From the Silence to the Shout

1. The Silenced Ministry

Last week as we observed Palm Sunday we looked at the Triumphal Entry, the cheers and excitement as Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the week of Passover. We looked at the ways in which Jesus was fully due this praise and adoration, and yet the place it stemmed from was wrong. The people loved Him in a worldly way, which is to say that ultimately they didn’t love Him at all. As the week progressed and Jesus continued to call out the hypocrisy of the religious leaders instead of stirring up rebellion against Rome, and by the time we arrive at Friday morning, under the influence of the chief priests, the crowd that shouted for joy at Jesus’ arrival and called Him King, now demands of Pontius Pilate that He be not just punished, not just executed, but crucified, declaring that they have no king but Caesar. It may look like a complete 180, but the fact that their shouts turned from praise to violence makes complete sense when we remember that these people flocked to Jesus for who they imagined Him to be, not who He truly is. We then saw how after the crucifixion, there was this silence – silence from the cross, as there was nothing more to say, Jesus’ work was finished, His sacrifice paid – and a silence from the people as it seems that their ire has burned itself out. The language points to some vague understanding of the crowd, some inkling of their mistake, that the Man they’ve crucified was in no way deserving of this punishment, as we see many of them enter a state of stunned mourning. Now, as we celebrate Easter, as we cherish the sheer, miraculous joy of the resurrection, we pick back up in the midst of this silence. Jesus was crucified on Friday, and before the sun had set and the day had ended, which began the Sabbath, His body was tended to by Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, prepared with spices, wrapped for burial, and laid in a tomb. For the Sabbath, there was silence from the tomb, as Jesus’ body lay without life. The night of their shared Passover meal, one of the many things that Jesus said to the disciples in the upper room, recorded in John 16:20–22, was,

“Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy. When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.”

In the aftermath of the crucifixion, we see a silence of victory from the grave, but amongst followers of Jesus, there is a strained, grieving sort of silence. Of the twelve disciples, one, Judas the traitor has committed suicide, and the other eleven are in hiding. The Sabbath for these men and for the others who followed Jesus is not a day of rest, but a day of shocked silence, confusion and pain. After being part of Jesus’ public ministry for years, after being explicitly told by Jesus that He was going to die and would rise again, their only response to the crucifixion was to keep a low profile. There are those who say that the resurrection never happened, that Jesus was a revolutionary and after His death, His followers concocted a lie around Him coming back to life and took up the cause to spread His message. There are many, many problems with this, but foremost it’s clearly not supported by the text – and I don’t just mean in that Scripture clearly communicates the resurrection, I mean that in the window of time between the crucifixion and the empty tomb, the disciples weren’t carrying on any work, they were silent. I’ve heard the point made before that while it’s one thing to be martyred for something that is true, it simply makes no sense to endure suffering and death for a lie. Church history tells us that all of the Apostles, with the exception of John, were martyred, but if we simply read what the Bible says, that is not the kind of spirit or devotion we see from any of the disciples during the time that Jesus’ body lay in the tomb. After Jesus’ arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane, all the disciples save Peter and John flee. John, to his credit, trails Jesus all the way to the cross, witnessing His death and the blood and water that poued from His side. Peter on the other hand follows just to end up offering his three infamous denials. And John, despite his following all the way to the cross, and his obedience in taking Jesus’ mother Mary into his own home to care for her, still shows no excess of boldness, and is seen hiding with the rest of his brothers. John 20:19–20, 26-27 says,

“On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’ When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.” … “Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.’”

Now, this in part serves to illustrate Jesus’ transcendent nature in passing through walls, but also that He very much still retains a physical body, counter to what the Gnostics were teaching. But look at what it shows us of the disciples – even after hearing of the resurrection and word of the empty tomb they are locked away, silent and terrified. In fact, backing up just a little, John 20:6–10 says,

“Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there, and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples went back to their homes.”

Peter and John – both witnesses to the transfiguration, Peter who was the first to confess Jesus as the Son of God and John who witnessed the crucifixion both see the empty tomb and… They go back home. They’re not running through the streets shouting with joy, they don’t go to their fellow disciples and insist that Jesus has risen from the dead – their minds are still darkened, their hearts clouded with doubt, and their ministry remains silent. I don’t say all this to disparage the disciples – while their actions aren’t exactly admirable, human to human, I can sympathize, and I can’t pretend that I’d have done any better. But what it shows us underpins the words that the revered Pharisee teacher Gamaliel says to the Sanhedrin concerning the Apostles in Acts 5:35–39,

“… Men of Israel, take care what you are about to do with these men. For before these days Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody, and a number of men, about four hundred, joined him. He was killed, and all who followed him were dispersed and came to nothing. After him Judas the Galilean rose up in the days of the census and drew away some of the people after him. He too perished, and all who followed him were scattered. So in the present case I tell you, keep away from these men and let them alone, for if this plan or this undertaking is of man, it will fail; but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You might even be found opposing God!…”

The original goal of the Sanhedrin in seeking Jesus’ life was to put an end to the movement of His ministry, and the truth is, it worked – for a time. With Jesus dead, with His lifeless body sealed away in the tomb, the ministry falls silent – the leader was killed, and the movement immediately began to crumble, the Shepherd has been struck and the sheep have scattered. The problem with the plan of the chief priests is that they didn’t kill Jesus, but rather Jesus willingly sacrificed His own life, and He held the authority to take it up again. Killing the leader only creates lasting silence if the leader stays dead, and the grave could not contain the might of the power of the Lamb of God. 

