Jesus had been betrayed, been beaten, been mocked by the very crowds that only a week earlier had cheered Him while riding on a donkey. He had been nailed to a cross and hung there enduring excruciating agony. The sky had turned black as even God had turned His face away from His Son.
Then Jesus gave up His spirit and died. He had been buried in a tomb with a massive stone rolled in front to seal the dead in and the living out.
It was that next morning that we read that Mary Magdalene had come to the tomb. She was not going to see an open grave. She did not expect to see anyone. She expected to grieve over the death and burial of Her Lord.
No one anticipated a resurrection. No one embraced that morning as the soon to be fulfillment of Old Testament scripture and Jesus' own words...
Psalm 16:10 "For Thou wilt not abandon my soul to Sheol; neither wilt Thou allow Thy Holy One to undergo decay."
Job 19:25 "And as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last He will take His stand on the earth."
John 2:18-19 "The Jews therefore answered and said to Him, 'What sign do You show to us, seeing that You do these things?' Jesus answered and said to them, 'Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.'"
Resurrection... An incomparable affirmation of God's incomparable power! John 20 captures three "realities" about resurrection...
"Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord, equip you in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen." Hebrews 13:20-21
- There indeed is a physical resurrection: In addition to Jesus' bodily resurrection, we can reflect on Lazarus, and the many references in the Old Testament (Isaiah 26:19 "Your dead will live; their corpses will rise. You who lie in the dust, awake and shout for joy, for your dew is as the dew of the dawn, and the earth will give birth to the departed spirits.")
- There is a Spiritual resurrection: new birth and thus new deliverance as Spiritual resurrection guarantees ultimate eternal resurrection. (Ephesians 2:4-6 "But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus..."
- There is an Eternal resurrection resulting in either a resurrection of life or a resurrection of judgment... (John 5:28-29 "Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs shall hear His voice, and shall come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment.")
"Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord, equip you in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen." Hebrews 13:20-21
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