John Lesson 49

Introduction

Do you believe that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead? There are many who do not. In fact, there are some who claim to be preachers of Jesus Christ, preachers of the gospel. They’re modernists. They do not believe in the miracles of the Bible, but they do not believe that Jesus was raised from the dead. In fact, there are some who say that he never really died, that he just fainted or swooned at the cross. Then there are others who say that Jesus was not raised from the dead because even as in the first century the enemies claim that the disciples came and stole his body. Then there are skeptics who say, well, maybe his disciples themselves, if they didn’t steal the body, maybe the enemies stole the body.

We’re going to address these questions in our study today from John chapter 20. What does the Bible say about the resurrection of Jesus Christ? And what are the proofs? That indeed he died and that he was raised the third day. I hope you’ll get your New Testaments and open and steady with us as we let the Bible speak. The cornerstone of our faith is the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. In Romans chapter 1 and in verse 4, the scripture says that he was declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of Holiness, by the resurrection from the dead. If in fact Jesus Christ was not raised from the dead, then our faith is vain. In answering the question, was Jesus raised from the dead?

The Apostle Paul addressed that in 1 Corinthians chapter 15. When he said in verses 17 through 19, if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain, and ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which have fallen asleep in Christ are perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. Indeed, the message that Jesus has arisen from the grave, that he has been raised from the dead, is that message which was preached throughout all the world. As the apostle said in verses 1 through 4, 1 Corinthians 15, moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein you stand, by which also you’re saved if you keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.

1. Indeed, Jesus Died

For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day, according to the scriptures. But how do you prove that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead? There are many who deny that he was raised from the dead. In fact, uh there are some who call themselves preachers of Jesus Christ, who do not believe that he ever really died. They try to explain away every miracle of the Bible, and there are those who would say that Jesus merely fainted or swooned at the cross. Several problems they have with that theory. First of all, the fact that the Roman soldiers who crucified him knew how to put men to death.

As we’ve been studying in verse by verse study of the gospel of John, we noted in our last study in chapter 19 of John, how that the soldiers came prepared to break the legs of those who were on the cross to make certain that they would die and to hasten their death. But when they came to Jesus, they saw that he already was dead. They knew how to determine that. And for that reason, since they knew he was dead, they did not break his leg. But to guarantee his death, one of the soldiers took a spear and thrust him to his side, from whence came forth both blood and water. Indeed, Jesus died. And even those who question whether or not he died have a problem whenever they talk about the tomb being empty.

2. The Empty Tomb Stands as a Proof

One of the greatest proofs that Jesus Christ was raised from the grave is recorded for us in the Gospel of John in chapters twenty and twenty one. The empty tomb stands as a proof. How did Jesus get out of that tomb? He had been in a weakened condition, beaten, without sleep, he had been crucified. How could one of that condition have moved the stone, have escaped from the view of those soldiers who were stationed there? Indeed, Jesus Christ died, and then he was buried. And he rose again the third day, according to the scriptures. But as we study in the Gospel of John, verse by verse, we learn in chapter twenty, verses one and two, when Jesus Christ arose from the grave. The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre.

Then she learneth and cometh to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved and saith unto them, They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid him. Indeed the excitement surrounding the tomb at this point early on the first day of the week indicates that the disciples did not know that he was to be raised. They didn’t understand the scripture at this point, and they wondered where he was. What’s what’s happened to his body? That in itself indicates that the disciples did not steal his body. What happened to his body? The empty tomb stands as a waterloo to those who would deny the resurrection of Jesus Christ. What happened to his body is a question that needs to be answered.

3. Raised on the First Day of the Week

But let’s examine first of all the fact that it was on the first day of the week that he was raised. And that was according to the scriptures. For the first day of the week, which in our terms now is Sunday, the first day of the week, it was on this day of the week that Jesus Christ, the third day from his crucifixion, that Jesus Christ arose from the grave. Now, there are those who are a bit confused as to this discussion concerning when he arose from the grave. You find in the Bible three or four different expressions. For example, on the third day, and in the third day, after the third day, until the third day, all are found in the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

But they all refer to the same period of time. And any confusion that is caused over the amount of time that Jesus was in the grave, or exactly what day he arose from the grave, usually surrounds a misunderstanding about how the Jews kept time. In the Hebrew reckoning of time, any day or part of a day, or night or part of a night, was counted as though it were the whole day. For example, if Jesus was raised on the third day, even that was counted as though it were a full day or a complete day. Any part of a day would be counted as the full day. Well, the best ways of showing when Christ arose from the grave is recorded in the twenty-fourth chapter of the Gospel of Luke.

