Copyright © 2000 by The Voice of Prophecy

Sermon: Folded Graveclothes

CONNIE: It's just a hole in the wall--an empty cave. But it's the most important empty space in the world. Join us today as we consider the story of the empty tomb, and the difference it makes in people's lives.
Giving God's trumpet a Certain Sound for more than 70 years, this is the Voice of Prophecy.

CONNIE: Lonnie, today as most of the Christian world celebrates the resurrection of Jesus, you've titled your sermon "Folded Graveclothes." Is that the aspect of the Easter story that impacts you most deeply? The fact that Jesus rose from the dead and left His graveclothes neatly folded there in the tomb?

LONNIE: Well, Connie, as I'll share a bit later, the very first time I visited Jerusalem, I was deeply, deeply moved by the experience of going into the tomb at Gordon's Calvary and contemplating the meaning of what happened that first Easter morning.
It gives me hope as nothing else in the world can.

CONNIE: Yes, I did Lonnie, and there's really nothing that makes that experience easy. I still have moments of profound sadness especially when I go and visit dad's grave and I sense my loss almost like it happened yesterday. But the thought of Jesus rising from the dead, and the promise that is inherent in the resurrection gives me a wonderful hope--an assurance that I will see Dad again.

LONNIE: There is a lot of comfort in the resurrection story--especially for those of us who have lost a loved one. And you know, it's been a pretty hard year for us here at Voice of Prophecy. We've lost several people who were near and dear to us--your father George Vandeman, HMS Richards Jr., and also a man who worked behind the scenes at our studios for many years--Eddy Pullen. Then there's LaVerne Tucker from The Quiet Hour, Phillip Ramsey, who worked with you upstairs, and others.

What does the hope of the resurrection do for those who are grieving? We've invited Kenneth Richards, brother of HMS Richards Jr., to join us here in the studio, where he's spent many hours in the past, serving as an associate speaker.

LONNIE: Ken and Connie, in recent months both of you have experienced deep personal loss. Connie with your dad, Ken my dear buddy and your brother Herold. Of course your own dad a few years ago, and your grandchild Jeffrey. Tell us a little about what the hope of the resurrection means in the light of loss and death.

KEN: Well, Lonnie without the hope of resurrection I would be of all persons most miserable. I think that I have a wonderful hope that affects me in many ways, but it affects me emotionally that I have this hope. It helps too stabilize me emotionally, and also I believe that it helps me healthwise.

KEN: Well, positive thoughts, positive people, I believe live longer. We can interview some doctor, but I think the people that habitually think positively and have happy thoughts are people that have an advantage. I think they have more endorphins.

KEN: Oh, absolutely. Sure, you know that people that go to church on average, at least in this country live longer than those who don't and I think that's part of the picture. They pray, they have trust in God, they have hope, and they have more positive things to think about. So, sure, it affects the health.

LONNIE: Connie, I remember the day that we laid your dad to sleep. How, just before we said the final benediction the sun seemed to split the clouds and in that blazing glory lit up that mountain beside his resting place. It was absolutely stunning to see a photograph that someone happened to take. You've been to that site, both on sunshiny days and you go there to spend some time on cloudy days. It's not a secret that you're of a different generation than Ken comes from. Tell us about what does the resurrection now mean to you. Does it mean anything different than before you lost your dad?

CONNIE: Oh, absolutely, Lonnie and I think when you talk about that picture, someone did snap that picture and I look at it and see that mountain ablaze with color. Before dad passed away, I had no idea. The resurrection was one of the doctrines that I believed in. It was something that as a Seventh-day Adventist Christian, I looked forward to Jesus coming and I could extend words of comfort to people that were grieving and say "We're going to see your loved one again." Not until I experienced it myself, I think about the resurrection every day of my life now. I didn't think about it before. It is like Ken said, a blessed hope. I think that people that have that hope will live longer and are going to be happier people. Yes, we grieve the loss of our loved ones. I miss Dad on a daily basis, but I also think of the resurrection. When I go and visit his grave, which I've been doing a lot lately, I think that's part of the grieving process, I think of that day when he will wake up in that beautiful spot and Jesus will come again. It will be a wonderful, incredible reunion and I'm just so happy that I have that hope.

LONNIE: I find my own emotions overwhelmed here, but do you ever pause to think about people who don't have that hope? Think about where will they be?

