JESUS RISES FROM THE DEAD

MEMORY VERSE

1 Corinthians 15:3-4, ESV

...Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day...

DAY 1

John 19:38-42, NIrV

38 Later Joseph asked Pilate for Jesus’ body. Joseph was from the town of Arimathea. He was a follower of Jesus. But he followed Jesus secretly because he was afraid of the Jewish leaders. After Pilate gave him permission, Joseph came and took the body away. 39 Nicodemus went with Joseph. He was the man who had earlier visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought some mixed spices that weighed about 75 pounds. 40 The two men took Jesus’ body. They wrapped it in strips of linen cloth, along with the spices. That was the way the Jews buried people. 41 At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden. A new tomb was there. No one had ever been put in it before. 42 That day was the Jewish Preparation Day, and the tomb was nearby. So they placed Jesus there.

BIBLE STUDY

Two men, Joseph* and Nicodemus, worked quickly to bury Jesus’ body before the day’s end. Why? Because the next day was the Sabbath, the last day of the week. On that day, God’s people were not allowed to do any work. The first man, Joseph, was a rich man. He generously offered to use his own new tomb to bury Jesus’ body. The other man, Nicodemus, was a Pharisee. They were the group of men who sent Jesus to die! By helping bury a famous "criminal" like Jesus, Joseph and Nicodemus were headed for trouble with the same group of guys who put Jesus to death!

*This Joseph was not the same Joseph who was the husband of Jesus’ mom, Mary.


+ Read Isaiah 53:9, which was written hundreds of years before Jesus came. How does what Isaiah wrote match what happened to Jesus many years later?

DAY 2

Matthew 27:62-66, NIrV

62 The next day was the day after Preparation Day. The chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate. 63 “Sir,” they said, “we remember something that liar said while he was still alive. He claimed, ‘After three days I will rise again.’ 64 So give the order to make the tomb secure until the third day. If you don’t, his disciples might come and steal the body. Then they will tell the people that Jesus has been raised from the dead. This last lie will be worse than the first.”


65 “Take some guards with you,” Pilate answered. “Go. Make the tomb as secure as you can.” 66 So they went and made the tomb secure. They put a royal seal on the stone and placed some guards on duty.

BIBLE STUDY

By sending him to die on a cross, Jesus’ enemies thought they had solved their “Jesus Problem” once and for all. But they had another headache to deal with. Before he died, Jesus promised his disciples, “On the third day, I will rise from the dead.” Jesus’ enemies didn’t actually believe Jesus was going to come back to life. But they also didn't want his disciples to steal his body from the tomb and go around saying, "Jesus rose from the dead! Don’t believe us? Check out his tomb. It's empty!" To keep Jesus’ body in the tomb and his disciples out, they asked Pilate to send soldiers to guard it.


+ Why did the leaders want soldiers to guard Jesus' tomb? (vs. 64)


+ Did these leaders believe that Jesus would actually rise from the dead?

DAY 3

Matthew 28:1-10, NIrV

1 The Sabbath day was now over. It was dawn on the first day of the week. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.


2 There was a powerful earthquake. An angel of the Lord came down from heaven. The angel went to the tomb. He rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3 His body shone like lightning. His clothes were as white as snow. 4 The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.


5 The angel said to the women, “Don’t be afraid. I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. 6 He is not here! He has risen, just as he said he would! Come and see the place where he was lying. 7 Go quickly! Tell his disciples, ‘He has risen from the dead. He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.”


8 So the women hurried away from the tomb. They were afraid, but they were filled with joy. They ran to tell the disciples. 9 Suddenly Jesus met them. “Greetings!” he said. They came to him, took hold of his feet and worshiped him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee. There they will see me.”

BIBLE STUDY

The first person to hear the good news that Jesus had risen from the dead was named Mary. The second was also named Mary! Early Sunday morning, both Marys brought spices to put on Jesus' body. God threw a monkey wrench into their plans by sending an earthquake and a blazing angel with a marvelous message. “Jesus isn’t here – he has risen from the dead. Go and tell his disciples the good news!” So the two Marys ran as fast as their feet could carry them. On the way back, they just so happened to run into an unexpected friend – Jesus himself, looking very much alive and well!


+ What did the angel do with the stone that had been in front of the tomb? (vs. 2)


+ What happened to the guards after they saw the angel? Why? (vs. 4)

DAY 4

Luke 24:1-11, NIRV

1 It was very early in the morning on the first day of the week. The women took the spices they had prepared. Then they went to the tomb. 2 They found the stone rolled away from it. 3 When they entered the tomb, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 They were wondering about this. Suddenly two men in clothes as bright as lightning stood beside them. 5 The women were terrified. They bowed down with their faces to the ground. Then the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? 6 Jesus is not here! He has risen! Remember how he told you he would rise. It was while he was still with you in Galilee. 7 He said, ‘The Son of Man must be handed over to sinful people. He must be nailed to a cross. On the third day he will rise from the dead.’ ” 8 Then the women remembered Jesus’ words.


9 They came back from the tomb. They told all these things to the 11 apostles and to all the others. 10 Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them were the ones who told the apostles. 11 But the apostles did not believe the women. Their words didn’t make any sense to them.

