The Empty Tomb
April 21, 2003
I've often said if someone could produce the body
of Jesus I wouldn't be a Christian. In fact, if somebody could
convince me the evidence against the bodily resurrection of
Jesus outweighed the evidence for his resurrection, I would
abandon the faith in a minute.
Why? Because I'm not able to jettison my mind and
take a blind leap of faith. As a Christian my faith isn't based
on some ancient legend that lacks a historical basis. Consider
for a moment one good reason for believing in the resurrection.
Quite simply: the empty tomb declares that Jesus
rose from the dead. Nobody--including the Jews, Romans,
disciples of Jesus, or other ancient historians disputed the
fact that Jesus' tomb was empty on that first Easter Sunday. An
explanation must be provided. And it must make sense.
In Matthew 27:65-66 we find Pilate giving the
following order, "'Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how.'
So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the
stone and posting the guard." Between ten and fifteen Roman
soldiers guarded the tomb. Historian, Professor George Currie,
noted that Roman solders who fell asleep while on guard duty
faced the death penalty. Getting a little shut-eye while
guarding a tomb might have happened to one of the soldiers. But
all of them? Come on, do you have enough faith to believe that
story? I don't.
Okay, so the guards were awake. Did the disciples
sneak up, without the guards seeing them, roll the two-ton stone
out of the way, without being heard, steal the body and later
prop it up as proof that Jesus rose from the dead. Again,
believing such a story demands more faith than I possess.
Did the Jews steal the body? If so, all they had
to do to stop the story of Jesus' resurrection was present the
body. They never did because they didn't have the body to
present.
Obviously, the Romans didn't steal the body since they were the
ones guarding it. No bribe in the world would be enough for a
Roman soldier to forfeit his life.
You see, don't you agree that it takes less faith
to believe that Jesus rose from the dead than to believe any
other explanation? And I've only presented one argument.
There are others. Like the many appearances of
Jesus, including the occasion when over 500 people saw him at
the same time. Or the fact that his grave clothes, which weighed
between one and two hundred pounds and had hardened into a stiff
cocoon, carried no body. The grave clothes hadn't been cut open
or torn apart. The body had simply passed through them leaving a
hard empty shell. When John entered the tomb on the first Easter
and saw the grave clothes, he immediately believed (John
20:6-8). Finally, we have the changed lives of the disciples and
millions of other men and women through the centuries who bear
testimony to the resurrection of Jesus.
The next time you question the validity of your
faith, go look in the Empty Tomb.
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