The Empty Tomb

We can pick up where we left off last week where we talked about the terrible cruelty of the cross and how Jesus suffered an unbelievable execution.

I think we need to remember what happened on that Friday before the passover where Jesus was tried, he was sentenced, he was beaten with the whip so much so that he would have been as one verse says unrecognizable as a man.

Many who would endure that type of beating from a Roman soldier would in fact die there. Jesus was forced to carry the beam of his cross publically to the place of the skull where he would be nailed to the beam and they would lift him up where he would suffer incredibly, he would take on all the sin in the world, from the beginning of time to the end of time and would eventually give up his spirit and die.

Death occured after about 3 hours. The soldiers, to make sure he was dead would stab him in the side where it is written that blood and water flowed,. which is a sign that Jesus was in fact physically dead.

He was taken down from the cross by a man named Joseph of Arimathea who wanted to make sure that Jesus was buried properly.

This was Friday. They weren’t allowed to touch the body of Jesus after the sun went down because of the sabbath so they kind of hurried things along. They wrapped his body in a cloth and would return on Sunday morning to finish preparing his body for burial.

This is where we pick up. It is Sunday morning after the passover. We aren’t told how Jesus comes alive. Scripture doesn’t record it for us. We don’t know. But here is what we do know, and all 4 gospels tell the story of Jesus’ empty tomb. The women are on their way to finish with Jesus’ body.

Luke 24:1-12

English Standard Version Chapter 24

24 But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. 2 And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. 5 And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? 6 He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, 7 that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.” 8 And they remembered his words, 9 and returning from the tomb they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. 10 Now it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles, 11 but these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. 12 But Peter rose and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; and he went home marveling at what had happened

It must have been awfully amazing, confusing, emotional when those women saw the empty tomb. It must have been incredible. They went crying and mourning to make sure Jesus’ body was prepared correctly and they leave running and exhilarated and bewildered.

There is no amount of material evidence that will convince all people. The evidence that there is for Jesus Christ to have been resurrected already exist. And yet people still doubt

What is our response to the resurrection?

We are alive.

He is alive We are alive.

Jesus wasn’t in the tomb. His body wasn’t there. And this is what today is all about. It is the celebration of Jesus’ victory over death.

We are alive.

I love the image of the Empty Tomb.

Most of all, I love the visual image of the Empty Tomb.

In one decisive and specific moment in history, Jesus Christ summarizes and finalizes the salvation narrative. It is finished is right. He is alive, He is alive and that means something. That means something very special.

1. The Empty Tomb reveals that God is in fact, faithful.

We see this from the very beginning. Do you know what God said in ? I will tell you

Genesis 3:15 ESV

15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

Genesis Centuries earlier, after Adam and Eve rebelled, God promised that he would crush wrong once and for all (). He vowed to send his Son to defeat sin and death by his crucifixion and resurrection.

At the very beginning, after Adam and Eve rebelled against God God promised that he would crush wrong once and for all. He vowed to send his Son to defeat sin and death by his crucifixion and resurrection.

Thousands of years would pass, but God neither forgot nor turned away from his promise. He didn’t get tired, He wasn’t distracted. He made a promise, and he controlled the events of history so that at just the right moment, Jesus Christ would come and fulfill what had been promised. God is faithful.

2. The Empty Tomb reveals that God is powerful.

Think of the authority you need to have to control all the situations, locations, and relationships to guarantee that Jesus would come at the precise moment and do what he was appointed to do.

God had Jesus come at just the right time, when the world would be ready. We don’t know all the factors that were present to say that Jesus should have come at a particular time. But we could guess about a few things.

During the time period when Jesus came there was an international language that all the citizens of the empires spoke, Greek.

There was also a general peace in the empire and there was also a great road system that made travel easy.

We don’t know if these were the reason for Christ coming when he did but we know that God orchestrated it at the perfect time.

IT is a powerful God we worship. Also, could there be a better demonstration of God’s authority than to have power over death ()?

O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?

O death, where is your sting?

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

Think about that for just a second. Power over death. There is no greater power. Every living thing has one thing in common, it will eventually die. Even though it might take a while.

The oldest living thing on earth is the great bristlecone pine tree, which scientists have found to be over 5000 years old. But you know what, even though it has been around for so long it will surely die at some point. Nothing has the power to live forever, except for the immortal God.

By God’s awesome power, Jesus, who died physically, took off his grave clothes and walked out of that tomb. The empty tomb reveals that God really is all powerful. But with all that power there is an amazing aspect about God and the empty tomb reveals this about God.

3. The Empty Tomb reveals that God is loving.

Why would God go to such an extent to help us? Why would he care to notice us, let alone rescue us? Why would he ever sacrifice his own Son? Not only is God loving - he is the definition of love

John 3:16 ESV

16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

1 John 4:8 ESV

8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.

You and I have to recognize this fact, that his love was not motivated by what he saw in us, but by what is inside him.

Because all humans, yes all of us can be unloving and rebellious. We are full of ourselves and have to have our own way. In the midst of that God is still loving. He loves to transform us by his grace and rescues us by his love.

The empty tomb reveals God’s love.

4. The Empty Tomb guarantees eternity.

This is such a great point. No matter how boring, no matter how routine, and slow our lives feel, we are moving towards a glorious and incredible conclusion.

