5 But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. 6 He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. 7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you.” 8 So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples.
The angelic command in 7, 'Go quickly, and tell His disciples ...' is also of symbolic significance, for in a deeper than literal sense, this, above all, is what the disciples of the Lord in every age need to know! They were transformed from defeated, bewildered and despairing men, whose whole world had come toppling down upon them, into men radiant with a new life and joy, and finally filled with a new power, when the full significance of it gripped their minds and hearts, as happened at Pentecost. And it is not too much to say that this is what happens when the power of the living Christ teaches bewildered, disillusioned and despairing lives today. We have sometimes pointed out that there was a difference between the disciples' first reaction, in their joy, when they obviously thought of Jesus' rising again as a return to the status quo, and their later appreciation of the significance of what had happened, when they realised (a) that forgiveness had been procured and won for them, and that God had accepted as sufficient the sacrifice for sin made by Him on the cross; (b) that all the dark powers that enslave mankind had been vanquished in His death, and that victory over them was proclaimed in His rising again; (c) that He ever lives, to walk with us and company with us in glad fellowship for ever more. This is what Paul means by knowing 'the exceeding greatness of His power' to usward who believe (Ephesians 1:19). Well might the angel tell the women to go and tell the disciples that He is risen!