Resurrection day events in order unto ascension.

[Godhelpus]

I believe the intertwining records of Jesus' resurrection, are probably the most difficult to unravel. I also believe the Lord had it written in that way on purpose. Not to deceive anyone, but on the one hand to teach certain messages by their partial order, and also to ensure we study to show ourselves approved with His word. After dealing extensively with people who believe the different individual accounts contradict, here is an order of events, that do not conflict with one another: It begins the day before after Jesus' death, and ends on Pentecost after His resurrection.

Many women from Galilee follow Joseph and Nicodemus to see Jesus laid in the tomb. Magdalen and the other Mary are specifically mentioned. Afterward, some of the other women go home to prepare spices and ointments for Jesus' body.

In the night, there's another earthquake, and an angel in appearance as lighting rolls away the stone, making the soldiers become as dead. Jesus either resurrects at this time, or any time during the night beforehand. At some time, the guard awaken and depart to report to the chief priests.

Magdalen comes later in the dark and finds the tomb empty. She tells Peter and the other disciple, and they come running to see the tomb empty, enter, and depart. Magdalen remains behind and sees two angels in the tomb, and then Jesus Himself alive. She is the first person on earth to see Him after His resurrection. While still dark, she returns again to tell the disciples of His resurrection.

Magdalen, the other Mary, Salome, and the other women from Galilee, including Joanna, arrive at the tomb in the morning light. One group arrives with their prepared spices and ointments, while Magdalen's group arrives with bought sweet spices. They find the tomb empty. Magdalen, the other Mary, and Salome enter the tomb, and see the angel that rolled away the stone sitting, and are told to tell the disciples to go to Galilee to see Jesus. The other women including Joanna, are standing outside and are met by two more angels, that send them also to the disciples to go to Galilee to meet Jesus. All the women depart and en rout meet Jesus, and hold His feet in worship. He also sends them all to tell the disciples to meet Him in Galilee. They all then tell the disciples these things.

Peter runs to the tomb a second time and ponders these things.

Jesus next appears to Cleopas and another disciple on the road to Emmaus, and later toward evening they recognize Him at table, and He vanishes from their sight. In that hour, they go to the eleven to tell them of Jesus' resurrection. Peter has now also seen the Lord Jesus. Paul reports that Jesus also appeared to James.

At evening, Jesus now first appears to the disciples with the others in the their midst, and shows He is indeed resurrected bodily from the dead, by showing His hands and side, and eats some fish. Thomas is not with them.

8 days later, He appears to the eleven with Thomas as they sat at meat, and upbraids them for their unbelief, and also challenges Thomas to insert His fingers into his hands, and his hand into Jesus' side.

Afterward on another day, Peter goes a fishin' at the sea of Galilee with 6 other disciples, including Thomas, Nathanael, the sons of thunder, and 2 other disciples. For the third time after His resurrection, Jesus meets His disciples on the Galilee shore with food on a fire.

Afterward on another day, all the disciples meet Jesus at the Galilee mount, that He had appointed them, and worshipped Him.

On the 40th day after His resurrection, He leads all the disciples and many others to Bethany on Mt Olivet. There He gives His great commission with promise of the Holy Ghost, and ascends to heaven to be recieved up in a cloud. The disciples remain standing and looking upward for Jesus, until two angels come to remind them to go to Jerusalem, and wait for the promise of the Father.

The 50th day after Jesus' resurrection, the disciples in the upper room receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost, and Peter publicly preaches for the first time, the gospel of Jesus Christ crucified, buried, and resurrected from the dead.

I believe that's the events in recorded order, unless I've missed something. And, there are some notes showing how and why they are in this order, without any contradiction between them.

 

[Godhelpus]

Here's the timeline with Gospel references in order:

Many women from Galilee follow Joseph and Nicodemus to see Jesus laid in the tomb. Magdalen and the other Mary are specifically mentioned. (John 19) (Mark 15) Afterward that evening, some of the other women go home to prepare spices and ointments for Jesus' body. (Luke 23)

The next day on the high Sabbath, the chief priests go to Pilate for a guard on the tomb. (Matthew 27)

In the night, there's another earthquake, and an angel in appearance as lighting rolls away the stone, making the soldiers become as dead. (Matthew 28) Jesus either resurrects at this time, or any time during the night beforehand. At some time in the night, the guards awaken and depart the empty tomb, to report to the chief priests.

