Easter In Stereo

An empty tomb is one thing. A folded head cloth is another. When you slow down and let the resurrection accounts speak together, the first Easter morning becomes a gripping, minute-by-minute story filled with fear, tenderness, and hard-to-ignore details.

We tell the resurrection of Jesus Christ using a “Gospel harmony” approach inspired by Johnston Cheney’s *The Life of Christ in Stereo*, blending Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John into one continuous narrative. We follow the women who come at dawn with spices, the earthquake and angel that shake the guarded tomb, and the scramble that follows when Mary Magdalene runs to Peter and John. Inside the tomb, the linen cloths and the carefully placed covering raise a simple question skeptics and believers both have to face: who would steal a body and leave a scene like that behind?

From Mary’s tears outside the sepulchre to the angels’ reminder to remember Jesus’ own words, the story keeps pressing toward a decision. We also talk about the competing explanation that the disciples stole the body, how that rumor got fueled, and why it still echoes today. Then we walk the Emmaus road, where Jesus opens the Scriptures and turns crushed expectations into burning hearts, pointing us back to Bible study, the Holy Spirit’s guidance, and a living hope that reaches beyond Easter weekend.

If you’ve been searching for a clear Easter sermon, an “empty tomb” explanation, or a fresh way to read the four Gospels, press play and come up the mountain with us. 

Subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a review with the one detail from the story you can’t stop thinking about.

Come On Up is the radio ministry of The Mountain Cross in Waynesville North Carolina. To learn more about us please visit: TheMountainCross.com. 

Transcript

Welcome And Easter In Stereo

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Come let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, and we shall walk in his paths.

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Welcome to a special edition of Come On Up, the radio ministry of the Mountain Cross in Waynesville, North Carolina. Hi, I'm Pastor Carl, and this weekend we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Today we'll walk through that first Easter step by step from a 1969 book entitled The Life of Christ in Stereo. Author Johnston Cheney took a decade to combine the four Gospels, not leaving anything out or adding anything in. He also went back to the Greek and created his own faithful translation of the word. The result? The life of Jesus as a seamless story without the apparent contradictions. In fact, the four gospels actually complement each other very well. So let's look at that first Lord's Day from a vantage point you may not have considered before in a message we call Easter in Stereo.

