The disciples, 2,000 years ago, had just experienced the worst week of their lives.
Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Solome had come with spices to anoint the body of Jesus.
“Who will roll away the stone for us from the door of the tomb?” God had taken care of it.
They got a front-row seat to seeing these angels at work precisely because they were busy serving their Lord. Because they were wanting to serve Jesus by anointing Him, they got to witness these things.
God always rewards faithfulness, and these three ladies were faithfully serving.
He is not here for He has risen.
God certified Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross as “Accepted—sin-debt paid in full for everyone would believe on Him.
Luke 24:3 when he tells us “But when they went in, they did not find the body”.
Peter and John had a race to the tomb, and according to the Book of John, John won.
Remember that Peter had denied that he knew Jesus, had denied Jesus
So often we limit ourselves in our relationship with God by keeping on looking back at our failures and shortcomings.
He saved us in spite of our shortcomings, not because we are perfect. And when we fail, we need to repent, ask forgiveness and move forward. Our salvation is based on Jesus’ righteousness, not ours.
He knew every mistake that we’re ever going to make and decided to save us anyway.
The undisturbed grave-clothes
John saw these “linen clothes lying” undisturbed, just as they had been when the body of Jesus lay within them, but now there was no body; the linen clothes were empty! Now just how would you get a body out of those linen wrappings without unwrapping them? And if you did unwrap them, just how would you get them wrapped back up in just the shape of a body?
Mary’s Lament-Turned to Joy
Mary was still distraught.
But the angels know something that she hasn’t figured out yet.
At the Birth of Jesus, there were all of these public-type announcements-angelic hosts, the Star of Bethlehem.
But the resurrection isn’t like that. It is very much an individual thing.
We see each individual working out in their mind what has happened, and coming to faith in their own way and by different means.
And it’s the same way today—Jesus uses all sorts of means to reach people today—all sorts of ministries to reach the lost.
The resurrection is a very personal thing to the believer.
We believe in who Jesus is, that he died for our sins personally and that he was raised from the dead.
We believe that God will forgive us and accept us as we accept His free gift and turn and follow Jesus
After the resurrection, Jesus was only seen by those people who loved him, only heard by people who longed to hear his voice, only touched with tenderness and love?
She immediately threw herself at Him, probably kneeling at His feet and embrace his knees which was a sign of deep reverential love.
After the resurrection, is the first time that Jesus refers to the disciples as brethren.
It is the Holy Spirit that facilitates our adoption as Sons of God:
Romans 8:15 15 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.”
John 20:19 So when it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.”
We are all born in sin, and we start out by default as enemies of God.
Because Jesus died on the cross and was raised from the dead, we can have peace with God.