Transcript

Years ago, a prominent minister in Los Angeles was holding special gospel meetings in his church. Among those attending night after night was a gentleman obviously unacquainted with the program.

After a few meetings the preacher made a special point of speaking to him, and discovered that he was not a believer.

“What do you think of Christianity?” the preacher asked. “Oh,” said the visitor, “Christianity is very interesting as far as it goes, but I could never be a Christian.”

“Why?” asked the minister. “Because I could never believe that I could get salvation from a dead Jew,” was his reply. “Neither do I,” said the preacher.

“Oh, yes, you do,” he said. “Don’t you Christians claim that salvation comes through the death of Christ?”

“Yes, but not through His death alone,” said the preacher, “but also because Christ rose from the dead. He is not a dead Jew. He’s a living Savior.”

The visitor said, “Ah, you can never prove that to me.” That began a long and interesting discussion. The preacher brought up argument after argument for the resurrection, even the fact that Christ appeared to 500 people at once after He arose.

But all to no avail. The gentleman held to his position. Realizing that his arguments had failed to convince him, the preacher said this:

“But I have not given you my most important reason for the resurrection. I know that Christ is living because He lives in me.”

“What do you mean by that?” asked the man. For the next hour the preacher told what Christ meant to him, and how He had changed His life. Before they parted they agreed to meet again and they prayed together.

Reaching his home that night, the minister, Pastor A. H. Ackley, slipped into his study and penned some well-known lines.

The next morning he set them to music, and thus was born one of our best-known gospel songs, which so well emphasizes the fact and truth that “He lives”:

Pastor Ackley wrote this: “I serve a risen Savior, He’s in the world today; I know that He is living, whatever men may say; I see His hand of mercy, I hear His voice of cheer, And just the time I need Him He’s always near.

“He lives, He lives, Christ Jesus lives today! He walks with me and talks with me along life’s narrow way. He lives, He lives, salvation to impart! You ask me how I know He lives? He lives within my heart.”

John 20:1-2: “The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre.

“Then she runneth, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them, They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid Him.”

Desiring to complete the job that was done in haste on the eve of the Sabbath, Mary Magdalene came early on Sunday morning to anoint the Lord’s body.

Mark 16:9 says of Mary, “Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom He had cast seven devils.”

Mary had been possessed by seven demons. But the Lord in His mercy, and because of His authority over them as their Creator, He cast those seven demons out of her.

Because of her gratitude to Him for delivering her from the bondage of Satan, from that point on, she was completely devoted to Christ to follow and serve Him.

She’s a reminder to us how, we too, having been delivered by Christ from the bondage of sin and from Satan’s kingdom of darkness, how we should, like Mary, follow and be devoted to our Savior simply out of a deep gratitude for our deliverance.

Magdalene wasn’t Mary’s last name. Instead being called Mary Magdalene tells us where she was from. Mary was from a village called Magdala in Galilee, which was located on the shores of the Sea of Galilee.

After feeding the 4000, it says of the Lord in Matthew 15:39: “And He sent away the multitude, and took ship, and came into the coasts of Magdala.”

Being from this village of Magdala, Mary was a Magdalene. It’s like us who live in Wisconsin, how we are called Wisconsinites.

Mary followed the Lord to the Cross. She watched both from a distance, and she also came close to the Cross with the Lord’s mother.

With Mary the mother of Joses, Mary Magdalene watched when the Lord was being prepared for burial and she saw where He was buried.

Then she came to the tomb early on Resurrection morning with other women, as Mark 16:1 says: “And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint Him.”

As Mary Magdalene came early to the tomb “when it was yet dark,” she saw the disc-shaped, heavy stone that sealed the entrance in an odd position.

The stone was round and flat. It would fit into a groove or gutter along the front of the tomb and could be rolled across the door to close it.

In describing the position of the stone that Mary saw that morning, the Greek word that “taken away” is translated from is “airo,” which means “to carry off or carry away with one.”

The stone was not close to the tomb’s entrance, it was TAKEN AWAY from the entrance, so far away it looked like someone took it, by picking it up and carrying it away.