The Angel Moves The Stone

Mary Sounds The Alarm

Mary Hears Her Name

Angels Tell Them To Remember

The Guards Get Bribed

The Emmaus Road Encounter

A Prayer For Burning Hearts

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It starts out by saying now the Sabbath was passed, and Mary Magdalene and the other Mary and the mother of James and Siloam, they they brought spices that they might come and anoint them, and the first day of the week at early dawn they came and certain others with them to see the sepulchre, bringing spices and ointments which they had prepared. This is kind of an introduction, this is kind of an overview. This is what we're going to look at when we zoom in. The ladies had planned to go to anoint the body with oil because he hadn't been fully prepared for burial. These women had followed Jesus and they loved Jesus and they couldn't just let him be put in the grave and left there. He had to be set right, and it's the least we could do to honor him. So it was their plan, all these ladies to meet Sunday morning after the Sabbath, because they couldn't get in on the Sabbath, but on the Sabbath they were going to meet there. How they were going to get in, they didn't know. But they knew they had to do it. And then we get a little specific here. And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone from the door and sat upon it. I just love that. It's just the angels came, he moved the stone, and then he sat on it. See, that moved the stone. That was really cool. And his appearance was like lightning and his raiment white as snow, and for fear of him those on guard trembled and became like dead men. You know, Jesus was a figure that was starting a lot of trouble in Jerusalem and in the Roman Empire. And the leaders wanted to make sure that nothing happened to that body, because they had he was followed by these guys that would do crazy things. They said he was going to rise again from the dead, so they may just steal the body and say that he was risen from the dead and then start an uproar and start a fight against Rome. Because that's what they thought. Their Messiah was going to come to defeat their enemy, which was Rome, and set up his kingdom. They didn't understand he was coming in two parts. The first part was to come and pay for the price of our sins. So the Roman officials wanted to make sure, and the Jewish officials wanted to make sure that nothing happened to that body. So when the grave was closed, it was sealed with the Roman seal. Anybody that breaks that without permission, and they put Roman soldiers on guard to make sure nobody got in there. And if somebody got in there and stole the body, what happens to the guards? They're out of there. So the guards are sitting there, and this angel comes and he moves the stone and he's sitting there. They don't know what to do about this. They are scared to death. They're scared, what is this? I've never seen anything like this before. And he just broke the seal and opened the tomb and the body's gone. We are dead. So they're scared to death in many different for many different reasons. And then the story continues. Now after Jesus rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven demons. You remember a couple weeks back we were looking at our study of Luke and Mary Magdalene, we talked about her. She was the first of a few women that were described as following after Jesus because Jesus had either healed them or cast demons out of them, but he had changed their lives. Lives of people nobody wanted to touch. And they appreciated it and they worshiped and followed after him, and they provided for him and the people and his followers. They made sure they had enough to eat, they made sure they had enough money for lodging. They took care of them and they watched out for them. And Mary Magdalene was one of the main ones. And she was the first one that Jesus appears to. So Mary came to the sepulchre while it was yet dark and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. She got there before the other ladies. They were playing to meet together, but she was the first one to get there, and she saw that the tomb was open. So she ran and came to Simon Peter and the other disciple whom Jesus loved. Back up, that disciple that Jesus loved is John. And he always makes it clear that, you know, Jesus loves me. And again, when you get to know the love of the Lord, you're going to say that too. Jesus loves me. I know he loves the whole world, but he loves me. And John reflected that. Now, Mary came and she talked to Peter and to Jesus, to John, and she said to them, They they took away the Lord from the sepulchre, and we know not where they laid him. He's gone. They took him. Who's they? I don't know, but it's they. They took him, he's gone. What are we going to do? So Peter therefore and the other disciple arose and went forth and ran toward the sepulchre, and they began to run together. But the other disciple outran Peter and reached the sepulchre first, and stooped down and saw the linen cloths lying there, but did not go in. John is so funny. We ran, and I ran faster than Peter. I beat him there. But Peter, being Peter, he went in before I did. Because you know Peter was act first and think second. I'm smarter than he is. I don't know why John says these things, but these are again something that shows the authenticity of the word. These are real people speaking from real perceptions, from real experiences they had, from real personalities that are written into the story. So Peter ran and reached the sepulchre and stooped down and saw the lit well. John saw the linen cloths lying there, but not go in. Simon Peter therefore came following him, and he went into the sepulchre, and stooping down he saw the linen cloths lying by themselves, and the napkin which had been around his head, not lying with the linen cloths, but folded up in a place by itself. What a strange scene. When you go to a grave, you expect to see a body in the grave. But the body is gone. And if somebody steals the body, they'll usually take whatever the person's wrapped in with them. They don't have time to unwrap and do all this. We gotta get the body and go. And what do they see? They see the linen there lying, and the linen, the napkin, they call it, that was wrapped around his head, was folded up real nice and put there. Somebody steals a body, you don't just make it real nice, do you? This is strange. They don't know what to do with it. They saw it, they go, wow, this is weird. Then therefore the other disciple also who had reached the tomb first went in. So John said, I decided to go in after all. And he saw and believed. What did he believe? He believed what Mary told him. He believed the body was gone. The tomb is open and the body's gone. Okay. I believe that, Mary. I believe what you said now. For as yet they did not understand the scripture that he might rise from the dead. He didn't believe the gospel because he didn't understand it yet. He believed the body was gone. This was evident. But he didn't get what was going on. So the disciples departed again and went to their abode, wondering what had come to pass. What happened? What is going on? I this I don't get it. And and and they're scared, and because you know, maybe the Romans think we stole them and they're gonna come after us next. It's just a nothing like this ever happened to them