Now late on sabbath, as it was the dusk of the next day after sabbath, came Mary of Magdala and the other Mary to look at the sepulchre.
The first verse of Matthew 28 is a hinge: the Sabbath closes, and two women who had watched Jesus die walk back to the grave. Their errand looks small. Yet the wording of the verse sets the order of everything that follows, and commentators have long argued over it.
The ESV reads "toward the dawn of the first day," which sounds like sunrise. Older translations read "late on the sabbath," and the Greek word behind "dawn" does not settle it.
In Matthew 28:1 the old and common mistake appears again. It has caused great confusion in putting the facts of the resurrection in order. The word epiphōskein fits the dusk just as well as the dawn. Only the context decides which is meant. The Jewish day began with the evening. Here it is certainly the dusk, because the dawn of the first day could not be called "late on the sabbath." The women came to the tomb on Saturday evening, as here, and again early on Sunday morning.
Commentators differ here. Many read verse 1 as a visit on Saturday evening.
The Jewish day ended at sunset. Their devotion was such that as soon as the sabbath was over they were on their way to the grave. It is not easy to piece together the details the four Gospel writers give us into one connected story. But it seems that the two Marys made this special visit, then returned at daybreak with Salome and perhaps others, bringing spices for embalming. It seems that what verses 2–4 record took place between the two visits. Whatever the order, it is clear that by sunrise on the first day of the week Christ was risen.
Another writer sees love that could not stay away, and only one visit:
The women could not stay away. They overcame all fear and went out to the tomb once more… Some have thought of two visits these women made, one on the evening and the other in the early morning. This is not likely. The time marked out is the dawning of the first day of the week. The first day of the week began after sundown on the Sabbath. It is quite correct to translate "after the Sabbath."
Matthew says nothing about spices in this verse. On the two-visit reading, they came only to look. Seeing the grave twice, evening and morning, gave them full certainty.
The sabbath ended — Saturday evening, as we reckon it — and the two Marys come to see the tomb. At that moment that was all they did… By their visit the evening before, and in the morning when the angel spoke to them, the women received full assurance of faith in the fact of His resurrection.
The men had scattered. The women had not.
The women stood by the cross when all the men who had declared their devotion to Him had run away, except John. The women were the last at His tomb on the night He died and the first there on the morning He rose. He showed Himself alive to them before any of the men knew He had risen. Mary Magdalene was the chief among those women, and the first to see Him.
Yet love is not the same as faith.
The women from Galilee visited the tomb with deep affection… What embalmed His body was more than spices and ointments. It was love and zeal, earnestness and tears… All this was gracious affection. Yet with all of it they were unbelieving. Their hearts were full of Him, but they had not taken in the great fact of His victory for them.
The verse marks a boundary between two days, and writers see more than a calendar note in it.
In Matthew 28:1 the sabbath ends and the first day of the week begins to dawn. It was then that the angel of the Lord said, "He is risen." So in Mark 16:1, "When the Sabbath was past," the glory of the resurrection burst out at once. The shadow of the Sabbath passed over the tomb of Jesus and disappeared; it vanished before the glory of the risen Son of God. It is very striking that Jesus stayed in the silent tomb until the Sabbath had fully ended.
- Dusk or dawn. The word for "dawn" can mean evening twilight as well as morning light. The Jewish day began at sunset, so many readers take the verse to mean Saturday evening.
- One visit or two. Commentators differ. Some see two visits, one to look and one with spices; others see a single visit at daybreak.
- Only to look. Matthew names no errand but seeing the tomb. That plain look, evening and morning, gave the women settled faith that He had risen.
- Love first. They were last at the tomb the night He died and first there when He rose. Their love was real, but faith in His victory had not come yet.
- A day ends, a day begins. He stayed in the tomb until the sabbath had fully ended. Then the shadow passed, and the glory of the risen Son broke out on the first day of the week.
And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of [the] Lord, descending out of heaven, came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And his look was as lightning, and his clothing white as snow.
The authorities had sealed the tomb of Jesus and set guards over it. Now a messenger from heaven sits on the stone he has just rolled away. Matthew stops to describe how he looked. That description tells us where he came from, and what his arrival meant for the men watching the grave.
Matthew's two details mark the angel out as a visitor carrying the light of the place he came from.
The angel had come from the land of light, and brought with him some of the characteristics of that land. His appearance was like lightning and his clothing as white as snow. We are going to that land, and it is our privilege to have the light of it in our hearts even now. What brought fear to the keepers brought joy to the women.
Snow carries a settled meaning across Scripture, and this verse belongs to that pattern.
