Eye Witnesses

Eye Witnesses

Good Morning Saints. Under normal circumstances on Easter Morning we would greet each person at the door of the church or in the church parking lot with the statement “He has risen!” and the person coming in would respond “He has risen indeed!.  However, as you know these are not normal circumstances. Never the Less I still want to say to you all “He is Risen!”

Let’s Pray!

As we all are sheltering in our homes, we can now better relate to how the children of Israel felt as they took shelter in their homes in Egypt with the blood of the lamb painted on their door post as the angel of death went throughout Egypt taking the lives of all of the first born.  During this present time, as we take shelter in our homes, we see and hear of thousands of people in our country and tens of thousands of people in the 182 other countries around the world are dying from this deadly virus.  However, at the same time the Holy Spirit is at work softening the hearts of the unbelieving world to make what in the past would be hearts hardened beyond hope, a little softer toward the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  The nations of the world are looking forward to a quick and timely end to this virus.  However, we as believers are in unique positions to share the truth of the Gospel with this now receptive audience who don’t know the Lord yet.  They are now painfully aware of how fragile their life is and how fragile the global economy is.  So let’s take advantage of the opportunity to offer them the true hope that does not disappoint, not just hope for the short term but hope for all eternity.  There is only one permanent solution to the unbelieving world’s sin problem and that is the free gift of God that Jesus offers us. 

The unbelieving world fears pain and death more than anything else and so they should, because pain and death and eternal suffering await all of them due to the sin virus that has infected all of mankind ever since Adam disobeyed God’s command.  Somehow we must communicate to them that there is no other hope for them if they reject the generous offer of salvation, justification and righteousness that Jesus makes. 

Now as we celebrate Jesus’ Resurrection from the Dead this Easter Sunday, I thought it appropriate to examine the scriptures to determine the eye-witnesses of that event that took place on the first Easter Sunday.  So I have titled today’s message “Eye-witnesses”

Beginning in John chapter 20 verse 1 we read:

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”

So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived and went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus’ head. The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen. Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.)

Then the disciples went back to their homes, but Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.

They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”

“They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.

“Woman,” he said, “Why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”

Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”

Jesus said to her, “Mary.”

She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (Which means teacher).

Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”

Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.

On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.

Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. ²³If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”

Now Thomas (called Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”

But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it.”

A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”

Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”

Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. – John 20:1-31

So according to the Gospel of John, Peter and the disciple that Jesus loved entered the tomb where Jesus had been laid. Not finding Him there they were eye-witnesses that the tomb was empty.

Also according to the Gospel of John Mary Magdalene and all the 11 disciples except Thomas saw Jesus Risen from the dead that first Sunday morning but as John states Jesus did many other miraculous signs that are not recorded in this book.

Many of these signs including many other eye-witnesses were recorded in the other three Gospels. So in honor of Jesus’ resurrection let’s look at the other three Gospel and identify those eye-witnesses.

Beginning in Matthew chapter 28 verse 1 we read:

After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.

There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.

The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.”

So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them. “Greetings,” he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.” – Matthew 28:1-10

So according to the apostle Matthew, the angel of the Lord and both Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were eye-witnesses that the tomb was empty that first East morning.

Also according to the apostle Matthew Mary Magdalene and the other Mary saw Jesus risen from the dead that first Easter morning.

Next from the Gospel of Mark I will read a few more details that the Gospel of John did not mention in His Gospel.  Beginning in Mark chapter 16 verse 1 we read:

When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus’ body. Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb and they asked each other, “Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?”

But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away. As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed.

“Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.’” Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb.  They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid. – Mark 16:1-8

Mark goes on to include passages that say Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene and then afterward He appeared in a different form to two of them while they were walking in the country and later he appeared to the eleven while they were eating.  However, those passages don’t appear in the earliest manuscripts of the Gospel of Mark.  So for the purpose of identifying eye-witnesses for this message I will ignore these eye-witnesses for the time being.

So according to Mark’s earliest manuscripts Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome were eye-witnesses of the empty tomb that first Easter morning.

Finally we will look at the Gospel of Luke.

Now Luke was physician. He says chapter 1 that he made a careful search of these things and therefore we can expect that he included a little more details about Jesus’ appearing after His resurrection than the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and John.  Beginning in Luke chapter 24 verse 1 we read:

On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’” Then they remembered his words.

When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others^. It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles. – Luke 24:1-10

Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; but they were kept from recognizing him.

He asked them, “What are you discussing together as you walk along?”

They stood still, their faces downcast. One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, “Are you only a visitor to Jerusalem and do not know the things that have happened there in these days?”

“What things?” he asked.

“About Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning but didn’t find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see.”

He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.

As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus acted as if he were going farther. But they urged him strongly, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them.

When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”

They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together and saying, “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.” Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread. 

While they were still talking about this, Jesus Himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” – Luke 24:13-36

So according to the Gospel of Luke the eye-witnesses of the empty tomb were: Two men with cloths that gleamed like lightning, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Peter.

Also according to the Gospel of Luke the eye-witnesses of Jesus appearance after He arose from the dead were: Cleopas and his companion, the eleven disciples and those with them.

Based on these scriptures here is the list of the eye-witnesses that Jesus’ tomb was empty that first Easter Sunday.

1.    The angels dressed in white

2.    The soldiers guarding the tomb

3.    Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, Salome and the other women that prepare the spices for Jesus burial.

4.    Peter and the other disciple that Jesus loved

5.    The companions of Cleopas

Also Based on these readings here is the list of the eye-witnesses that Jesus had physically risen from the dead that first Easter Sunday:

       1.  Mary Magdalene and the other Mary

       2.  Cleopas and his companion 

       3.  The eleven disciples and the others with them who were behind closed doors when Jesus appeared to them all.

 

In addition to these eye-witnesses that first day, a week later Thomas saw Jesus arisen from the dead and believed. The apostle Paul in chapter 15 verses 5 thru 8 of his first letter to the Corinthians concerning Jesus appearing after He was raised from the dead writes the following:

“He appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve.  After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles; and last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also.”  Now remember what Jesus said to Thomas, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” – 1 Corinthians 15:5-8

Now today we are part of this other larger group of believers who Jesus referred to as blessed.  We have not seen Him personally after He arose from the dead that is because after 40 days He ascended into heaven and now sits at the right hand of the Father. Yet by faith and the power of the Holy Spirit we still believe Him and everything that He said in His Word.  We may be mourning the loss of a loved one like Mary Magdalene was doing near the tomb; we may have believed and had fallen away and come back like Peter did, we may have become disillusioned and downcast like Cleopas and his companion were; we may have been skeptical at one time or another like Thomas was. But today we believe and today we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus from the dead and we accept by faith His free gift of salvation and the full pardon from the punishment that was due to us for our sins.

Let’s pray.