In these six passages below, the focus will be on the fifth verse-why seek the living among the dead? In Jesus time period this was a common form of speech among the Jews, and seems to be applied to those who were foolishly, impertinently, or absurdly employed. As places of burial were unclean, it was not reasonable to suppose that the living should frequent them; or that if any was missing he was likely to be found in such places.
Luk 24:1 Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them.
Luk 24:2 And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre.
Luk 24:3 And they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus.
Luk 24:4 And it came to pass, as they were much perplexed thereabout, behold, two men stood by them in shining garments:
Luk 24:5 And as they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead?
Luk 24:6 He is not here, but is risen: remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee,
Luk 24:1 Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them.
Luk 24:2 And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre.
Luk 24:3 And they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus.
Luk 24:4 And it came to pass, as they were much perplexed thereabout, behold, two men stood by them in shining garments:
Luk 24:5 And as they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead?
Luk 24:6 He is not here, but is risen: remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee,
WARNING AGAINST UNREASONABLE SERVICES
Those good people to whom the angels said, “He is not here, but is risen,” were bearing a load, and what were they carrying? What is Joanna carrying, and her servants, and Mary, what are they carrying? Why, white linen, and what else? Pounds of spices, the most precious they could buy. What are they going to do? Ah, if an angel could laugh, I should think he must have smiled-as he found they were coming to embalm Christ. “Why, He is not here; and, what is more, He is not dead, He does not want any embalming, He is alive.” In other ways a great many fussy people do the same thing. See how they come forward in defence of the gospel. It has been discovered by geology and by arithmetic that Moses was wrong. Straightway many go out to defend Jesus Christ. They argue for the gospel, and apologize for it, as if it were now a little out of date, and we must try to bring it round to suit modern discoveries and the philosophies of the present period. That seems to me exactly like coming up with your linen and precious spices to wrap Him in. Take them away. (Biblical Illustrator)
A devotional excerpt from Charles Spurgeon on these verses gives his insights:
A devotional excerpt from Charles Spurgeon on these verses gives his insights:
THE AMAZING NEWS which these good women received—“He is not here, but He is risen.” This was amazing news to His enemies. They said, “We have killed Him—we have put Him in the tomb; it is all over with Him.” A-ha! Scribe, Pharisee, priest, what have you done? Your work is all undone, for He is risen! It was amazing news for Satan. He no doubt dreamed that he had destroyed the Saviour, but He is risen! What a thrill went through all the regions of hell! What news it was for the grave! Now was it utterly destroyed, and death had lost his sting! What news it was for trembling saints. “He is risen indeed.” They plucked up courage, and they said, “The good cause is the right one still, and it will conquer, for our Christ is still alive at its head. It was good news for sinners. Ay, it is good news for every sinner here. Christ is alive; if you seek Him He will be found of you. He is not a dead Christ to whom I point you to-day. He is risen; and He is able to save to the uttermost them that come unto God by Him. (C. H. Spurgeon.) |
THE EMPTY TOMB
The most perplexing question for those who deny Christ’s resurrection is, “What became of His body if He did not rise?” If foes stole it, they would have produced it in disproof of the allegations of the Apostles. If friends had taken it, they would certainly have borne it off wrapped in the cerements of death; but these were left behind and wrapped together in such an orderly fashion that evidently there had been neither violence nor haste.
Notice the stress that the angels laid on Christ as the living one. They had doubtless overheard that sentence of His spoken in Galilee and recorded in Luk_9:22. Too many seek the living Christ amid the wrappings of ceremony and creed. He is not there. He has gone forth, and we must follow Him where Easter is breaking.
Women were the first evangelist-messengers of the Resurrection. The very ardor of their belief seems to have prejudiced their message; the Apostles “dis-believed,” Luk_24:11 (R.V.). But the orderly arrangement of the tomb proved to Peter that clearly it had not been rifled. F.B. Meyer
The major point I'm going to bring home to the reader is, we serve a risen God, God in the flesh. Jesus Christ is no longer in the tomb. His soul and body is not asleep-He is alive, and risen from the dead.
Rev 1:17 And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last:
Rev 1:18 I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.
Consider Jesus' statement when he was still ministering on earth before the cross:
Mat 22:31 But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying,
Mat 22:32 I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.
Excerpt from B.W. Johnson on the above verses:
I am the God of Abraham. Exo_3:6. God does not say, "I was," but "I am the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob." The present tense shows that he is still the God of the departed patriarchs, and that they are still in existence. Queen Victoria is not the queen of Bacon, Shakespeare and Ben Jonson, but only of her living subjects. The Savior teaches that the soul is resurrected when it leaves the body, and that there is no unconscious state between death and the final resurrection of the body.
