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Now, here's today's message from Pastor Skip. Would you turn in your Bibles to the Gospel of John? Chapter 20 Finally made it. to one of the best chapters in all of Scripture. The resurrection.
We've been contemplating slowly and in depth all of the events that surround the crucifixion. And now there's a turn in the corner. We come to some of the greatest literature of all, and that is what gives us hope. How does a person know Anything. At all.
That is, how is knowledge formed? How is knowledge established? How is knowledge developed? Those questions give rise to a branch of philosophy known as: here's the million-dollar word, epistemology. which is the theory of knowledge.
Especially how knowledge is validated and the methods of acquiring knowledge. That branch of philosophy seeks to know How a person can Come to know something is true and to believe it is true.
Now why is that important? It's simple because What we do is based on what we know. If what you know is faulty, then what you do, your behavior following your belief will also be faulty.
So if I say I believe in gravity. But I'm wearing weights on my ankles everywhere I go that betrays my belief. is not genuine. Ravi Zacharias said, the modern student goes away to college in order to learn. The same student comes back from the same school knowing that there is no way to know anything.
That is so true and so sad. It's the idea that, well, you really can't know anything for sure. There is no absolute knowledge at all.
So, in their philosophy class, under epistemology, I guess if you put a question mark, you pass the test. There's three people who come to a cemetery in the text we're about to read. They come to the graveyard. All of them walk away knowing Something. But only one of them is right.
We have in our text Mary Magdalene. She sees something with her own eyes. She makes a report based on what she sees, but she is wrong in her report. Peter comes and he sees something with his own eyes. He doesn't quite know what to make of it, he's puzzled by it.
John comes and sees something with his own eyes. And he forms an understanding. And a belief. Verse 1. Chapter 20 Now, on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early while it was still dark.
and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. Then she ran and came to Simon Peter. and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved. We believe that that is John the Apostle. John had a love for anonymity.
And loved to be called the one whom Jesus loved. He's the author of the book. And he doesn't name himself, that's his style.
So Mary Magdalene came to Peter and to John, and said to them, They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him. Peter therefore went out. and the other disciple, and they were going to the tomb. Watch this.
So they both ran together, and the other disciple did outrun Peter and came to the tomb first. Wants to make sure you know that. Yeah. And he, stooping down, looking in, saw the linen cloths lying there, yet he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, and John could have easily written, panting, out of breath.
Following him, and he went into the tomb, and he saw the linen cloths lying there. and the handkerchief that had been around his head not lying with the linen cloths, but folded together in a place by itself. Then the other disciple who came to the tomb first went in also. And he saw and believed. For as yet they did not know the scripture.
that he must rise again from the dead. Then the disciples went away to their own homes. Did you notice that all three of the people mentioned in the text all knew something? Based upon what they had seen that day and what they experienced. But All the results varied.
It wasn't the same. What Mary saw and believed, and what Peter saw, what John saw and believed, were all different. There was a little boy who was at home on a Sunday afternoon. He came out of his room. very puzzled and said, Mom, is it true that we all come from dust?
He had been in Sunday school that day. Apparently he heard that. His mom smiled and said, Well, yes, sweetheart. In Genesis chapter 3, the Bible tells that we all came essentially from dust, and we're all going to return to dust. We came from it, we're going to go there.
And the little boy said, Well, I just looked under my bed, and there's someone who's either coming or going. That little boy formed a belief based upon what he had seen and experienced. He wasn't accurate, of course. He just simply made the leap that if there is dust, there must be a person coming or going. Whenever we talk of the resurrection of Christ, we typically speak of the empty tomb.
But the tomb of Jesus Christ Brilli wasn't empty. There was something inside of it. Interesting that when people die Their relatives. will sometimes place things in the casket. I've heard of some crazy things being placed in caskets.
like golf clubs. I don't know what people are thinking. Or um Playing cards. Alcohol. Drugs.
Like, what, to take away the pain? What is this? The Egyptians used to make an entire Culture out of burying their dead with the accoutrements of life.
Some of the pharaohs that were buried, well, King Tut, King Tutankhamun, the boy king, was buried with the equivalent of three-fourths. billion dollars worth of items from clothing to shoes to jewelry. etcetera, etcetera. When Jesus was placed in the tomb, And then resurrected, there was something that was left behind. It was the not quite empty tomb.
And what was left behind forms a clue. They all saw it. But John saw something there, and it says that he believed.
So, we're going to look at this story again. We're going to look at it from three different angles, and with each angle comes a principle. We begin with the first two verses. The false report. It says now on the first day of the week.
