The Gospel of John 20:1-18

We are in John 20, 1-18 and this is the resurrection accounts and of course what we'll do here is just be focusing mostly on John. If we have time we'll go through what's in the appendix starting on page 4 and on to 5 that kind of gives a quick outline of the resurrection events, including all four Gospels.

So if we have time, we'll take a look at that. Let's first take a look at the slides here. This is early Sunday. Oh, one thing I wanted to bring up. I think it was last week, Stan, you talked about the fact that really you got a part of Friday afternoon and then all day Saturday, and then a part of Sunday. And the Jews would count a part of a day as all of a day. And actually, if you think about it, we have different ways that we similarly refer to part of a day as a whole day. Example, have you ever heard of somebody working a five-day work week? They work all day for five days? No, no. So even we have that pattern where we say, I work five days a week, and that doesn't mean you're working five days, 24 hours, right? Hopefully nobody has to do that.

So we have that. Wendy was communicating via email, if you take a 14-day tour, the first and the last days are typically some part of a day. You'll start off with a dinner or something on the first day and you'll end up with breakfast, maybe lunch on the last day. So that would be examples of how, even in our culture, we have a part of a day counts for a whole day. So, looking through here.

These are artistic, and in some cases dramatic, presentations of the Resurrection. This is one that is huge. Ron DeCiani, who does a lot of really great Christian art, put this one together. It's very dramatic. I don't think it's terribly realistic. Because you have these angels with swords. I don't think they need swords. But so you got that and you got all these people lined up and basically the resurrection itself was not all that attended. So at any rate, it's a dramatic presentation, not necessarily a realistic one.

Here is a depiction of Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James the Less and Salome coming to the tomb and there's this bright light. I'm not so sure that the tomb was all that bright because I think they were like, you know, who took the body and thinking that, not, boy, we've got some phenomenal thing going on here, right?

Here it shows these Roman soldiers, and by that time they may not have been hanging around. So at any rate, that would be one thing. Here's another depiction of it, and that's probably more realistic. It's like the stone's rolled away, the tomb is empty, where's the body? That's more likely the the puzzlement that they experienced.

Here's a depiction of just the empty tomb from the inside with the cloths. One of the things I noticed, because I've seen several of these showing the grave clothes, and what was wrapped around the head was separate and rolled up. Separate and rolled up, and they don't typically show that separate rolled up. you know, a headpiece. By the way, that's what disqualifies the Shroud of Turin. You ever heard of that? The Shroud of Turin is, you know, one large piece of cloth. And I said, wait a minute, where's the headpiece? Separate headpiece, right?

So anyway, here is Peter and John running. And so that's one depiction. Here's another one. So it's kind of, you can imagine, now why are they running? Yeah, this is an exciting moment. What? The body isn't there? So anyway, we'll take a look at that. Here's another one. Artist, yes. So the rolling away of the stone is actually for our benefit because we didn't need to roll away to get out. Yeah. We went through ruins. Yeah, you think about that. Why roll away the stone? It's only for us to see the tomb is empty. Otherwise, what would they have assumed? That he's still there. He's still there, right? Okay. Yes.

On that picture with the linen cloths all strung out, doesn't it seem like they were all together just like it slipped out of it? Yes, and what it describes is not what you see in the artistic presentations. It's like the artists need to think about it some more and study carefully. You know, they just start painting or something. But the reality is that you wouldn't necessarily need to see a bunch of cloths strewn all over. And you would need to see, it actually says, separately rolled up headpiece. And you don't see that in the artistic drawings. So the truth is, they need to look more carefully at the passages before they do their painting. But that unfortunately happens quite a bit, where the artists don't seem to get it.

Yeah, Tom? One other thing, even though he didn't try at least on the rolled up, Didn't they, when they were preparing a Jewish person for burial, didn't they put gummy stuff all over and when you tried to take that stuff after sitting around for a few days or parts of days, it turned out to be very sticky. Yeah, very sticky.

Yes, they would have aloes and myrrh, and in the case of Jesus, lots of it. That's one of the points we made last week, is to have a hundred pounds, as John describes here, that was a king's burial. That was just a huge amount, because it was far more expensive than most Jewish people could afford. Most of the population just couldn't even begin to imagine having a hundred pounds of wrappings and aloes and myrrh.

