Daily Devotional Wednesday 31st March 2021

by William Moody

Matthew 28

The Resurrection

28:1 Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he1 lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you.” So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. And behold, Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.”

The Report of the Guard

11 While they were going, behold, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests all that had taken place. 12 And when they had assembled with the elders and taken counsel, they gave a sufficient sum of money to the soldiers 13 and said, “Tell people, ‘His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ 14 And if this comes to the governor’s ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” 15 So they took the money and did as they were directed. And this story has been spread among the Jews to this day.

The Great Commission

16 Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. 17 And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. 18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in2 the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Footnotes

[1] 28:6 Some manuscripts the Lord
[2] 28:19 Or into

(ESV)

It must have been a very sad road that the women took this Sunday morning (v1). Their world and hopes for the future had fallen apart when they saw how Jesus died. But now their lives would again be in turmoil as they are about to experience another strange twist (v2-3).

This glorious angel brings paralysing fear to the Roman guards (v4), but then brings words of comfort to the women (v5-7). The woman are encouraged to look where Jesus had been laid in order to have evidence of His resurrection. Then they are to go and tell others about his resurrection.

The mixture of fear and joy that the women had (v8) should be a common thing among God’s people. The believer will have many things in life to cause them to fear, but above all we need to have a fear of God. At the same time the joy of knowing the resurrected Christ should be our encouragement.

Jesus then meets with the women and He also seeks to reassure them (v9-10). The Lord is very aware of our weaknesses and He knows exactly how to reassure us. The crucial thing is to be seeking Jesus in His word regularly.

From both the words of the angel (v7) and of Jesus (v10), there is an urgency to share what we know of the resurrected Christ. This leads to the great commission (v18-20). The challenge for all believers and for the church is to be active making the message of the resurrected Christ known. We need to do this with the mixture of fear and joy that these women had.

Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®),
copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.