Empty Tomb

I find it interesting how we choose symbols to stand for things. At this time of year I am reminded of the symbol of the cross.

Many Christians use images of a cross as a symbol of their faith. A cross is frequently seen on buildings where churches meet. Catholics will typically use an image of a cross with Jesus hanging on it. Protestants usually opt for an empty cross.

But if Jesus is still hanging on the cross, He is not yet dead and our sins are still with us.

If the story ends with an empty cross, Jesus is still dead and we do not yet have hope.

Perhaps a better symbol is an empty tomb.

(Image: Gerd Altmann - Public Domain)

An empty tomb means Jesus is no longer dead! As the angel told the women at the tomb, "He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead." (Matthew 28:6-7a ESV) An empty tomb means resurrection is real!

There are two reasons why I believe that the resurrection is the most important event in history. First, a resurrection confirms who Jesus is. Second, resurrection means hope for those of us who believe.

Resurrection confirms who Jesus is.

Jesus predicted His own death and resurrection. If His predictions did not come true, He would be a false prophet. And if He got that wrong, How many other things did he get wrong? Some people do not believe that Jesus was the Son of God, but that He was only a good moral teacher. But if His prophetic words are untrue, is He even a good moral teacher? We read in Deuteronomy 18:22 (ESV): "when a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the LORD has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him."

But the fact that Jesus got this part right confirms that what He says about Himself is true—and that the one who has seen Jesus has seen the Father (John 14:9) and that He and the Father are one (John 10:30). Here are some of the predictions that Jesus made:

Matthew 12:38-40
³⁸Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.” ³⁹But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. ⁴⁰For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

Matthew 16:1-4 (ESV)
¹And the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and to test him they asked him to show them a sign from heaven. ²He answered them, “When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’ ³And in the morning, ‘It will be stormy today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times. ⁴An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.” So he left them and departed.

Matthew 17:22-23 (ESV) (also Mark 9:30-31)
²²As they were gathering in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men, ²³and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day.” And they were greatly distressed. 

Matthew 20:18-19 (ESV) (also Mark 8:31-32; Mark 10:33-34)
¹⁷And as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside, and on the way he said to them, ¹⁸“See, we are going up to Jerusalem. And the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death ¹⁹and deliver him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified, and he will be raised on the third day.”

Luke 9:21-22 (ESV)
²¹And he strictly charged and commanded them to tell this to no one, ²²saying, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.”

John 2:19-22 (ESV)
¹⁹Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” ²⁰The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” ²¹But he was speaking about the temple of his body. ²²When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

Jesus' resurection confirms His words about Himself are true. Therefore we can rest assured in the other things He said, both about the past and the future.

Resurrection means hope for the believer.

The fact that Jesus rose from the dead gives hope that the promises from scripture that believers will rise from the dead will also come true. Instead of my words, read the words of Paul from 1 Corinthians 15:

¹²Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? ¹³But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. ¹⁴And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. ¹⁵We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. ¹⁶For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. ¹⁷And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. ¹⁸Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. ¹⁹If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.

²⁰But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. ²¹For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. ²²For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.

1 Corinthians 15:12–22 (ESV).

Now the story did not end with the empty tomb either. After the resurrection, Jesus met with the disciples and many others. And after spending forty days on earth post-resurrection, Jesus ascended to heaven to be with the Father and from where He sent the Holy Spirit to be with all those who believe in Him.

So maybe instead of wearing a cross from our neck, it would be more appropriate to wear an image of an empty tomb.

Hallelujah! The tomb is Empty! Jesus is Alive!

Happy Easter!