Watching Hal Lindsey's TV show one night, he brought up an interesting
point on another proof of Christ's resurrection. In John chapter 20, Mary
Magdalene finds the stone removed from the tomb. She then tells Peter and
John that the Lord’s body is missing from the tomb. Peter and John run to the
tomb. John gets there first, looks in and sees the linen cloth lying there,
but does not go in. Then Peter arrives and goes inside. He also noticed the
cloth lying there, while the swath that covered Jesus' head was rolled up
into a bundle and lying to the side. Then John went in too, and saw, and
believed (that He had risen) for until then they hadn't realized, that the
scriptures said He would come to life again.
Looking into the empty tomb and seeing linen cloth lying on the slab could
mean anything. Did somebody cut the wrap off and remove the body? And if
someone did remove the body, why would they bother to take the time to remove
the wrap? The question is, what did John see that immediately told him that Christ had risen?
For that answer we go to John 19:38-42. Joseph of Arimathea got permission
to take the body of Jesus down from the cross, and lay Him in a new unused
tomb. Together with Nicodemus, both secret disciples of Christ, they brought
Jesus to the tomb along with 100 pounds of embalming ointment made from myrrh
and aloes. The two men wrapped Jesus' body in a long linen cloth saturated
with the embalming ointment, as it was the Jewish custom of burial. They
wrapped each limb separately, but not the head, as the Jewish custom is not
to wrap the head (as is the Egyptian custom), but to lay a swath of cloth
over the head. This mixture of myrrh and aloes dries into a shellac like
substance, and the linen wrap becomes stiff. After three days in the tomb,
the 100 pounds of embalming ointment hardened the linen wrap around Jesus'
body.
When John looked into the tomb and saw this hardened linen wrap, it was not
cut up in pieces or unraveled. It would be impossible to unravel in its
hardened state, without breaking. What he saw was a cocoon of linen, shaped
like a mans body, with nothing inside. Christ had risen in spirit form right
through the hardened linen bandages, and left the bandages intact in the
shape of His earthly body, with the head cloth rolled up in a bundle.
You can imagine the amazement of Peter and John seeing hardened strips of
linen wrap shaped like Jesus' body, completely intact, with nothing inside.
They knew the only way the body could escape the wrap would be in spirit
form. This was proof in their eyes that Christ had risen, and prompted John
to write "Then I went in too, and saw, and believed. For until then we
hadn't realized that the scriptures said He would come to life again!" (John
20:8-9)
Note: If Peter and John had seen the linen wrap cut up in pieces, torn,
broken, damaged, or in any state other than a cocoon like undamaged state,
than the possibility would exist, that someone cut and tore the wrap and
stole the body. But the fact they believed immediately that He had risen,
tells us the condition of the wrap was intact, and is another proof of the
resurrection.
By George Konig
Christian Internet Forum
www.georgekonig.org
April 26, 2003
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