Earthquake
Read Matthew 28:1-10.
In the four accounts of the resurrection of Jesus, there are minor details that differ from Gospel to Gospel (how many women there were, for instance), but no one tells us as much about the actual opening of the tomb as Matthew does. Matthew gives us what seems to be an eyewitness account of the moment the tomb was opened—not the moment Jesus was raised (no one, it seems, saw that), but the moment the announcement was made to the world. (Remember, the tomb was not opened to let Jesus out; it was opened to let us in so we could see he is risen!)
One detail Matthew includes is that before the stone was rolled back, as the angel comes down to roll it back, there is a "violent earthquake." It's strange to me that no one else mentions it, because if it was what we think of as a strong or especially violent shaking of the earth, you would think others would have felt it. I have friends who live in an area where earthquakes happen with some frequency, and they have mentioned even being shaken awake by small earthquakes at night. A violent one, you would think, would be noticed, remembered and mentioned.
Unless it was extremely localized and only the guards really experienced it. Was it only localized where the angel came down to earth? You see, whenever God enters the world, whenever God shows up, the world he made responds. When the angel descends, God's emissary, the world responds. The world recognizes its creator, even an ambassador of its creator. The earthquake, then, becomes an announcement of something God-initiated happening: the raising of his son.
The earthquake is the physical world reaching toward its creator, almost as if the world is saying, "Am I going to be redeemed, restored, renewed now? It your promise, creator, going to be fulfilled now?" And it wasn't to be on that day, but one day. Romans says this: "For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God" (Romans 8:19-21). Creation longs to be redeemed, and one day, when Jesus returns, it will be. That is the promise of the Scriptures. The earthquake on resurrection day was creation longing to be redeemed, longing on that day to experience what we can now experience because of the resurrection.
The earthquake is a sign of redemption. Jesus is risen—that's our redemption. Jesus is coming—that's the hope and promise that one day, the world will be redeemed in its entirety. Thanks be to God—what a hope!
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| Garden Tomb - Jerusalem, 2014 |
One detail Matthew includes is that before the stone was rolled back, as the angel comes down to roll it back, there is a "violent earthquake." It's strange to me that no one else mentions it, because if it was what we think of as a strong or especially violent shaking of the earth, you would think others would have felt it. I have friends who live in an area where earthquakes happen with some frequency, and they have mentioned even being shaken awake by small earthquakes at night. A violent one, you would think, would be noticed, remembered and mentioned.
Unless it was extremely localized and only the guards really experienced it. Was it only localized where the angel came down to earth? You see, whenever God enters the world, whenever God shows up, the world he made responds. When the angel descends, God's emissary, the world responds. The world recognizes its creator, even an ambassador of its creator. The earthquake, then, becomes an announcement of something God-initiated happening: the raising of his son.
The earthquake is the physical world reaching toward its creator, almost as if the world is saying, "Am I going to be redeemed, restored, renewed now? It your promise, creator, going to be fulfilled now?" And it wasn't to be on that day, but one day. Romans says this: "For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God" (Romans 8:19-21). Creation longs to be redeemed, and one day, when Jesus returns, it will be. That is the promise of the Scriptures. The earthquake on resurrection day was creation longing to be redeemed, longing on that day to experience what we can now experience because of the resurrection.
The earthquake is a sign of redemption. Jesus is risen—that's our redemption. Jesus is coming—that's the hope and promise that one day, the world will be redeemed in its entirety. Thanks be to God—what a hope!
Very interesting. I long to be redeemed as well.
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