New Testament BIBLE STORY #35

 New Testament BIBLE STORY

#35

Especially written for children

Chapter Forty-four:

Jesus is raised to Glorified Life!

LADIES PREPARE TO ANOINT JESUS' BODY

     The two ladies both called Mary (Mary Magdalene and Mary 

the mother of Joses and James), told other ladies what they had

witnessed that evening of the 15th day. They told other ladies

where Joseph and Nicodemus had buried Jesus, in a tomb in the

garden of Golgotha. It was probably Mary Magdalene's idea to 

buy spices, prepare them, and come and anoint Jesus in the tomb.

     The anointing was a kind of preserving a body for a while,

so it would not decompose as quickly as not being anointed with

the special spices.  This shows that they never expected Jesus to

rise from the dead. Indeed none of the disciples were expecting

such a miracle to happen.

     It was now the annual Sabbath, the 15th of Nisan, the first

day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.  It seems none of the

ladies had in stock in their homes any of the spices needed to

anoint Jesus' body. They would have to buy them after the annual

Sabbath of the 15th of Nisan (which was a Thursday), was over. 

Friday, a work day, the second day of the feast of Unleavened

Bread would be the day they would purchase the spices and prepare

them. This they did, then rested on the weekly Sabbath (Saturday)

according to the fourth commandment (see  Mark 16: 1 with Luke

23: 56). 

     They were now all ready, very excited, with the thought of

rising very early the first day of the week, our Sunday, a work

day, and head for the tomb in which Jesus was laying and anoint

Him with the spices.

JESUS IS RESURRECTED!

     The ladies had bought and prepared the spices on Friday, and

they had rested the seventh day, in accordance with the fourth

commandment of God's great Ten Commandments. That Sabbath 

was now over, the sun had set, it was getting very close to three

days and three night, or 72 hours, that Jesus had been placed in

the tomb. Darkness was closing in, the stars were about to shine

in the heaven above. It was a pretty normal Saturday evening we

would say, for most people that is. But in that Golgotha garden,

and in one particular tomb, something was about to happen that

was far from normal, in fact it had NEVER happened before, 

in the history of mankind being on the earth. 

     God in heaven above, was watching over His Son Jesus in the

tomb where He lay. Jesus had died in complete FAITH that His

Father in heaven would, three days and three nights later,

RESURRECT Him from the dead, but not to just being once more 

a physical man, but to being GLORIFIED and made IMMORTAL, 

made eternal, having once more the GLORY that He had when He 

was with the Father before becoming a human being (that was made 

clear to us in Jesus' prayer to the Father during the night He was

betrayed - John chapter 17). No other human person who ever lived

had ever been made IMMORTAL!  Some had been raised from the 

dead, like when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, but not one single

individual from the time of Adam and Eve, had ever been made

ETERNALLY IMMORTAL. 

     The time had COME....it was now 72 hours since Jesus was

placed in the tomb. The Almighty Father in heaven said, "LET IT

BE DONE. LET MY SON LIVE AGAIN WITH THE GLORY HE 

HAD BEFORE HE BECAME A HUMAN BEING!!" 

     Glory FILLED the tomb where Jesus lay. The Father filled the

tomb with the POWER of His Holy Spirit.....and in one split

second, Jesus' literal body was made IMMORTAL!  Jesus opened 

His eyes. He was ALIVE once more!  He had been dead, had NOT 

EXISTED for three days and three nights. He had died in full FAITH, 

given His spirit over into the hands of the Father in heaven, and He

was NOW ALIVE again!  His body was filled with eternal GLORY.  

He now once more had the power and majesty to appear as flesh and

bone, and to vanish away into the unseen world of SPIRIT!  

     God and the angels live in a different dimension than we

humans do. We are ONLY physical. But God, Jesus once said, is

SPIRIT (see John chapter 4), meaning He has a Spirit body,

eternal and full of GLORY.  His world is a world made of Spirit.