2. The Voice of the Testimony

In the absence of Christ we watched the message falter, we saw proof that without Him there is no gospel because it’s His gospel, His good news that those who are dead in their sin may know new life in Him and Him alone. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15:16–20,

“For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.”

If the grave had conquered Jesus then it would have conquered His movement, His entire ministry, the good news would have been crucified with Him on the cross, and the hope of the world would have ended in silence. But Jesus didn’t remain inside the tomb, the grave was conquered by the Lamb, and in His life the Truth of the gospel lives. We already looked at the account of how Jesus first appeared to some of the disciples after His resurrection, those who were hidden, afraid behind locked doors, fearing the ruling Jews. After His appearance John 20:21–22 says,

“Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.’ And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’”

We can see this as a sort of appointing, a commissioning of some that occurs before the great commission, a calling from their rattled, fearful silence back to the ministry they were given by Christ to begin with – but there’s an extra layer embedded in this as well. The Greek word that is used here for “breathed” is “emphysaō.” This is significant because this is literally the only time in all of the New Testament that we see this word, and it’s the same word for “breathed” that is used in the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament in Genesis 2:7,

“… then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.”

Life cannot come from death, life can only come from life. God, the Father, the Author of all creation first breathed life into man. Now, the particular use of this word ties what Jesus does in John 20 back to what was done in the beginning. Jesus is breathing life onto them – He’s breathing onto them. Yes, He is standing before them, yes they can see His wounds, and as Luke records, He even eats among them – He’s not a specter, or a spirit, He’s not an angelic figure pretending to be Jesus – He’s the living, breathing Christ, and He attests to this when He fills His lungs with air and breathes upon the disciples who are present. And with this, the ministry has life again, the testimony is revived – Jesus is alive, the Son of God has conquered death, He’s overcome the grave, and those who were mourning and afraid are now presented with the renewing Truth that not only has their Master not remained bound by death, but He will never be bound by death. We begin to see the true implications of this in the book of Acts, first seen most prevalently through Peter. In Acts 2 large crowds are assembled in Jerusalem for the Feast of Weeks, which occurs fifty days after Passover. After the Holy Spirit descends upon the believers present and they began to speak in tongues, Acts 2:5–11 says,

“Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. And they were amazed and astonished, saying, ‘Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians—we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.’”

Some of the Jews present are amazed, while some mock those speaking in tongues and suggest that they’re drunk – and then, Peter steps forward. Peter the fisherman, the man with no formal education, the man who was the first to confess Jesus as the Christ only to be rebuked immediately afterward for his shortsightedness, the man who witnessed the transfiguration, who swore that he would die before turning from following Jesus, who went on to deny Him three times – a man who, by all appearances had given up his role as a disciple and intended to go back to fishing before Jesus formally called Him back and commissioned him in John 21:15-19 – three questions to counter the three denials. Peter steps forward, standing before a crowd of Jews in the city where he denied his Lord, in the city where they killed his Master, in the city where he hid, afraid – and he begins to preach. He preaches boldly, and unapologetically. He preaches with great insight and eloquence, he explains and he convicts and he declares the truth of Christ, who the Jews crucified. Acts 2:37–41 says,

“Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, ‘Brothers, what shall we do?’ And Peter said to them, ‘Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.’ And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, ‘Save yourselves from this crooked generation.’ So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.”

Now, I love Peter, I sympathize with him in his struggles and I admire him in his devotion – but roughly three-thousand souls weren’t saved on the merit of Peter, son of Jonah. Peter didn’t go from a broken man who denied his master and seemed altogether unable to forgive himself, to this mighty champion of the gospel because of his own grit and determination. He didn’t pull himself up by his bootstraps, he didn’t read a self-help book and adopt positive thinking. He did it because Jesus is alive, because His King died and rose again, because the Spirit of the Living God filled him, and his testimony simply could not be kept silent. Later, we see that God is doing such mighty work through Peter that people are being healed through his shadow passing over them as he walks by, and the other Apostles are working signs and wonders as well. Acts 5:17–18 goes on to tell us,

“But the high priest rose up, and all who were with him (that is, the party of the Sadducees), and filled with jealousy they arrested the apostles and put them in the public prison.”

After an angel frees them from prison, the Apostles go, not into hiding, but right back to the temple to continue preaching and ministering to the people. Acts 5:26–28 says,

“Then the captain with the officers went and brought them, but not by force, for they were afraid of being stoned by the people. And when they had brought them, they set them before the council. And the high priest questioned them, saying, ‘We strictly charged you not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.’”

