"Don't be alarmed," he said. "You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him."
--Mark 16: 5-6
No other tomb in history is open and empty. All the tombs from the Pharaohs of Egypt to the Caesars of Rome, from the kings of the emperors of the world are all closed and occupied. Only the tomb of Jesus is an empty tomb.
Jesus' tomb is empty because He said that it would be empty. In His altercation with the Jews as reported in the Gospel of John (2:18), referring to His body Jesus said, "I will destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up."
The tomb of Jesus had to be empty, otherwise the death of Jesus on the cross would have been in vain; the tom of Jesus had to be empty, otherwise the blood that Jesus shed on the Mt. Calvary would have been ineffective; the tomb of Jesus had to be empty, otherwise there would not have been the victory of God.
Because of the Empty Tomb, we can lay claim to forgiveness; because of the Empty Tomb, we can lay claim to redemption, and because of the Empty Tomb, we can lay claim to unending life.
It is true to say that without the empty tomb, the death of Jesus Christ would have been the greatest failure in history. The good news, however, is that the Christ story did not end with the cross. The good news is that God has affected a breakthrough with the resurrection. He has brought about the complete victory of life over death and the triumph of love over hate. The resurrection is a powerful testimony to the truth that for believers, the pains and agonies of the moment shall pass away. At Easter, therefore, the Christian can look intently at the cross of Christ, and at the momentary crosses of our own life, and say courageously, with faith and hope: "This too shall pass away!"
The Easter is a celebration not of the emptiness of the tomb but of the content of that tomb; its main content is "we too will rise again as Jesus rose." Let us keep our risen God always alive in our hearts and live a courageous life for him.
"Wishing you the kind of Easter that touches your heart like a prayer and blesses your life with the gift of amazing grace."
Pastor Selva
Comments