Early on the first day of the week, the angel told Mary Magdalene and the women with her that Jesus had risen from the dead and that he would meet his disciples in Galilee; the women ran to tell the disciples. At the same time, the guards who witnessed the angel descend from heaven and roll away the stone that covered Jesus’ tomb went and reported what happened to the chief priests. I am amazed that even though the chief priests knew a miracle occurred they refused to believe God was at work. However, it should not surprise me, because earlier during Jesus’ earthly ministry these same leaders claimed Jesus did the good works of healing by the power of the devil. So they persisted in resisting God and paid the soldiers to lie and say the disciples stole the body of Jesus while they slept. The Bible says the false report persisted widely among the Jews for many years.
Have you ever chosen to believe lies rather than the truth? Did you know Jesus appeared on many different occasions after the resurrection and that the apostle Paul reported in 1 Corinthians 15:6 that more than 500 people saw the risen Lord at the same time? Having doubts is normal especially when something happens that is so astonishing. Yet Jesus rebuked his followers for being so hard-hearted and slow to believe those who had seen him.
Luke 24:24-27
24 “Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just exactly as the women also had said; but Him they did not see.” 25 And He said to them, “O foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! 26 “Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?” 27 Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures. NASU
In the above passage from Luke, Jesus reminded his followers that they should have believed the Old Testament prophecies that had predicted the things that would happen when the Christ came. Jesus expected them to believe what had been written even though those prophecies were made many hundreds of years earlier. We are no different than those people. We also are slow to believe the things written in the New Testament two thousand years ago. It seems like such a long time ago, but we should remember that God keeps his promises and eyewitnesses of the resurrection gave their lives, because they knew it was the truth.
Finally, when Jesus appeared to the disciples in Galilee he gave them the Christian’s marching orders for that time and for all time until Jesus returns.
Matthew 28:18-20
18 And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” NASU
Notice Jesus said he has all authority in heaven and earth, there is no higher authority. Jesus told them to go into the whole world and teach people to become his disciples, to baptize them, and to teach them to obey everything Jesus commanded. That mission still remains for every Christian today, we personally need to try to learn and to do everything Jesus commanded us to do and we need to help other people do the same thing. This may seem like a lot, but it is the best possible life this side of heaven.
You can read about the resurrection in the following Bible chapters: Matthew 27 – 28, Mark 15 – 16, Luke 23 -24, and John 19 – 20.