The position of the stone makes it clear to all of us that this was a supernatural event and is a proof that Christ rose from the dead.

In verse 1, we find that she sees the stone taken away. Luke 24:3 tells us that she “entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus.”

And finding that the Lord’s body wasn’t there, it is at this point that Mary immediately takes off to run to tell the disciples, leaving the other women in the empty tomb.

John only deals with Mary Magdalene and not the other women. But Luke tells us how, after Mary left, the angels appeared to the other women and gave them the blessed message that Christ was risen, “just as He said.”

Mary runs and finds Peter and John. Probably still breathless from running there, she tells them the startling news: “They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid Him.”

The words “taken away” in verse 2 is translated from the exact same word as describing the position of the entrance stone. She told the disciples that someone carried off, carried away the Lord’s body from the tomb.

The reason she ran to tell the disciples was that she thought someone stole the Lord’s body, or took the body and moved it to another location. It didn’t cross Mary’s mind that Christ might have risen from the dead.

The word “they” is not defined. She might’ve been thinking the Romans took His body, or perhaps was thinking of the enemies of the Lord, the Jewish religious leaders.

The interesting thing is these Jewish leaders would later accuse the disciples of stealing the Lord’s body, and Mary’s thought was the Jewish leaders had stolen the Lord’s body. Everyone was pointing fingers, when the truth was that He was alive!

John 20:3-8: “Peter therefore went forth, and that other disciple, and came to the sepulchre. So they ran both together: and the other disciple did outrun Peter, and came first to the sepulchre.

“And he stooping down, and looking in, saw the linen clothes lying; yet went he not in. Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and went into the sepulchre, and seeth the linen clothes lie,

“And the napkin, that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself. Then went in also that other disciple, which came first to the sepulchre, and he saw, and believed.”

Before we explain these verses, there’s a couple things we need to discuss about how Christ was buried. First, regarding the Lord’s graveclothes, John 19:39-40 tells us,

“And there came also Nicodemus…and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound weight. Then took they the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury.”

The Jews manner for burial was for the body to be wound very tightly in clean, white linen strips of cloth. Spices were mixed in between the various wraps to help cover the odor of the decaying body.

One of the spices they used was myrrh when wrapping the body. Myrrh was a sticky substance which would adhere closely to the body and to the graveclothes so that they would not unravel and would stay tight around the body. The linen clothes were then wrapped around the body a few times in layers and would be wound up to the head.

The head was wrapped separately, turban fashion, often with a flap that could be folded back so the face could be seen during the days of mourning.

When Christ raised Lazarus, John 11:44 reads, “And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin.”

After the body preparation was complete it made a cocoon-like wrapping around the body which would weigh approximately 100-120 pounds.

Second, the Lord’s body was placed in a solid rock tomb. Matthew 27:60 states that the Lord’s body was placed in a tomb which had been “hewn out in the rock.”

John 19:41 reads, “Now in the place where He was crucified there was a garden; and in the garden a new sepulchre, wherein was never man yet laid” (John 19:41).

This passage tells us that the sepulcher where the Lord’s body was laid was a new tomb, “in which was never man yet laid,” that the tomb was in a garden, and that it was near to the place where Christ was crucified.

And from the rock tombs that still exist in Jerusalem, we learn that the entrance to these tombs usually had an entrance of around four feet high.

In John’s gospel record, such as in verse 3 here, John referred to himself as “that other disciple,” and in other similar ways.

In verses 3 and 4, we learn that Mary’s news about the missing body caused Peter and John to head out immediately, and they both ran to the tomb. This was a day for running!

John may have been a little younger than Peter, or at least faster, or perhaps smarter if he knew a shortcut, but regardless of how or why, John makes it very clear that he outran Peter and came FIRST to the tomb in the garden.

This is something that John mentions twice in these verses. He says it again in verse 8. I’m not sure, but this may be a guy thing. We like to race and we like to be first.