Yes. Okay, a lot of what you said, I didn't quite understand what you said. I assume, and I think this is what you meant, that the body just went through the cloth, right? Yes. You know, Jesus didn't need to take this thing and unwrap it and all that. That was Lazarus. That was Lazarus, but Jesus didn't need that because he wasn't being resurrected back to this life.

Here's a depiction of, as we'll see later on in this account in John, where John comes up to the opening and looks in, and Peter comes from behind him and steps in. And then this is Jesus and Mary Magdalene. I'll leave it at that. And let's go through the account here. So John 21 and 2 reads like this.

Now, on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene came early to the tomb while it was still dark. And that's something else about the artistic depictions. Only one of them really had it still dark. The other ones had it lighter. Of course, that must make the artist scratch their heads. How do I make this work because it's dark? Paint it all dark? Anyway, still dark, and saw the stone already taken away from the tomb. So she ran and came to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved and said to them, they have taken away the Lord out of the tomb and we do not know where they have laid him.

So in our culture we have names for every day of the week. Those happen to be pagan names, pagan deities names, right? Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, etc. And they're all names of pagan deities. The Jewish pattern is to number the days. First day, second day, third day, fourth day.

And so the Jewish pattern was just to go by the number of the day of the week. And so that's the pattern you see here. Based on Matthew 1240, some have held that Christ must have been in the grave for three entire days and three entire nights. On that basis, some have held to a Thursday or even a Wednesday crucifixion. But first of all, it's unnecessary because of the Jewish pattern, as we mentioned, of counting a part of a day as a whole day.

That's part one. The other thing is by the time you start going with a Thursday or a Wednesday crucifixion and put the various accounts in there, you start squeezing the week. You start squeezing the week because there's something that happens every day in the accounts that are in the Gospel. Let me step my way back to this one. This is, here's Resurrection Day. Here's Jesus is in the grave all day. Here's the day of crucifixion. This is Passover where they had the Last Supper in the evening. And here Jesus was in the temple. This was on the Mount of Olives. This was clearing the temple courtyard of the money changers and the animals. and this is coming in triumphal entry, this is the raising of Lazarus, and this is Zacchaeus with Zacchaeus in Jericho.

So you've got something going on every day, and you have to start crunching those if you start pushing the crucifixion farther back in order to accommodate three whole days and three whole nights. So it creates other problems by trying to supposedly solve that one.

OK, so then Mary Magdalene, meaning she was from Magdala, a town as we pointed out on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee, came early to the tomb while it was still dark. At that point she saw the tombstone rolled away, ran to tell Peter and John, who in John, and we have several references there, is called the disciple whom Jesus loved, and also in John is called the other disciple. And so you have that together here. As Mary Magdalene reported about the empty tombs, she referred to they. It's interesting, she keeps referring to they, saying who that is. Assuming some group of people had rolled the stone away and had taken Jesus' body somewhere else. Who did Mary think had moved the body? She didn't say. And let's ask this question. What might have gone through her mind, and admittedly this is going to stay speculation, what might have gone through her mind as to why the body would be moved? Yeah?

It's possible that between the Romans and the Jews they decided they'd dispose of the body just to keep anything further coming out of it. Yeah, something like that. They might want to have further indignities against Jesus' body, right? After this king's burial, further indignities might be what she assumed, but she didn't know. The Jews themselves would not be inclined to do that because of the defilement. Good point, yes. Well, that's the opposite of having the seal on the tomb and having the Roman soldiers guard it, because they would want the body there so that they could prove that he didn't resurrect. Yes. Now, here's something.

Did these ladies, because it was Mary and Mary the mother of James the Less and Salome, did these ladies have awareness of the Romans guarding the tomb? No, and the reason is because that was done the next day after they had gone to see the body. So they wouldn't necessarily even be thinking about any Roman soldiers. And that's one reason why the one drawing there showing the Roman soldiers there in the lower foreground wouldn't necessarily even make any sense to them.

One plus one is two. They walked into a tomb, the body wasn't there. They assumed that somebody took it away. Yeah, and just for what reason? You know, you can imagine they're thinking, well, why would they move the body? You know, just not having a good sense of it. Yeah.

