Word of Salvation – Vol. 15 No.09 - Mar 1969
...When The Doors Were Shut...!
Sermon by Rev. Rev. P. H. Pellicaan, B.D. on John 20:19b
SCRIPTURE READING: Luke 24:1-9
PSALTER HYMNAL: 356:1,2,3;
358:1 (after declaration of grace: 1Cor.15:56,57);
356:4 (after rule of thankfulness: Col.3 - 4:2);
364; 387:1; 400:5 (after benediction);
(Easter Sermon)
Brothers and sisters,
We are very privileged, this morning to receive a wonderful message, a personal message: The Lord is risen indeed – and we were raised with Him!
The tremendous power which shook the earth, opened the tomb and raised Jesus, that power is working in US! Do you know that power? Paul asked, because you are supposed to know it.
You have come together this morning to hear the thrilling message of victory. You expect to be shown a picture of the victorious King who arose in glory, defeating satan, death, sin, and who wanted nothing for Himself. He gave it all to the church He loved.
Christ's resurrection is the central miracle and the position of the Reformed Churches is that we all firmly believe that this resurrection was REAL – He arose BODILY and we accept that as an undeniable fact. We do reject the blasphemous notion of modern thought that this resurrection is just a myth and that the only meaning is that in some vague sense life will ultimately overcome death. If we do not believe – Paul wrote – that Jesus rose from the dead, then our faith would be vain. The same Jesus Who died on the cross really lives again.
You may call that an old-fashioned and a narrow view. Alright then, let's agree to be old-fashioned and narrow-minded, but the fact of resurrection is true! On this fact we stake our life, our salvation.
However it appears that some difficult things have to be said before we can listen to this gospel. There is a dark side to the gospel of Easter. And we can't ignore that and shouldn't ignore that. What is a king without subjects? In Proverbs we read: in the multitude of subjects is the king's glory.
What would Jesus be without His church? A FAILURE!
His work would have been in vain, and His glory would have been unreal. Why did He come to this world? Why did He suffer? Why did He die and why did He rise again?
You all know the answer and so you will realize that you can't speak about the Resurrection without dealing also with the disciples... the church!
We then have to go one step further and you'll have to agree that not only the disciples should be regarded, but also the church of TODAY. In other words, this gospel of Easter is not a generality which is always true, regardless of the circumstances. A lot will depend on your attitude, your position. It is a strictly personal message. Look for instance at the Jewish council, and at God's enemies in general. Is the fact of Jesus' resurrection a gospel, a good tiding, to them? Oh no, it's a disaster of the first order to them! The very worst thing that could happen to God's enemies. And to believers it is the most wonderful event that ever took place. It is the one or the other: A disaster or a feast.
Consequently it is impossible to tell people in general what Easter means to them. It all depends where you stand, and what kind of people you are....!
When the doors were closed... what a disappointing thing.
What kind of people are usually hiding behind locked doors on the day of victory?
Only those who have been defeated, and are scared to meet the victor. And traitors are scared and lock themselves in as they realize that the day of reckoning has come.
It appears that the disciples were scared of the Jewish council and its followers. On the other hand, the Jewish council was afraid of what the disciples might be up to. They had received the report of the soldiers who had watched the grave, they had also heard the unnerving stories about people, saints, who had been raised from the dead and had appeared to many. And then of course they were still shocked about what had happened in the temple, where the veil was rent, and the earthquake. Jerusalem was full of rumours.
By now they must have known that one of their own company, Joseph of Arimathea had joined forces with the disciples. They had tried to cover up the story told by the soldiers but they were full of foreboding.
Of course it was silly to be afraid of these councillors. But here you are: they were scared stiff and that is a fact. All day long reports of the Resurrection had come in, but they refused to believe them. They closed the door, bolted it – and locked Jesus outside! And unavoidably they also separated themselves from His victory...!
So much for the disciples. We should not spend too much time talking about them. We had better hurry on, to the real Easter message. But our text makes it clear that there may be obstacles that have to be removed before we can break through to the joy of Easter. In Jerusalem it had become Easter, the wonderful message was brought by many witnesses, but it was locked out of the church by closed doors. It would not do us any good if the gospel was preached to us while we – by manner of speaking – had all doors closed. Are our doors open for the Easter message? That is the question.
Do we ever hide ourselves when confronted with the Easter message? Do not think that this is a difficult question to answer. It isn't, really. Whether our doors are open or closed can be clearly seen in the results. What is the position if the doors are open? Then the situation is that Jesus has entered in. Consequently there is an abundance of light, of joy, of peace, that passes all understanding. It means that we are strong, immensely strong: endowed with the power of His resurrection! It means that we can ridicule the power of death and of hell: where is your sting, your victory? It means that we are completely renewed, born again, new creatures, cleansed and purified. It means much more, but these few words should be sufficient to picture the glorious results of open doors.
Remember the hymn:
Hence, all fear and sadness
for the Lord of gladness,
Jesus, entered in.
