Now Jesus had been in the grave on the evening of the “Day of Preparation” and lied there through the Sabbath and now it’s the third day and the women who loved Him came to anoint His body with spices and ointments consisting of myrrh and aloes that Nicodemus had purchased for them.
When they arrived, the stone that had been placed over the mouth of the sepulcher was rolled away. They entered into it and to their astonishment, saw a young made arrayed in a white robe declaring that Jesus has risen.
Mark 16:1-8
1 And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James,
and Salome, bought spices, that they might come and anoint him.
2 And very early on the first day of the week, they come to the tomb when the sun was
risen.
3 And they were saying among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the
door of the tomb?
4 and looking up, they see that the stone is rolled back: for it was exceeding great.
5 And entering into the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, arrayed
in a white robe; and they were amazed.
6 And he saith unto them, Be not amazed: ye seek Jesus, the Nazarene, who hath been
crucified: he is risen; he is not here: behold, the place where they laid him!
7 But go, tell his disciples and Peter, He goeth before you into Galilee: there shall ye
see him, as he said unto you.
8 And they went out, and fled from the tomb; for trembling and astonishment had
come upon them: and they said nothing to any one; for they were afraid.
The Gospel explained by the Apostle Paul: Christ died for our sins and rose again on the third day and appeared to His disciples.
1 Corinthians 15:3-11
3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which also I received: that Christ died for our
sins according to the scriptures;
4 and that he was buried; and that he hath been raised on the third day according to
the scriptures;
5 and that he appeared to Cephas; then to the twelve;
6 then he appeared to above five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part
remain until now, but some are fallen asleep;
7 then he appeared to James; then to all the apostles;
8 and last of all, as to the child untimely born, he appeared to me also.
9 For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I
persecuted the church of God.
10 But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon
me was not found vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the
grace of God which was with me.
11 Whether then it be I or they, so we preach, and so ye believed.
Christ’s death and burial would have meant little to us if He had not then risen from the dead. The key to understanding the significance to Jesus being raised from the dead for us is explained as we read further in 1 Corinthians 15:
12 Now if Christ is preached that he hath been raised from the dead, how say some
among you that there is no resurrection of the dead?
13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, neither hath Christ been raised:
14 and if Christ hath not been raised, then is our preaching vain, your faith also is vain.
15 Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we witnessed of God that he
raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead are not raised.
16 For if the dead are not raised, neither hath Christ been raised:
17 and if Christ hath not been raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.
8 Then they also that are fallen asleep in Christ have perished.
19 If we have only hoped in Christ in this life, we are of all men most pitiable.
20 But now hath Christ been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of them that are
asleep.
21 For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.
22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.
23 But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; then they that are Christ’s, at his
coming.
We believe that Jesus died according to the Scriptures, was buried and rose again on the third day for our salvation but it was His rising from the dead that gives us hope and that hope in borne in faith as it is written: “Faith is the confidence of what we hope for and assurance of things not seen”
It is in this hope that we live in and for Christ and wait patiently for the redemption of our bodies. He is the firstfruits of the resurrection and a demonstration of the power of God. Jesus said unto Martha regarding Lazarus her brother, “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth on me, though he die, yet shall he live; and whosoever liveth and believeth on me shall never die.”
Jesus then proceeded to raise Lazarus from the death. This was not the resurrection that Jesus experienced when He rose from the dead and we know that Lazarus eventually died again.
For us who have the indwelling of the Spirit of God, those are whom He will raise from the dead on that day when with the shout of the Archangel, those dead in Christ will rise first and we who are alive at the time will be caught up into the air with them and so we shall be with the Lord forever.
The grave is for our bodies but our spirits goes to be with the Lord when we die. When He returns to resurrect our bodies, He will reunite our spirits with our bodies which will be glorified like His own and we shall then be like Him and we will see Him as He is.
If we believe these things in our heart, though we die, yet shall we shall live. AMEN