And weren't the Roman soldiers accused of sleeping? Well, here's what's interesting. It doesn't actually say that they slept. As a matter of fact, there's strong evidence that they didn't sleep. But this was the story that was made up. And what's interesting is that because they reported back to the Jewish authorities, the Sanhedrin, the Jewish authorities paid them a large sum of money to come up with the story. And, you know, if you get any word back to your Roman leaders, we'll cover for you. That's kind of the way it worked out.

But the sleep was actually a story made up, it wasn't that they actually slept. For a Roman soldier to fall asleep on duty, the traditional thing was to light their clothes on fire and to make sure that they were dead. So you're not likely to have a whole bunch of soldiers like that falling asleep. This was Roman guard duty, and falling asleep was not on the schedule.

Okay, so here's as Mary Magdalene reported about the empty tomb, she referred to they assuming that some group of people rolled away and had rolled a stone away and had taken Jesus' body somewhere else. So Mary, the mother of James and Salome, had also gone to the tomb with Mary Magdalene, as told in Matthew 28.1 and Mark 16.1. So John is reporting only Mary's presence there. The reality is these other two Gospels record Mary, the mother of James, and Salome.

It's interesting that she still interjected saying, Yes, that's right. And that's something that we point out here at the bottom. We do not know where they have laid him. So it's implied from that that there's plural, the people. And that confirms what the other two Gospels have, Matthew and Mark, with the other two ladies there. There's nothing in her words that indicates she had any expectation of Christ's resurrection. They've taken the body. We don't know who they is, but they've taken the body. We don't know where they leave it. That's it. She's not.

I wonder if it's not even, you know, on a radar screen, so to speak. So now something just to make a note here, the bottom of page one, there's a footnote about Mary Magdalene footnote too. Mary Magdalene has sometimes been presented as Jesus' wife and or as a former prostitute. How many of you have heard either one of those? Yeah. The Jesus' wife idea is presented in the Da Vinci Code.

And similar, a little over a century after Mary's death, the Gnostics started coming up with this idea. So that was one thing that got developed in subsequent centuries. The former prostitute idea was like over 500 years later, somebody started coming up with this thing. And none of those have any founding in the New Testament documents or in any other reliable current historical record. Those are all mythologies that develop later.

Okay, let's take a look at the top of page 2. So this is John 23-10. So Peter and the other disciple went forth and they were going to the tomb. The two are running together, and the other disciple ran ahead faster than Peter and came to the tomb first.

And stooping and looking in, he saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. So Simon Peter also came, following him, and entered the tomb, but he saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the facecloth which had been on his head, not lying with the linen wrappings, but rolled up in a place by itself. rolled up in a place by itself. So the other disciple who had first come to the tomb then also entered and he saw and believed. And as yet they did not understand the scripture that he must rise again from the dead. So the disciples went away again to their own homes.

Now, what did they believe? Think about it. It says they believed. What did they believe? They believed Mary. Mary told them they believed her. The body was not there. If you look at it, they had not really computed all this yet. Mary says the body is not there. They look. Yep, the body is not there. They hadn't really put it all together yet. They hadn't really understood as yet, what this all meant.

Yeah. Well, it did say earlier that John saw the head garments folded and he believed. So, he must have believed that he had arisen. What else would he believe? Right? Well, you're talking about here? You heard in this account? The trouble is in following sentences, for as yet they did not understand the Scripture, they must rise again from the dead. So when you look at it, for as yet they did not understand the Scripture, they must rise again from the dead. So that they believe Mary, something's happened, but they're not understanding the resurrection yet. Then also look at their reaction.

Remember, going to the tomb, what did they do? They ran. And now, once they see the empty tomb, are they going, man, he's resurrected, and they're running off and telling everybody? No. What do you see? Verse 10, so the disciples went away again to their own homes.

But I was reading that there are two words there. Peter went in and he saw. But John went in and he, to use a different word, and he perceived. It seems like he perceived what it meant, and then he said he believed. But you don't think he really believed. Well, he says, for as yet they did not understand the scripture that he must rise again from the dead. So the belief hadn't gotten to that point.

Now, you bring up a good point, and I didn't bring it out here in the text, and that is all these different words for seeing and beholding, and all the different Greek words here are used for different ones. So it's interesting, they're perceiving different things at this point. Yeah, yeah, and so it's like, hmm, and so they've got food for thought, but it still isn't sinking in. Yeah. In terms of detective work, Peter just got the first inkling that something strange happened, but John took it a half step further and said that this is significant for some reason. Yeah, but still without understanding, he must rise from the dead. So these are having different perceptions of what's going on, but none of them are getting the point, he must rise from the dead, and understanding and belief to that point.

