Chad Coley
The Gospel According to John
A Living Hope
John 20:1 - 18
3 September 2023

All that Jesus said when alive was validated by the resurrection. John writes so we may boldly believe that He is our living hope.

The first evidence of the resurrection is the moving of the stone. It was sealed and guarded by Roman troops, but a divine sleep came on them, and the stone was rolled away. Roman soldiers were highly trained, and for them to sleep on duty would have meant scourging or even death. The second evidence was that the grave clothes were still there. Grave robbers would have stolen and re-sold the linen, leaving the body. But instead, the linen was there rolled up, and Christ's body was gone.

We see the truth of the resurrection. Mary had forgotten the promise that Jesus would rise again on the third day, and was weeping uncontrollably until she saw Him. In times of trouble, we need to always rest in His promises.

Hope is a fixed certainty of Christ's return, and we can have it because Christ is risen again. For the believer, there is no cause for despair, because God is our Father - and Christ has defeated death.