It is "after the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week" (v. 1). The women have returned to Jesus' tomb to finish burying his remains. They watched his crucifixion, so they knew that his death was real. They watched his burial on Friday evening (Matthew 27:61), so they have not come to the wrong tomb.

Before they arrived, an angel caused a "mega" earthquake, rolled aside the stone covering the tomb, and frightened the battle-hardened guards into a dead faint. The ones assigned to guard a dead man now appear dead, while the dead man is alive. The soldiers and authorities didn't steal the body.

Now the angel speaks to the shocked women the seven words which would change the world: "He is not here; he has risen" (v. 7a). They are to "come and see the place where he lay" (v. 7b). So they clearly didn't steal the body. Then, "go quickly and tell his disciples: 'He has risen from the dead'" (vs. 6-7). So the disciples didn't steal the body, either.

With these few verses we have the evidence of the empty tomb and the resurrection of Jesus. The women know that Jesus really died, and was buried in this tomb. The authorities didn't take his body; nor did the disciples, who know nothing of all this. Yet the tomb is empty. Just as empty then as it is today. This is what these women knew, and what we can know. The evidence is just as clear for us as it was for them. And like them, we are to tell the world what we know.