Let's take a look here. John 20, 11-13, but Mary was standing outside the tomb weeping, and so as she wept, she stooped and looked into the tomb. And she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had been lying. Now let me ask this question, did she understand at this point in time that they were angels?

Probably not. In other words, you don't get the impression that she's going, whoa, here's angels here, right? You don't get that impression. It's an interesting thing about angels is you can have angels that show up and people are just stunned and the angels have to say, don't be afraid. And other times, the angels appear and people just think they're human beings. So angels can appear differently. at different times, apparently as a choice on their part.

And they said to her, Woman, why are you weeping? She said to them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him. Now there's some differences here. One, that I'll point out, previously she said the Lord, now she says my Lord. Previously she said we don't know, now she says I don't know.

So she's personalized this by this time. Previously it was about the three ladies, now it's about her. She's personalized, she's hanging back now that Peter and John are apparently gone. She's hanging back here, and this has now become very personal. Do you see any indication that she's expecting a resurrection?

Not yet. Nope. Not at all. It's not there. She is still assuming they, whoever they is, they have taken away my Lord. Yeah, and that's one thing, you think about it, you've got the weight almost of another person in addition to Jesus' body there. This is getting to be pretty hefty. So John 20, 14 and 15 goes like this.

When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there and did not know that it was Jesus. So here's the, you know, I see angels but I don't know they're angels. Now here's Jesus and I don't know it's Jesus. Jesus said to her, Woman, why are you weeping? Now here's something else. That's real similar to what was asked before, but then the additional question, Whom are you seeking? Whom are you seeking? So does she get it yet? No. Supposing him to be the gardener, she said of him, Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him and I will take him away.

So Mary didn't recognize the angels. Mary didn't recognize Jesus. No, but she could probably enlist some help. It's probably what she was figuring on doing. Enlist some help and take the body somewhere. Yes? It would seem that she might have been expecting her two companions to be with her and just kind of figure this out together. Yeah. It would seem behind the scenes. Yeah, and she also could have thought, well I know where Peter and John are, I could get their help, you know. So, interesting question there. So, yes.

When you look at that word, whom, Jesus could, actually that kind of has a secondary meaning, because he could be saying, you know, the obvious, but he's also saying, whom are you seeking? The physical Jesus? Because he doesn't exist anymore. I am the risen Jesus, so whom are you seeking?

Yes. She said to Jesus, Sir, if you have carried him away. Yes. Right. If you have carried him away, yeah. Here's what's interesting, that if, I make note here, it's in the Greek form, if, and it's assumed to be true, that's the form. She assumed that the gardener had indeed taken Jesus' body away. However, I mean, so she implied in the question, sir, if you take him away, and I'm asking it because I think you did.

Could you please tell me where it is that I'm just puzzled right now? Yeah. In that view, it seems to be a different account. Okay. You know, like, within the Hamlet, there's an angel rolling back the stone, and the guard is holding him like dead. Yes. And he talks to them and says, if you're not, I know you can come. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Well, and that's one reason why we have in the appendix, you know, putting the four gospel accounts together. Because they each include things that are not included in the others. So, that's one of the things we're looking at.

Yeah, and a lot of what you see too is a lot of independent coming and going. There's nobody sitting there checking everybody. And so there's a lot of independent coming and going. And here's Peter and John, and as far as they can tell, they're not running into anybody else, right? And when they're done, what do they do? They just go home.

So there's nobody standing around clocking this whole thing, and so what you're getting is from the different gospel accounts a very personal, you know, I saw this and I saw that and this happened, but not something from somebody who's sitting there watching, standing the whole time.

Brad Veach played the part some months back here, of the centurion in charge of the Roman guard over the tomb. And so he talked as if he was standing in the back and watching all these comings and goings. But the reality is we don't have that. What you have is all these different parts and pieces and people coming and going. Nobody is checking in and signing a log book or anything of that sort. So you will have fairly radically different accounts because of all the different people that are coming and going and not necessarily checking with each other or cross-checking at least immediately afterwards.