Snow is taken in Scripture as a symbol of "whiteness." Sins as scarlet become as white as snow. The clothing of the Lord at the transfiguration was as white as snow, and so on. Psalm 51:7; Isaiah 1:18; Lamentations 4:7; Daniel 7:9; Matthew 28:3; Revelation 1:14.
That stone carried an official seal. Rolling it back reversed a human decree in public.
The angel rolls back the sealed stone. It bore the official seal, so that no one could change the decision. Who would dare to touch it? It would be death to any man. But He who sits in the heavens laughed it to scorn. The angel sits in triumph upon it, and puts the sentence of death into the keepers of it.
The stone was never an obstacle the Lord needed removed. It was moved for the sake of those who would come looking.
But the Lord did not rise when the earthquake struck and the stone rolled away. Paintings often help along this unscriptural idea. No angel had to open the way out of the tomb for Him. God raised Him from the dead, and He Himself arose. The angel rolled the stone away to show that the tomb was empty.
His sitting down on it had its own purpose. A higher authority now fixed the stone in place.
The authorities of earth had sealed the tomb, but a far higher authority broke the seal and flung back the stone door. The angel did not only roll back the stone. He sat on it, placing himself as a seal on it in its new position. No one could roll it back until enough witnesses had seen the empty tomb.
Angels often appear in Scripture without alarming anyone. This one was different, and the men posted to hold the tomb were the first to find it out.
Most visits of angels are not like this one. His appearance was enough to make the strong soldiers shake with fear and become as dead men. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing was white as snow. In this way the resurrection declared our Lord to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness.
The women who arrived later were not paralysed. They met the same messenger, and the difference lay in who was looking at him.
To the frightened women, the angel appeared as "a young man… clothed in a long white garment." A little earlier he had appeared to the keepers as one whose appearance was "like lightning, and his clothing white as snow." A kind of paralysis fell on them. He was one thing to the world and quite another to disciples. He knew how to tell the difference. He knew these women were seeking Jesus, though they thought He was still dead. They were ignorant, yet they loved Him; and that made all the difference.
- Light — The angel's lightning look and snow-white clothing are marks of the land of light he came from. Scripture uses that same white for sins made clean and for the Lord's clothing at the transfiguration.
- Seal — That light fell on a stone the authorities of earth had sealed. He who sits in the heavens laughed the seal to scorn, and the angel sat down on it in triumph.
- Empty — No angel had to let Jesus out; God had already raised Him. The stone moved so that people could see the tomb was empty.
- Guard — The soldiers set to hold that grave shook and became as dead men. The resurrection declared Him Son of God with power.
- Difference — The same angel was one thing to the world and another to those who loved Jesus. The women were ignorant, yet they loved Him, and that made all the difference.
And for fear of him the guards trembled and became as dead men.
Soldiers stood guard at the tomb of Jesus to make sure the body stayed there. This verse tells what happened to them when the ground shook and an angel came down and opened the grave.
Another earthquake happens at this time, a great one. With it comes an angel down from heaven. He rolled the stone away from the entrance to the grave and sat on it. The resurrection of the Lord is not to be a secret. It is shown in the open for all to see. The dazzling sight of the angel made the soldiers shake with fright. It left them frozen, unable to act, like dead men.
Jesus did not need the stone moved. One writer points to what His risen body could already do.
He passed through doors that were shut for fear of the Jews. He could just as easily pass through the sealed stone, despite all the soldiers of the empire. We know the angel sat there after rolling away the great stone that had closed the tomb... The Lord then had this further witness: the guards themselves, hard and bold as such men usually are, trembled and became like dead men, while the angel tells the women not to be afraid.
Earth's authorities sealed the tomb. This verse shows what their seal was worth once a higher authority arrived.
The authorities of earth had sealed the tomb, but a far higher authority broke the seal and flung back the stone door. At his presence the guards trembled and collapsed into a death-like faint. The sealed tomb was the challenge of daring men. God accepted their challenge, broke their power, and reduced their men to nothing. God had raised the Lord Jesus by His power, and the tomb was opened so that men might see beyond doubt that He was not there. The angel not only rolled back the stone but sat on it, making himself a seal upon it in its new position, so that no one could roll it back until enough witnesses had seen the empty tomb.
The soldiers had orders for grave robbers. They met something else.
They sent a guard and sealed the stone. I suppose the soldiers were told how to deal with a mob of Galilean fishermen, if they came to rob the tomb. They were not told how to deal with an earthquake or an angel from heaven! The fishermen did not come, but the angel did, and the earthquake, and those Roman veterans fell down as dead men for sheer fear. What had happened? God had intervened; God had justified His Faithful Witness.
The wording points to a real collapse, not a figure of speech. The open tomb that terrified these men serves everyone else.
