[Article]: The Empty Tomb – Evang. Babalola Timothy

Topic: The Empty Tomb 

Text: Matthew 28: 6

“He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.” — Matthew 28:6 (KJV)

Empty: it simply means to be vacant, devoid of content.

Tomb: pit in which the dead body of a human being is deposited.

These are keywords that we need to understand before we proceed. Before the tomb was empty, it was filled with content; before he was in a tomb, he was off the tomb.

The tomb is not meant for a living being, rather meant for the dead, Jesus told his disciples that he would be raised on the third day (Matt 16:21), this seemed impossible to the disciples but they had no choice but to accept ( Matt 16: 22ff).

The mandate of Jesus is to come to save the world (Matt 1: 21), as a saviour, he had to put aside all hindrance with the conclusion that the will of God the Father be done. (Matt 26: 39). Even when his soul was troubled unto death, he acknowledged that it was for this reason that he came to the world (John 12: 27).

It pleased God to crush him because of the sins of the world and to make his life an offering for sin (Isaiah 53: 10).

To fulfill the redemption plan of God, he had to die and resurrect so we will be bought into the family of God with his blood. Getting this done wasn't as easy as presumed when it was time for him to die, in all of this, he kept mute to complete the redemption plan of God.

Isaiah 53: 5 tells us how his death brought us freedom;

“But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes, we are healed.” — Isaiah 53:5 (KJV)

The power that lies in the resurrection of Jesus Christ is immeasurable! It outweighs the scale of man, it cannot even be measured.

Jesus died to bring us the joy of salvation, he died to bring us victory over sin and the devil, he died to bring us back into the family of God and all this lies in the testimony of the empty tomb. He said it and he did it, he resurrected! Hallelujah! My testimony as a child of God is because he resurrected and the tomb was empty. Come to think of it, what if the tomb wasn't empty? what if he couldn't resurrect? What will be our testimony as to his children? We will have no testimony.

A tomb is a place where dead people are kept, it surprised me to see the gullible Chief priests and Pharisees say the tomb to be secured, the corpse of Jesus was so precious, even in death he confounded his foes to secure his tomb. Guards were assigned to watch over Jesus' tomb (Matt 27:62-66). They guarded the tomb of my Father while he continued doing his father's work in death, while he was busy with his Father's work, they were watching over him so his corpse won't be stolen. God planned that they should watch over his corpse because they could have stolen it themselves in fear of his resurrection. Do not forget Nicodemus' testimony;

“The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.” — John 3:2 (KJV)

He said "We" not "I". We is the first person plural pronoun which is used by a speaker to refer to himself and other persons. 

As a ruler of the Jew (John3: 1), it means he spoke the mind of other rulers perhaps when they were in a closed-door meeting, they acknowledged that he came from God. But because they wanted to preserve their religious sect, they denied him before all men.

Ignorantly they were walking on the path created by God the Father that Jesus should draw all men to himself (John 12:32).

The watching of the tomb by the guards couldn't stop my Father from resurrecting, the guards were like dead men at the appearance of the Angel of the Lord (Matt 28:4), they couldn't stop Jesus from Resurrecting.

When Jesus was resurrected, they couldn't see him because they were blind. This reminded me of Prophet Jeremiah's prophecy;

“Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding; which have eyes, and see not; which have ears, and hear not:” — Jeremiah 5:21 (KJV)

Truly they were there, their presence couldn't intimidate my Father from resurrecting, he resurrected but they saw him not because they were blind.

They were blinded to salvation, blinded to eternal life, blinded to healing, blinded to conversion. May we not be blind unto Salvation.

They couldn't see Jesus because they were mortals without his spirit. But they looked like dead persons at the appearance of the Angel of the Lord. 

The tomb filled with guards couldn't hold him down, even death couldn't hold him captive. Hallelujah! We serve a living God!

The tomb was empty.

His Resurrection

The moment Jesus was resurrected, a ministering Angel descended because there was a need for the disciples to be told that Jesus had been resurrected, his resurrection brought to life the broken bond between God and Man, Hallelujah!

The empty tomb is a testimony of his resurrection. The Pharisees, Chief Priests, Pilate, and his Guards, and death couldn't hold him captive, why? Simply because he is the resurrection and the life( John 11:  25)

Could death have held the resurrection and life captive? No! Why? 

1. Because death has been swallowed up in victory ( Isaiah 25:8, 1cor 15:54b).

2. He plagued death and destroyed the grave (Hosea 23:14, 1Cor 15: 55).

The empty tomb is a testimony of our risen King.

If I were you and had no Christ in your life, I would release my life to him now because he is the resurrection and the life. Death has been plagued by him, the grave has been destroyed by him so what is your fear? 

All your fear has been conquered by him, he has all the authority in heaven and earth (Matt 28:18), all the Angels bowed before him (Rev 5:11-12), all the creatures in heaven, on the earth, under the earth, and on the sea acknowledged him as the one with all powers (Rev 5:13), even your fear is afraid of him. 

The empty tomb is our testimony that he has risen. Even the blackmail of the Chief Priests, Pharisees, Elders, and the guards couldn't hold down our testimony of his resurrection, why? Because he showed himself unto his disciples as an affirmation of his resurrection (John 20: 17, 19-23, 26-29).

The empty tomb birthed Christianity, the empty tomb birthed redemption unto sonship, and the empty tomb adopted us into eternal life.

If you have not accepted the Lordship of Jesus Christ, please do now before it is too late.

Say after me: Lord Jesus, I acknowledge that I am a sinner, forgive me my many sins and cleanse me from all unrighteousness. I accept you as my Lord and saviour. If you just said that, congratulations.