Articles
He is Risen!
“And the women who had come with Him from Galilee followed after, and they observed the tomb and how His body was laid. Then they returned and prepared spices and fragrant oils. And they rested on the Sabbath according to the commandment. Now on the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they, and certain other women with them, came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared. But they found the stone rolled away from the tomb. Then they went in and did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. And it happened, as they were greatly perplexed about this, that behold, two men stood by them in shining garments. Then, as they were afraid and bowed their faces to the earth, they said to them, “Why do you seek the living with the dead? He is not here, but is risen!” Luke 23:55-24:6.
After our Lord and Savior has been killed and laid in the tomb, that belonged to Joesph from Arimathea, Luke tells us that they observed the tomb and how His body was laid inside. They were eyewitnesses to where and how the body of Jesus was placed inside the tomb. This alleviates the idea or thought that after His body was taken off the cross, it wasn’t seen again until He arose. We clearly see that He was seen inside the tomb. There would have been no denying who was there or if they were truly dead. And they go back and begin ready things ready to anoint the body.
In Matthew 27 we see the chief priests and Pharisees get together with Pilate to ensure that there was no way that anyone could steal the body and say that He had risen. Jesus had said many times ‘after 3 days I will rise.’ The Roman soldiers were masters of war. They knew death, so you could be sure that the spear would have been inserted into Jesus in a manner to be fatal and not wound. They would have known if a person was dead or not. They also would have known how to secure a site. So, there is no doubt that there was no way that anyone would be able to get to the body of Jesus without being seen or it being known.
I am always amazed as I read the Gospels that Jesus had told them over and over again that this would be no ordinary death. That just as Jonah spent 3 days in the belly of the great fish, so too will the Son of Man spend 3 days in the heart of the earth, Matthew accounts for us. Yet, we see that they were all surprised and scared at the sight of the empty tomb. In Mark 16:2 we see the women are talking amongst themselves and they even ask each other, “who will roll away the stone from the door of the tomb for us?” They were not expecting a risen Messiah, but a dead body to anoint with oils and spices.
I can only imagine what the talked about, if anything other than was recorded, as they journeyed to the tomb. Then the utter fear they must have felt as they look and see the giant stone rolled away from the opening. And without hesitation, it appears, they went in and didn’t find the body. It was gone! And as they are reasoning and trying to make heads or tails of what is going on, two men stand by them shining. And they ask the women a simple question, yet answer at the same time, answer the question of where is He? He is risen! Just as He spoke in Galilee on the 3rd day He arose! And in doing so, proved everything that He had said and claimed. This truly is the Son of God and can forgive us of our sins. They would return to the rest and tell of the things that they had seen and witnessed. That truly He was raised. That just as He was raised up on the cross, He too was raised from the dead to take His proper place at the right hand of God.