KEN: Absolutely. I was talking to a religion professor at a graduate school right here in Southern California awhile back and we got to talking about human existence after death and I asked him very directly, "Do you believe that you personally are going to be around after you die?" He said "Well, for me death if just like stepping out into the darkness and taking your chances." But Lonnie, we've got something better than that. When I'm about to die, read to me from Romans 8.

LONNIE: Who shall separate us from the love of Christ. I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, neither anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

LONNIE: Thank you Ken and Connie for being willing to share on that very personal level what the resurrection story means to you. Seeing beyond the grave and seeing even beyond Jesus earthly ministry. That's what helps us make sense out of life because Jesus came once to give his life in sacrifice, but He's coming back to give His eternal life to all who will receive him.

CONNIE: "When He comes again." It's the hope of all who put their trust in Jesus. That was Glad singing "When He Comes Again."
The hope of the second coming of Jesus is based on what happened when He came the first time. It's based on an empty room--an empty tomb, as Lonnie shares with us now in his message, "Folded Graveclothes."

LONNIE: I remember it clearly. The first time I stood in line to take my turn-alone-and step inside the tomb. Over in Jerusalem. In a Garden. I'll never forget it as long as I live. There's no way you can look into that empty tomb and remain the same.
Possibly the very one. (No one really knows.) But I cherish the memory. Because just a few quiet moments alone inside the empty tomb profoundly thunders at me the Easter Story-He lives!
Jeannie and I were awestruck to go to the Holy Land our very first time exactly 20 years ago. Thrilled to see Egypt, land of the Pharaohs. The pyramids! The Sphinx. The Cairo Museum. King Tut.
But that wasn't what I found most profoundly impressive. It was something else-with far deeper, cosmic significance.
No, it wasn't the "tug" on my heartstrings in old Nazareth, where Jesus spent his boyhood years.
I'll never forget that. But no, it wasn't that. Nor the unforgettable Sabbath spent in the Shepherd's Fields, sheep baa-ing in the background. It was like a dream, singing Christmas carols-- "O Little Town of Bethlehem," and "Away in A Manger"-- in Bethlehem.

But that wasn't the most memorable. Nor even the real, authentic storm on the Sea of Galilee. Where Jesus stood and calmed the wind and the rain and the sea, with "Peace! Be Still!" Actually it happened to us, too! The sea suddenly became calm as glass, with a gorgeous rainbow. True story.
But that wasn't it either.

No. The most profound climax to my Holy Land pilgrimage was actually a lot simpler. Quieter. It involved ... well, nothing! That's right. Emptiness. A void. Let me explain. It all began by retracing the steps of Jesus on that fateful Easter Passion Week. First, walking down the steep little hill of the Mt. of Olives, then slipping inside a private garden in Gethsemane. A garden where 2,000-year-old olive trees still keep their silent vigil today, as when they wept heavy dew drops as the Savior of the world on that Thursday paschal night fell to the ground. He clutched the cold ground and sweat drops of blood as if to keep Himself from being drawn further from His Father. Staggering further inside the Garden, he cried out, "O My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless not My will, but Thine be done."
Salvation trembled in the balance as Jesus went to the depths of eternal punishment to pay the supreme price of sin--separation from His Father. I wept in that Garden. Wept as I followed our guide at a distance as we re-traced Jesus' steps along the Via Dolorosa, the Way of the Cross. Down under the city we climbed-suddenly we were in Pilate's Judgment Hall. The very pavement where Roman soldiers gambled and rolled the dice as they cast lots for His seamless garment.
Then finally. . . Golgotha. Calvary. Suddenly I was standing there. The place of the skull. Ah! This was the place. I can hardly tell the story. I was there. . . [Sing: On a hill far away. Stood an old rugged cross....] Finally. My moment of truth. THE place.
We slowly walked way towards the Garden Tomb. As I stepped inside, when my turn came, I stood quietly looking, weeping. A strange and wonderful awareness enveloped me. And a voice seemed to whisper, "He is not here! He is risen. Lon, go out there and tell people! I'm coming back-soon!"
Notice something in Matthew's record about that empty tomb. (MATT 28:2-6):

And behold there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone and sat upon it.

Nothing in all history ever matched what happened then.
Nothing in all history has had so profound an impact -
and when we believe it, we're never the same again.
Just as He had promised, Jesus could and did walk right through death! But listen. There's more. Doctor Luke points out in His Gospel something very significant. An interesting detail. John mentions it, too. The "folded graves clothes."
LK. 24:12:

Peter...ran unto the sepulchre; and stooping down, he beheld the linen clothes laid by themselves, and departed, wondering in himself at that which was come to pass."

