No one was allowed to look on when the Lord Jesus was made “to be sin for us, who knew no sin” (2 Cor. 5:2121For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. (2 Corinthians 5:21)). No one was allowed to look on when “Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father” (Rom. 6:44Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. (Romans 6:4)). But God the Father was totally and completely satisfied by Jesus’ work of atonement. His glory would have been tarnished, an impossible thing, if He had not raised the One who had so fully satisfied His holy anger against sin.
Peter Witnesses the Empty Tomb
Peter had denied the Lord, but he did love Him. The Lord’s turning around and looking at Peter after he denied Him for the third time had made him go out to weep bitterly. He felt his sin deeply and the work of repentance began in his heart. Later Jesus would meet with him privately and in the next chapter restore him publically to service. Peter ran to the tomb and found it empty. Death couldn’t hold on to One who had fully paid for what produced it, sin. Jesus was gone and would never again be touched by death. “Now once in the end of the world hath He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself” (Heb. 9:2626For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. (Hebrews 9:26)). Mohammed is dead. Confucius is dead. Buddha is dead. The Lord Jesus Christ is a man alive in heaven. Satan still lies that “Ye shall not surely die” (Genesis 3:44And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: (Genesis 3:4)). But he is a liar and the father of it. The evidence is clear. All his false prophets from past centuries have received their wages, death.
Believing the Evidence or Knowing
Peter and John believed what their eyes told them. The tomb was empty; Jesus was risen and gone. The grave clothing was neatly placed in the tomb. No disciples had come to steal the body. It would have been extremely foolish to carefully unwrap a body that had laid dead for so long while they ran the risk of being caught. Anyone would grab the wrapped up body and hurry away to hide it. But Jesus, the Lord of life, had risen and quietly set aside those grave clothes that Nicodemus and the others had lovingly given to Him. He was gone. It is one thing to understand and accept the evidence but quite another to know it from the Scripture. When they saw and believed the evidence, Peter and John went on home. Later they would fully perceive (know) “the scripture, that He must rise again from the dead” (John 20:99For as yet they knew not the scripture, that he must rise again from the dead. (John 20:9)). Then the result would be dramatically different. Peter, when fully restored to public service, preached the resurrection to the Jews (Acts 2), before the temple (Acts 3), before Sadducees (Acts 4), before the Jewish council again (Acts 5) and to the Gentiles (Acts 10). It was his delight to present the One who not only died but rose again.
Loving Mary Learns
Mary of Magdala deeply loved the Lord and had been the first to the tomb that morning. The Lord Jesus deeply values affection and taught Mary a wonderful truth. She wanted to take hold of Him as her Messiah again but He had something much better for her. She wouldn’t just get to see Him reign on the earth. She was to take an amazing new message to His brethren, “I ascend unto My Father, and your Father; and to My God, and your God.” God the Son wanted her to know that she could now go with the same intimacy and confidence to the Father’s house that He could. She wouldn’t be living on the earth and seeing His glory from here. She would be present in His Father’s house with all the rights of a child born into that house. What a stupendous difference!
Further Meditation
1. What did Peter often preach about in the Acts?
2. What was new about the relationship of Father that the Jews had not already known?
3. More discussion on the essential subject of the resurrection can be found in The Collected Writings of J. N. Darby Vol. 3. It isn’t simple reading but it is a good help on an essential subject.