Scripture Reference: Luke 24
Lost for an Explanation
They found the stone rolled away from the tomb. Then they went in and did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. . . . They were greatly perplexed about this (Luke 24:2-4).
When the women arrived, they found that the rock in front of the tomb had been moved. When they went into the tomb, they found that it was empty. The women had absolutely no idea what to make of this. They were confronted with evidence, but they were lost for an explanation. The empty tomb left them “perplexed.”
It is important to notice that they did not immediately jump to the conclusion that Jesus had risen from the dead. When we have discussions about “what we should make of the empty tomb,” we should remember that the first visitors had no idea how to answer that question and they had been intimately close to Jesus.
When they found the body was missing, Mary did not say, “I have this feeling that He must have risen from the dead,” and Joanna did not reply, “You know, I have that feeling too. I think you must be right.” The thought didn’t even occur to them.
So how did they know what happened?
God told them.
God Gives the Explanation
It happened, as they were greatly perplexed about this, that behold, two men stood by them in shining garments. 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? He is not here, but is risen!” (Luke 24:4-6).
God called two angels and said, “Go and tell them what I have done. These women love My Son, but there is no way in the world that they are ever going to work out what happened. Go tell them.”
Suddenly the women became aware of “two men in shining garments” standing beside them. The other gospel writers identify them specifically as angels. Luke gives us a description. They looked like men and yet they were clearly not men because of the radiance of their appearance. They were given the privilege of announcing the greatest news the world has ever heard: “He has risen!”
A Christian is a person who has come to believe God’s explanation of His own action. Christian faith rests entirely on grasping and believing what God tells us He has done. We have seen this pattern throughout the Bible story.
When Adam breathed his first breath and became aware of himself as a living being, he had no means of knowing who he was until God told him. God explained what had happened. Adam was made in God’s image and for His glory.
When the young virgin Mary conceived a child, there was no way that she could have known what was happening to her. So God sent the angel to explain what was about to happen. It was the same with the shepherds and the wise men. How could they possibly have known that the child in a manger was God in human flesh? Without God’s explanation through the angels and the star, they would never have known what was happening.
It was the same with the death of Jesus. Many people saw Him die, but few understood the significance of the Cross. But God tells us that on the cross, Christ bore our sin and endured our punishment, laying His life down as a sacrifice so that justice would be satisfied and we may receive mercy.
It was the same for the women at the tomb on that first day of the week. They would never have worked out what had happened for themselves. So, God told them through His messengers. Christian faith does not rest on feelings, impulses, or personal insights. It is believing God’s explanation of events, given to us in the Scripture: “He has risen!”
To Be Continued
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD 
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