Promises Made… | Sunday, April 5, 2026

Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. Then the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger." 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, goodwill toward men!" (Luke 2:8–14)

Why the Christmas angel's promise of "great joy" only makes full sense at the empty tomb.

The Empty Tomb and the Great Commission

It is so good to see you this morning, Cross Connection Church. We support many missions, foreign and domestic, and more than thirty people from our church are signed up this year for short-term trips to South America and Africa. Next week we plan to introduce those team members, and we ask for your prayers and your prayerful support. Even if you don't go, as part of this church you are sending and supporting them.

That mission flows directly from what we celebrate today. After He rose from the dead, Jesus gave the commission to His disciples: go into all the world, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that He commanded—and "lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." The end of the age has not come. Until He returns, it is the task of the church to fulfill that commission, because there are still people in the world and in our community who have not heard or understood the gospel.

He Is Not Here, He Is Risen

This is the day we remember and celebrate Christ's resurrection. The Sunday following the crucifixion, a group of Jesus's faithful female followers got up very early and walked to the tomb to finish the burial preparations. They had not been able to finish on the day of His crucifixion. In that time and place, the dead were buried on the day they died, and Jesus's burial was hasty because the Sabbath was about to begin. They couldn't work on the Sabbath either. So at dawn on Sunday they went, wondering among themselves how they would roll away the great stone.

But when they arrived, the stone was already rolled away and the tomb was empty. Luke 24 tells us two men appeared who were angels, and one of them made this great proclamation:

He is not here, but is risen! Remember how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee, saying, "The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again." (Luke 24:6–7)

Every time Jesus told His disciples of His coming betrayal and crucifixion—as He had in Luke 9, where we've been studying—He added that on the third day He would rise. They didn't understand it, and for good reason: no one had ever risen from the dead in that way. The Jewish people hoped in a future resurrection but couldn't conceptualize this. Now here were these women on the third day, told, "He is not here, He is risen."

I've had the privilege of going to Jerusalem a number of times, to both traditional sites of the tomb—the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and Gordon's Calvary. I've gone into both, and I can tell you with my own eyes: they're empty, just as the Scriptures say. On one of them there is a banner that reads, "He is not here, He is risen."

The Beginning of the End of Death

This is the most important story in all of human history. Everything from Genesis 3, where humanity fell in the Garden, until the empty tomb is dominated by death. As Romans 5 tells us, through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and death spread to all humanity. There's not a person alive who doesn't recognize the brokenness of this world. Often we see it at a distance—in the news, in someone else's life—but for all of us there comes a point where we experience it personally: a terminal diagnosis, an accident, a loved one taken.

Everything was punctuated by death until the resurrection. The resurrection marks the beginning of the end of death. We are still affected by death 2,000 years later, but Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 15 that one day death will be done away with. In Romans 5:14, Paul says death reigned from Adam to Moses like a cruel taskmaster. Yet the free gift is not like the offense—where one man's sin brought death to many, much more the grace of God abounded to many through the one Man, Jesus Christ. "For if by the one man's offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ" (Romans 5:17).

As I shared on Good Friday, because of the cross, death is done. Jesus's last word on the cross was the Greek word tetelestai—"It is finished," also translated "paid in full." The penalty for our sins was paid in full. Jesus absorbed all the punishment for the sin of all humanity throughout all time, all the way back to Genesis 3. That is the good news, the gospel—the word means "good news."

The Wrong Passage for Easter?

This good news is the fulfillment of a prophetic message delivered by an angel three decades before the cross, at the announcement of Jesus's birth. I realize it's a strange passage for an Easter message, but I'm asking you to turn to Luke chapter 2—the passage we'd expect on Christmas, not Easter. And if you think that, you're right. Yet Luke 2 is where we're going.

Yes, this is the Christmas passage—the one I share every year during our Advent series. Every time, I remind you that Advent is essential for Easter. You cannot have Easter without Advent; there is no cross, no resurrection, no empty tomb without Christ first coming into the world. But just as true is this: the angel's declaration in Luke 2—"glory to God in the highest," "I bring you glad tidings of great joy"—makes no sense without the empty tomb. The empty tomb makes it truly good news.

