THE TESTIMONY OF AN EMPTY TOMB
Luke 24:1-12
Have you ever seen an old empty house in a deserted neighborhood? Perhaps the doors stand ajar, sagging on hinges, loosened by the ravages of weather and time. Have you noticed the vacant stare of glassless windows? If you paused to listen you could almost hear the loud and boisterous cries of generations of happy children that once echoed from its walls and filled its now silent emptiness.
If you pause and consider long enough, your mind’s eye might conjure up visions of familiar and nostalgic scenes of yesteryear. Of family circles unbroken. Of those that once gathered for joyous festive family feasts. Or of the tragic and traumatic events that changed things forever for those who once sheltered there. Of ordinary and natural happenings that led to its now sad and silent state.
If its walls could speak, what tales might be told of the terrible tragedies or thrilling triumphs that were played out there? What testimony could they give to the human conditions of sorrow and sadness and love, joy, happiness?
In a land faraway there is a tomb with silent walls as well. If that tomb could speak to us what would it say? What would it tell us of the terrible, tragic and thrillingly triumphant events that transpired there some two thousand years ago? What would its testimony be? What is the testimony of the empty tomb today?
THE EMPTY TOMB TESTIFIES OF A TERRIBLE TRAGEDY TRANSFORMED INTO A TREMENDOUS TRIUMPH. This is the testimony trumpeted by that grand old hymn of the faith:
"Low in the grave He lay, Jesus my Saviour! Waiting the coming day, Jesus my Lord! Up from the grave He arose, with a mighty triumph o’er His foes.
He arose a victor from the dark domain. And He lives forever with His saints to reign. He arose! He Arose Hallelujah! Christ arose!"
There can be no doubt that those who were His closest followers were those most deeply and adversely effected by the tragic and traumatic events of His passion. We are repeatedly told in the gospels of the doubt, fear and perplexity that overwhelmed them. Even before the events truly began to come to pass, Jesus tried to prepare them for the shock and horror they would face on His crucifixion day. He reassured them that the power of God would turn the apparent tragedy into a glorious triumph. He said, "For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." (Matt. 12:40) " Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." (John 2:19)
But it seems as the fullness of time drew near, it became increasingly clear that they did not really understand His words. As their doubt and fear increased, He continued to lovingly ready them for their time of testing and tragedy. (See John 14:1-10)
On the evening preceding His crucifixion it became increasingly apparent that in the eyes of the world and even in the eyes of His followers, a great human tragedy was unfolding.
Mark 14:50-51 "And they all forsook him, and fled. And there followed him a certain young man, having a linen cloth cast about [his] naked [body]; and the young men laid hold on him:"
Luke 23:48-49 "And all the people that came together to that sight, beholding the things which were done, smote their breasts, and returned. And all his acquaintance, and the women that followed him from Galilee, stood afar off, beholding these things."
It is clear that those of the watching and waiting world felt they were witnessing an unsurpassed tragedy. His disciples in particular were clearly crushed and confused. How could this happen to their Master? Had they believed in vain? Had such terrible evil evidently and ultimately triumphed over goodness and Godliness?
Then comes the triumphant cry of the angel, "He is not here, He is risen!"
THE EMPTY TOMB TESTIFIES TO THE TRUTH OF THE GOSPEL. Is the story of the resurrection of Jesus Christ fact or fiction? Is the central tenant of the Christian faith an authentic and validated belief or is a fanciful figment of the imagination of those who yearn for immortality? If it is mere myth, then not only is the reason for this season a sham and charade, but those who are deluded by the grand hoax are of all people the most miserable.
Paul sums up the result of such a gigantic hoax in these words: "But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: And if Christ be not risen, then [is] our preaching vain, and your faith [is] also vain. Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: And if Christ be not raised, your faith [is] vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable." (I Cor. 15:13-19)
The rest of this resurrection chapter is a triumphant affirmation of the resurrection. When the extent of the precautions taken by both the friends and enemies of Jesus to insure His body could not be stolen are considered, the resurrection is the most logical explanation for the empty tomb. To advocate that a deceitful plot could have been successfully planned and executed is unrealistic. The manipulation, timing and intricate detail involved would have entailed a logistical nightmare. The direction and control of the dozens of people necessarily involved in a continuing cover-up, defies what is commonly known about human nature.
