Long Live the King

Automated transcript, lightly edited for readability. Scripture appears as spoken; the video is the authoritative teaching.

The King Has Returned

Do you ever find yourself searching for something bigger than you? For a community to be a part of? A place founded on truth and love? A place to worship the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, and the Son of God? Welcome to Founded in Truth, where we're more than just a fellowship. We're a family. So welcome home. The King has returned. The prophecies fulfilled. The years of longing are over. The King has returned. And now all will be made right. Amidst shouts of praise and tears of joy, the pleading for justice, the cries for our enemies' defeat, the King has returned. The King who was driven from his land as an infant, who spent his first years as a refugee, who understands suffering. But this king is not who we were looking for. This king brings justice, not over our enemies, but in the midst of our enemies. He brings peace, not in our land, but in our souls. He is the answer to the prayer we did not know we were praying. The king has returned. Long live the king.

The King Is Dead

The king is dead. The hand that once held a branch now gripped a hammer. The king is dead. This king of kings who embraced the very nature of a servant. This prince of peace, broken for us. This commander of angels, surrendered to a cross. This king joins us in our suffering. He empathizes in our weakness. And he calls us to die with him. To lay down our lives. To live and surrender. That we may be fully alive. The king is dead. No. Long live the king. But this king is not gone forever. The story has not ended. There is a twist. A third act. There is a third day. And on that third day, the king will strip death of its power and extinguish the sting of Hades. This king is not defeated. This king is not destroyed.

This king is the resurrection. He is the life. He is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end.

John Chapter 20

Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early while it was still dark. So Peter went out with the other disciple and they were going towards the tomb. Both of them were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. And stooping, peering to look in, he saw the linen clothes lying there, but he didn't go in. Verse 11. But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. And as she wept, she stooped and looked into the tomb, and she saw two angels in white sitting where the body of Jesus was laying, one at the head and one at the feet. They said to her, Woman, why are you weeping?

She said to them, They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they've laid him. Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there. But she didn't know that that was Jesus. The first evangelist is Mary. John's account is so powerful, because this wasn't supposed to happen. For the disciples, anyway. For his closest followers, this was not what was planned. No, they didn't know what to make of it. John and Peter, they didn't understand the scriptures where he had to rise again. What is happening?

It Started With Worry, Not Victory

It's so interesting that this Resurrection Day, this first fruits following Passover, this first Easter as it later became known, it didn't start with joy or gladness or a sense of victory. No. This first day of the week started out with worry, gut-wrenching pain, fear and confusion, overwhelming sorrow. When Mary sat there, she was weeping for a reason. She thought it being over was taken to a whole new level than she could have ever imagined. Okay, he died, fine. They killed him, fine. Now his body's been taken? How much worse can this get? How much longer will this anxiety be prevalent? How much longer can I, can we go on?

The first emotions felt on the most significant Sunday morning in history were not victory. They weren't a sense of triumph. They were fear, worry, and uncertainty. This is not a day that is above your fear and uncertainty. This is not a day that's rooted solely in joy. No, right here, it's also rooted in fear and uncertainty. So as we celebrate the resurrection, the ultimate triumph, don't turn a blind eye to your current fears and worries. Don't shut them in a closet. Don't try to ignore them to make room for celebration. No, there's room for them here. Let them come out. Why is there room for such things here today and when we celebrate this event?

Because they belong here. They belong here so that we can see how much bigger the victory of our king is with them present. The resurrection of Yeshua isn't good news despite these things. No, the resurrection of Yeshua is good news because this is the world around us. We actually live here. We actually experience it. We are actually present. At least I hope you're present in the world that God sent his son to save. I hope you're present because Yeshua was. He was very present. Yeshua was fully present in the broken world around him. And a huge part of his mission was to be an example.

The Linen and the Folded Napkin

Look at this detail. And for context, Matthew, in his gospel account, takes the time to tell us that dawn was approaching, the first light of day when the earth quaked and the stone was rolled away. And so I want to paint the movie for you, if you will. In John's account, it's still dark. They both end up arriving, and look what happens in verse 5. John writes this detail for us. He says that when he looked in, he saw the linen clothes. And then he walked in after Peter, and he saw the napkin folded, or in Greek it literally means rolled up. It's given the context that it was not just thrown or disregarded.

