Happy Easter, everyone!

He is risen, as He said!

Readings for Easter Day can be found here along with various commentaries on our Lord’s resurrection.

The Lectionary also offers us further readings, which follow, emphases mine.

First reading

Jeremiah gives the captive Jews comfort, relaying the Lord’s message that He would deliver them and restore them.

Jeremiah 31:1-6

31:1 At that time, says the LORD, I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be my people.

31:2 Thus says the LORD: The people who survived the sword found grace in the wilderness; when Israel sought for rest,

31:3 the LORD appeared to him from far away. I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.

31:4 Again I will build you, and you shall be built, O virgin Israel! Again you shall take your tambourines, and go forth in the dance of the merrymakers.

31:5 Again you shall plant vineyards on the mountains of Samaria; the planters shall plant, and shall enjoy the fruit.

31:6 For there shall be a day when sentinels will call in the hill country of Ephraim: “Come, let us go up to Zion, to the LORD our God.”

Epistle

Paul exhorts us to set our sights on heavenly things, for we belong to God through Christ Jesus.

Colossians 3:1-4

3:1 So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

3:2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth,

3:3 for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

3:4 When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory.

Gospel

Matthew 28:1-10

28:1 After the Sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb.

28:2 And suddenly there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord, descending from heaven, came and rolled back the stone and sat on it.

28:3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow.

28:4 For fear of him the guards shook and became like dead men.

28:5 But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified.

28:6 He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay.

28:7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead, and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him.’ This is my message for you.”

28:8 So they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples.

28:9 Suddenly Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came to him, took hold of his feet, and worshiped him.

28:10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”

Commentary comes from Matthew Henry and John MacArthur.

John MacArthur introduces the importance of the Resurrection:

… the greatest event in the history of the world, the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead. This is the great cornerstone of the Christian faith. Everything that we are and have and ever hope to be, all that we believe in is predicated on the reality of the resurrection. There would be no Christianity if there were no resurrection. Conversely because there is a resurrection, all elements of our faith are affirmed as true in every sense. The resurrection then is the cornerstone of our faith.

Recall that Matthew intended for his gospel to prove that Jesus Christ is the Messiah. Chapter 28 is Matthew’s final chapter, a short one, which gives us the story of the resurrection, the unbelief of the chief priests and the Great Commission:

¹⁶ Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. ¹⁷ When they saw him, they worshipped him; but some doubted. ¹⁸ Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.’

After the sabbath, as the first day of the week — Sunday — dawned, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb (verse 1).

Matthew Henry’s commentary tells us about the day itself:

(1.) He arose the third day after his death; that was the time which he had often prefixed, and he kept within it. He was buried in the evening of the sixth day of the week, and arose in the morning of the first day of the following week, so that he lay in the Grave about thirty-six or thirty-eight hours. He lay so long, to show that he was really and truly dead; and no longer, that he might not see corruption. He arose the third day, to answer the type of the prophet Jonas (ch. 12 40), and to accomplish that prediction (Hos 6 2), The third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight.

(2.) He arose after the Jewish sabbath, and it was the passover-sabbath; all that day he lay in the grave, to signify the abolishing of the Jewish feasts and the other parts of the ceremonial law, and that his people must be dead to such observances, and take no more notice of them than he did when he lay in the grave. Christ on the sixth day finished his work; he said, It is finished; on the seventh day he rested, and then on the first day of the next week did as it were begin a new world, and enter upon new work. Let no man therefore judge us now in respect of the new moons, or of the Jewish sabbaths, which were indeed a shadow of good things to come, but the substance if of Christ. We may further observe, that the time of the saints’ lying in the grave, is a sabbath to them (such as the Jewish sabbath was, which consisted chiefly in bodily rest), for there they rest from their labours (Job 3 17); and it is owing to Christ.

