SERMON TITLE: The Destruction of Death
TEXT: John 20:1-18 (ESV)
SPEAKER: Josh Hanson
DATE: 4-4-21
You can watch the sermon here.
You can find the sermon notes here.
As always it’s a joy to be with all of you this weekend at Gateway Church. And the one thing I always want you to know — and this is true if you’re worshipping with us in person at our North Main campus or are joining us online — the one thing I want you to know is that God loves you and that I love you too.
Well happy Easter! He is risen! He is risen indeed! If you have your Bible, please turn with me to John chapter 20. We’ll be looking at verses 1-18 together today.
And this will be a familiar passage to some of us and not so familiar to others. Either way, I hope that all of us will leave here with an answer to a question that looms over all of us. A question we’ll get to after we read from John chapter 20. Beginning in verse 1.
“Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. 2 So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” 3 So Peter went out with the other disciple, and they were going toward the tomb. 4 Both of them were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 And stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there, 7 and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded up in a place by itself. 8 Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; 9 for as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead. 10 Then the disciples went back to their homes.11 But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb. 12 And she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. 13 They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” 14 Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. 15 Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” 16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher). 17 Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” 18 Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord” — and that he had said these things to her.” (John 20:1-18 ESV)
So here’s the question I alluded to earlier. And you should know that I didn’t come up with this question — Russian author Leo Tolstoy asked this question in his short writing on depression, philosophy, and religion. But here’s his question — a question that hangs over all of us. “Is there any meaning in my life that the inevitable death awaiting me does not destroy?” What a powerful question. Is there any meaning in my life — or yours — that the inevitable death awaiting us does not destroy?
Here’s another way to ask his question: Does death — the fact that you and I and every single person will die — does death rob all meaning of our lives?
Does death destroy all meaning to life?
Now, this is where atheism fails to offer any kind of answer. Because atheism teaches that — after death — there’s nothing. So death does destroy all meaning to life if you hold this view. And — I think — this is why atheism hasn’t become the dominant force many thought it was going to become. And — instead — many people have turned to religious types of belief. They believe in a divine power or an afterlife, but haven’t taken much time to connect the life to come — with the life they’re living right now.
And — really — there’s not a good answer to Tolstoy’s question from our culture today. Our culture — spiritually speaking — teaches a “it’s all going to work out in the end” kind of belief. And since everything’s going to work out swell for us — after death — we’re told to distract ourselves from asking this question — we’re told to keep dilly dallying our life away on things that don’t matter much now and definitely won’t matter after we die.
But then we see outrage over things that — if we don’t have an answer to our question — the outrage doesn’t make much sense. If the destruction of death — the fact that when we die things cease — if that’s the destructive power of death — then why work so hard to make a few decades of a person’s life better when death’s going to destroy it all anyway? Where’s the hope of change when death has this kind of power? Why fight for gender equality or for the environment or the unborn if the destruction of death is so powerful and final? I don’t know if there is a reason. But here’s the real kicker. I don’t know that there’s a reason to fight for any of these things if “everything’s going to work out in the end” either.