The heavenly Jerusalem, and all it contains, with all the angels

and beings in that world that God has created (last chapters of

the book of Revelation) is made of Spirit. And is, unless

God chooses  otherwise, not able to be seen by the human eyes. 

God's face is like the SUN, and even more. We are told in the

Bible that Moses once asked God to show Himself to him, in His

GLORY form. God said He would show Moses His glory form, but

only His back parts, for God said to Moses, "Mankind cannot look

on my face and live" (see Exodus 33: 11-23).

     Then God can, if He so desires, make Himself into physical

matter, of flesh and bone. He can then appear to humans, talk to

them, eat a meal with them, have them touch Him. We see this in

the Old Testament, in such chapters as Genesis 18, where God

appeared to Abraham, even ate a meal with him. 

     Jesus was again alive, but alive with the GLORY of

IMMORTALITY. He was laying in the tomb wrapped all over 

with cloth, arms, legs, torso, even His head. No problem, in His 

now glorified state, He simply came through all the cloth around 

His glorified body, just in a sense walked through it all, or as we

might think of it today in our space age.....He beamed Himself

through it and beamed Himself back into physical form of flesh

and bone. He stood there inside the tomb, and glorified the

Father in heaven for His watchful love and power.

     It did not matter that the great stone was still over the

entrance to the tomb, and was sealed shut by the soldiers that

Pilate had sent on the request of the Jewish religious leaders. 

Jesus just "beamed" Himself, so to speak, through the walls of 

the tomb, and stood outside in His invisible form, the soldiers 

guarding the tomb, completely oblivious to what had taken place.

     There was singing and joyful praising going on by all the

angels and created beings in heaven. They were praising the

heavenly Father for His glory and His power. Jesus had overcome

SIN and DEATH. And Christ was the very FIRST of millions of more

humans that one day would also be raised to eternal IMMORTAL

GLORY!  Yes, this was a time to praise and give the Father great

glory.

     We are not told what Jesus did the rest of that night, but

then we are not told what Jesus did on many days (only some

events we are told) while still on earth after His resurrection,

and before going back to heaven to sit on the Father's right

hand.

THE LADIES COME TO THE TOMB

     From all the Gospel accounts we learn that specifically

planning to come to the tomb was Mary Magdalene, whom Christ 

had cast out seven demons. She was as we have seen one of His most

faithful followers. The other Mary was the mother James and Joses. 

Mark informs us that a lady by the name of Salome was with them. 

Salome was the wife of Zebedee, and the mother of James and

John. From Luke ( chap.14: 10) Joanna, wife of Chuza, Herod's

steward (see Luke 8: 3), was also with them.  Luke only mentions 

the two Mary's but says other women were there also.

    This could mean the women Salome and Joanna, but it could have

been possible that more than those FOUR women were part of the

party who were going to visit Jesus' tomb.

     The two Sabbaths had come and gone, the one Sabbath of the

15th of Nisan which was a Thursday, and the weekly Sabbath had

come and gone. The ladies had no idea that Jesus had risen from

the dead in the early hours of what we call Saturday evening,

which to the Jews was the early ours of the first day of the

week. Matthew says, "After the Sabbath, and as it began to

illuminate or grow light  towards the first of the week...."

(Mat.28:1). 

     Albert Barnes, in his famous Bible Commentary, explains it

all this way:

     "The word 'dawn' is not necessity in the originals. The word

here  properly means, as the first day 'approached,' or drew on,

without specifying the precise time. Mark says (16: 1, 2) that it

was after 'the Sabbath was past and very early in the morning, at

the rising of the sun,' i.e., not that the sun was risen, but that it 

was ABOUT TO RISE, or at the early break of day. Luke

says (24: 10), that it was very early; in the Greek, DEEP

TWILIGHT, or when there was scarcely any light. John (20: 1)

says, it was 'early, when it was yet DARK,' i.e., that is, it was

not YET full daylight, or the sun had NOT risen. The time when

they came therefore, was at the break of day, when the sun was

about to rise, but while it was yet so dark as to render objects

OBSCURE, or not DISTINCTLY visible" (Barnes' Notes on the 

New Testament,  single volume edition).

