In first-century Israel, there was an elaborate process for preparing a body for burial, using spices and ointments and a linen shroud. But Jesus died on a Friday afternoon, and the Sabbath—the day of rest—began at sundown on Friday evening. People would take time on Friday to prepare their food and get things in order so that they wouldn’t have to work on the Sabbath.
All of which meant that the people who wanted to bury Jesus didn’t have much time. Jewish custom forbade this kind of activity on the Sabbath, and so Jesus’ body only received half the attention it would normally have received. The faithful women who had been with Jesus noted the location of the tomb and went home to prepare the spices. Their plan was to wait until after the Sabbath was over and then, as soon as it was light on Sunday, go and try to find someone to move the stone at the entrance so that they could properly prepare the body.
But when Sunday comes and they go to the tomb, they find three things that perplex and terrify them. The huge stone that sealed the tomb’s entrance has been rolled away. Jesus’ body is gone. And there are two men in shining clothing—angels—standing there at the entrance to the tomb. These messengers address the confusion of the women with seven simple words that change the world and which take us into the final chapter of this greatest of stories: “He is not here; he has risen!” (v 6).
Then they remind the women that Jesus had told them all about this: “Remember how he told you that he would be handed over to sinful men and be crucified and then rise on the third day?"
It’s as if they’re asking: “Do you notice any similarities between what Jesus predicted and the events of the last thirty-six hours?!” Finally the penny drops and the women understand: this was the plan all along.
Christians have a huge interest in this account of the resurrection being a historical event: we’re staking our eternal future on it. Non-Christians have an equally huge vested interest in it not being historical: they’re staking their eternal future on it. Every single person rests their entire eternal destiny on being correct in their understanding of Christ’s resurrection.
So people have tried to come up with a number of alternative explanations for these events. It might have been a look-alike on the cross. Maybe some of the disciples stole Jesus’ body and claimed that He was raised from the dead. Perhaps Jesus wasn’t really dead, but had passed out from the pain of the cross. And so on.
But none of those theories fit with the testimony of the people who were actually there. Take the “look-alike” theory. Where did this look-alike come from? Can we really believe that Jesus’ disciples, and even His own mother, wouldn’t be able to see that it wasn’t really Jesus on the cross? That they didn’t recognize that His voice was different?
Or how about the “stolen body” theory? Would you be willing to spend your entire life in danger and poverty to spread a story that you knew wasn’t true, being laughed at, rejected, arrested and even killed? If this theory is correct, that’s exactly what the disciples did. What would be their motivation if they knew that they had stolen the body?
But the worst of all the alternative explanations is the “Jesus didn’t really die” theory. The soldiers who reported back to Pilate in Mark 15 v 44 confirmed that Jesus was really dead; and usually soldiers are pretty good at making sure they’ve killed the people they are supposed to kill. They even jabbed a spear into His side for good measure.
All of the disciples understood that Jesus was really dead. The crowds went home beating their breasts in sorrow. The women who stood at the foot of the cross went back home to get ready to prepare the corpse. Joseph went to get a tomb ready. Everyone who was there agreed that He was dead. This is pretty indisputable.
And then, three days after Jesus died, He wasn’t dead anymore. His tomb was unoccupied. The angels at the tomb said that He was alive. His disciples claimed that they saw Him and even ate breakfast with Him (John 21 v 4-14); and they lived the rest of their lives like men who had seen their teacher living after He had died.
On Friday, Jesus was really dead; on Sunday, He was really alive. Any deviation from these two facts gets you off into unconvincing fantasy and vain faith. This is why Paul wrote to the church in Corinth:
I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures. (1 Corinthians 15 v 1-4)
Extract taken from Passion p139-141