The Empty Tomb

62 Now on the next day, the day after the preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered together with Pilate, 63 and said, “Sir, we remember that when He was still alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I am to rise again.’ 64 “Therefore, give orders for the grave to be made secure until the third day, otherwise His disciples may come and steal Him away and say to the people, ‘He has risen from the dead,’ and the last deception will be worse than the first.” 65 Pilate said to them, “You have a guard; go, make it as secure as you know how.” 66 And they went and made the grave secure, and along with the guard they set a seal on the stone.

Visions/hallucinations

Again easily refuted, how can over 500 people have same vision, hallucination at the same time (1Cor15:6)

1cor15:6

1 Corinthians 15:6 NASB95

6 After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep;

Wrong tomb

The woman had watched closely where Jesus was laid (Mt27:61; Mk15:47; Lk23:55-56)

Mark 15:47 NASB95

47 Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses were looking on to see where He was laid.

Swooned

The swoon hypothesis is any of a number of ideas that aim to explain the resurrection of Jesus, proposing that Jesus did not die on the cross, but merely fell unconscious ("swooned"), and was later revived in the tomb in the same physical body.[1] According to the proponents of the swoon hypothesis, the appearances of the risen Jesus to his disciples following his physical resurrection from the dead three days in the tomb were merely perceived to be resurrection appearances by his followers; proponents of the swoon hypothesis believe that Jesus allegedly fell unconscious ("swooned") on the cross, survived the crucifixion, and then regained enough strength to appear before them while he was still alive. (did not come about until the 18th century)

The followers, Mary did not believe he would be resurrected and this is the dawn of a new day as Wiersbe says. From grief to exaltation!

For Mary will go from Tears to joy (Jn20:1-18)

For the disciples from fear to courage (Jn20:19-23)

For Thomas from doubt to assurance (Jn20:24-31)

(Transition) this leads us to our passage.

The tomb is discovered empty passage

John 20:1–2 NASB95

1 Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came early to the tomb, while it was still dark, and saw the stone already taken away from the tomb. 2 So 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.”

John 20:3–4 NASB95

3 So Peter and the other disciple went forth, and they were going to the tomb. 4 The two were running together; and the other disciple ran ahead faster than Peter and came to the tomb first;

John 20:5–6 NASB95

5 and stooping and looking in, he saw the linen wrappings lying there; but he did not go in. 6 And so Simon Peter also came, following him, and entered the tomb; and he saw the linen wrappings lying there,

John 20:7–8 NASB95

7 and the face-cloth which had been on His head, not lying with the linen wrappings, but rolled up in a place by itself. 8 So the other disciple who had first come to the tomb then also entered, and he saw and believed.

John 20:9–10 NASB95

9 For as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead. 10 So the disciples went away again to their own homes.

What was most significant to you in this passage?

What is the time marker given (v.1)? What else do you learn (v.1)?

First day of the week

Mary Magdalene came, early, dark, stone rolled away

What is Mary’s claim (v.2)?

They have taken the Lord out of the tomb

Who are the disciples mentioned (vv.3-4)?

Peter and John (assumed)

Both ran, both saw, one entered, who entered the tomb (vv.5-6)?

John got there first, stooped, but when Peter got there he entered

Do you see anything out of the ordinary, peculiar (v.7)?

The face-cloth was not with the linen wrappings but was rolled up (folded) in a place by itself.

Important thing is said (v.8) what is the significant thing?

The other disciple (John) saw and he believed

Without understanding (v.9) what transpired (v.10)?

The disciples went away again to their own homes

First day, first person

John 20:1–2 HCSB

1 On the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark. She saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. 2 So she ran to Simon Peter and to the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put Him!”

Mary of Magdalene in whom the Lord cast out seven demons (Lk8:2; also Mk16:9).

Luke 8:2 NASB95

2 and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and sicknesses: Mary who was called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out,

Mary with the troubled past was not hindered from being the first witness and the first messenger of the resurrected Lord.

Mary sees the stone removed (rolled away).

Fact that the tomb had been sealed and guarded by the Romans (Mt27:62-66) as mentioned before, but the stone is gone from the opening.

Fact Mary was not alone when she went, there were other women (Mt28:1; Mk16:1) but John does not include this for his purpose to be fulfilled.

Mary is fulfilling scripture by her early coming (Pro8:17)

Proverbs 8:17 KJV 1900

17 I love them that love me; And those that seek me early shall find me.

Now most versions say “seek me” and make not mention of early, but her Mary was dedicated to the Lord, followed the Lord. How are we on our dedication and devotion?

Mary assumes the body has been taken away (Jn20:2); Mary responds

There is nothing at this point that she had faith about the resurrection

Her intention with the other ladies was to finish what was started by Nicodemus and Joseph and prepare the body.

Mary ran to Simon Peter and John (implied)

Need to fill in more information here from other gospels (Mk16:1-7; ref: Lk24:1-8)

Mark 16:1–2 NASB95

1 When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, bought spices, so that they might come and anoint Him. 2 Very early on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb when the sun had risen.

Mark 16:3–4 NASB95

3 They were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?” 4 Looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled away, although it was extremely large.

Mark 16:5–6 NASB95

5 Entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting at the right, wearing a white robe; and they were amazed. 6 And he said to them, “Do not be amazed; you are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who has been crucified. He has risen; He is not here; behold, here is the place where they laid Him.

Mark 16:7 NASB95

7 “But go, tell His disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see Him, just as He told you.’ ”

Mary may not have understood, but by faith she took the heavenly message back. Her faith was not extinguished it was eclipsed at the moment, but it was the dawn of a new day and understanding and light will be revealed very soon.

First proclamation

John 20:3–4 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.

John 20:5–6 ESV

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,

John 20:7–8 ESV

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

John 20:9–10 ESV

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.

Peter and the other apostle set out to the tomb to check it out.

John looks in, Peter goes in.

Both see, John upon seeing believes

Seeing (the word used) has three meanings

to glance in, to look in.

To look carefully to observe

and with John it is To perceived with intelligent comprehension. He saw, he believed. John saw the evidence and believed the evidence. Faith was starting to dawn.

The saw the linen wrappings and the face-cloth.

Interesting point: With the presence of the spices put on there by Joseph and Nicodemus it would have been impossible to unwrap the body and get out. This is first proof of the resurrection that Jesus passed through the wrappings.

Second proof is the face-cloth was rolled (some say folded) and set apart

Resurrection faith is starting to dawn on both, but not fully revealed yet. Scripture understanding was not enlightened to them as of yet. So they returned to their own homes.

While they have physical evidence of the resurrection they started to have resurrection faith, we today have no evidence to look to but only the word of God and faith in that. The word was always important, the Lord always used the word to convey the truth of God. Our faith needs to be based on the word not on personal experience.

There is speculations, a theory known as “Shroud of Turin” that the face-covering was preseved even to this day, but many things to make this a weak theory and can be researched on your own. I just wanted to make mention of it.

Let me close with a couple of quick things.

Progress of faith seen here. First you exposed to the information (He is gone, I don’t know where they have taken Him)

From exposure to investigation (they went, they saw)

From investigation faith starts to be revealed (they believed)

They did not have it all yet, nor do we, we are still learning. But saving faith is the starting point. We are here tonight to add to our saving faith!

He is alive! The Cross is empty, the tomb is empty and our heart is full for He is coming back for us!

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