What day is that? Sure, Sunday, this day, today is the first day of the week. This was a Sunday morning. This answers the question: why in the book of Acts the earliest apostles started meeting on Sunday rather than on the Jewish Sabbath, Saturday? They were commemorating the resurrection.
That's why the Bible says they met on the first day of the week.
So on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early while it was still dark. Actually, Mary Magdalene wasn't the only woman to visit the tomb. The other Gospels put together. Give us the picture that there were at least four women. Who came to the tomb that day?
John only records Mary Magdalene. Why? Because she came the earliest. It says that she came to the tomb early while it was still dark. The others came after sunrise.
She came while it was dark. Early. Early is a technical word in the Greek for the last of the four watches of the night, somewhere between 3 a.m. and 6 a.m. She came to the tomb.
Then she ran, after she saw what was done, that the stone had been taken away, she ran and came to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and said to them, They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they laid him. Who is Mary Magdalen? Mary Magdalene was a woman who had a very unique Love for Jesus because Jesus had done for her what no one had ever been able to do, and that was. Give her forgiveness. In Luke chapter 8, we're told that Mary Magdalen once had seven demons.
And they were cast out of her. Her life was a living hell when she met Jesus. Like the old Beatles song, she had a devil in her heart, literally. She was demonized, demon-possessed. She was tormented.
That was your background. The Jewish Talmud tells us that the town she came from, Magdala, that's why we get the name Mary Magdalene, or Mary who lived in Magdala. that Magdala was known for its prostitution. That's why most people think that she was a very loose woman morally. But Jesus also said, the one that has been forgiven much, the same loves much.
And this woman loved Jesus. That's why she was last at the cross, and she was first at the tomb. To show her love, she couldn't come on the Sabbath day. As soon as the Sabbath was over, she woke up early. And she headed out for the tune.
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Let's return now to today's message. When she got there, we're told in verse 1 that The stone was gone. From the entrance, those big, round, circular rolling stones that weigh somewhere between one, one and a half to two tons. That sealed the tomb shut. It was gone.
And she thought immediately the worst. They've stolen his body.
Now, this was a common crime. Grave robbing was indeed very typical in those days. It became so common that eventually the Emperor Claudius. Issued capital punishment for that offense. If a grave was robbed, if a body was moved, if a Roman stone that had been sealed was moved.
That was capital punishment. Notice what she says. She says They Notice that in verse 2: They have taken away the Lord, and we do not know where they have laid him. Question, who's they? Nobody knows.
Man, But it doesn't need to say because we get this, we do this all the time. Right? We say, well, you know, they say. Really? Who's they?
Well, you know, they've discovered. We just typically, for hearsay, pull out the generic they. It was just something that forms an opinion, but it's better just to couch it and say, I know what happened. They've taken away his body, they've stolen it.
So she comes, she sees, and she assumes she's connecting all the dots. The only problem is, she's dead wrong. Here's what I want you to see. Mary Out of the broken emotion and sorrow in her heart, makes an assumption. and the assumption is inaccurate.
Did you know that assumption is the lowest form of communication? And yet people live by it. They don't talk it out. They don't discuss it. They're not straight eyeball to eyeball.
Let's get the facts straight. They assume things. See, I did it again. They. Assume things.
We know what that is like. All the things you read into a situation. That may or may not be true. That's assumption. Assumption is the tone of voice you assign to an email.
That may or may not be true. Might not be there. You take it one way. It might not have been written that way. Assumption is the motive you attach to somebody's silence.
They didn't call me back. They didn't write me back. That must mean something is wrong. Maybe it does. Maybe it doesn't.
Assumption is you filling in the blanks. Coloring in the black and white with your own color scheme. That's an assumption.
Okay, so it's true. The stone is rolled away, there's no body inside. But was it true that the body was stolen? The Jews will try to make that up in Matthew 28. There's a common belief.
And that's what they'll say. Oh, that's 'cause the body was stolen. We'll see why that's impossible in a minute.
So what she said wasn't true. Jesus never predicted, I'm going to die and they're going to steal my body. The Old Testament never predicted the Messiah's body would be stolen, and it didn't happen.
So there's a principle that emerges out of this. Not every idea about Christ is correct. Even when those ideas are spoken by well-meaning followers of Jesus. What she said about him was inaccurate. That's why any belief held by anyone must be evaluated by something more than that person's experience.
Their experience is their experience. It's a subjective way of knowing things. There has to be something greater, more objective.
Now, I have a theory. This is just Skip's opinion. I believe it's her background. And her profile that helped form her assumption. She lived a hard life before she met Jesus.
