ich was come to
pass.

After seeing where Jesus was buried the women who had followed him from
Galilee and had ministered to him, began preparing spices and ointments
with which to embalm his body. However, as the day drew to its close,
because this Friday evening was the beginning of a Jewish Sabbath, they
rested from their labor of love until Sunday, "the first day of the week,"
and then "at early dawn" they came to the tomb, but were astonished to
find that the body of Jesus was gone.

There are several explanations of this empty tomb, but only one which is
credible and which accords with the facts. Some persons profess to believe
that Jesus did not die, that he only swooned upon the cross, that he
regained consciousness after being laid in the tomb, that he escaped and
then appeared to his disciples; but Jesus had declared that he was to die
and was to rise again on the third day, and he afterwards made his
disciples believe that such an experience had been his; this theory,
therefore, cannot be held without denying the honesty and morality of our
Lord.

A second theory maintains that "his disciples came by night, and stole"
away his body; but these disciples continually declared that he rose from
the dead on the third day; according to this theory, then, these disciples
were impostors; but this can be believed by no one familiar with their
subsequent lives and influence.

It is as impossible to believe the third theory namely, that the enemies
of Jesus stole his body, for had that body been in their possession, how
gladly they would have produced it and thus forever have silenced the
disciples who declared that Jesus was alive and that his resurrection
proved these enemies had put to death an innocent Man, their divine
Messiah.

The only true explanation of this empty tomb is that given to the
wondering women by two angels: "Why seek ye the living among the dead? He
is not here, but is risen: remember how he spake unto you when he was yet
in Galilee." This startling statement of the angels embodies the substance
of the message delivered by the apostles. The truth it declares forms the
corner stone of Christian faith. The resurrection of our Lord is vitally
connected with all the realities which relate to his person and work and
to the life of his followers.

When, however, the fact of the resurrection had been reported to the
apostles, they regarded the words of the women "as idle talk, and they
disbe