before. And they're going, what is going on? But Mary kept standing outside near the sepulchre. Mary went back with them. When they went back home, she stayed. And she was weeping. She was weeping because they stole them. How could they do this? If you lost a loved one and you went to the funeral, and they and you buried your loved one, and the next day you find out somebody had unburied them and took your loved one's body away. How do you feel? It's like you're violated. This is just you don't do that. Why what is going on? And she's tore up. She's hurting. And she stooped and looked into the sepulchre, and she beheld two angels in white there sitting, one at the head and the other at the feet where the body of Jesus had lain. And they asked her, Woman, why are you weeping? And she's so beside herself, she doesn't even notice that these are who are these guys? They weren't here a minute ago. They're like really white. I mean, I've never seen anybody with that kind of you know, clean clothes before. How how is that? And that they ask her this kind of question. She's so beside herself she can't think that these things are outside of the norm. She just answers them. She said to them, Because they took away my Lord, and I know not why they where they laid him. I'm crying because they stole him. And when she had thus spoken, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but did not know who it was. So Jesus either came in or he was just outside the tomb. And Jesus and she supposed him to be the gardener, and she said to him, Sir, if you bore him away, tell me where you laid him and I'll take care of him. I don't I don't I don't care why you stole him, I I just just show me where he is and I'll take care of him. It's okay. Just just show me where it is. And Jesus said to her, Mary. Like he always told her, Mary. Believe, Mary. I love you, Mary. You're healed, Mary. And turning about, she said to him, Raboni, which is to say, dear teacher. Something clicked when Jesus called her name. And she's she's she's excited, you're alive, my Lord. Jesus said to her, Do not hold me, for I have not as yet ascended to my Father. But do this, Mary. Go to my brethren and say to them, I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God. And Mary did what he said. Mary went and told those who had been with him, as they mourned and wept, that she had seen the Lord and he had spoken these things to her. But they, though hearing that he was alive and had been seen by her, disbelieved it. Now Peter and John had gone back and told the disciples too that the grave was empty. And they say, Yeah, okay, Mary, we know that the grave is empty. I mean, Peter and John saw it. But Mary, you you know you had seven demons, right? And no Jesus healed you and all, but sometimes you kind of have like residual kind of weirdness going on. Mary, Mary, come on. Okay, so it's the body's gone, somebody stole them. Okay, that's what happened. You'll be okay, Mary. Just go you just need to take a nap or something. Wow. Well, as this is going on, the other ladies finally make it to the tomb. Now, Joanna and Mary, the mother of James, and the other women with them, came to the sepulchre when the sun had risen, and and they were saying among themselves, Who will roll away the stone from the door of the sepulchre? For it was very great. Ladies, we know we need to be here, but we didn't think about the stone. Who's going to roll it away? But it didn't seem to be a problem, did it? When they looked up, they saw that stone had been rolled away. Then on entering the sepulchre, they found not the body of the Lord Jesus. But it came to pass as they were much perplexed about this, that they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white garment. So they didn't have enough time to get so freaked out about it. They're still trying to figure out what happened here. And right away they're met by an angel. And they were greatly amazed. And behold, two men stood by them in dazzling uh garments. So there are three of them there, three angels. And as they became terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, because they recognize, man, these guys are glowing like nobody's ever seen. These must be messengers from God. And they fell on their faces with the fear of the Lord. And what did the angels say? He says, Do not fear. Do not be amazed. Don't be perplexed. This is supposed to happen. For I know that you seek Jesus of Nazareth who was crucified. Why seek the living among the dead? He is not here, for he has risen as he said. Don't you remember? He said this had to happen. Remember how he spoke to you while he was yet in Galilee, saying the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise again? And they remembered his words. Oh yeah. It clicked. They understood what Jesus meant, and now it happened. And this was real. I mean, we knew Jesus was real, but man, he's real. He really is from heaven. These really are angels, and they're talking to us. And they're blown away. And then an angel said, Come, he said to them, See the place where the Lord lay, but go quickly and tell his disciples and Peter that he is risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you into Galilee, and there you shall see him as he said to you, Lo, I have told you. Look, here's where he was. You see how nicely folded his head scarf is. I'm with you till the end. But what happened? He denied the Lord three times. And boy, did he feel guilty about it. And now the body's gone. And you know, he can't make it right with the Lord anymore because the body's gone. When we lose a loved one, and we had conflict with that loved one, and that loved one dies. We have this emptiness inside us because we didn't have a chance to make it right. And Peter's feeling that same way. I really I dissed him bad. But the angel said, Tell Peter, he's alive. It's good. So they went quickly and fled from the sepulchre, for trembling and astonishment possessed them. Let's go, let's go. They don't there are all these emotions going on. But they're doing what he said. Neither did they say anything to anyone, for they were afraid. Near do they know what to say? They're so dumbfounded what happened. And they started to run to tell his disciples. But as they were on their way, behold, Jesus met them. And he said, Rejoice. They're scared to death, they're excited, they're scared, and Jesus rejoice. And they say, And they came and seized him by his feet, and they worshiped him. Lord, you really are alive. And Jesus said to them, Fear not, go tell my brethren to go into Galilee, and there they shall see me. And they returned with great joy, and they told these things to the eleven apostles, the eleven apostles and to the rest. And they all got excited, and they were like, Wow, it really happened. It's not what happened, huh? But these words seemed to them as idle tales, and they did not believe the women. Because that's what women do, right? They just talk about stuff. And they just they're on their own world, and guys, we need to recognize that in many ways, the women in our lives are much more spiritually in tune than we are. They can sense something is not right about a situation. We say, why not? I don't know, it's just not right. And nine times out of ten, they're right. These guys were taken care of by these women for three years. Or most a lot of that time. They knew these