As the author of Ecclesiastes writes, “It seems so wrong that everyone under the sun suffers the same fate. Already twisted by evil, people choose their own mad course, for they have no hope. There is nothing ahead but death anyway...Whatever they did in their lifetime — loving, hating, envying — is all long gone. They no longer play a part in anything here on earth. 7 So go ahead. Eat your food with joy, and drink your wine with a happy heart, for God approves of this! 8 Wear fine clothes, with a splash of cologne! 9 Live happily with the woman you love through all the meaningless days of life that God has given you under the sun. The wife God gives youis your reward for all your earthly toil. 10 Whatever you do, do well. For when you go to the grave, there will be no work or planning or knowledge or wisdom.” (Ecclesiastes 9:3, 6-10 NLT)
What an outlook of life, right? Similarly, the words “Let’s feast and drink, for tomorrow we die!” (Isaiah 22:13b (NLT)) ring loud and true in our culture today. Yeah, we try to ignore the “tomorrow we die” part, but we’re down with the feasting and drinking advice. But we can’t forget the context of this saying. What’s the context? God calling his people to repent of their sins and — yet — they ignore his call. “At that time the Lord, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, called you to weep and mourn. He told you to shave your heads in sorrow for your sins and to wear clothes of burlap to show your remorse. 13 But instead, you dance and play; you slaughter cattle and kill sheep. You feast on meat and drink wine. You say, “Let’s feast and drink, for tomorrow we die!” 14 The Lord of Heaven’s Armies has revealed this to me: “Till the day you die, you will never be forgiven for this sin.” That is the judgment of the Lord, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.” (Isaiah 22:12-14 NLT)
God is calling the people to repentance — to turn back to him and his ways — but they refuse. Instead of living in a way that destroys the power of death — they live under the power and destruction of death. Thus, they danced and played and celebrated their football team’s victory and that new promotion at work all while knowing that “tomorrow we die — tomorrow, none of this will matter.”
And this is what leads us to our passage in John’s gospel — a recording of the resurrection of Jesus. Now — something I hope to make evident — is how any view that rejects the resurrection of Jesus is left with some underwhelming answers to Tolstoy’s question. Why? Well it’s been said, “If Jesus rose from the dead, then you have to accept all he said; if he didn’t rise from the dead, then why worry about any of what he said? The issue on which everything hangs is not whether or not you like his teaching, but whether or not he rose from the dead.” (Tim Keller, Reason for God, 210.)
The point is that if you try to answer Tolstoy’s question with something like, “I think that Jesus was a great teacher — an admirable example — and I really like what he said about life after death” — meaning you take something that Jesus said — that you like — to be how you answer Tolstoy’s question about death robbing life of all meaning — but then you reject his resurrection — well — then you’re being pretty unfair to Jesus. You can’t have Jesus the Teacher without his resurrection. His resurrection is part of his story — in fact — his resurrection validates what he taught about life and death to be true or not.
Now you may be someone who says, “But if Jesus’ resurrection really happened, why then isn’t there proof of it anywhere outside of the Bible?” Maybe your reason for not believing in the resurrection is something along these lines — where the burden of proof is put on Christians to produce evidence — outside of the Bible — that proves the resurrection really happened. But know that the burden of proof goes both ways.
What do I mean? Well here’s the burden of proof question for you — if you don’t believe in the resurrection of Jesus. How do you explain the Christian church?
Usually, a person's answer includes something along the lines of “the people in Jesus’ day didn’t have our scientific knowledge — they were susceptible to superstitious or supernatural explanations — and so the people sincerely believed in the resurrection — and we have a Christian church today because of their sincere beliefs in something that didn’t happen.”
But listen to what the apostle Paul says to this kind of argument. “I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me. Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. 4 He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said. 5 He was seen by Peter and then by the Twelve. 6 After that, he was seen by more than 500 of his followers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died.” (1 Corinthians 15:3-6 NLT)
Paul says, “If you’re questioning the authenticity of the resurrection of Jesus, there are 500 witnesses of his resurrection — most of whom are still alive — go and talk to them.” Were there doubters in Paul’s day — people who didn’t believe in the resurrection? Absolutely! So where are their writings that say, “Well, Paul, I did what you said to do. I went and interviewed the witnesses and found all of their stories to be unreliable.” We don’t have anything like that. And though we have many writings from this time period — we have no evidence that the resurrection didn’t happen.
Imagine if — today — some news story breaks and you doubt the validity of the story. So you call the reporter and they tell you, “Here’s a list of 500 witnesses who were present during the time of the event you’re doubting.” One of three things might happen next.
