Why Did an Angel Roll Away the Stone? - Easter Devotional - March 31
Easter Devotionals
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Quote of the Day
"'Dear Uticus, Our preacher said that Jesus swooned on the cross and then His disciples nursed Him to health. What do you think? Signed, Bewildered.'
'Dear Bewildered, Beat your preacher with a cat-o'-nine-tails thirty-nine times. Nail him to a cross. Hang him in the sun for six hours. Run a spear through his side, embalm him, and put him in an airless tomb for thirty-six hours and see what happens. Sincerely, Uticus.'"
~Greg Laurie (from "Could Jesus Have Survived the Crucifixion?")
Today's Answer
Why Did an Angel Roll Away the Stone?
Matthew Henry
The angels frequently attended our Lord Jesus: at His birth, in His temptation, in His agony. But upon the cross we find no angel attending him. When His Father forsook Him, the angels withdrew from Him, but now that He is resuming the glory he had before the foundation of the world, the angels of God worship him.
The angel came, rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it. Our Lord Jesus could have rolled back the stone Himself by His own power, but He chose to have it done by an angel to signify that having undertaken to make satisfaction for our sin, He did not break prison, but had a fair and legal discharge, obtained from heaven. He did not break prison, but an officer was sent on purpose to roll away the stone and open the prison door, which would never have been done if He had not made a full satisfaction.
But being delivered for our offences, He was raised again for our justification. He died to pay our debt, and rose again to gain our acquittal. The stone of our sins was rolled to the door of the grave of our Lord Jesus (and we find the rolling of a great stone to signify the contracting of guilt - 1 Samuel 14:33), but to demonstrate that divine justice was satisfied, an angel was commissioned to roll back the stone. The angel did not raise Him from the dead, any more than those that took away the stone from Lazarus’s grave raised him, but by this he intimated the consent of Heaven to Christ's release, and the joy of Heaven in it.
The enemies of Christ had sealed the stone, since this was their hour, but all the powers of death and darkness are under the control of the God of light and life. An angel from heaven has power to break the seal and roll away the stone, though ever so great. Thus, the captives of the mighty are taken away.
The angel’s sitting upon the stone, after he had rolled it away, is very observable and shows a secure triumph over all the obstructions of Christ’s resurrection. There he sat, defying all the powers of hell to roll the stone to the grave again. The angel sat as a guard to the grave, having frightened away the enemies’ guard; he sat, expecting the women, and ready to give them an account of Jesus's resurrection.
Adapted from Matthew 1:1 Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (Luke 28).
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Listen to the Jesus Calling Podcast!
Welcome to this special bonus episode of the Jesus Calling Podcast, inspired by the topical themes from Sarah Young’s seasonal prayer devotional Jesus Listens: Prayers for Every Season. Today, we are featuring guests who speak to themes that all of us might be experiencing in this season of winter. As the days grow shorter and the night longer, we are offered a rare gift: permission to stop. This season can be a challenging time for many, and if you are struggling with low spirits, please know you are not alone, and help is available. This episode is an opportunity to honor your weariness, to resist the urge to rush, and to discover the profound healing that happens when we simply let ourselves rest in the stillness. If you like what you hear, be sure to follow Jesus Calling on Apple or Spotify so you never miss an episode!
