Then Luke 24:4 says that first angel who gave that speech twice was joined by a second angel…one at the head of where the body lay and one at the feet of where the body lay. Beautiful picture. Do you remember the Ark of the Covenant in the Old Testament on the top had the Mercy Seat where atonement was made for sin? And on both sides it had angels? And here with an angel on one side and an angel on the other side and Christ in the middle is the true Mercy Seat where Christ is offered the satisfaction for the sins of the world.
And then John tells us in his gospel about these two angels being positioned there, chapter 20 I think it’s verse 12. And I see in that that emblem of the Mercy Seat. The angel then concluded back in verse 7 of Matthew 28 with a command. He said, “And go quickly.” This is not a time to be wasted at the tomb, this is not a time to hang around. Fascination has to give way to proclamation, right? “Go quickly and tell His disciples that He’s risen from the dead.”
Now again, I thought to myself as I was reading this…”Boy, my temptation would be go and don’t tell His disciples…they’re not here, they’re going to pay for it. Those blockheads, this time they’re going to miss out and I’m not going to tell them. They need a week of pain, then we’ll tell them.” But that’s not the heart of the Lord, is it? Those disciples, oh, they were vacillating, they were weak, they were witless, they fled, they denied, they abandoned the Savior and yet he says, I don’t want them to know a moment’s anguish or a moment’s misery, or a moment’s grief, I want you to go as fast as you can and tell them Christ is alive. That’s grace, isn’t it? What grace that is. Tell His disciples He was raised from the dead.
Now let me draw this together for this morning. Listen very carefully. Why were the women the first to experience the angel? Why were the women first to see the risen Christ? Oh, I read on that, I thought I’m going to examine that and I read many, many things. One writer said, “Because God chooses the weak to confound the strong.” We don’t want to go any further with that point. Another writer said…another writer said, “God rewards the faithful and they had served the Lord in the past and so they were to be specially rewarded.” Another writer said, “Death came by a woman in the garden so life comes to a woman in the garden.” That’s nice…a good sentiment (laughter). Someone else said, “The deepest sorrow deserves the greatest joy.” Another said, “Supreme love deserves supreme privilege.”
You want to know the truth? You know why those women were the first to see the angel and the living Christ? Because they were there. That’s right. Isn’t that profound? I mean, if you’re not there you’re not going to see it. I mean, they were there and so they saw it. If anybody else would have been there they would have seen it. I mean, you don’t have to get too profound in some of this.
You know what that says to me? I don’t want to extrapolate too much on this but it’s nice if you’re there when the Lord does wonderful things. There’s a great spiritual truth in that somewhere and that is that the closer you stay to the Lord and what He’s doing, the more you’re going to enjoy what He’s doing. I don’t know about you but I’d rather be there and experience it than hear it from somebody else, wouldn’t you? I praise God for people who are there. I mean they’re there when the Lord is working. They’re there when His people gather together. They’re there when His Word is taught. They’re there when it’s time to come to your knees before Him. They’re there when it’s time to call on His power in ministry. And they’re the ones that experience first hand the moving of the power of God. No, they saw it because they were there.
I trust that you will be the kind of person like those women. What you may lack in faith you make up for in devotion, what you may lack in understanding you make up for in loyalty. And God will confirm your weakness and turn it into strength because you’re faithful enough and loyal enough to be where He is and where He’s moving and where He’s working.
And then the angel said something else to them, but we’re going to look at that next week and all the ramifications of it. Let’s bow in prayer.
What a lesson, Father, we’ve seen this morning. We thank You for the example of these women. We thank You for the pattern of their sympathy to one they loved so deeply. Even demonstrating love to a Savior that was dead and utterly unable to help them in any way, that being the truest measure of love, love that loves and gives sacrificially when it knows there can be no return, so did those women love. And we thank You even for the fact that they were there. It was love that drew them. Even though they didn’t understand, they wanted to be in that place. Even as they had lingered by the grave after the Savior was buried, so they come back soon after the Sabbath, a day in which no journey would have been possible if they were to keep the law. Thank You for the demonstration of such loyal faithfulness. And thank You that You met them in their sympathy and removed their fear and their terror.
Father, teach us to be like those women to be so faithful, so devoted not to a Christ we assume to be dead but one we know to be alive to be in the place where He moves and works and shows His power. And may the resurrection be believed by every person here for the truth that it is and in believing that Jesus lives may we know that by faith in Him we live also. We pray in His name. Amen.
“This article originally appeared here at Bible Bulletin Board.”