In verses 5 and 6, we find that when John got to the tomb, he approached it reservedly and cautiously. With the low 4-foot entrance of the tomb, John stooped down and looked in. He “saw the linen clothes lying; yet went he not in.”

Likely because he considered the defilement under the law caused by touching a dead body and entering a grave, this made him pause. He was sensitive to God’s Word.

Verse 5 says that John “SAW the linen clothes lying.” The Greek word translated as “saw” here is blepo which means “to perceive by the use of the eyes.”

A good example of this word would be when a driver sees a green light at an intersection. You see the light, but don’t give it much thought. You know what you saw, you saw it accurately, and you go.

Likewise, when John looked in the tomb, he SAW the graveclothes and he knew what he saw and saw it accurately: he saw the graveclothes and he didn’t see Christ’s body, but he didn’t look long enough or close enough to see the napkin.

Then here comes impulsive Peter, coming in second in the foot race, but without any hesitation like John, Peter went straight in to the tomb.

And verse 6 says that Peter “SEETH the linen clothes lie.” The Greek word translated as “seeth” here is theoreo from which we get our English word “theorize.”

This Greek word speaks of giving careful notice, to consider, and view attentively. Peter went right into the tomb and right up to the grave clothes and stared at them and studied the scene, theorizing what could have possibly happened here.

When Lazarus had been raised by the Lord, he had come from the tomb wearing his grave clothes. But as Christ did not need the stone moved to exit the tomb, so He had no need to be unwrapped. In Christ’s glorified, resurrected body He was able to pass right through the grave clothes, and to leave them as an empty shell.

Peter stood there considering and theorizing how and why these linen clothes were lying there with no body, pondering why anyone would take the time to remove the grave clothes from the body? Or how the body was removed to leave an empty shell?

As Peter was taking in the whole scene, verse 7 says that he saw the “the napkin, that was about His head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself.” The Lord’s napkin or face cloth was folded neatly to the side separate from the rest of the grave clothes.

When Lazarus came forth from the grave it says, “his face was bound about with a napkin” (11:44). This napkin used for the Lord’s burial had been folded and put to the side. Everything was neat and orderly in the tomb.

Now again considering the theory that someone stole the body, why would a grave robber fold a face cloth? And why would grave robbers take the time to remove a body from the graveclothes? Leaving it in the spices would’ve been preferred!

The sticky myrrh which was used in the burial preparation would have caused it to be very difficult for the graveclothes to be removed and it would’ve taken time.

Peter saw the empty graveclothes empty, undisturbed in their position and form, with the headpiece neatly folded to the side. When Christ arose, He just stood up and passed right through them and left the empty graveclothes there as a proof that He was risen as well as giving monumental testimony to His physical, bodily resurrection.

And I love the folded napkin. The folded face cloth speaks to me of how the Lord wasn’t in a hurry when He arose. As God, He was in control of the entire situation. He took the time in that early morning to neatly fold this face cloth before He left.

In the quiet of that tomb, it’s a beautiful thing to picture the Lord folding that napkin. He did so as a proof of His resurrection. To me, that napkin is a picture of comfort that accompanies knowing Christ is risen and that we have sure hope in Him.

John now enters after staying outside the tomb for a moment and comes up beside Peter. And Peter and John stood there staring at the greatest miracle mankind and this world and this universe has ever known.

Then verse 8 says that John “saw, and believed.” The Greek word translated “saw” here is EIDOS, which means “to view with comprehension.”

In other words, the light came on, and he “got it.” Everything fell into place.

Seeing the evidence before him of the empty tomb, the graveclothes and the folded face cloth, John believed that Christ was risen from the dead. He knew and believed that Christ was alive before he ever saw Him.

Peter saw more than John did in his first glance, but then John saw more than Peter after he looked again. Peter had more sight, but John had more insight.

He saw the meaning, and was convinced Christ rose from the dead. And I like to think that John turned to Peter and whispered, “Peter, He’s alive.”

John 20:9-18: “For as yet they knew not the scripture, that he must rise again from the dead. Then the disciples went away again unto their own home.