What is it about the babe in Bethlehem that brings good news of great joy to all people? It is that this Child born in Luke 2 is the Son given on Calvary. Isaiah 9:6–7 says, "Unto us a Child is born"—that's Luke 2—"unto us a Son is given"—that's the cross. The Child had to be born for the Son to be given. This is the very Son promised all the way back in Genesis 3:15, where God told the serpent that a male child from the woman would crush him.

I had a vivid illustration of this yesterday—I had to kill a rattlesnake in my backyard. It reminded me exactly of this: Jesus came to crush the work of the serpent. It felt good, and it was a good reminder.

Everything Hinges on the Empty Tomb

The most famous verse in the Bible, John 3:16, says God gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. How is that possible? Only through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. If there is no resurrection, there is no hope for you and me. Everything of the Christian faith hinges upon the empty tomb. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15 that if Christ is not raised, we are the most pitiable people on the planet—we gather and sing songs to a risen Lord, and if He didn't rise, how pitiful.

The angel in Luke 2 said, "I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people." The angel at the tomb proclaimed, "He is not here, He is risen." That's where the great joy comes from—death could not hold Him. Death that reigned from Adam until the empty tomb could not hold Jesus.

First: The Resurrection Makes Advent's Joy Real

Every Christmas season I remind you that the arrival of Jesus means the arrival of a joy that is increasing unto abundance for eternity. That is only true because of the empty tomb. Without it, there is just the cross, just death, and there's no joy in that—only sorrow. But the night before His crucifixion Jesus told His disciples, "Your sorrow will be turned into joy" (John 16). The sorrow of sin and death is turned into joy by the resurrection.

Point number one: the resurrection makes the eternal joy of Advent available and accessible. The angel's proclamation, "I bring you glad tidings of great joy," is like a promissory note. Thirty years later the fulfillment comes when the angel says, "He is not here, He is risen. Come see the place where they laid Him." Christ's birth signaled the arrival of joy, but His resurrection makes it real. It's no longer just a promise; it's a reality, because He lives.

That means we are no longer in darkness, no longer under the bondage of sin and death. We're in the light, able to walk in the light as He is in the light, rejoicing with joy inexpressible and full of glory (1 Peter 1:8). On that Easter morning, the women's mourning was turned into dancing, their sorrow into joy, because Christ was no longer in the grave.

Second: A Living Hope That Does Not Disappoint

That joy brings us hope—the second theme of Advent. Because of the resurrection we have a sure and steadfast hope that does not disappoint, an anchor for our souls. It was promised in Advent but fulfilled in the resurrection.

We all know hope that disappoints. We can hope Anthony will wear a Padres hat at the game, but our hope will likely be disappointed. And it pains me to say it, but it's highly unlikely the Padres will have a good season. That's wishful-thinking hope, blind hope—the kind you have when you buy a lottery ticket, which I'd encourage you not to waste your money on. We are disappointed frequently by that sort of hope. But the hope we have in Christ is not wishful thinking. It is an absolute certainty, based not on His death but on His resurrection.

Our soul is where we feel fear, anxiety, and dread, and we live in a culture filled with these things—even though we have more resources and abundance than perhaps anyone in human history. We're constantly bombarded with the brokenness of the world through social media: war and rumors of war, sickness, politics. If your hope is in politics, you'll always be sad—dread and fear drive people to the polls. We're made anxious by the economy and now by AI. (I'd appreciate your prayers this week; I leave this afternoon for a Christian conference on AI in San Jose.) If your hope is in this world, you'll be hopeless.

But Peter calls our hope a living hope:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. (1 Peter 1:3)

Our hope is not based on a dead man in a tomb, but on the resurrection. And what is it unto? "An inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you" (1 Peter 1:4). Because Christ rose and the tomb is empty, you have a certain hope of an inheritance that thieves cannot steal, rust cannot corrupt, and moths cannot eat. You are kept by the power of God through faith, and "though now you do not see Him, you... rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory" (1 Peter 1:8).

Point number two: the resurrection secures for us a steadfast and living hope that does not disappoint. Because of His resurrection, death is no longer the final word. Death anxiety is real and increases with age—unless you know Christ. I have been at the bedside of many people who have died, and there is a distinct difference between the Christian and the non-Christian. The body always cowers in the face of death, but I have seen such peace and joy in those who approach death with Christ, because for them death is not the final word.

Third: A Peace That Surpasses Understanding

The third theme of Advent, promised at His birth and fulfilled in the empty tomb, is peace—a peace that surpasses all understanding, guarding our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. His resurrection assures us that sin's penalty has been fully paid. When Jesus said, "It is finished," the penalty of sin that hung over us was taken away.

From the cross Jesus said, "It is finished—paid in full." The empty tomb says, "Payment accepted." It's like someone handing you their credit card and saying, "Buy yourself something nice." There's a moment of hesitancy at the register—you hope it doesn't get declined. And when it comes back accepted, that's joy, that's peace. The cross says paid in full; the empty tomb says payment accepted.

Paul writes in Ephesians 2 that Jesus Himself is our peace, who has made both one and broken down the middle wall of separation, abolishing in His flesh the enmity, "so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace," reconciling us both to God in one body through the cross. Back in Genesis 3, when Adam and Eve rebelled, man fell into enmity with God and division from one another. In His death, burial, and resurrection, Jesus reconciles us to God and to each other. The war is over.

Point number three: the resurrection confirms that the peace promised at Advent has been secured through the cross. In His last conversation with His disciples in John 14—just hours before His betrayal—Jesus opened with, "Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many mansions... I go to prepare a place for you... I will come again and receive you to Myself." Twenty-seven verses later He closed: "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid" (John 14:27).

How can you not be troubled in the face of immense suffering and death in a fallen world? Through trust and hope in the resurrection. The Prince of Peace is alive. We do not celebrate a crucified, dead Savior in a tomb; we celebrate the Lord who has risen. After His resurrection, when His disciples were cowering behind shut doors "for fear of the Jews," Jesus came and stood in their midst and said, "Peace be with you" (John 20:19). He said it twice. "As the Father has sent Me, I also send you."

Fourth: The Victory of God's Love

The fourth theme of Advent is love. Christ's death, burial, and resurrection confirm God's love for us—not with mere words. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son... For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved" (John 3:16–17). In John 15:13 Jesus said, "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends." But He went beyond even that:

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)

Point number four: the resurrection reveals the glorious victory of God's love over sin and death. In the cross at Calvary and the empty tomb in the garden, we have the fulfillment of all the promises of His coming: a joy increasing unto abundance, a hope that does not disappoint, a peace that surpasses understanding, and the unwavering love of God for you and me.

Easter Delivers What Christmas Promised

The church celebrates two great seasons in the liturgical year: Advent and the Passion. Advent introduces these themes—the arrival of the promise of joy, hope, peace, and love. The resurrection gives us the fullness of what the incarnation looked forward to. The hope given at Advent needs a future, and the resurrection guarantees it. The peace requires a payment, and the resurrection confirms the payment was accepted. The joy needs a foundation, and the resurrection provides it. The love needs a demonstration, and the resurrection validates it.

Easter transforms Advent's anticipated blessings—love, hope, peace, and joy—into present realities for you and me. It delivers what Christmas promised. You cannot have Easter without Advent, but you also cannot fully understand the angel's proclamation, "I bring you glad tidings of great joy which will be to all people," without Easter. At Christmas we hear the promise. At the cross we see the price paid. At the empty tomb we behold the proof that it has been accepted.

Promises Made, Promises Kept—Now Share Them

The Savior crucified on Friday is the Child born at Advent and the Lord who rose on Easter Sunday, and He brings to us the fullness of hope, joy, peace, and love—not so that we alone have it, but that we would share it with others. Within ten miles of this building there are many people who are hopeless, fearful, and anxious over the state of the world. We have been given the gospel, not merely as a theoretical concept to hold for ourselves, but to share.

This afternoon you may spend time with friends and family celebrating a holiday far too many people don't understand. It's not about chocolate bunnies or Easter ham—it's so we can rejoice in the hope, joy, peace, and love that Christ makes a reality for us. God help us to make that known.

Closing Prayer

God, I pray that You would help us today to rejoice in the good news, the gospel of the empty tomb. Good Friday would not be called good if it weren't for what was found on Easter Sunday. Lord, we rejoice in the life that You give and the light You shine upon us. Help us by Your Spirit and Your grace to walk in the light as You are in the light, and to reflect that light to others. Thank You that You loved us in such a way that You demonstrated Your love by dying for us when we were far from You, when we were at enmity with You, so that You could restore us into right relationship. Thank You for the right relationship we can have with You in Christ Jesus. Help us to praise, honor, and glorify You, not just with our lips but with our lives. We ask this in Jesus's name, and all those who agreed said, amen.