Power of His Resurrection Part 1
Estimated reading time: 12 minutes
Our Identification with Christ
Philippians 3:7–11 KJV:
7 But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. 8 Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, 9 And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: 10 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; 11 If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.
Philippians 3:8-11 AMPCE:
8 Yes, furthermore, I count everything as loss compared to the possession of the priceless privilege (the overwhelming preciousness, the surpassing worth, and supreme advantage) of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord and of progressively becoming more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him [of perceiving and recognizing and understanding Him more fully and clearly]. For His sake I have lost everything and consider it all to be mere rubbish (refuse, dregs), in order that I may win (gain) Christ (the Anointed One),
9 And that I may [actually] be found and known as in Him, not having any [self-achieved] righteousness that can be called my own, based on my obedience to the Law’s demands (ritualistic uprightness and supposed right standing with God thus acquired), but possessing that [genuine righteousness] which comes through faith in Christ (the Anointed One), the [truly] right standing with God, which comes from God by [saving] faith.
10 [For my determined purpose is] that I may know Him [that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His Person more strongly and more clearly], and that I may in that same way come to know the power outflowing from His resurrection [which it exerts over believers], and that I may so share His sufferings as to be continually transformed [in spirit into His likeness even] to His death, [in the hope]
11 That if possible I may attain to the [spiritual and moral] resurrection [that lifts me] out from among the dead [even while in the body].
This section, continuing on through verse 12, deals with our identification in Christ. When he died, we died with him. When he was buried, we were buried with him. When he arose, we arose with him. We are identified with all of those things so we can begin to know about the power of the resurrection.
The people recorded after Jesus’s resurrection and for 40 days are people we need to know about because they were real people with real problems, like us.
Philippians 3:13–14 KJV:
13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, 14 I press [run] toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
If you don’t forget the things that are behind, then you can’t reach for the things that are before you—the goal of the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
The first person we will look at is Mary Magdalene.
Mary Magdalene
Matthew 28:1 KJV:
In the end of [now later on in] the sabbath, as it began to dawn [dusk] toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulcher.
“Dawn” is misleading to us because for us we would say “dusk.” Their days went from sunset to sunset (not midnight to midnight). So sunset and dusk, for them, was the beginning of the new day.
The two Marys came at sunset to see the sepulcher. They weren’t expecting to see anything else. They weren’t going to anoint the body. The just went to look at the sepulcher. They were grieving. Their Lord had been crucified and buried, and they were overcome with sorrow.
There is a long period of time between verse 1 and verse 2. Failure to recognize that verse 2 is much later than verse 1 has caused much confusion. The events beginning in verse 2 happen after Mary Magdalene and the other Mary have left, leaving only the guards or keepers at the sepulcher.
Matthew 28:2–4 KJV:
[The two Marys had left] 2 And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it. 3 His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow: 4 And for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men.
Mary Magdalene was an outcast in the eyes of the religious leaders. She was someone no one would deal with. But to Jesus, she was a woman who needed deliverance. Jesus cast seven devil spirits out of her and changed her life. Imagine the grief she must have felt when she visited the tomb.
The previous evening, the two Marys came to the sepulcher, but this record is the following morning when Mary Magdalene comes back, alone, to the tomb.
John 20:1– KJV:
1 The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre. 2 Then she runneth, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them, They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid him. 3 Peter therefore went forth, and that other disciple, and came to the sepulchre. 4 So they ran both together: and the other disciple did outrun Peter, and came first to the sepulchre.
Mary had not yet looked into the sepulcher. She just saw the stone rolled away and feared that He was gone.
John 20:5– KJV:
5 And he stooping down, and looking in, saw the linen clothes lying; yet went he not in. 6 Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and went into the sepulchre, and seeth the linen clothes lie, 7 And the napkin, that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself.
“The linen wrappings, the othonion, remained as they had been when swathed around the body. The record in John 20 is making the point that these grave wrappings were undisturbed. They were still in the position as when containing a body, When Jesus Christ was raised, he had been given a new body. In his new, spiritual body, Jesus Christ had passed through the grave wrap- pings. If his body had been taken by others, as Mary claimed, these grave clothes would either have been taken along with the body or they would have been unwound and tossed to the side. The cloth that had covered his face was neatly folded and placed off to the side. When the other disciple, the disciple whom Jesus loved, saw the empty tomb and the undisturbed grave wrappings, he believed. He realized Jesus Christ had been raised from the dead.” Pages 316–317.
If people had stolen the body, the grave wrappings would not have been left this way. And the thieves would certainly not have taken the time to neatly fold the cloth that had covered his face.
John 20:8–10 KLV:
8 Then went in also that other disciple, which came first to the sepulchre, and he saw, and believed. 9 For as yet [until then] they knew not [they did not yet understand] the scripture, that he must rise again from the dead. 10 Then the disciples went away again unto their own home.
They didn’t just get one verse or appearance and be told, “Believe it or else.” No. God worked with them.
Mary went back to the sepulcher again. Mary Magdalene, a woman, a former outcast, was the first person to see Jesus Christ risen from the dead and alive again.
John 20:11–18 KJV:
11 But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping: and as she wept, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulchre, 12 And seeth two angels in white sitting, the one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. 13 And they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She saith unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him. 14 And when she had thus said, she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus. 15 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away. 16 Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master. 17 Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: [he had not yet presented himself as the firstfruits] but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God. 18 Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that he had spoken these things unto her.
Leviticus 23:9– KJV:
9 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 10 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest: 11 And he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it.
Jesus Christ had to fulfill every detail precisely. On the very day specified, the day after the sabbath, Jesus Christ was both the priest and the offering (the wave offering).
1 Corinthians 15:20–28 KJV:
20 But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. 21 For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. 23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming. 24 Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. 25 For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. 27 For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him. 28 And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.
1 Corinthians 15:50–58 KJV:
50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.
51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. 55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? 56 The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.
MARY MAGDALENE, Sunday, Nisan 18, still dark
| Mark 16:9-10 | John 20:1, 11-18 |
| 9 ¶ Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils. 10 And she went and told them that had been with him, as they mourned and wept. | ¶ The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre. 11 ¶ But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping: and as she wept, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulchre, 12 And seeth two angels in white sitting, the one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. 13 And they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She saith unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him. 14 And when she had thus said, she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus. 15 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away. 16 Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master. 17 Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God. 18 Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that he had spoken these things unto her. |
Scripture References
Scripture quotations marked (AMPCE) taken from the Amplified Bible, Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)
See Also:
What We Have Because of the Resurrection on the Acts Now Fellowship website.
Bookstore Suggestions:
