The Earthquake of Joy: The King is Risen Text: Matthew 28:1-10
Introduction: The Hinge of History
Every worldview, every philosophy, every religion, must ultimately answer the question of death. Is the grave the final word? Is the universe a closed system, winding down into heat death, where all our strivings, our loves, our sacrifices, are ultimately erased? Is history a tragedy, a long defeat? Or is there something else? Is there a word spoken from outside the system? The passage before us this morning is not simply one story among many. It is the axle upon which all of human history turns. It is the declaration that the tomb is not a black hole, but a womb. It is the ultimate vindication of the Creator against the pathetic rebellion of His creatures. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is not an addendum to the Christian faith; it is the Christian faith. As Paul says, if Christ is not raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. You are still in your sins. More than that, we are to be pitied more than all men (1 Cor. 15:17-19).
But He has been raised. This is the foundational fact of our reality. And because He is risen, everything has changed. The resurrection is not a spiritual metaphor for a new beginning. It was a physical, historical, datable event. A dead man got up and walked out of His tomb, and in so doing, He kicked the door of its hinges for all of us who are in Him. He did not just escape death; He conquered it, defanged it, and made it His servant.
Matthew’s account of this event is particularly potent. It is an account of cosmic collision. Heaven invades earth. An angel descends, the earth quakes, and the Roman guards, the representatives of worldly power, faint like dead men before the glory of the living God. And who are the first witnesses? Who are the first evangelists of this world-altering news? Not the powerful, not the religious elite, but women. Faithful women who came to perform a sad, loving duty for a dead prophet, only to be met with the foundational announcement of the new creation.
This event is the ultimate source of our optimistic eschatology. The resurrection is the down payment on the restoration of all things. Because Christ is risen and has been given all authority in heaven and on earth, we know that His kingdom will advance. The Great Commission, which flows directly from this event, is not a desperate holding action but a victorious battle plan. The resurrection ensures that the knowledge of the glory of the Lord will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. This is not wishful thinking; it is the logical outworking of an empty tomb in Jerusalem.
The Text
Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the grave. And behold, there was a great earthquake, 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 clothing as white as snow. And the guards quaked from fear of him and became like dead men. And the angel answered and 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 His disciples that He has risen from the dead; and behold, He is going ahead of you into 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 it to His disciples. And behold, Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came up and took hold of His feet and worshiped Him. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and report to My brothers to leave for Galilee, and there they will see Me.”
(Matthew 28:1-10 LSB)
Dawn of the New Creation (v. 1-4)
We begin with the setting, the divine intervention, and the reaction of worldly power.
"Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the grave." (Matthew 28:1)
The timing is precise and theologically loaded. The Sabbath is over. The old creation order, with its required rest, gives way to the dawn of the new creation. This is the first day of the week, a direct echo of Genesis 1. Just as God said "Let there be light" on the first day of the original creation, so now the Light of the World is about to step out of the darkness of the tomb on the first day of the new creation. This is why Christians worship on Sunday. It is Resurrection Day, the Lord's Day, the weekly celebration of the fact that our King is not dead.
And who comes? Mary Magdalene and the other Mary. These are the faithful women who were last at the cross and first at the tomb. While the male disciples are scattered, hiding in fear and confusion, these women are driven by loyal love. They come to "look at the grave," a sorrowful, hopeless errand. They expect to find a corpse; they are about to encounter the King of the universe.
"And behold, there was a great earthquake, 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 clothing as white as snow." (Matthew 28:2-3)
Matthew uses the word "behold" to signal a dramatic, supernatural intrusion. This is not a quiet, gentle sunrise. This is D-Day. An earthquake marks the event. The created order itself convulses at the display of divine power. This is the second earthquake in Matthew’s passion narrative; the first was at Christ’s death when the rocks were split (Matt. 27:51). The earth trembles when its Maker dies, and it trembles again when He rises in power.
An angel of the Lord descends. Notice the angel's actions. He rolls away the stone, not to let Jesus out, but to let the witnesses in. The resurrected Christ, with His glorified body, was not constrained by a rock. He could have passed right through it. The stone was rolled away for our benefit, to show us that the tomb is empty. And then the angel does something gloriously defiant. He sits on the stone. This is a posture of victory, of contempt for the powers that put Jesus in the tomb. The stone was the seal of Roman authority, the symbol of death's finality. The angel sits on it like a king on a conquered throne. It is a taunt: "Come and get it. Your authority is broken. Your prison is empty." His appearance is like lightning, a manifestation of the divine glory, and his clothes are pure white, symbolizing holiness and victory.
"And the guards quaked from fear of him and became like dead men." (Matthew 28:4)
Here is the great irony. The living guards, the representatives of Caesar's might, become like dead men. The dead man in the tomb is now the source of all life. This is what the glory of God does to unrepentant sinners. It terrifies them. It undoes them. These hardened Roman soldiers, who feared nothing, are paralyzed by the sight of one of God's messengers. This is a foretaste of the final judgment, when every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, some in joyful worship, and others in stark terror.