ladies. The Lord had changed them, and and they had great love and service and insight with the Lord. They still don't believe them. They still don't believe him. Meanwhile, the scene changes. And in the next page we we we talk. Now, as they were going, behold, some of the guard came into the city and reported to the chief priest all that had come to pass. These are the Roman soldiers that were at the tomb. And they come to the chief priest and say, Listen, it is because of you guys that we are set up here. And we are we're in trouble. If we report to our commanders that the body is gone, we're dead. And since you guys talked them into getting us here, you gotta do something about us, because we're gonna die. And they, when they had assembled with the elders and council together, gave the soldiers a large sum of money, saying, Say this that his disciples came at night and stolen away while you were asleep. Right, right, great. We'll take some money and we're dead next week. What's the money good for? What are you gonna do about it? They said, now if this comes to the governor's ears, we will persuade him and free you from trouble. We got some power. We got some sway. We got your back. Take this money and go. The story is the disciples stole the body. You got it? You guys are good. You guys are you can retire now. Okay? So they took the money and did as they were told, and this report is spread abroad among the Jews to this present day. People still say somebody just stole the body. Well, if you look at the facts, it doesn't line up for that. Then after all these things were revealed, uh after these things, he, Jesus, revealed them in another manner, as we saw in the opening video. And behold, the same day two of them were walking into the country, two of the disciples. Not of the twelve, but as the bigger grope that was was following after Jesus, to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. Now, if you're walking about five, seven miles an hour, it could take you an hour, an hour and a half to walk there. So it's not that far away. And that was just where they were staying. They were coming back for the rest of the feast. And they were talking together about all the things that had taken place, and it came to pass as they conversed and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near and walked with them, but their eyes were held from recognizing him, and he said to them, What are these things that you're discussing with each other as you walk with sad faces? Isn't Jesus just a hoot? What you talking about? Why are you so sad? One of those whose name was Cleopus answered and said to him, Are you the only sojourner in Jerusalem who's not known the things that have happened there in recent days? Have you no clue what happened? He's like saying, I know more than you know what happened. He said to them, What things? And they said to him, The things concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet, mighty indeed and word before God and the people, and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death and crucified him. Now we're trusting that it was he who would redeem Israel. He was he was obviously used by God, and we were hoping he was the Messiah, that he would redeem Israel, that he would save us from the Romans. But to top it all off, this is the third day since the things happened, and besides, certain women from among us astonished us who were at the sepulchre early in the morning and did not find his body, and they came saying that they had seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive. And some of those who went with us to the sepulchre found it so as the women had said, but him they did not see. Again, these ladies they have this story. We know the sepulchre was empty, but we didn't see Jesus. None of the guys saw Jesus. And then he said to him, to both of them, Oh foolish ones, slow of heart to believe all the things which the prophets uttered. Was it not needful that the Messiah should suffer these things and enter into his glory? Wasn't Jesus supposed to come and die for the sins of the world first? That was the first job of the Messiah. And beginning from Moses and all the prophets, he expounded to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. They had a Bible study on this walk. He just opened the scriptures. You remember in Moses? Remember the Levitical law? Remember the feasts? You know, these feasts were fulfilled. These feasts are still to be fulfilled. And he and he went through and he talked about the prophets and you know Isaiah, which was a picture of Jesus in many different ways, how he would be crucified, not one bone would be broken. He went through all of this with them. And then they drew near the village where they were going, and he made as though he were to go farther, but they constrained him, saying, Lodge with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is now far spent. And so he went in to lodge with them, and it came to pass as he reclined at the table with them that he took the bread and blessed it and broke it, and began to give it to them. And their eyes were opened, and they knew him. Something clicked. The Lord has done this before. He does it just He did it just like the Lord did it. And he's like, It's him! He really did rise from the dead. And as soon as they figured it out, he vanished out of their sight. Whoa! I don't know what to think about that. He he was here, now he's gone. Am I scared? Am I excited? So they said to each other, didn't our hearts burn within us as he talked with us on the road and kept opening up to us the scriptures? The Lord is so good to us, he's given us the word. But he hasn't just given us a Bible that we have to try to figure out on our own. He's given us the Holy Spirit as a helper, as the teacher to open the word to us. What do we need to do? We need to open the word, we need to read it, and we need to let the Holy Spirit teach us. And as we read more and more of the Word, we get more and more of excitement out of a fire in our souls to know Jesus more, to tell other people about Jesus. And then they went back in the middle of the night and they told the disciples, He is risen, He is risen indeed. We're not stuck in our sin anymore. There is hope for us. Our hope is in Jesus Christ. We're not narrow-minded, but we're realistic. Because there was no other way for our sin to be paid for. Because Jesus came at Christmas, and because he died and rose again at Easter, we have hope. We have forgiveness. We have new life when we accept the gift that he gives us. Amen. Father, thank you for Easter. Thank you for fulfilling your promises from the Old Testament. Thank you that you didn't give up on your creation. Thank you for our your love for us, Lord, and because you've given us so great love, we love you in return. We thank you, we praise you. We thank you for being with us this morning. We thank you for showing us more of you, and we pray as a result of what we've done here, that we'd have a great burning in our hearts to know more of you, that we'd dig into your word, that we'd learn from your spirit, that we'd be empowered by you to do great and mighty things, that others would come into the kingdom and join us as you take us into heaven. I believe you're coming soon. So we thank you and we praise you. Just thank you, Lord. You're so good to us. In Jesus' name. Amen.

