November 10, 2024, Message by Ats Kagawa
So this week when Kevin asked, I knew that this was my turn to come and share. I was looking at this week and I said, oh boy, what a. It’s just a little bit of an important topic that I need to talk about.
But there’s so many passages for the whole week you can pick from and you can go into. You can spend so much time in Jesus’ pathway to the cross and his crucifixion and resurrection. But today I decided to choose Luke 24.
This is when the women, after Jesus dies, after the Sabbath, they go to the tomb. So, this is the account of the empty tomb. I wanted to title today’s message as putting our hope in the God who turns the tide.
I think it goes along with what God has been doing in our midst, in our lives personally, and also for this country.
But yeah, Lord, please help us to learn from your word and your heart through the word today in Jesus’ Name, Amen.
But before we go into this passage, I wanted to set the stage a little bit better. What the disciples were going through leading up to the important event that took place in our history. The disciples, as we know, spent three years following Jesus. They witnessed many miracles, heard his teachings that Jesus taught full of wisdom, and experienced the amazing love that he displayed in power and authority that he spoke with.
And they were convinced that Jesus was the long awaited Messiah and the one that would liberate them from the oppression of the Roman Empire and restore the glorious Davidic kingdom and their hopes. You can imagine. And I don’t know, have you, have you been watching the chosen TV series? I don’t know if you have, but. And I know there’s a lot of, you know, discussion and disagreements, debate about what is it the artistic interpretation and you know, and all that.
But I think for me it’s been helpful to kind of have a better sense of kind of the intensity and the experience that the people at the time were going through. And I think it kind of helped feed to this passage as well.
And if I think about what the disciples have been going through, I think right now we’re in season four and Jesus is just going into, oh, if you haven’t seen it, I don’t want to give it away. Going into the entering in Jerusalem on a donkey. Right, yeah, so.
So this anticipation and expectation of God’s deliverance, Messiah’s work is at its climax. And of course, you know, granted that the disciples, they didn’t quite understand what Jesus meant by, you know, he’s going to suffer and he’s going to be handed over to, you know, the political, the Pharisees, and he will be put to death and he will rise up on the third day.
They didn’t quite understand that part, but other than that, they were so convinced that Jesus was their long-awaited Messiah and he’s going to make everything better. But what happened?
The unthinkable happened. Jesus was suddenly arrested. He was subject to a swift and unfair trial and mocked and insulted and brutally crucified. The one they had placed their total hopes was now hanging on a cross, enduring this humiliating and agonizing death reserved only for the worst of the criminals. The disciples watched in horror as their dreams were shattered. And the Messiah, whom they believed would overthrow the Romans, was now dead in such an anticlimactic manner. And it was a total defeat, a total failure.
And the emotional trauma they must have experienced at that time—fear, confusion, despair—must have gripped their hearts. They were completely devastated and traumatized by witnessing the brutal execution of their beloved teacher and leader.
And not to mention Mary, Jesus’ mother, seeing her son tortured, mocked, and die such a gruesome death. Any parent would understand how hard that must have been. They felt totally lost, abandoned, and completely hopeless.
And in the following days of Jesus’ crucifixion, the disciples went into hiding. Fearing for their own lives, they locked themselves away, trying to make sense of what just happened.
Their minds were filled with questions. How could this be? Was Jesus truly the Messiah? Did we miss something? Our convictions, was it misplaced? Was it a fraud? Was he a fraud? Were we just gullible? What are we supposed to do now?
So that’s probably what kind of what they were going through at the time. And with that in context, let’s read today’s passage. So Luke 24:1-12.
But very early on Sunday morning, the women went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. They found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance.
So they went in. But they didn’t find the body of the Lord Jesus. As they stood there, puzzled, two men suddenly appeared to them, clothed in dazzling robes.
The women were terrified and bowed with their faces to the ground. Then the men asked, why are you looking among the dead for someone who is alive? He isn’t here. He is risen from the dead.
Remember what he told you back in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be betrayed into the hands of sinful men and be crucified, and that he would rise again on the third day.
Then they remembered that he had said this. So they rushed back from the tomb to tell the 11 disciples and everyone else what had happened.
It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary, the mother of James, and several other women who told the apostles what had happened. But the story sounded like nonsense to the men, so they didn’t believe it.
However, Peter jumped up and ran to the tomb to look. Stooping, he peered in and saw the empty linen wrappings. Then he went home again, wondering what had happened.
