An Empty Tomb Full of Promise
Several years ago, I was privileged to visit Jerusalem. It had been a dream of mine to visit the Holy Land. Thanks to a seminary study tour, that dream came true!
I honestly did not know what to expect. You read the Gospel accounts of what Jesus and His disciples did. You watch the documentaries and catch glimpses of the city in other media outlets. It’s an entirely different experience when you’re on the ground. Granted, the current city of Jerusalem is not the same city in the New Testament. That city was burnt down by the Romans in A.D. 70 (The only part left of that city is what is now known as the Wailing Wall).
That fact did not diminish the awe that I felt. It was here, in this area of the world that Christianity was born. From a small, despised and persecuted group, the followers of Christ went forth from Jerusalem, to Samaria, to Judea and [almost] to the ends of the earth!
One of the places that I really wanted to visit was the tomb of Christ. To my surprise, I learned that there wasn’t a consensus of where Jesus’ tomb was located. One of the places that I visited was the Church of the Holy Sepulcher (pictured above).
It’s a beautiful building that’s rich in history. Pilgrims from all over the world flock to this building to pay homage to Jesus Christ. At the heart of the building is a small chapel that was built over the supposed tomb of Christ. I waited in line for 30 minutes for a quick peek inside. What drew my attention wasn’t the fact that it was an impressive shrine, but that it was…empty.
The other sites that I visited in Jerusalem that claimed that Jesus was buried there were also empty.
Empty.
Like today, there were many perspectives of what happened to you when you died. The Greeks and the Romans believed (with some variety) that when one died that they would go to another plane of existence or cease entirely. But for the most part, death was the end. There was no coming back. There was no such thing as resurrection.
There was no coming back. There was no such thing as resurrection.
Even in Judaism there was a variance on what happened after death. In the New Testament, we find that there was a disagreement about resurrection between the Pharisees and the Sadducees. The latter did not believe in the resurrection.¹ Knowing the conflicting ideas of the time, one can understand why the resurrection made such a profound impact.
The Gospel of Mark recounts the story of Jairus, one of the leaders of a synagogue who came to Jesus to ask him to heal his daughter. She died before Jesus got there.
“Your daughter is dead,” Jairus was told. “Why bother the teacher anymore?”
I wondered why they would try to dissuade Jesus from coming if they knew that He could heal the sick. One commentator put it this way: “the subliminal message here is that Jesus is only a teacher, and death marks the limit of whatever power he may have.”² But Jesus’ power is not limited by death.
“Don’t be afraid. Just believe [i.e. keep on believing],” Jesus said to them.
When Jesus arrived, there was a great deal of weeping and wailing to which Jesus asked, “why all this commotion and weeping? The child is not dead but asleep.”
But they laughed at Him. Their faithlessness would undermine the fragile faith of the father so everyone was dismissed out of the room except the parents and His disciples.
“Talitha koum — little girl…get up,” Jesus said, holding her hand. Immediately, life returned to her and immediately she got up, to the delight and amazement of all present.
Perhaps the most well known account of the resurrection (outside of the resurrection of Jesus Himself) is that of Lazarus. The Gospel of John recounts the story of how Jesus and His disciples were informed that Lazarus, His dear friend, was very sick. Jesus was close to Lazarus. One would expect Him to drop everything and immediately go to Lazarus. But Jesus delayed for two days.
“Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but now I will go and wake him up,” Jesus told His disciples.
They thought that Lazarus was simply sleeping, but Jesus meant that Lazarus had died. Again, we see that Jesus equates death with sleep.
As Jesus approached Bethany, Lazarus’ sister, Martha meet Him on the way. “Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask.”
Jesus replied, “Your brother will rise again.”
Jesus replied, “Your brother will rise again.”
“Yes,” Martha said. “He will rise again in the resurrection the last day.”
“I am the resurrection and the life,” Jesus said. “Anyone who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
What did Jesus mean by that? A commentator put it this way, “…eternal life and rescue from the finality of death are not merely gifts obtained by appeal to God; they are aspects of what it means to live a life in association with Jesus. If Jesus is life, then those who believe in him will enjoy the confidence and power over death known by him…”³
Jesus went to the tomb of Lazarus.
He wept. And some scoffed at Him.
What were His tears for? Some commentators say that He was weeping because His friend was dead. Some say that He was weeping and angry because of death itself. Whatever the case for Jesus’ tears, we know that death affected Jesus deeply.
Death is the inevitable result of sin. But death is not the end.
Lazarus had been in the tomb for four days. Unlike Jairus’ daughter where some could speculate that she was not really dead — now there was no doubt that Lazarus was dead.
“Lazarus, come out!” Jesus commanded.
His friend Lazarus got up and came out of the tomb.
Now that tomb was empty.
That empty tomb was a foreshadowing of what was to come. Jesus was crucified not long after and laid in a grave. But death could not hold Him! Jesus broke the power of death and the grave when He resurrected.
I came to Jerusalem eager to see where Jesus was buried only to find out that no one knows for sure. And you know what? It doesn’t matter!
To the women who visited Jesus’ grave and discovered it empty, an angel told them, “He is not here! He is risen from death just as He said. Come and see the place where He lay.”⁴ They found an empty tomb, but full of promise!
“He is not here! He is risen from death just as He said.”
Because He is risen, I no longer have to fear death.
Because of the resurrection I have hope.
The Apostle Paul in his letter to the Thessalonians said this:
“Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, who who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.”⁵
The same Jesus that called the daughter Jairus and Lazarus to awaken from the sleep of death is that same Jesus who is coming again who will do the same for all those who died and are asleep in their graves now. Soon, those tombs will be empty.
One of my favorite authors puts it this way:
“To the believer, death is but a small matter. Christ speaks of it as if it were of little moment. “If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death,” “he shall never taste of death.” To the Christian, death is but a sleep, a moment of silence and darkness. The life is hid with Christ in God, and “when Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory.”⁶
Because of the resurrection, I have peace.
Because of the resurrection I live in joyous expectation!
One day soon, death will finally die.
Until that day let us never forget that His empty tomb is still full of promise!
¹ Matt. 22:23; Acts 4:1–2; Acts 23:6–8
² David E. Garland, The NIV Application Commentary: Mark(Michigan: ZondervanPublishingHouse, 1996). Kindle
³ Gary M. Burge, The NIV Application Commentary: John (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 2000). Kindle
⁴ Matthew 28:6 NIV
⁵ 1 Thessalonians 5:13–17 NIV
⁶ Ellen Gould Harmon White, A Call to Stand Apart: Challenging Young Adults to Make an Eternal Difference (Hagerstown, MD: Review and Herald Pub. Association, 2002), 44.
