The Lesson
• The Lord Jesus Christ was crucified on a cross on our behalf so that through His pain, we may be healed, and through His death, we may be alive.
• After the Jews crucified Him, they let guards stand watchful at His Tomb, because they feared that His disciples may take His body and claim that Jesus was resurrected: “The chief priests and the Pharisees gathered together to Pilate, saying, ‘Sir, we remember, while He was alive, how that deceiver said, “After three days I will rise”. Therefore command that the tomb be made secure until the third day, lest His disciples come by night, and steal Him away…” Matt. 27:63-64
• But, on the third day, on a Sunday, Jesus Christ was risen from the dead.
• An angel of the Lord came down and rolled the stone from the tomb. There was a great earthquake when the angel descended from heaven, and the guards fell down with fear.
• Mary Magdalene and other women who went to the Lord’s tomb to anoint his body with perfume learned of the Lord’s Resurrection from an angel: “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is no here, He is risen, as He said.” Matt. 28:6
• The Lord Jesus himself appeared to them later, as they went to tell the disciples of what they saw. He said to them: “Rejoice… Do not be afraid. Go and tell My brethren to go to Galilee and there they will see Me.”
• The women went and told the disciples of the Lord’s Resurrection, but they didn’t believe them at first until they went and saw the empty tomb themselves.
• The guards went into the city and told the chief priests of all that happened. But they bribed them with money so that they would lie and tell the people that His disciples came and stole Him away while they slept.
• The Lord Jesus Christ appeared to the disciples many times for 40 days after His resurrection and taught them. He also instructed them to witness of His resurrection and to make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Conclusion: The Lord Jesus Christ rose from the dead on the third day of His crucifixion. We celebrate His resurrection every year on a Sunday, for He was risen early Sunday Morning.
His resurrection was a hope and a sign for our own resurrection. It also strengthened the faith and hope of the disciples for they were in despair after His crucifixion because they forgot all that He had told them about His resurrection beforehand.
The women who loved the Lord Jesus Christ, and went to His tomb in the middle of the night without fearing the darkness and the guards witnessed the Lord’s resurrection even before the disciples. They heard of the good news from the angel of the Lord, and He appeared to them Himself later.
Reference: Matt. 28, Mark 16, Luke 24, John 20