Okay, let's take a look at the top of page 3 here. So John 20, 16 through 18. So Jesus said to her, Mary, and so she turned and said to him in Hebrew, Rabboni, which means teacher, Jesus said to her, stop playing to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father, but go to my brethren and say to them, I ascend to my Father and your Father and my God and your God." Just a curious statement. Take a look at that.

Mary Magdalene came announcing to the disciples, I have seen the Lord, and that she had said these things to her, or he had said these things to her. So in the comment there, but when Jesus said Mary's name, Mary turned to him and called him teacher in Hebrew, actually the Hebrew form of Aramaic. There is the Greek word for teacher that you see sometimes. And in fact, that's more common. There's rabbi, which is the Hebrew form. And then rabboni is actually the Hebrew Hebrew form of the Aramaic for teacher. So you find all three of those in the New Testament.

So Jesus said to her, stop clinging to me for I have not yet ascended to the Father, but go to my brethren and say to them, I ascend to my Father and your Father, my God and your God. Now this is some curious distinction. Had Jesus ever said that before? I go to the Father, but my Father and your Father, my God and your God? Jesus had never said that before. Why now? Why now does He make this curious distinction?

Is Her Father and Jesus' Father two different people? It is barely possible that she, at that moment, experienced total belief necessary to become, in technical form, the first Christian. Well, she was, by any evidence we have, the first witness to Christ's resurrection. One of the things we point out there, Jesus told Mary to stop clinging to Him for at least three reasons. Jesus was destined to go to the Father to ascend. He makes reference to that. There can be no attempt to delay that event nor prevent it.

2. Jesus' body was now different. He had a different body. Why was his body different? It was a glorified body. It was the body that he would have on into eternity. A resurrected body. Will that be different from our bodies when we're resurrected? We will be like Him. So we will have bodies like His. So Jesus' body is now different.

It was at this time a body which could walk and be observed, as Jesus was to invite Thomas to do. But it was a body that could also walk through walls and not be recognized at first. Mary did not recognize Jesus at first. When Jesus walked with the disciples on the road to Emmaus, they did not recognize him at first.

So interestingly, whether you recognize the person is something under the control, in this case of Christ. So the word clinging is more of a relationship word than it is a physical word. He's not saying who to physically holding on to or being around or anything else, but he's saying that the relationship has changed, so you can't cling to me anymore because I'm not going to be around here anymore. I'm going to be gone. Actually, I would say it's more like representing both. In other words, physical clinging, but also a relationship. clinging as well, because he refers to both his physical body as well as being spiritually ascending.

Here is the son had condescended to become man, born of Mary, involuntarily entering time, but Jesus' new body was a glorified body, fit for the heavenlies and fit for eternity. A different kind of body, yeah. Well, you have this instance with Mary, you have the instance with Jesus on the road to Emmaus. Here's Jesus walking right along with these guys on the road to Emmaus for some time, explaining the Scriptures, and they're going, yeah, yeah, uh-huh, but they don't recognize Him. And suddenly at a point after they arrive at Emmaus, suddenly at a point, then they recognize Him. So there's the ability to make oneself recognizable. Yeah, and we don't know what that distinction is, but somehow that was an ability to control whether or not I'm recognized.

Yes. As an example of that, didn't the angels appear to Abraham back, wasn't it in Genesis? Yes. He didn't even know for sure whether they were angels. No, he just thought that they were human beings and he implored them to be his guests. He just thought they were guys that were going by. Yeah? Yeah, you had something?

Okay, yeah. with Mary thinking that he's a gardener, and then she says, Mary, and then she's like, oh, teacher, so it's that. It's that moment of recognition. And the gardener would not have known her name. But for Jesus to then say, Mary, not just, hey lady, but Mary, Not just woman, but specifically Mary, that ding, all of a sudden turn the lights on.

Voice recognition. Yes, voice recognition, good point. I just wanted to go back for a second to what you asked previously about why he would say, my God and your God. Yes, and we'll get to that in the third point here. So, Mary had a different relationship to Jesus than before, just as Jesus' relationship to the Father had become distinct. So, I ascend to my Father and your Father and my God and your God, which to us sounds really almost awkward. Why the distinction all of a sudden? He would previously just say, you know, the Father or my Father, but all of a sudden now, It's the distinction. Why? Why the distinction? Yeah. His total work is complete. All he needs to do is ascend to the Father as part of the completion. Okay, is there anything else we can observe about it, Stan?

