BY GREG CRUM
“And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead; and, behold, he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him: lo, I have told you.” Matthew 28:5-7
There is so much to the “Good News” we know of as the Gospel of Jesus Christ. There’s life more abundantly in this life. There’s health for these bodies. There’s peace for these minds. There’s prosperity for every part of our lives. Yet, in all this, let’s never forget that there really is no “Good News” at all without the empty tomb. Without an empty tomb at the end of our Gospel, so much of the Gospel would be meaningless!
So, what does the empty tomb mean for believers all these years after it was vacated by our Savior on that fateful Sunday morning? First, the empty tomb means Jesus’ words were not empty words! Now, if you know a little bit about the major religions of the world you know that most of them have a place of honor for Jesus. They acknowledge that he was a “good” man and that he did many miraculous things during his time on this planet, but they balk at the idea that he is the Son of God and the only way to eternal salvation.
Here’s the thing they clearly miss, he can’t be a “good” man but not be the Son of God and the only way to salvation.
What do I mean?
Well, do you realize what Jesus claimed about himself? In John 6, he claimed that he was the bread of life. In John 8, it is recorded in his declaration of “I am” that he equated himself with God. In John 10, we read that he stated that he was the gateway, or door, to salvation. Finally, in John 14:6 it is written that he boldly relayed that he was the way, the truth, and the life. Either Jesus is the only way to Heaven, or he’s one of history’s greatest frauds.
The truth?
It was declared by the empty tomb! In Romans 1:4 we read that Jesus was “declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.” That empty tomb shouts an “amen” to all that Jesus claimed to be!
Secondly, the empty tomb means an empty ledger for those who look to him for forgiveness of their sins. Folks, I wish it wasn’t so, but you and I both know that we’ve all sinned, and those sins (no matter how insignificant we or others may think they are) deserve just punishment. According to the Scriptures, the payday for sin is eternal death. That’s what we all deserved. James 2:10 lets us know that in the Judge’s eyes, one offense makes us guilty of all. In other words, the least sin made us just as guilty as the greatest sin would have—in the end all sin is disobedience and disrespect of God. Thank God the record of our sin, our “sin tickets” if you will, were blotted out by the blood of Jesus and, like his body on that morning in that tomb, vanished that third day!
Finally, the empty tomb means a bunch of empty caskets one day soon. All of us that have lived very long have been impacted by the death of a loved one. We miss them and would do just about anything to have them with us in the flesh again. One of the greatest aspects of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is that if those loved ones were believers in Jesus, and we are too, we will see them again. Just as Jesus was raised from the dead, their bodies will be raised up, glorified, and reunited with their spirits, forever to be with the Lord and with their faith family!
There is great comfort in the wake of temporal death when we realize death can’t forever hold these bodies down, and all because of that empty tomb in Jerusalem!
Greg Crum is pastor of Calvary Temple Church in Lovely.