It was neatly placed. And he believed. Something about this. Why did this cause him to believe? See, the linen cloth, linen is expensive. It still is today. Imagine what it would have been back then. Linen was expensive. If this was a grave robbery, why leave the cash in the wallet? Also, reference Lazarus. When he came out of the tomb, he was all wrapped up. If grave robbers are going to take the time to undress Yeshua's body, at least take the money, at least take the goods, at least take the linen. And then he sees it. I can only imagine him processing all of this. Why would they leave the linen if he was taken?

Why would they? And then he sees the napkin that covered his face, not tossed aside, not bunched up on the ground, not just shoved in with the rest of it. Someone intentionally set it down. He believed even before he saw Yeshua. He believed. His uncertainty, his worry, his anxiety, they were present. He wasn't ignoring them. No, he just allowed the overwhelming belief in Yeshua to crush them in that moment. He grabbed Peter. He was like, Peter, let's go. We've got to go back to the house. Let's go. They went on.

Let Your Faith Crush Your Despair

I don't know where you're at today. I don't know where your mind's at, where your heart's at today, but I want to invite you through the reading of this story to ignite your belief once again, to allow hope to infect your uncertainty, to allow faith to crush your despair, to allow the truth of victory to overwhelm your sense of life and purpose in this present moment. Your faith, your mission, your calling is not changed one single bit because of any of your current situations. And it certainly cannot stand up to the victory and the power and the certainty of the resurrected King Yeshua. So go ahead.

Allow your anxiety to poke its head out. Allow your fear, the unknowing. Bring it into the light right now as we read this story, and expose it to the truth of the resurrection of the Son of God that happened this Sunday morning, that forever changed any situation, circumstance, obstacle, or barrier that you would ever encounter moving forward in your life. Let it see the linen in the pages of John. Let it see the napkin folded up with intentionality. Let it see the hope found in these pages as something that can never be extinguished.

Mary Hears the Shepherd's Voice

Just like John, will you see? See, Mary hasn't seen this yet. Mary sees the two guys run off, giddy about something, maybe not, I don't know what the face was, they were running, just left her there. She can't bring herself to leave the tomb though. She can't. She's frozen. She can't shake it. So what does she do? All she can, she weeps, and she sees someone. Listen, where have you taken him? Just tell me. Tell me where you took his body. No one has to know. Let me take it back. I won't tell anybody. Just tell me. Mary can't see Jesus when all she sees is fear and anxiety. That is until he calls her name.

Why is this so important? Because 10 chapters earlier in John chapter 10, verse 27, Yeshua says this. He says, My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. I love that verse. Because we always picture this big hand and we're these little guys right here and no one can pluck them out. If the image is a shepherd, what's the image? No one can take you from me. See, he says that his sheep hear his voice and they follow him. And when they hear his voice, the voice of the shepherd, they aren't worried or preoccupied with anything else. No. When they hear his voice and they follow him, they receive a life that is eternal.

They're comforted. You won't perish. You know what? Despite everything that you think because of your surroundings right now, no one can pluck you away from me. Mary. See, the thing about Mary is she knows the voice of the shepherd. That's what extinguished all of the other emotions ruling in her life in that moment. You can fight your worry. Or you can just drag it out in front of the truth of the resurrected Christ.

Peter's Encouragement

Peter in his first letter begins the letter, as he should, with an introduction. Then he acknowledges the recipients, those believers in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, Bithynia. He refers to them as the elect. It's a reference to Israel. But here it's a bunch of Gentile cities. And he refers to them as the exiles in dispersion. This is intentional. He's intentionally drawing to mind the experience from the Babylonian exile so far, centuries earlier. Drawing to mind the experience of not quite belonging, being rejected by your neighbors, feeling oppressed, feeling anxious, nervous, fearful. These are people that have given their entire trust over to this messianic figure, this King Yeshua, and their towns and their neighbors and their friends and their family are all looking at them as if they're crazy.

And not like you're kind of weird crazy, but like there's something wrong with you and we don't want you around our kids. Like there's something wrong with you. They're feeling the heat. And what's the first thing? The first thing Peter says to encourage them after his introduction in 1 Peter. Listen, I know you don't feel like you belong here. I know it feels like you're living in a foreign world everywhere you turn. This is the world that you used to operate in blindly, but now you see the truth. Now you see what needs to change. And so you try to make the changes, but the world pushes back. And sometimes it gets scary.

