The Empty Tomb. Luke 24:1-12 The Lord Jesus Christ had told His disciples on several occasions that He would be crucified, buried, and then rise again from among the dead three days later. None of them, men or women, believed what He said, except perhaps Mary of Bethany, who anointed His body “for the burying” several days in advance of the burial of His body. The Jews wanted a sign from heaven to affirm that Jesus was who He said He was, and He told them that, just as Jonah was in the whale for three days and nights, His body would be in the earth for three days and nights.
The first twelve verses of this chapter give historical evidence of the physical resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. The latter verses focus on the results of His resurrection and its impact on faith and doctrine. There are several key facts for us to consider when we recognize the significance of the resurrection of our Lord and its fundamental role in Christian doctrine. Its acceptance and impact on individuals is the difference between everlasting life and everlasting damnation. “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thy heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”
The church, the body of Christ in the world today, is wholly based on the fact that Jesus is alive and coming again. Counterfeit Christianity questions the literal bodily resurrection of Christ. Those who do so are not true Christians and are not members of his body. True believers are identified by the testimony of baptism in which they died, were buried, and rose again in Christ to walk a new life with Him. The activities of a local assembly are motivated by the fact that our Lord has pledged Himself to be in the midst of His people when they gather together in His name. Nations that have influenced genuine Christianity have had the privilege of moral laws to guide their conduct because of a living Savior who blesses those who bless Him.
The four Gospels speak of the resurrection of Christ, each presenting a slightly different account, yet each contributes to the overall narrative of the event. They all speak of the burial of Jesus, which, first of all, makes plain the fact that Jesus really did die. Second, He was pronounced dead by the centurion, and the guards around the tomb were there because His body had been seen being buried there. Third, there is no account of how Jesus rose from among the dead, but creation responded to the return of our Lord to His glorified body by shaking with a violent earthquake as He again indwelt it.
Normal human limitations did not restrict the movements of His body, so He could move from place to place without the constraints of time and appear wherever He chose, without the constraints of physical barriers. The angels did not move the stone away to let the Lord Jesus Christ out, but so that people could see for themselves that the tomb was empty. The Holy Spirit did not put down in writing what happened or how it happened when the Lord left the tomb, because that would only create curiosity and confusion about the fact that He is alive in the body and was seen by hundreds of people before ascending to heaven forty days later.
One important thing we must ensure in a Gospel message is that we believe in and personally know the living Lord Jesus Christ. He did rise and was seen by many witnesses after His resurrection. He talked with people, taught them, ate with them, and was able to be touched physically by them, so He is not a mere ethereal spirit form. The evidence of His resurrection is unmistakable in physical, emotional, and spiritual ways. Jesus is Alive!
The women who came to the tomb “very early in the morning” were obviously expecting to see a dead body, not a risen Savior. Mary Magdalene, Mary, the mother of James, Joanna, the wife of Chuza, who was Herod’s steward, and Salome, the mother of James and John, brought spices and perfumes they had previously prepared. They expected there would be some way or some people who would move the stone so they could add their physical evidence of their appreciation of the Lord to the myrrh and aloes Nicodemus had brought.
Expressions of gratitude and thanksgiving for God’s grace to us are always appropriate. To give tangible evidence of appreciation for our Lord Jesus Christ for who He is and what He has done is always a privilege for the people of God. “Whoso offers praise, glorifies God.” There are many ways to express our heartfelt worship of God. “Gracious God, we worship Thee; Reverently we bow the knee; Jesus Christ our only plea; Father we adore Thee. Vast Thy love, how deep, how wide, In the gift of Him who died; Righteous claims all satisfied; Father we adore Thee!”
Heaven was moved when Jesus returned to His body. Angels were sent to testify to His resurrection. One rolled away the stone and sat on it. No wonder the guards, who were lying flat on their faces like dead men, didn’t dare move. They felt the earthquake, saw the angels in shining garments, and were paralyzed with fear. Following through the narrative as it is written in the four Gospels indicates that Mary Magdalene came to the grave before the other women got there. She ran to tell the disciples that Jesus was alive, but they wouldn’t believe her.
However, Peter and John ran to see for themselves and saw the grave clothes in their position when Jesus was buried. Even the face cloth was in a distinct place by itself, as if it were still on the face of Jesus. They left, wondering at the empty tomb, but not confident that the Lord Jesus was alive. When the other women arrived, the two angels outside the tomb told them that the Lord had risen, as He had said months before in Galilee. They believed He was alive and remembered what He had said.
