Was It a Morning Like This?
Luke 24:1-12
I have entitled our message, “Was It a Morning Like This?” Was it a morning like today when Jesus arose from the grave? I want to begin by reminding us how the resurrection is the event on which our faith is founded. In 1 Corinthians 15:16-17, the Apostle Paul declared, “If the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen; and if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins!” But let me tell you, Jesus did arise! And, the Bible tells us that because Christ arose from the grave, those who put their faith and trust in Him will be released from the penalty of sin.
Today, we’re going to celebrate the beauty of Easter morning! We’re going to rejoice in how Jesus, through the resurrection, has brought light to our darkness and given us good news to share with the world. We’re also going to see how Jesus seeks a personal encounter with us, and come to realize that in order to experience His resurrection power in our life, we have to get our minds off this world and start looking up. The very author of our passage encourages us in Luke 21:28 to “look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near.” It is my hope and prayer that we will each have a personal experience with Jesus that affirms His resurrection!
Walking in Death and Darkness (vv. 1-5)
1 Now on the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they, and certain other women with them, came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared. 2 But they found the stone rolled away from the tomb. 3 Then they went in and did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 And it happened, as they were greatly perplexed about this, that behold, two men stood by them in shining garments. 5 Then, as they were afraid and bowed their faces to the earth, they said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead?”
The scene here begins early on Sunday morning, three days after Jesus had been crucified, died and had been buried. We read in verse 1 that “they, and certain other women with them, came to the tomb.” So, this statement leaves us with a question: “To whom was Luke referring?” Back in Luke 23:55-56, he tells us that they were “the women who had come with Him from Galilee” and who “followed after” Him (23:55). Matthew tells us that among them was Mary Magdalene and Mary (Matthew 28:1), Jesus’ mother; and John mentions Mary Magdalene (John 20:1). However, the list seen in verse 10 of our main text (Luke 24:10), could represent who all was present.
In the song, “Was It a Morning Like This?” Sandi Patti asked, “Was it a morning like this? When the sun still hid from Jerusalem; and Mary rose from her bed, to tend to the Lord she thought was dead.” When “the sun still hid” implies darkness, and verse 1 tells us that the women began to make their journey to the tomb “very early in the morning.” Commentator John Gill says that some older versions use the wording “when it was yet dark” and “while it was yet night.”(1) The sun had not yet risen; it was still dark outside.(2)
Perhaps, when the sun finally arose, it was a morning like this. Maybe the weather was glorious! But that morning was still overshadowed by loss, grief and despair; and the darkness of night just before dawn symbolized those feelings. And maybe that’s how someone here today feels - weighed down by a heavy burden which you cannot explain; being constantly filled with sadness and hopelessness. What you’re feeling is the weight of sin. Sin leads to spiritual darkness and ultimately death. Romans 6:23 tells us that “the wages of sin is death.” But Jesus came to deliver us from sin and darkness!
Jesus declared, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life” (John 8:12). In Luke chapter 1, Zacharias prophesied of Jesus, saying that He had come “to give knowledge of salvation to His people by the remission of their sins, through the tender mercy of our God . . . to give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace” (Luke 1:77-79). When you start seeking Jesus, He will come and shine His light into the dark corners of your heart, revealing your sins and convicting you of your need for the “remission of sins,” or rather, the forgiveness that you desperately need.(3)
In darkness on that Sunday morning, the women journeyed “to the [tomb], to embalm His body; not to take it out of the linen in which Joseph had wrapped it, but to anoint the head and face, and perhaps the wounded hands and feet, and to scatter sweet spices upon and [around] the body.”(4) But when they got there, “they found the stone rolled away from the tomb” and “they went in and did not find the body of the Lord Jesus” (vv. 2-3). This was like adding insult to injury. Their only thought was that someone had removed His body. In John 20:2, we read that Mary “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’.”