(3.) He arose upon the first day of the week; on the first day of the first week God commanded the light to shine out of darkness; on this day therefore did he who was to be the Light of the world, shine out of the darkness of the grave; and the seventh-day sabbath being buried with Christ, it arose again in the first-day sabbath, called the Lord’s day (Rev 1 10), and no other day of the week is from henceforward mentioned in all the New Testament than this, and this often, as the day which Christians religiously observed in solemn assemblies, to the honour of Christ, John 20 19, 26; Acts 20 7; 1 Cor 16 2. If the deliverance of Israel out of the land of the north superseded the remembrance of that out of Egypt (Jer 23 7, 8), much more doth our redemption by Christ eclipse the glory of God’s former works. The sabbath was instituted in remembrance of the perfecting of the work of creation, Gen 2 1. Man by his revolt made a breach upon that perfect work, which was never perfectly repaired till Christ arose from the dead, and the heavens and the earth were again finished, and the disordered hosts of them modelled anew, and the day on which this was done was justly blessed and sanctified, and the seventh day from that. He who on that day arose from the dead, is the same by whom, and for whom, all things were at first created, and now anew created.

(4.) He arose as it began to dawn toward that day; as soon as it could be said that the third day was come, the time prefixed for his resurrection, he arose; after his withdrawings from his people, he returns with all convenient speed, and cuts the work as short in righteousness as may be. He had said to his disciples, that though within a little while they should not see him, yet again a little while, and they should see him, and accordingly he made it as little a while as possible, Isa 54 7, 8. Christ arose when the day began to dawn, because then the day-spring from on high did again visit us, Luke 1 78. His passion began in the night; when he hung on the cross the sun was darkened; he was laid in the grave in the dusk of the evening; but he arose from the grave when the sun was near rising, for he is the bright and morning Star (Rev 22 16), the true Light. Those who address themselves early in the morning to the religious services of the Christian sabbath, that they may take the day before them, therein follow this example of Christ, and that of David, Early will I seek thee.

Henry tells us why the women went to visit the tomb:

2. Who they were, that came to the sepulchre; Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, the same that attended the funeral, and sat over against the sepulchre, as before they sat over against the cross; still they studied to express their love to Christ; still they were inquiring after him. Then shall we know, if we thus follow on to know. No mention is made of the Virgin Mary being with them; it is probable that the beloved disciple [John], who had taken her to his own home, hindered her from going to the grave to weep there. Their attendance on Christ not only to the grave, but in the grave, represents his like care for those that are his, when they have made their bed in the darkness. As Christ in the grave was beloved of the saints, so the saints in the grave are beloved of Christ; for death and the grave cannot slacken that bond of love which is between them.

3. What they came to do: the other evangelists say that they came to anoint the body; Matthew saith that they came to see the sepulchre, whether it was as they left it; hearing perhaps, but not being sure, that the chief priests had set a guard upon it. They went, to show their good-will in another visit to the dear remains of their beloved Master, and perhaps not without some thoughts of his resurrection, for they could not have quite forgotten all he had said of it. Note, Visits to the grave are of great use to Christians, and will help to make it familiar to them, and to take off the terror of it, especially visits to the grave of our Lord Jesus, where we may see sin buried out of sight, the pattern of our sanctification, and the great proof of redeeming love shining illustriously even in that land of darkness.

Students of the New Testament know that each Gospel writer has a slightly different take on who was at the tomb and the events that took place.

MacArthur’s sermons will take us through the differences and how they actually tie together. I won’t include all of them, so it is useful to read his sermons in their entirety.

This is what he says of the first day of the week, the Christian sabbath:

The Authorized version says, “In the end of the Sabbath, at the dawning toward the first day of the week” – and we’ll stop there. This is a very important note of time – most important. The little phrase “in the end of the Sabbath” is a unique construction in the Greek – Opse sabbatōn – basically the best way to translate it would be, “After the Sabbath.” In fact, it would not be unfair but very consistent to translate it, “Long after the Sabbath.” That little phrase then intends to say ‘long after the Sabbath’ to express the idea that a certain interval of time has occurred since the Sabbath. Now the Sabbath ended Saturday at sundown. So this is a long time after the end of the Sabbath. How long? The next phrase tells us, “At the dawning toward the first day of the week,” and again the Greek phrase used there is very interesting. In fact it again uses the word sabbatōn, again uses the word Sabbath, and what it literally says in the Greek is “at day one with reference to the Sabbath.” – at day one with reference to the Sabbath. Now the reason that is done is because the Jews did not name the days. They did not say Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, or anything like that. They simply named the days numerically with reference with the Sabbath. It was day one after the Sabbath. It was day two after the Sabbath. It was day three after the Sabbath, and so on through the week.

So, “Long after the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn on day one after the Sabbath,” sets the time for us. It is Sunday morning. Sabbath ended Saturday night. And now maybe ten hours have passed. It’s nearing dawning early on Sunday morning. This is the third day the Lord has been in the grave. He was there a part of Friday, all of the Sabbath and so many hours already on the Sunday until it began to dawn on the morning of that first day with reference to Sabbath …

We could even use that phrase “after the Sabbath,” I think, in a figurative way. For the Sabbath had been the special day of rest for centuries, literally since the creation. But the Sabbath that Jesus was in the grave was the last authorized Sabbath. So it was not only the end of the Sabbath chronologically, it was the end of the Sabbath covenantally. The Sabbath was not only over as a day, it was over as an entity. And it was the dawning not only of a new day but of a new covenant and a new celebration of that new covenant which would no longer be … at the end of a week of work but at the beginning of a new era. And that’s why we meet on Sunday, not on the Sabbath, Saturday. So it is the dawning of the third day, the day of resurrection.

All the Gospel writers agree on that, even if they do not express it in the same way.

MacArthur discusses the women, which is where the accounts differ:

These women love the Lord Jesus Christ more than they love anyone. And women, as you know, have a tremendous capacity to love. And I can only imagine how it would be when women could love as fully as women are able to love and love one who was without imperfection. These women loved uniquely.

They had ministered with Jesus in Galilee. They had attended to His needs. They had provided food and hospitality and even money and resources for Him and His traveling disciples as they carried on the Galilean ministry. They had descended the journey to Jerusalem for Passover with Jesus and His group. They had been there at the cross. They were there when He was buried. We saw them in chapter 27 verse 56 gathered at the cross. We saw them in verse 61 sitting opposite the tomb. And now they’re back again the morning of the third day. They are loyal. They are devoted. They are loving and they are sympathetic.

Let’s look what it says in verse 1, “Came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary.” That’s Mary the mother of James and Joses. Mary who was the wife of Cleophas or Alphaeus, this other Mary mentioned in the prior two verses of chapter 27. The two of them come to the grave. Now they’re not alone. Matthew just focuses on those two. Mark adds “Salome, the mother of James and John and the wife of Zebedee,” she was there, too. That, by the way, is in Mark 16:1. Luke in chapter 24 verse 10 adds Joanna, and Joanna was the wife of Chuza who was a steward of Herod. John only mentions Mary Magdalene but uses the plural pronoun ‘we’ in chapter 20 verse 2, so we assume that he, too, sort of saw all that group of women. So if you compare the gospels you get the whole group.

So here comes a group of women early … You say, did they come to see the resurrection? No, they didn’t come to see the resurrection. As many times as Jesus had talked about the resurrection, as many times as He had promised the resurrection, their faith could not handle that. They couldn’t accept it. They couldn’t understand it. They didn’t believe it. You say, well why are they there?” It says in verse 1 they came to see the grave, not to see the risen Lord. They came to see the grave.