The appearances of Jesus Christ in a resurrection body provides irrefutable evidence of the validity of His bodily resurrection. In the forty days that followed His resurrection, His appearances to His disciples followed the following approximate chronological order: Certain women returning from the sepulchre, Mary Magdalene at the tomb, Peter before the evening of the resurrection day, Cleopas and his companion on Sunday afternoon, ten disciples at their evening meal, all eleven disciples a week later, a number of disciples while fishing on Galilee, the apostles and over five hundred others on a mountain, James and last of all the apostles before His ascension. If the resurrection did not occur, is it reasonable the Four Gospels, the book of Acts and the First Corinthian letter, all giving these appearances as historical and indisputable fact, would be written and published in the lifetime of many of the witnesses mentioned, without a record of a dissenting voice being raised?
"The beginning and very existence of the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ could only be reasonably explained by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. "The Church rests on the resurrection of its Founder. Without this fact the church could never have been born, or if born, would soon have died a natural death. The miracle of the resurrection and the existence of Christianity are so closely connected that they must stand or fall together. If Christ was raised from the dead then all His miracles are sure, and our faith is not in vain. It is only His resurrection that made His death available for our atonement, justification and salvation; without the resurrection His death would be the grave of our sins. A gospel of a dead Saviour would be a contradiction and a wretched delusion. This is the reasoning of Paul and its force is irresistible." (Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church)
THE EMPTY TOMB TELLS OF GOD’S RESPONSE TO MAN’S GREATEST NEED. His need to know the answers to the obvious questions of human existence "Who am I? Where did I come from? Why am I here?" And above all, "Where am I going?" “Man’s quest for answers to these age-old questions of immortality permeates all history and transcends all cultures. The Pharaoh’s were buried in their elaborate pyramids in preparation for the possibility of an afterlife. So were the nobility and the elite of many other well known cultures.
The search for immortality prompted the Spanish Explorer, Ponce de Leon, to search the new world for a reputed fountain of youth. Of course he did not find it, but he did come to the end of his mortal life at the point of an Indian’s arrow.
Charlatans and con-artists throughout the centuries have taken advantage of man’s ceaseless search for a true and satisfactory answer to the riddle of immortality. Ancient alchemists, with their fraudulent formulas and elixirs of life, give testimony to the absurdity of some aspects of this quest.
Even in our day we hear tantalizing tales of new genetic research and medical advances that tempt many to think man will be able to solve the riddle and achieve immortality on earth. But those who are rational realists understand that such sad seeking can at best only delay man’s sure appointment with His Maker. None of this ceaseless seeking alters or repeals the fact of the matter: "And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation." (Heb. 9:27)
Those who laugh at the gullibility of those who were fooled and fleeced by the con-artists of old, should pause and think of those who spend millions to have their bodies placed in suspended animation in the hope that advances in science may enable them to be thawed and brought back to life in some far distant day.
In our enlightened age such vain seeking goes on in many areas of human endeavor. Billions of dollars are being spent seeking life in outer space. Planetary probes, space platforms and vast arrays of radio telescopes are all part of a quest to determine if man is alone in the universe; with the hope that some advanced civilization may have found answer to man’s perpetual quest and show up to save him from his mortality.
But for centuries the empty tomb has been shouting the triumphant answer to man’s mortal dilemma. We are not alone in this universe! The eternal Creator loved us with an eternal love before the foundations of our existence were lain. He has already come from the far reaches of space to dwell among us in the flesh of man. He lived among us and experienced all our terrible trials, traumas and temptations; yet He was without sin or offence. He then was able to become our perfect sin sacrifice and pay the eternal wages of our sin and offer us the gift of His perfect righteousness. He rose again the third day and answered forever all man’s questions about the possibility of immortality.
THE EMPTY TOMB SPEAKS OF THE ULTIMATE TRIUMPH OF GOOD OVER EVIL. In our day of violence and terrorism, one might be forgiven for asking as David asked long ago: "LORD, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked triumph?" (Ps 94:3 ) Or for longing, as the Psalmist, for an end to it all. "Oh let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end; but establish the just .." (Psalm 7:9) With each passing day we see an increase in the threats to our way of life and even our very existence.
Many felt that when the Soviet system, appropriately named the Evil Empire by the American President, Ronald Reagan, disintegrated and the Berlin Wall came down, that the world could perhaps catch its breath for a moment. Disarmament treaties were signed and the slow, but systematic, destruction of vast arsenals of chemical and biological weapons of mass destruction was begun. Pledges were made on both sides to destroy very significant percentages of the overwhelming stock piles of nuclear weapons. The U. S. pledged and began to pay billions of dollars to assist the bankrupt former Soviet Republics to destroy their weapons stock piles and decommission a good number of their rusting fleets of deadly and dangerous nuclear submarines. We could all breath a sigh of relief because the Cold War doctrine or Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) was no longer the military strategy of the two great super powers.