So — for someone who says — “Well where’s the proof of Jesus’ resurrection?” What about these 500 witnesses? “But I can’t go and interview them.” You’re right. But look at how great the burden of proof is on you to not believe in the resurrection? Where’s the historical evidence supporting your view? There isn't any. Not one document, not one report, not one claim from someone saying, “Paul, I did what you said. And discovered that all of your witnesses were lying, or believing a myth, or whatever.” It takes faith to believe in the resurrection — but don’t be fooled — it takes faith to not believe in the resurrection as well.
Now — if that’s not enough to convince you to investigate your unbelief — what about this? Who was the first eyewitness of the resurrection in John’s gospel? Mary — a woman. In fact, in all of the gospels the first eyewitnesses of the resurrection are women. Now this next question may come as a surprise to you — me being a conservative Christian pastor and all — but here’s my question for you — if you don’t believe in the resurrection.
Why do you distrust the reliability of female witnesses? That’s what you’re doing — if you don’t believe in the resurrection — you’re not trusting what multiple women say they experienced. And — I don’t want to stereotype you — but if you’re someone who leans left politically, isn’t trusting the experience of women something high on your list of values? So why not trust these women’s experience when it comes to the resurrection of Jesus?
Having women be the first eye-witnesses of the resurrection wasn’t advantageous in the first century. Women weren’t considered reliable witnesses — culturally — in the first century. So something you have to answer — the burden of proof that’s on you — if you don’t believe in the resurrection — is why would early Christians say that women were the first witnesses of the resurrection if none of it was true? Women being the first eye-witnesses actually hurts the believability of the resurrection — in the first century — it doesn’t increase it’s believability.
Now the most obvious answer as to why — if it’s not advantageous — why are women the first recorded eye-witnesses of the resurrection of Jesus — is that the Bible records women as being the first witnesses to the resurrection of Jesus because women were the first witnesses of the resurrection of Jesus.
And Mary’s witness of Jesus’ resurrection leads us back to Tolstoy’s question and the title of this sermon — the destruction of death. When I was working on this sermon, I realized that the phrase “the destruction of death” can be read two ways. The first we’ve already looked at — “the destruction caused by death” — does death destroy all meaning to life? The second way to read the phrase is “death being destroyed” — which is what we turn to now. For Jesus’ resurrection is the destruction of death.
When Peter and John arrive at the tomb — after Mary — John arrived there first but didn’t enter the tomb right away — Peter arrives second and runs straight into the tomb. Here’s how it happened. “ Then the other disciple (John), who had reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; 9 for as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead.” (John 20:8-9 ESV)
Peter and John — two guys who’ve been following Jesus for over three years — didn’t understand the Bible’s teaching about Jesus’ resurrection. Now — for them — the Bible was what we call the Old Testament. So what in the Old Testament might they have been misunderstanding?
Maybe it was Psalm 16:10 (NLT) which states, “For you will not leave my soul among the dead or allow your holy one to rot in the grave.”
Maybe it was Hosea 6:1-2 (NLT) “Come, let us return to the Lord. He has torn us to pieces; now he will heal us. He has injured us; now he will bandage our wounds. 2 In just a short time he will restore us, so that we may live in his presence.”
Or Isaiah 53:10-12 (NLT) “But it was the Lord’s good plan to crush him and cause him grief. Yet when his life is made an offering for sin, he will have many descendants. He will enjoy a long life, and the Lord’s good plan will prosper in his hands. 11 When he sees all that is accomplished by his anguish, he will be satisfied. And because of his experience, my righteous servant will make it possible for many to be counted righteous, for he will bear all their sins. 12 I will give him the honors of a victorious soldier, because he exposed himself to death. He was counted among the rebels. He bore the sins of many and interceded for rebels.”
Though we don’t know exactly which passage John was thinking of — when he said he and Peter didn’t understand the Scripture — what we do know is that there are plenty of options of Old Testament passages that promised the resurrection of the Messiah.
