The Empty Tomb

C. S. Lewis wrote an essay in 1950 titled "What Are We to Make of Jesus?" Lewis addresses the claims Jesus made of Himself in the NT. Many would like to ignore these claims. If they are true, then Jesus must be God. Lewis writes:

In my opinion, the only person who can say [what Jesus said] is either God or a complete lunatic suffering from that form of delusion, which undermines the whole mind of man. If you think you are a poached egg, when you are not looking for a piece of toast to suit you you may be sane, but if you think you are God, there is no chance for you. We may note in passing that He was never regarded as a mere moral teacher. He did not produce that effect on any of the people who actually met him. He produced mainly three effects — Hatred — Terror — Adoration. There was no trace of people expressing mild approval.

Perhaps you wonder if Jesus ever said the things that are recorded in the Gospels. Maybe you think His followers just exaggerated His claims. How unlikely would it be that first century Jews invented God who became a man, Jesus of Nazareth? Lewis continues:

This is difficult because His followers were all Jews; that is, they belonged to that Nation which of all others was most convinced that there was only one God—that there could not possibly be another. It is very odd that this horrible invention about a religious leader should grow up among the one people in the whole earth least likely to make such a mistake. On the contrary we get the impression that none of His immediate followers or even of the New Testament writers embraced the doctrine at all easily.

Perhaps you believe the Gospel accounts to be legends. Lewis confronts this idea in his essay as well:

Now, as a literary historian, I am perfectly convinced that whatever else the Gospels are they are not legends. I have read a great deal of legend and I am quite clear that they are not the same sort of thing. They are not artistic enough to be legends. From an imaginative point of view they are clumsy, they don’t work up to things properly. Most of the life of Jesus is totally unknown to us, as is the life of anyone else who lived at that time, and no people building up a legend would allow that to be so. Apart from bits of the Platonic dialogues, there is no conversation that I know of in ancient literature like the Fourth Gospel. There is nothing, even in modern literature, until about a hundred years ago when the realistic novel came into existence.

The Jesus of the Bible is the Jesus of history. Since this is true we face the great trilemma: If Jesus is not Lord, He is a liar or a lunatic. Since Jesus is truthful and not a liar ...since He is sane and not a lunatic, He is Lord.

The Empty Tomb and the Risen Christ

Darkness had swept over all the land from Noon until 3 pm on the Friday Jesus died about 2,000 years ago. He yielded up His life and spirit after receiving the wrath of God for sin ...for us. The darkness demonstrated God's sorrow and judgment at the cross. It caused the centurion and those with him at Jesus' crucifixion to fear greatly. "Truly this was the Son of God" ().

Pilate commanded that the body of Jesus be given to Joseph of Arimathea. Joseph saw to it that His body would be entombed after it had been prepared by the women. But the Pharisees remembered what Jesus said when He was yet living: "After three days I will rise" (). So they convinced Pilate to seal the tomb and to set a guard to watch through Sunday, the third day. "After three days I will rise."

When Peter acknowledged that Jesus was the Messiah promised, Jesus restrained Peter and all His apostles from telling anyone because His hour had not yet come. Nevertheless Jesus taught them "that the Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected..., and be killed, and after three days rise again" ().

When Jesus' apostles failed to cast a demon out of a young man, the father came to Him and pleaded with Him. Jesus delivered the son, and the disciples asked Him why they couldn't cast the demon out. Jesus commended prayer and fasting ...complete reliance upon Him. Then He explicitly taught them again: "The Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of men, and they will kill Him. And after He is killed, He will rise the third day" (). But they didn't understand and feared clarification (v. 32).

Finally, on the road to Jerusalem, Jesus took the twelve apostles aside yet again and taught them what was about to happen: "Behold we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed ...they will condemn Him to death and deliver Him to the Gentiles; and they will mock Him, and kill Him. And the third day He will rise again" ().

Jesus had said, "After three days I will rise." He said it often. Everyone knew He had said it. So the watch was set. The mockers were at the ready. Let us see if God will deliver Him.