Then the terrible threat of Islamic terrorism reared its ugly head. These fanatical religious extremists declared war upon civilization as we know it. They vowed to destroy that civilization and from the ashes raise up a pan-Islamic nation to conquer and dominate the whole world and place it under brutal shara law. Their stated objective is to create such a system by the use of what they call the Sword of Islam. Those who will not voluntarily convert to their brand of Islam will ultimately either be subject to wholesale slaughter or placed into abject slavery. If one wishes to get a bit of preview of their plans they need but look at the Taliban regime and their violent and oppressive rule. If one wishes to understand how non-Moslems will be treated in such a pan-Islamic world they need only to look at some Moslem dominated countries in North Africa. Their primary objective is to stamp out the Judeo-Christian cultures of the world. Make no bones about it, the life and death struggle we find ourselves in is perhaps the most frightening and dangerous world war of all.
When we add to this worldwide reality the domestic threat we are faced with in our own culture, the future looks bleak indeed. All the Biblical standards and moral values that have made our nation great are under deadly attack. We are on the verge of being inundated with a flood tide of evil. We seem to stand of the very brink of cultural self destruction. The only record one needs to catalogue this fact is the daily diet of filth that pours forth from all the media and has deeply penetrated into all our institutions, especially our educational systems and the family units of our nation. We surely again live in a world where everyone is doing what is right in his own eyes and this is usually wrong in God’s eyes.
How does an empty tomb speak to our dilemma? To our sordid world of chaos, anarchy and evil, the empty tomb shouts, "Truth, love, goodness and life will ultimately win out." The empty tomb speaks of the resurrection power of a Living Savior. The power of His gospel will ultimately prevail in His world. The empty tomb certifies that He will come again. He will come with mighty and awesome power to put down the Evil One and his worldly systems of evil. He will established righteousness again throughout all His Kingdom for one thousand years of perfect peace, love and harmony. (See Rev,. 20:1-7) He will ultimately destroy all evil and evil doers and banish them from His presence forever. (See Rev. 21:1-8) The empty tomb assures us that the all powerful resurrected and Living Christ will bring all this to pass in His time. This mighty assurance is affirmed to John the Revelator by our Lord Himself. "I [am] he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death." (Rev. 1:18)
THE EMPTY TOMB TRUMPETS THE CONQUEST OF SIN AND DEATH. If there is anything sure about life, it is death. It is the specter that haunts man’s existence from his first step upon earth until his last. Is it any wonder Job cried out 4,000 years ago:
"Man [that is] born of a woman [is] of few days, and full of trouble. He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not. And dost thou open thine eyes upon such an one, and bringest me into judgment with thee? Who can bring a clean [thing] out of an unclean? not one. Seeing his days [are] determined, the number of his months [are] with thee, thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass; Turn from him, that he may rest, till he shall accomplish, as an hireling, his day. For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease. Though the root thereof wax old in the earth, and the stock thereof die in the ground; [Yet] through the scent of water it will bud, and bring forth boughs like a plant. But man dieth, and wasteth away: yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where [is] he? [As] the waters fail from the sea, and the flood decayeth and drieth up: So man lieth down, and riseth not: till the heavens [be] no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep. O that thou wouldest hide me in the grave, that thou wouldest keep me secret, until thy wrath be past, that thou wouldest appoint me a set time, and remember me! If a man die, shall he live [again]? all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come." . (Job 14:1-14)
Man’s perpetual struggles to defeat and conquer his one most terrible enemy have all come to naught. Each time a new vaccine is found to counter a deadly disease, another and more deadly disease arises. Each time a new antibiotic is developed to cope with a destructive bacteria, it leads to a mutation into a super bacteria that is immune to all remedies.
Death is sure. In giving the genealogy of the antediluvian patriarchs, the phrase "and he died," is repeated nine times. It matters not how long man shall live it will be always be said of him, "and he died." It is an appointment all must keep. As sure as we live, we die. Whether we like it or not, that sure visitor knocks at the door of the humble or the haughty, the beggar or the billionaire. Whether one lives in a hovel or the highest house on the hill of wealth, this univited vistor will inevitably call.
When he was 89 years of age Micheangelo wrote, "I have reach the twenty-fourth hour of my day and no project arises in my brain which hath not the figure of death graven upon it"
An epitaph on a tombstone reads, "Pause stranger as you pass by, as you are now, so once was I, As I am now, so soon you’ll be, so prepare yourself to follow me." To which someone had appended, "To follow you, I’m not content, until I know which way you went."