And then — after Peter and John had left — Mary — who had stuck around — saw the resurrected Jesus. And “Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” 18 Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord” — and that he had said these things to her.” (John 20:17-18 ESV)
“Mary, go tell my brothers that I’m about to ascend to my Father in Heaven. And because of my life, death, and resurrection...my Father is now their Father — and he’s your Father too, Mary.”
The resurrection of Jesus is the destruction of death because now we — who deserved to die because of our sin — have been made alive with Christ, are adopted into the family of God, and will experience the presence of our God — who is now our Father — and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for all eternity. Our hope — that the destruction caused by death has been defeated — the only answer that gives hope to Tolstoy’s question — is found by believing in the resurrection of Jesus.
As Paul writes, “since we preach that Christ rose from the dead, why are some of you saying there will be no resurrection of the dead (meaning no life after death for us)? 13 For if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised either. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, then all our preaching is useless, and your faith is useless. (“Feel free to believe whatever you want, but if there’s no resurrection of Jesus all that you and I believe is useless.” That’s how important the resurrection of Jesus is.) 15 And we apostles would all be lying about God — for we have said that God raised Christ from the grave. But that can’t be true if there is no resurrection of the dead. 16 And if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is useless and you are still guilty of your sins. 18 In that case, all who have died believing in Christ are lost! 19 And if our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world. 20 But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. He is the first of a great harvest of all who have died. 21 So you see, just as death came into the world through a man, now the resurrection from the dead has begun through another man. 22 Just as everyone dies because we all belong to Adam, everyone who belongs to Christ will be given new life. 23 But there is an order to this resurrection: Christ was raised as the first of the harvest; then all who belong to Christ will be raised when he comes back. 24 After that the end will come, when he will turn the Kingdom over to God the Father, having destroyed every ruler and authority and power. 25 For Christ must reign until he humbles all his enemies beneath his feet. 26 And the last enemy to be destroyed is death...Then, when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die, this Scripture will be fulfilled: “Death is swallowed up in victory. 55 O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” 56 For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power. 57 But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ. 58 So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable. Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless.” (1 Corinthians 15:12b-26, 54-58 NLT)
Nothing you do for the Lord is useless. “Tolstoy, life has meaning when it’s lived for God. And we’re able to live for God because of the resurrection of Jesus.”
What’s your answer to Tolstoy’s question? Here it is one last time: Is there any meaning in my life that the inevitable death awaiting me does not destroy?
What’s your answer? How much hope do you have in your answer? How will death not rob all meaning to the life you’re living?
The only answer that gives hope is found by looking to the one who defeated death by being raised from the grave on that first Easter morning. “Death, where’s your victory? Death, where’s your sting? Where’s your destructive power?” It’s been swallowed up in the victory of Christ’s resurrection. Let’s pray.
Heavenly Father, thank you for giving us the best answer to the question we’ve been looking at today. An emphatic “No!” Death does not destroy meaning to life. Why? Because the resurrection of Jesus has been victorious over death’s destruction.
Jesus, thank you for conquering the destruction of death through your life, death, and resurrection. We were hopeless on our own — unable to destroy the destruction of death in our own power — but in love you came to do for us what we could not do for ourselves. And in your resurrection we now have hope and assurance that death does not destroy meaning to life. For your death and resurrection has given meaning to our lives.
Spirit of God, I ask that you would call out to those listening to my voice who want to give up their underwhelming answer to Tolstoy’s question and receive your overwhelming, victorious answer — call out to them, give them eyes to see and hearts that would respond and believe in Christ and his resurrection. May they turn from their sin and turn to Christ. May they respond to your call and receive the life Christ has promised. We pray all of these things in Jesus’ name. Amen.
May you go — having believed in the resurrection of Christ — may you go with great hope and assurance that death will not have the final word. Christ’s resurrection has the final word and it is a word of victory for the people of God. Amen.
God loves you. I love you. You are sent.
Stories, news, and resources for things happening at Gateway Church.