In Luke chapter 24, it begins in verse 1. Upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came into the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared and certain others with them. Now note the time was the first day of the week. Then in verse 13, behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus. Now, it was the same day. We have no problem understanding the same day as being the first day of the week. But notice that as Jesus appeared to these two men from Emmaus and began to talk to them, in verse 21, as they were discussing with Jesus the events that had happened, and telling him how that the chief priests and rulers had delivered Jesus to be condemned to death and crucified him.

They said in verse 21, We trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel. And besides all this, today is the third day since these things were done. Now that clearly establishes for us by inspiration what day is the third day. It was the first day of the week. This is the third day. Now that’s as Jesus promised, the day on which he would arise. For back in verse 7, the angels that spoke to the women who came, said in verse 7, The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified, and the third day rise again. They were really just reminding them what Jesus had said. That he would rise again on the third day.

Indeed, the the Jewish rulers understood that same measure of time. In Matthew chapter 26 and in verse 61, they understood that he had once said that he would in three days be raised or build again the temple. Actually, they were quoting, one of the witnesses was quoting from the statement he made in John chapter 2 and verse 19, when he said, I am able to destroy the temple of God and to build it in three days. They understood furthermore, not only the expression in three days, meaning on the third day, but in Matthew chapter 27. The scripture tells us how that in verse 63, sir, we remember that the deceiver said, Father was yet alive after three days, I will rise again. Command, therefore, that the supper could be made sure until the third day.

Now you see the confusion. There is the expression in three days, on the third day, after the third day, and now in verse 63 and 64 of Matthew 27, they say that he uh should that they should make sure the tomb until the third day. All these are equivalents. Jesus Christ was raised on the third day. The reason I bring this point up is that there are those who try to establish that Jesus was in a tomb for a full 72-hour period, because of the statement made in Matthew chapter 12 and in verse 40, where he said that even as Jonah was in the in the belly of the well for for three days and three nights, so shall the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights.

And some take that statement and they try to work out a literal seventy-two-hour period. But to do so is really unnecessary and in fact impossible. And to do so really denies or overlooks the fact that the Jews kept time that any part of a day or a night was considered as being the whole day or night. Sabbatarians especially have a problem, and they try to establish and say to us that Jesus Christ was raised on the seventh day or the Sabbath day. But the scripture does not verify that. In fact, looking again at Luke chapter 23, at the closing verses of Luke 23, verse 54 describes the day that Jesus was put to death as being the day of preparation. That day was the preparation, and the Sabbath drew on.

As we noted in our last study, the preparation day was the day preceding the Sabbath. They prepared for the Sabbath day so that they would not have to work at all or cook anything even on the Sabbath day. So the preparation day, that would be a Friday. That was the day on which Jesus Christ was crucified. And then in verse 55 of Luke 23, the women also which came with him from Galilee followed after and beheld the sepulchre and how his body was laid. And they returned and prepared spices and ointments and the rest of the Sabbath day according to commandment. Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning they came into the sepulchre. He was crucified on a Friday, and he was buried.

And that’s the night and the day of the preparation was day one. Then the night and day of the Sabbath was day two. Then the night and day of the first day of the week would be the third day. And it was on the third day that Jesus Christ arose from the dead uh from the grave. It satisfies the scriptures. It fulfills the prophecy that was said about Jesus Christ and about which he himself specks. Well, prove further proved that that’s the way the Jews kept time as is illustrated in a couple of Old Testament passages. In the book of Esther, you remember the story in Esther chapter 4 and verse 16, when the Mordecai came to Esther and exhorted her to go under the king to spare the Jews.

And she asked that the Jews of Shushan, neither eat nor drink for three days, night or day. But in Esther chapter 5 and verse 1, on the third day she went in unto the king. And so it wasn’t seventy-two hour period that they fasted, but on the third day she went in unto the king. Likewise in Genesis, in Genesis chapter 30 42, verses 17 and 18, Joseph ordered that his brothers be put in water in prison for three days. But again, it was on the third day that he released his brothers. Well, I want to establish with you, as we noted in Luke chapter 24, that it was on the first day of the week that Jesus Christ arose from the grave. This is the third day.

