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 of 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 Marys 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 hours 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. Mary did run and gave Him a hug—— so the Greek meaning is—— Jesus and so said to her—— 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 was to touch Him—— [Mary did out of joy when He spoke to her, Jesus telling her not to continue touching Him, for He must go to heaven],
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