Secrets from Beyond The Grave

she thinks He is a gardener. Where did Christ get the clothing he was wearing, considering He was buried immediately after being removed from the cross? I suggest that just as the high priest had to remove his garment of beauty and wear four linen garments on the Day of Atonement when he entered the holy of holies, so too Christ was wearing special priestly atonement garments that were brought to Him by the two angels who rolled the stone away and were later seen by the women after His resurrection. At the moment Christ saw Mary, He was preparing to ascend into the heavenly temple to present Himself and His blood to seal the final atonement for mankind. The Torah reveals the four garments a priest wore on the Day of Atonement. Using the imagery in the Scriptures, Christ would be wearing linen pants, a linen belt, a headdress, and a linen coat (Lev. 16:4). As Christ stood in the garden, Mary had never seen Him in these garments and assumed He was a gardener. Another reason she may have not known Him after His resurrection may have been a change in His outward appearance. While we have no description of the physical height, weight, or hair color of Christ in the Bible, He did have a Jewish mother and father. Historically, most Jewish people were olive skinned and have dark hair. The shock of the crucifixion and the mental pressure He endured was so great that His sweat became drops of blood, and that may have changed certain features such as His hair color. As I child, I knew a minister who was driving in the fog one night and almost hit a train. The shock was so great that his hair changed color from dark black to grey within a few days. The trauma of the crucifixion may have affected the very hair color of Christ. Based on John's vision, which occurred more than sixty years after the resurrection, we know His hair color now: . . . and in the midst of the seven lampstands One like the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden band. His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes like a flame of fire. --Revelation 1:13-14 After His resurrection, Christ's hair was white. If a physical change in His appearance took place within three days, then Mary would not have immediately recognized Him. Christ was standing in the garden fully clothed and with white hair. It was also a "great while before day" when she saw Him, meaning prior to the sun completely rising, which is the simplest explanation--it was dusk and not as visible as it would be later on. Any one of these factors, or a combination of all three, could be the reason Mary did not recognize Him until she heard His voice! Then she knew by His voice that He was Christ! A person cannot use this example to affirm, "If Mary did not recognize Jesus, then we will not be recognized as we were on Earth in heaven." After Christ was raised, ascended to heaven, and sat down on the throne of majesty, Stephen, the first martyr of the church, saw Jesus standing on the right hand of God. He said, "Look! I see . . . the Son of Man [Jesus] standing at the right hand of God!" (Acts 7:55-56). Stephen knew Christ while He was on Earth and recognized Him after Christ's ascension into heaven! There is a second reference used by skeptics to say that we will not know our loved ones in heaven. After Christ's resurrection, two men were walking on the road toward a town called Emmaus. One was Cleopas (Luke 24:18). They were discussing the events of Christ's death, when Christ suddenly joined them and overheard their conversation. Many scholars believe the second man was Luke himself, who was the only gospel writer to report this event. As these two men walked and explained their confusion concerning recent events in Jerusalem, Christ