And you don't know what's coming next. And do you know how Peter chooses to encourage them? 1 Peter 1 verse 3. Look at this. This is beautiful. 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. See, Peter here is drawing from his experience back at the empty tomb. This is what he's flashing back to when he's writing this letter. He's going back to the empty tomb, and he states that the power of resurrection is where we draw our hope from to keep going. Our hope that sparks joy, our hope that overwhelms every other aspect of our life.

And the thing about it is, it's not your resurrection that he's talking about. He's not talking about having hope because one day you're going to die and be resurrected. No, he's not talking about your resurrection in the future, whenever. No, it's Yeshua's resurrection from the dead that causes us to be born again to a living hope. It's Yeshua's resurrection. It transforms us into a personified hope. A hope that walks, a hope that talks, a hope that touches others and affects them—not with disease or sickness, but with ultimate hope. Why? Because our king lives. That's why. And not only does he live, he breathes and continues to overtake the world for his kingdom through us, through you.

Persevering Through Isolation

High heart, O cities, you feel isolated? You feel fearful? Your faith is making you a bit of a target to society? Have hope, he says, because God is still using you for his mission. Have hope, the hope that sparked your heart to leap to faith in the first place. Why? Because Yeshua lives. Have hope. See, Isaiah speaks of a day. Isaiah speaks of a day when the Lord will bring about a new creation, a new heavens and a new earth. Something is going to be different when God transforms creation itself. The tears and the sorrow and the fear will be wiped away. The tragedies that ruled our lives before will be eclipsed by this magnificent showing of God's greatness.

Here it is in Isaiah 65, 17. See, I will create a new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind. Everything old—don't worry about it. It's going to be new. And what's neat about this amazing prophecy is the New Testament authors indicate that they believe this has been fulfilled through the resurrection of Yeshua. Yeah, like the resurrection of Yeshua to them was that big of a deal. It was that big of an event. The day of the Lord when God's wrath will be poured out on evil. The sun will be darkened. The earth will quake. The graves will be opened.

Yeah, Matthew picked up on that during the crucifixion. God's wrath being poured out on evil. It's a recurring theme through the Bible that ends up orbiting around this event. It's incredible. It's incredible. The events of the Passion Week were so significant, it caused Paul to quote Isaiah in 2 Corinthians . Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. The old, it's gone. The new is here. All this is from God who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. That God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ through the King, not counting people's sins against them. So significant.

The Proclamation of Christ the King

When we say Jesus Christ, when we say Yeshua, the Messiah, when we say the Mashiach, Mashiach is a word that means the anointed king. It's king. Whenever we say Yeshua, Messiah, we're saying Yeshua, the king. Whenever we say Jesus Christ, we're saying King Jesus. It's a proclamation of our faith. New creation. Just as the account of the first creation in Genesis began with "In the beginning", John, in his gospel account, began with a second Genesis, a second creation. He actually has the audacity to rewrite Genesis as a 2.0 in light of Christ. John 1:1, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

He was with God in the beginning. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. In the new creation story that John writes, all things were made through Yeshua. Without him, nothing has life. Nothing is a part of the new creation. John goes on to frame Yeshua as the light that shines forth into darkness. Remember, John makes a comment at the beginning of John 20. When Mary arrived, it was still what? Still dark. And she wept. And she was overcome with chaos. Until she saw what? The light. And the light overcame the darkness. Mary.

The First Day of New Creation

Later in John chapter 20, what happens? John reemphasizes it being the first day of the week again—in verse 19. Jesus spoke. And with that, he breathed on them. Okay, so when we read this, firstly, we should go, whoa, like what just happened? So the disciples are sitting here in fear and darkness because it's nighttime, right? So here we go. It's darkness and fear is overtaking them. Yeshua appears and what happens? Joy breaks forth! Joy will always spring forth at the presence of Yeshua, the Christ, in our lives. That is our constant. That's our constant. And what does he say? He says, I'm now going to send you forth. As I was sent by God, now you will be sent. And he breathed on them and said, receive the Holy Spirit.