Books Church And Film Night

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Well, we sure hope you enjoyed that account of the first Easter. Again, it came from a 1969 book written by Johnston Cheney entitled The Life of Christ in Stereo. Now, there have been a couple other adaptations of that book if you're interested. The Greatest Story, a unique blending of the four gospels, came out in 1984, and Jesus Christ, the greatest life in the year 2000. Both books followed Cheney's original concept of combining the four gospels into a single narrative. Look them up. The Mountain Cross is a group of believers in Jesus who seek to grow in faith by simply teaching the Word of God, verse by verse, chapter by chapter. We meet Sundays at the Smoky Mountain Cinema in Waynesville beginning at 10 a.m. And on the first Monday of each month, we feature a faith-based film during our Faith Film Night. And this Monday's film is the tenth anniversary presentation of Risen, which follows a Roman soldier who was given the task of finding Jesus' body after the resurrection. Kind of an impossible task, right? Take a listen to part of the trailer. I served the Roman Empire.

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I fought wars against those who did not believe in our gods. But nothing could prepare me for the truth.

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What was his name? It was called Yeshua. The man's dead, his followers are in hiding.

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I don't know how to believe it.

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Come celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the perspective of a skeptic. Risen back on the big screen Monday night, 6.30 p.m. at the Smoky Mountain Cinema in Waynesville. Learn more, of course, at themountaincross.com or at Faith Film Night on Facebook. We hope to see you there. He is risen. He is risen indeed. Thanks for listening to our special resurrection edition of the program. And be sure to come on up to the mountain with us again on Monday as we seek to learn more from the Lord through his word. Come on up is sponsored by the Mountain Cross, a Calvary Chapel fellowship.