I shall examine the details of the resurrection elsewhere Here I only
consider its bearing in this Gospel. The sabbath ended (Saturday evening
with us-chap. 28), the two Marys come to see the sepulchre. At this moment
that was all they did. Verses 1, 2 are not consecutive, 2-4 go together.
When the earthquake and its attendant circumstances took place, no one was
there except the soldiers. At night all was secure. The disciples knew
nothing of it in the morning. When the women arrived at dawn, the angel who
sat at the door of the sepulchre re-assured them with the tidings of the
Lord's resurrection. The angel of the Lord had come down and opened the
door of the tomb, which man had closed with every possible precaution.
[see note #90] They had in truth only guaranteed by unexceptionable witnesses the
truth of the apostles' preaching, by placing the soldiers there. The women,
by their visit the evening before, and in the morning when the angel spoke
to them, received a full assurance to faith of the fact of His
resurrection. All that is presented here is the facts. The women had been
there in the evening. The intervention of the angel certified to the
soldiers the true character of His coming forth from the tomb; and the
visit of the women in the morning established the fact of His resurrection
as an object of faith to themselves. They go and announce it to the
disciples, who-so far from having done that which the Jews imputed to
them-did not even believe the assertions of the women. Jesus Himself
appears to the women who were returning from the sepulchre, having believed
the words of the angel.
As I have already said, Jesus connects Himself with His former work among
the poor of the flock, afar from the seat of Jewish tradition, and from the
temple, and from all that linked the people with God according to the old
covenant. He appoints His disciples to meet Him there, and there they find
Him and recognise Him; and it is there, in this former scene of the labours
of Christ, according to Isaiah 8 and 9, that they receive their commission
from Him. Hence we have not the ascension of Christ at all in this Gospel,
but all power is given unto Him in heaven and in earth, and accordingly the
commission given to His disciples extends to all nations (Gentiles). To
them they were to proclaim His rights, and make disciples of them.
It was not however the name of the Lord only, nor in connection with His
throne at Jerusalem. Lord of heaven and earth, His disciples were to
proclaim Him throughout all nations, founding their doctrine on the
confession of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. They were to
teach, not the law, but the precepts of Jesus. He would be with them, with
the disciples who thus confessed Him, unto the end of the age. It is this
which connects all that will be accomplished until Christ sits upon the
great white throne with the testimony that He Himself rendered on the earth
in the midst of Israel. It is the testimony of the kingdom, and of its
Head, once rejected by a people that knew Him not. It links the testimony
to the nations with a remnant in Israel owning Jesus as Messiah but now
risen from the dead, as He had said, but not to a Christ known as ascended
on high. Nor does it present Jesus alone, nor Jehovah, as any longer the
subject of testimony, but the revelation of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost as
the holy name by which the nations were connected with God.