Genesis 2.0: The Resurrection and New Life

So John's entire account of the gospel launches with the idea of new creation in John 1. A new Genesis, right? Yeah, this happened in Genesis 1 when God breathed new life into mankind. He breathed the spirit into the nostrils of man, right? Remember? Breathed his spirit into them. Why? So they could expand Eden, overtake the world, and multiply as his image bearers, going forth with his mercy and grace and forgiveness and love. But in the new creation, Yeshua breathes his spirit that was within him and he gives it to his followers. 2.0, Isaiah's new creation 2.0. Go out and do and show the world what God's kingdom looks like as I did.

When they see you, they're gonna see me because my spirit's within you and I've charged you with the life to go out and do this. If you forgive anyone's sins, their sins are forgiven. Go and be me to them. As the Father sent me, I'm sending you. Be the image bearers of God in a world full of brokenness and worry and fear and anxiety and isolation. A world that doesn't know where to turn. Doesn't know. Tripping over itself. Look, look, he says. The king's victorious. Go.

The Road to Emmaus

This gave Peter cause to reflect, 40, 50 years later, when he's writing to these communities. Man. Reflecting on all of this. Allow the resurrection of our king to inspire you. To personify hope within your character. Be the bearers of God's image in this world. In Luke 24, one of my favorite stories is the road to Emmaus. And we're all familiar with it. Yeshua ends up walking with two of his followers. And they're leaving Jerusalem because he's dead. And they're upset that he's dead because they thought something bigger was going to happen. They pictured this monumental event differently in their minds.

And so they're a little peeved and they're walking back. And this is the morning. They left that morning of the third day, it says. And as they're walking and talking with Yeshua, they don't recognize him. It isn't until they sit down and break bread that the scripture says in Luke 24, 31. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him. Then their eyes were opened. See, that's a neat phrase because it's the same phrase that's used in Genesis 3:7, but the circumstances are different, right? Then their eyes were opened because they knew they were naked. Same phrase, circumstances are different.

Eyes Opened to New Creation

See, the first time this phrase is used is when mankind chose rebellion against God and their eyes were opened to the broken reality—this is what it looks like now. But in the new creation, mankind's eyes are open to a new kind of reality. A new kind of world. A world that Yeshua is regenerating. Mankind originally was in charge of keeping the garden. We failed. John indicates that Mary was in the garden and she thought Yeshua looked like one keeping that garden. That new Adam, that new gardener. That new image of God through whom we're raised to life out of darkness. This is why the gospel account writers emphasize that this happened on the first day of the week. Not the middle of the week, not the last day of the week, but the first day of the week.

Resurrection and the New Creation

When the resurrection—from death to life, from darkness to light, from chaos to order—took place. It's a new creation starting at the beginning of the week, just like the Genesis creation account. Except in this new creation, everything orbits around this resurrection of this King of Kings. There's a special day. It's a biblical feast. It happens during the Passover week. It's called First Fruits. The day Yeshua raised from the dead, that Sunday was First Fruits. In the Torah, it was the day when the high priest would wave the first of the barley offering before God. This is the first. And by waving that offering before God, the response was that God would pour out his blessing and graciousness in full bounty throughout the rest of the crop.

Paul makes mention of this in relation to Yeshua in 1 Corinthians . In Hebrew, the word firstfruits is reshit, reshit, the first, the first. And it's also the first word, reshit, in Genesis 1. It's actually the first word of our Bible. In the beginning, the first. It was also John that carried along this idea of a new vitalized temple where God's presence would forever be sourced and proceed along in this new creation. In John 2, he points out that Yeshua spoke about tearing down the temple in three days and then raising it back up in three days. And then he makes clear that Yeshua said no, he was speaking of his body as this temple.

He was the temple. He was going to be the place where heaven connected to earth.

The Angels and the Imagery

Remember Mary. She ran into the tomb and she saw two angels. And where were they sitting? They had the slab where Yeshua's body was laying and it was between them. You had one angel over here at the head and one at the feet where Yeshua's sacrifice was laying in the middle. I'd like to think they were kind of facing each other, but that's just me. So in your face, isn't it? So in your face. But John doesn't mention any blood between them. So if this is really an image of something that's really significant, we would imagine there's blood in the middle because atonement only comes from blood in the middle between them, right? No, John doesn't mention any blood. He mentions pure white linen between them. John just throws this in your face that it's only through Yeshua that we find the ultimate place of atonement. Not simply a lost ark sitting in a temple. The source of God's mercy, redemptive power, love, forgiveness, and atonement—the washing away of sin and death—is only found in and through the person of Yeshua, the resurrected King.