     Yes, the ladies had prepared the anointing preservative

spices before the weekly Sabbath, had rested on the weekly

Sabbath according to the commandment of the Lord, and could

hardly sleep all that Saturday night, waiting with great

anticipation the time when they would set off for the tomb where

Jesus lay. And as John clearly tells us, they were up and walking

to the tomb WHILE it was YET DARK, when people and objects

could not be well seen.

     Now, it would seem, as they were getting close to the tomb,

they started to realize in a practical way, that they would not

have the physical strength, even among all of them together, to

push away the great stone that covered the entrance to the tomb.

And besides that fact, there were soldiers guarding the tomb, how

were they going to get  permission to enter the tomb and embalm

Jesus' body.

     They discussed these two problems, what seemed then, as

impossible obstacles to their dreams and plans of showing loving

care towards Jesus. They did not know how they were going to

overcome those two hindrances to what they wanted to do, but they

kept their faith in knowing that somehow God would provide the

answer and make their loving deed come to reality.

     This is a wonderful example of faith in action, a faith that

could remove mountains, but this time in the specific, a faith

that could remove a huge stone and remove soldiers guarding it.

GOD HAD ANSWERED THE LADIES PRAYERS

     God in heaven saw the faith and love of those women. He had

made it all possible for them to be the first to see inside the

NOW empty tomb. It is Matthew who records it for us as it had

happened. Sometime BEFORE the ladies ever reached the tomb,

Matthew put it this way as translated in the KJV, "And behold,

there was a great earthquake; for the angel of the Lord descended

from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door,

and sat upon it. His appearance was like lightning, and his

raiment white as snow. And for fear of him the keepers did shake,

and became as dead men" (Mat.28: 2-4).

     The key here is the little word "was", the fourth word in as

given in the KJV. In the Greek this word is in the "aorist"

tense, meaning a single action done and completed in the PAST!

     What Matthew actually wrote and said was, "And behold there

HAD BEEN a great earthquake....."  

     Sometime AFTER Jesus' resurrection in the early hours of

Saturday evening or the first day of the week (as God counts the

beginning of days) and BEFORE the ladies arrived at the tomb,

while it was YET DARK, on that Sunday morning, of still the same

first day of the week, an angel from God had come down, the

soldiers fainted at his sight, and lay as if dead on the ground.

The angel then rolled away the stone to the entrance of the tomb.

All of this was done because God was honoring the faith and love

those women He knew were coming to the tomb that early, but dark,

Sunday morning.

JESUS IS NOT IN THE TOMB!

     The ladies were getting all uptight but excited at the same

time, as they were coming around the last corner towards the

tomb. When they turned this corner the tomb would be in front 

of them, but as they thought so would be the stone in the entrance

way and the soldiers guarding it all.

     What a SHOCK came across all faces, mouths dropped open,

eyes blinked twice and three times, they froze in their tracks.

     None could believe what they were seeing. None could speak 

for a few seconds. It was as if it was all a dream. Still no one saying

a word, they slowly moved closer to the tomb. Finally they

realized it was all very true what they were seeing....the stone

had been rolled away, the entrance to the tomb was OPEN, and the

soldiers keeping guard....well they were laying on the ground as

if they were dead men. 

     The ladies now looked at each other, puzzled, yes, having

joy in their hearts, yes, but also they were scared to some

point. For how on earth they thought and said to each other,

could this be possible. Then thoughts crossed their mind that

some men had already come, killed the soldiers, rolled away 

the stone to the entrance, and had stolen Jesus' body. Some, 

with this thought in their minds, fell to their knees and started to

weep in sorrow.