We then read that “as they were greatly perplexed about this . . . two men stood by them in shining garments” (v. 4). Some say that these two men could have been Moses and Elijah from the transfiguration, but the accepted explanation is that they were angels. We then read of the women that “they went in” (v. 3) to the tomb. Commentator Matthew Henry says that they first saw one angel outside the tomb, and that angel proceeded to go inside the tomb to join the second angel; “one at the head and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain.”(5) They then encouraged the women to join them inside.(6) This order of events helps to reconcile this passage with the other gospel writers.(7)
Next, we read that they “bowed their faces to the earth” (v. 5). Let’s not mistake this for kneeling or worship. They “bowed their faces.” Now consider this: They were in the presence of two angels, who had access to the wisdom and insight of Almighty God, and they could have enquired of them what had happened; but they didn’t. They didn’t ask because they were afraid that the angels would have given them bad news. They were in the presence of God’s messengers; but instead of seeking an answer from on high, they bowed their faces and looked downward. In other words, they looked to the grave for their answers, hoping their eyes might spot the evidence.(8) So, the angels reproved them, saying, “Why do you seek the living among the dead?” (v. 5). Why are you still looking here in the tomb? Why do people seek anything among the dead?
When people are walking about in the darkness of sin with a heavy heart, being filled with hopelessness and having an emptiness within, all too often they will seek an answer from among the dead. In other words, they will try to satisfy the longing of their soul with the things of this lost and dying world. The angel’s correction of these women is the “reproof given to [all] those that look for Him among the dead – that look for Him among the dead heroes that the Gentiles worshipped . . . that look for Him in an image, or a crucifix, the work of men’s hands, or among [the] tradition and the inventions of men; and indeed, all they that expect happiness and satisfaction in the [world], or perfection in this imperfect state, may be said to seek the living among the dead.”(9)
People are not literally seeking Jesus among the dead. This is a spiritual application, intended to say that many individuals are seeking salvation from this dead world; they are looking for a way to satisfy their soul, to have their sins forgiven, or a way other than Jesus to make it to heaven. Commentator John Gill says, “Christ [is not] to be found among dead sinners, or lifeless professors, but among living saints, and among the churches of the living God; nor is life to be found among the dead works of the law, or to be obtained by lifeless performances on the dead letter of the law.”(10) Acts 4:12 tells us about finding salvation, “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved,” referring to the name of Jesus. And as we’re about to find out, Jesus is not among the dead!
The Resurrection Message Is Life (vv. 6-8)
6 “He is not here, but is risen! Remember how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee, 7 saying, ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again’.” 8 And they remembered His words.
In the song, “Was It a Morning Like This?” Sandi Patti asked, “Was it a morning like this? When Mary walked down from Jerusalem; and two angels stood at the tomb, bearers of news she would hear soon.” What news? Well, we see here that as the women had their faces turned toward the earth, seeking an answer from the grave, they were given the good news that Jesus had arisen! The grave had no hold on Him! They needed not be in despair! “Why do you seek the living among the dead?” (v. 5). They had been looking in the wrong place! And we too must realize that our answers, our hope and our salvation cannot come from a place of death; cannot come from this world – our answers are found in a place of life; in the resurrected Lord!
The angels then reminded these women that Jesus had predicted His resurrection, and we see these predictions back in Luke 9:22 and Luke 18:32-33.(11) The Scripture then tells us, “And they remembered His words” (v. 8). They knew them all along, but had forgotten, as their entire world had been turned upside down and overshadowed by death and darkness. So, let me ask: How many times do we forget the promises of God when we’re bogged down by the heaviness of life; a heaviness that can plunge us into darkness?
When the women recalled His words and saw the empty tomb before them, it all made sense. It confirmed to them the resurrection.(12) As Jesus had risen, so also hope began to rise.(13) The message of the resurrection brings light to our darkness. The resurrection is a “symbol” of hope and the “reality” of hope, and it can provide life to our weary soul.
The Resurrection is Good News (vv. 9-11)
9 Then they returned from the tomb and told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. 10 It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them, who told these things to the apostles. 11 And their words seemed to them like idle tales, and they did not believe them.
