By Rev. David Bast
Read: John 20:1-10
“Who will roll away the stone for us?“ (v. 3)
More than 80 years ago an English skeptic named Frank Morison set out to explain Jesus’s resurrection in non-supernatural terms. His study led him to call that project “the book that refused to be written.”
The book Morison did actually write, which described how he became convinced that Jesus really did rise from the dead, was called “Who Moved the Stone?”
We know who moved the stone — God did!
Perhaps a more interesting question is why God moved the stone. It can’t have been to let Jesus out. His resurrection from the dead wasn’t a resuscitation. He did not simply return to this life; his body was mysteriously changed into the life of the world to come.
Jesus didn’t come slowly awake on Easter morning, get up, and walk out of the tomb. Rather, he was totally transformed in a moment, “in the twinkling of an eye” (1 Cor. 15:52). The risen, glorified Lord transcended the laws of time and space. Things like locked doors (John 20:19) or sealed tombs presented no obstacle to him.
So why move the stone? Not to let Jesus out, but to let the witnesses in. As John would later write, “That . . . which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands . . . we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us” (1 John 1:1-3). They were telling what they saw; you can bank on it.
As you pray, thank God for moving the stone.
—————
David Bast is a writer and pastor who served for 23 years as the President and Broadcast Minister for Words of Hope.
Read: John 20:1-10
“Who will roll away the stone for us?“ (v. 3)
More than 80 years ago an English skeptic named Frank Morison set out to explain Jesus’s resurrection in non-supernatural terms. His study led him to call that project “the book that refused to be written.”
The book Morison did actually write, which described how he became convinced that Jesus really did rise from the dead, was called “Who Moved the Stone?”
We know who moved the stone — God did!
Perhaps a more interesting question is why God moved the stone. It can’t have been to let Jesus out. His resurrection from the dead wasn’t a resuscitation. He did not simply return to this life; his body was mysteriously changed into the life of the world to come.
Jesus didn’t come slowly awake on Easter morning, get up, and walk out of the tomb. Rather, he was totally transformed in a moment, “in the twinkling of an eye” (1 Cor. 15:52). The risen, glorified Lord transcended the laws of time and space. Things like locked doors (John 20:19) or sealed tombs presented no obstacle to him.
So why move the stone? Not to let Jesus out, but to let the witnesses in. As John would later write, “That . . . which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands . . . we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us” (1 John 1:1-3). They were telling what they saw; you can bank on it.
As you pray, thank God for moving the stone.
—————
David Bast is a writer and pastor who served for 23 years as the President and Broadcast Minister for Words of Hope.
