BRO. ED WILSON (OKLAHOMA, USA)

The resurrection story of Jesus tells us in John 20:6-8, “Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and went into the sepulchre, and seeth the linen clothes lie, And the napkin, that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself. Then went in also (John)… and he saw, and believed.”

John came to the empty tomb and found Jesus’ grave clothes folded neatly together, with the napkin that had been about His head laid apart from the rest. With a brilliant flash of illumination he grasped in a moment the silent message Jesus had left for them all: His body had not been hastily removed. This was not the work of hostile hands, seeking in death to deny even the small consolation of being once again near the departed loved one. Nor was it the work of friends, for they would not have dishonored the body of one so dear by carrying it away nude. No, the Man whom they had so recently seen in the final moments of mortal life must surely have done for Himself what He had bid to be done for Lazarus when He instructed for him to be loosed from the grave garments that bound him.

Nor did He go out like a man who was merely unconscious and, coming to His senses, realized afresh His peril and ran away. Calmly, deliberately, in the majesty of His lordship over death and with no need to be concerned with soldiers or Pharisees, He rose from His lying position and left order where there had been confusion. John’s sudden realization of what those empty garments meant are summarized with “he believed.” This was a major stride forward in his growing faith, and he was moved by the Spirit of God to record it that you and I might benefit.