The First Gospel Sermon (v. 5-7)
The angel, having dispatched the guards with a glance, now turns to the women with a message of comfort and commission.
"And the angel answered and said to the women, 'Do not be afraid; for I know that you are looking for Jesus who has been crucified.'" (Matthew 28:5)
The first words of the resurrection announcement are "Do not be afraid." This is the characteristic word of God to His people in the presence of His glory. The guards have every reason to fear. The women do not. The same glory that terrifies God's enemies comforts His friends. The angel acknowledges their quest: they are looking for "Jesus who has been crucified." The angel does not shy away from the cross. The resurrection is not a denial of the crucifixion, but its vindication. The one who was raised is precisely the one who was crucified. Our faith is in a crucified and risen Lord, and we must never separate the two.
"He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said. Come, see the place where He was lying." (Matthew 28:6)
Here are the seven most glorious words ever spoken by a creature: "He is not here, for He has risen." This is the gospel in miniature. It is a declaration of historical fact. The angel then grounds this fact in the authority of Christ's own word: "just as He said." Jesus had predicted this repeatedly. The resurrection was not a surprise to God; it was the plan all along. This is a call to remember and trust the Scriptures. Then comes the invitation to empirical verification: "Come, see the place where He was lying." Christianity is not a blind leap. It is a faith based on evidence, on eyewitness testimony. The angel invites them to be forensic investigators. Look at the evidence. The grave clothes are there, but the body is gone.
"And go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead; and behold, He is going ahead of you into Galilee, there you will see Him; behold, I have told you." (Matthew 28:7)
The angelic commission has three parts. First, "go quickly." The gospel is urgent news. It is not to be hoarded. Second, "tell His disciples." These women are made the first apostles to the apostles. God delights in using the seemingly weak and foolish things of the world to shame the wise and strong. Third, they are given the content of the message: "He has risen from the dead" and He has a plan to meet them in Galilee. This is a message of restoration. The disciples had abandoned Him, but He has not abandoned them. He is gathering His scattered flock. The angel concludes with "behold, I have told you," underscoring the authority of the message.
The Encounter with the King (v. 8-10)
The women respond with a mixture of emotions and are then met by the Lord Himself.
"And they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy and ran to report it to His disciples." (Matthew 28:8)
Their response is immediate obedience. They leave quickly and they run. But notice their emotional state: "fear and great joy." This is not a contradiction; it is the proper response to the holy. The fear is not the terror of the guards, but the awe and reverence of standing on holy ground. It is the fear of the Lord, which is the beginning of wisdom. And it is mingled with an explosion of "great joy." The one they thought was lost is found. The death that had crushed their hopes is now destroyed. This paradoxical blend of reverent awe and ecstatic joy is the very heart of true worship.
"And behold, Jesus met them and said, 'Greetings!' And they came up and took hold of His feet and worshiped Him." (Matthew 28:9)
As they are running in obedience, Jesus meets them. This is a beautiful principle: when we are on the path of obedience, we encounter the Lord. His greeting is simple, "Greetings!" or literally, "Rejoice!" He commands them to do what their hearts are already overflowing with. Their response is instinctive and correct. They fall, they cling to His feet, and they worship Him. This is a physical encounter. They are not seeing a ghost. They are holding onto the resurrected body of their Lord. And their worship is the only sane response. He is not just a teacher who survived; He is God in the flesh, the conqueror of death, and He is worthy of all adoration.
"Then Jesus said to them, 'Do not be afraid; go and report to My brothers to leave for Galilee, and there they will see Me.'" (Matthew 28:10)
Jesus echoes the angel's words: "Do not be afraid." He is calming their reverential fear, turning it from shock into settled peace. Then He repeats the commission, but with one crucial change. The angel told them to report to "His disciples." Jesus tells them to report to "My brothers." This is a word of staggering grace. After they had all deserted Him, He does not call them failures, or cowards, or disciples-on-probation. He calls them brothers. The resurrection has not just secured His life; it has secured their relationship with Him. He is the firstborn among many brethren (Romans 8:29). This is the message of reconciliation at the heart of the gospel.
Conclusion: Run and Tell
The resurrection of Jesus is not a dusty fact of history to be filed away. It is an explosive reality that demands a response. The response of the women is the model for us all. We are to leave our tombs of fear and despair, filled with that same mixture of reverent awe and overwhelming joy, and we are to run and tell.
We are to tell a world that is cowering before the power of death that the tomb is empty. We are to tell a world that is enslaved to sin that the King has paid their debt and broken their chains. We are to tell a world that is lost in confusion that Jesus calls His own "brothers."
And because He is risen, we do not go in our own strength. We go in the power of the one who has all authority in heaven and on earth. The earthquake that shook the tomb is the same power that now works in us. The angel who sat on the stone is on our side. And the King who met the women on the road has promised to be with us always, even to the end of the age. Therefore, let us not walk, but run. Run and tell everyone you know: The King is alive.