THE RESURRECTION

The Resurrection

John 20:1–18 (ESV)

Introduction

The resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ was the divine affirmation of His atonement accomplished at the cross.

When God raised Jesus from the dead, He declared that He had accepted Jesus’ sacrifice as payment in full for the sins of His people, completely satisfying the demands of His holy justice.

Death is conquered and eternal life is given.

It is impossible to believe in the Jesus of the Bible without believing that He rose bodily from the dead.

To reject His resurrection is to invent another Jesus, a pseudo-Christ of unbelieving imagination (2 Cor. 11:4).

Since the resurrection is essential to the Christian gospel and salvation, denying that Christ rose from the dead renders any professed belief in Him meaningless and absurd.

What you believe happened early that morning will decide what you believe about everything else.

Either Easter Sunday is the hinge of all history, its answer key and center of gravity, the inbreaking of a whole new universe — or it was just another Sunday.

Either the once-dead son of some obscure town walked out of his own grave — or thieves conspired to break in and steal his body.

Either Christianity explains every longing and question of the human heart, or we are some of the most pitiful people who have ever been pitied (1 Corinthians 15:19).

Either Jesus stayed dead that day, or he’s still alive right now.

To deny the resurrection is also to fly in the face of the overwhelming historical evidence that affirms it.

The indisputable facts are that Jesus died, was buried, and three days later His tomb was found empty because He was alive.

The only plausible interpretation of the historical record is that Jesus rose from the dead, as the Bible claims.[1]

An Empty Tomb

John 20:1–2 (ESV)

1 Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early,

while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. 2

So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them,

“They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.”

The Synoptic Gospels speak of multiple women going to the tomb for the purpose of giving attention to the body of Jesus with fragrant spices.

John, however, mentions only Mary Magdalene. But it is customary in Scripture to identify a group simply by reference to one member of the group, particularly the one who is in the position of leadership.

It appears she was not alone when she went to the tomb. [3]

Initially the stone being rolled away may have seemed to be good news.

The women were coming in grief to express their devotion to Jesus with more spices and fragrances, but they didn’t know whether they would be able to gain access to Jesus’ body:

“They said among themselves, ‘Who will roll away the stone from the door of the tomb for us?’ ” (Mark 16:3).

None of the Gospel writers tells us what reaction the sight of the open tomb provoked in the women, but their emotions may have ranged from surprise to fear to relief that the tomb was open.

We know from the other Gospels that the women looked into the tomb, and because Mary did not see Jesus’ body, she was filled with grief.

Therefore, John writes, 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” (v. 2). [4]

It’s not hard to understand why Mary Magdalene reacted this way.

An empty tomb could have indicated many things, and the option that

would have been last on the list would have been a resurrection.

Just as today, when people died, they almost always stayed dead.

But grave robbery was common, and robbers especially liked to invade the tombs of the wealthy in the hope of finding valuables. Sometimes the bodies themselves were stolen for more ghoulish enterprises.

Mary may well have feared something sinister had happened to Jesus’ body.

When Peter and John heard Mary’s story, they went to investigate.

John 20:3–7 (ESV)

3 So Peter went out with the other disciple, and they were going toward the tomb. 4 Both of them were running together,

but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first.

5 And stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in.

6 Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb.

He saw the linen cloths lying there, 7 and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded up in a place by itself.

The disciples discovered something strange—Jesus’ body was gone, but His graveclothes were still there, and they did not appear to have been disturbed.

If someone had stolen the body, it is unlikely the linen strips would have been left as they were wrapped around Jesus’ body. [5]

John halted outside, and stooping and looking in, he saw the linen wrappings lying there; but he did not go in.

Fear, either of the unknown, or that something terrible had happened to the Lord’s body, as Mary feared, prevented him from entering.

Simon Peter, however, had no such fears. Impetuous as always, he came, following John, and promptly entered the tomb.

What he saw was startling. Jesus’ body was nowhere to be seen, but the linen wrappings in which He had been buried were lying there.

Unlike Lazarus, who needed help getting out of his grave clothes after his resurrection (11:44), Jesus’ glorified resurrection body simply passed through the linen wrappings.

As it would soon pass through a wall to enter a locked room (20:19, 26).

The facecloth which had been on His head, was not lying with the linen wrappings, but rolled up in a place by itself.

This seemingly minor detail shows that the tomb was left in a neat, orderly condition.

In contrast, grave robbers would hardly have taken time to roll up the facecloth, and in their haste they would have scattered the grave clothes all over the tomb.

More likely still, they would not have removed them at all, since it would have been easier to transport the body if it were still wrapped.