1 But very early on Sunday morning the women went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. 2 They found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance. 3 So they went in, but they didn’t find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 As they stood there puzzled, two men suddenly appeared to them, clothed in dazzling robes. 5 The women were terrified and bowed with their faces to the ground. Then the men asked, “Why are you looking among the dead for someone who is alive? 6 He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead! Remember what he told you back in Galilee, 7 that the Son of Man must be betrayed into the hands of sinful men and be crucified, and that he would rise again on the third day.” 8 Then they remembered that he had said this. 9 So they rushed back from the tomb to tell his eleven disciples—and everyone else—what had happened. 10 It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and several other women who told the apostles what had happened. 11 But the story sounded like nonsense to the men, so they didn’t believe it. 12 However, Peter jumped up and ran to the tomb to look. Stooping, he peered in and saw the empty linen wrappings; then he went home again, wondering what had happened. (Luke 24:1-12, NLT)
Okay, so that’s what I want to cover. And, well, first of all, when we look at this passage, we know that there are three evidences of Jesus’ resurrection.
And of course, when the women approached the tomb, the tomb was empty. And next, there were two witnesses, angelic witnesses, and the divine confirmation, as you will, was given.
And also from the perspective from the women’s experience, those are all given in this passage, and those three things we today hold to as one of the three evidences for what had happened.
And of course, as you read through the next passages in that chapter, Jesus does indeed appear to the disciples. So it kind of seals that. But for this part, the tomb is empty, and that’s significant. It’s the powerful symbol of God’s power. It’s God’s ability to make this a great reversal, a sudden shift from despair to joy.
And the angelic witness, the angels appeared and they spoke to testify to the woman that Jesus has risen and he is alive. It provides, because angels, by definition, they’re messengers from God, it provides a divine confirmation. God is behind us.
We can see from this passage it’s not accident or it was a planned fulfillment of God’s hand, God’s work. So the angelic witness is important. So it kind of happens. The tomb is empty from God’s perspective, He approves this, affirms this truth that Jesus is risen.
And then there’s the women’s testimony. And this is from the opposite, almost extreme or opposite side angle, where, because women, as we know, were not even allowed to testify in court, their testimonies were considered so unreliable in that culture. The fact that the Gospel writers kept that in there points to the authenticity and the credibility of this statement of this passage.
So we have the actual fact that the tomb was empty and the angels appeared, the divine affirmation that happened, and also from the authentic, just a raw account of what the people saw at the time.
They all add together to support this amazing evidence that the Christ has risen. Indeed. And as we. It’s interesting because when we read the chronological Bible, it tries to insert all the different gospels back to back.
So as we read through, you know, I’ve never had to go through this, but, you know, usually you read the Book of Mark or, you know, Luke all throughout and after, you know, you read one each gospel account at a time. But in this reading, we get to read the different gospels of the same event side by side.
So it kind of also highlights the slight differences in how were there one angel, were there two angels? How many women were there at the gravesite? Did they actually immediately go back and tell the disciples? They didn’t say anything.
At one point it got to me. It felt a little bit confusing, you know. And does that, you know, diminish the validity of the Scripture? But no, I think it adds to. There was this. As this amazing shift in tide, turn of tide was happening, this change, the divine great reversal.
I guess some people say the disciples were so shocked and so confused of what’s going on. And it kind of highlights that chaos, chaotic moment that when they confronted Jesus risen, it shows that they were completely thrown off guard and unexpecting.
So it just shows the chaotic confusion I think of. And I think I added that because it adds to the fact that woman was the key witness of this event. So these three things indeed points to our Lord risen on that day. And this is the great news that we live by.
And so from this, what we can see about God. We know that God is in the business of turning the tide. He again, as we started off, the disciples completely in despair. And boom, in an instant, everything just turned around.
The situation, the circumstance turned from utter defeat to decisive victory over what the angel said because of the sin that Jesus had to conquer once and for all. The consequence of sin, which is death, He. He was able to overcome. God was victorious over death.
And from the complete despair, deep despair to resurging hope by the disciples. When they saw that in their utter confusion, see the empty tomb in the risen Lord, what happened to. What did that to their. To them? They were at one point in despair and hopeless.
But then this new, new hope is resurging back in their hearts. And then what did it say? The. So the confusion that they had, and they’re still confused. But it says that the angel says, why are you looking among the dead for someone who is alive? He isn’t here.
He is risen from the dead. Remember what he told you back in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be betrayed into the hands of sinful men and be crucified, and that he would rise again on the third day.
And it says, then they remembered that he had said this.
6 He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead! Remember what he told you back in Galilee, 7 that the Son of Man must be betrayed into the hands of sinful men and be crucified, and that he would rise again on the third day.” 8 Then they remembered that he had said this. (Luke 24:6-8, NLT)
Oh yeah, you know, he did say that. We totally didn’t understand it, or we thought it was maybe. Jesus spoke in so many cryptic ways, and yet.
So they were wondering, what does that mean? I think there’s different parts that talk about the disciples disconnected among themselves. What does he mean by dying and rising up again after three days? So they were trying to figure out what does he really mean? But he. They didn’t really realize it was a literal thing for this particular matter.
So there’s this clarity from confusion. So God, through his work, he is in the business of helping us. The circumstances we face to reverse and bring about this turning of the tides. It must have. It must have been this way. It must have been.
It had to be this way. I guess that’s what I should have written. It had to be this way. And God, out of his incredible wisdom by the way that he achieved, accomplish this work, shows these things. God’s resurrection power. He is, of course, able to raise the dead Jesus from the dead, which is impossible.
Nobody else can do that but him. And that resurrection power is still. He has it, he works it. And we have that power with us in Christ. We live according to that power and God’s wisdom and superiority.
The disciples, their thinking was so small. They were just thinking in terms of their freedom from their political and their reign from the Roman rule. But God’s plan, little they know, they realized, was so much bigger. It was not from salvation from a political reign ruler, but from our sin and death.
And of course, it shows his justice in love that had to achieve. Jesus had to die on the cross. And that was the only way that God could satisfy his justice while maintaining the love for all the sinners, all the sinful world that’s fallen.
And so that’s so clear through his work that he does. We can understand, start to understand the nature of God, what kind of God we have and we serve, and how he works.
And so the turning of the tide and through all the disappointment and suffering that we experience in our own lives, we know that most of the time those sufferings come from our own sin and our own limitation and fallenness. And also it comes from each other’s fallenness.
But after we go through the trials and sufferings and all the negative results of our fallen nature, our salvation becomes that much more.
This resurrection of Jesus and what that means to us becomes so much more have meaning and weight to it, does it not?
If you could think about the time that you first experienced this great reversal, the turning of tide in your life in Christ.
We all have our own stories, testimonies that before and after, how God entered into each of our hearts, each of our lives in our fallen circumstances and somehow revealed his resurrection power in our lives.
And he redeemed us as beloved children of God and brought it back into the kingdom. And of course, we have amazing stories in our midst. You know, we have Jamie, her battle and healing with cancer. We have Julie, you know, where she was literally to the, at the brink of death. And we always wonder she may have actually died.
We never know where the boundary is. But that is a turning of tide, isn’t it? In a very drastic way. And we’re so blessed to be part of that experience here at Firehouse. But God is doing all these reversal, turning of ties, even in not so dramatic, drastic ways.
And of course, you know, this was election week. We know the outcome and whoever you voted for, we just, we’re amazed that we’re thankful. I should say that this will bring us hope that the country will turn back into the right direction into more tourists.
Like I prayed at the beginning, aligned with God’s kingdom and his ways. And we know that of course, political victory is not the end. That’s just the beginning actually, isn’t it? Because ultimately, unless each of us will turn to Christ, Christ will be so key and central in our life day life, which will extend all out to the country, how this country operates.
Unless this country brings Christ back as the, into the center of this country’s existence, you know, there’s no, that has to happen, otherwise it’s going to keep going back. So that’s.
Let me see. So I’m going to jump really quickly to that. Is that when I found out, when I heard about the results in continuous results of the election, personally, I’m very thankful.
But then there was a part of me that’s a little bit worried. You know, I was thinking what would happen after this, the four years is over and Donald Trump is such a polarizing character, but he has, you know, he has this amazing support right now.
But when he has such a strong personality and character, if he, after he leaves, who can follow, you know, follow that? Or, you know, when Judy, this amazing miraculous healing happens. You know, we see that we were so amazed and grateful and thankful.
But, you know, then we see all the struggles that Julie continues to go through. You know, all the… It’s a spiritual battle, truly. And she’s getting attacked from many different ways physically, although God healed her cancer completely. All the other side effects still remain. And she just got another pacemaker today, yesterday.
