After the Sabbath near dawn of the first day of the week; Mary and Mary Magdalene went to look at the tomb. An angel from heaven came and rolled away the stone blocking in the tomb thus causing an earthquake. The angel then sat on the stone, his appearance was bright like lightning and his clothes were as white as snow. The guards were paralyzed by fear at the sight of the angel and became pale.
The angel said to the women not to be afraid, for the angel knew that they were there looking for Jesus. The angel said, “He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said He would. Come! See the place where He was lying. Then go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead; and behold, He is going ahead of you into Galilee as He has promised. There you will see Him; behold, I have told you.”
The women ran to tell the disciples the good news and Jesus met them saying “Rejoice!” They ran to Him, fell to His feet and began to worship Him as the Messiah. Jesus had to tell them not to be afraid, notice they saw the angel and were afraid. Then the angel revealed that He wasn’t there for He has risen and they ran still in partial fear to their joy. Then they see Jesus and He has to tell them not to fear. Our flesh has made us foreign to things of the supernatural. It is more normal for us to go to a doctor and be healed than it is to receive supernatural healing from Jesus Himself. The world/the devil as twisted this but whats so amazing is we see that Jesus didn’t condemn them, He simply told them not to fear and reassured them. He is so kind and loving and patient with us, how blessed we are to receive this when we act fleshing and fear over things that we have no reason to fear. Jesus tells the girls to go tell His brothers to leave for Galillee thus confirming what the angel told them. When we receive a message from God He will provide confirmation whether it be in the word or somethings from another spirit filled believer.
While the women were on their way some of the roman guards went into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened. When the chief priests had gathered with the elders they decided to pay the guards to go lie and tell everyone that the disciples had came and stolen the body in the middl of the night. They “assured” the robbers that if pilate heard about any of this being untrue the priests would make sure that the guards didn’t get blamed for any of it. So the took the money and fabricated this story that is still known by some Jews today. The devil comes to steal, kill and destroy. First, he tries to steal by taking away the truth and the word of God like in this situation. He aims to kill your faith so that he can destroy you, be sober mindful and guarded in the decisions you make to make sure that they are always things God wants of you. Even a good idea that seems like it’d produce fruit for His kingdom could be a distraction to take you away from the task God really wants for you in that moment. If its not from God, regardless if it’s good or bad, it's a distraction. In this case, lying is obviously a sin and is without a doubt not from God. Yet these guards didn’t know better. How blessed we are to discern this.
The eleven disciples went and waited for Jesus and when they saw Him, most praised and worshiped yet some were still in doubt. Yet, again with the patience and love, He went to them to reassure them and commanded them to go into the world and to make disciples. Disciples are ones who learn and are teachable, ones who are taught things by another. They were to go and teach others about Jesus, teach them the gospel so that they would know Jesus and then go and share the gospel with others. The word of God is to be shared, there is enough Jesus for everyone! There are things God shares with you that might be personal and just for you, but the gospel is for everyone and we are commanded to share it!
Notice the word teachable, not everyone is teachable. Meaning not everyone is open to receiving the gospel. This lets us know that we don’t need to ever force it or be offered when someone doesn’t want to be discipled. Discipleship is what we are commanded to do. Whether it be in a small number of people or a a large scale only God knows the plans for you in details. What we do know is we are supposed to disciple. The hesitation I hear most that comes with this in people is the “what if’s.” “What if they laugh at me when I share the good word?” “What if they mock me?” “What if they don’t want to be my friend anymore?”
Well, the “what if’s” are fear driven and it is a sin to fear, so for that alone get rid of them. If anyone laughs or mocks you, they aren’t mocking you they are mocking the word thus they are mocking God Himself. Therefore, may God have mercy on their souls. If someone doesn’t want to be your friend because you speak His word, well the season for that friendship is probably over anyways. Any reason we have to prevent us from discipleship is not a good reason and its not from God. God doesn’t contradict Himself, if Jesus tells us to go and make disciples, then we do that! Any thought that tries to convince you otherwise is from satan therefore rebuke it and go out and disciple people today!
