#matthew 28

04/05/2026

HAPPY EASTER! HE IS RISEN!

You being a Christian (and reading this post) are the direct results of that.

What you do today can have drastic consequences for those around you tomorrow. Make sure that it’s for the better.

unrelated but I like my new marker tabs better than the old ones. as you can see, the colorful ones don't curl or bend like the blue ones.

Jesus Is Risen!

1 Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the grave. 2 And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it. 3 And his appearance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. 4 And the guards quaked from fear of him and became like dead men. 5 And the angel answered and said to the women, “Do not be afraid; for I know that you are looking for Jesus who has been crucified. 6 He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said. Come, see the place where He was lying. 7 And go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead; and behold, He is going ahead of you into Galilee, there you will see Him; behold, I have told you.”

8 And they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy and ran to report it to His disciples. 9 And behold, Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came up and took hold of His feet and worshiped Him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and report to My brothers to leave for Galilee, and there they will see Me.”

11 Now while they were on their way, behold, some of the guard came into the city and reported to the chief priests all that had happened. 12 And when they had assembled with the elders and took counsel together, they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers, 13 and said, “You are to say, ‘His disciples came by night and stole Him away while we were asleep.’ 14 And if this is heard before the governor, we will win him over and keep you out of trouble.” 15 And they took the money and did as they had been instructed; and this story was widely spread among the Jews, and is to this day.

The Great Commission

16 But the eleven disciples proceeded to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had designated. 17 And when they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted. 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 keep all that I commanded you; and behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Vzkriesenie Ježiša

1 Keď uplynula sobota a svitol prvý deň týždňa, Mária Magdaléna a tá druhá Mária sa vybrali k hrobu.

2 A tu zrazu nastalo silné zemetrasenie, lebo Boží anjel zostúpil z neba, odvalil balvan a sadol si naň.

3 Žiaril ako blesk a odev mal biely ako sneh.

4 Strážcov to tak vydesilo, že sa nevládali ani pohnúť.

5 Anjel sa prihovoril ženám: Nebojte sa, viem, že hľadáte Ježiša, ktorý bol ukrižovaný.

6 Ale on tu už nie je, vstal z hrobu, tak ako vám to predtým povedal. Poďte dnu a presvedčte sa.

7 A teraz sa rýchlo ponáhľajte oznámiť jeho učeníkom, že vstal z mŕtvych. Pôjde do Galiley a tam sa s ním stretnete. To som vám mal oznámiť."

8 So strachom, ale aj s veľkou radosťou ženy rýchlo odišli od hrobu a bežali to oznámiť učeníkom.

9 Vtom sa zjavil pred nimi Ježiš a povedal im: Pozdravujem vás." Ihneď padli na kolená a objímali mu nohy.

10 Ježiš ich upokojoval: Nebojte sa, choďte a povedzte mojim bratom, aby šli do Galiley, tam sa stretneme."

11 Keď sa ženy vzdialili, niektorí zo strážcov utekali do mesta a oznámili veľkňazom všetko, čo sa stalo.

12 Tí hneď zvolali poradu s ostatnými židovskými predstaviteľmi, aby sa dohodli, čo robiť. Potom štedro podplatili vojakov,

13 nech zhodne s nimi vravia: V noci sme zaspali, vtedy prišli jeho učeníci a ukradli jeho telo."

14 Potom vojakom sľúbili, že ak sa to dozvie miestodržiteľ, uchlácholia ho a postarajú sa, aby sa z toho dostali bez nepríjemností.

15 Vojaci zhrabli peniaze a rozhlasovali to, čo im prikázali. A táto zvesť sa rozšírila medzi Židmi, ktorí tomu veria podnes.

