Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Prayer Meeting Lesson Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/pm/pm20100915.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
Luke: Jesus, The Son Of Man For All Mankind
Part LXXXVIII: Christ's Identity As God's Savior Seen In His Resurrection
C. Christ's Identity As God's Savior Seen In The Witness Of His Grave Clothes
(Luke 24:12 with John 20:1-9)
  1. Introduction
    1. Christ's resurrection is a cornerstone doctrine of the Christian faith: if He is not raised, our faith is in vain, and we of all men are most to be pitied, 1 Corinthians 15:13-19 NIV.
    2. Accordingly, it is very important that we view Luke's record of the resurrection in detail to discern evidences of its validity, and apply it to needs in our lives (as follows):
  2. Christ's Identity As God's Savior Seen In The Witness Of His Grave Clothes, Luke 24:12; Jn. 20:1-9.
    1. Amazingly, one of the greatest evidences of Jesus' resurrection, His empty grave clothes, was not noticed by the women who were first at the tomb, but by the disciples who later saw the clothes, Luke 24:1-11, 12.
    2. However, Luke's report in Luke 24:12 that Peter responded to the news by the women of the empty tomb by running to it, stooping down and seeing the grave clothes does not appear various manuscripts.
    3. Nevertheless, elements of John 20:3, 5, 6 and 10 appear in Luke 24:12, suggesting Luke may have used a common source with John in writing their Gospels, a fact Luke hints may have occurred by his words in Luke 1:1-3. (Bruce M. Metzger, A Textual Commentary on the Greek N. T., 1971, p. 184, 254.
    4. To be sure of the facts involved, then, we will not rely on the contested reading, but view John 20:6-9 on the finding of Christ's grave clothes in a passage that is generally uncontested in the manuscripts (except for minor variations in a few non-material words) [U. B. S. Greek N. T., 1966, p. 407; E. Nestle, Novum Testamentum Graece, 1973, p. 292; G. D. Kilpatrick, Hay Kainay Diathaka, 1972, p. 349]:
      1. John reported that Mary Magdalene ran back from the tomb to Peter and to the "other" disciple, who we believe is John, the author of John's Gospel, John 20:1-2a; Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, 1978, p. 1770.
      2. She told them that a party had taken away Jesus' body from the tomb, and that they did not know where they had laid Him, John 20:2b. Mary apparently hadn't believed the earlier report of the angels.
      3. Peter and John then ran to the tomb, and what John reports he saw of the grave clothes is great empirical evidence, evidence discernible to the eye, that Christ was raised from the dead, John 20:7:
        1. The men saw the soudarion, the "face-cloth" that had been about the head of Jesus not lying with the linen cloths used to clothe His body, but lying in a place by itself, Ibid., U. B. S. Greek N. T.; Bauer, Arndt & Gingrich, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, 1967, p. 766.
        2. This covering was "wrapped together" (KJV), or "folded up" (NIV, ESV) which description is in the form of a participle from the verb, entulisso, used in the vernacular of "fettering prisoners, swathing children hand and foot, holding people fast in a net . . ." (Moulton & Milligan, The Vocabulary of the Greek New Testament, 1972, p. 219.
        3. Since the wrappings for Jesus' body were separate from this head piece that was still in a wrapped or an entangled form, we know He had been wrapped according to Jewish custom (John 19:40); that is, His body had been wrapped in strips of cloth like a cocoon with the head being wrapped separate from the rest of the body, cf. Josh McDowell, A Ready Defense, 1991, p. 225.
        4. So, what John and Peter saw were the wrappings of Jesus' body and head in their initial locations and forms as though His body was still in them, only without the presence of His body!
        5. One observing this scene would realize no grave robber would bother to leave them lying neatly like that, but either take the body with its grave clothes, or quickly fling the grave clothes off the body and leave them strewn in a disorderly way so he might quickly leave without being caught!
        6. That would mean the body had gone through the clothes, meaning Jesus had risen from the dead, an event John then believed had occurred though he did not yet know the Scriptures on it, John 20:8-9.
Lesson: The way Jesus' grave clothes lay was such clear evidence He had risen, John believed He was risen from only viewing them though he did not then know the Scripture teaching on His resurrection!

Application: (1) May we trust that Jesus arose from the dead as Messiah and God. (2) May we use the empirical or circumstantial evidences God provides us to validate His Word and leading, Acts 16:6-10.