After Jesus’ death and speedy burial on Thursday evening of Passion week, a number of the women who had followed Him from Galilee to Jerusalem for the Passover had arranged to meet at the tomb Sunday morning to complete the burial custom for His dead body. They were prevented from doing so until then by the sabbath for the first day of Unleavened Bread on Friday and the seventh day Sabbath on Saturday. Salome, the mother of James and John who was likely the sister of Jesus’ mother Mary and so His aunt, was among the women making their way to the tomb to attend to His body (Mar 16:1) as well as Joanna and others who are not named (Luk 24:10). But Mary Magdalene and another Mary who were there as they buried Him came very early, “there yet being darkness” (Joh 20:1, literal), and arrived before the others. Just before these two Marys arrived there was a “severe earthquake” (Mat 28:2) that a natural man would assume caused both the stone to roll away from the tomb and the brilliant light that seemed to sit upon it, but that Matthew says was an angel who actually caused the earthquake in rolling away the stone from the tomb and whose appearance was like lightning. The sight of the angel caused the guards to freeze in terror, but the women, just arriving as the first gleams of the day began to dawn only noticed that the stone had been rolled away. For the angel had himself moved into the tomb, anticipating the questions they were sure to have, and perhaps didn’t want to frighten them by his presence until they had looked inside the tomb to see it was now empty. For the morning light was still dim, they were not at all expecting the stone to have already been rolled away, and disoriented by the earthquake their initial thought would have been to wonder if they had somehow come to the wrong place. Looking inside the tomb to find it empty would have caused them to wonder all the more if they were in the right place. For even with what little hope they may have had that God would raise Jesus from the dead, they still could only have expected to find Him as they knew Him. They were not at all expecting to find an empty tomb, nor if raised from the dead for Him to have a glorified, resurrected body, which they at first didn’t even recognize.
But knowing full well the confusion they would experience with this supernatural incursion into the natural world of Jesus’ resurrection as the first born from the dead, and how easily they might come to a different conclusion about the reality of what had happened, God sent an angel to immediately address their questions: “Yes, you are in the right place; you are here looking for Jesus, and no, there is no mistake, we are talking about the same Jesus, the Nazarene, who was crucified. But He isn’t here, and this tomb where they laid Him is empty because He has risen, just as He said. Behold, here is the place where He was lying” (Mat 28:5-6, Mar 16:6). What very important detail that they would have seen to identify where He was lying is omitted from all three synoptic gospels, though implied, but that John writing later clearly notes, and that is important for distinguishing Jesus’ resurrection from earlier resuscitations? See Joh 20:5-7; cf. Joh 11:44.
Consider from Jesus’ appearance later that day to the apostles who were gathered behind closed doors that His resurrection presence, though physical in some regard, was not bound by physical constraints like doors and walls, and so neither by the tomb or the stone sealing it. For what reason then did the angel roll away the stone? See Mar 16:3, and recall that a guard and an official seal had also been placed upon the tomb by the Sanhedrin on Friday to prevent His disciples from stealing the body (Mat 27:66), which the women were evidently not aware of since those would likely have prevented their access to the tomb. Although the women may have been able to obtain permission and with the aid of others under the watchful eyes of the authorities eventually have been able to remove the stone and discover the tomb was empty, God provided that it should immediately be made known to them; why was that? See Lev 23:9-11, 1Co 15:20; cf. Ecc 3:1, Gal 4:4, Mar 1:14-15, Joh 7:6,8,30,44, 8:20, 12:23,13:1, 17:1, Rom 5:6, Luk 21:24, Mat 8:29, 2Th 2:6, 1Ti 6:14-15, Rev 9:15, 11:18. Consider that although we may not be able to discern it, God has in place a beautifully orchestrated plan for the redemption of mankind that is unfolding exactly on time according to a very precise schedule so that according to that schedule Jesus was resurrected as the first fruits from the dead on the Jewish Feast of First Fruits. Although God in His wisdom has chosen to keep certain things secret or hidden from our understanding until the appropriate, appointed time, what does the fact that He sent an angel to announce it (as He also did for Jesus’ birth) teach us about His desire to reveal to us all the details of His plan as quickly as His perfect timing will allow, and not a moment sooner, or later? Cf. Deut 29:29, Dan 2:22, 9:1-3,24-27, Mat 13:17, Rom 16:25-26, Col 1:26. Consider too the difficulty the disciples and the women themselves had believing Jesus had really risen from the dead even with the miraculous intervention of the angel to roll away the stone and the vision announcing to them the resurrection; cf. Mar 16:8,11,14, Joh 20:1-2. How much more difficult might it have been for them to believe it apart from that supernatural intervention if they had removed the stone themselves and simply discovered the tomb was empty?