Nor would thieves likely have left the wrappings, containing expensive spices, behind.

The presence of the grave clothes also shows that the story the Jewish leaders concocted, that the disciples stole Christ’s body (Matt. 28:11–15), is false.

If they had stolen the body, why would the disciples dishonor it by tearing off the grave clothes and spices that covered it?

They did not know the Scripture.

John 20:8–10 (ESV)

8 Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed

; 9 for as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead.

10 Then the disciples went back to their homes.

John then also entered the tomb, and he saw and believed that Jesus had indeed risen.

The empty tomb, the undisturbed grave clothes, and the neatly rolled up facecloth were enough for John

—even though he and Peter did not understand the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead (cf. Ps. 16:10).

Whether Peter also believed at this time is not clear, though Luke 24:12 may suggest that he did not (the phrase “marveling at what had happened” [nasb] could also be translated, “wondering what had happened”).

Whether in belief or bewilderment, the disciples went away again to their own homes.

The stage was set for the appearances of the resurrected Lord, which would erase all doubt whether resurrection had happened. It is to the first of those appearances, to Mary Magdalene.

that John’s narrative now turns.[6]

Jesus and Mary Magdalene

John 20:11–13 (ESV)

11 But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb.

12 And she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet.

13 They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.”

Mary was alone in the garden, still in a state of grief. As she wept, she stooped and looked into the tomb, and she saw two angels in white sitting where Jesus body had been.

Mary stood there weeping uncontrollably.

Her love for the Lord was greater than her faith in His promise to rise again.

Despite her weak faith, however, Jesus would not leave her in sorrow.

She could not recognize them as angels, since they had assumed human form (Mark 16:5; Luke 24:4).

they appeared to be young men

Their question to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” was a gentle rebuke.

The time for mourning was over; the sorrow of death was forever shattered by the joyous reality of the resurrection.

She addressed them, unaware of who they were and said to them, “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him.”

Mary’s despair stemmed from not knowing where the Lord’s body was. She believed He was still dead. and she had come back now that the Sabbath was over (Matt. 28:1; Mark 16:1) to finish burial preparations for His body.

But as she was about to discover, that task was not necessary.[7]

The most unexpected encounter

John 20:14–16 (ESV)

14 Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus.

15 Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?”

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.” 16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher).

Jesus spoke tenderly to Mary in her grief and asked why she was weeping.

John tells us that she surmised that He was the gardener and hoping that He was the One responsible for the missing body.

she asked Him to tell her where the body had been taken, saying she would take it elsewhere if necessary.

At this point, Mary Magdalene was desperate. She wasn’t seeing or thinking coherently. Her grief had gone to a whole new level.

There was something about Him that made it impossible for her to recognize Him apart from His disclosure of who He was.

You say, “Why do you say that?” I say that because of Mark 16:12 which says, “He had hetera morphe. Hetera is the word from which we get heterogeneous which means different, homogeneous means the same. And morphe means former body.

Jesus was in another form

The reason that Jesus was so hard to recognize was that He was in a glorified body, He had another form. He was in a body that was now supernatural.

A body that could eat fish and honeycomb but it could also pass through a wall. Now I don’t know what it was and I’m sure it wasn’t a little thing around his head looked like a halo,

but I’m sure

There was something about the form of Jesus that made it impossible for someone to recognize Him immediately apart from His own disclosure of who He was.

there are still today many who look at Jesus and do not see him for who he is .....

And the evidence for that seems to be overwhelming.

For example, on the road to Emmaus He walked along with two disciples, did they know who He was? The Bible says He opened their eyes and then they knew.

By direct revelation He disclosed Himself to them.

Another time they saw Him standing on the shore and they weren’t too sure who He was. It was only when Jesus Christ revealed Himself by divine revelation to their minds and hearts that they knew who He was.

And that’s a truism if ever there is.

No one any time throughout the history of God’s dealing with man can ever know God apart from divine revelation. true?

The Apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 12 that a man only knows Christ by the Spirit of Christ. That’s all. No man can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except the Spirit of God which is in him does the testifying.

And since the Spirit had not yet come to dwell within them, that’s one of the reasons I don’t believe, we’ll see later, that they really received the Spirit now, they could not recognize Christ apart from a revelation directly to them. And so, she didn’t know Jesus.[8]

Jesus’ resurrection body was more glorious than before and certainly did not match her vivid memories of Him, especially the battered, bruised, bloody corpse she had seen on the cross.

