John 20:5,6 – The two were running together; and the other disciple ran ahead, faster than Peter, and came to the tomb first; and he stooped to look in, and *saw the linen wrappings lying there; however he did not go in.

Everything about the death and resurrection of the Lord is very specific, intentionally laid out by the Lord to display clearly His finished work of redemption. The two main disciples, Peter and John, were the first of the apostles to make it to the tomb that Easter morning. Several of the women had visited the empty tomb earlier only to be met by angels and a message for the disciples. When Peter and John heard the report they couldn’t get to the tomb fast enough, they both left their beds and hit the ground running. What would they find when they got to the tomb? They had to find the answers for themselves. Here is how Barclay describes this moment.

“If someone had removed Jesus’ body, if tomb-robbers had been at work, why should they leave the grave-clothes? Then something else struck him – the grave-clothes were not disheveled and disarranged. They were lying there still in their folds – that is what the Greek means – the clothes for the body where the body had been; the napkin where the head had lain. The whole point of the description is that the grave-clothes did not look as if they had been put off or taken off; they were lying there in their regular folds as if the body of Jesus had simply evaporated out of them. The sight suddenly penetrated to John’s mind; he realized what had happened – and he believed. It was not what he had read in Scripture which convinced him that Jesus had risen; it was what he saw with his own eyes.”

All of us have to find the answers for ourselves. It was especially important for Peter and John because they would be the chief eyewitnesses to proclaim the message of the resurrection of Jesus to the world. They found the answers at the empty tomb as well as an encounter later that day with the Risen Lord. How can we answer the question of all questions for ourselves? Was Jesus really raised up from the dead? We can have the same answers that Peter and John had. We can go to the empty tomb by reading the scripture, the eye witness account of the resurrection of our Lord. We can also seek Him for ourselves. Seek Him, call out to Him. Without a doubt you also will be visited by this risen Savior.