Just at the break of dawn on Sunday, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. Another demonstration of God's power takes the form of a great earthquake. An angel rolled the stone away from the entrance to the tomb and sat upon it. The Roman guards were overcome with fear and became as dead men. The angel allayed all fear and confirmed what Jesus had promised. They had indeed sought for the crucified body of Jesus, but He was not in the tomb. "He is risen, as He said. Come and see the place where the Lord lay" ().

The Empty Tomb and the Truthful Christ

Since the tomb is empty, Jesus spoke the truth.

Jesus had taught His disciples over and over again that He would suffer, die, and rise again. When He cleansed His Father's house at the beginning of His public ministry, the Jewish people questioned Him. Jesus cryptically offered, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up" (). They didn't understand He was speaking of the temple of His body. But when He had risen from the dead, they would remember what He had said.

The Pharisees and scribes sought for a sign from Jesus. Jesus answered, "An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For 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" ().

At the empty tomb, hear the words of the angel:

“He is not here, but is risen! Remember how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee, saying, ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.’ ” And they remembered His words.” ()

If the third day had come and went and Jesus' body had still been in the tomb, then He would have been found a liar. All that He had ever done or taught would have been long forgotten. But He is risen. Since the tomb is empty, Jesus spoke the truth. He is declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead (). Again, since the tomb is empty, Jesus spoke the truth. This flows into a second great result of the empty tomb...

Since the tomb is empty, God kept His promise.

His promise is clear. Jesus Christ is the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Him, though He may die physically, He shall live and never die. There are two ways this life manifests itself: eternal life and glorified life.

Eternal life

Jesus defined eternal life on the evening of His crucifixion. Eternal life is to know the God who keeps His promises, and Jesus Christ whom the Father sent (). The Father raised the Son from the dead and seated Him at the right hand of power in Heaven above (). "God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus ().

Since the tomb is empty, look to the risen Christ for an eternal quality of life! He died and is now risen. The resurrected Christ ascended to the right hand of glory. And those of us who believe that God keeps His promises are made alive because we were dead in our sins. We are buried with Christ through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life ().

The eternal quality of life is spoken of by Paul in , "Always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body." “Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (, NKJV) We have been united together in the likeness of His death, and we shall certainly be in the likeness of His resurrection (). The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life - a quality of life to be lived here and now ().

Glorified life

Jesus will raise us up in the last day (, ). His own resurrection means that God will keep His promise and we shall rise too. "Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep" (). "If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you" (). Not just eternal life, but a glorified, resurrected life. Jesus said,

“Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.” ()

The voice of Jesus will summon the dead. All will hear that voice. It is a future calling forth to judgment. Only those who believe are those who are able to do good. It begins with believing on the Son. But those who do evil are those who do so by not believing on the Son.

Conclusion

Jesus speaks of three resurrections in :

"Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life. Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live" ().

The first type of resurrection involves those dead in sin who rise to new life spiritually. They are now able to live an eternal quality of life. We will live.

Second, Jesus said, “Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.” () Clearly, believers will experience a physical resurrection. Jesus calls this the resurrection of life. This is our great hope!

But a third resurrection is in this passage as well. It is the resurrection of condemnation or the physical resurrection of unbelievers for judgment and eternal torment.

Jesus kept His word and fulfilled His work. You need go no farther than the empty tomb. Come and see where the Lord lay. Was He Lord, lunatic, or liar?

One of His followers is dubbed Doubting Thomas. Jesus appeared to Thomas after His resurrection:

Jesus stayed with His followers for 40 days after His resurrection. He was seen by about 500 believers at once.

“He said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.” And Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” ()

Thomas and all of Jesus’ followers were so persuaded of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, they were willing to lay down their own lives to support this fact of history. If you believe that these things were done in support of some elaborate hoax or conspiracy, you believe in something that is more incredible than the facts you deny! See the empty tomb and believe Jesus spoke the truth.

“For [God] made [Jesus of Nazareth] who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” ()

Related Media

Related Sermons