And the first two stopped working. And so this is the third one. And so please pray that this one, the third one will continue to work. But so then you wonder, okay, that was great. But then it doesn’t seem to continuing to be great.
You know, there’s always this great wave will come, this great tide of reversal will come, but the wave will eventually recede. So that was my anxiety when I experience spiritual, what’s the word marker or some experience personally to experience breakthrough and things like that.
You have this spiritual high, but you worried always afterwards. Oh, you know, after a spiritual high, there’s always this low period. So there’s always this worry.
And Donald Trump, you know, I think some prophets, some people, believers think that he’s one of the judges of the time, modern day judges. And I’m not sure if I fully hold to that. So I’m still exploring that idea.
But if indeed he is such a, you know, as a person who has very characteristic character flaws and some things were not that we can’t fully condone or support under.
We’re not sure, you know, it could be the media that’s spinning him in such a negative way. And so we have to sort through all that too. But none of us are perfect. And yet a person like Donald Trump.
Could it be a continuation of the Book of Judges? When people cry out, God sends the judge to save the people for the time being. But when the judges pass away, you know, everybody goes back to the normal, normal, you know, way and go down. The worst gets worse and worse.
And that was, that’s the worry that I felt this week. I don’t know about you, but there’s this hope, and that’s the part that I wanted to share.
Christ has risen, and we live in this time of the New Covenant like God promised us. We have been. He promised that he will give us a new heart. A heart of flesh and not a heart of stone.
26 And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart. (Ezekiel 36:26, NLT)
This is in 1 Peter. I forget which chapter says this.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time.
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. (1 Peter 1:3-5, ESV)
So again, Jesus’ resurrection is the source of this new living hope. And the Greek word is elpis.
But it’s not something that you’re just like hopeful, but it’s based on the past. So in this particular case, it’s based on Jesus’ resurrection. Because Christ is alive, he’s risen. We have this hope that we don’t have to fear that we’re just going to be a continuous, repeated cycle of good and the bad and good and the bad, and we’ll keep that way. We are because Christ is risen and has inaugurated, ushered in his kingdom at his resurrection. You know, this world is our lives, our character.
Each of us are supposed to be more and more like Christ. And the kingdom is expanding into this world, into our hearts first, of course, but into this world more until the full consummation, the completion of the kingdom. Right.
So it’s the hope that we have in the resurrection of Christ that we no longer have to be anxious or worried, but it will free us to live a full, powerful life. Power in the resurrection, power even in this world that we face.
So trials will come again, spiritual low may come again. But as God is in the business of continuing to turn the tide, the waves will come and recede a little bit. But next time it’s going to go even further, and God’s kingdom will continue to advance. The tide will go further and further into this world.
And that’s the hope that we get from the Jesus’s resurrection, hope that swimming in 1 Peter 1. Thank you. Chapter one. Okay, yeah, Chapter one. I hope that’s clear, and there’s more. We can go so much into that part, but just wanted to share that with you today.
So Christ, the empty tomb that the disciples witnessed, that brought in it was a pivotal moment that God turned the tide. And in that, we can place our hope today.
And as we even witness today and all around us that he is doing that work, continuing that work, let us rejoice in it and let us take courage in everything that we face personally. And may we all live our fullest to our calling that he has given us.
So let’s pray and give thanks. So let me pray and close.
Heavenly Father, thank you again for your word today. Thank you that you started this amazing work of reversal of evil and sin and death at the tomb, Jesus’ tomb 2,000 years ago.
And thank you that you continue to work tirelessly to turn many tides, reverse all the things that go against you, and bring it to order and bring salvation to this world.
And thank you so much that you have turned around our lives individually and that you started and continue to work in us your amazing work of redemption and salvation.
And we ask you that you will help us to walk with you closely and gratitude and joy and peace that we may partake in your kingdom, work in this world that is in great need. So please help us, Lord, we cannot do anything apart from you and your leading.
And again, thank you again for your promise that you are with us, beside us at all times and even though we don’t recognize it or remember it, thank you that you are always there and working.
So, Lord, more and more help us to be aware of that, your presence, and walk in step with you now and today and this week and in the days to come.
There’s so much that is happening in the political scene. And we lift up, we continue to pray for this world, this nation. We weigh in and we participate even through our prayers for your advancement of your kingdom.
So we thank you so much. Thank you for your word. In Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.
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