The disciple John tells it this way (JOHN 20:5, 7): He and Peter raced for the tomb after Mary Magdalene. John says we ran,

both together: ... And ...stooping down, and looking in, saw the linen clothes lying...
. . .the folded graves sheets and also noticed...the headcloth was not lying with the linen sheets as would be expected, but it was neatly folded and lying by itself where Jesus' head had been. [Last portion from Clear Word]

Folded grave clothes. Profound insight. As I stood there inside that empty tomb looking at the empty ledge where the linen grave clothes had lain, I experienced personally the Easter story anew. They're not there. He's gone. The tomb is empty. And the light dawned for me, too. Because listen!
Nothing's ever been the same since! The resurrection means more than Jesus' emergence from the tomb.

I. The world emerged from the darkness of sin! The Easter Story is the pivotal hinge of the Drama of the Ages and the entire story of redemption.
II. For the first time it brings light and hope to human hearts. To my friend murdered just weeks ago in Upland. To you in your grief and struggles and disappointments.
III. The resurrection doesn't only destroy the clutches of death, but every other fear, too. Principalities, powers, spiritual wickedness in high places. Shattered. Gone.
IV. The resurrection is the sign God has made Jesus Christ Lord of all! One day that same Resurrection power will resurrect every person who ever lived. That's right-go back and read the record---every one who has ever lived will come forth, Jesus declared in John 5:28-29.
That's what the resurrection means. That's what those folded graveclothes in that empty tomb mean.
Sadly, some this Easter will focus on chocolate Easter eggs and bunny rabbits rather than the resurrection.
What about you? This Easter, will you take a peek again inside that empty tomb with Peter and John. See the neatly folded graveclothes there on the ledge?

The good news is this: through those folded graves clothes we Christians SHARE in Christ's resurrection victory! Today! Paul says in Romans 6--- we, too, are literally raised with Christ. That's right! We've won, too!
Like the little boy at the Super Bowl, when the TV cameras zoomed in on live television, he was there with the 49er fans. Jumping up and down, this little kid was shouting: "We've won! We've won!" \
He wasn't a member of the team. Probably didn't even live in San Francisco. Yet 49er fans know when the 49ers win the Super Bowl we too can rejoice in a victory with which we associate ourselves! It's OUR victory, too.
Paul says this Easter we can live in joy and triumph, too. We can shout, "We've won! " over the victory accomplished by the Super Bowl Star of superstars, Jesus Christ, King of Kings and Lord of Lords on Calvary 2000 years ago.
The question today is, "have YOU made this victory YOUR victory?" Have you claimed it? And joined in the festivities? Put it on as your personal souvenir tee-shirt - or life jacket would be a better term.
I remember reading about two friends whose boat upset in a treacherous river. There were two life jackets. But only one of them had his jacket on. Now, when they both overturned and were thrown into the swirling, sucking, whirlpools, the life jacket instantly brought one of those men to the surface. But his friend never came up.
Christ's death and resurrection, those "folded graveclothes," are like a life jacket. But friend, listen to me: Christ's death and resurrection, like that life jacket, WON'T SAVE YOU unless by faith you put Him on! Unless you personally invite Jesus to apply His saving rescue, His victory to your life.
John 10:10 Jesus says today.

This Easter weekend Jesus wants to reach out to you right now while you are listening to this broadcast. He wants to change your life forever. Not just forgive your sins. He wants to make the story of Easter come alive as Springtime by renewing your whole life. Renewing your nature.
The real message of Easter and resurrection is that Jesus Christ came not only to die for us and erase our past and forgive us. The Good News of the Gospel is He rose and lives victorious TODAY so that He today, RIGHT NOW can EMPOWER us by His Holy Spirit. And change us so radically old things pass away and all things become new.
2 Cor 5:17, Paul says, we literally become "a new creation." The rest of the story, as our friend Paul Harvey would say, is "Christ the Lord is risen TODAY-in my life!" Hallelujah!
Can you sing it? From experience?

Then let this be our constant theme,
The resurrection story.
It's more than just an empty dream,
It's radiant in its glory.
And though earth's hopes grow dark and dim
With sin's most deadly pall,
We'll triumph evermore in Him,

The LIVING Christ, our Lord of all!