We read here how they returned and told the disciples and the others “all these things” (v. 9). They shared every detail, from waking before dawn; to traveling to the tomb while it was still dark; to arriving there and seeing the stone rolled away from the door; to seeing the two angels who invited them to enter in; to observing the empty spot where Jesus’ body had lain; to what the angles had told them: “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen!” (vv. 5-6). This revelation had transformed their walk of death into a march of life; so much so, that John tells us that Mary Magdalene “ran” to tell Peter and the others (John 20:2)! These women had a new spring in their step! And the message of the resurrection is good news that must be proclaimed!
So, they told the disciples and the others “all these things” (v. 9), but they did not believe them. Their words seemed to them as idle tales, “as fabulous things, as [a figment of their imagination]: ‘as a dream,’ according to [one version]; or ‘as a jest,’ [according to another]. They looked upon them as mere deceptions and delusions, and not real things”.(14) They brushed it off as the power of their imagination, for they too had forgotten Christ’s words.(15) And, because they did not remember His words, “they did not believe them” (v. 11); they did not believe these women, nor trust the good news they shared. Here is yet another example of how failing to remember the promises of God can leave us stuck in our hopelessness.
Matthew Henry says, “One cannot but be amazed at the stupidity of these disciples, who had themselves so often professed that they believed Christ to be the Son of God and the true Messiah; [who] had been so often told that He must die and rise again, and then enter into His glory, [and who] had seen Him more than once raise the dead.”(16) How many times do we have to hear the message of receiving new life through the resurrected Lord before we will believe it? How many times will we reject Jesus’ lordship over our life and over our circumstances before we will surrender to Him and let Him save us? They key to receiving resurrection power in our life is to believe the good news of the resurrection (Romans 10:9)!
We Must Experience Him Ourselves (v. 12)
12 But Peter arose and ran to the tomb; and stooping down, he saw the linen cloths lying by themselves; and he departed, marveling to himself at what had happened.
In the song, “Was It a Morning Like This?” Sandi Patti asked, “Was it a morning like this? When Peter and John ran from Jerusalem; and as they raced towards the tomb, beneath their feet was there a tune?” We read in John 20:2-5, that it was both Peter and John who ran to the tomb. And what did they see when they arrived? Well, John 20:6-7 says, “And [John], stooping down and looking in, saw the linen cloths lying there; yet he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb; and he saw the linen cloths lying there, and the handkerchief that had been around His head, not lying with the linen cloths, but folded together in a place by itself.”
What they observed with the grave clothes was significant. Had the body been stolen, all that was wrapped about it would have been taken away with it; as the delay in removing the grave clothes might have led to getting caught in the act; nor would the disciples have run such a risk if they had stolen Him; and stripping the body could have served no good cause. All of these circumstances prove that it was done leisurely, as hurry and confusion mark every act of robbery.(17) “Neither friends, nor foes, would have taken the pains, or have lost so much time, as to have stripped the body.”(18) So, Peter took notice of these things. “He was very particular in making his observations, as if he would rather credit his own eyes than the testimony of the angels”(19) proclaimed by the women. It’s a though he were seeking answers from among the dead!
“He went away, as he [marveled], not much the wiser, wondering in himself [what had] come to pass. Had he remembered the words of Christ . . . this [would have been] enough to satisfy him that He was risen from the dead; but, having forgotten them, he [was] only amazed with the thing, and [knew] not what to make of it.”(20) So, what would have made Peter believe? In Luke chapter 24, verses 13-35, we read about the disciples who journeyed on the road to Emmaus. They discussed having heard the story shared by the women, and how Peter had seen the empty tomb; but afterwards, they concluded, “[But] Him [or Jesus] they [Peter and the women] did not see” (Luke 24:24). The Emmaus road disciples were discouraged. But then, Jesus appeared to them; and we read that “their eyes were open and they knew Him” (v. 31).
We all need to hear the good news of the resurrection, but here’s what we need to understand. We need both the Word and experience if we are ever going to confess Jesus as the risen Christ. The Word must be confirmed by a personal encounter with Jesus. That’s what happened later with the disciples. Luke 24:34 says, “The Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon.” So, Peter later saw Him! He also appeared to Thomas, where Jesus had him reach out and touch the holes in His hands and the wound in His side (John 20:27); and in response to his experience, Thomas declared, “My Lord and My God!” (Luke 20:28).
