The goal of the gospel is not just to provide us with an escape from hell. But to provide us with a new way of living, a new life. Jesus said, I came that you might have life, and have it more abundantly. Before we can have the life that Christ wants for us, we must be first justified, our sins atoned for, made acceptable to God, and that is only possible through faith in the cross of Christ. But the ultimate purpose of that atonement is that we become sons of God. As Jesus said in vs.17 of our text; “I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God.’” That we might have new life in Christ, as sons of God, doing the works of God. That we might be a testimony to the world of the power of salvation.
So in the gospel, the cross speaks to our atonement, our justification. And the resurrection speaks of our sanctification, our new life whereby we are given power over sin and over death, which we now live by faith to the glory of God.
As we look this week at the resurrection, I don’t want to focus merely on the chronology of the events and try to reconcile the various gospel accounts into one. But what I want to do is emphasize the new life that the resurrection promises. I would point out that on Saturday evening, as all the disciples went to bed, undoubtedly remembering the horrors of Christ’s crucifixion, undoubtedly despondent and without hope due to their Savior having succumbed to death, yet even in this darkest hour God was at work. God had a plan and in the deliberate sovereignty of God this plan was inevitably coming to it’s conclusion. As Jesus said in John 5:17 regards to the law of the Sabbath, “My Father is working until now, and I myself am working.” So even though His body was in the grave, even though it was the Sabbath, the plan of God was at work and succeeding.
Though in the minds of His disciples, and in the minds of His enemies, Christ was dead and buried on Saturday, little did they know that He was at that very moment taking captivity captive, that He had descended into the lower parts of the earth, triumphed over the very gates of Hell, and had taken the very keys of Hell and Death, “that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.”
The power of death and hell had to be broken, so that man might be able to truly live as God designed them to live. And for that freedom that was won at so great a cost, we celebrate the resurrection on the first day of the week. We celebrate the first day of being a new creation in Christ Jesus.
So it is with that sense of divine purpose we may view the resurrection. John says it was early on the first day of the week, that is Sunday morning, but while it was still dark. Jesus had said two days earlier on the night of His betrayal that the hour belonged to the power of darkness. And that darkness still covered the earth early on Sunday morning. Men were without hope, unaware that the Spirit of God was moving across that darkness, unaware of the great victory that had been won in the bowels of the earth as Christ took the keys of death and Hades. And since death could not hold Him, because sin had nothing on Him, in the first hours of a still dark Sunday morning, the Light dawned, Christ rose from Hades, and His Spirit returned once again to the lifeless body within the tomb. The wrappings of the grave clothes could not hold Him down. The heavy stone across the tomb could not hold Him in. According to Matthew 28 the earth trembled violently in a severe earthquake and an angel of God rolled away the stone and sat upon it.
Maybe Mary, having been shaken awake by the violent quake, comes early that Sunday morning while it was still dark to anoint His dead body with spices. She comes out of sorrow, without any hope, only despair. The early darkness reflects the despondency that gripped her soul. Christ had delivered her from seven demons. She had known the power of His life. But yet in the early morning darkness, doubt darkened her soul. She had believed on Christ for so much more than this. Her love for Christ had devolved to a sense of despair when she considered His body lain in the grave.
Finding the stone rolled away and the body of Christ not there caused her alarm and confusion. Her thoughts were that Jesus’s body had been taken. Mary’s thoughts focused on that which could be seen, verified. Someone must have taken His body, and so she ran and told Peter and John.
Mary’s faith, or lack of it, is so much like our faith. When the darkness pervades our lives, and our hopes are not quickly realized, we tend to look at what is visible. We tend to focus on the external circumstances and often misinterpret what is going on. We don’t see Christ working, we can’t see His power, or understand His plan. And in the darkness of our lack of faith we run to conclusions that are contrary to the promises of God. Christ had prophesied that He would die on the cross and after three days He would rise again, but Mary believed what she saw wth her eyes. She thought she made a rational conclusion from the circumstances which she witnessed, but she was in error.
Often events happen in our lives in a similar fashion. When darkness pervades our lives, God’s presence seems missing, God’s promises are forgotten, and we become confused, alarmed. We run away from the very place where God has brought us to show us His glory. We believe what our senses tell us, rather than have faith in that which is not seen. But Heb. 11:1 says, ”Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Mary’s faith was founded on what she could see, what she could touch. Her faith was founded on her 5 senses, on her feelings.
Peter and John’s faith was in turmoil as well. Though John had been with Jesus at the cross, he must have been hit particularly hard by the graphic torture of the cross, having witnessed first hand the death of Christ. He would have seen the life leave Jesus’s body as He gave up His Spirit, as the evidence of death was revealed in blood and water flowing out of His side. Though he would have been moved as others were at the way Christ died, yet he would have known with undeniable certainty that Christ was indeed dead. He too had forgotten that this same Jesus who gave up His Spirit, had said He had the power not only to lay down His life, but to take it back up again. Such promise had been forgotten in his grief which overwhelmed him. John, who loved Jesus much, would have been most forlorn and disconsolate at His death.
