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1 On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. 2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. ~ Luke 24:1-3
The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the single greatest event in human history. It is the cornerstone and foundation of the gospel. The message of all of the Scriptures, from the start to the finish is: death is not the end, it is merely the doorway into eternity. And everyone goes through that doorway and everyone lives forever. Those who reject the free gift of salvation through the Lord Jesus will spend their eternity in hell, and those who believe in the Lord Jesus will spend eternity in heaven.
It is no surprise, then, that the first lie of the Devil was that the disciples came and stole Christ’s lifeless body (Matthew 28:11–15), but it is difficult to imagine how they could have done this. To begin with, the tomb was carefully guarded (Matthew 27:61–66), and it would have been next to impossible for the frightened apostles to overpower the soldiers, open the tomb, and secure the body.
But the biggest obstacle is the fact that the apostles themselves did not believe that He would be resurrected! Why would they steal His body and try to perpetrate a hoax?
The message of the gospel rests on the death of Jesus Christ and His resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:1–8). The apostles were sent out as witnesses of His resurrection (Acts 1:22), and the emphasis in the book of Acts is on the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
This explains why Luke climaxed his book with a report of some of the appearances of the Lord Jesus after He had been raised from the dead. He first appeared to Mary Magdalene (John 20:11–18), then to the “other women” (Matthew 28:9–10), and then to the two men on the way to Emmaus (Luke 24:13–22). At some time later, He also appeared to Peter (Luke 24:34) and to His half-brother James (1 Corinthians 15:7).
That evening, He appeared to the apostles (Luke 24:36–43), but Thomas was not with them (John 20:19–25). A week later, He appeared to the apostles again, especially for the sake of Thomas (John 20:26–31). He appeared to seven of the apostles when they were fishing at the Sea of Galilee in John 21. He appeared several times to the apostles before His ascension, teaching them and preparing them for their ministry (Acts 1:1–12).
In v.1 of our text, we read, “On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb.”
It was a Jewish custom to visit the grave for three days after the loved one had died. But by the fourth day, since the body had well come into the decaying stage, the spirit of the person left. That's Jewish legend and superstition.
These women came with spices because they did not expect the resurrection. They do not expect to find an empty tomb. They do not expect to find the Lord Jesus alive. They came looking for a dead man.
Mary Magdalene arrives at the tomb first. The other women are somewhere behind her. John tells us that Mary Magdalene saw the open entrance and immediately left, she didn’t go into the tomb. She went directly to Peter and John, and she assumed that the body of the Lord Jesus has been stolen. The others come and discover the tomb as Mary reported.
According to Mark 16:2-4, “2 Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb 3 and they asked each other, “Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?” 4 But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away?’“
They had been there on Friday night when the Lord Jesus was laid in the tomb, and Joseph and Nicodemus rolled the stone over the entrance. They knew it was there and they questioned who would roll it away.
“And looking up they saw that the stone had been rolled away, although it was extremely large.”
In v.2 of our text we read, "They found the stone rolled away from the tomb." In addition, the tomb was sealed with an official Roman seal, not to be broken. And a Roman guard was placed in front of the tomb. But, when they arrived, the guard was not there. According to Matthew 28:2, “Behold, a severe earthquake had occurred.”
This was the second earthquake. There was one on Friday, equally severe, that split the rocks, and threw open tombs. “A severe earthquake had occurred, for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came, and rolled away the stone and sat upon it. And his appearance was like lightning, and his garment as white as snow, and the guards shook for fear of him and became like dead men.”
The angel did not roll the stone away to let Jesus out, he rolled the stone away to enable the people to see in. The Lord Jesus didn't need the stone removed to depart the tomb because He could walk through walls.
Mary Magdalene did not think for one split second of a resurrection. She assumed somebody had stolen the body of the Lord Jesus. After this, Peter and John ran to the tomb. And John arrives at the tomb first. The fact is we have eyewitness accounts of the resurrection of Jesus Christ with details.
To the disciples, the death of the Lord Jesus was disappointing. But, when it became obvious that He had risen from the dead, they realized that His resurrection changed everything. This explains why their lives were so different in the book of Acts. Only the resurrection of Christ enables us to see the genius in the cross of Christ.