Now the Apostles stand before the Sanhedrin, before the very council that plotted to put Jesus to death. These are those of whom they had such fear that they fled Gethsemane and abandoned Jesus, that Peter denied the Lord three times, that they were left in hiding, fearing for their lives until Jesus was raised and returned to them. So how do they respond now? Acts 5:29–32 tells us,

“But Peter and the apostles answered, ‘We must obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.’”

After Gamaliel addressed the council, which we read earlier, we see in Acts 5:39–42,

“… So they took his advice, and when they had called in the apostles, they beat them and charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name. And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching that the Christ is Jesus.”

These men were broken, they were afraid and reeling after the death of Christ, rendered silent and fearing for their own lives. They didn’t go from broken men to triumphant preachers because of their own will, or cunning, or intellect – the Apostles became the men that we know them as, the church planting, gospel proclaiming powerhouses that began the spread of the message of Christ throughout the world because of Jesus. Because their Shepherd, whose death caused them to scatter, took up His own life and rose from the dead, and the Spirit of God came to indwell them and transform them. Transformed them such that what once was bitter fear was conquered, the beatings and condemnations were as badges of honor, and the true hope of eternity rather than the false hope of the world was what sustained them in their work.

3. The Shout of the Eternal Kingdom

There was silence in the grave – the sound of finished work, but to the eyes and ears of men it was a thing of defeat, of sorrow and mourning. After the resurrection, there was new life for those who followed Christ, a new boldness, and confidence through the living Redeemer. Jesus says in John 16:33, as a conclusion to His teaching in the upper room, before He prays the High Priestly Prayer,

“I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”

In the triumph of Christ, we are not called to easy lives, but delivered lives – we will suffer under the weight of our cross, and know a transcendent freedom under the easy yoke of Jesus. The world will hate us, they will malign the church and blaspheme God, but the saints will endure. This is what our lives will be, but it is not at all what our eternity will be. Because for all the joy and celebration we can know in this life by virtue of our risen King, we see only a dim reflection of the glory that is to come – what we know of eternity in the flesh is only a whisper compared to the roar of exultation that we will share in when we stand before our God face to face. We get glimpses of this throughout Scripture – Isaiah 6:3 shows the activity of the Seraphim saying,

“And one called to another and said: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!’”

After the birth of Christ, and after the angel appears to the shepherds to tell them that the Christ has been born, Luke 2:13–14 says,

“And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!’”

These things take place well before the crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension, but they show us a praise that is continual, a celebration and glorification of God that is unending. Revelation 4:8–11 tells us,

“And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say, ‘Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!’ And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying, ‘Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.’”

Right now, at this very moment, God is on the throne, His hand is upon His creation, He is blind to nothing and no one, and He is being praised. Day and night the living creatures never cease to praise Him, and every time they offer up praise the twenty-four elders join in. Later, we read in Revelation 19:6–8,

“Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out, ‘Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure’—for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.”

First, God loved us enough to create us, not as slaves, but as servants. He loved us enough to give us a degree of autonomy, which we used to betray Him. Then, unsurprised by our fall and already having a plan in place, He loved us enough to do the work to reconcile us to Himself, rather than wiping the board and starting over. God – holy, righteous, eternal God, took on flesh, became fully human while still retaining His deity, and coming to earth as a baby born in a manger, He lived among His creation. He endured the life we all lead, He suffered the temptations we all suffer, and rather than stumbling and sinning as every other man who has ever lived has done, He lived perfectly. Then, not just loving us enough to live for us, He showed that He loved us enough to die for us – not just for the Jews who were first called to Him, but for all of us, as John 1:12–13 says,

“But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”

Jesus shed His perfect blood, He suffered the wrath of God for our iniquities, and He atoned for the sins of man with His life. And then, as though all this weren’t already far, far too much for the human mind to even begin to grasp, He loved us so much that He came back to life. He took up His own life again, He rose from the grave, He conquered death, and in so doing He delivered us into His victory. Jesus says to John, comforting him in Revelation 1:17–18,

“… Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.”

Then, looking to some of the promises made to the seven churches, Jesus says in Revelation 2:7,

“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.”

In Revelation 2:11,

“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death.”

In Revelation 3:5,

“The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels.”

And in Revelation 3:21,

“The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.”

The victory we have in Jesus, the shout of triumph that we may declare over the world and over the enemy and over every weapon formed against us is not some transient thing. It is not a victory in this life that then fades into oblivion – Our God has conquered death, He has opened the door and called us to a right relationship with Him, and the silence that was overcome in the world, the praises that fill the mouths of the saints, only grow louder in eternity. As we celebrate the resurrection this Easter, as we transition from somber remembrance of the cross, to the joy we know in the empty tomb do not lose sight of the permanence of Christ’s victory, do not forget the shout of triumph and glory that endures into eternity. Remember that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever, that He is always perfect, always more than enough, always our Shepherd, Redeemer, and Great High Priest, and worthy to be praised forever and ever, amen.

Pastor Chris’ sermon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KGQMqiJBdE