The King rises from the dead
28
📚After the Sabbath 📖, as dawn was breaking on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary 📖 came to see the tomb.28:1 This was the third day after Jesus was crucified (Acts 10:40; 1 Cor 15:4) . In the original Sabbath is in the plural. However, it should be noted that the Day of Atonement (14th of Nissan) was regarded as a Sabbath and often happened on a day other than Saturday the normal Sabbath. For Jesus to rise "three days and three nights" after the crucifixion (that is periods of light and darkness as Jesus predicted quoting Jonah) He could not have been crucified on Friday. This is well documented. And the most likely year in which He was crucified, A.D. 30 He would have been crucified on Thursday - because Friday was the Passover Sabbath, making two Sabbaths in succession that year. This brings clarity to the reason why God's Spirit directed Matthew to write "Sabbaths" here.⚜
2 📚And, suddenly, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord 📖 descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door and sat on it. 3 📚His appearance was like lightning, and his garment as white as snow. 4 📚And from fear of him the guards shook and became like dead men.
28:4 Dan 8:17; Luke 1:12; 2:9. If men are so alarmed in the presence of an angel, what will they do when they stand before God Himself (Rev 20:11-12)?⚜
5 📚And the angel responded and said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified.
28:5 The greatest day in human history had dawned. It was a time for joy, not fear. But he did not tell the guards not to fear, only the women who were seeking for Jesus. Christ's disciples need not fear many things that other men fear. And what is a source of great joy to them may be a cause of dread to others (Matt 16:21; 27:23; 20:19; John 10:17-18).⚜
6 📚He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.
28:6 The Lord Jesus said He would rise from the dead, and He did so in spite of the attempts of His enemies to prevent it. Even for a person to predict that he will rise from the dead is an extraordinary thing, unheard of in the literature of the world. Actually rising again is a marvel without compare. Observe carefully the words of the angel. The total person of the Lord Jesus rose and came out of the tomb – His body, soul and spirit. The body which had died and been placed in the tomb was no longer there, and the women could see this for themselves.
By rising from the dead the Lord Jesus proved that He was the Son of God from heaven (Rom 1:4), and that He was no deceiver (Matt 27:63). He proved Himself the conqueror of death and the giver of eternal life as He had said He was (John 5:21-29; 11:25-26). For some other truth that can be learned from Christ's resurrection see 1 Cor 15th chapter. Do we have any evidence that should cause us to doubt this word of God's angel “He has risen?” None whatever. All the evidence points to the fact that He did rise from the dead.
First, and most importantly, we have His own word for it (Matt 16:21; 17:23; 20:19; John 10:17-18; Luke 24:45).
Second, a large number of people saw Him after His resurrection, and these eye witnesses were willing to suffer and die for saying He had risen (as the book of Acts makes very clear. See also 2 Cor 11:23-27). The eleven original apostles were with the Lord Jesus for forty days. They saw Him, had conversations with Him, and heard Him teach. There was no possibility of being deceived in this matter. They knew beyond any shadow of doubt that Jesus who had been crucified, who had suffered death and been buried in the tomb, was risen and alive and with them.
Third, God worked with them in great power establishing the truth they proclaimed (Heb 2:3-4. See Acts 5:12-16; 9:40-41; 20:9-10; 28:7-10).
Fourth, millions of individuals in the world today have had their lives changed by the Lord Jesus, and testify that He is real and true and living.
For a fuller account of Jesus' appearances to these eye witnesses than we have in Matthew see Luke chapter 24, John chapters 20 and 21, and Acts 1:3-9.⚜
7 📚And go quickly and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead, and now he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him. See, I have told you”.
28:7 Verses 10,16. The order of events after Christ's resurrection is not clear. No Gospel records all of them, and each writer gives the account in the way God led him. It seems that the Lord Jesus appeared on at least eleven different occasions between His resurrection and ascension to heaven.
The order was probably like this: He appeared to Mary Magdalene (Mark 16:9; John 20:14); then to women returning from the tomb without Mary Magdalene (Matt 28:9-10); then to Peter (Luke 24:34); then to two disciples on the way to Emmaus (Luke 24:13); then to a group of disciples in Jerusalem when Thomas was absent (John 20:19); then to the same disciples again when Thomas was present (John 20:26-29); then to seven disciples at the lake of Galilee (John 21:1); then to a group of disciples on a mountain in Galilee (Matt 28:16); then to more than five hundred at one time (1 Cor 15:6); then to James (1 Cor 15:7); finally to the eleven apostles on the Mount of Olives (Luke 24:50-51; Acts 1:9-12).
Other unrecorded appearances there must have been, for He appeared to the apostles over a period of forty days (Acts 1:3), but these appearances are not recorded.⚜
The King appears to His believers and instructs His disciples
8 📚And they hurried away from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to take word to his disciples.
28:8 Ps 2:11. The resurrection of the Lord Jesus is a source of joy forever to those who really believe it (Luke 24:52; John 20:20).⚜
9 📚And as they were going to tell his disciples, suddenly Jesus met them, saying, “Greetings”. And they came to him and clasped his feet and worshipped him.
10 📚Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go tell my brethren that they should go to Galilee, and that they will see me there”.
28:10 The blessed truth of the resurrection should remove our fear and send us out to speak of it. “My brethren” means the disciples (Matt 12:48-49; Heb 2:11-12). They did not immediately set out for Galilee (they were very slow to believe in Christ's resurrection – Mark 16:11, 13, 14). So He appeared to them in Jerusalem (John 20:19-29).⚜
11 📚While the women were going, some of the guard appeared, coming into the city. And they reported to the chief priests everything that had happened. 12 📚And when they had met with the elders and consulted together, they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers, 13 📚saying, “Say that his disciples came at night, and stole him away while we were sleeping.
28:13 What strange instructions! If they were asleep how could they know what happened to the body of Jesus? Surely no law court in the world would accept such testimony.⚜
14 📚And if this comes to the governor's ears, we will satisfy him, and make your situation safe”.
15 📚So they took the money, and did as they were instructed. And this story has been spreading among the Jews to this very day.
28:11-15 Here is another example of hatred toward the truth leading men further away from truth. That the story invented by these Jews was utterly false soon became clear to those in Jerusalem and to people around the world. And the behavior of the disciples afterwards was not that of deceivers who stole the body of Jesus and hid it somewhere – they willingly suffered and died for their teaching that Jesus had risen from the dead.⚜
16 📚Then the eleven disciples went away to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them.
28:16 Verse 10.⚜
17 📚And when they saw him, they worshipped him 📖; but some doubted 📖. 18 📚And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All power 📖 is given to me in heaven and on earth. 19 📚Go therefore, and make disciples 📖 of all nations, 📖 baptizing them in 📖 the name 📖 of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,
28:19 Mark 16:15; Luke 24:47-49; John 20:21; Acts 1:8. In verses 19 and 20 Jesus commanded the apostles to do three things: Make disciples, baptize, and teach those who become disciples to do as they themselves had been commanded.⚜
20 📚teaching them 📖 to observe everything that I have commanded you. And see, I am with you 📖 always, even to the end of the age”. Amen.