Magdalen comes later in the dark before dawn, and finds the tomb empty. She tells Peter and the other disciple, and they come running to see the tomb empty. They enter to see and depart. (John 20)

Magdalen remains behind and sees two angels in the tomb, and then Jesus Himself alive outside the tomb. She is the first person on earth to see Him after His resurrection. While still dark, she returns again to tell the disciples of His resurrection, and they don't believe it. (John 20) (Mark 16)

Magdalen, the other Mary, Salome, and the other women from Galilee, including Joanna, arrive at the tomb in the morning light. One group arrives with their prepared spices and ointments, while Magdalen's group arrives with bought sweet spices. They find the tomb empty. (Mark 16) (Luke 24)

Magdalen, the other Mary, and Salome are met by the angel that rolled away the stone, and are told to see in the tomb where the Lord had lain. Another angel sitting therein tell them to tell the disciples to go to Galilee to see Jesus. (Matthew 28) (Mark 16) The other women including Joanna enter the tomb and see no one, and while standing outside are met by two more angels, that send them also to the disciples to go to Galilee to meet Jesus. (Luke 24)

All the women depart and en route meet Jesus, and hold His feet in worship. He also sends them all to tell the disciples to meet Him in Galilee. They all then tell the disciples these things, and they don't believe it. (Matthew 28)

Peter runs to the tomb a second time and ponders these things. (Luke 24)

Jesus next appears to Cleopas and another disciple on the road to Emmaus, and later toward evening they recognize Him at table, and He vanishes from their sight. In that hour, they go to the eleven to tell them of Jesus' resurrection. They don't believe it. Luke 24) (Mark 16) Peter has now also seen the Lord Jesus. Paul reports that Jesus also appeared to James at some time.

At evening, Jesus now first appears to the disciples with the others in the their midst, and shows He is indeed resurrected bodily from the dead, and not only a spirit, by showing His hands and side, and eats some fish. Thomas is not with them. (Luke 24) (John 20)

8 days later, He appears to the eleven with Thomas as they sat at meat, and upbraids them for their unbelief, and also challenges Thomas to insert His fingers into his hands, and his hand into Jesus' side. (Mark 16) (John 20)

Afterward on another day, Peter goes a fishin' at the sea of Galilee with 6 other disciples, including Thomas, Nathanael, the sons of thunder, and 2 other disciples. For the third time after His resurrection, Jesus meets His disciples on the Galilee shore with food on a fire. They all know Him. (John 21)

Afterward on another day, all the disciples meet Jesus at the Galilee mount, that He had appointed them, and worshipped Him. Some doubted what to do. (Matthew 28)

On the 40th day after His resurrection, He leads all the disciples and many others to Bethany on Mt Olivet. (Luke 24) (Acts 1) There He gives His great commission with promise of the Holy Ghost, and ascends to heaven to be recieved up in a cloud. The disciples remain standing and looking upward for Jesus, until two angels come to remind them to go to Jerusalem, and wait for the promise of the Father.

These are a consistent order of events from the 4 gospels and Acts 1.

Paul confirms Peter saw the Lord first before the other apostles, on the evening of the first day of His resurrection, and that above 500 saw Him during the 40 days after. He was also seen by James after the evening of the first day, either before His second appearance to them on the 8th day, or afterward before the sea of Galilee for the third time.

As we can see, there's nothing really complex about this timeline, but is straightforward simple enough, when set in order by events. The only confusion is when read separately as provided in the Gospels, Acts 1, and 1 Cor 15. God is not the Author of confusion, and so any confusion can only be by undisciplined faithfulness to exactly what the record reveals. Assumptions are a recipe from sloppiness.

 

[Godhelpus]

Here are some explanatory notes that put the events in proper order:

1. John 20 reveals Magdalen being the first to the tomb. It's still nighttime, she is alone, and the stone is already rolled away. This is the biggest key to sorting out a proper timeline of events on resurrection day, that begins in the dark before dawn, not in the morning at dawn.

2. Therefore, the record of the stone being rolled away in Matthew 28, is a backstory/flashback inserted into the narrative. And, it's written in past tense. Jesus' resurrection and the stone rolled away, is sometime before Magdalen's first pre-dawn appearance at the open tomb, not on the morning of Easter Sunday.

