THE BODY'S BEGINNING TO MOVE!

The tomb is dark.  It's very early Sunday morning!  No one is out-and-about yet.

Roman guards are relaxed.  They haven't spoken for hours.  They're disgusted that they drew this worthless duty.

The moon is near full and casts shadows.

Suddenly, the body begins to move.  Jesus comes to life, sits up, folds the cloth that had been around His head, and leaves the tomb - WITHOUT HAVING THE STONE ROLLED AWAY!

The guards couldn't see Him.  Where He went, we do not know.

A short time later, the women arrive at the tomb.  As they arrive, in the earliest moments of sunrise, an earthquake shakes the ground!  An angel appears and rolls the stone away from the tomb!  The angel's appearance is so brilliant and fearsome that the Roman guards pass out!

This same fearsome, heavenly warrior turned to the women and spoke:  "You have nothing to fear!  I know that you've come looking for Jesus, who was crucified.  HE IS NOT HERE!  HE HAS COME BACK TO LIFE, just as He said He would!  Come into the tomb and look - see where His body was laying!"

"Now, go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead and that He is going to meet them in Galilee!"

And just like that, the angel was gone!  The guards are still unconscious.  The birds are singing their morning song.  The warming sun is shining its earliest rays in the Jerusalem sky.  And the women are overwhelmed with joy!  They run to where the disciples are staying and burst in with the good news:

HE'S ALIVE!!!