“Peter therefore went out, and the other disciple, and were going to the tomb. So they both ran together, and the other disciple outran Peter and came to the tomb first. And he, stooping down and looking in, saw the linen cloths lying there; yet he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb; and he saw the linen cloths lying there, and the handkerchief that had been around His head, not lying with the linen cloths, but folded together in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who came to the tomb first, went in also; and he saw and believed. For as yet they did not know the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead.” John 20:3-9 (NKJV)

A few years ago, my wife and I traveled to Israel and saw many biblical sites. We experienced the peaks of Mount Carmel where Elijah battled the 450 prophets of Baal, the stream that Gideon and his men would drink water from, the synagogue in the hometown of Mary Magdalene where Jesus would have preached, the valley that David fought Goliath, and the pool of Bethesda where Jesus would have healed the blind and lame. The trip was breathtaking! The highlight, by far, was our last day there. The best was truly saved for last! The trip culminated at a relatively small “historical site.” It would be easy to miss if you were walking by. It was an enclosed garden with walking paths. One path led to a spot that puts you face to face with the highest hill in the area. The hill is called “Calvary.” It is the place of Jesus’ crucifixion. I stood there, in awe. “There it is,” I stammered to my wife. The place He died; for me, for my sin. It is the spot He conquered all of our enemies: sin, Satan, death, and Hell. It is the place He suffered, agonized, and yet proved His love for us all.

As amazing as that was, what we were about to experience next was even more fabulous. Just a few hundred yards from that hill, there is a wall with a (roughly 4-foot) hole carved into it. Inside are three small rooms. It was a tomb. It was not just any tomb, this was the garden tomb of our Lord Jesus. This is where His body was laid. This is where His body had been lovingly wrapped and placed to rest. About 2000 years ago, a large stone door had been rolled over that opening shutting in the Savior of the world, the Sovereign King of all, the Giver and Sustainer of life. There, His lifeless body would lay from Friday afternoon, through Saturday, until early Sunday morning.

We know that the story does not end there. The Scriptures tell us that early Sunday morning our Savior arose. At some point that morning, His body miraculously began to flush with fresh blood and oxygen as His organs began to pump both throughout the body. His color returned. There was a warmth to His skin. His muscles began to move. His ears picked up every sound. His eyes opened.

There was just one problem. John 19:40 tells us that He was wrapped with strips of cloth that had been soaked in burial spices for preservation. It is right here that we see another miracle. Those strips of cloth would have been dry and rigid by that point. That was their purpose. They were designed to keep air from getting to His body, slowing the process of decay. This would have made “sitting up” impossible.

Jesus did not sit up and unwrap Himself. The way the passage reads (especially in Greek) is that the rigid wrap of cloth remained in its position there on the burial stone as it had been when He was placed there, but His body was not in it anymore. John 20:5 says, “And he, stooping down and looking in, saw the linen cloths lying there.” When the disciples looked in, they saw the burial shell but not Him! His body was gone. This would have been shocking to see.

There is another detail that we are given. When they looked in, they saw something else. It was something odd. Our attention is drawn to the head cloth. John 20:6-7 adds, “Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb; and he saw the linen cloths lying there, and the handkerchief that had been around His head, not lying with the linen cloths, but folded together in a place by itself.” The “handkerchief” would have been a larger strip of cloth that would have been wrapped in such a way as to cover Jesus’ entire head, face, and neck. Here we are told that it is not with the rest of the clothes, but is separate and has been folded neatly.

Why are we given this detail about the head cloth? Very simply, it told them that He was alive and real. Allow me to explain. The burial clothes in their (rigid) position told them that no one took the body. For if someone had taken the body, they would have taken the burial clothes with the body or they would have had to remove the burial clothes in some way. There would be no way to remove His body without removing the burial clothes. Ripping or cutting the burial clothes to get them off of Jesus’s body would have been obvious as soon as they looked in. The fact that they are intact if you will, told them that a genuine miracle had occurred. Jesus’ body had not been stolen! Somehow, supernaturally His body was out of those grave clothes.

The next detail, that of the head cloth, would tell them that He was not a spirit or ghost. To see the grave clothes the way they were could have easily led to the conclusion that Jesus transformed into some sort of apparition or ghost, some kind of spiritual body, and vanished away. It would have said that He was not risen bodily but rather spiritually. The head cloth would convey the opposite. The head cloth being folded and set aside would have also put to rest the idea of body snatchers or grave robbers. Who takes a body but makes the time to remove the head covering and fold it neatly? No, the head cloth details told them (and us) that something real, something physical did this. This was no ghost. If Jesus had transcended or transformed into a ghost and disappeared, the head cloth would be in the same position that the rest of the clothes had been. However, it was folded neatly and by itself. It said that someone physical had done it. The detail tells us that He rose physically. It was He who neatly folded the head cloth. He was alive!

His being real is so important doctrinally as seen by Jesus confirming it several times for His disciples. Telling Thomas to touch His wounds, asking for food to be given, and eating it in front of them are details that told them that He did not rise spiritually or ideologically, but rather that He was real. This is the point of John later saying, “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life” (1 John 1:1).

The head cloth detail is easy to miss but is an extremely important detail about the way in which our Lord rose from His grave. He rose from the dead in every real way. In so doing, He conquered all of our enemies in every real way!