Blessed you are if you know this by experience.
There is however every reason to be afraid that quite some people are still living behind closed doors. Not only unbelievers, but church members! You would not call the disciples unbelievers, would you? Yet they were the people in our text who had the doors closed! For some reason or other – for some silly reason or other – some people keep their doors closed. They may believe the Bible, they may be convinced that the Bible is true, and yet their doors may be closed! The message of the gospel, the message of resurrection never entered into their hearts. As a result they are not renewed people; they are not filled with gladness. It may be the case as with the disciples: that they are scared. The disciples had been scared before – on different occasions. And then they had been rebuked by the Saviour: Oh ye of little faith!
And so this may be one of the reasons why people live behind closed doors: a lack of faith. They may not miss it altogether, but it is too small, incomplete. That was the case with Peter when he walked on the sea and yet he did not dare to forget the dangers involved. These are the people who are satisfied to nurse a little spark of faith but who do not dare to open the doors and the windows which would mean that the spark would be fanned into a fire, engulfing their whole existence. Then they would be aflame for God. This is the kind of people who look too much at themselves and who of course have many doubts.
But there are many more reasons why people keep the doors closed.
Sin is of course such a reason. A certain sin which you don't want to let go. And love for material things. I don't have to enlarge on that you know it very well, don't you?
Another reason could be that your spiritual life has become bleak and colourless. There is no thrill, no excitement about it. You live spiritually by the calendar. That calendar tells you that today is Easter, so dutifully you sing your Easter hymns.. You seem to have gotten into a rut. It's hard to define this, but to illustrate it: remember the big sailboats of olden times. What was their greatest danger when sailing the sea? Not so much the storm that might spring up. The greatest danger was when they came in the doldrums. When they crossed the equator for instance, they usually had no wind for weeks on end. Under a merciless sun they were just lying in the water. That was a most dangerous thing, because sicknesses occurred – caused by food turned bad. There also was the lack of water. Many, many human lives were lost in the doldrums.
The same thing may happen in your spiritual life – that you come into the doldrums. And the very fact that nothing ever happens, is a very dangerous sign. Every day is the same, and there is no progress whatsoever. It is all very quiet – and very dangerous! A storm is much better than this. If you are in the doldrums, that means that the doors are closed. You don't make any headway, are just idling, drifting along and you can't do a thing about it. The rudder does not work, and life becomes a real burden. You don't know if anything will ever happen. Only ONE thing stands out very clearly: the doors are shut!
Does it worry you?
I hope it does. If it would not bother you that would mean that you are not interested in Easter, in the Prince of Easter. You can't stay too long in the doldrums. There is no future in that!
...when the doors were closed.... what a disappointing thing! Especially on Easter! They were sitting together in gloom and sadness. And Jesus, our light, our joy, our peace is outside. .And what can we do about it?
But wait a moment! Don't you realize, brothers and sisters, that there is something wrong with our text? Oh yes, there is. It's completely wrong, and nobody should be allowed to preach on it.
This is not God's Word! It is not the message of the gospel! It is only a small part of the story. Part of a sentence that goes on. This is not the final word, that we hear about the disciples who closed the doors. The real message of God's Word is: when the doors were closed – JESUS CAME, stood in their midst and said, Peace be unto you.
THAT is the gospel, the wonderful gospel of Easter.
We do not know how He came in. Some people believe that He came in through a closed door. I don't know about that. Scripture does not tell us HOW He entered. And we should not be interested in that at all. But we should be most interested in the very fact THAT He came in!
Do you know what that means? It means that He will not wait till we have opened the doors, till we have prepared everything nicely and sit there, waiting to receive Him. Our preparation for His arrival is NOT the condition to His coming. If that would be the case, then there would be no comfort for you, no message of salvation.
But now, if we realize that He came, uninvited, unexpected, that sad picture of a church in hiding, afraid, sad, despondent, without hope or joy, that picture becomes very dear to us.
Because: if Jesus entered into that company WHY then should He not enter into OUR company? There is no reason in the whole world why He shouldn't...!!!
Easter does not mean that the Lord won the victory and is now waiting for us to join Him. We would never unbolt the door! But Easter means: The Lord won the victory and straightaway began to seek His disciples. And closed doors are no hindrance to Him. Nobody can explain that, but we are told in the Bible that nothing can stop Him.
What a poor thing it would be if the Victor of death and satan could be stopped by closed doors. Of course this is no excuse to keep your doors closed! It is not an excuse to stop praying and longing. This is, as a matter of fact, the first step He takes toward you. By sending His Spirit to work in your heart.
The disciples had the doors closed. They loved Jesus but could not believe that He was so great, so mighty. And whatever reasons, whatever silly reasons we may have to keep our doors closed – it is Easter. To you comes the good tiding of great joy: He lives, He comes, He is here!
Peace be unto you!
My Lord and my God....!
AMEN.