It must have been a terrifying sight. The guards became like dead men. That is, they fainted and lost consciousness through sheer terror. Heaven broke the seal that man put on the tomb. But note this well: not to let the Saviour out of the tomb, but to let us look in.
The men posted to guard a dead body ended up looking dead themselves. One writer reads this as the world hearing its own sentence.
The world learns its judgment when the sealed stone is rolled away, and when the men guarding it are forced to take the sentence of death in themselves.
The same angel who flattens the guards calms the women. The difference is not in the angel but in who stands there: enemies on watch, or hearts seeking Jesus.
When men had done their worst to Jesus, the angel of the Lord rolls away the stone from the tomb and takes charge of the scene. His face is like lightning and his clothing white as snow. This puts terror into the hearts of His enemies, so that "the guards trembled and became like dead men." On the other hand, "the angel said to the women, Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified."
The story of these men does not end here. In the end they wreck the lie told about the tomb.
The guards who had been like dead men announce their own defeat. Meanwhile the incurable hatred of the Jews would pursue their King even after He has entered into the glory, using a lie that their own plan had made impossible.
- Sealed. Human authority did everything it could to hold the tomb shut — stone, seal, and armed watch.
- Shaken. A higher authority arrived. The earth shook, the seal broke, and the men set to guard the grave fell down as though dead.
- Opened. The angel rolled the stone back not to let the Saviour out, but to let us look in. Jesus could pass through a sealed stone as easily as through a locked door.
- Divided. The same shining angel terrified the guards and calmed the women. Terror for His enemies, comfort for those seeking Jesus.
- Testifying. The fallen guards announce their own defeat. The very plan meant to hold Jesus in made the lie about His tomb impossible to believe.
And the angel answering said to the women, Fear not *ye*, for I know that ye seek Jesus the crucified one.
The soldiers guarding the tomb lie on the ground like dead men, and heaven's first word on resurrection morning is a word against fear. Why does one event floor trained troops and calm two frightened women?
Three groups meet the same event, and it lands differently on each.
This Gospel sets out in a few words how Jesus' resurrection — and what came with it, or rather after it — touched different people: the women, the soldiers, the Jews. As to the first, it is comfort and grace; they are the messengers of the good news to the disciples. The soldiers are alarmed and like dead men. That is what happens when God shows His power and steps in... With the Jews it is deliberate hardness of heart. They seek to destroy the testimony they could not deny... The women have direct communication from God by means of the angel. We see, as in so many cases, that love to the Saviour for His own sake brings us into the place where we receive the communications of His grace.
The angel turns from the fallen guard to two weak women.
That guard had every reason to shake and fall in fear. It stood for a world determined to be rid of Jesus — a world that thought it had got its way... But close at hand in that memorable hour were two weak women, and to them the angel turned with words of cheer. There was nothing in the power of God to make them afraid; there was every reason why they should rejoice. They represented, not the world that hated Jesus, but those whom He had chosen out of it, and who loved Him because He first loved them.
This is not a call to feel braver. The angel points to what the empty tomb has settled.
"Do not be afraid" is the message of the angel to the women. This, indeed, is the good news from the empty tomb. There is no cause to fear, absolutely none, for those who have believed on the Lord and are His own. All darkness, all uncertainty, all doubt and fear are at an end. The whole sin question has been righteously dealt with. The empty tomb, the glorious victory over death, and the grave are the everlasting witnesses.
The same word touches the rest of life too:
Now what is the great thought in resurrection? The dispelling of everything that would bring in fear. Fear must go, for "fear has to do with punishment" (1 John 4:18)... Dear friend, have you learnt the value of the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus? Then God has brought you into an atmosphere where fear does not exist.
The angel already knows what their hearts are set on, and that is the reason he gives them for calm.
The angel says, "Do not be afraid." This is the very testimony that the Spirit of God brings out. It dries up the fears of the heart and banishes all misgivings. "I know that you seek Jesus, who was crucified." I know where your heart's affections are, I know the one you are looking for, you have no cause to be afraid.
Others can see who you are looking for.
It is a fine thing for those who look on to say, "We know you seek Jesus." What do you think the world says about you and me behind our backs? Do you seek Jesus? It is a fine thing, that. What you want is Jesus. You are all right if you are seeking Jesus.
The angel names Him as the crucified one, and that word explains why they came looking.
But why did they seek Him? And why do we seek Him? The angel supplied the answer: "you seek Jesus who was crucified." That is why. We should never have sought Him if He had not been crucified. His crucifixion was the expression and the measure of His love to us.
