<h2>The Risen Christ and the Empty Tomb</h2><div class="chaptertitle">CHAPTER 98</div>
<div class='cap'>IT WAS FRIDAY evening at sunset, only three hours
after Jesus had died upon his cross, when the stone
at the door of the tomb was rolled against the door,
and the body of Jesus was left alone in its resting place.
All day on Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath, and through
that night, the body lay in the tomb, watched by Roman
soldiers. But early on Sunday morning, before the sun
rose, something wonderful took place such as had never
been seen from the beginning of the world and never
has been seen since that day.</div>
<p>There was a great earthquake, shaking the ground
around the tomb, as an angel from heaven came down.
His face and his form shone with dazzling brightness
like lightning, and his clothing was white as snow glittering
in the sun. The soldiers on guard trembled as
they saw the angel, and fell down on the ground as if
they were dead; and after a little while rising up, crept
away in their fear, and left the garden.</p>
<p>The bright angel laid his hand on the stone at the
door of the tomb, paying no attention to the seal upon
it, and rolled the stone away. As he stood at the open
door of the tomb, the Lord Jesus Christ walked out from
it, no longer dead but living, and living never to die
again. The grave clothes were not now wrapped around
his body, and the napkin had been taken from his face.</p>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/illus-506.jpg" width-obs="409" height-obs="600" alt="painting" /> <span class="caption">The women at the empty tomb listened in fear and wonder to the words of the angel: "He is not here; he has risen!"</span></div>
<p>If the Roman soldiers were still there, they could not
see Jesus, for a change had come over him, and he was
now seen only by those whom he wished to see him and<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_471" id="Page_471">[471]</SPAN></span>
by no others. And he could suddenly appear and disappear
as he chose. He could be seen suddenly in one
place, and then a moment after could be seen just as
suddenly in another place miles and miles away. He
could pass through closed doors just as if they were
wide open; and after being seen by his friends could
vanish out of their sight.</p>
<p>A few moments after the earthquake, and after the
risen Christ had come from his tomb, a few women
came from the city to the tomb, bringing some more
spices and perfumes to place around his body. Those
women were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the wife of
Clopas, and Salome, and a woman named Joanna, and
perhaps others. They may have felt the earthquake
shock, but they did not know the wonderful things that
had taken place, and supposed that the body of Jesus
was in the tomb. As they came near, they said to
each other:</p>
<p>"Who will roll away for us the great stone at the
door of the tomb?"</p>
<p>But when they came to the tomb, they found the
stone already rolled away, and the tomb open. Mary
Magdalene came a little before the others, and was the
first to see that the tomb was open, and looking inside
she saw that it was empty. She took but one glance,
and then, without waiting for the others, ran away to
tell some of the disciples of Jesus that the tomb had
been opened and the body of Jesus taken away, for she
did not know that Jesus had risen and was living.</p>
<p>A moment after Mary Magdalene had gone away,
the other women came to the tomb. They, too, saw
that the stone had been rolled away, the tomb was
open and the body of Jesus was not there. But these
women saw what Mary Magdalene had not seen, a
young man with shining face and long white robe, seated<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_472" id="Page_472">[472]</SPAN></span>
on the right side of the place where the body of Jesus
had been laid. They were frightened as they looked
upon him, for this young man was the angel who had
rolled away the stone. But he calmed their fears, saying
to them:</p>
<p>"Do not be afraid, you are looking for Jesus the
Nazarene, who has been crucified. He has risen; he
is not here! Look! this is the place where his body was
laid; and you can see it is empty! But go, find his
disciples, and Peter, and tell them that he will go before
you into Galilee, to the mountains. There they will
see him, as he said to them before he died."</p>
<p>So these women, like Mary Magdalene only a few
minutes before, went away from the tomb to find some
of the disciples. They found Peter and John, and told
them the news that the angel had given to them.</p>
<p>Peter and John at once hurried to the tomb. John
was younger than Peter, and came to the tomb first.
He saw the stone rolled away and the tomb open, and
stood at the door, hesitating, uncertain whether to go
into the tomb or not. But Peter, who came a moment
afterward, did not hesitate. He rushed past John into
the tomb, and saw that it was empty. It was like
John, the thoughtful one, to wait at the door of the
tomb; and it was like Peter, the quick and hasty one,
to rush straight into the tomb. After Peter walked
into the tomb, John followed him inside. They saw
that the grave-place was empty; but they saw no
angel. John noticed that the grave-clothes were lying
in a heap on the floor, just as if Jesus had slipped out
of them, without unrolling the long bands; and that
the napkin which he had seen bound about his face
had been carefully folded and was lying by itself. All
these things showed that the body had not been taken
away suddenly or in haste.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_473" id="Page_473">[473]</SPAN></span></p>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/illus-509.jpg" width-obs="406" height-obs="600" alt="painting" /> <span class="caption">Peter and John hurried to the tomb; seeing that it was empty they were convinced that Jesus had risen.</span></div>
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_474" id="Page_474">[474]</SPAN></span></p>
<p>Peter, the excitable, was not a thinker, and just
looked at these things and wondered. But John, the
thoughtful disciple, looked at these things—the stone
rolled away with its seal broken, the empty tomb, the
grave clothes in an orderly pile, and the napkin folded
carefully. Then it flashed upon his mind for the first
time that his Lord had risen alive from the tomb!
And at that moment came to him the words of Jesus
spoken more than once, that he must die, and on the
third day would rise again from death to life. Of all
the eleven disciples of Jesus—for now that Judas was
dead, they were no longer twelve, but eleven—John, the
disciple whom Jesus loved the most, was the first one
to believe that Jesus had risen, and he believed it before
he had seen his living Lord.</p>
<p>As yet no one had seen Jesus living. Two disciples
had looked into the empty tomb, and the women,
except Mary Magdalene, had seen the angel, but none
of them had seen Jesus; and all of them, save Mary
Magdalene, went away, wondering and scarcely knowing
what to think.</p>
<hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_475" id="Page_475">[475]</SPAN></span></p>
<div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />
1 of 2
2 of 2
Previous
Next
Update Required
To play the media you will need to either update your browser to a recent version or update your Flash plugin.