Friday, April 17, 2009
John 20:3-7 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.
A RESURRECTION BY GOD'S HAND
Since the day Jesus rose from the dead there have been those who denied that it ever happened. False stories and rumors surrounding the risen Christ began to circulate as soon as the high priests bribed the guards to change their story concerning what really took place outside the tomb. One of the most popular "explanations" for the disappearance of Jesus' body is the one that says, "His disciples came and took Him during night, then pretended He had risen from the dead."
But the burial linens and the head cloth that were left behind tell a far different story. They cry out from the grave, "If this is the work of a thief, then why are we still here?" Why indeed? Would a grave robber (disciple or otherwise) have crept past the guards, rolled the heavy stone uphill to open the tomb, gone inside, unwrapped the linens from Jesus body (containing the 75 pounds of spices and sticky aloes), then carry the unclothed corpse out again, past the guards a second time, and off into the night? The idea is ridiculous. A thief would not have taken the time (nor endured the mess) that unwinding the linens would have entailed.
The fact that the linens and the cloth for Jesus' head were left behind stand as evidence that the body had been removed not by human hands, but by the hand of God. Surely this resurrection from the dead is the work of God, even as it says in Romans 10:9, "God raised Him from the dead." What is more, our resurrections will be by the hand of this same God! Praise be to Him!