3. We also know the stone was rolled away before dawn, because the guard was no longer guarding an empty tomb, but had awakened and departed to report to the chief priests. There were no guards at the tomb, who would have still kept anyone from entering an empty tomb. Their command was to guard the tomb, and keep it from being violated.

Mat 27:65
Pilate said unto them, Ye have a watch: go your way, make it as sure as ye can.

4. There are two groups of women arriving at dawn. One group is bringing their prepared spices and ointment, but Magdalen's group is bringing bought sweet spices. They cannot be the same group of women, because Magdalen's group could not have bought the spices on the way home, to then prepare them. In Luke 23, after Jesus' burial, the narrative sense is the women going straight home. But also, the Sabbath had already begun, with no more buying and selling by lawful Jews.

Luk 23:56
And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the sabbath day according to the commandment.

Since there were two groups both arriving at dawn, then the 'separate' visits by angels no longer conflict, as they would with one group alone. Also, because this was Magdalen's second visit, then there is no conflict between her seeing two angels in the tomb at night in John, and then only one angel in the tomb at dawn in Mark. There's no need to suggest they were the same event, as though both angels were sitting in the tomb at dawn, but only one of them speaks to Magdalen's group. Especially since at night they both speak to Magdalen.

Jhn 20:12
And seeth two angels in white sitting, the one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. And they say unto her...

5. The morning report by the women of Jesus' resurrection is the second one to the disciples, with Magdalen's report being first before dawn. Peter therefore returns to the tomb a second time alone, especially since he was now singled out by the angels. Since the disciples later report Peter had seen the Lord before the 2 return from Emmaus, then Peter saw Jesus after his second trip, while pondering these things. And so, Paul is correct in saying Peter first saw the Lord before the all the apostles together.

5. The sea of Galilee appearance needs to be after the 2nd appearance of Jesus on the 8th day, with the disciples and Luke.

Jhn 21:14
This is now the third time that Jesus shewed himself to his disciples, after that he was risen from the dead.

We know it was, because Thomas was at the sea, and now also knew it was the Lord.

Jhn 21:12
Jesus saith unto them, Come and dine. And none of the disciples durst ask him, Who art thou? knowing that it was the Lord.

We also know it was before their last visit with Jesus, which was on Mt Olivet on the 40th day of His resurrection, where He gave them His great commission. Going fishing was not going to preach the gospel by commission.

We can also know, that the sea of Galilee visit was before the trip to the Galilee mount. First, because the mount was appointed by Jesus, which shows the disciples beginning to go where Jesus tells them, not where they personally choose to, as at the sea. A reasonable objection is that the visit at the Galilee mount could have been before the Sea of Galilee, or even before the visit on the 8th day. That being because some of the disciples at the mount doubted during Jesus' visit, as though some still disbelieved in His resurrection, as did Thomas until the 8th day.

Mat 28:16
Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them. And when they saw him, they worshipped him: but some doubted.

The problem with that, is the disciples were only recorded not believing in His resurrection after reports were made by women. Nowhere is any apostle recorded not believing in His resurrection after having seen Him. (Thomas was not at the first appearance, and so still disbelieved afterward) Therefore, since all the eleven apostles on the mount had seen Jesus already, then they all believed.

Although we speaking of 'doubting' Thomas, Thomas' error was unbelief, not doubt. In Matthew 28, doubting is not unbelief in Jesus' resurrection, but rather in context of worshipping the risen Jesus, some doubted what to do: To also worship Him as both Lord and God, or not. Perhaps they doubted whether Jesus would graciously receive their worship, after having forsaken him at the cross, and disbelieved Him when He said He would rise again on the 3rd day...

7. The order of these appearances between Jerusalem, Galilee, and Olivet also shows the use of time-gaps in the Gospel records. In Luke 24, without any narrative leaps of time, we would conclude that Jesus appeared to the disciples, led them to Bethany, gave His commission, promised the Holy Ghost, and ascended to heaven, all on the first day of His resurrection. Which of course would throw a serious wrench into all the other reports.

By taking all the reports together, one at a time, exactly as recorded, then the timeline of events fall neatly into place like a jigsaw puzzle, that looks confusing, but really isn't once they are put together in order of appearance. Assumptions result in either trying to mash pieces out of line, or leaving them out the finished picture altogether...