Peter on the other hand was also undoubtedly crushed, not only because of the death of His Lord, but because of his own failure in Jesus’s final hours. His grief over the death of Christ was made even more bitter knowing that he had deserted Him and even disowned the Lord in the hour of His greatest suffering. So the news from Mary at such an early hour must have startled them both. Here was something that they could do, some action that they could take. To what purpose, I think neither gave much thought, but at the report of Mary they began to run towards the tomb.
One cannot help but wonder why John reveals the outcome of the footrace that occurred between him and Peter. Many commentators have speculated about his purpose in recording it. John outruns Peter to the tomb, then peeking in, stays outside, while Peter comes huffing and puffing up and barges straight inside.
Perhaps John is not so concerned with the physical accomplishment of the race as we might think. Maybe John is revealing the character or nature of the individuals. Even perhaps the character of their faith. Peter’s faith is passionate, impulsive, bold. John’s faith is eager to believe, but not quite as courageous, needing the stimulus of Peter.
However, perhaps more can be discerned regarding the true nature of each person’s faith by examining John’s use of the word interpreted “saw.” John uses three Greek words in this passage for “saw.” When Mary looked at the tomb and saw the stone rolled away, he said she looked, using the Greek word “blepo,” which means to clearly see a material or physical object. Mary was focused on the physical. And what she saw in the physical determined her faith.
John as well, when he first comes to the tomb is said to see the linen wrappings, and John uses the same word, “blepo.” At that point, the physical is evident to him as well, but he doesn’t yet go in. He doesn’t act on what he sees.
Peter however, barges straight inside the tomb and he sees the linen grave clothes and also the head scarf rolled up by itself. And John uses a different word for Peter seeing. He uses “theoreo” which means to contemplate, to observe, scrutinize. Peter senses that there is more than meets the eye, but he is puzzled and he isn’t able to come to a conclusion at this point. Maybe the eyes of his faith are clouded by his conscience.
But after Peter has gone inside, perhaps having said something to John, John goes in to the tomb. He sees the same things that Peter has seen. But now John uses another word to describe how he sees. It’s not “theoreo,” as Peter was contemplating, but it is “horaō”, to know, to perceive, to discern. He sees the same things that Peter saw, and the same things that Mary had seen, but while they went away unbelieving, the text says that John believed. He believed in that moment that Jesus had risen from the dead. He believed in faith.
What difference does their conclusions mean though? Should we make so much out of their responses? I would suggest that it makes a difference to Christ. Next week we will look at the next passage as Jesus comes to the disciples and Thomas isn’t there with the others. And because he didn’t personally see Jesus with his own eyes, he will not believe the testimony of the other disciples. So 8 days later, Jesus shows up again and specifically appears to Thomas and invites him to put his fingers in the holes in His hands, and the wound in HIs side. And of course, at that point Thomas believes and says “My Lord and My God.” A great confession, no doubt, but one that in Christ’s opinion was lacking in faith. And so Jesus says in vs.29, “Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.” And in that statement Christ reveals the nature of faith needed for future generations who will believe not on the basis of physical evidence, but on the basis of faithful testimony.
Mary, John and Peter all had the same experience at the empty tomb. They all saw the same things, but only John believes with the faith that God desires. John reveals the basis for that kind of faith in vs.9, which says, “For as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead.” The point being that our faith is founded upon the Scriptures. This is the faith that God desires. And this is the faith which we are tasked with today. We don’t have the physical presence of God to bolster our faith. I would suggest that it is a failure of faith to seek after material manifestations of God. This desire to “experience God” while understandable from a human point of view, is not in accordance with the plan of God.
As we are told in 2Tim. 3:16, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” The Scriptures are the complete revelation of God, and it is able to thoroughly, completely equip you for every good work. The Word of God is more than adequate for our faith. Our new life is lived by faith in the Scripture, not by sight. 2Cor. 5:7, “for we walk by faith, not by sight.”
Now though Mary has not risen to that degree of faith, Jesus will reveal Himself to her to increase her faith. But we should not be too emboldened by His special appearance, nor deprecating towards Mary who needs it. Because Mary did not have the completed Scriptures as we have. None of the New Testament had been written at that point. And so Christ, the living Word, provides for her what the written Word provides for us.
So in vs.11, we see Mary, back once again at the tomb, probably after John and Peter have already left, and she is weeping. She is still mourning Christ’s death, weeping over the loss of His body. And when she looked again in the tomb this time she sees two angels in white sitting. This “seeing” is the same as Peter’s “theoreo”, scrutinizing, observing the two angels in white. It’s doubtful that she recognizes them as angels, perhaps just seeing two men in white apparel and doesn’t know what they are doing there. She is trying to understand, but not clearly discerning what is going on.
And they said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him.” At that point, she becomes aware of Jesus behind her, but she thinks He is the gardener. That’s a pretty good indication she didn’t recognize the men as angels. She hasn’t discerned anything abnormal.
Someone the other night at Bible study brought up the verse in Hebrews 13:2 about angels which says, “Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” And the point I made in explaining it, was the phrase, “unawares.” The verse teaches that most of the time when we might encounter angels, we’re unaware that they are angels. So many people running around today claiming visitations from angels. But if you count up the number of times recorded in the Scriptures you will find only a few accounts of them in 6000 years. So beware of those claiming angelic visitations.
In fact, Paul warns against giving angels more credence than preachers of the gospel, in Gal 1:8, saying, “But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.”
So Mary didn’t recognize the angels, nor did she even recognize Jesus. “Supposing Him to be the gardener, she *said to Him, ‘Sir, if you have carried Him away, tell me where you have laid Him, and I will take Him away.’” It’s interesting that after the resurrection, Jesus is seen on numerous occasions (one commentator counted 17 times) and yet in every case He is not recognized initially. That should be a warning for those who suppose that they have seen some sort of apparition of Jesus. Unless He reveals Himself, we would not recognize Him in the flesh. Even those who had known Jesus in the flesh did not recognize Him after His resurrection unless He showed them His wounds, or in some other way manifested His identity to them.
How then does Mary come to recognize Him? When He calls her by her name. This is a direct correlation to what Jesus said in John 10:2, “But he who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep. To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he puts forth all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice.”
Last Wednesday night we looked at Christ’s letter to the church of Pergamum in Revelation 2. And at the end of the letter, Jesus says, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, to him I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and a new name written on the stone which no one knows but he who receives it.” The hidden manna refers to the word of God, and those who believe it receive a new name from God.
Some commentators say that Jesus uses the Aramaic version of Mary, i.e., Miriam, to address her, and she responds in Aramaic, “Rabboni,” which means Teacher. She recognizes Him when He calls her by her name. Rom 8:30 says, “and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.” No one comes to Me, Jesus said, unless the Father calls him. The election of God is specific. He calls us by name.
But though the calling of God is effectual, there is still the problem of Mary’s ineffective faith. It is the faith of feeling, of physical presence. There is almost an obsession with Mary over the physical presence of Christ’s body. Even when He was dead, she is focused on the body of Christ. She wants to anoint the body. She is alarmed when there is no body in the tomb. She is confused, concerned.
So now when she recognizes she is in the presence of Christ, she immediately grabs hold of Him, as if to say I will never let go of His physical presence. And in our humanness, that is understandable. Who among us does not crave the physical closeness, physical presence of the Lord? How many have not thought, “Oh, if God would just reveal Himself to me, every thing would be ok. I could take what I am going through. I could deal with things, if I could just see the Lord in some manifestation of power or presence.”
But Christ rebukes Mary for that sort of thing, calling it clinging. He says, “Stop clinging to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, ‘I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God.’” Jesus indicates the faith that is required in this new life will be a faith in Him who will not be visible, but invisible. Not a faith founded on a clinging, emotional, physical presence of God, but a faith founded on the inviolable promises of the Word of God.
Now much debate is given to this statement by Christ. First of all, the obvious meaning is that at that point He had just risen from three days in the grave, even from the depths of Hades, and He had not ascended to the Father. But it also means that the purpose of God was not that He would remain here in bodily form, but would ascend into heaven to stand as Mediator between God and man, our Great High Priest. He could not do that from earth, but His place was in heaven, far above all rule and authority on Earth.
But it also means that He would not be a physical presence here on Earth that we can see and hold onto, but rather our faith in what is not seen would be required in a life of faith. Thus, the just shall live by faith. And that which is seen is not faith, but that which is unseen. This will be the acceptable pattern of faith in this new resurrection life, that we might believe the testimony of faithful men, even the apostles, who would record their testimony in the gospels and epistles and that having believed the scriptures, we might receive the knowledge of God which leads to the full measure of salvation; not only justification, but a life of sanctification, culminating in our future glorification when we will be made completely like Christ at His coming.
So the testimony of faith is illustrated by Mary Magdalene, who comes afterwards to the disciples and says, “I have seen the Lord.” This is the basis for our faith. The testimony of faithful witnesses, who were willing to die for that testimony. And their testimony was accompanied by the signs of the apostles, with all miracles and signs and wonders, so that we might believe their word. So that by the testimony of the Scriptures, the nations of the world might come to know the knowledge of God that leads to salvation, that we might go into all the world and make disciples, teaching them to believe and observe all that Christ taught, as evidenced by the Word of God.
The resurrection teaches us that when we die to this world, we can live a new life in Christ. That new life begins at our justification, where we are declared righteous by the blood of Jesus Christ, and it continues through a life of sanctification, where we live righteously by the power of the Spirit of Christ, whereby we become conformed to the image of Christ, and ambassadors of the gospel to the world. But that new life is not automatic, it’s not being put into autopilot mode. It is a possible, though. When the just shall live by faith. And our faith is founded on the Scriptures, by which we may know God, and know the will of God. Don’t look for the physical to confirm your faith, look for that which is spiritual to inform your faith. The Bible says that faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. That living, powerful source of faith is described in Hebrews 4:12, “For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” Let us hold fast the Word of God, that our faith may be founded on the true and faithful promises of God.
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