How important it is to have the word of God in our hearts! At the appropriate time and place, the Spirit of God can bring to our minds and hearts what we have read, and our faith is made strong. We may never know in what circumstance or conversation the words we read from the Bible, which we have meditated upon for a long time, will be just the words needed to suit the situation. Perhaps it was one or more of those women who passed on to Luke, several years later, the exact words in the very same way and in a manner appropriate to the context in which they were given. Luke then wrote down carefully the words of eyewitnesses so Gentiles would “know the certainty of those things, wherein [they] were instructed.” They would be assured that what they had believed was true and authenticated by people who were actually there when Christ rose from among the dead.
Peter and John had run to the tomb, entered it, and left without being convinced of Jesus’ resurrection. Mary Magdalene took the whole event to her heart and didn’t leave. She was weeping because she wasn’t sure He was alive until the Lord Jesus Christ personally spoke to her by name. We gained some insight into essential facts during that brief meeting. We are known by name to our risen Lord. He knows how we feel and what is happening to us personally. He has plans for us that He expects us to act upon and fulfill as we speak to other people about our risen Lord and Savior.
On the way back into the city, the Lord also appeared to the other women and told them to tell the other disciples what they had seen and heard. Even then, the eleven did not believe what the women had said, because it was so far removed from their own mindset and frame of reference. Unless one’s heart is moved and one can act in faith on what God says, everything will remain dark and unsure, because unbelief blinds people's minds. It wasn’t until Peter told them what he had seen and heard that they accepted that Jesus had risen from the dead. The Lord Jesus talked with Peter before he went back with the other disciples. It was after that He appeared to them as a group.
People today who even claim to be Christians do not expect to see Jesus as a literal person risen from the dead. His disciples didn’t, even though He had told them personally that He would rise from the dead on the third day. When we are sure that something is true, our faith strengthens and emboldens us, even though others have doubts. Believers today are certain that Jesus rose from the dead and is alive today. We speak to Him in words, knowing by faith that He hears us. He speaks to us in the written words of the Bible, and the Holy Spirit assures us in our own spirit that what He says in the scriptures is really true for us. He intends for us to take what He teaches us literally.
Women were there at the beginning of the life of the Lord Jesus Christ when He was wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. Women were there when He died and saw Him wrapped in linen clothes lying in a tomb. Women were the first to see Him after His resurrection and had no real hesitation in believing it was truly Him because they believed what He said. Women are generally more attentive to words and seem to understand what is said in a conversation more quickly than men. Peter saw the empty tomb and was amazed, but it was when the Lord “was seen of Cephas” that he was totally convinced and became submissive to his Lord.
Our Lord Jesus Christ never demeaned women in any way. He never spoke disparagingly to them or of them. He never implied they were lesser people in any way, and He took what they said and did seriously. He taught them in the same manner as He did the male disciples, and He did not patronize them, flatter them, or make any superficial remarks about women. He accepted them without a self-conscious attitude toward them because He wasn’t trying to impress them. The angels spoke to the women in the same words that Jesus had spoken to them, “and they remembered His words.”
Because of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, we know that redemption, not disaster, is what is ahead of us. His precious blood has redeemed us, and the redemption of our frail mortal bodies will be redeemed and changed when we are resurrected. “With the light of the resurrection, when our changed bodies glow, and we gain the full perfection of the bliss begun below; When the life the flesh obscureth in each radiant form shall shine, And the joy that aye endureth Flashes forth in beams divine.”
Death has been conquered by the One who laid down His life and took it again. “Because He lives, we shall live also.” Witnessing Christians worldwide is stronger than fearing death. At the Lord’s Supper, we remember Him who died for us and is alive forevermore. He died as the Victor over sin and death by dismissing His own spirit, and as a Victor rose in triumph over the last enemy – death and the grave. The resurrection of Christ gives us the reason to live and witness today, as well as providing us with a sure hope for the future. Because of His resurrection, we know the kingdom of God is real, functioning, and progressing as our Lord intends. The power that brought our Lord Jesus Christ from among the dead is given to us today to testify for Him to those who are lost in this present evil world. That same power will resurrect our bodies from the grave when the shout of the rapture is given. True believers are all united and inspired by the fact that our Savior, who died for our sins, lives for us today at the right hand of God!