It fulfills the prophecy. And so I seen in John chapter 20 when the women come to the grave bringing spices to prepare his body further for burial. It was hastily done earlier on that preparation day because the Sabbath was drawing nigh. But now in our study of John chapter 20 and verse 1, they come bringing spices, and they are surprised to find that his body’s gone. But it’s the first day of the week. Christ arose from the grave. The tomb is empty. And he arose according to the scriptures, the first day of the week. We’ll be back in just a moment and continue our study in John chapter 20. Was Jesus Christ raised from the grave? When you consider the alternative propositions that if he were not raised, indeed it becomes a forceful argument that indeed he must have been raised.

4. What Happened to His Body?

What happened to his body? When the women came to the grave and recorded in John chapter 20, they found the tomb empty. And then they ran to tell the other apostles who, when they also came, they likewise found that the body was gone. What happened to his body? Well, the question may be answered with some plausible answers there, there’s the one that says, Well, if his enemies stole the body. But when you consider that, well, the the next question arises, then why did they not produce the body whenever the Christianity began to spread? It would have been very simple for them to put an end to to the preaching of the gospel to have simply presented the evidence that said, Well, here is his here are his bones.

Jesus is still dead. But the enemies never brought forth his body. And indeed the gospel was spread throughout the world. Then there’s the proposition that says, Well, maybe his disciples stole the body. That’s what the soldiers who were stationed there were paid to tell.

Yet if they knew that it was a lie, if they knew that simply his body had been stolen by his disciples, why were they willing to die? And yet every one of the apostles, with perhaps the exception of John, died an unnatural death, an early death. They were persecuted. They gained no fame, they gained no money. What for what reason would they die for a lie? Indeed, that argues that the disciples did not did not steal the body. Furthermore, they seemed surprised. Whenever they found the tomb empty, in John chapter 21, through 10, the empty tomb argues to all that Jesus Christ must have been raised from the grave. Who took his body? If no one would have taken it, if his enemies didn’t, and if his disciples were surprised by his being gone, who got it?

And if neither enemy nor friend stole this body, then the argument is that Jesus Christ was raised. That he by the power of God came forth from the dead, just as the scripture said that he would, and just as Jesus Himself had predicted that he would. We continue our study in chapter 2 and chapter 20, but reading in verse 3, that is, through 10, for after Mary Magdalene had run back to tell the disciples concerning the fact that his body was gone, the scripture says that Peter and John ran to see for themselves. Verse 3, Peter therefore went forth and that other disciple and came to the sepulchre. So they ran both together, and the other disciple did outrun Peter and came first to the sepulchre.

And he stooping down and looking in, saw the linen clothes lying, yet went he not in. Then cometh Simon Peter, following him, and went into the sepulchre, and seeeth the linen clothes lie, and the napkin that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself. Then went in also that other disciple, which came first to the sepulchre, and he saw and believed. For as yet they knew not the scripture that he must rise again from the dead. Then the disciples went away again unto their own home. Peter and John come to look for themselves, and they run to the tomb. Now that other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, is not specific a name, but as we’ve noted throughout the book, that refers to the to the writer himself, to John.

He never called himself by name throughout this book. But he outran Peter, maybe he was a little bit younger. But nevertheless he didn’t go into the tomb, but when Peter arrived, Peter went into the tomb. And then John also followed, and what did they find? They found the linen clothes in which Jesus had been wrapped for burial in one place, and the handkerchief of the napkin that had covered his head neatly folded lying in another place. That first of all argues the fact that that there was no forced entry and and hasty removal of this body. Why would the napkin have been neatly folded and lying in one place and the clothes in another? And and furthermore, why were the clothes even left behind if his body was stolen?

All of this really argues that Jesus had been raised from the dead. And Peter and John, in fact, the scripture says that they saw, and they believed. Now, verse 9 said, As yet they knew not the scripture. That really says they didn’t yet understand. Jesus had told them that he would die. Matthew chapter 16 and verse 21, how that he would be crucified, and he would rise the third day. And that was nearly a year before this point in time. Surely they had read from Psalm 16 and verse 10, how that his body would not see corruption, neither would his soul be left in Habies. They had heard the scriptures, and they had heard the prediction, but they knew it not in the sense that they did not yet understand.

Or indeed, if they had expected the resurrection of Jesus Christ, why would the words of the women have seemed like idle tales to them? Luke chapter 24, verses 9 to 11 describes how that when the women came, when they returned from the sepulchre and told all these things unto the eleven and to all the rest. It was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and other women that were with them, which told these things unto the apostles, and their words seemed to them as idle tales, and they believed them not. If the apostles had stolen the body of Christ, or they’d understood and were looking forward to a resurrection, then why did the words of the women seem like strange or idle tales to them?

5. He Appeared to Many Witnesses

Oh, indeed, the resurrection of Jesus Christ was foreordained and planned by God. And it was by the power of God that Christ was raised from the dead. The apostles, though they had heard the message and had read the scriptures, they didn’t yet fully comprehend it. And certainly the enemies would not have stolen his body, for if they had, they would have produced the body and put an end to the to the gospel, the doctrine that the apostles taught. Everything points forcibly to the fact that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead with power and declared to be the Son of God by his resurrection. What do you believe about Jesus Christ? Well, not only does the empty tomb argue that he was raised from the grave, but also the fact that he appeared to many witnesses.

And they were those who testified that they saw him, that they felt him, they touched him. They knew that he was raised by many infallible proofs, as Acts 1 and verse 3 says. He showed himself alive. Now the first one that he showed himself to after the resurrection, is recorded in John chapter 20, verses eleven through eighteen, and it is to Mary Magdalene. Evidently Mary, when she first got to the tomb and saw the sepulchre open, or the stone moved away. With excitement she turned and ran back to the apostles, and perhaps the other women who were with her stayed behind. And Matthew records and Luke records how that the angels talked to the women that had remained behind and told them reminded him how that he has arisen.

But Mary runs to get the apostles. Peter and John run back to the tomb, and Mary evidently follows behind. But as she returns, and finally, Peter and John, the other women evidently have left by this point in time. And Mary Magdalene, the scripture says, she stood without the sepulchre weeping. And as she wept she stooped down and looked into the sepulchre, and saw two angels in white sitting, the one at the head and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. And they say unto her woman, why weepest thou? She saith unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they had laid him. And when she had thus said, she turned herself back and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus.

She saith unto her, Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? Whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou hast borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away. Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself and saith unto him, Raboni, which is to say master. Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not, for I am not yet ascended to my Father, but go to my brethren and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God. Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord and that he had spoken these things unto her. What a stirring moment for Mary Magdalene.

As she comes to the grave and she looks in. Then this one behind her speaks unto her. She’s thinking it’s the gardener. She does not recognize Jesus at first. Perhaps her eyes are veiled with the tears. She’s weeping and sobbing. And she’s certainly not expecting him. And when she turns around to see him, she thinks it’s the gardener. She says, Where have you taken his body? If you’ll just tell me where he is, then we’ll go get him. That indicates the disciples were not expecting a resurrection. It indicates that the disciples themselves had not planned to steal his body. She didn’t know about it. But she, thinking that they’d just moved his body, says, Where is he? When Jesus calls her by name, she recognizes. And she calls him my great teacher.

And evidently clings to him, grasped at his feet, even as in Matthew, the scripture says in chapter 28, verses 9 and 10, the women grasped his feet. Jesus says, Touch me not. It’s no one just don’t touch me. He later told Thomas to touch him later in this same chapter. He was in his physical body, the same body that was crucified. But he’s saying to her, Don’t cling to me, don’t hold on to me. You can understand the excitement she must have felt. He said, There’s a greater uh responsibility. You go tell my brethren. He now calls his disciples his brethren. For their father is his father. Their God is his God that he served in in the flesh. He said, You go tell them that I must ascend to my Father.

Conclusion

Great call for rejoicing at the resurrection of Christ, but also call for rejoicing at the ascension of Jesus Christ. He’ll assume at the right hand of God, Hebrews chapter 8 and verse 1, his role as the majesty, his role as the as the judge. Jesus Christ is the one before whom we all must one day stand. And he received kingdom and power and glory, Ephesians 1, 20 through 23. Do you believe Christ has arisen and that he’s ascended to heaven? May God be with him, bless you until our next study.