After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day
of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.
There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it.
His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men. The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus,
who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where
he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples:
‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead
of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’
Now I have told you.” So the women hurried away from the tomb,
afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them.
“Greetings,” he said. They came to him,
clasped 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.”
Matthew 28:1-10 New International Version (NIV)
The tomb was EMPTY!
The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate. “Sir,” they said, “we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver [Jesus] said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’ So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first.” “Take a guard,” Pilate answered. “Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how.” So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard.
Matthew 27:62-66 (NIV)
But God released him [Jesus] from the horrors of death and raised him back to life, for death could not keep him in its grip.
Acts 2:24 New Living Translation (NLT)
Death could not hold You
The veil tore before You
You silenced the boast of sin and grave
The Heavens are roaring
The praise of Your glory
For You are raised to life again
“What a Beautiful Name”
Ben Fielding, Brooke Ligertwood
“Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?”
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin
is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 15:55-57 (NIV)
On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
Matthew 9:12-13 (NIV)
“I have not come to call the righteous, but the sinners to repentance.”
Luke 5:32 (NIV)
GOD WINS- not death!