Even though death is the surest thing in our existence, we still do not wish to talk about it. I was once told of a pastor who was riding in the hearse to the cemetery for a committal service. He was a bit absent minded and as he went along he started to wave to passersbys and friends along the way. He was astonished that they all turned away without responding.
The Psalmist tells us that death is like flood waters. It is really strange that when a terrible flood comes it seems to surprise everyone. Even those who have built their homes on the flood plain. Flash floods are the most destructive. But the flood is no respecter of persons. It sweeps everyone and everything in its path. Young people, old people, beautiful people, ugly people, famous people, infamous people, rich people and poor people, as well as the saint and sinner.
Death may be a close as a stray bullet or the bumper guard of a speeding car. It may be lying in the luggage compartment of an airplane or forcing the door of its cockpit. It is a close as a malignant cell, one heartbeat, one piece of foreign matter in the blood stream or one submicroscopic deadly virus or bacteria.
Death tends to catch us unaware. Raphael died with his last picture half finished. It was carried in his funeral procession as a mute testimony of the uncertainty of life. Sir Walter Scott’s last words in his journal were, "Tomorrow I shall..." Franz Shulbert left his unfinished symphony. Dickens laid down his pen in the middle of a last novel.
In light of the sobering fact that death is sure, all of us could well pray the prayer of the psalmist, "Teach us to number our days that we might apply our hearts to wisdom."
Life is just too short and death too sure to trifle with the trivial of no eternal significance. Isaiah asked a pertinent question when he said, "Wherefore do you spend money for that which is not bread, and your labours for that which satisfieth not"
But the empty tomb tells of the ultimate triumph of life over death. The empty tomb gives reality to the eternal principle stated by Paul: "The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life." This is the ultimate triumph the resurrection of our Savior. Because He lives those who truly believe will live forever. It could not be stated any more clearly than by the words of our Savior upon the occasion when He demonstrated His ultimate power over death by the resurrection of his friend, Lazarus.
"Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again. Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day. Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this? She saith unto him, Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world. (John 11:23-27)
THE EMPTY TOMB TALKS OF A LIVING SAVIOR. This Living Savior is just as surely present with those who will walk with Him as He was on that glorious day He walked with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. He just as surely desires to open our understanding to all the words of the scriptures as He did for those two that day. He just as surely wishes to commune with us in close fellowship as He did with those two on that occasion. He just as surely wants us to be able to truly say as they: "And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?" (Luke 24:32)
If we serve such a Living Savior, why are so many Christians weak, weary, faltering and failing? Could it be that the power of a living Saviour primarily abides upon those who tread the pathway of duty and service? R. G. Lee once said, "Duty and service are the most rewarding and sublime words in the human language. Surely it is also so for the Christian’s spiritual vocabulary."
Our Living Savior has assured us that if we walk with Him in this world we will have tribulation. But that which is not achieved through struggle is seldom worth having. In fact it often brings more harm than help. We see the truth of this played out in the lives of many who somehow obtain easy money through such greedy practices as gambling and lotteries. How often we hear of their ultimate disaster and read of their statements indicating they feel they would have been much better off if they had never gotten their hands on such ill-gotten gains.
The empty tomb assures us He lives in the valley and shadow of death. Man may boastfully bluff his way through days of health and prosperity, brightness and beauty, but when he comes face to face with the stark reality of the inevitability of that common denominator of all mankind, he needs more than bravado to make sense of it all. It is commonly said that even the most brash and brutish of men will sometimes cry out for the comfort of their mother’s arms in their final hours. Others will, as the thief on the cross, cry out to God for mercy. A few will die cursing God, as did the other thief.
Yes, we serve a living Saviour. He is in our world today. The reality of His living presence is completely unrelated to the opinions or opposition of those who do not believe or who have not met Him in true repentance and faith. We see His hand of mercy and salvation all around us. We can hear His voice of encouragement and help each day as we read His Word and pray and walk with Him in the way.
YES, THE VOICE OF THE EMPTY TOMB TESTIFIES OF A TERRIBLE
TRAGEDY TRANSFORMED INTO A TREMENDOUS TRIUMPH.
IT TELLS US OF THE TRUTH OF THE GOSPEL.
THE EMPTY TOMB SPEAKS OF THE ULTIMATE TRIUMPH OF GOOD OVER EVIL.
THE EMPTY TOMB TRUMPETS THE CONQUEST OF SIN AND DEATH.
THE EMPTY TOMB TALKS OF A LIVING SAVIOR.