You say, well what’s the point of coming to see a grave? Well Mark tells us, chapter 16, “And when the Sabbath was passed, Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James, and Salome” – or Salome, however you want to say it – “had bought sweet spices.” No doubt the night before when Sabbath ended at 6:00, the shops might then open and they were able to buy some spices. Here they came in the morning, “to anoint Him. And very early in the morning of the first day of the week, they came to the grave at the rising of the sun.” Their purpose was not to see a resurrection. Their purpose was to anoint a corpse. You say, what was the point? Hadn’t He already been anointed? Indeed He had. In excess of 70 pounds of anointing substance had been put on His body, and He had had that wrapped in the linen with which Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus along with these women had so carefully anointed Him. They didn’t embalm and the body decayed very fast. In fact, the Jews had a tradition which comes into play in John 11, and that tradition was that at the fourth day the spirit left the body permanently because the body was so decayed and corrupted that the spirit could no longer recognize it. And that tradition comes into play because you remember the sister of Lazarus said to the Lord, “He’s already four days dead, by this time he stinketh.”

In other words, it’s too late to do anything, the spirit is gone, the body is corrupt. And it may be that these dear women came on the third day realizing that had they come a day later there would be no way to minister to His already decayed and corrupted body. And so before it came to that, one last time they wanted to reach out in devoted love and sympathy to the one they adored. Even though He was dead, they wanted to show Him their love and respect and preserve His body if only for a few more hours. And more than that, demonstrate their deep love. So it was an act of compassion. It was an act of sympathy. The thing that was in their hearts toward the crucified Christ was loving sympathy and compassion.

Suddenly, there was a great earthquake as an angel of the Lord, descending from heaven, came and rolled back the stone and sat on it (verse 2).

There had been a previous earthquake at the moment Jesus died on the cross. The curtain in the temple was also rent in two at that point (Matthew 27:51).

Henry says this further demonstrated God’s power and Christ’s victory:

This earthquake did as it were loose the bond of death, and shake off the fetters of the grave, and introduce the Desire of all nations, Hag 2 6, 7. It was the signal of Christ’s victory; notice was hereby given of it, that, when the heavens rejoiced, the earth also might be glad. It was a specimen of the shake that will be given to the earth at the general resurrection, when mountains and islands shall be removed, that the earth may no longer cover her slain. There was a noise and a shaking in the valley, when the bones were to come together, bone to his bone, Ezek 37 7. The kingdom of Christ, which was now to be set up, made the earth to quake, and terribly shook it …

… The angels frequently attended our Lord Jesus, at his birth, in his temptation, in his agony; but upon the cross we find no angel attending him: when his Father forsook him, the angels withdrew from him; but now that he is resuming the glory he had before the foundation of the world, now, behold, the angels of God worship him.

… Our Lord Jesus could have rolled back the stone himself by his own power, but he chose to have it done by an angel, to signify that having undertaken to make satisfaction for our sin, imputed to him, and being under arrest pursuant to that imputation, he did not break prison, but had a fair and legal discharge, obtained from heaven; he did not break prison, but an officer was sent on purpose to roll away the stone, and so to open the prison door, which would never have been done, if he had not made a full satisfaction. But being delivered for our offences, to complete the deliverance, he was raised again for our justification; he died to pay our debt, and rose again to take out our acquittance. The stone of our sins was rolled to the door of the grave of our Lord Jesus (and we find the rolling of a great stone to signify the contracting of guilt, 1 Sam 14 33); but to demonstrate that divine justice was satisfied, an angel was commissioned to roll back the stone; not that the angel raised him from the dead, any more than those that took away the stone from Lazarus’s grave raised him, but thus he intimated the consent of Heaven to his release, and the joy of Heaven in it. The enemies of Christ had sealed the stone, resolving, like Babylon, not to open the house of his prisoners; shall the prey be taken from the mighty? For this was their hour; but all the powers of death and darkness are under the control of the God of light and life. An angel from heaven has power to break the seal, though it were the great seal of Israel, and is able to roll away the stone, though ever so great. Thus the captives of the mighty are taken away. The angel’s sitting upon the stone, when he had rolled it away, is very observable, and bespeaks a secure triumph over all the obstructions of Christ’s resurrection. There he sat, defying all the powers of hell to roll the stone to the grave again. Christ erects his seat of rest and seat of judgment upon the opposition of his enemies; the Lord sitteth upon the floods.

The angel’s appearance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow (verse 3).