There will be a moment when God takes you out of this broken world into a paradise where sin and suffering will be no more.

1 Corinthians 15:52–53 ESV

52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. 53 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.

Revelation 21:4 ESV

4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

Our minds really can’t grasp what eternity is. It will blow our minds. I remember one of my kids coming in at night just not able to sleep because they were contemplating eternity and couldn’t really figure it out, they said, I am freaked out by it. I get that, that’s fair. We only can partially understand what eternity is. But the great thing is that we know that God is eternal and that the life we experience in eternity (for those who are in Christ) will have an existence that is so great that we won’t anything but eternity.

The empty tomb tells us that God is eternal because he has defeated death. And this affects how we live and act, and think in this life.

5. The Empty Tomb guarantees security.

Our lives are unpredictable. Anyone who has been in a car accident, anyone who has found out they are sick. Anyone who has had a loved one die, anyone who has lost a job, or a relationship, or a friend all know that we really cannot predict our futures.

But, No matter how unpredictable and out-of-control your life feels, Jesus is reigning, and he will continue to reign until the final enemy is under his feet ().

For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death.

That doesn’t mean you won’t experience pain and hurt in this world, you absolutely will, but it does mean there’s nothing Jesus does not know about, that He cannot rescue you from.

That doesn’t mean you won’t experience pain and hurt in this world, but it does mean there’s nothing Jesus does not know about, cannot rescue you from, or redeem and transform.

We are secure because of that empty tomb. WE are secure because we know that God has power over death which is the greatest power of all.

6. The Empty Tomb guarantees delivery.

We all like a guarantee don’t we?

No matter how hopeless and weak you think you are, you’ve been provided with all the grace you need to make it to the end. Future grace always carries with it the promise of present grace. God will provide everything you need until you see him face to face ().

2 Peter 1:3 ESV

3 His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence,

The empty tomb tells us that God has a plan for us and that His plan will prevail.

God bless,

I hope that you can be encouraged by these words this morning. We celebrate so much today because this is such a big deal. Think about that. Jesus conquered death.

📷

If you were Jesus and you knew that you couldn’t die, what would that do for your confidence in God? What would that fact do for your confidence in yourself? It is a game changer isn’t it?

Many people are afraid to tell people about Jesus because they are afraid. Well, if you have eternal life with Jesus then what could you possibly be afraid of?

I should really make sure that you understand that eternal life with Jesus happens only when you have surrendered your life to Jesus. That you believe in him to be the Son of God, that He died and that he rose again, bodily, and that you place your faith in Him only for your salvation.

If you have never surrendered your life to Jesus what would you be waiting for? We can’t guarantee our tomorrows. Jesus loved you enough to suffer and die for you. He paid for your sin, what would keep you from surrendering yourselves to Him?

If you have surrendered to Him what can you do to remember this truth of Jesus. Because when we remember what He did for us, maybe it would be easier to live for Him. He died for us so that we can live for Him.

Part of living for Jesus is telling others about him.

Jesus showed himself to his disciples later that Sunday. Shows up, freaks them out a little bit. They are scared, think He is just a spirit and then Jesus asks for something to eat.

Ghosts can’t eat I guess. He eats to show them that yes, He is actually alive.

Then Jesus tells them what to do. Go and make disciples. Baptize them. Go and make other people like you. It means teach people what I taught you. Jesus said, “I told you to love one another”. Now tell some other people the same thing.

Remember that Jesus told them that their lives aren’t just about themselves, but they are to reproduce themselves.

Who do you know that needs to know Jesus? Who do you know that God just put on your mind? The Holy Spirit is telling you who to talk to. The Holy Spirit put that person in your mind for some reason.

I want to Challenge you by praying for that person. At the very least, invite them to church. The very least. They don’t have to listen,They don’t have to come, just do your part and let God do the rest.

thattRemember that

2. How can you remind yourself of that truth after Easter Sunday has come and gone? Be specific.

God can draw people to himself. He can do that. All you have to do is start the conversation.

The tomb is empty, that means that He is in control. Pray about how can you reach out to them this week and encourage them with that gospel truth about Easter?

. How can you reach out to them this week and encourage them with that gospel truth about Easter?

4. How can you reach out to them this week and encourage them with that gospel truth about Easter?

He came back from being dead never to be dead again. There are no bones of Jesus in any tomb. There are no remains of the historical Jesus because the historical Jesus and the son of God are one in the same.

If there were remains of Jesus then everything I said means nothing. If there are bones in Jesus grave then there is no reason at for Christianity.

The thing that makes Christians different is that the one we worship has defeated death which is unnatural. It’s supernatural.

Can I challenge you to believe that. That Jesus is still alive today and for you and for me that should be all the difference in the world.

Won’t you tell someone today.

When the women saw that empty tomb what did they do? They wanted to tell the disciples, Jesus told them to. They ran to tell them.

Our attitude should be the same. Because the tomb is empty we should have all the confidence in the world that God is alive and we want to serve Him.

Lord, you are our risen savior. You defeated death and because of that we have no reason to fear, we have no reason to worry. We thank you for your power over death. We praise you because of your victory, and we want you to be Lord of our life as a living Savior.

Do we ever seek Jesus where he is “not”. (he is not here)