the ungodly, leaving them without excuse.

The holy city had been profaned. It had received a witness of staggering dimension, but however terrified at the moment, it refused to see Jesus as the Messiah. Our Lord declared that the judgment to come on Judea would be without equal, for then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world at this time, no, nor ever shall be, according to Matthew 24:21. The fall of Jerusalem in the Jewish-Roman war of 66-70 A.D. was the greatest disaster in all of history, but it is a curious fact that people have a habit of forgetting disasters very quickly. In a book on plagues, written in the 30s, the scholar writing it marveled that in so few years after the great flu epidemic of 1918 and thereafter, which wiped out millions upon millions and in two weeks more would have wiped out all humanity if it had continued to accelerate at the same rate then had forgotten it. And again and again, we see men suppressing the truth. Paul says they hold the truth, or hold back, they suppress the truth in their unrighteousness or injustice. With regard to the fall of Jerusalem, all too many scholars and nonscholars have tried to belittle the extent of the {?}, the vengeance of the Romans and the death of vast numbers by crucifixion, but the facts are incapable. In a vast area, all the trees were cut down to provide enough wood for crosses.

Now at the time of the Resurrection, the dead came alive. They were resurrected, but people feared, yet they did not believe. Then, as now, fear is a substitute for faith in too many people. But for us, Christ is risen from the dead. Moses and Elijah are the resurrected saints who came to His transfiguration, and now at the Resurrection, others arise to witness for Him. He is risen, and He is the great law-giver, savior and Lord, our prophet, priest and King forever. Men and nations will stand or fall in terms of their relationship to Him.

Let us pray.

Oh Lord, our God, we give thanks unto Thee that Thou art He who hast redeemed us, saved us from sin and death, so that we are the people of the resurrection, ours is the inheritance of eternal life. Ours is the freedom from sin and death, and with our perfect sanctification in the world to come, will come our perfection in Christ and for His purposes. We praise Thee, oh Lord, and we rejoice that Thou hast in Jesus Christ, resurrected us also from the power of sin and death. In His name we pray. Amen.

Are there any questions now about our lesson?

Yes?

[Audience] {?} true of God, though, isn’t it?

[Rushdoony] What?

[Audience] We’re commanded to turn to God, aren’t we? {?} are true of God, and it falls in the realm of respect, and it’s because of… you can correlate it with being in the water. You should fear the water because you should respect that it can kill you, but at the same time, it could be a great asset.

[Rushdoony] Yes, there is, and many people fail to recognize this, such a thing as holy love and profane love. Many, many people who love certain things are evil in their love so there is godly fear, and ungodly fear. So we cannot say that all kinds of fear are the same. There is an analog for everything on the side of evil, and we must recognize that when the fear of the Lord is commanded, it is a clean thing.

When some people fear, it is for the wrong reason, but with some, fear is a clean thing and healthy, because there is an essential health in their lives.

Any other questions or comments?

Yes.

[Audience] The people who came out of their graves, what happened to them? Did they stay alive?

[Rushdoony] They probably ascended to Heaven with Christ. We don’t know. But we know that they came out of their graves and witnessed to many, and both the Resurrection and all the events around it, silenced all opposition for a generation. And there was only persecution, not any answer to what the Christians were saying, that this same Jesus whom you crucified is risen from the dead. They knew that! It was too obvious a fact. And it is interesting that in the past decade, one rabbinic scholar wrote a book about Jesus in which he admitted that He undoubtedly rose from the dead, but then he said, so what? That still didn’t make Him our Messiah. Other people have risen from the dead, as in the Old Testament, so they didn’t attempt to deny it in the first generation after the Resurrection. It was only subsequently that they began to make innuendos and then outright denials.

Yes.

[Audience] I think in my experience, the most avoided thing by the so-called Christian, American Christian, whatever you want to call them, is God cannot hate. In fact, that I know people even in my own family that believe that God never hated. All He does is love, whether it be Christ, Father, Son, or Holy Ghost, all they do is love, and they avoid that more than anything else, I’ve ever seen, of hatred.