Well, doesn't this relate to the Abba Father focus that he lists first that it's my father and your father so the relationship is no longer just a God or the God but it's now a father image. You know what I'm trying to say? The Abba Father scripture. The Abba Father like in Galatians?

Right, so the relationship with God has changed too. The veil was torn. So now the relationship has changed. Think about it. What happened to Jesus' spirit when He died on the cross? Where did it go? Father, into your hands I commit my spirit, right? So his spirit went to be with the Father, but what was different from that point forward that was not the case before. Gail? I'm wondering if it's what he said in John 17, that you and I, Father, are one. Do you think that's what's happened now? Okay. But he had prayed for the unity and acknowledge the unity of the Father and the Son and actually even of believers, yes.

Would a Jewish person like Mary have referred to God as her Father? The Jewish tradition, you could say our Father, but you could not say my Father as Jesus did. That would have been to claim some special relationship with God different from other people. And that's one reason why when Jesus said, My Father, repeatedly, that was very objectionable.

But that wasn't the only thing that was objectionable that He said and did, right? Yeah, Bob? He said, My Father and Your Father, they are the same. They are the same. And so why the careful distinction, My Father and Your Father, and My God and Your God? Why did the big distinction now And I mean, just even days before, that would have been something real curious. And by the way, it's apparently fairly memorable because she noted it here for John to record it.

The church and our position in Christ and our position with the Holy Spirit had not begun yet. It hadn't begun yet. But what had happened in Jesus' relationship to the Father now? Well, I was just going to say, I was reading through this, never before had Jesus referred to the disciples as mine brethren.

So everything has changed. Their relationships. Yeah, things are changing. Now think about it too, up to the point of the crucifixion, There was still something yet to be fulfilled in the eternal covenant. And is that eternal covenant between the Father and the Son, that the Son would die and that there would be a moment in time when there would be alienation between the Father and the Son, now that at this point is history. It's behind them. And so now with the fulfillment of the eternal covenant, there is a change in relationship between the Father and the Son.

Does it also refer to His high priestly status? Okay, had He done that yet? Had He taken on that high priestly status yet? Not quite yet. We're going to be looking at that here in Hebrews. But he was certainly going to, but he had to ascend first to do that.

Did they really think of God as their father in a personal way or was it more the God of our fathers? You could say our father because it was all the Jews, you know, having God as the father and that was okay. Our father is okay. And even what's called the Lord's Prayer, you know, our father who art in heaven, that would have been acceptable.

In fact, that was really a contraction of two Jewish prayers. But it was saying, my father, you just couldn't do that. But here he makes a distinction. It's the same father and the same God, but he makes a distinction between his relationship and Mary's relationship to God the Father.

Yes? The new relationship that had developed since the veil was torn and now they can come directly to the Father? Yes, think about it. We have access to the Father, right? And that's definitely the case and that took place when? At the crucifixion, right? And that's when the veil was torn.

However, Jesus' own relationship with the Father changed when? Did it change when He died? Or did it change when He was resurrected? It changed after He had paid for the sins of the whole world. Father, into Your hands I commit my spirit. And so that's when the relationship had changed, but until he was resurrected, there was no ability for him to make the distinction with people. That was the change point at the crucifixion. But there was no ability to make the distinction with people, my God and your God, until this time with Mary.

That was the first opportunity to say, my relationship to the Father is now different forever. My relationship to the Father is now different forever. the Jewish leader so upset by the fact that he was saying, my father, and relating to that, now has been extrapolated to people who are believers. So they have the same relationship that he had with the father that everybody in the higher ranks of the Sanhedrin were so upset with. So he's now saying that that relationship is the same for the people who believe.

Now. Now in the church. That's why they're saying, my father, they have the same relationship he had prior. Right? In other words, if you look at it, in the New Testament, this is starting into the church age, is Christ our brother? Yes. Christ is our brother now that the church age has begun. Christ is our brother. This is a unique time of distinction. The church had not begun yet. Christ had accomplished what he had accomplished, but the church had not begun yet. It would be not quite two months later that the church would begin.

Yes? Was Mary a believer? Was Mary a believer? Okay, that's a question. Now, I'm going to ascend to my father and your father. Right. Okay, but was Mary a believer? Let's ask that question. Was Mary a believer? Yeah, she was a believer. The question is, there was content of belief yet to understand. Right? Just like, you know, here's Peter. He was a believer. Right? even though he denied it. He was a believer, but there was content yet to understand. Yes? She was a believer but not empowered. That's correct. That's correct. Not empowered. The Holy Spirit had not been given. Yes?

