The Gospel of JohnAnd If Christ [The Day Star] Be Not Risen

John 20:1 "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.
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.
8 Then went in also that other disciple, which came first to the sepulchre, and he saw, and believed.
9 For as yet they knew not the scripture, that he must rise again from the dead.
10 Then the disciples went away again unto their own home."

1. The First Day Of The Week
2. The Ladies Are First
3. Seeing and Believing
4. Jesus Raised

1. The First Day Of The Week

The first part of verse one: “The first day of the week …”

Now, the first day of the week … is Sunday. It was on Sunday that God in the beginning … called the light DAY. “And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.” [Genesis 1:5]

The first day of the week signifies the start in a new cycle. The Sabbath is the last day of the week, and is given for a REST before the beginning of the new cycle … a new week. Jesus Christ arose in the dawn of a new cycle … a new week in God’s intervention in the affairs of men … thus signifying a new dispensation. Hello [out there] … DEATH was conquered on the first day of the week. That particular Sunday morning … a new DAY had dawned with the LIGHT that would shine into the darkness of the hearts of mankind.

It is, as Peter has said, by the Holy Ghost, in Second Peter chapter one, verse nineteen: “We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:” [2 Peter 1:19]

There is something else, here that we need to see. The event of the resurrection, which occurred on the first day in the week, is the reason why the New Testament pattern of believers in Jesus Christ [the Christians] meeting together in their assemblies on Sundays … was established; and this has been followed for nearly two thousand years.

 Read with me, and see with me, what the BOOK says in Acts chapter twenty, verse seven: “And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight.” [Acts 20:7]

All those, who meet on the seventh day … Saturday, are still stuck in of the Old Testament pattern of THE LAW … till this very day. They have failed to understand [because of their blindness] the significance of what transpired in the dawn of the first day of that new week. They have a VAIL placed over their minds.

What is more, they are blinded to this very day. It is, as it says, in Second Corinthians chapter three, verse fourteen: “But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ.” [2 Corinthians 3:14]

2. The Ladies Are First

 The last part of verse one: “… cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre.”

The very first person to the sepulcher on that particular Sunday morning, [the first day of the week], was a woman … Mary Magdalene.

Now, every man should take note of this thing [this event].

Why? Because, quite often [and too often], it is the woman who has the strongest interest, and keenest interest, in “spiritual things”.

Remember, it was the first man [Adam] that willfully [by way of a totally analytical kind of decision on his part] disobeyed God. However, that was not the case … with the very first woman. The first woman [Eve] was DECEIVED! She did not disobey God willfully as Adam did! “And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.” [1 Timothy 2:14]

Who has the greater responsibility?

Men, do you see this, now? We [men] have the greater responsibility in this whole thing … of why this old world is in such a mess [because of SIN]. Adam WILLFULLY sinned. Eve was only guilty of being DECEIVED.

Now, this may help to explain why Mary was so pressed in her spirit to be so early at the tomb that Sunday, but there is more. Are you ready for this? I can tell you this much; she knew what it was to be forgiven for her sins! [Luke 7:47] “Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.”

She loved her SAVIOUR much!

It was “the day star” arising in Mary’s heart that morning!

Do you see it here? So it is the women in this world, who seem more often than not, to be more interested in the “spiritual things”.

Now, it ought not, be that way, men, but quite often, and to our grief, and to the grief of our families, it is the women in our lives [our wives and our daughters] that quite often drive the hardest race to find Jesus Christ.

Now, I am ready to ask you a question. Are you ready for this?

Who was the very first person [a Gentile] in Europe to get saved? Was it a man, or was it a woman?

Go the book of Acts chapter sixteen in verse fourteen: “And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul.” [Acts 16:14]

3. Seeing and Believing

Verse eight: “Then went in also that other disciple, which came first to the sepulchre, and he saw, and believed.”

This “other disciple” is John, [the writer of this Gospel of John]. When he “saw” he “believed.”

In this case: seeing brought him to believing! When John saw those grave clothes, [“the linen clothes lying”] by themselves in the place where Jesus Christ’s body was laid three days earlier, a LIGHT illuminated inside of him. John would never be the same! Amen! John believed without FAITH.

He “saw, and believed.”

This is not the case for all of us, who have believed down through the years, since then. We believe in Jesus Christ without seeing!

Remember, what FAITH is. It is believing what the BOOK says or records about SOMEONE [Jesus Christ] without actually seeing that person [Jesus Christ]! Now, what does it [The BOOK] say in Hebrews chapter eleven about faith? “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good report.” [Hebrews 11:1-2]

4. Jesus Raised

Verse nine: “For as yet they knew not the scripture, that he must rise again from the dead.”

 Friend, this is it! If Jesus Christ did not rise from the dead then we are DEAD men! We are going to a DEVIL’S HELL! We are FRIED! That is what the Spirit of God is saying in First Corinthians chapter fifteen, verse fourteen: “And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain.” [1 Corinthians 15:14]

But if HE be raised, then we, who put our faith into Jesus will be raised. Amen! Jesus Christ, WHO is GOD come in the flesh, conquered DEATH to give us LIFE. Let me read verse twenty and twenty-one: “But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.” [1 Corinthians 15:21]

John, now, believed in the resurrection of the dead. John believed, when he saw “the linen clothes lying” by themselves, without the body of Jesus Christ. It was “the day star” arising in John’s heart that morning!

We [the Christian] believe because of what THE BOOK [the King James Bible] has recorded about the resurrection of the Son of God. Let me finish reading with this RECORD.

“He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son. And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.” [1 John 5:10-12]