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“And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it” (Matthew 28:2).
Last night my wife woke up at 3:30 a.m., and felt the bed shaking for a few minutes. This morning when we got up, we learned that a powerful earthquake had occurred in southern Turkey and northern Syria during the night, causing serious damage in which many people were killed. We felt only a little ripple of the earthquake here in Cyprus.
Earthquakes demonstrate God’s power, and man can do nothing to stop them. Also, they usually occur without warning, although there are areas of this world that are more susceptible to earthquakes. There is no doubt that God uses earthquakes to speak to man, and to warn him of coming judgment.
However, in our verse for today, there is no record that the earthquake did any serious damage. Rather, it demonstrated to man the power of God in resurrection, and the fact that our Lord Jesus Christ rose from the dead. The Jews had set a watch of soldiers to make sure that the disciples did not steal the body of the Lord Jesus, but in Matthew 28:4 we read that “the keepers did shake, and became as dead men.” Not only did the earthquake scare them, but also the sight of the angel who came and rolled back the stone from the door of the tomb.
The resurrection of the Lord Jesus was a wonderful event, and was the assurance that God was fully satisfied with the work that the Lord Jesus did on the cross. The Jews did not want to believe that the Lord Jesus really rose from the dead, but God gave them plenty of evidence that it had happened.
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