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Observe here, 1. With what pomp and triumph doth our Lord arise; an angel is sent from heaven to roll away the stone. But could not Christ have risen without the angel's help? yes, doubtless; he that raised himself, could surely have rolled away the stone; but God thinks fit to send an officer from heaven to open the prison-door of the grave, and by setting our surety at liberty, proclaims our debt to the divine justice fully satisfied. Besides, it was fit that the angels, who had been witnesses of our Saviour's passion, should also be witnesses of his resurrection.
Observe, 2. Our Lord's resurrection declared, He is risen, he is not here. Almighty God never intended that the darling of his soul should be left in an obscure sepulchre; He is not here, said the angel, where they laid him, where you left him. Death has lost its prey, and the grave has lost its prisoner.
Observe, 3. It is not said, he is not here, for he is raised, but, He is risen. The word imports the active power of Christ, or the self-quickening principle by which Christ raised himself from the dead, He shewed himself alive after his passion Act_1:3.
Hence learn, That it was the divine nature, or godhead, of Christ, which raised the human nature from death to life; others were raised from the grave by Christ's power; but he raised himself by his own power.
Observe, 4. The testimony or witness given of our Lord's resurrection; that of an angel in human shape. A young man clothed in a long white garment. But why is an angel the first publisher of our Saviour's resurrection? Surely the dignity of our Lord's person, and the excellency of his resurrection require that it should be published. How very serviceable and officious the holy angels were in attending upon our Saviour in the days of his flesh, see in the note on Mat_28:6-7.
Observe, 5. The persons to whom our Lord's resurrection was first declared and made known; to women, to the two Marys. But why to women? And why to these women?
Why to women? Because God will make use of weak means for producing great effects; knowing that the weakness of the instrument redounds to the greater honour of the agent. In the whole dispensation of the gospel, God intermixes divine power with human weakness. Thus the conception of Christ was by the power of the Holy Ghost, but his mother was a poor woman, a carpenter's spouse; so the crucifixion of Christ was in between two thieves. But the powers of heaven and earth trembling, the rocks rending, the graves opening, shewed a mixture of divine power. Thus here God will honour what instruments he pleases for the accomplishment of his own purposes.
But why to these women; the two Marys, is the first discovery made of our Saviour's resurrection? Possibly it was a reward for their magnanimity and masculine courage; these women cleaved to Christ when the apostles forsook him; they assisted at his cross, they attended at his funeral, they waited at his sepulchre; these women had more courage than the apostles, therefore God makes them apostles to the apostles, this was a tacit rebuke, a secret check given to the apostles, that they should be out-done by women; these holy women went before the apostles in the last services that were done for Christ, and therefore the apostles come after them in their rewards and comforts.
Observe, 6. The evidence which the angel offers to the women, to evince and prove the verity and certainty of our Saviour's resurrection, namely, by an appeal to their senses; Behold the place where they laid him; the senses, when rightly disposed, are the proper judges of all sensible objects, and accordingly Christ himself did appeal to his disciples senses concerning the truth of his own resurrection: Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself.
And indeed, if we must not believe our senses, we shall want the best external evidence for the proof of the certainty and truth of the Christian religion; namely, the miracles wrought by Christ and his apostles: for what assurance can we have of the reality of those miracles, but from our senses?
Therefore, says our Saviour, If you believe not me, yet believe the works that I do; that is, the miracles which I have wrought before your eyes.
Now as my senses tell me that Christ's miracles were true, so they assure me that the doctrine of transubstantiation is false.
From the whole, note, That the Lord Jesus Christ, by the omnipotent power of his godhead, revived and rose again from the dead the third day, to the terror and consternation of his enemies, and the unspeakable joy and consolation of believers.
Observe, lastly, The quick dispatch made of the joyful news of our Lord's resurrection to the sorrowful disciples: Go tell my brethren, says Christ, Mat_28:10. Christ might have said, "Go tell those apostate apostles, that cowardly left me in my danger , that durst not own me in the high priest's hall, that durst not come within the shadow of my cross, nor within sight of my sepulchre;" not a word of this, by way of upbraiding them for their late shameful cowardice, but all words of kindness; Go tell my brethren.
Where note, That Christ calls them brethren after his resurrection and exaltation; thereby shewing that the change in his condition had wrought no change in his affection towards his poor disciples' but those that were his brethren before, in the time of his basement, are still so after his exaltation and advancement? God tell his disciples and Peter, says the angel.
Where note, That St. Peter is here particularly named, not because of his primacy and superiority over the rest of the apostles, as the church of Rome would have it, but because he had sorrow, and stood most in need of comfort; therefore, says Christ by the angel, speak particularly to Peter, be sure that his sad heart be comforted with his joyful news, that he may know that I am friends with him, notwithstanding his late cowardice; Tell the disciples and Peter, that he goeth before you into Galilee.
But why into Galilee? because Jerusalem was now a forsaken place, and people abandoned to destruction; but Galilee was a place where Christ's ministry was more acceptable. Such places shall be most honoured with Christ's presence, where his gospel is most accepted.