Matthew 28:5-7: “Go Quickly and Tell.”

On the door of the tomb in the Garden Tomb, a likely location for the burial and resurrection of Jesus, just outside Jerusalem.  (My photo taken April 2012)

“He is not here, for he has risen,” the angel to the women at the tomb of Jesus, Matthew 28:6

“Round the tomb of Him they'd slain.  They set a guard...In vain! In vain!”  (Charles Spurgeon)

These three great facts--the resurrection appearances, the empty tomb, and the origin of the Christian faith--all point unavoidably to one conclusion: The resurrection of Jesus. Today the rational man can hardly be blamed if he believes that on that first Easter morning a divine miracle occurred. (Dr. William Lane Craig, "Contemporary Scholarship and the Historical Evidence for the Resurrection of Jesus Christ," www.reasonablefaith.org) 

The greatest tragedies in human history, the most deaths, the most mayhem, the most destruction has come when man has directly alienated himself from God and sought to govern and rule without him.   Man cannot hope in himself, others, angels or planet earth.  Man is bound as a prisoner to the chains of his own mortality.  He cannot escape his own futility; he cannot escape the grave.  But Christ has broken the chains!  He has reversed the curse; he has risen from the dead.  In him and him alone we can hope! 

But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid,” (v. 5).  Those words were not directed to the guards who “trembled and became like dead men,” (v. 4).  They were directed to the women.   Undoubtedly the women were afraid too, but, unlike the guards, they had good reason to not be frightened.     First, they were told by the heavenly messenger, “Do not be afraid.”   Another thread found in Scripture regarding mortal man’s encounters with a heavenly glorified being is that man is told, “Do not be afraid.”  (For example, see Luke 1:30, 2:10, Revelation 1:17.)

The second reason the women did not need to be frightened is that their faith was in the correct object. Their faith was small, like a mustard seed, but it was in the person of Jesus Christ.  The angel said, “for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified,” (v. 5).   Even in this hour of despair, even in what they thought were the worst of circumstances, the women still sought Jesus.  On the other hand, the guards were aware that the tomb was empty.  But instead of running to Jesus, they ran from Jesus (v. 11).

The angels then said the greatest words ever heard by man on this celestial piece of rock: “He is not here, for he has risen, as he said,” (v. 6).  And surely the women were not thinking resurrection when they arrived at the tomb, for they had come to anoint the body with spices (see Mark 16:1).   The angel had to remind them that Jesus had predicted his rising from the dead (see Matthew 16:21, 17:23, 20:19, 26:32).  Still the women probably responded with blank stares since they had neither expectation nor category for their beloved Lord to rise on the third day.   So the angel ushered them into the tomb and said, “Come, see the place where he lay,” (v. 6). 

"Come see the place where he lay," Matthew 28:6.   Inside the tomb at the Garden Tomb. 

The angel continued: “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, (v. 7).”  The time for worship will come.  But the women’s first immediate response is to “go quickly and tell.”   The greatest news ever has been given to humanity; how DARE we keep it to ourselves.   The only natural reaction is to “go quickly and tell.”  In this case it was to “tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead.”   Our Lord, in his mercy, did not hide this truth from those who denied him and who fled when he was arrested.    In fact, the weak disciples were the first to be told!  The mercy of our God! 

The angels had to repeat what the disciples never grasped, even though they were listening.   In Matthew 26:32, Jesus said, “But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee.”  Much has transpired since Jesus said that to Peter and his disciples on Thursday night.   Therefore, the angels needed to repeat it and affirm it.   Sweet, sweet times of worship, rejoicing, fellowship and commissioning lay before them.   But it will be done away from Jerusalem and its animosity toward Jesus.  Our Lord, even in his glorified state, chose to be near his earthly home in familiar surroundings.

Let us not trust in ourselves; no amount of faith in our own goodness will save us.   But if we trust in Him and his power over death, then we will not be disappointed. This earth has no claim on you; death no longer has the final word over you! Soon and very soon we will be with our Lord forever! Until then, “go quickly and tell” a world enslaved by death that he has risen from the dead!   He has risen indeed!