“But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping: and as she wept, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulchre, And seeth two angels in white sitting, the one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain.

“And they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She saith unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him. And when she had thus said, she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus.

“Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away.

“Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master. Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.

“Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that he had spoken these things unto her.”

Even after a long period of teaching by the Lord and Him foretelling it, John wrote how they still did not understand that “He must rise again from the dead.” And they did not understand that Scripture prophesied that He would rise again.

John is showing here that their belief in the resurrection preceded their understanding that it was foretold in the Scripture. Thus, this shows that they did not manufacture a resurrection story to agree with messianic prophecy.

Overwhelmed, Peter and John then went back home to ponder all of this.

The first two words of verse 11 are striking, “But Mary.” The other 2 disciples went home, “But Mary.” The Lord had done a remarkable thing in her life and she remained grateful and devoted to her Lord even when she thought He was still dead.

Mary returned to the garden. Her grief and loss drove her back, along with being confused over His missing body. She was crying.

Standing outside the tomb weeping, she then stooped down and looked into the tomb, and she saw two angels clothed in white raiment. One was at the head and one at the foot of the graveclothes on the rock ledge where Christ’s body “had lain.” But not now!

The angels asked Mary why she was weeping. Evidently not knowing they were angels, expressing no fear or surprise, she simply repeated what she had told the disciples that someone had taken away the Lord’s body and she didn’t know where it was.

She then turned around and Christ was standing there, but she did not know it was Him. Like the angels, the Lord asked her why she was weeping and further asked her who she was seeking.

Mary was asked why she was weeping twice here, because this was not a day for tears of sorrow that accompany death. Christ was no longer dead. He was alive!

The tomb being in a garden, Mary mistook the Lord for the gardener, the caretaker of the garden. She assumed that being the gardener, He might’ve known or may have even been the one who took the body and so she requested custody of it if he had it.

Then the Lord said, “Mary.” And she knew that voice, and the moment He spoke her name, she immediately knew it was Him.

And it’s an overwhelming thought to think how some day, in glory, He’s going to look at me and say, “Kevin.” And He’s going to look at you and say your name.

Turning quickly towards Him, Mary said “Rabboni,” or “Master!” And out of sheer joy, she grabbed Him and embraced Him. She held on to Him fearing that she would once again lose Him. The Lord told her, “Touch me not.” The word “touch” here means to attach. Mary hugged Him, and “Touch me not” means “You must stop clinging to Me.”

She could not keep the Lord there with her for the time being, because as the Lord told her, He had to ascend to the Father, and thus, “You’re going to have to let Me go.”

The Lord sent her back with a message that He was to ascend to His and their Father and His God and their God. It’s a wonderful thing to think for believers that the Father is “my Father,” and He is “my God.” And we should refer to Him as this.

I believe the Lord ascended sometime on Resurrection day between the morning and afternoon, leading “captivity captive” or taking the Old Testament saints from paradise in the center of the earth to heaven (Eph. 4:8-10).

Now that His blood had been shed as the full and sufficient payment for sin, they were welcome in God’s presence in the glories of heaven.

And it is likely that what Colossians 2:15 describes took place at this ascension also: “Having spoiled [demonic] principalities and powers, He made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it.”

Mary was delaying the important work Christ had to do on this day. On this day, the Lord would also appear to the other women who had come to the tomb, individually to Peter in Jerusalem, to the two on the road to Emmaus, and to 10 of the 11 apostles in the upper room.

Following the Lord’s appearance to her, Mary obeyed the Lord and went to the disciples to tell them that she had seen the risen Lord and she relayed what He asked her to tell them.

William Sangster a deeply spiritual minister who helped guide Londoners through the horrors of the World War II bombings, fell ill to a disease that progressively paralyzed his body, and eventually his vocal chords.

On the Resurrection Sunday just before he died, he managed to scribble this short note to his daughter: “How terrible to wake up on Easter and have no voice to shout, ‘He is Risen!’ Far worse, to have a voice and not want to shout.”

What a privilege we have been given and what a joy it is to know and be able to say every day that “He is risen.”