Fear No Fear

(All scripture from the World English Bible, ebible.org, all rights reserved)

Behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from the sky and came and rolled away the stone from the door and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes white as snow. For fear of him, the guards shook, and became like dead men. The angel answered the women, “Don’t be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus, who has been crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, just like he said. Come, see the place where the Lord was lying.
Matthew 28:2-6 (emphasis added)

There are two things I really like about this passage. One I have always liked and one I noticed recently — that happens a lot with scripture because it is the Living Word and there will always be new things to notice! First, an angel descended from the sky, rolled the stone away, and sat on it. Just sat. The angel wasn’t threatening. Wasn’t drawing himself up to his full stature or glaring out of his eyes. He sat. Calm and waiting with total patience. The guards were totally, utterly terrified and lay like the dead. Ironic, no? They were meant to guard the dead and here they were doing corpse impressions. The women, however, asked questions. We know that because the angel “answered the women”. They may have got out some exclamations. Perhaps a cry to the Lord to save them — remember, visitations by angels under the Law were not always a good thing. Maybe not even fully formed sentences. But they got words out. They weren’t lying on the ground, though they may have been kneeling — a frequent and understandable reaction to an angelic visitation.

The guards were not followers of God and not believers of Jesus. The women were. When the angel showed up, who by his very nature reflected the light of the Most High God, their flesh failed them. The women were believers. The women loved and worshipped God. The women were able to withstand it. Loving and following God gives us the faith to withstand when His messengers arrive. In the New Covenant, our spirits are the pure spirit of Jesus so we are capable of standing during visitations — though they still can lay us low because of the sheer reflected power of God on display. Our bodies are still flesh, even though our spirits are in Jesus the Christ.

The second thing is this: the angel rolled the stone away and sat on it. Nothing else happened. The presence of the angel is what affected the others. Nothing else. Now let’s pop over to the gospel of John, chapter 11, and starting in verse 41. “So they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you listened to me. I know that you always listen to me, but because of the multitude standing around I said this, that they may believe that you sent me.” When he had said this, he cried in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” He who was dead came out, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Free him, and let him go”” (verses 41-45). Jesus was wrapped just like Lazarus (Mark 15:46). The women were going to finish the process, adding the herbs and aromatic spices to the body of Jesus (Mark 16:1). The body had already been wrapped. Lazarus could barely move. He couldn’t free himself from the wrappings, just managed to get to the door of the tomb, and was understandably in need of assistance. Jesus had supernatural angelic assistance available to Him, and it wasn’t used. This means one thing: Jesus wasn’t in the tomb when the angel opened it. He wasn’t wrapped and He needed no help.

Remember what the angel said and did? He opened the tomb and sat on the stone. When the women spoke, he answered and said “He is not here, for he has risen, just like he said.” Jesus was already out. He got out because when God said COME FORTH Jesus rose right out of the grave and into life, resurrected into the full power and majesty of the Risen Lord, Only Begotten Son of the Father, the Great I AM, and He needed no help. Jesus defeated Satan and all his works, corrected the arrogance of Adam, claimed the shunned authority the Father had granted humanity, and stood bearing the Name that the Lord God Almighty had placed above every name there is or ever will be. This victorious Saviour needed no help with wrappings. Or with stones. In a few more verses Jesus is walking through walls, appearing and disappearing, translating instantly from one locale to another, eating snacks, and generally proving Himself to still be as fully man as He ever was but also now fully God in the restored and complete divine power and identity that He had cast off to become man at His birth. The Last Adam could do things no man ever could because He had His new body, His Resurrected Body. He was out of that grave as soon as His Father finished speaking! So why roll the stone away at all?

I believe, and I have heard others say it, that the stone was rolled away to let us in, not let Him out. We needed a witness to the clothing lying there. They were approaching their Thomas moment. They were not asked to believe just on words, but to see proof the body was supernaturally gone. This was the proof that would allow them to choose. Would they believe or not? The women chose to believe. Thomas, when it was his turn, chose not to. But then, he didn’t see the tomb as far as we know. What he had to hold to were the words of Jesus from Jesus Himself. Which is what we also have. We cannot see those wrappings. We have not seen the tomb. We have the words of Jesus from Jesus Himself. We have the testimony of those women, just as Thomas did. Once Thomas saw Jesus he regained his faith. He is with them for the rest of their journey right up to the baptism of the Holy Spirit in Acts.

The empty tomb was the first evidence that Jesus was gone. And it was evidence that needed to be believed without physical explanation. The grave was empty. Two angels were inside on either side of that stone as they sat in effigy on either side of the Ark of the Covenant forming a picture of the mercy seat (Luke 24:4). The women needed to see Him gone. The disciples needed to see Him gone. The soldiers needed to see the tomb empty so they could report it to their masters, the chief priests — who had remembered Jesus said He would rise again. This testimony needed to be seen, said, and spread. The entire New Testament was written within the lifetimes of the people within it.

The last books were written sixty years after Jesus was resurrected. The disciples were young men. They would only have been around eighty at this point — those who hadn’t been killed anyway. There are several statements by its authors in the books to go to and talk to witnesses that were still (at that time) living (Luke 1:1, 1 John 1:1,3 and 2 Peter 1:16). They wrote the gospels knowing that if the facts weren’t correct there were those still alive who would have pointed out the errors — some of them gleefully (Matthew 27:62-64). Heathens, believers, and beloved disciples saw that tomb empty. They heard the words of the angels that Jesus was not there. Once again, humanity was being let behind the curtain to see the truth: Jesus died for our sins, and was raised again to life. Confess that and believe it and you will be saved.

This is the ultimate Good News. The absolute and objective truth. Just like with Thomas, what you do with it is up to you. Reject it, and choose to be outside the light. It is your right. No one — not even God — will force you. Believe and confess it, and you’ll be with the God who is Love, Light, and Freedom forever. And ever. And ever. What are you going to do with the empty tomb? Are you going to read the words of what they saw and said and believe it? Are you going to spread it? Or are you going to ignore it. The choice is yours. It’s a biggie. But it’s yours.

Daily Affirmation of God’s Love: Isaiah 49:15-16

Do you know how important you are to the Father in heaven? He has your name written in the palm of His hand. Imagine that. Your name is written in the hands that started everything that ever was. The hands of ultimality: ultimate love, ultimate mercy, ultimate judgement, ultimate joy, ultimate light, ultimate everything. And right there. On the palm of THAT hand. Your name. That He might look on it and think of you, forever. Every day. Forever. He loves you SO MUCH. Don’t let yourself forget it. He loves you.

Your Daily Confession of God’s love to YOU:

Today God loves that I _______.