Our relationship with the Father changed when Christ was crucified as well. Okay, let's think about it. When you say our, here we are right now, almost 20 centuries later, right? So here we are now, and what happened back then that changes us now? Think about it.

Christ died for our sins. We weren't even born yet, but Christ died for our sins, and He also was dead, buried, resurrected, ascended, and seated, and in those five things we were identified with Him. Now what's interesting is Christ can die for your sins, and you don't need to be a believer or unbeliever, that distinction is not there. So He died for the sins of everyone, but only those who believe get identified. Isn't that an interesting distinction? He died for the sins of everyone, but only those who believe get identified with him in his death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and seeding. And so you ask an interesting time question, because God identifies only those who believe, which means he has to know in advance, from our perspective, know in advance who's going to believe, and then do the identifying 2,000 years back for us, and then apply that to us 2,000 years into the future. Yes? Isn't that chapter 6 in Romans? Yep. Now it covers at least the first three identifications, right? In Romans chapter 6. So it's an amazing thing.

Here God applies the sins of all time, Adam to the last person born on the planet, of all time, puts those sins on Christ. Believer or unbeliever? But the identification from anything that we know is only of those believing from Acts 2 to the Rapture. And it only applies to those who believe during that time. Our identification is taken back to identification with this death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and seeding, and then applied back to us here in our current time.

Yes. The Holy Spirit came at Pentecost and the Holy Spirit baptizes us into the body of Christ which is another identification. The Holy Spirit baptizes us into the body of Christ But the reality is that baptizing us into the body of Christ only takes place when we believe, from a practical standpoint. That's right.

In other words, here's the amazing, death for sins is universal for all people for all time. But identification, placing us into the body of Christ, baptism into the body of Christ by the Holy Spirit, those things are only done of believers. from Acts 2 to the rapture. Let's take a look here at the last part.

At least a couple of reasons why Jesus first revealing himself to Mary Magdalene, a woman, was astounding in view of the Jewish culture of the day. One, Mary called Jesus teacher as did Martha just a week before. This is John 11, 28. Yet the Jewish tradition of the day did not allow rabbis to teach women. So Jesus was a revolutionary and a rebel.

But as we know well, Jesus had no particular regard for the Jewish traditions when those traditions were in conflict with scripture. Jesus went along with the Jewish traditions for carrying out the Passover. Traditions that were in addition to what was given in the Old Testament. He appeared to have followed, for example, the four cups of wine and saying certain things at the right time, and he was okay with that. But when the tradition was really contrary and ended up violating the intent of Scripture, he went against it and had no qualms about doing so. He healed repeatedly and even intentionally on the Sabbath.

Just to make the point. So here Jesus says, I'm going to teach women. And so here we now have within a week a woman being recorded as calling him teacher. because he taught them. And then secondly, women were not considered reliable witnesses in the Jewish culture to the point that their testimony was not allowed in criminal cases. The law of Moses did not exclude women, but the rabbis did.

So Deuteronomy 17.6 says that. Yet Jesus chose to reveal himself in his resurrected body first to a woman whose testimony would not be legally valid so that she would be the first one to testify at his resurrection. I'm going to pick a woman to be the one. I don't care what these guys say. Stupid chauvinists anyway. So he picks a woman to be the first one to testify, and has the woman tell the men. Let's take a quick look.

We've got a harmony of the resurrection accounts. As Roy pointed out, the accounts from the different books are sometimes substantially different, and I think one of the reasons being that the accounts will often be just kind of pieces of what is uncoordinated testimony. That is, one person saw this, and the other person saw that, and nobody had a logbook to check in there at the empty tomb. And nobody had a logbook of what was going on, and so all these different testimonies come together variously because there was nobody sitting there watching the whole thing, logging everybody in.

Yeah? But it wasn't in context, it was in purpose. Say that again? It wasn't in context, it was in purpose. Okay, and what do you mean by that? the different Gospels are saying the same thing. Yes, yes. But a different audience. Yeah, different people watching it and highlighting sometimes some substantially different things. John says nothing of the Roman Guard. None whatsoever. John says nothing of the Roman Guard. We have, when you put it together, this sequence here, this is a kind of proposed harmony.

