In John 20:5-8 the word “saw” appears three times but what is interesting to me is that though each time the word in English is “saw” the word in Greek is a different word.
The first time in verse 5, the word in Greek means, “to look, or to see visibly” as John stopped at the entrance of the tomb and looked to see the linen clothes lying there.
Then in verse 6 Peter comes crashing in and sees linen clothes lying there but here the word in Greek is where we get our word “theory,” from which indicates that Peter studied the situation more intently than just observing it.
Finally in verse 8 we are told that John also went into the tomb after Peter did and here we are told they “saw and believed,” and the word used here in the Greek is where we get our word for “idea” which means “I get it”.
Do you see the progression friends? John started out making an observation, Peter moved from an observation to studying and came up with a theory, then finally John went from a theory to “getting it”.
What they realized was that no one had moved the body but rather the body was gone and even though this had not yet been linked with the scriptures which indicated His resurrection it was still enough evidence for belief.
What Peter observed was that it looked as though the body had vaporized leaving the linen strips in their original form only collapsed. Then John came in and believed what Peter observed. So far what we see is that they have proven an empty tomb but the disciples never spoke of an empty tomb they spoke a risen Lord.
Friends, may I make this suggestion as it relates to your personal devotion that starts out with making simple observations, keep studying your observations until you form a theory, then keep studying until you get it. These fellows didn’t get it at first and they didn’t depart from hanging around each other, they persisted and built upon what the other person did. Hang in there folks as we are told in verse 9 “as yet they did not know the Scripture” either, but they kept at it observing, studying until they got it.