The resurrection of Christ is one of the great foundation stones of the Christian religion…[Luke 24:1-12] directs our mind to the evidence of the resurrection. It contains unanswerable proof that Jesus not only died, but rose again.
We see, in the verses before us, the reality of Christ’s resurrection. We read that upon “the first day of the week” (24:1), certain women came to the sepulcher in which the body of Jesus had been laid in order to anoint Him. But when they came to the place, “They found the stone rolled away…And they entered in and found not the body of the Lord Jesus” (24:2-3).
This simple fact is the starting point in the history of the resurrection of Christ. On Friday morning, His body was safe in the tomb. On [Sunday] morning His body was gone. By whose hands had it been taken away? Who had removed it? Surely not the priests and scribes and other enemies of Christ! If they had had Christ’s body to show in disproof of His resurrection, they would gladly have shown it. Not the apostles and other disciples of our Lord! They were far too much frightened and dispirited to attempt such an action, and the more so when they had nothing to gain by it. One explanation—and one only—can meet the circumstance of the case. That explanation is the one supplied by the angels in the verse before us (24:6): Christ had risen from the grave. To seek Him in the sepulcher was seeking “the living among the dead” (24:5). He had risen again and was soon seen alive and conversing in the body by many credible witnesses.
The fact of our Lord’s resurrection rests on evidence that no infidel can ever explain away. It is confirmed by testimony of every kind, sort, and description. The plain, unvarnished story that the Gospel writers tell is one that cannot be overthrown. The more the account they give is examined, the more inexplicable will the event appear, unless we accept it as true. If we choose to deny the truth of their account, we may deny everything in the world. It is not so certain that Julius Caesar once lived, as it is that Christ rose again.
Let us cling firmly to the resurrection of Christ as one of the pillars of the gospel. It ought to produce in our minds a settled conviction of the truth of Christianity. Our faith does not depend merely on a set of texts and doctrines: it is founded on a mighty fact that the skeptic has never been able to overturn. It ought to assure us of the certainty of the resurrection of our own bodies after death. If our Master has risen from the grave, we need not doubt that His disciples shall rise again at the last day. Above all, it ought to fill our hearts with a joyful sense of the fullness of gospel salvation: “Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again” (Rom 8:34). He has gone to prison for us and come forth triumphantly after atoning for our sins. The payment He made for us has been accepted. The work of satisfaction has been perfectly accomplished. No wonder that St. Peter exclaims, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1Pe 1:3).
We see, secondly, in the verses before us, how dull the memory of the disciples was about some of our Lord’s sayings. We are told that the angels who appeared to the women reminded them of their Master’s words in Galilee, foretelling His own crucifixion and resurrection. And then we read, “They remembered his words.” They had heard them, but made no use of them. Now after many days, they call them to mind. This dullness of memory is a common spiritual disease among believers. It prevails as widely now as it did in the days of the first disciples. It is one among many proofs of our fallen and corrupt condition. Even after men have been renewed by the Holy Ghost, their readiness to forget the promises and precepts of the gospel is continually bringing them into trouble. They hear many things that they ought to store up in their hearts, but seem to forget as fast as they hear. And then, perhaps after many days, affliction brings them up before their recollection, and at once it flashes across their minds that they heard them long ago!...
The true cure for a dull memory in religion is to get deeper love toward Christ and affections more thoroughly set on things above. We do not readily forget the things we love, and the objects that we keep continually under our eyes…The more our affections are engaged in Christ’s service, the easier shall we find it to remember Christ’s words. The words of the apostle ought to be carefully pondered: “We ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip” (Heb 2:1).
We see, lastly, how slow of belief the first disciples were on the subject of Christ’s resurrection. We read that when the women returned from the sepulcher and told the things they had heard from the angels to the eleven apostles, “Their words seemed to them idle tales, and they believed them not” (24:11). In spite of the plainest declarations from their Master’s own lips that He would rise again the third day, in spite of the distinct testimony of five or six credible witnesses that the sepulcher was empty and that angels had told them. He was risen, in spite of the manifest impossibility of accounting for the empty tomb on any other supposition than that of a miraculous resurrection—in spite of all this, these eleven faithless ones would not believe! Perhaps we marvel at their unbelief. No doubt it seems at first sight most senseless, most unreasonable, most provoking, most unaccountable. But shall we not do well to look at home? Do we not see around us in Christian churches a mass of unbelief far more unreasonable and far more blameworthy than that of the apostles? Do we not see, after eighteen centuries of additional proofs that Christ has risen from the dead, a general [lack] of faith that is truly deplorable? Do we not see myriads of professing Christians who seem not to believe that Jesus died, rose again, and is coming to judge the world? These are painful questions. Strong faith is indeed a rare thing. No wonder our Lord said, “When the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?” (Luk 18:8).
Finally, let us admire the wisdom of God, which can bring great good out of seeming evil. The unbelief of the apostles is one of the strongest indirect evidences that Jesus rose from the dead. If the disciples were at first so backward to believe our Lord’s resurrection, and were at last so thoroughly persuaded of its truth that they preached it everywhere, Christ must have risen indeed. The first preachers were men who were convinced in spite of themselves and in spite of determined, obstinate unwillingness to believe. If the apostles at last believed, the resurrection must be true.
Excerpt from Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, by J. C. Ryle available as a free eBook