Henry says:

The whiteness of his raiment was an emblem not only of purity, but of joy and triumph. When Christ died, the court of heaven went into keep mourning, signified by the darkening of the sun; but when he arose, they again put on the garments of praise. The glory of this angel represented the glory of Christ, to which he was now risen, for it is the same description that was given of him in his transfiguration (ch. 17 2); but when he conversed with his disciples after his resurrection, he drew a veil over it, and it bespoke the glory of the saints in their resurrection, when they shall be as the angels of God in heaven.

MacArthur tells us:

This is the glow of God. This is the Shekinah somehow transmitted from God to that angel, as it was on one occasion from God to Moses and shown on his face. Do you remember that in the book of Exodus? This angel, this one representative of God, this messenger from God possessed the very character of deity. And it emanated from his glowing face. Also it says, “His raiment” – or garment – “was white as snow.” And this is emblematic of purity, of holiness, of virtue.

MacArthur looks at John’s Gospel at this point:

So there is the angel. He descends from heaven. He came, verse 2 says, rolled back the stone from the door, sat on it. So these women who have walked through an earthquake arrive at the garden. They come into the garden and they see – they see the tomb is open. The stone is rolled back. Now at this point we have to digress to John’s gospel to insert what happens, because I believe this is the proper point to harmonize John’s special interest in Mary Magdalene. Mary was to the women what Peter was to the Apostles. She was impetuous. What happens here is fascinating. The women come into the garden and I think this is the best place to insert this, although we can’t be dogmatic, it seems to me to fit so perfectly here. When Mary comes in, all she sees with her rather myopic viewpoint is this hole and the stone is gone. And she doesn’t take note of this angel. And seeing that the stone is moved and the grave is empty is enough for her.

John tells us her reaction. Let’s look at John chapter 20. “The first day of the week comes Mary,” and then he notes they started out, “when it was yet dark unto the sepulcher and sees the stone taken away from the sepulcher.” Now apparently that’s all she saw. She missed the angel. She saw just that the stone was removed. And then verse 2, “Then” – without a delay – “she ran.” She took off. And she went right to the two most prominent apostles. “She went to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved,” which is John’s term used to describe himself. And the fact that it’s to Peter and to the other disciple, probably indicates they were in two different homes during this Passover time. We can’t be certain. But anyway, she ran to Peter and John to tell them. And what did she tell them? “They have taken away the Lord out of the grave and we know not where they’ve laid Him.” They’ve taken Him. They? I don’t know who they are. She didn’t know who they are – somebody. “Peter therefore went forth” – and so did John – “and they came to the grave.” Verse 4 says, “They ran,” and John outran Peter and arrived first.

The guards feared the angel so much that they shook and became like dead men (verse 4), implying that they fainted.

Henry says:

The angel sat as a guard to the grave, having frightened away the enemies’ black guard; he sat, expecting the women, and ready to give them an account of his resurrection …

… for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men, v. 4. They were soldiers, that thought themselves hardened against fear, yet the very sight of an angel struck them with terror. Thus when the Son of God arose to judgment, the stout-hearted were spoiled, Ps 76 5, 9. Note, The resurrection of Christ, as it is the joy of his friends, so it is the terror and confusion of his enemies. They did shake; the word eseisthesan is the same with that which was used for the earthquake, v. 2, seismos … They were posted here, to keep a dead man in his grave—as easy a piece of service surely as was ever assigned them, and yet it proves too hard for them. They were told that they must expect to be assaulted by a company of feeble faint-hearted disciples, who for fear of them would soon shake and become as dead men, but are amazed when they find themselves attacked by a mighty angel, whom they dare not look in the face. Thus doth God frustrate his enemies by frightening them, Ps 9 20.

But the angel said to the women, ‘Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified’ (verse 5) and ‘He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay’ (verse 6).

