Hi ,
The empty tomb is the most powerful portion of the events of
the Easter weekend because it proved that God accepted the sacrifice made at the cross. So, how do we know that Jesus in fact rose from the dead?
In Part 1, we saw briefly how secure the tomb actually was (the heavy stone, the Roman seal, and a Roman guard unit!) and that it would have been impossible for Jesus' disciples to have stolen
the body from the tomb - the very thing that the Jewish leaders were afraid of!
Next, consider that the tomb was indeed empty! If it was not, then anyone could have gone out at any time after his burial and seen that the stone was still there. Remember that Jesus had promised that He would rise after three days. The Roman guard unit would have
been gone after that time period, but the stone would still have been there and the body still in the tomb. But that's not what anyone claimed or saw!
The Roman guards claimed that the body was gone and that an angel had come and rolled the stone away. The women who arrived early in the morning also saw that the tomb was empty. The disciples
who came a little later also saw that the tomb was empty. In fact, anyone at any time could have gone out and seen that the tomb was empty. In fact, the empty tomb is not what's in dispute. Even liberal scholars acknowledge that the tomb was empty. That's not the question, though. The question has always been -- What happened to Jesus' body?
If the Jewish religious leaders had removed the body to prevent the disciples from claiming that Jesus had risen, then they could easily have produced the dead body the moment that the apostles claimed that Jesus was alive! So, did the disciples remove the body and try to deceive people into thinking that he had actually risen? This idea is ridiculous on several levels. First, they never would have been able to overcome the guards. But if they had, they would have needed
to steal the body and then hide it somewhere else. But then, what would their message have been? Many of them went on to become martyrs for their faith that Jesus was alive! People become martyrs for things they truly believe, even if what they believe is false. But nobody becomes a martyr for something that they know is a lie!
The
soldiers' testimonies. The women's testimonies. The apostles' testimonies. All on the same morning! This was indeed something miraculous! (continued...)