Don't You Understand?

That's why the events that took place this week are so important. Don't you understand the good news? Don't you understand the gravity of what has taken place? Don't you understand that our king is not dead? Our king lives and we proclaim long live the King. Long live the King. Long live the King. Forever and ever and ever and ever his kingdom endures forever. And you and I are part of that. Long live the King through us. So this week is a great reminder of what happened. But it's a haunting reminder of what is also expected of you going forward from this week.

An Invitation to Repent

And I don't know where you're at today spiritually in your heart. Maybe you're not at a place where you feel the light that overtakes darkness. Maybe you're not at a place where peace is truly felt. Maybe you're at a place that's just filled with brokenness. Maybe you don't know what the peace and the ultimate shalom of God feels like, what it engulfs you. Maybe you've allowed sin to take a foothold in certain areas or all of your life. Maybe it's just hard right now. And if that's you today, and maybe you just need some encouragement, I want to invite you to say a prayer with me today. Let's pray together.

And maybe this is the first time you've ever said a prayer quite like this. How many of you know that sometimes we trick ourselves into thinking that we're praying to God, but we're really just praying to ourselves? It's totally a thing. And if that's you today, I want to ask you to join me out loud. And I would ask that you would look to Yeshua and cry out and repent. And repent is such a strong word. It is. It means to put away past sins that lead only to death. It's such a strong word, but it's a very simple concept. You put away the past sins that only lead to death, and instead you choose to follow this King and be raised to life in the name of Yeshua, to pledge your allegiance to Yeshua.

So I'd like for you to join me in this prayer today as a reminder, or maybe it's the first time you've ever said it. Yeshua, I believe that you are the King that was prophesied by the prophets. I believe that you are the King that came here to show us the true kingdom of God. Yeshua, I believe you are the King that came to defeat the thing that I could not. I believe you are the King sent by God to fix the brokenness of this world. I believe you were killed. I believe that through your death, the brokenness of this world was heaped onto you. Sin. If it's the first time you've ever prayed a prayer quite like that, I'd ask that you reach out to us at this ministry via the contact page on our website or social media, Instagram, Facebook.

We're connectable. Connect with us. We would love to encourage you.

The Living Out of Your Allegiance

But now, after making that proclamation, as soldiers of Christ, as Paul refers to us, as followers of this Rabbi Yeshua, as followers of this King Yeshua, now we show the world what this allegiance to this kingdom looks like. And we do that through our thoughts. We do that through our actions. We do that through our words. Through our sacrifice is how we show the world who he is. The things that make us uncomfortable for the sake of others, that's our calling as believers. That's the job description. The things that are hard, that we don't want, it's our calling. The things that are not fair, it's our calling.

We are called to serve. Serve. Matt, to what level or degree are we to serve? I mean, we have examples in here like that night when Yeshua put a towel on and bowed before his disciples with their dirty feet. What level? Look to Yeshua. You can gauge it. We're called to serve because it is through sacrifice. It is through sacrifice. Just like Yeshua showed us that the love of God is manifest. When we make the decision in our heart to do something for the sake of others, no matter how big or how small, to endure, it's the calling of a believer. It's an attribute of a believer. God has caused us to become and be born again as a living hope.

Let me say that again. That's Peter. Gosh. God has allowed us to be transformed and born again as a living hope through the resurrection of Yeshua the Messiah, our King from the dead. Long live the King.

Closing

I'm Matthew Vander Ailes, pastor of Founded in Truth Fellowship, and we hope you enjoyed this message and that it was a blessing to you and your family. Founded in Truth exists to cultivate a fellowship of image bearers that live the redeemed life only Yeshua can give. If this ministry has been a blessing to you, we would love to hear from you. Send us an email through the contact form on our site and tell us how God has used this ministry to edify your faith and your relationship with Him. If you would like to donate to Founded in Truth Ministries and be a part of this ministry's continued impact, you can do so through our website. Thank you for joining us, and we pray that you experience the peace and the joy of God's holy Sabbath. Shabbat Shalom.