MacArthur explains:

You say, were the women afraid? Yes, the women were afraid but they were sustained by the angel himself. He gave no ministry to the unbelieving guard. He reached out as the agent of God to minister to these women … Where is Christ and what are you doing here? And so he explained to the women and this is what he said, “Stop being terrorized.” Stop being afraid. There’s no reason to be afraid. Now remember, Mary Magdalene is gone but the rest are there. She’s right now on her way running, trying to find Peter and John. Meanwhile the angel calms the fears of these ladies.

The soldiers had reason to fear when Christ arose. But those who loved Him had no reason to fear. So he says, “Stop being afraid.” And then this, “For I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified.” I know why you’re here. Wasn’t that a comforting word? Oh, he knows us. He knows what we’re coming here to do. That’s a comforting thing. “Yes, I know why you’re here, you seek Jesus” …

The Greek text says, “He was raised.” He is not here. He was raised. And the word is a word to indicate resurrection from the dead. There’s no question that He was dead. That’s why the soldiers who were experts at death didn’t break His legs. He was already dead. They thrust a spear into His side penetrating the sac around the heart and out came the blood from His heart and the water from the pericardium. He was dead. And lying in that tomb for this the third day – no question He was dead …

And then I love this, “He was raised” – it says – “as He said.” Isn’t that great? I mean, He just jolts them with the memory that this is exactly what He said He would do – on the third day, just like He said. And by the way, Luke 24:8 says, “And they remembered His words.” So that’s what He meant. So that’s what He was saying. And then the angels says, verse 6, “Come, see the place where He lay.” Then Luke 24:4 says that first angel was joined by a second angel, one at the head of where the body lay and one at the feet of where the body lay. Beautiful picture. Do you remember the Ark of the Covenant in the Old Testament on the top had the Mercy Seat where atonement was made for sin? And on both sides it had angels? And here with an angel on one side and an angel on the other side and Christ in the middle is the true Mercy Seat, where Christ is offered, the satisfaction for the sins of the world. And then John tells us in his gospel about these two angels being positioned there, chapter 20, I think it’s verse 12. And I see in that that emblem of the Mercy Seat.

Now, we need a clear explanation of the divine power behind the Resurrection.

MacArthur provides it:

He was raised. It’s an aorist passive. And the Bible emphasizes that He was raised by the power of the Father. Over and over again it says that in Scripture: Romans 6:4, Galatians 1:1, 1 Peter 1:3, a couple of those I mentioned to you. He was raised by the power of the Father. It also says, doesn’t it, in John 10:18, “I have power to lay My life down and I have power to” – what? – “take it up again.” So He was raised not only by the Father but He was raised by His own power. And then in Romans 8:11 it says He was raised by the power of the Spirit. “It is the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead.” So the whole Trinity is involved in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And the angel gives this incredible announcement, “He’s not here. He was raised.” The point is He’s alive.

The angel told the women to go quickly and tell the disciples that Jesus has been raised from the dead, He was indeed going ahead to Galilee, where they would see Him; that was the angel’s message to them (verse 7).

Henry has a marvellous analysis about the women, considered as weak creatures in that era, being given the mandate to give the men the angel’s message:

The women are sent to tell it to them, and so are made, as it were, the apostles of the apostles. This was an honour put upon them, and a recompence for their constant affectionate adherence to him, at the cross, and in the grave, and a rebuke to the disciples who forsook him. Still God chooses the weak things of the world, to confound the mighty, and puts the treasure, not only into earthen vessels, but here into the weaker vessels; as the woman, being deceived by the suggestions of an evil angel, was first in the transgression (1 Tim 2 14), so these women, being duly informed by the instructions of a good angel, were first in the belief of the redemption from transgression by Christ’s resurrection, that that reproach of their sex might be rolled away, by putting this in the balance against it, which is their perpetual praise.

Absolutely beautiful. MacArthur has nothing like that in his sermons, although he does say:

I trust that you will be the kind of person like those women. What you may lack in faith, you make up for in devotion. What you may lack in understanding, you make up for in loyalty. And God will confirm your weakness and turn it into strength, because you’re faithful enough and loyal enough to be where He is and where He’s moving and where He’s working. 