I am the God of Abraham - Let it be observed, that Abraham was dead upwards of 300 years before these words were spoken to Moses: yet still God calls himself the God of Abraham, etc. Now Christ properly observes that God is not the God of the dead, (that word being equal, in the sense of the Sadducees, to an eternal annihilation), but of the living; it therefore follows that, if he be the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, these are not dead, but alive; alive with God, though they had ceased, for some hundreds of years, to exist among mortals. We may see, from this, that our Lord combats and confutes another opinion of the Sadducees, viz. that there is neither angel nor spirit; by showing that the soul is not only immortal, but lives with God, even while the body is detained in the dust of the earth, which body is afterwards to be raised to life, and united with its soul by the miraculous power of God, of which power they showed themselves to be ignorant when they denied the possibility of a resurrection. Adam Clarke
Corresponding scripture references of witnesses of the risen Christ:
Act 1:3 To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God:
Act 13:30 But God raised him from the dead:
Act 13:31 And he was seen many days of them which came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are his witnesses unto the people.
additional references:
Mat_28:16; Mar_16:12-14; Luk_24:36-42; Joh_20:19-29; Joh_21:1-14; 1Co_15:5-7 Act_1:8, Act_1:22, Act_2:32, Act_3:15, Act_5:32, Act_10:39; Luk_24:48; Joh_15:27; Heb_2:3-4
Notice the stress that the angels laid on Christ as the living one. They had doubtless overheard that sentence of His spoken in Galilee and recorded in Luk_9:22. Too many seek the living Christ amid the wrappings of ceremony and creed. He is not there. He has gone forth, and we must follow Him where Easter is breaking.
Women were the first evangelist-messengers of the Resurrection. The very ardor of their belief seems to have prejudiced their message; the Apostles “dis-believed,” Luk_24:11 (R.V.). But the orderly arrangement of the tomb proved to Peter that clearly it had not been rifled. F.B. Meyer
The major point I'm going to bring home to the reader is, we serve a risen God, God in the flesh. Jesus Christ is no longer in the tomb. His soul and body is not asleep-He is alive, and risen from the dead.
Rev 1:17 And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last:
Rev 1:18 I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.
Consider Jesus' statement when he was still ministering on earth before the cross:
Mat 22:31 But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying,
Mat 22:32 I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.
Excerpt from B.W. Johnson on the above verses:
I am the God of Abraham. Exo_3:6. God does not say, "I was," but "I am the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob." The present tense shows that he is still the God of the departed patriarchs, and that they are still in existence. Queen Victoria is not the queen of Bacon, Shakespeare and Ben Jonson, but only of her living subjects. The Savior teaches that the soul is resurrected when it leaves the body, and that there is no unconscious state between death and the final resurrection of the body.
I am the God of Abraham - Let it be observed, that Abraham was dead upwards of 300 years before these words were spoken to Moses: yet still God calls himself the God of Abraham, etc. Now Christ properly observes that God is not the God of the dead, (that word being equal, in the sense of the Sadducees, to an eternal annihilation), but of the living; it therefore follows that, if he be the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, these are not dead, but alive; alive with God, though they had ceased, for some hundreds of years, to exist among mortals. We may see, from this, that our Lord combats and confutes another opinion of the Sadducees, viz. that there is neither angel nor spirit; by showing that the soul is not only immortal, but lives with God, even while the body is detained in the dust of the earth, which body is afterwards to be raised to life, and united with its soul by the miraculous power of God, of which power they showed themselves to be ignorant when they denied the possibility of a resurrection. Adam Clarke
Corresponding scripture references of witnesses of the risen Christ:
Act 1:3 To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God:
Act 13:30 But God raised him from the dead:
Act 13:31 And he was seen many days of them which came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are his witnesses unto the people.
additional references:
Mat_28:16; Mar_16:12-14; Luk_24:36-42; Joh_20:19-29; Joh_21:1-14; 1Co_15:5-7 Act_1:8, Act_1:22, Act_2:32, Act_3:15, Act_5:32, Act_10:39; Luk_24:48; Joh_15:27; Heb_2:3-4
What does this mean for you and I?
Just this-when a believer in Christ dies-he does not go into the grave and sleep. His body returns to the dust, where it came from-but our spirits immediately go to be with Christ, and are with Him in heaven. At the appointed time when He returns to earth-our mortal bodies will be raised and will be changed into our glorified bodies-as Jesus is risen bodily now, to rule and reign with Christ forever.
Some verses to affirm this are:
Luk 2:29 Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word:
2Co 5:6 Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord:
2Co 5:7 (For we walk by faith, not by sight:)
2Co 5:8 We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.
2Co 12:2 I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven.
2Co 12:3 And I knew such a man, (whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;)
2Co 12:4 How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.
Php 1:23 For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better:
Luk 23:42 And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.
Luk 23:43 And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.
These verses and commentaries serve to give me comfort, encouragement, and strength to endure-as many believer's before me; and my family members who are there now. They have left the sorrows of this life-and are enjoying the glories of heaven, forever.
I hope they will cause you to ponder your life, and it will put a hunger to know the Lord for yourself. That you'll to take them into your own heart, and allow them to increase your faith, and strengthen you in your life-whatever your facing. May Christ find a home in your heart, and may you find your feet on streets of gold-when your journey here ends.
Lorna Couillard
Some verses to affirm this are:
Luk 2:29 Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word:
2Co 5:6 Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord:
2Co 5:7 (For we walk by faith, not by sight:)
2Co 5:8 We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.
2Co 12:2 I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven.
2Co 12:3 And I knew such a man, (whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;)
2Co 12:4 How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.
Php 1:23 For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better:
Luk 23:42 And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.
Luk 23:43 And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.
These verses and commentaries serve to give me comfort, encouragement, and strength to endure-as many believer's before me; and my family members who are there now. They have left the sorrows of this life-and are enjoying the glories of heaven, forever.
I hope they will cause you to ponder your life, and it will put a hunger to know the Lord for yourself. That you'll to take them into your own heart, and allow them to increase your faith, and strengthen you in your life-whatever your facing. May Christ find a home in your heart, and may you find your feet on streets of gold-when your journey here ends.
Lorna Couillard