     It was all too much for Mary Magdalene, she could take no

more of all this. She had been faithful in staying with Jesus all

the while as He was being crucified on the cross, she had stayed

around when all others had forsaken and left Jesus dead on the

cross. She had waited and had seen that finally Joseph and

Nicodemus had come back to take Jesus down from the tree of

death. She had followed them to where they placed Jesus in this

tomb. She had helped prepare the embalming spices on the Friday,

had patiently waited through the hours of the weekly Sabbath. She

had risen while it was yet dark, on the first day of the week,

and was now standing here in front of the tomb. The stone had

been rolled away, the soldiers were as if dead men. Someone she

thought had come and taken Jesus out of the tomb and now no one

knew where they had lain Him.

     It was all just too much for this Mary. Running with tears

falling down her cheeks, away she went, back to Jerusalem, crying

her heart out. She ran and she ran, finally making it to where

Peter and the disciple that Jesus loved (which most believe it 

to be John who is relating this to us) were staying. 

     With tears streaming down her face, she said to them, "My

heart is breaking. I've been to where they laid Jesus in the

tomb. Someone has taken the Lord out of the tomb, and I am in

great agony of mind, for I do not know where they have laid Him"

(John 20:1-2).

     Peter and the other disciple could really not believe her.

They were thinking she was just too emotionally upset at all that

had transpired over the last three day. They were to Mary

dragging their feet as we might say. She could see they were not

really believing her. With another outburst of loud crying, she

turned and started back as fast as her legs could go, back to the

tomb. Maybe she thought, if she just waited at the tomb someone

would eventually come along who would know what had happened 

to Jesus' body and where it had been taken.

MEANWHILE AT THE TOMB

     Back at the tomb, where the other ladies were still in shock

and amazement, still very puzzled about what they were seeing and

what it all meant. SUDDENLY they saw, sitting on the huge stone

that had been over the entrance, the ANGEL of the Lord that had

come down previously and had rolled away the stone. He was bright

and glorious...they were at first very afraid, but the angel soon

calmed them down to a degree by saying to them, "Do not be

afraid; for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is

not here; for He has risen, as He said. Come, see the place where

He lay. Then go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen

from the dead, and He is going before you to Galilee; there you

will see him. Yes, I have told you what is truth" (Mat.20: 5-7).

     The angel said those words and then he was gone, just

vanished out of their sight. The ladies looked at one another

wondering if they really had seen and heard what they thought

they had just seen and heard. They were not sure, could it really

be true they thought. They decided they must enter the tomb and

see if Jesus was inside or was really gone. So inside they went,

looking around none could see the body of Jesus. Had they indeed

seen an angel? Did they indeed hear that angel say Jesus had

risen from the dead? The whole thing for them was perplexing.

Then as they were thinking and looking, behold SUDDENLY 

ONCE MORE......not just one angel, but this time TWO angels

appeared next to them, in dazzling apparel! They were frightened

out of their minds, and bowed their heads to the ground. Once

more they did not know what to think, by now it had all become a

little too much, their minds were in a spin. Then one of the

angels spoke:

     "Do not be amazed or frightened. Why do you seek the living

among the dead? You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. 

He has RISEN, He is not here; see the place where they laid Him.

Remember how He told you, while He was still in Galilee, that

the Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men,

and be crucified, and on the third day rise from being dead. He

had RISEN! Go, tell his disciples and Peter, that He is going

ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see Him" (Luke 24: 4-7;

Mark 16: 5-7).

     The ladies were astonished, still very unnerved by all they

had seen and heard. Trembling, they quickly left the tomb. They

spoke not a word to each other, but started back to Jerusalem,

determined to say nothing about what they had witnessed, for they

feared people would think they had gone insane.

     As they were just a little way from the tomb, who should they 

see coming back towards them but Mary Magdalene. She came

closer and in passing the other women now returning to Jerusalem,

she said to them, "No one will believe what I told them, that

someone has taken Jesus out of the tomb, and put Him somewhere

else....they just will not believe me."

     The other ladies said not a word to her, but passed her by as they 

set out back to Jerusalem.

MARY MAGDALENE THE FIRST TO SEE THE RISEN JESUS

     Mary reached the tomb still weeping. She looked inside and

saw the two angels in white, that the other ladies had just seen.