You know, Jesus is buried as several women watch. The tomb is sealed and the guard is set. That's actually the next day. At least three women, including Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Salome, prepare spices to go to the tomb. And we saw, you know, some of that. An angel descends from heaven, rolls the stone away and sits on it. There's an earthquake and the guards are initially in shock.

And this is exclusively recorded in Matthew 28. The women arrive at the tomb and find it empty. Mary Magdalene leaves the other women there and runs to tell the disciples. The women still at the tomb see two angels who tell them that Jesus has risen and who instruct them to tell the disciples to go to Galilee. The women leave to bring the news to the disciples. So the guards report the empty tomb to the chief priest who bribed the guards to say the body was stolen. Mary, the mother of James, and the other woman on the way to find the disciples see Jesus. So you have all these random events. Nobody's coordinating anything. There's nobody taking a logbook. It's a matter of taking all the different witness accounts and putting them together, similar to what you see here. Peter and John run to the tomb, see that it's empty, and find the grave clothes. That's the account that we saw there in John.

Mary Magdalene returns to the tomb, she sees the angels, and then she sees Jesus, as we read here this morning. Later the same day, Jesus appears to Peter. And then you have on page 5 there, still on the same day, Jesus appears to Cleopas and another disciple on their way to Emmaus. By the way, there are several different villages named Emmaus, so we don't know which one it is.

That evening the two disciples report the event to the Eleven in Jerusalem. And then Jesus appears to 10 disciples, Thomas is missing. So what's Thomas' response? He's got 10 witnesses, and they're guys by the way, so it's not women. He's got 10 witnesses telling him, we've seen Jesus. And he says, uh-uh, right? He says, uh-uh, I'm not, until I touch it, see it, I'm not buying it. So Jesus appears to all 11 next, Thomas included. And we'll see that when we get farther down in John.

Jesus appears to seven disciples by the Sea of Galilee. Peter says, I'm going fishing. And seven of the disciples, you know, they all go together up to the Sea of Galilee. Jesus appears to half-brother James. You imagine James, who not that many days before wanted Jesus dead. Ah, finally it happened. And he appears to James. Whoa. That'll open your eyes. Jesus commissions his disciples. Jesus teaches his disciples the scriptures and promises to send the Holy Spirit. Jesus sends us to heaven.

So that's the quick outline. And if you're looking for kind of a defense of the resurrection accounts, we've got one as a recommended resource, The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus by Gary Habermas. We also have in the appendix five different lessons that are on the Holly Hills website. In addition to that, you can see Nancy or Sue and they can get you paper copies of those particular ones out of the apologetics series. Further comments, thoughts? Yes.

The ascension is recorded in Luke and Acts, and by the way, who wrote Acts? Luke, right? So Luke is the one who records both of them. Dr. Luke. Now, here's something to think about. How many disciples saw Jesus ascend? Pardon? Eleven. All except for Judas saw Jesus ascend. And they were very puzzled, because they started asking questions, and now He leaves. But guess what?

What they didn't know at this point in time is that they were identified with Him in that ascension. So here they are watching Jesus ascend, only to find out later that they ascended with Him. Isn't that amazing? Wow, I was with Him and I didn't even know it. So spiritually speaking, they were identified with him in the Ascension, but they just didn't find that out until years later. As a matter of fact, when did they find out that they had ascended with him?

Yeah, but is it in Romans? No, it's not until about 30 years later that Paul writes in Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians about our heavenly position. And so from any evidence we have, it wasn't until about 30 years later, imagine three decades from now, that you finally discover that you were with him when he was ascending.

That's pretty astounding. It's pretty amazing. Romans, here's this great book, 16 chapters. We've been baptized into Christ, died with Him, buried with Him, raised with Him. The believer never gets off the ground. Not until Ephesians and Philippians and Colossians. Well, we've got people with their noses pressing up against the door, so let's pray.

Lord, we thank you for what you've revealed here. This is a fascinating account, and as we saw in this brief outline here, certainly much more detail is possible. And we do just thank you for just this wonderful thing, Christ's resurrection, of which we are a part. As we'll see here in the Hebrews passage, He is our forerunner. What is true of Him is true of us. He just carried it out first. And Lord, we do thank you for your word that you've given to us because you love us. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.