Jesus’ followers rightly understood that His brutal death left His body beyond the possibility of being raised to mortal life. Only after He had been resurrected from such a death to immortal life, of which He was the first, were they able to understand what the Scriptures had foretold. We gather that not even the…
Until the horrific events of Jesus’ crucifixion had taken place and His disciples understood there was no way mortal life could be restored to His body—but then, there He was, alive and well, and could be handled, and could eat and drink with them—until then they couldn’t understand the many words He had spoken to…
In spite of the many words Jesus had spoken to His disciples about His forthcoming death and resurrection, it still came as a complete shock to them—first that He whom they had come to believe in as the Messiah would be so brutally murdered, and second that a person whom they knew to be completely…
Following the discovery of the empty tomb very early on Sunday morning, Jesus made several appearances to others before appearing that evening to a gathering of His disciples that included all but Thomas of His remaining apostles. He appeared first to the same two Marys who had found the tomb empty, but not until later…
On Sunday, the first day of the week, and the third day after Jesus had been crucified, the news spread quickly that the tomb in which He was interred was discovered that morning to be empty, that some had experienced an angelic vision saying Jesus was alive, and that some had even seen Him, though…
When the resurrected Jesus first manifested Himself to the group of His apostles, they were of no mind to believe it. Apart from John, who in spite of not understanding the nature of Jesus’ resurrection body had at the tomb believed (Joh 20:8), and Peter, to whom He had appeared earlier that afternoon, though perhaps…
When the resurrected Jesus first appeared to the group of His apostles Sunday evening His first words to them were, “Peace to you”. Nevertheless, because they rightly understood that mortal life could not be restored to Jesus’ dead body that had been beaten, crucified and then its life fluids drained from it, they were terrified. …
Although Jesus’ tomb was found empty Sunday morning and a number of His followers had seen visions of angels saying He was alive, with others claiming He Himself had appeared to them, still, by that evening, the majority of His apostles refused to believe it. Rationally, they understood that there was no way His crucified…
Although God had made clear through His angelic messengers first thing that morning, the Jewish day of First Fruits, that Jesus had risen from the dead, it wasn’t as clear to His followers as we imagine it must have been. Those visions quickly gave way to the reality that Jesus’ body was gone, and since…
Although angels had announced Jesus’ resurrection from the dead very early on that Sunday morning, first to the two Marys, and then to the other women who arrived later to assist them in completing the burial custom for His dead body, and He Himself had appeared later that morning to the two Marys, then to…