BIBLE STUDY

The news that Jesus had risen from the dead was happy, scary, and confusing news all at the same time! But the two Marys believed it anyways and sprinted off to go tell Jesus’ disciples! It’s hard to say something like “Jesus has risen from the dead” without sounding like you’ve completely lost your marbles. After all, dead people stay dead, right? That's exactly what the disciples thought when they heard the Marys’ message: these ladies are nuts! But as we'll see tomorrow, this didn't stop two of them from racing to the tomb to see if the Marys' nutty news might possibly be true!


+ What did the disciples think about what the women told them? (vs. 11)


+ Why would the Marys’ message be hard for the disciples to believe?

DAY 5

John 20:1-10, NIRV

1 Early on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb. It was still dark. She saw that the stone had been moved away from the entrance. 2 So she ran to Simon Peter and another disciple, the one Jesus loved. She said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb! We don’t know where they have put him!”


3 So Peter and the other disciple started out for the tomb. 4 Both of them were running. The other disciple ran faster than Peter. He reached the tomb first. 5 He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there. But he did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter came along behind him. He went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there. 7 He also saw the funeral cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place. It was separate from the linen. 8 The disciple who had reached the tomb first also went inside. He saw and believed. 9 They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead. 10 Then the disciples went back to where they were staying.

BIBLE STUDY

When the women told the disciples the crazy news about Jesus’ empty tomb, they thought it was... crazy! Despite this, Peter and John sprinted out the door to see if the Marys were lying or telling the truth. John won that race, but Peter was first to go into the tomb. What did he find inside? Nothing! This was humongous news – there was supposed to be a dead Jesus inside! Had someone stolen the body? Not likely with Roman soldiers guarding the tomb. Also, the cloths they wrapped Jesus with were left behind; some were even folded! Surely grave robbers wouldn’t tidy up after robbing!


+ What did (and didn’t) Peter find in Jesus’ tomb? (vs. 6-7)


+ What did the disciples not understand yet? (vs. 9)

DAY 6

Luke 24:36-43, NIRV

36 The disciples were still talking about this when Jesus himself suddenly stood among them. He said, “May you have peace!”


37 They were surprised and terrified. They thought they were seeing a ghost. 38 Jesus said to them, “Why are you troubled? Why do you have doubts in your minds? 39 Look at my hands and my feet. It’s really me! Touch me and see. A ghost does not have a body or bones. But you can see that I do.”


40 After he said that, he showed them his hands and feet. 41 But they still did not believe it. They were amazed and filled with joy. So Jesus asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?” 42 They gave him a piece of cooked fish. 43 He took it and ate it in front of them.

BIBLE STUDY

The Sunday after Jesus’ death was a wild roller coaster ride of a day! Back on Friday, they had watched with their own eyes as their leader was arrested, beaten, whipped, nailed to a cross, and laid in a tomb. There was a time when they thought he was the Messiah, the God-sent savior come to rescue his people. With Jesus dead and buried, that dream seemed dead, too. However, everyone now was thinking the same crazy thought: could it really be true? Has Jesus really risen from the dead?

All this hubbub began with two Marys telling an incredible tale of angels, earthquakes, empty tombs, and seeing a 100% not-dead Jesus! There was lots of running. Marys running to go tell the disciples. Disciples running back to the tomb to see if it was really empty. And finally, running back home, feeling a little bit hopeful and a big bit confused! But all this Sunday morning confusion and excitement was nothing compared to what happened on Sunday night.

Imagine being in that room with the disciples. One moment, you’re discussing the idea that Jesus might be alive again. The next moment, he’s standing right in front of you! How did the disciples react to this? They basically said, “Ahh! It’s a spooky ghost!”

Being God’s Son and all, Jesus knew exactly why everyone was so scared. To prove he wasn’t some see-through spook, he did a couple of things only a real living human being with a body can do. He let them touch his hands and feet, with freshly-healed nail holes. He also ate some cooked fish while they watched. By doing these things, Jesus passed the Not-a-Spooky-Ghost Test with flying colors!

It was now clear to everyone in that room: Jesus was a real guy with a real body. Just a few days earlier, that body was bloody, beaten, bruised, and 100% dead. But now it was alive and better than ever (and with a few nail holes). We can understand why Jesus’ disciples were so excited, but you should be just as excited as they were!

All of Jesus’ mighty miracles (walking on water, stopping a storm, healing the blind, and now rising from the dead) are signs that show us something. What do they show us? That Jesus wasn’t an ordinary man; he was the powerful Son of God!

When Jesus died on the cross, he did it to save us from our sins. His death paid the punishment we earned for breaking God’s good commands. As the powerful Son of God, he could pay for the sins of the whole world all at once. His rising from the dead is a certain sign to us that his rescue mission was finished!

God’s word tells us what we have to do to be saved from our sins. It's exactly what the Marys and disciples did: believe the good news about Jesus! And what is that good news again? That Jesus died to pay for our sins and rose from the dead!


+ Why were the disciples scared when they saw Jesus? (vs. 37)


+ Why is Jesus rising from the dead good news for us? 

© 2023 Andrew Doane. All rights reserved.