The women, with fear and great joy, left the tomb quickly in order to tell the disciples (verse 8).

MacArthur explains why Galilee was so important to Jesus:

Jesus said it in chapter 26 verse 32, “After I am raised up, again I will go before you into Galilee.” I’ll meet you all in Galilee. Galilee of the Gentiles, Galilee of the nations, where the Lord first ministered and first did His miracles and first redeemed souls and was first hated and rejected. Galilee, a microcosm of the world.

The fact that He would meet them and commission them to preach the gospel in Galilee was in a sense to say, “I want this to be a representation that you must go to the whole world.” It was a positive statement. Even as when Jesus came in Matthew 4:15, it says He came to Galilee as a light to the darkness, as light to the shadow of death. Galilee represented the world and the message of resurrection was to go to the world so the commissioning was to be in Galilee. And indeed it was as Matthew points out in verses 16 to 20, that great statement, “Go ye and make disciples, baptizing” – and so forth and so on. That was said to them, verse 16 says, in a mountain in Galilee. And Matthew’s gospel ends with that great commission, all those people gathered in Galilee and sent out with the message of the risen Christ.

Now that doesn’t mean that He didn’t appear to anybody in Jerusalem first, because He did. It simply means that the great commissioning would take place in Galilee. The Lord will lead you there and He will meet you there and there you will be sent to the world with the message. There were some appearances of Christ in Jerusalem before the meeting in Galilee. There’s no question about that. In fact I can give it to you very briefly. This is Sunday morning. In just a matter of moments He will appear to Mary Magdalene who will arrive at the grave. The women who have been there since she left are now on their way to the disciples. They’re going to be leaving. And as they’re leaving, Mary Magdalene and Peter and John are coming and He’ll appear to Mary. And later on He will appear personally to Simon Peter as Luke 24 tells us, and 1 Corinthians 15:5 also tells us He appeared first to Peter. So there will be a personal appearance to Mary because of her deep devotion and because she stayed by the grave. A personal appearance to Peter because he of all the disciples had seemingly defected the farthest and needed grace for restoration. And after that there would be an appearance to two disciples. Two disciples are on their way to Emmaus. And as they walk on the road to Emmaus, the Lord joins them, walks along with them, opens the Scripture, teaches them about Himself. Then reveals Himself to them in the breaking of bread.

So He appears to Mary in the area of Jerusalem. He appears to Peter in the area of Jerusalem. He appears to the two on the road to Emmaus outside Jerusalem. And then on this very Sunday night, all the disciples were gathered in the upper room and the Lord appeared to them. It says in Luke 24:36, “And as they spoke, Jesus Himself stood in the midst of them and said to them, ‘Peace be unto you.’” And they were terrified and frightened and thought they’d seen a spirit. So He appeared to Mary. He appeared to Peter. He appeared to two unnamed disciples on the road to Emmaus in the afternoon. And by evening He appears to the eleven disciples gathered together. In fact there were only ten at that time, who was missing? Thomas. And eight days later the Scriptures tell us, John chapter 20 verses 26 to 29, He appeared again in the upper room, this time Thomas was there, and Thomas when he saw Him said, “My Lord and My God.” So there were several appearings to the disciples in Jerusalem.

But the great appearing in which there was a great commissioning occurred in Galilee. And even after that, He appeared to Apostles prior to His ascension. And every time He appeared to them, it says in Acts 1, He spoke of things pertaining to the kingdom of God. For 40 days, from resurrection to ascension, at varying intervals to varying groups of the disciples, He appeared. But the high point of all those appearances was the appearance on the mountain in Galilee where He commissioned them to preach the gospel to the whole world. And every meeting in Jerusalem prior to that was just a preparation for the great commissioning that would occur in Galilee. So the angel then says to the ladies, “He will go before you into Galilee, you’ll see Him there. I’ve told you.” And sent them off as if to say you have your orders. Mark 16:7 says, “The angel said, ‘Go tell the apostles and Peter.’” Peter most needed restoration. He most needed grace and forgiveness.

