The Holy One Of God Lives

A couple days ago I wrote about Mary Magdalene who was the first at Jesus' empty tomb. Finding the body gone she ran to tell Peter and John. They concluded that someone had stolen the body and took off for the tomb to see what was going on. We read,

³So Peter went out with the other disciple, and they were going toward the tomb. ⁴Both of them were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first.⁵And stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in. ⁶Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there,⁷and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded up in a place by itself. ⁸Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; ⁹for as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead. ¹⁰Then the disciples went back to their homes (John 20:3-10). 

Surely grave robbers would not take the time to fold up the face cloth and place it somewhere by itself. This only emphasized that something quite different had taken place. John writes that they did not yet understand the Scripture that he must rise from the dead. What Scripture and why the must? 


The first anointed king, David, wrote a psalm in which he rejoiced that his flesh dwells secure and that the LORD would not let his holy one see corruption (Psalm 16:10). Was he writing about himself? Surely not. In another of his songs he wrote "our shield belongs to the LORD, our king to the Holy One of Israel" (Psalm 89:18). Even the demons know that Jesus of Nazareth was the Holy One. When Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit in the man in the synagogue in Capernaum, the demon cried out, "What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God." 


When the children of Israel were brought out of bondage, the LORD called them to separate themselves from all the other people. "You shall be holy to me," He said, "for I the LORD am holy and have separated you . . ." The idea of being holy refers to being separated from all others. And the LORD is indeed distinct and separate from all other gods. Jesus is that Holy One who is distinct, separate and distinct from all others. He is the Holy One of God. Thus we can only conclude that David was not writing about himself, for indeed his body did see corruption and  his tomb is located outside Jerusalem.

So we come to the must of John's commentary. Why must Jesus rise from the dead? Because He is the Holy One of God whose body cannot see corruption. This is God's Word and that Word cannot be broken. And He must rise so that we might know with unbounded certainty that death has been conquered. Paul writes about this in his wondrous testimony in 1 Corinthians 15:1-21 and through the entire chapter. "In fact," he writes, "Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead" (1 Cor. 15:20-21).

This is the message. This is our hope and such hope will not disappoint us.


Psalm 16:10; Luke 24:46; Acts 2:25-31; 13:34, 35; 17:3; 1 Cor 15:4