Today's Favorite Verse: Matthew 28:2-3

Today's Favorite Verse: Matthew 28:2-3

"And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it.

His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow:"

The footnotes for "the angel" and "His countenance" both reference two angels. I had always thought it two angels and not just one. It made me curious to see how the other accounts were recorded.

"And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white garment; and they were affrighted."

(Mark 16:5)

"And it came to pass, as they were much perplexed thereabout, behold, two men stood by them in shining garments:"

(Luke 24:4)

"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."

(John 20:12)

As I was reviewing these accounts I noticed they were not all identical, they had variations. I realized these recordings are like any witnesses of a traumatic event, each person sees things a little differently. I thought of my own experience of filling out a police report. How hard it was to recall the order of how things exactly happened. I knew what happened but it was emotionally hard to recall exactly the sequential order of the events. This made me very grateful that Matthew, Mark, Luke and John recorded each of their versions the way that they did. This was an extremely emotional time for all of them, and I cannot fault them for the variations on the telling. In fact it feels more authentic for it. From these witness accounts we can begin to see truth.

The next question I had was why was it import that the Joseph Smith translation clarify there were two angels and not one? I immediately thought of the law of witnesses.

"But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established."

(Matthew 18:16)

The angels witnessed and participated in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. There needed to be two to testify of this to others. Then there needed to be multiple witnesses of the angels words, and their own witness of seeing the resurrected Lord. When I look at all these recordings and what the Lord said before, the evidence confirms there were at least two angels there to witness the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Day 3116