And so the women had come to the tomb with an emotion of sympathy. That had been turned into an emotion of terror and now the emotion of terror began to give way to a third emotion and that’s noted in verse 8 and that is the emotion of joy.

MacArthur continues with what was happening in the other Gospel accounts:

… when they got to the apostles and delivered their message, according to Mark 16:13, the apostles did not believe them. That’s important. And again it reaffirms the fact that they didn’t steal the body, because they didn’t even believe in the resurrection so why would they falsify it. Luke 24 also indicates the same thing, verses 10 and 11, verses 22 to 25. They weren’t even believing in the resurrection. So off the women go to find the disciples. When they find them they can’t even convince them that it’s true.

Now meanwhile, Mary Magdalene who has been finding Peter and John in another place is on her way with them to the grave. And they pass each other, apparently without seeing each other. The soldiers are still unconscious. The tomb is open. The angel is there. Peter and John and Mary Magdalene are returning to find out what is going on. Now turn in your Bible to John 20 and let’s see what happens when they arrive. Verse 4 says Peter and John ran together. “And the other disciple” – John never uses his own name. Always calls himself the other disciples or the disciple whom Jesus loved or the disciple who leaned on Jesus’ chest, something like that – “He ran faster than Peter. And he came first to the grave.”

Now John was somewhat timid. He was faster than Peter but he was also a little more timid. And he just stooped down and looked in. He didn’t go in. He just kind of stooped and looked. And he saw the linen clothes lying there, but he didn’t go in. See, he hasn’t got any information except that Mary says somebody took the body. And he looks in and all he sees are the grave clothes and he can’t figure out immediately what’s happening. And he’s a little bit tense about just bursting into a grave. And I can understand that. And then comes Simon Peter. And Peter doesn’t know any of that kind of sensitivity. He just blasts into the grave – right by John, may have almost knocked him down. And he saw the linen clothes lying there and the cloth that was about His head, not lying with the linen clothes but wrapped together in a place by itself. In other words, indicating that there had been no struggle at all but that Christ had just left in perfect peace and quiet.

Then after Peter went in and sort of broke the barrier a little, “Then went in the other disciple who came first to the sepulcher and he saw and” – what? – “and believed.” He had such a heart of faith. Didn’t he? Peter’s probably got a million questions and John goes from curiosity to faith that fast. He believed. For as yet, up to this point, they hadn’t even known deep in their hearts the Scripture that He must rise again from the dead. They didn’t even understand that. Oh, they heard him say it. It didn’t compute; it didn’t register. You see, they were unwilling to allow Jesus to even say He was going to die, therefore they blocked out of their minds that He might rise again.

But John believed; and Peter questioned. And verse 10 says, “They went away again to their own home.” They went back to try to figure it out. They didn’t seem to want to do any investigation. They didn’t seem to want to chase around and find out what foul play might have occurred, they just left. But typically verse 11 says Mary didn’t leave. Ever and always the devoted follower, always seeming to linger past everyone else, at the cross, at the burial, and here. And so she was weeping and she stooped down, and it mentions stooping down all the time because the entrance would be very low. And it would be necessary if you were to go to that place now where they believe the grave of the Lord has been discovered, you would find you have to stoop to get into that little entrance. She finally stooped down and looked into the sepulcher and she sees two angels in white, the one at the head, the other at the feet where the body of Jesus has lain. These two angels are still there.

“And they said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping?’ She said to them, ‘Because they have taken away my Lord and I know not where they have laid Him.’” Now we don’t know who ‘they’ is and she didn’t know who ‘they’ was. She just said somebody has taken Him. “And when she had thus said she turned herself back” – now I don’t know what was going on in her mind other than that she was so sorrowful, she didn’t realize she was talking to two angels. That ought to sort of wake you up to something. She looks in and here are two angels, and they talk to her and she acts like this is normal. “Well somebody took Him away and I don’t know where they put Him.” Her spiritual perception and her ability to understand what’s going on is overpowered by her sorrow.