They were sitting where Jesus' body had been laid to rest. One

where Jesus' head had been and one where His feet had been.

The angels saw Mary looking in and said to her, "Woman, why 

are you weeping?" She replied, "Because they have taken away 

my Lord, and I do not know where they have put Him."

     As she said this she felt that someone was behind her, turning 

around she saw a man. It was Jesus Himself, but she did not know 

it was Him. Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? 

Whom do you seek?"

     "Well sir," Mary replied, thinking she was speaking to the

gardener, "if you have carried him away, please tell me where you

have put Him, and I will take Him away with me, and take good

care of Him."

     Jesus then said to her, "Mary."  Her heart dropped to the

bottom of her feet, then sprang back up again. She exclaimed with

the biggest smile anyone could possibly give, "Rabboni!" (a

Hebrew word). Which meaning is "TEACHER."  She KNEW, 

YES SHE KNEW......IT WAS JESUS!  How her heart leapt for joy, 

she was floating on air, up on cloud nine as we say. She wanted to 

dance around, dance the fastest and most joyful dance any Jewish girl

could possibly do. She wanted to go over and touch Him, hug Him,

just to makes sure this was a reality, that what she saw with her

eyes and heard with her hearing....that it really was her TEACHER, 

her MASTER, her LORD.

     Jesus knew she wanted to come and touch Him, and so said to

her, "Do not hold or touch me, for I have not yet ascended to the

Father; but go to my brethren and say to them that I am ascending

to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God"

(John 20: 11-18).

     We are not given much more than the words above, to explain

to us this fact that Jesus had to ascend to the Father before any

physical human could touch Him. I will discuss it more as to what

it may have been all about, in a short while.

     Mary was ecstatic, overjoyed, she had seen the Lord and He

had talked to her. Mark is the one Gospel writer that records

that Mary Magdalene was the first human person that Jesus

appeared to. Part of the reason as to why it was to Mary

Magdalene that He first appeared must be the fact that she not

only loved Him so much, but was probably the leader among the

women to (1) stay near His cross all the time, even after His

death. (2) follow Joseph and Nicodemus to see where they laid

Jesus (3) determine to buy spices and prepare them and come and

anoint Jesus' body, while it was yet dark in those early hours of

the daylight portion of the first day of the week.

     All of this, what took place as the sun was about to rise on

that first day of the week, during the feast of Unleavened Bread

in 30 A.D. is a wonderful testimony to the devotion and love of

some of the women among Jesus' disciples.

     Mary Magdalene was off as fast as she could go, like being

chased by a wild bear. She was off to do as Jesus had instructed

her to do. The joy she was feeling made her legs move and run

like never before in her life. Soon she had caught up to the

others ladies who were already making their way back to

Jerusalem. She told them what had happened to her at the tomb,

and how Jesus had appeared to her, and talked to her. All

were now beginning to see they had not been in a dream, not

imagining things. They realized too many things had happened, 

and so it was indeed a reality. They then recalled how Jesus had

spoken in the past about how He must suffer at the hands of

sinners, be put to death, but rise again after three days. 

     It all began to click together for them, their minds becoming 

clearer and clearer on everything. Yes, now they knew it was all 

true what they had witnessed, they now knew Jesus was ALIVE, 

that He had been RAISED from the dead, and was alive forever 

more. They had a deep fearful awe for God and His power and 

great joy at the same time.

     

JESUS APPEARS TO ALL THE WOMEN

     All the ladies who had come out early that Sunday morning

and had experienced all that they saw and heard, and Mary

Magdalene now having seen Jesus, were busy talking about it all,

and relating many stories of Jesus as they had in the past followed 

Him at times when He preached and taught and healed people. 

Oh, how busy they were talking about it all as they made their way 

back to Jerusalem to tell everything that had happened to Jesus' 

other disciples, especially to the eleven.

     They had no idea what was about to take place.