She had seen the dark underbelly of humanity. If indeed she was a Loose woman from a town of prostitutes. She had seen men with their worst motivations doing their worst possible things. And yes, she has discovered Jesus Christ and she has been forgiven. But you know what it's like in a moment of crisis, we often revert back to our old ways of thinking.
She thought, I know what happened. They did their worst, they stole his body. That was her assumption, a false report. Let's move on in the text. We come to the first responders.
In verse 3, Peter therefore went out. And the other apostle, the other apostle is the author of the book. John. And we're going to the tomb. And so they both ran together.
Hmm. and the other disciple, out ran Peter and came to the tomb first.
Okay, let's back out. The disciples Had all been locked behind closed doors. Confused, scared like little kids, not understanding what has happened. And at first, when the women came and Said that Jesus had been risen from the dead. The other Gospels tell us.
They didn't believe it. Listen to how Luke puts it. For their words seemed to them like idle tales, and they did not believe them. But there were two. There were two in that room.
Peter and John. Their ears went up like my doggie when I come home and call his name. Peter and John heard that. And they got out of that room and they. They undertook the first resurrection marathon.
They ran to the tomb. I find that a little bit interesting. Mary tells them, they don't say, Mary, take my arm, let's go together. They just sort of leave her in the dust and run. Gentlemen, right?
Yep, John tells us that he beat Peter. Peter was sort of like a fullback. He's only good for 50 yards. John was younger, probably, in better shape.
Now, why did John write this? Did John want forever to be known as the guy who beat Peter in the resurrection marathon? I beat Peter, I beat Peter. Maybe, but I don't think so. I don't think John would have included that detail for that reason in this place.
He might have. Here's another thought. Do you remember growing up? When you did something that really wasn't great around the house. You were with your mom, and your mom would simply say, Wait till your dad gets home.
She didn't even have to say it rough. She could just say, Wait till your dad gets home. And you thought, uh-oh, that's right, dad is gonna come home. And if I'm not right with mom and therefore not right with dad, I'm in trouble. Remember that?
So, when dad came through the door, if things were good with you and mom and you and dad, you were happy to see him. If they weren't, you weren't too happy to be around him. I think that's how it is with Peter. Last time Jesus and Peter were together. Peter denied Jesus afterwards.
Even though he said, I'll never deny you, he denied him three times. And Jesus looked at Peter. when he was arrested. And Peter's coming to the tombs with mixed emotions, to say the least, with a load of guilt. He's not too excited about getting there and being back in that situation and getting close to it again.
Oh, he's going to come and check it out, but. Uh oh. Things are different with Peter.
Now there's a principle here with this. Not every reaction to Christ is the same. Mm-hmm. You'll notice there are three different responses here. Mary came, saw the tomb was empty, the stone was removed, and she thought, the body's been stolen.
Peter comes and he saw And he's puzzled by the whole thing and thought, huh, an empty tomb. Whereas in verse 8, John saw and believed.
Okay, now stop for a moment. Yeah. If you just read it in English, you have the same word. She saw, he saw, he saw, he saw, he saw. It's repeated several times.
It's the same word. In the Greek language, there are three, get this, three different words used in this text for they saw. I want you to notice them. In verse 1 and in verse 5, that's the first word. Mary saw Pet as she simply noticed Verse 5 He, that is John, stooping down, looking in, saw the linen cloths lying there and did not go in.
It's a simple word blopo in Greek. It just simply means to take note of. I see it.
Okay. I'm observing. There's the second word. If you um Look at verse six. This is Peter.
Simon Peter came following him. and went into the tomb. That's just like Peter, isn't it? Get out of my way. Let me get in there.
He's impetuous. He wants to get close. He went into the tomb and he saw the linen cloths. lying there, different word altogether. This is the Greek word, not blepo, but.
Fat or rat o I know it sounds weird, it's just we get the word theater from this word. It means to study something. to gaze at something because there's something unusual that catches your attention. But Peter, look anyway. Hmm.
Look at that. He checked it out. We're so glad you joined us today for Connect with Skiff Heitzig. Before we go, Don't miss this opportunity to request Pastor Skip's series, Adulting, a study through the book of James. This 21 message series dives deep into what it means to live a spiritually mature life.
Full of faith, character, and Christ-like purpose. Adulting is our thanks for your generous gift of $50 or more to help share God's Word with more people. Call 800-922-1888 or visit connectwithskip.com slash offer. And while you're there, sign up for Skip's weekly devotional emails and get a free download of a chapter of Skip's The Biography of God. We'll see you next time for more verse-by-verse teaching of God's Word here on Connect the Skip Heitzig Weekend Edition.
Make a connection now. At the foot of the crossing, cast your burdens on me. Is woolly. Make a connection. A connection.
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