We can come to church and hear the good news preached all day long; but we will not experience the power of the resurrection – either over sin or over our trials and circumstances – until we have had a personal encounter with the Savior. We must have an experience in which Jesus becomes real to us and confirmed in our heart to be the Savior and risen Lord!
Time of Reflection
In Luke 19:40, Jesus declared, “I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out.” Consider this, if you will: When Jesus arose from the grave, the rocks and the grass were probably the first to experience Him; and also, likely the first to proclaim the resurrected Lord! In the song, “Was It a Morning Like This?” Sandi Patti sang, “Did the grass sing? Did the earth rejoice to feel You again? Over and over like a trumpet underground did the earth seem to pound, ‘He is risen!’ Over and over in a never-ending round. ‘He is risen! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!’ Was it a morning like this?”
Let me tell you the good news that it can be a morning like this! This can be the morning, and this can be the day, to hear the Word and have a personal experience with the resurrected Lord! The Bible says, “In an acceptable time I have heard you, and in the day of salvation I have helped you. Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2). Have you had an encounter with Jesus? If you have met Him and believe in His resurrection, then in order to know His power to save you from your sins, you must confess Him as Savior and Lord. Romans 10:9 says, “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”
NOTES
(1) John Gill, “John Gill’s Exposition of the Bible,” Bible Study Tools: https://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/gills-exposition-of-the-bible/luke-24-1.html (Accessed March 25, 2022). Syriac and Persic versions use “when it was yet dark,” and the Ethiopic version uses “while it was yet night.”
(2) In the Bible, darkness is symbolic of death. For example, in Isaiah chapter 59, we read this: “But your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear . . . We look for light, but there is darkness! For brightness, but we walk in blackness! We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes; we stumble at noonday as at twilight; we are as dead men in desolate places” (Isaiah 59:2, 9b-10). According to Isaiah, when we become separated from God by our sins, we wind up walking about in spiritual darkness; and spiritual darkness causes us to become as dead men.
(3) So, how can we be forgiven? In Colossians 1:13-14, the apostle Paul said, “He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.” Here in Colossians, we are told that we can be forgiven of our sins through His blood. When Jesus died on the cross, He took our punishment on Himself. We should die for our sins; but instead, Jesus died in our place. 1 Peter 3:18 says, “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God,” and John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
(4) Matthew Henry, “Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible,” Power Bible CD (Bronson, MI: Online Publishing, Inc., 2007).
(5) Ibid.
(6) Gill, https://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/gills-exposition-of-the-bible/luke-24-3.html (Accessed March 25, 2022); John Gill confirms this sequence.
(7) Henry.
(8) Ibid.
(9) Ibid.
(10) Gill, https://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/gills-exposition-of-the-bible/luke-24-5.html (Accessed March 25, 2022).
(11) Malcolm O. Tolbert, “Luke,” The Broadman Bible Commentary, vol. 9 (Nashville, TN: Broadman Press, 1970), p. 183.
(12) Gill, https://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/gills-exposition-of-the-bible/luke-24-7.html (Accessed March 25, 2022).
(13) In Luke chapter 2, Simeon prophesied of Jesus, “Behold, this Child is destined for the . . . rising of many in Israel” (Luke 2:34). That word “rising” in the Greek is anastasin, which means “to resurrect.” First, Jesus will cause people to rise spiritually, to be resurrected into new life in the kingdom. Paul said in Romans chapter 6 that “just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life . . . in the likeness of His resurrection” (Romans 6:4-5).
(14) Gill, https://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/gills-exposition-of-the-bible/luke-24-11.html (Accessed March 25, 2022). “As a dream,” according to the Persic version; or “as a jest,” as the Arabic version renders it.
(15) Henry.
(16) Ibid.
(17) Adam Clarke, “Adam Clarke’s Commentary,” Power Bible CD (Bronson, MI: Online Publishing, Inc., 2007).
(18) Gill, https://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/gills-exposition-of-the-bible/luke-24-12.html (Accessed March 25, 2022).
(19) Henry.
(20) Ibid.