     Suddenly, out of the blue, Jesus met and appeared to them,

saying, "Hail!"  How splendid, how grand, how royal it was. 

All of the ladies knew it was Jesus, no question about it. They all

ran up to Him and falling at His feet, taking hold of them, they

worshipped Him.

     Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid; go and tell my brethren 

to go into Galilee, and there they will see me" (Mat.28: 8-10).

     You will notice when Jesus appeared to all the ladies, He

allowed them to touch Him! Yes, they took HOLD of His feet!

     He would not, shortly before, allow Mary Magdalene to touch

Him, for He had said to her that He had not yet ascended to His

Father in heaven, but NOW He does allow them all to touch Him.

There is ONLY one answer. In the time when He appeared to Mary

Magdalene and the time He appeared to all the women making their

way back to Jerusalem, He had ascended to heaven, appeared before

the Father and had returned to earth.

JESUS THE FIRST OF THE FIRST FRUITS

     What seems like a strange happening, Jesus going to heaven,

and back again in a relatively short time, before anyone was

allowed to touch Him, may be answered in the symbolism of what

the priests did at this time, even on this day, Sunday morning,

in the Temple.

     God through Moses, had given instruction to Israel that the

new year harvest of barley grain could not be started to be

gathered in UNTIL the first cutting of it had been done and

presented or offered in the Temple by the priests, on the first

day of the week, DURING the feast of Unleavened Bread.

     It is also very interesting that the Sadducees, cut the

first sheaf of the new barley grain harvest AFTER the weekly

Sabbath had ENDED, hence a fist day of the week cutting, 

or what we call Saturday evening. Then they ground it up, 

put it in a basket or container of some kind, and waved it around 

while holding it, in a Temple ritual early on the first day of the 

week (our Sunday) during the feast of Unleavened Bread.

     All of this it would seem, Jesus fulfilled. He was resurrected 

in the first hours of the first day of the week, or Saturday evening, 

after the weekly Sabbath had ended. As Mark records for us, 

"Now when He was risen early the first day of the

week...."(Mark 16: 9). Risen within the first hours of the first

day, which in God's counting of days, begins at evening time

(Genesis 1). Indeed it is just not possible that the disciples

did not know WHEN Jesus had been resurrected to life. Many must

have asked Him, and He must have told them, for there would be no

reason for Him not to tell them. 

     The apostle Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 15, that Jesus is

the FIRST of the FIRSTFRUITS, and others will be at His coming.

All in the first resurrection at the coming of Jesus in glory

back to this earth, will be "firstfruits" to God the Father. The

day of Pentecost is to be held on the first day of the week, our

Sunday.

     Jesus ascended to heaven, to the Father, on the first day of

the week, and back again on that same day. Before he ascended no

human person could touch Him, but after ascending He did allow

people to touch Him.

     The whole symbolism is just to coincidental to ignore. Jesus

was the wave sheaf in type. He was the FIRST to ever be raised to

glorified, immortal life. He was the first of the firstfruits to

God the Father from the human population of the earth. Those in

the first resurrection will be "firstfruits" according to the

apostle Paul. The feast of Pentecost, which pictures the coming

of the Holy Spirit upon the first New Testament church, is on

the first day of the week.

     Jesus fulfilled the wave sheaf offering. It was being

offered in the Temple right at the time He was ascending and

descending to the Father and back again to the earth, on that

morning of the first day of the week, during the feast of

Unleavened Bread. He was in heaven for that short period of 

time, to be accepted as the spiritual human/resurrected wave 

sheaf before God the Father. 

     The ladies who had come to that tomb, that early morning,

were now exhilarated, elate, stimulated with heartened spirit of

mind.  They had seen and touched the risen Christ. They were told

to go and tell Jesus' other disciples who were in Jerusalem. This

they would do gladly, but would anyone believe their words?

               ..............................

Written February 2003

This section of the harmony of the Gospels is extremely hard to

put into chronological order. With the help of the Holy Spirit I

believe I may have come close to harmonizing it.