The angel speaks of the crucifixion as past. Turpin shows what that settles:
Think of the comfort connected with that... Think how it declared that everything was done, the ransom paid, justice satisfied, the believer free. Every fear, every misgiving, every question that Satan could stir up to trouble the poor heart was now silenced and settled for ever. They do not speak of Him now as crucified — He "was crucified."
- Two effects. One power left the guards like dead men and brought comfort to the women. Resurrection terrifies those set against Christ and reassures those who love Him.
- Fear not. Heaven's first word that morning removes fear. It stands on solid ground: the whole sin question has been righteously dealt with.
- I know. The angel reads their hearts before he gives his news. Love for the Saviour puts a person where God's messages of grace arrive.
- You seek Jesus. The test is simple and public enough that onlookers can name it — what you want is Jesus.
- Who was crucified. Past, not present: the ransom paid, justice satisfied, the believer free. And the cross is the reason anyone seeks Him at all.
He is not here, for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.
Women come to the grave expecting to care for a body. Instead an angel meets them with news and an invitation. The angel's words are short, but each one lands. The tomb is empty. The rising happened just as He promised. And he invites the women to look at the spot themselves.
An angel comes down and rolls the stone away. But one commentator warns that none of this is what brought the Lord out of the grave.
The Lord was not in the tomb on this last occasion, and the angel, coming down and rolling away the stone, had nothing directly to do with the Lord's rising. He needed no such help. God raised Him, and He Himself rose — taking up His life as He had laid it down. Such is the teaching of Scripture about the resurrection. The angel did this to turn people's attention to God's act in raising Jesus. It also swept aside the lies and arguments of His enemies.
So why move the stone at all?
The two disciples reach the tomb and find it empty. An angel had come down and rolled the stone away from the door. To let the Lord out? Far from it! It was to let you and me look in and see an empty tomb. Then we can know that we have a risen, victorious, triumphant Saviour. He has taken the sting from death and robbed the grave of its victory.
The angel does not simply report an event. He ties it back to a promise the Lord had already made.
He had told them that He would rise again. He had now done it. That confirmed all His words and proved He was worthy of their fullest confidence. We too can let our fears go and put our confidence in Him again. His own words tell us that not one small stroke of His word will fail. He is risen — that is the pledge. Death mocks what people claim and brings their words and works to nothing. But our Saviour lives as Victor over death. He will bring about everything the prophets said about Him and everything He has said about us.
The same writer takes the angel's sentence apart clause by clause, and finds a portrait of Christ in it.
See how the glorious worth of our Lord comes out in the angel's words. YOU SEEK JESUS — His personal preciousness. WHO WAS CRUCIFIED — His matchless love. HE IS RISEN — His glorious power. AS HE SAID — His absolute trustworthiness.
The angel does not ask the women to trust a report from a distance. He brings them right up to the evidence.
I suppose the angel took them by the hand and led them to the door of the tomb. They are to face not death but an empty tomb, the witness of resurrection. How people shrink from this! I have seen believer after believer who, when death came into view, was quite upset. Why? Because they have not stayed with this chapter and heard the words, "Come, see the place where He lay." And what is there to see? Death annulled. That is the point. A risen Christ is to fill the horizon of our souls with peace.
Their looking had a purpose beyond their own comfort, and the stakes of what they saw could not be higher.
They were to be witnesses of this great event to the disciples. So they had to see the empty tomb with their own eyes. At the angel's invitation, they did. One man claimed, with great arrogance, that the Lord did not rise from the dead, and that His body still lies somewhere near Calvary. His own death has since ended his blasphemies. If that is so, the Christian faith is a delusion and a trap, and all those who have fallen asleep in the joy of it have perished. "But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep" (1 Corinthians 15:20).
The angel's choice of tense is worth noticing, and it sets the direction for anyone who wants to find Him now.
Notice how the angel speaks: not "where the Lord lies." Do we take in that He is not here? Then we will want to know Him where He is. How good it is to keep company with Mary Magdalene. His absence made her a mourner. It made the world an empty place for her. She wept, "because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him." He was the great Object of her affections, and losing Him left her desolate. Thank God, we feel His absence from the world. But Scripture teaches us that we have not lost Him. We have gained Him in another place.
- Not here — No one rolled the stone back to release Him. He had already risen. The tomb was opened so that people could look in.
- Risen — God raised Him, and He took up His life again Himself. The angel's part was to point to that act and silence the arguments of enemies.
- As promised — The rising confirms His word. So we can trust everything the prophets said about Him and everything He said about us.
- Come, see — The angel led the women to the evidence so they could be witnesses. There they saw death annulled and a risen Christ filling the horizon with peace.
- Not lost — The past tense sends the heart onward. He is absent from here, but not lost. We seek Him where He now is.