[Rushdoony] Well, they obviously have not read the Bible because most of it is full of denunciations, and God’s expression of His hatred for the ungodly. I’ve written an article for The Chalcedon Report that will appear in a couple of months that deals with this issue, because we do get letters, I do, sooner or later, involve a criticism of practically everybody on our staff, if not everyone (I can’t recall any exceptions), because, they’ve said something that is unloving, as though this were the ultimate offense, as though a Christian should not hate, or should never use strong language. And in it, I cite some verses, such as Paul in Galatians 5:12 (I believe), where he says (and no version in the English translates it honestly), what Paul says there is he wishes his enemies would go and castrate themselves. So, Paul, the greatest apostle was not a very loving person. Two-thirds of all that our Lord said were denunciations, and of course in the Old Testament you have in the Hebrew (very graphically), in Malachi 2:3 where God says of the sanctimonious and pious hypocrites of Malachi’s time, I will spread dung upon their faces! Well, if you know what dung means, you understand what God is saying. That’s not the God of most churches today. When you think of the vicious criminal who was scheduled to die this Tuesday at, in the prison here in California, and how mainline Protestant churches, the Catholic Church, and Mother Theresa and a whole host of dignitaries, Christian and non-Christian, have pleaded for the life of this vicious and degenerate murderer, in the name of Christ. You recognize that their christ is not our Christ, nor the Christ of scripture, that what they represent is blasphemy to the nth degree. It was sin, evil, that necessitated the cross and we are not to be loving toward evil men.

Yes?

[Audience] I met some of those people who say that God doesn’t hate and after I talk to them for about a half an hour, I find out that they’re most hateful themselves.

[Rushdoony] …. And they hate you.

[Audience] Yeah, yeah they do, they do hate good people too because I was in a discussion with one of them one time and this guy says, well, {?} was nothing but a butcher, he said it in such a hateful fashion, I believe if he had a gun, he’d have shot me dead right down {?}.

[Rushdoony] Yes..

[Audience] Of course the crucifixion was deliberately chosen as the most ignominious and painful death available at that time. And what strikes me is seldom commented upon is the expense of the triumph of Christ, after such a low point. I don’t think, I cannot think of any comparable time in all of history that handfuls, put down, totally put down by the State, without publications or anything else, to try, to this extent, to this day.

[Rushdoony] Yes. It could not be stated more clearly than you just did, Otto. And you’re absolutely right about the Crucifixion. The Romans were masters of torture. This is a fact that we are not told by historians because neither with the Greeks or Romans can ugly facts be brought out, because they represent the epitome of Humanism.

Normally, it took three days for someone to die on the cross. In this instance, because the Romans did not want to offend the Jews, the bodies were taken down and of the two criminals, with a hammer; their bones were broken to intensify the horror and punishment, with a hammer. This was routine. With Christ, because of the brutal whipping with a leaded whip (a number of leaded thongs with barbed ends at the end of the, leaded barbed ends), His backbone had probably been exposed, so He died early from the excessive bleeding.

The way the crucifixion worked, and Dr. P{?} Davis has written on this and is an expert on the subject of how it was the most refined form of cruelty. The man who was crucified had his feet on a stand, but he could only breathe by raising himself up on his tip-toes, and because of the agony, he could not stand that long and he would slump down. And his diaphragm would prevent breathing, so he would instinctively raise himself up as high as he could. In every respect, it was refined to be the ultimate in torture. And with each rising up, his hands pulled against the bone and caused him further torture. So this is an aspect that is veiled from us, nor the extent of Roman torture. Roman tax collectors were masters of torture.

Inhumanity was basic to Greco-Roman civilization, and this inhumanity was not only applied in the Crucifixion of our Lord, but also in the treatment of the Christians who were seized, and for a few centuries punished savagely for their faith.

And yet, someone who was in Rome about 15, 20 years ago told me that when they went to the arena, the guide said, here is where, according to mythology, Christians were martyred. That’s the extent of the hatred and the suppression of the truth about history. Now when they do that to the past, what do you think they are going to do to us in the present if they have their way? This is why the churches are so stupid and blind and they do not realize that this is a war—an all-out war against us. They either stand in Christ or they perish.

Yes?

[Audience] I was just going to say, there’s only one thing, one thing greater in punishment than that of the cross, was to have Perfection go to hell for three days. I can’t imagine what that must have been.

[Rushdoony] It was, well, literally, He was in Hades, the Greek word, which can mean the condition of death. It can refer to Hell or it can refer to Heaven, and also simply to the condition of death.

[Audience] His punishment must have been so much greater than any physical, or anything else that ever He endured.

[Rushdoony] Yes.

[Audience] [Inaudible]

[Rushdoony] Well, the glorious fact is that in Him we have a victory over sin and death and we have great promises and God has said all they that hate me love death. But for us, there is eternal life and there is victory in time and in eternity over the powers of darkness.

Let us conclude with prayer.

Oh Lord, our God, how great and marvelous Thou art. How gracious and merciful in all Thy ways unto others. We thank Thee that by Thy mercy, we are the people of the Resurrection, that we have an eternal victory in Jesus Christ, that our history has no end. Make us ever joyful in the victory that Thou hast given us. And now, go in peace. God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost bless you and keep you, guide and protect you, this day and always. Amen.