Ježiš sa stretne s učeníkmi

16 Jedenásť učeníkov sa pobralo do Galiley na vrch, ktorý im určil Ježiš.

17 Keď ho tam zazreli, klaňali sa mu, ale niektorí pochybovali, či je to naozaj on.

18 Ježiš im povedal: Je mi daná všetka moc na nebi aj na zemi.

19 Preto choďte a získavajte mi nasledovníkov vo všetkých národoch a krstite ich v mene Otca, Syna i Ducha Svätého.

20 A učte ich, aby zachovávali všetko, čo som vám prikázal. A spoliehajte sa na to, že ja som vždy s vami, až do konca sveta." — Matthew 28 | Legacy Standard Bible (LSB) and Nádej pre kazdého (NPK) Legacy Standard Bible Copyright ©2021 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. and Nádej pre kazdého (Slovak Language Bible) Copyright © 1993 by Biblica. Cross References: Proverbs 8:15; Isaiah 9:6; Jeremiah 26:2; Daniel 7:9; Daniel 10:6; Matthew 9:31; Matthew 12:14; Matthew 12:40; Matthew 14:27; Matthew 16:21; Matthew 23:7; Matthew 26:32; Matthew 27:2; Matthew 27:8; Matthew 27:56 Matthew 27:60-61; Matthew 27:65-66; Mark 1:45; Mark 14:28; Mark 15:41; Mark 16:4; Mark 16:7; Mark 16:11; Luke 24:47; John 20:14; John 20:17; Acts 1:2-3; Acts 1:8; Acts 18:10; Revelation 1:17

There are chapters in Scripture that shake the earth, and then there are chapters that shake the human soul. Matthew 28 is one of those chapters. It is the kind of chapter that changes how a person stands, breathes, believes, hopes, prays, dreams, fights, and endures. It is a chapter that refuses to sit quietly on the page. It moves. It breathes. It interrupts. It confronts. It restores. It announces the kind of truth that no grave, no lie, no fear, no failure, and no history can silence. It is the dawn of everything new, and once you see it clearly, you’re never able to live small again. This chapter does not simply reveal the resurrection of Jesus. It reveals the resurrection of courage, identity, purpose, calling, and faith itself. This chapter is not only a moment in biblical history; it is a blueprint for the kind of life God intended you to walk into with your shoulders back, your faith awake, and your spirit alive.

Every time I sit with Matthew 28, I imagine the heavy silence of that early morning—the air still, the shadows long, the city asleep, and two women carrying the weight of grief that felt too deep to name. They weren’t going to the tomb expecting a miracle. They were going because love doesn’t know what else to do when the world falls apart. They were going because loyalty walks even when hope feels scattered. They were going because sometimes the only prayer a broken heart can offer is to simply show up where Jesus once was. And it’s here that God begins the greatest reversal in human history. It’s here that heaven touches earth in a way that causes stone to move, fear to tremble, and death to retreat. It’s here that God shows us something essential: miracles do not begin with power; they begin with presence. They begin with the courage to walk into the dark with faith that hasn’t fully recovered yet. They begin with people who love Jesus enough to show up anyway.

When the angel appears, his presence is not gentle. It is disruptive, unsettling, and bold in a way that reminds us that heaven never arrives timidly. The earth shakes, the stone rolls, and his appearance is like lightning. Heaven makes no attempt to slip in quietly. This is not a whisper. This is an announcement. This is God revealing that the kind of salvation He brings is not partial, symbolic, or metaphorical. It is physical. It is cosmic. It rearranges reality. And this is important because too many believers today live as though resurrection is inspirational rather than transformational—like it is a comforting idea rather than a redefining truth. But the resurrection in Matthew 28 is a physical event that shifts the axis of the world. When Jesus gets up from the grave, every lie about your limitations, every fear about your future, every chain you believe cannot break, every wound you think cannot heal, every chapter you think cannot be rewritten is confronted by a God who refuses to stay buried.

I think about the angel’s words to the women—“Do not be afraid.” What a strange instruction when the ground has just shaken, a warrior of heaven is standing before you, and the stone that guarded the darkest moment of your life has just been tossed aside like dust. But those words are not a correction; they are an invitation. They are the divine reminder that fear does not get the final say in a life touched by the risen Jesus. They are the holy permission to step out of the mindset you carried into the morning and step into a new one that is now possible because the grave is empty. And that is exactly how it works for us. Resurrection doesn’t simply change what happened to Jesus; it changes what is available to us. It means fear may speak, but it doesn’t own the microphone. It means pain may echo, but it doesn’t define the room. It means darkness may linger, but it doesn’t win. It means your story can begin again even in places where you stopped believing beginnings existed.

Then comes the message that shaped eternity: “He is not here; He is risen.” These words carry a force that no other sentence in human history can match. They are the heartbeat of Christianity, the cornerstone of hope, the reason the broken can be healed, the weary can rise, the sinner can be forgiven, and the lonely can stand again. These words are the announcement that God keeps His promises even when we cannot see how. They are the reminder that God’s power reaches into places we cannot fix, cannot understand, cannot control, and cannot escape. They are the declaration that every story—yours included—has a chapter that only God can write.

And it is remarkable that the first people entrusted with the greatest truth in history were two women. In a society that considered women unreliable witnesses, Jesus intentionally places the greatest revelation the world will ever know into their hands. That alone should silence every voice—internal or external—that tells you God cannot use you. God delights in choosing the unexpected, the overlooked, the dismissed, and the underestimated to carry His message forward. If you have ever felt like you don’t fit the mold, like you don’t belong in the spotlight, or like you don’t have the credentials to lead, let Matthew 28 remind you that heaven is not looking for impressive people; heaven is looking for available people. These women were not chosen for their influence—they were chosen for their devotion. And devotion is the very thing God still looks for today.

As they run to tell the disciples, something beautiful happens. Jesus meets them on the way. This detail has always stood out to me, because it reveals the heart of God in a way few verses do. He doesn’t wait for them to reach the disciples. He doesn’t wait for them to steady their breathing or calm their racing hearts. He meets them in motion. He meets them in their faith. He meets them in their urgency, their uncertainty, their trembling excitement. It is a picture of how God meets us—not after we have figured everything out, not after we have perfected our obedience, not after we have restored our confidence. He meets us in the middle of our movement toward Him. He meets us on the road, in the transition, in the in-between where faith is still forming and courage is still fragile. Jesus does not wait for us to arrive polished; He meets us while we are still becoming.

His first word to them is simply, “Greetings.” But this word isn’t casual. It carries the meaning of rejoicing, of life, of joy that breaks into mourning. It is the kind of word that tells you everything has changed, even if you can’t understand how yet. And their reaction—falling at His feet and holding on to Him—is exactly what happens when grace becomes real. When Jesus becomes more than a belief, more than a doctrine, more than a comforting idea, and becomes a living presence that stands in front of you, everything inside you drops. Everything inside you recognizes the One who never abandoned you, never forgot you, never stopped loving you, never stopped fighting for you. These women do what every soul longs to do: they hold on to the One who walked out of death to rescue them.

The next scene shifts back to the guards—terrified men who witnessed the supernatural and then became participants in a lie. Their story is the tragic picture of what happens when truth threatens comfort. The religious leaders create a false narrative, pay them to repeat it, and attempt to bury the resurrection beneath human denial. But you cannot bury what God has raised. Their lie spread, but truth outruns lies every time because truth carries power, weight, and eternity behind it. This moment reminds us that every generation will face voices that try to reinterpret Jesus, minimize Him, explain away His power, or turn His miracles into metaphors. And every generation—including ours—must decide whether to follow the noise of culture or the voice of the risen King. The resurrection is not fragile. It does not need to be protected. It only needs to be proclaimed.

Then comes the mountain moment—the Great Commission. If the empty tomb is the victory, then the mountain is the assignment. The disciples meet Jesus there, and Scripture says some worshiped and some doubted. I love that this detail is included, because it shows us a Jesus who does not require perfect confidence before He entrusts a mission. Some were standing in awe. Some were standing in uncertainty. But all were still called. If you have ever loved Jesus deeply while also wrestling with questions, this scene is for you. Jesus does not disqualify doubters; He disciples them. He doesn’t push them away; He pulls them into the greatest movement the world has ever seen.

And then He speaks the words that redefine human purpose: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Therefore go…” This is not a suggestion. This is not a gentle encouragement. This is the King of kings announcing that the authority that conquered death is now commissioning His people. The mission is not powered by our talent but by His authority. Not by our confidence but by His sovereignty. Not by our perfection but by His presence. And this presence is guaranteed in the final words of the chapter: “I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” That one promise alone can hold a believer together through every season of life.

The power of Matthew 28 doesn’t only come from what Jesus did; it comes from what He entrusted to the ones who followed Him. This chapter is not just a celebration of resurrection—it is the launching point for your entire destiny as a believer. It is the moment where faith stops being something contained inside your private life and becomes something God intends to unleash into the world through you. When Jesus says, “Go,” He is tearing down every excuse we use to hide from our calling. He is lifting us out of smallness. He is removing the boundaries we place around ourselves. He is breaking the lie that your past disqualifies you, your weakness undermines you, or your uncertainty limits you. This is not merely a historical command; it is a personal invitation. It is Jesus telling you that your life has meaning that stretches beyond your lifespan. It is the reminder that heaven has written a purpose over you that hell cannot erase.

And notice that He doesn’t send them out alone. He sends them with His authority, His presence, His power, and His promise. Too many believers misunderstand the Great Commission by thinking it is a task handed down from a distance. But Jesus doesn’t stand on the mountain and point into the distance. He stands with them, speaks to them, calls them, and then walks with them into the world. The command is never separate from the companionship. Wherever God sends you, He stays with you. Wherever He calls you, He carries you. Wherever He positions you, He empowers you. The promise “I am with you always” is not poetic comfort; it is the engine that drives every moment of your faith. It is the foundation under your steps. It is the courage behind your voice. It is the strength in your resilience. It is the reason your story will outlast your storms.

Matthew 28 is also a reminder that God writes the most important chapters of our lives after everything looks finished. The resurrection did not come when the disciples were strong. It came when they were shattered. It did not come when hope was high. It came when hope felt impossible. It did not come when faith was steady. It came when faith was struggling to stay alive. This is the pattern of God: He brings life to places that no longer believe in life. He brings possibility into situations that feel sealed shut. He brings restoration where human logic insists the story is over. If you have ever felt like you are standing outside a sealed tomb—emotionally, spiritually, financially, physically, relationally—Matthew 28 exists to tell you this: God does His best work in places where you have run out of options.

There are moments in life when everything feels like an ending, when you quietly wonder if you’ve exhausted the last bit of strength inside you, when your prayers feel small and your tears feel loud. But resurrection is not born out of strength. It is born out of surrender. It is born out of bringing God the pieces rather than pretending they’re still whole. It is born out of honesty, humility, and the kind of love that keeps walking toward the tomb even when you don’t know what you’ll find there. The women didn’t bring faith that moved mountains that morning—they brought faith that showed up. And God honored that faith by revealing a miracle no human heart could have imagined. Your life is no different. God honors the faith that moves forward even when it trembles.

One of the most extraordinary things about the resurrection is that it restores identity before it restores direction. The women do not walk away wondering who they are—they walk away knowing whose they are. Jesus calls them “my brothers” when addressing the disciples, reinstating them fully after their failures. He does not shame them for fleeing. He does not punish them for doubt. He brings them back into their calling with tenderness, dignity, and reassurance. That is the heart of God. He does not throw you away when you fall. He doesn’t reconsider you when you stumble. He doesn’t rewrite His plans for you because your faith had a weak moment. Resurrection restores the identity that fear tried to steal. It brings you back into alignment with the destiny God spoke over your life before you even took your first breath.

If you read Matthew 28 carefully, you’ll notice that every character in the story responds to the resurrection in a way that mirrors modern humanity. Some run toward Jesus. Some run away. Some cling to Him with everything in them. Some collapse in fear. Some try to silence the truth for comfort. Some fall at His feet. Some try to bury the evidence. Some worship. Some doubt. Some believe immediately. Some need time to process. But the beauty is this: Jesus meets every single one of them exactly where they are. He meets the faithful. He meets the fearful. He meets the confused. He meets the doubting. He meets the overwhelmed. He meets the ones who don’t know how to feel. The resurrection is not for the spiritually elite. It is for the human heart, in every stage of belief, brokenness, and becoming.

This truth is where your life finds its anchor. You don’t have to fear that your doubts disqualify you. You don’t have to hide the parts of you that don’t feel strong. You don’t have to pretend that faith comes easily every day. Jesus is not intimidated by your humanity. He came for it. He redeemed it. He understands it deeper than you ever will. And because the tomb is empty, you are free to grow, free to learn, free to rise, free to become, free to walk into a life that reflects the power of a risen Savior. Matthew 28 is your permission to let hope return where you once buried it. It is your permission to let courage breathe again. It is your permission to believe that God has been quietly preparing resurrection moments behind the scenes of your life long before you knew they were coming.

There is a moment I always picture at the end of this chapter—Jesus standing before His disciples, the wind brushing across the hillside, the sun rising higher than it did the morning before, the world still trembling from what had taken place, and Him looking into their eyes with a certainty that steadied every fear they still carried. He was not sending out perfect men. He was sending out willing men. He was not sending out polished disciples. He was sending out transformed ones. He understood their weaknesses, their wounds, their doubts, their histories, and still He trusted them with the future of the gospel. And here is the truth: He trusts you the same way. You were born into this moment in history because God sees something in you that this generation needs. Your voice matters. Your faith matters. Your courage matters. Your presence matters. Your obedience matters. You are not here accidentally. You were chosen on purpose and for a purpose.

The resurrection is not just the end of Matthew’s gospel. It is the beginning of your mission. It is the divine reminder that you are living in the wake of a victory that cannot be reversed. It is the foundation under every step you take, every calling you follow, every prayer you pray, every storm you face, and every dream God plants inside you. The empty tomb is the reason you can get back up after falling, start again after failing, believe again after breaking, and love again after losing. It is the push behind your courage and the whisper behind your hope. And it is the eternal truth standing guard over your story: nothing in your life ends in darkness when Jesus walks into it.

So when you step into your day today, step in with the kind of confidence that only resurrection can produce. Step in with the awareness that heaven walks with you. Step in with the realization that the same Jesus who rose from the grave is the same Jesus who strengthens your spirit, directs your steps, and writes your next chapter. Step in with the certainty that no matter what you face, no matter what rises against you, no matter what tries to shake you, you carry the presence of a Savior who already conquered the worst thing this world can do. You are not fragile. You are not forgotten. You are not behind. You are not empty. You are not alone. You are a resurrection story in progress, and Matthew 28 is the reminder that God has already written the ending—and the ending is victory.

And as you move through this chapter of your life, keep returning to this thought: the same Jesus who stepped out of the tomb now steps into your circumstances. The same power that rolled away the stone now rolls away every lie that tries to tell you you’re not enough. The same voice that told the women “Do not be afraid” now tells your heart the same thing every single time fear tries to rise. The same love that restored the disciples now restores you every time you return to Him. The resurrection is not a moment to admire; it is a reality to live from. And once you see it clearly, nothing in your life stays the same.

Your friend, Douglas Vandergraph

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If there is no resurrection, Christianity collapses. Gospel of Matthew 28 is not a sentimental ending to a tragic story. It is a thunderclap. It is the moment history split in two. Let’s walk through it. 1. The Stone Was Rolled Away — Not to Let Jesus Out Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to the tomb at dawn. There had been an earthquake. An angel descended. The stone was rolled…

And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.”