She was sure that He was dead, so the last thing she expected was to see Him alive. Further, her eyes may have been blurred from tears. Moreover she, like the others, was prevented from recognizing Him until He chose to reveal Himself to her (cf. 21:4; Luke 24:16)

Jesus put an end to her grief, her confusion, her entire devastation with one simple word—her name. It seems that when Jesus said her name, “Mary!” that the scales fell from her eyes and she recognized Him.

Something in His voice revealed Him to her.

When Jesus spoke of Himself as the Good Shepherd, He said, “When he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice” (John 10:4).

This was a typical characteristic of sheep in relation to their shepherd, and the same is true for Jesus’ sheep.

Because of her love for Jesus and her faith in Him, Mary knew His voice. She turned back to Him and cried, “Rabboni,” a lengthened form of the word rabbi, which means “teacher.”[10]

The Lord’s appearance to Mary Magdalene symbolizes His special love and faithfulness to all believers, no matter how seemingly insignificant they might be.

Mary was not a prominent figure in the gospel accounts; before the crucifixion she appeared only as a name in the list of women who traveled with Jesus and the apostles. (Luke 8:2).

Yet the Lord chose to appear first to her, a woman. [2]

He picks out the one who perhaps loved Him more dearly and more deeply than any other.

And He appears to her to show the personal character of His loving faithfulness.

This is the kind of God we have. This is the kind of Christ we have, not one who cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities but who in all points tempted like as we are, who gets down and feels what we feel, who loves us on a personal and individual basis.

And that’s the thrilling thing about knowing Jesus Christ.

We’re not in a religious system.

This is not a system, this is a living, loving relationship with a personal God. And we see that graphically in the encounter with Jesus and Mary Magdalene.

Jesus shows in this passage His faithfulness to those who love Him.

This is His character. It must be done. And so Mary Magdalene is the first one to see the risen Lord. And it’s so important because it shows us that the primary consideration of Jesus was the love and the faithfulness that He owed to His own.

Beyond operating the universe and upholding all things, beyond the commission to the disciples,

Beyond all the other things that He had to take care of before He ascended, the first thing was to show those who loved Him that He also loved them and that He was faithful and that He’d meet them in their need. And He does.

indeed He does.[11]

“Do not cling to Me”

John 20:17–18 (ESV)

17 Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ ”

18 Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”—and that he had said these things to her.

It appears that when Mary recognized Jesus, she fell on her face, grabbed Him about the ankles, and held on tenaciously.

She was hanging on to Him for dear life because she thought she had lost Him, but now she had Him back.

So He said: “It’s OK, I’m not leaving yet. We still have some more time. I’m going to come and be with the disciples. I’m going to be with you for forty days or so.

You don’t have to hold Me captive.”

Jesus then gave Mary a task—to go to His disciples with the news that He was alive and soon to ascend to the Father’s right hand.

Mary Magdalene was sent with the glorious news of the resurrection, and she went faithfully and did as Jesus commanded.

We, too, are sent as messengers of the incredible news that Jesus who died is alive again.

He has overcome death and triumphed on behalf of His people. Will you hear the Savior’s voice and take this glorious good news to a world that is lost and dead in sin?[12]

There is another Easter Coming

On that Easter Sunday to come, when graves all over the world are opened and emptied, we will not only see the man who conquered death; we will be the ones who conquered death. The bodies that will be laid in our graves will breathe and walk again. We’ll not only be with the man of heaven, we’ll be like him — pure, strong, immortal, glorious.

The news of the resurrection is for all.

What is your relationship to the risen Lord?

Have you heard the good news?

Have you believed it?

Have you trusted in him?

This is the heart of Christianity.

Christianity is Christ, the risen Christ. He died and rose again for you.

Won’t you come to him?

[1]MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2008). John 12–21 (pp. 372–373). Moody Publishers. [2]MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2008). John 12–21 (pp. 377–378). Moody Publishers. [3]Sproul, R. C. (2009). John (pp. 382–383). Reformation Trust Publishing. [4]Sproul, R. C. (2009). John (p. 383). Reformation Trust Publishing. [5]Sproul, R. C. (2009). John (pp. 383–384). Reformation Trust Publishing. nasb New American Standard Bible [6]MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2008). John 12–21 (pp. 368–369). Moody Publishers. [7]MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2008). John 12–21 (p. 378). Moody Publishers. [8]MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2014). John MacArthur Sermon Archive. Grace to You. [9]MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2008). John 12–21 (pp. 378–379). Moody Publishers. [10]Sproul, R. C. (2009). John (p. 386). Reformation Trust Publishing. [11]MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2014). John MacArthur Sermon Archive. Grace to You. [12]Sproul, R. C. (2009). John (p. 387). Reformation Trust Publishing.