RESURRECTION OF THE SON OF GOD:
FIRST DAY EVENTS
John chapter 20:1 to 25
After He gave His earthly life on the cross, the Lord went in spirit to Hades in the place called Paradise, or Abraham's bosom (Luke 16:22, 23:43, Acts 2:27), where He met the Old Testament saints. At His ascension He took these believers with Him (Ephesians 4:8) into the very presence of God (today when a believer dies, we aren't told that he goes to Paradise, but that, absent from the body he is present with the Lord - 2 Corinthians 5:8; Philippians 1:23).
Each Gospel focuses on different aspects of the Resurrection, so the whole picture and the order of the events become clear when we put them all together. The result is as follows:
1
Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome, started for the tomb bearing spices prepared on Friday ( Mark 16:1, Luke 23:56).
2
There was a great earthquake at the tomb, for an angel of the Lord came from heaven, rolled the stone from the door and sat on it. His face was as lightning, and his clothing snow white. The guards trembled with fear and collapsed (Matthew 28:2-4).
3
The three women found the stone rolled away, and a young man clothed in a long white robe sitting on the right side. He told them not be alarmed, for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified had risen and was no longer there. He showed them where He had been laid and asked them to tell His disciples, and Peter, that He was going before them into Galilee where they would see Him, as He had said to them. (Mark 16:4-7).
4
Mary Magdalene ran to tell Peter and John that the Lord had been taken out of the tomb and they didn't know where He had been laid (misunderstanding what the young man had said - John 20:1,2). The other two said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid (Mark 16:8).
5
Peter and John rushed to the tomb with Mary Magdalene, saw it was open, glanced inside then went in. They saw no one and went back to their own homes (Luke 24:12; John 20:3-10).
6
Mary Magdalene wept outside, then stooped and looked in. She saw two angels sitting there who asked her why she was weeping. She said it was because her Lord had been taken away and she didn't know where. Then she turned around and the resurrected Jesus appeared before her (His appearance was of an ordinary person, so she at first thought He was the gardener). He told her not to cling to Him, because He had not yet ascended to the Father, but to go and tell His brethren that He was about to do so. She went and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord and what He had said (John 20:11-18).
7
Mary (mother of James) and Salome, meanwhile, were met by other women (Luke 24:1) coming to the tomb bringing spices which they also had prepared. They all went and entered the tomb but were perplexed not to find the body. Then two men stood by them in shining garments and asked why they sought the living among the dead? He was not there but was risen: He had told them that He would rise again after three days (Luke 24:4-8, Mark 8:31)! At that, the women rushed out with fear and great joy to take the good news to His disciples. As they went, Jesus met them, saying, "Rejoice!" They recognised Him, held His feet and worshipped Him. Then Jesus told them not to be afraid, and to go and tell His brethren to go to Galilee, where they would see Him (Matthew 28:8-10; i.e. the same message the "young man" had at first given to the three women - see 3).
8
All these women went and told what they had seen and heard to the apostles, who by then would also have heard Mary Magdalene. And their words seemed to them like idle tales, and they did not believe them (Mark 16:9-11; Luke 24:8-11).
9
In the meantime, some of the guard went into the city and reported to the chief priests all that had happened. After assembling and consulting with the elders, the priests bribed the soldiers generously and told them to say that the Lord's disciples came at night and stole Him while they slept. For this to have really happened would have meant a very serious breach of duty by the guard, but the chief priests assured them that they would appease the governor if this unlikely story came to his ears. (Matthew 28:11-15).
10
After the women had told the disciples (not just the apostles - Luke 24:9) what they had witnessed, two of them left Jerusalem and took the road to Emmaus, seven miles away. One was Cleopas (probably Clopas and his son Joses - Matthew 27:56, John 19:25). Christ appeared to Peter (Luke 24:34; 1 Corinthians 15:5), then joined them on the way and enquired what they were discussing which made them so sad. They didn't recognise Him, and referred to what the chief priests and their rulers had done to Jesus of Nazareth, who was a Prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people. This was the third day since these things (the arrest, the crucifixion, the burial, and the setting of the seal and watch over the tomb), had taken place. They were astonished at the events that morning at the tomb told by the women, and their vision of angels (no mention is made of their encounter with the Lord), and some of the men (Peter and John) had gone and confirmed that the tomb was open and empty but they had not seen Him. The Lord then called them "foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken" (let us beware not to fall into the same category!). He then explained, starting from Moses and all the prophets, that the Messiah had to suffer those things and then enter His glory. Upon their invitation, He went into their home and they finally recognised Him as He blessed and broke bread at their table. He then vanished from their sight. They immediately rose and returned to Jerusalem, finding the eleven (no Judas Iscariot) and others gathered together (Luke 24:13-33). They told their experience but weren't believed either (Mark 16:13).
11
Later (in the evening of that day) the Lord appeared to the apostles as they sat for an evening meal (Mark 16:14 but Thomas was not there - John 20:24). He stood in their midst, and said, "Peace to you." They were scared, thinking it was a spirit, so to reassure them He showed them His hands and feet (which bore the marks of the nails of the cross), asked them to touch Him to see that He had flesh and bones, unlike a spirit, and then asked them to give Him food, which He ate in front of them (Luke 24:36-43). And, as He had done to the two disciples, He made them understand the Scriptures concerning Him, reminded them that He had told them while He was still with them that all these things must be fulfilled, and that they were witnesses of these things (Luke 24:44-48) in order to preach repentance and remission of sins in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. Jesus repeated, "Peace to you!" and, saying He sent them as the Father had sent Him, He breathed on them, and said "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained" (John 20:21-23): "He who believes and is baptised will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned." (Mark 16:16). He thus renewed His promise of sending the Promise of My Father upon them (the Holy Spirit) and told them to stay in Jerusalem until they were endued with power from on high (Luke 24:49). He rebuked them for not believing those who had seen Him after He had risen (Mark 16:14) and He promised that the following signs would follow those (of His apostles) who believed: they would in His name cast out demons, speak with new tongues, take up serpents, not be hurt by drinking poisons, and heal the sick by laying hands upon them (Mark 16:16-18). These are known as the signs of an apostle (2 Corinthians 12:12).
R David Jones
1 Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb.
2 Then she ran and came to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and said to them, "They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him."
3 Peter therefore went out, and the other disciple, and were going to the tomb.
4 So they both ran together, and the other disciple outran Peter and came to the tomb first.
5 And he, stooping down and looking in, saw the linen cloths lying there; yet he did not go in.
6 Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb; and he saw the linen cloths lying there,
7 and the handkerchief that had been around His head, not lying with the linen cloths, but folded together in a place by itself.
8 Then the other disciple, who came to the tomb first, went in also; and he saw and believed.
9 For as yet they did not know the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead.
10 Then the disciples went away again to their own homes.
11 But Mary stood outside by the tomb weeping, and as she wept she stooped down and looked into the tomb.
12 And she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain.
13 Then 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."
14 Now when she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, and did not know that it was Jesus.
15 Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?" She, supposing Him to be the gardener, said to Him, "Sir, if You have carried Him away, tell me where You have laid Him, and I will take Him away."
16 Jesus said to her, "Mary!" She turned and said to Him, "Rabboni!" (which is to say, Teacher).
17 Jesus said to her, "Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, 'I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God.' "
18 Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that He had spoken these things to her.
19 Then, the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, "Peace be with you."
20 When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.
21 So Jesus said to them again, "Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you."
22 And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit.
23 "If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained."
24 Now Thomas, called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came.
25 The other disciples therefore said to him, "We have seen the Lord." So he said to them, "Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe."