We have come to a momentous day in all of redemptive history. Jesus had predicted that he would be mocked, flogged, and crucified and also raised on the third day (Matthew 20:19). Jesus had told his disciples this on many occasions. After the vision at the Mount of Transfiguration, Jesus told his disciples not to speak of these things “until the Son of Man had risen from the dead” (Matthew 17:9). Jesus told them that the sign this generation would receive would be the sign of Jonah (Matthew 12:39; Luke 11:29). But the disciples did not understand these things and did not expect resurrection once Jesus died. Who would believe in resurrection? No one who has any rational thinking would go around expecting a resurrection. This is important to observe as we study this account. The resurrection is not a story made up because the disciples expected Jesus to rise. John 20 will show us that no one expected the tomb to be empty on the third day.
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