The Empty Tomb

Yesterday right here at “The Message”— a very interesting question came up— if Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus was actually saved. The question crop up because the scriptures said that they are “secret” followers of Jesus— [though they objected to the Sanhedrin’s plot against Jesus JOHN 7:50-52]— It was not written in the Bible if they declared, confessed, acknowledged “by mouth” [verbally], that “Jesus is Lord” as Paul said in Romans 10:

Remember, Peter denied Jesus 3X and later became a more powerful evangelist...and he was saved!— the difference between Peter, Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus— Peter acknowledged verbally— you’ll see that later on when we come to Chapter 21.

Our questioned branched out to another question—

Can a person be saved without verbally acknowledging “Jesus as Lord”?

Though I already know where I stand on this, I did a deeper word study to better understand the word used in the original manuscript of the Bible

The original Greek word used was ὁμολογέω (homologeo) which means "confess/acknowledge". Greek Strong's is G3670.

From the snapshot of my word study you will see that this word was used in many instances other than in Romans 10:9— Some of it was said by Jesus Himself, and most of the instances the word was used to mean "verbal" declaration/confession.

Going back to the question if Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus are saved. While it was not recorded in the Bible, they may have declared by their mouth that "Jesus is Lord" or any form of verbal profession of their faith. Because if they believed in their heart, they must have expressed it through their mouth (Matthew 15:18, Matthew 12:34).

Since this was not clearly revealed to us, we have to charge this among the secrets of God (Deuteronomy 29:29). Only God knows.

On the note of Ate Teena TMo about the criminal that was crucified next to Jesus. Though he did not literally said, "Jesus is Lord", but his "verbal" recognition of the Lord's kingdom was obviously sufficient when Jesus said, "truly, I tell you today you will be with me in paradise." (Luke 23:42)

So where shall we stand on this matter?

I don’t see why we should not acknowledge Jesus as Lord verbally if we truly love Him— and if we truly believe in Him— when the rubber meets the road, or when push comes to shove, remember the failure of Peter [a challenging example for this is IRAN]

And from the offshoot of the narrative of the burial of our Lord Jesus we learned a couple of things:

I WILL NEVER BE ASHAMED OF JESUS

I WILL NEVER DISOWN JESUS AS MY LORD AND SAVIOR

Ok so now we know how Jesus died and how he was buried— let’s see what happened afterwards— Open your Bible to JOHN 20:1-10— And again to see if you’re listening, and to know if you really are reading the Bible along with me— once you get there, type “I’m read to read it!”

CHARACTER OF GOD, SIN TO CONFESS, PROMISES TO CLAIM, ATTITUDE TO CHANGE, COMMANDS TO KEEP, EXAMPLES TO FOLLOW, PRAYERS TO PRAY, ERRORS TO AVOID, TRUTH TO BELIEVE, SOMETHING TO THANK GOD FOR

Read JOHN 20:1-10

BOOK

John 20:1–10 NIV

1 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. 2 So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!” 3 So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. 4 Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, 7 as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen. 8 Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. 9 (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) 10 Then the disciples went back to where they were staying.

WHAT: Discovery that the tomb was empty

WHERE: Tomb— not very far from Place of Skull [Golgotha] where our Lord was crucified

WHEN: First day of the week [Sunday]— after Sabbath Day— 3 mornings [sunrises] after Jesus was crucified and died

WHO: Mary Magdalene [in Matthew there’s another Mary— the Mother of James [in Mark] | in Mark another lady named Salome was with her ], Peter and John

WHY: The lady followers of Jesus brought spices intending to perhaps prolong the process of decay of the Lord’s body— to anoint Jesus’ body

LOOK

HE SAW THE STRIPS OF LINEN THERE, AS WELL AS THE CLOTH

Peter and John saw for themselves that while the strips of linen and cloth was there, Jesus isn’t!— He has risen!

HE SAW AND BELIEVED

John the beloved arrived at the tomb ahead of Peter, but he did not go inside— only after Peter went straight in that he also went inside— and then, “he saw and believed”

THEY STILL DID NOT UNDERSTAND FROM THE SCRIPTURE THAT JESUS HAD TO RISE FROM THE DEAD

After many times that Jesus foretold them what’s gonna happen, they did not understand until they saw it with there own eyes

This is very important— and from here we will extract our applications today— Question!

Will you understand even without seeing with your own eyes?

Let’s see what the Bible says in HEBREWS 11:1 about faith in action

Just like receiving a vision from God— while your eyes don’t see it, your heart and mind sees it

Generally, people can hardly see— that’s why Jethro taught Moses to teach and show [EXODUS 18:20]

TOOK

MY FAITH IS MY CONFIDENCE

MY CONFIDENCE GIVES ME ASSURANCE

CLOSING SONG

Chosen Generation— Chris Tomlin

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